Chapter Eight
Later that night, after lights-out, I was lying on my bed staring into the darkness. I kept hearing Sean’s annoying humming in my head. It gets really, really dark in the woods. Living in the city, before I started coming to summer camp, I never realized how much of the darkness is really light—light from the streetlights, the traffic lights, and nearby stores. But out here in the wilderness, it’s totally dark.
And quiet. No cars rushing past. No honks. No sirens.
There’s a peacefulness. A calmness. An eeriness. It’s not scary. It’s just very, very different.
I heard a noise off to my right. The creak of a bed. Bare feet slapping on the floor.
“Jess?” Liz whispered. “Are you ready?”
“For what?”
“Oh, gosh, I forgot to tell you. We’re meeting up with some other CITs down by the lake.”
I sat up. “When did you decide to do this?”
“When you had kitchen duty. Then you came in all wet, and by the time you finished explaining that story…”
Her voice trailed off. Without me there, I wondered who’d talked Liz into doing something we weren’t supposed to be doing. But someone had, because she was totally up for it, no doubt in her voice at all. Then I felt a pang—it wasn’t often that Liz made plans without me. But I pushed the feeling away.
I tossed back the sheet. I was ready for an adventure. I threw on some jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt.
We all dug our flashlights out of our footlockers. That was one piece of equipment we were required to bring. That and lots of batteries. Did I mention the camp has no stores?
I mean the staff has supplies delivered daily so we aren’t in danger of starving or anything. Plus a small town is nearby in case we get into any kind of real trouble or need help in an emergency. But other than that, not much out here resembles civilization.
Now, Liz, Caryn, Torie, and I were shuffling toward the door without turning on our flashlights, going slowly so we didn’t make any noise. Edna and Ed were probably already in bed. Asleep. They looked like the early-to-bed, early-to-rise types. But why take a chance on disturbing them?
Our late-night mischief was incredibly exciting. As a camper, we’d never been able to sneak out at night because our counselors had always been light sleepers. Not that we would have been that adventurous. But this summer was different.
This summer we were all about adventure, being bold, taking risks.
We crept to the door.
“Look outside,” Liz ordered in a whisper.
“Who are you talking to?” I asked.
“You.”
I was quickly discovering that CITs all had one thing in common: Each wanted to be the boss. Each thought her way was the best way.
“Who made you boss?” Caryn asked.
“We don’t have time for this,” Torie said. “The guys are waiting. You know what I’m saying?”
“No, I don’t. What guys?” I asked.
I really felt like I was in the dark—figuratively as well as literally.
“The guys we’re meeting,” Caryn said.
“You said we were meeting the other CITs.”
“And the other CITs are guys.”
“Not all of them.”
“All the ones we’re meeting are.”
Suddenly, I had an uneasy feeling. “Are we meeting up with our partners?”
As though tired of the inquisition, Caryn opened the door and peered out. I know it was her because the porch light washed over her face. The camp kept porch lights on all night. As a matter of fact, they were light sensitive: They turned on with the arrival of twilight; they turned off with the arrival of dawn. No one had to think about them.
“All clear,” Caryn said.
Then the others were rushing out the door, giving me no choice except to follow. No way was I staying in the dormitory alone, while they were out flirting with some guys. Besides, maybe I could get close enough to another guy that we could convince Edna and Ed to swap out our partners.
I couldn’t be the only person unhappy with the way that we’d all been paired up.
Because of the various porch lights on the different buildings we were able to make our way to the woods without any mishaps. Once we were hidden behind some trees, Liz turned on her flashlight. She released a tiny squeal and pointed to a low-hanging branch on a nearby tree.
A length of toilet paper was draped over it.
How totally romantic. Not!
She reached for it—
“We should probably leave it,” Caryn said. “So we can find our way back.”
“Right,” Liz said. “First rule of survival: Leave bread crumbs.”
“Yeah, like they ever do that on Survivor,” Torie said.
“I wish we could vote a CIT out of leadership boot camp,” I muttered as Liz headed for the next dangling bit of white.
“Maybe you should report that he sprayed water on you,” she said.
So he could report that I fired back? Besides, the kitchen guy saw us. Geez, I hoped Jackson wasn’t going to report us. It hadn’t occurred to me that he might. After all, we cleaned up our mess. And we didn’t argue about it. We just did it.
I shrugged, even though no one could see me since it was fairly dark, even with the flashlights—we’d all turned ours on now. “It was just water. It wasn’t like he took the butcher knife after me.”
“He may have been thinking it, though,” Liz said.
“Liz!”
“What? I don’t think he likes you any more than you like him.”
“But he does trust her,” Caryn said. “Otherwise he wouldn’t have fallen into her arms like he did.”
“You know, not only do I feel like we’re walking in circles, but we’re talking in circles. Haven’t we covered this ground before?” I asked.
“You mean the path or the topic?” Torie asked.
“Both.”
Everyone came to a stop.
“You don’t think the guys are messing with us, do you?” Caryn asked. “I mean, are they like hanging around to jump out at us or something? To scare us, to make us scream? You know, like they did last summer?”
“Of course not,” Liz said. “They’re not kids anymore.”
“Did you not see me when I came back from kitchen duty?” I asked.
“That’s different. That was Sean. Trent is so not like Sean.”
“And you know that because you looked into his eyes for two minutes?”
“We connected.” She turned around and pointed the light so it chased away the darkness—
And we all screamed because someone dark and mysterious was standing there!
Chapter Nine
“Quiet!” the guy said, using the kind of voice you use when you’re trying to be quiet but be heard at the same time.
“Oh, Trent,” Liz said and laughed. “You scared us.”
Three guys were behind him and I recognized one—Sean.
“We came looking for you because it was taking so long. Come on.” He took her hand—took her hand!—and led her through the woods.
Caryn and Torie fell into step beside two guys, which left me with Sean. Traitors!
I thought about turning around and heading back to the dormitory, but I didn’t for two reasons:
1. I refused to let Sean dictate what I would or wouldn’t do.
2. I didn’t want to be alone and possibly miss out on some fun. Wandering through the woods at night could prove to be exciting. At least it would be different from the adventures we’d had during previous summers.
Suddenly, Sean stopped. “Hey, guys, sshh!”
Everyone stopped.
“What is it?” Trent whispered.
“Thought I heard something.”
“A bear?” I asked sarcastically.
“No. There are no bears in these woods,” Sean said. “Remember?”
I remember.
“What is it then?” Trent asked.
br /> “Do you think Ed or Edna saw us leave our dormitory?” Sean asked.
I know my eyes got big and round—like full moons. “You’re worried about getting into trouble?”
“Yeah, relax, man,” one of the other guys said. “The worst we’ll get is some jail time.”
He was referring to the camp jail, not actually being arrested by the sheriff’s department or anything.
“Why don’t we just do whatever we’re going to do here?” Sean asked.
“What are we going to do?” I asked, suddenly suspicious.
“Works for me,” Trent said. “But let’s move off the trail.”
“What are we going to do?” I whispered again as I followed everyone farther into the woods.
“Beats me,” Sean said. “All these plans were made while I was cleaning up the kitchen.”
“While we were cleaning the kitchen,” I reminded him.
“And whose fault was it that we had to clean the kitchen?”
I refused to be baited again.
Everyone came to a stop.
“This’ll work,” Trent said.
It was then that I noticed the girls were spreading out blankets. I hadn’t seen them carrying them before. We had serious miscommunication going on here.
“Hello? You didn’t tell me to bring a blanket.”
“Well, duh, you don’t want to sit on the ground,” Torie said. “You know what I’m saying?”
“That’s her favorite phrase, isn’t it?” Sean whispered.
I ignored him. I swept my flashlight over the ground until I spotted a log. That would work. As a rule, I’m okay with nature and sitting on the ground, but at night…I didn’t want to think about what might be crawling around. And I had on a pretty new pair of jeans from the Gap.
Sean sat beside me.
“Find your own log,” I said.
“This is my log,” he said. “I carved my name on it earlier in the day.”
“Really, dude? That’s awesome,” one of the guys said.
Torie introduced him. Jet. His name was Jet. Or so he claimed. I couldn’t imagine a mom naming her kid Jet. But he was Torie’s partner.
The other guy was Jon—no H. That was how he actually introduced himself. Jon—no H. He was Caryn’s partner.
We’d all set our flashlights on the ground so it was like having an artificial fire going. Each girl was sitting beside her partner, and I was kinda wondering what the plans were.
“So why are we here?” I finally asked when the suspense got to be too much.
“We just wanted to get to know each other better,” Trent said.
“It’s no accident, dudes, that E & E matched the guys in one dormitory with the babes in another. It’s dormitory A and B against C and D,” Jet said. “We want an advantage, so we can win.”
“What are we winning?” I asked.
“Respect, man.”
“We just thought it would be nice to get to know each other better,” Liz finally said. “No big deal. We’ll all go to the same high school next year, right?”
“Memorial High,” everyone murmured.
“You know what we need?” Caryn asked. “An icebreaker.”
“Dude, there’s ice out here?” Jet asked.
This guy was really a CIT?
“I think he’s a battery short of having a working flashlight,” Sean whispered close to my ear.
A shiver went through me. I told myself it wasn’t because he was so near. It was simply the brush of his breath over my neck. Like the shiver that goes down your spine when someone supposedly walks over your future grave site.
Or it could have been his words causing the shiver. It was kinda scary, because I’d been thinking almost the same thing, although a little kinder maybe—that Jet was like a Will Ferrell character.
Torie laughed. “You’re so goofy.” She shoved Jet’s shoulder. “I know you’re just teasing.”
I wondered how she knew that, because he’d sounded totally serious to me.
“Anyway, when Edna had us fall into each other’s arms this afternoon, that was an icebreaker,” Caryn explained.
“Thought it was a lesson in trust,” Jon—no H—said.
“That, too. Anyway.” Caryn shifted on to her hip, reached into her back pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper. “I’m really into dream interpretation. My dad’s a psychiatrist so he’s been teaching me what he knows. We could learn something about each other by sharing our dreams.”
“No way am I sharing my dreams,” Sean said.
The other guys were quick to agree with Sean. Guys never seem interested in revealing their innermost selves. I could have told Caryn the guys wouldn’t go for it.
“You don’t have to tell me the details. Just the major color,” Caryn said.
“Dude, mine are black and white,” Jet said.
“You’re kidding,” I said. “You dream in black and white?”
“Yeah, I figured everybody did.”
We went around the circle. Jon and Jet were the only ones to dream in black and white. I wondered what that meant.
“So what does that say about us?” Jon asked.
Caryn looked seriously disappointed. “I don’t know.”
“What does it mean if you dream in color?” Liz asked.
“Depends on the color.”
“Last night my dream was mostly red,” Liz said.
“That’s an easy one,” Caryn said. “It means stop. Consider your actions.”
“The actions in your dream?” I asked.
“No, your actions in real life. What happens in a dream reflects what’s going on in your real world, but it disguises it so you can deal with it more easily.”
“Why can’t it mean you’re angry?” Sean asked. And I sorta wondered the same thing. Scary. Similar Sean thoughts. “Don’t people say they see red when they’re angry? So if you’re dreaming red—”
“That’s not what it means,” Caryn insisted.
“Dream interpretation isn’t an exact science, is it?” Sean asked.
“Okay,” Caryn said, clearly exasperated. “You come up with an icebreaker.”
“Sure.” He grinned. “Truth or Dare?”
The guys jumped on that as though Sean had offered them free tickets to the Super Bowl. I figured they expected the dares to involve kisses or a team going into the woods alone—without the other teams.
I’d played the game with my girlfriends at a slumber party, but no way was I going to play it out here in the woods, in the dark, with three guys I didn’t know and one I absolutely didn’t trust.
“I’d rather have my dreams interpreted,” I said. “They’re mostly blue.”
“Oh!” Caryn said eagerly as though she was no more interested in a game of Truth or Dare than I was. She shined her flashlight on a scrap of paper that looked like it had come out of a magazine. There was a circle divided into colors. “That’s easy. You see things clearly. Blue is the color of truth.”
“And the color of dare?” Sean asked.
“We’re not playing Truth or Dare,” I said.
“Who put you in charge?”
I shot to my feet. “What are we doing here? If Ed and Edna find out what we’re doing—”
“What are we doing, Jess?” Liz asked. “We’re just sitting out here talking, trying to get to know each other better.”
This was my friend Liz? The same Liz who, earlier in the day, had worried about changing the look of her uniform?
“It feels like we’re doing something we shouldn’t, something that could get us into serious trouble,” I said.
“And you never do something you shouldn’t?” Sean asked.
“You say that like behaving is a fault.”
“It’s Boresville.”
Was that the reason I’d never had a boyfriend? Because I was dull, boring? Unexciting?
“I’m going back to the dormitory,” I said.
“I’ll go with you,” Liz said.
“No, stay if you want. I can follow the ever-so-original toilet-paper trail.”
“Okay. If you’re sure,” she said.
Liz had never not stuck by me. My comment had been just a bluff. I hadn’t expected her to call me on it.
I walked back to camp, feeling totally alone.
It was really important to me to be the very best CIT that I could be. Like the marines. Be all that you can be.
We were supposed to learn to trust each other. To trust ourselves. How could I do that when my best friend had just abandoned me? For a guy she’d met just a few hours ago?
This was supposed to be the best summer ever. And it had gotten off to such a rotten start.
Had I really walked away from my best friend?
And where had my sense of adventure disappeared to?
What would they all be thinking about me now? What would Sean think? Oh, well. Since when did I care about what Sean thought?
Chapter Ten
The next morning, following a breakfast of rubbery pancakes and extra-pulp orange juice, all the CITs gathered in front of the main building. The ringing of the iron triangle was still reverberating through the chill of the morning. In another six weeks there would be no coolness at all. The humidity factor would skyrocket. But for now, things were still pleasant. Not too many bugs. That, too, would change.
Edna gave the order for us to partner up.
“Did this place morph into a dude ranch while we were sleeping?” I muttered.
Liz laughed at my pitiful joke. She, Caryn, and Torie had returned to the dormitory last night about half an hour after I did. Apparently, no one had been able to agree on an icebreaker, and some of the noises they began to hear convinced them that maybe being out in the woods alone at night wasn’t too smart. Even if no bears roamed the area.
Especially since we ended up going to sleep so late and had to get up so early.
I am so not a morning person. Not even at camp. I was wondering if I should rethink my summer plans. Especially when Sean arrived at my side, grinning.
Of course he’d be a morning person. I should have known. I looked down and straightened my stupid brown shirt. Today I’d worn it with the sleeves rolled up and only one button done, over a light green tank top. I wondered if Sean thought I looked silly. Probably.