Yasmine asked, reaching for the box full of paper bags containing our breakfasts as a trio of copper bracelets slid down her arm. “They don’t like movies?”
Emily boarded, and Bam-Bam slid into the driver’s seat, cranking up the music as soon as the van door shut.
“They’re playing sports all day since it’s a free day.” Jackie took a few of the brown paper sacks and started tossing them to people as we set out for Waynesville. “Jake is determined to win back the boys’ volleyball trophy from the Wander Inn guys this year, so he wanted extra practice.”
I caught my to-go breakfast and took a big bite of apple, grateful our cabin wasn’t devoting every waking second to volleyball this year. The rivalries had gotten way too heated in the past.
“Oh, wow, the breakfast sandwich is awesome,” Siobhan sighed. “So glad I’m not vegan. Sorry, Piper.”
Piper dropped her apple core in her bag. “Apologize to the chickens. Not me.”
“Long live chickens,” Jackie agreed, halfway through hers already. “The food is definitely better this year.”
Curious, I opened the foil container in my bag and found a still-hot toasted English muffin with an egg and cheese inside. It was a real egg—not the processed slab of questionable yellow that came in fast-food meals.
“I think it’s because of Javier.” Siobhan polished off her sandwich and wiped the corners of her mouth.
The whole bus went quiet at the mention of his name. Everyone turned to look at me.
“What?” I mumbled around a mouthful of melty cheese.
“Have you spoken to Javier about what happened yet?” Yasmine asked. It was a serious mystery how she could seem to look down her nose at me when we were the same height.
“To say what? I’m sorry my ex-boyfriend is a jerk? I can’t help it that Vijay has turned psycho this year.” Everyone but the counselors knew about the incident on the Fourth of July because Vijay had made a huge deal about it, calling me out as some kind of two-timer for kissing Javier under the same tree as him. While I hated embarrassing Javier, who’d been nothing short of incredible, I also didn’t see why it was such a big deal. A private tree was a rare thing at camp. Could I help it if my options for kissing were limited?
Luckily his friends had kept him from reporting us to Gollum.
“No.” Trinity opened up the sketchpad and smoothed her hand over a new page. “But I think it’s hard for Javier being new here. Vijay might be a jerk, but he still has a lot of friends because he’s been coming to camp forever. Javier really keeps to himself.”
I didn’t know what she was getting at and had no clue how to fix things with Javier when I didn’t do anything wrong. He’d laid low since the incident, but I hoped it was because he avoided trouble and not me. Or was there a difference?
“Believe me, I’ve gone out of my way to welcome Javier to camp.” I liked him more all the time.
Jackie let out a wolf-whistle at that comment.
“But it might help to let Javier know that you kissed him under the tree because you like him and not because you were still trying to make Vijay jealous,” Yasmine pointed out.
“I already told him that the first time…” I trailed off, thinking more about how things had gone down on the Fourth of July. “You think that’s how Javier sees it? That I kissed him just to piss off someone else?”
Yasmine didn’t even bother answering me. She turned to Piper and asked, “Is this girl for real?”
I debated ignoring Yasmine. Taking the high road. But when did she ever opt for that route?
“Think fast,” I warned, right before I threw one of those squishy balls with floating eyes—Trinity’s most recent Secret Camp Angel gift—at her.
I would have pegged Yasmine in the shoulder, too, if Jackie hadn’t been sitting right next to her. She caught it with typical Jackie reflexes while everyone frowned at me.
“Real mature, Alex.”
Siobhan straightened her
Emily boarded, and Bam-Bam slid into the driver’s seat, cranking up the music as soon as the van door shut.
“They’re playing sports all day since it’s a free day.” Jackie took a few of the brown paper sacks and started tossing them to people as we set out for Waynesville. “Jake is determined to win back the boys’ volleyball trophy from the Wander Inn guys this year, so he wanted extra practice.”
I caught my to-go breakfast and took a big bite of apple, grateful our cabin wasn’t devoting every waking second to volleyball this year. The rivalries had gotten way too heated in the past.
“Oh, wow, the breakfast sandwich is awesome,” Siobhan sighed. “So glad I’m not vegan. Sorry, Piper.”
Piper dropped her apple core in her bag. “Apologize to the chickens. Not me.”
“Long live chickens,” Jackie agreed, halfway through hers already. “The food is definitely better this year.”
Curious, I opened the foil container in my bag and found a still-hot toasted English muffin with an egg and cheese inside. It was a real egg—not the processed slab of questionable yellow that came in fast-food meals.
“I think it’s because of Javier.” Siobhan polished off her sandwich and wiped the corners of her mouth.
The whole bus went quiet at the mention of his name. Everyone turned to look at me.
“What?” I mumbled around a mouthful of melty cheese.
“Have you spoken to Javier about what happened yet?” Yasmine asked. It was a serious mystery how she could seem to look down her nose at me when we were the same height.
“To say what? I’m sorry my ex-boyfriend is a jerk? I can’t help it that Vijay has turned psycho this year.” Everyone but the counselors knew about the incident on the Fourth of July because Vijay had made a huge deal about it, calling me out as some kind of two-timer for kissing Javier under the same tree as him. While I hated embarrassing Javier, who’d been nothing short of incredible, I also didn’t see why it was such a big deal. A private tree was a rare thing at camp. Could I help it if my options for kissing were limited?
Luckily his friends had kept him from reporting us to Gollum.
“No.” Trinity opened up the sketchpad and smoothed her hand over a new page. “But I think it’s hard for Javier being new here. Vijay might be a jerk, but he still has a lot of friends because he’s been coming to camp forever. Javier really keeps to himself.”
I didn’t know what she was getting at and had no clue how to fix things with Javier when I didn’t do anything wrong. He’d laid low since the incident, but I hoped it was because he avoided trouble and not me. Or was there a difference?
“Believe me, I’ve gone out of my way to welcome Javier to camp.” I liked him more all the time.
Jackie let out a wolf-whistle at that comment.
“But it might help to let Javier know that you kissed him under the tree because you like him and not because you were still trying to make Vijay jealous,” Yasmine pointed out.
“I already told him that the first time…” I trailed off, thinking more about how things had gone down on the Fourth of July. “You think that’s how Javier sees it? That I kissed him just to piss off someone else?”
Yasmine didn’t even bother answering me. She turned to Piper and asked, “Is this girl for real?”
I debated ignoring Yasmine. Taking the high road. But when did she ever opt for that route?
“Think fast,” I warned, right before I threw one of those squishy balls with floating eyes—Trinity’s most recent Secret Camp Angel gift—at her.
I would have pegged Yasmine in the shoulder, too, if Jackie hadn’t been sitting right next to her. She caught it with typical Jackie reflexes while everyone frowned at me.
“Real mature, Alex.”
Siobhan straightened her
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