all turned around to watch.
I couldn’t see clearly, but I knew well enough to watch the big yellow blob of a raft as it turned down rapids that were way too high.
“They’re on the safe side of the river,” Seth said with a certainty that helped me relax a little. “Plus they have Julian up front. They’ll be fine.”
In the background, I heard Susannah on her cell phone with Rob, the Warriors’ counselor. He would make sure the others didn’t come down the falls. It sounded like they were also going to call back to the rafting outfitters to let them know a tree was down in the water.
“I was so scared for you, Lauren.” Siobhan’s arm went around my shoulders while the others ran over to Bam-Bam’s raft to help them pull it up onto the shore near ours.
“Me too.” Although I probably hadn’t been as scared as I might have been if I’d had more time to process what was happening. “It all happened so fast.”
“She should sit down,” Seth called over, prompting Siobhan to lead me to a flat rock nearby.
The next few minutes passed in confusing snatches of conversation while the campers from our boat filled in the others on what had happened. Alex hugged me and Jackie clapped Danny on the back and told him he’d done well getting the boat out of there.
“Seth is a hero,” Trinity announced.
He was waving it off—was saving my life really not a big deal?—when Susannah chimed in.
“He’s definitely a hero.” She wrapped her arm through Seth’s and gave it a squeeze. “And we’re going to have a party to celebrate.”
My ears perked up even though I still shivered. A murmur of excitement went through the crowd.
“Party?” I exchanged surprised looks with my friends. Maybe there’d be a bright side to this disaster of a day after all.
Bam-Bam stepped up on a rock to speak to us, the sound of the rushing water less deafening but still noisy.
“Since you were robbed of your rafting trip, and we had one hell of a scare to boot—” Bam-Bam patted Susannah on the shoulder “—your counselors have made an executive decision to make camp right here in the Nantahala Gorge.”
Cheers went up all around. Even from me. My eyes went to Seth where he stood next to Julian and Garrett. He was smiling. And, amazingly, he didn’t stop grinning when our eyes locked.
New hope awoke inside of me. I didn’t expect him to be my boyfriend again after the way I’d hurt him. But if we could still save our friendship … that really would be worth celebrating.
Beside me, Alex squeezed my arm. “Hottie camper dude checking you out, Laur.”
“I can hardly believe my eyes,” I whispered back. “I was afraid it was because I didn’t have my glasses on.”
After giving us a few more instructions about crossing the footbridge downstream with the rafts, Bam-Bam outlined a plan to meet up with the Divas and Warriors on the other side of the river. There was camping all along the gorge, and it was close enough to civilization that the counselors were ordering pizzas for us. No foraging tonight. I had a feeling the party was as much for Susannah as it was for Seth’s heroics. She must have been terrified at the thought of something happening to the kids she’d been supervising. Bam-Bam spent most of the trek to the bridge talking to her.
An hour later, we were still putting up the tents from our buses while some of the guys still wanted to build lean-tos as planned. Of course, people like Seth and Julian could probably create a weatherproof shelter out of toothpicks and newspaper. They just had that ability. But me? I was so glad to have a tent. Even more glad when Alex and Jackie insisted they wanted to put mine up for me after the tough day I’d had.
Although, maybe they just didn’t want my help since I couldn’t see all that well without my glasses and had twice put the tent stakes in the wrong loops.
“Seriously, girlfriend.” Alex put one hand on her bony hip as the tent collapsed for
I couldn’t see clearly, but I knew well enough to watch the big yellow blob of a raft as it turned down rapids that were way too high.
“They’re on the safe side of the river,” Seth said with a certainty that helped me relax a little. “Plus they have Julian up front. They’ll be fine.”
In the background, I heard Susannah on her cell phone with Rob, the Warriors’ counselor. He would make sure the others didn’t come down the falls. It sounded like they were also going to call back to the rafting outfitters to let them know a tree was down in the water.
“I was so scared for you, Lauren.” Siobhan’s arm went around my shoulders while the others ran over to Bam-Bam’s raft to help them pull it up onto the shore near ours.
“Me too.” Although I probably hadn’t been as scared as I might have been if I’d had more time to process what was happening. “It all happened so fast.”
“She should sit down,” Seth called over, prompting Siobhan to lead me to a flat rock nearby.
The next few minutes passed in confusing snatches of conversation while the campers from our boat filled in the others on what had happened. Alex hugged me and Jackie clapped Danny on the back and told him he’d done well getting the boat out of there.
“Seth is a hero,” Trinity announced.
He was waving it off—was saving my life really not a big deal?—when Susannah chimed in.
“He’s definitely a hero.” She wrapped her arm through Seth’s and gave it a squeeze. “And we’re going to have a party to celebrate.”
My ears perked up even though I still shivered. A murmur of excitement went through the crowd.
“Party?” I exchanged surprised looks with my friends. Maybe there’d be a bright side to this disaster of a day after all.
Bam-Bam stepped up on a rock to speak to us, the sound of the rushing water less deafening but still noisy.
“Since you were robbed of your rafting trip, and we had one hell of a scare to boot—” Bam-Bam patted Susannah on the shoulder “—your counselors have made an executive decision to make camp right here in the Nantahala Gorge.”
Cheers went up all around. Even from me. My eyes went to Seth where he stood next to Julian and Garrett. He was smiling. And, amazingly, he didn’t stop grinning when our eyes locked.
New hope awoke inside of me. I didn’t expect him to be my boyfriend again after the way I’d hurt him. But if we could still save our friendship … that really would be worth celebrating.
Beside me, Alex squeezed my arm. “Hottie camper dude checking you out, Laur.”
“I can hardly believe my eyes,” I whispered back. “I was afraid it was because I didn’t have my glasses on.”
After giving us a few more instructions about crossing the footbridge downstream with the rafts, Bam-Bam outlined a plan to meet up with the Divas and Warriors on the other side of the river. There was camping all along the gorge, and it was close enough to civilization that the counselors were ordering pizzas for us. No foraging tonight. I had a feeling the party was as much for Susannah as it was for Seth’s heroics. She must have been terrified at the thought of something happening to the kids she’d been supervising. Bam-Bam spent most of the trek to the bridge talking to her.
An hour later, we were still putting up the tents from our buses while some of the guys still wanted to build lean-tos as planned. Of course, people like Seth and Julian could probably create a weatherproof shelter out of toothpicks and newspaper. They just had that ability. But me? I was so glad to have a tent. Even more glad when Alex and Jackie insisted they wanted to put mine up for me after the tough day I’d had.
Although, maybe they just didn’t want my help since I couldn’t see all that well without my glasses and had twice put the tent stakes in the wrong loops.
“Seriously, girlfriend.” Alex put one hand on her bony hip as the tent collapsed for
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