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Marissa, our instructor for the afternoon, had an endless amount of patience with the girls as they struggled to stay upright in their kayaks. Lucy, being small, was surprisingly buoyant and had managed to navigate across half the lake with little support. Marissa worked closely with Crystal and Brianna while the rest of the girls goofed around, flicking water at one another with their oars.
“We have to get across the lake, Erica,” I said softly. “That’s what today’s activity is all about. Perseverance and determination. We could—”
“I’m not. Doing. It,” she hissed.
I sighed, glancing away from her to watch the rest of the girls out on the lake. The water glistened in the afternoon sun, making it look inviting, but not enough that I was particularly looking forward to canoeing across it.
Being the calm and compassionate counselor was getting me nowhere, so I wrung my hands in front of me, bent down to pick up the oar and thrust it at Erica. “Let’s go.”
“What?” She blinked, staring at me as if I had totally lost it.
“Let’s go. In the canoe. You and me. Now.” I pushed the oar toward her a little farther, forcing her to take it from me, and then spun on my heel to push the canoe to the water’s edge. “Come on, Miss I’m-not-doing-it.”
My heart pounded so hard that I felt a little nauseous. This was out of character for me. All the kids had me pegged as the quiet one. The soft-spoken kind one.
A lot of them liked that about me, but with Erica, it didn’t work. I couldn’t reach her that way. Blake had told me to give her time, to let her come to me, but time was running out, and I couldn’t bear the thought of her leaving without reaching her on some level.
“Move it, Erica. We haven’t got all day,” I shouted, glancing in the direction of where I’d left her standing. Only she wasn’t standing there anymore. She was moving toward the canoe with a look of pure hatred on her face.
“If you capsize us and I drown, I’ll sue you all.” She climbed into the back end of the vessel and huffed loudly.
Trying to smother the smirk on my face, I sat down and started to shimmy the canoe forward, using the oar for leverage. The vessel whooshed into the water and started to float away from the shore. My smirk grew into a full smile, feeling pleased with myself on both fronts—getting us out onto the lake without sinkingandcoaxing Erica to join me.
My smugness didn’t last long.
Marissa was busy showing off to the girls up ahead of us by creating ripples with her oars to make their kayaks shake. Laughter echoed around the lake each time she did it as they rocked from side to side. But by the time the ripples reached us, they had merged into bigger waves rolling toward the shore.
“We need to paddle into them, I think,” I called back at Erica, trying to remember what Marissa had taught me during our staff lesson out on the lake.
Erica muttered something I couldn’t make out, and we both started to rotate the oars in the water to force the canoe head on into the waves. Marissa spotted us and mouthed something that caused the rest of the girls to look in our direction.
The next thing I knew, five girls started copying Marissa’s action with their oars, sending more ripples rushing toward us.
“Marissa, seriously?” I yelled, still paddling forward, my pulse quickening.
The canoe seemed to ride the waves with ease, even if the slight rocking churned my stomach.
“How long is this going to take? I hate it out here,” Erica muttered, sounding almost bored.
“Keep at it. I can’t do it alone.”
Concentrating on Erica, I didn’t notice Marissa instructing the girls to turn their kayaks in full circles. The force of their vessels cutting through the water created stronger waves that started lapping at the front of the canoe.
“She’s crazy,” I murmured under my breath, panic churning in my stomach.
This didn’t feel safe, and the fear of capsizing became a valid concern.
We continued forward, despite having to grip onto the sides a couple of times, and by the time we reached Marissa and the girls, they were all in fits of hysterics.
“That was not funny,” I snapped. “I thought we were going to capsize.”
I shot her a death glare, shoving down the words I really wanted to give her. Those would have to wait for later, away from impressionable ears.
“You were fine.” She chuckled. “We didn’t make big enough waves to flip you.”
Sensing Erica watching me from the back of the canoe, I glanced over my shoulder and smiled. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, and a small sense of satisfaction zipped through me. It was the most positive thing I had managed to drag out of her all week.
