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We had said goodbye to the last group yesterday. Our last campfire debrief was this evening, and our buses left tomorrow.
Summer camp was officially over, and I didn’t know how to feel about that.
“Aren’t you going to start packing?” I asked her, glancing at the empty bag sitting on her bed.
“Nah, I’ll do it first thing. I want to make the most of our last few hours. We’re going down to the lake. Troy and Tina always end the summer with this silly counselor versus instructor competition. You’re coming, right?” She eyed me warily.
“Of course, I’m coming,” I shot back a little too defensively.
Marissa gave me a weak smile. I wasn’t fooling her with my attempt to hold myself together.
“Awesome. Bring a change of clothes. Things usually end up a little wet.”
Great.
I followed her out of the cabin and shut the door behind me. Tomorrow, life would return to normal. I would return to my shitty apartment and underpaid job, and soon enough, Camp Chance would become nothing more than a distant memory.
Just like Blake.
I shouldn’t have told him.
But if Blake still cared for me the way I was starting to believe he did, the truth wouldn’t have mattered.
* * *
“Okay, welcome to our fourteenth annual counselor versus instructor showdown. The rules are simple. The first team to build their raft and make it across the lake wins the coveted title of Camp Chance champions.”
I rolled my eyes at Marissa; she sat on the opposite bench with a smug grin painted on her face, wiggling her eyebrows in a way that said, ‘I’m a pro at this.’
“Starting positions, please,” Troy bellowed.
He was enjoying this far too much, and it made me wonder just how old he was exactly. He rarely acted older than a teenager did himself.
Reluctantly, I joined Sheridan, Sara, Blake, Malakai, and John. The guys were already discussing how best to fix together the materials—four drum barrels, various ropes, and a series of wooden poles—to make a floatation device.
“First one across wins. GO!” Troy yelled, sounding the air horn.
“Okay, let’s get the thing laid out first, then we can work on tying the barrels together before we add the poles,” Blake directed the rest of us, well, Sheridan, Sara, Malakai, and John. I was too busy focusing onnotwatching him.
It was the closest we had been in ten days when he’d held me close and kissed me as if I was his air.
“Grab that rope, Penny,” someone said, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Uh, yeah, sure, here you go.” Sara flashed me a concerned look as I handed it to her with a weak smile.
In less than twenty minutes, our group had fashioned a rather impressive raft and were wading into the water to test if it was buoyant.
“Remember, teams. Everyone has to travel across on your rafts,” Troy shouted from his stool with a huge grin on his face.
I cursed under my breath as I watched my teammates climb onto the wooden base one by one. When Marissa said to bring a change of clothes, I don’t know what I’d imagined, but it wasn’t that I might end up in the lake.
“Come on, Penny.” Blake extended his hand to me, but not ready to acknowledge him, I rounded the other side of the raft and waded into the water. My body shuddered at the cold temperature, but I ignored it and hoisted myself up. The whole thing wobbled, water lapping up the sides.
“It’s not that bad,” Sheridan joked, shuffling up to give me space.
“You won’t be saying that when we end up in there.” I glanced down at the murky water.
“Nah, they have this down to an art. Right, guys?”
