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Kota coughed. “Yeah, for now, she’s staying at our camp,” he said in a final tone.
“Are you hungry?” North asked, motioning to the picnic area. “We probably have enough hot dogs for everyone.”
Grateful when North changed the subject, I eased closer to Victor, but he didn’t grab my hand. I sensed it might not have been appropriate to do so.
Nathan joined me on my other side. I shared long looks with both him and Victor: Don’t leave me.
Maybe they were Academy, but I didn’t want to be separated from either of them. I was suddenly realizing there were going to be other people around, and they’d ask so many questions about me. I wasn’t sure what to tell them—I wasn’t prepared.
I suddenly had a million questions to ask the guys about what I should say. The only thing I’d prepared for was the end when I’d declare that I wanted to stay with the guys.
Nathan and Victor seemed to understand and when we returned to the table, they sat down on the bench, leaving just enough room for me between them.
Ian, Kota, and Silas talked about dragging over another table from a nearby camp and then left to go find the closest one, taking a guy from the other team. The third guy talked to North at the grill, watching as North turned them over with tongs.
The girls sat down on the picnic table bench across from us.
“Do you all want anything to drink?” Luke asked, standing at the far end of the table. He slapped his hand to his face, rolling his eyes. “Why do I feel like I want to say ‘Welcome to Bob’s’ suddenly?”
“I dream about waiting tables at Bob’s sometimes,” Gabriel said. He stood next to Luke and then turned toward one of the coolers that were parked in a sand dune nearby. “We’ve got sodas and water.”
“I could use a coffee,” one of the girls said. She had an oval face and while she had brown hair like the other girls, hers was up in a sloppy bun in the back of her head. She sat to the left of the girl who wore brown, who was in the middle. “But I guess it’s wishful thinking at this point. I only brought instant, but even that won’t taste right without some hot water. I brought an electric stove, but I didn’t see a place to plug it in except for the bathrooms.”
“There’s a picnic area,” Nathan said. “It’s on the map. It’s got a couple of shelter areas, but I didn’t see any outlets. There might be some, though. I think I remember seeing bare lights inside.”
Gabriel opened another cooler and fished out two flavors of Frappuccinos: mocha and vanilla. “I don’t suppose you like these.”
The girl’s eyebrows lifted and she started to smile, reaching out for the vanilla bottle. “It’s coffee and it’s in front of me. I’ll take one. Thanks.”
“You really need to work on your addiction,” the girl in brown said. She tilted her sharp face as she peered over the table to the open ice chest. “I’ll take a Sprite if you have one.”
Gabriel passed me the mocha coffee in his hand and then fished out other drinks for the others.
Coffee girl’s face was neatly made up, her skin looking smooth and contrasted with dark red lipstick. She pulled off the plastic safety wrapper and then snapped open the lid with a pop. “Ah,” she said and then grinned at me. “Isn’t that the best sound in the world?”
I wasn’t so sure, but I shook mine and opened it, giving her a small smile when mine popped the same way hers had.
Luke chugged half of a bottle of Coke and then wiped at his lips. “I’m starving.”
“The smell is making me hungry,” the girl in brown said. “What’s your name again? Sorry.”
“Luke,” he said. “Wait, what’s your name?”
“April,” she said. She pointed to coffee girl. “And this is Taylor and...”
“Ha!” Luke said, cutting her off. He pointed to North and then back at himself. “Our last name is Taylor.”
April laughed, smoothing the sleeve of her brown shirt. “They let brothers on the same team?”
“Stepbrothers,” North said. “But we’re still family.”
“That’s rare,” Ian said. “And you’ve got such a big team.”
“There’s actually two more,” Kota said. “They’ll be here tomorrow.”
“I barely recognize some of you,” he said. “But then we couldn’t make it to the camp last year. You all must have grown some.”
“I remember you,” Taylor said, nodding toward Gabriel. “You had the same hair and earrings last year, but you were shorter.”
“There’s always so many people to meet at once, you easily forget faces,” April said, absently twisting her coffee lid.
“I think that’s why it’s so many of us in one place at one time,” Kota said. “It’s not always good to remember all of our faces. There’s some security in that.”
The others introduced themselves. I was half paying attention, more aware of the girls across from me. I was studying them, imagining they knew so much about the Academy. They were a team. What did they do?
April took a long sip and then wiped her lips on the sleeve of her gray sweater. “This is good. I was about to get the headache.”
The third girl, Emma, who had already downed half a bottle of water finally spoke. “We’ve been walking forever,” she said. She was chubbier than the other girls, with round cheeks that made her square face appear softer when she turned her head. She had bright blue eyes, a striking contrast to her brown hair. “This camp is huge and the map isn’t great. It’s outdated and wrong about some things.”
Nathan perked up. “Maybe that’s what we should do this afternoon. We could make a new map.”
That started a discussion about how one starts a map and how we could scour the campgrounds, and then who would track everything.
I leaned into Victor. I was interested in making a map, but my voice was gone right now.
Victor was quiet, too, not joining in the conversation. He leaned into me but did nothing else. His eyes flickered to life with a low flame of curiosity.
When Kota returned with Silas and the other guys, towing another table, Nathan jumped up to give them a hand. They settled the table at the end of the first, making one long table together.
“Good,” North said, piling hot dogs on a plate. “These almost burned.”
There were black grill marks on the hot dogs but they looked fine. There was a flurry of movement as Luke got out more drinks for everyone. Each one of us got a hot dog and bun, and bags of chips got passed around. There were basic ketchup and mustard passed around.
I sat quietly through the bustle. Victor made my hot dog. Nathan made sure I had enough corn chips on my plate. It was easier to be out of the way rather than bumping into everyone trying to reach for anything. I told them thank you.
“Aw,” April said. She’d finished her coffee and had gotten a second one. She looked over at Nathan with a smile. “You guys are so sweet to her. That’s so nice to see.”
Nathan, Victor, and I shared glances, and then I happened to look to Kota.
Kota’s attention had shifted to us. He stood at the head of the table, a plate in his hand. He smiled weakly. “I hope it’s not inappropriate,” he said.
Taylor put up her hand to stop him and put down her Sprite to speak. “No, guys, you don’t understand. So many girls these days complain about guys doing nice things, that some have stopped doing them because they don’t know what to do. Opening doors, or fetching a soda. Those are things you can ask your friends or family to do, but if a guy offers to do it for his girlfriend, suddenly it’s an issue.”
“Oh my god, I hate that,” said Emma. Her bright blue eyes opened wider as she spoke. “There was a girl—not Academy—but she got a compliment about her hair that she just had done. Some guy complimented it... and she yelled at him about how sexist he was.” She sighed and shook her head. “I feel like the level of girls trying to fight for equality goes a little overboard in some areas. Compliments and niceties should be extended on either side. We shouldn’t be complaini
ng. We should be offering niceties back.”
April picked up her hot dog. “I’ll admit, I like the change of thinking in some areas, but attacking nice deeds is getting out of hand. I’ve opened doors for other people, including guys. And I rather like the door being opened for me. The way some girls talk, I’m supposed to yell at you about being sexist.”
Gabriel spoke up. “What the hell?” he said. He looked right at me. “So you’re supposed to snap at me when I open a door for you now?”
“No!” All three of the girls said together. They looked at each other and laughed.
April continued, pointing at me but looking at Gabriel. “Listen, don’t start this. Open her door. It’s a nice thing. She might open your door, too. But some girls, if a girl opens a door for another girl, they’re okay with it, they say it’s nice. If it’s a guy, though, they say it’s sexist, like they assume she can’t open her own door.”
“It’s just wrong, though,” April said. “I mean, okay, sometimes you have to be a little careful, but you should always be respectful and realize if someone is doing a nice thing for you.”
“Doesn’t look like you guys have that issue,” Emma said to me. “Sometimes you work out in the field and you have to pretend to get friendly with people.” She looked right at me. “You’ll see. You have to be aware of social trends, be prepared to talk to anyone.”
