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I got my kit together and decided to join the girls to the latrine, planning to hang around and get ready to meet with Kota.
It wasn’t like I was going to shower.
As a group, we headed to the latrine, Lake and I trailing behind.
At the entryway to the bathrooms, Lake hesitated. She had a few clothes she’d borrowed from me, sans underwear and a bra. She wasn’t exactly my size, but a simple T-shirt and stretchy cotton pants should fit.
I paused and caught her elbow. “Something wrong?”
She stopped, looking at the latrine and then back down at the camp. “I don’t know if I should go in.” She looked at the ground, her hair falling over her face. “I don’t think I should get in the shower.”
If she was a boy, it would probably confuse the other girls. However, did she feel uncomfortable going over to the boy section? She could have gone in with the guys, but maybe she thought the other girls would notice and realize she was a boy. How confusing her life must be.
“There’s stalls,” I said. “We can just change and leave.”
“There’s another problem,” she said. She looked up at me. “What if they’re naked or something? Will they kick me out?”
It suddenly made me hesitate, too. With it being dark out, the lights inside seemed so much brighter, the fluorescents lighting up the entry.
Would they call her a pervert just for simply trying to wash up in the bathrooms? If she was in there, in the light, would they notice she was a boy? If she was caught and the girls protested to an Academy council, it could mean the end of her Academy career, even if she was just trying to change and use the bathroom.
I wished Mrs. Rose was there so we could ask her. I looked at Lake in the eye. “We could just tell them…they’ll probably understand.”
“I really just don’t want to answer a thousand questions right now,” Lake said. “I get enough of that at home.”
I could understand she was tired and probably frustrated with what to do. I snapped my fingers. “Wasn’t there another shower somewhere?”
“Where they park campers?” Lake asked. “It was on the map.”
“It’s a little further to walk,” I said. “But if the others ask us later, we could tell them we were just splitting up so we wouldn’t take up all the hot water.”
Lake nodded slowly. “Okay,” she said. “Should we go now?”
I nodded. “Sure. Why not? We’re using the buddy system, right? There’s two of us.”
She nodded again and then turned. “Then let’s go.”
Did I have time to walk over there and get back for Kota? “Hang on,” I said and started toward the boys’ campsite. “I have to talk to someone.”
“Someone from that boy group?” she asked. She kept pace beside me, holding the clothes and towel I’d given her. “Are they the ones who brought you in?”
“Yeah,” I said. I’d debated for a second about telling her, but it seemed I should. She’d trusted me with her fears and I felt she might understand about my situation. “It’s... my group.”
She watched our feet as we walked. Our shoes scuffed along the grass until we met with the paved road. “Are you...like me?”
My heart raced. She thought I might be a boy? Did I look like one? “No,” I said.
“I didn’t really think so until those guys showed up. Then I thought maybe that’s why you talked to me. I didn’t know a girl could be on a guy team. So I just thought...maybe...” She shrugged.
“It’s rare, from what I hear, to have a girl on a guy team, but it happens sometimes.”
“So you’re in?” Lake asked, looking up at me. “You’re an official Academy member with your own team?”
“No. Not yet. I mean, I think I have my team, but I haven’t told the Academy and...it’s a little complicated.”
“So why aren’t you in training with them?”
Good question. I’d been wondering why Dr. Roberts had seemed to lead the discussion, giving give me such glorious recommendations where the result was I ended up on the girl team. “The...council this morning. When they asked our names and such, they asked me to help Mrs. Rose this week with translating for her.”
But as I thought about it, I wondered if it had been lucky that I knew sign language or had the whole thing been orchestrated?
“Oh,” Lake said. As she walked, she scuffed the back of her heels along the paved road. “I guess that makes sense.”
We approached the guys’ camp, and at first, I didn’t see anyone, except there was a small fire still going. They wouldn’t go far without putting out the fire, would they?
As if to answer my thought, the tent flap opened and North appeared. With his dark clothes and grumpy expression, he was a terrifying sight with the flickering light of the fire shining on his face.
Lake stopped instantly. “Whoa,” she said, her eyes wide as she studied North. “Something wrong?”
North frowned at her and then looked my way. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with the girls?”
There was an edge to his question. Was he mad? I tried to figure out if it was me sleeping in the other camp that had him upset, or if there was something else behind it. With North, it could be lots of things. “I...”
“Don’t blame her,” Lake said, stepping in front of me. “That crazy Carla wanted ‘all us girls’ together in one tent. Otherwise, we would have been here.”
I could handle North, but I was glad Lake seemed to understand and stepped in. It surprised me and made me feel like I really could trust her.
North’s head jerked back and he turned the full force of his glare on her. “Who the hell are...” He broke off and the glare vanished as someone inside the tent pushed on him.
“Get out of the way,” Luke said. “I haven’t seen her all day.”
While Luke and North argued over the tent flap, I leaned into Lake. “Don’t mind North. He’s always grumpy.” That wasn’t totally true, but I hoped she’d forgive him for being rude.
?
??I can handle guys,” she said and turned her eyes on Luke, who dodged a punch in the gut from North and raced toward us.
“Sang!” he cried out and picked me up, spun me around once and then hugged me tight. “I haven’t seen you all day!” he exclaimed, even though he’d seen me earlier—I knew he was saying it to cover up. He turned his eyes on Lake and then approached her as though he was going to give her the same greeting.
Lake raised her arms up, warding him off, but Luke ignored her, picked her up, whirled her once and put her back down. “And yay, you...whoever you are. You brought the Sang!”
“Aren’t you ‘not supposed to be here’?” Lake asked with a smirk before she pushed him away.
Luke leaned in close. “That was earlier,” he said quietly. “I can be here now.”
North approached, looking past us, over our shoulders. “Where’s the other girls?”
“At the latrine,” I said. “We’re heading to the other one, over by the trailers.”
“That’s a good walk,” North said. “Why don’t you just go with the girls to this one?”
I shared a look with Lake and then turned my full stare at North. “To make sure there’s enough hot water to go around,” I said, hoping he’d catch my intent that this was a must and I didn’t want to explain it and embarrass Lake.
He glared at me and then grunted. “Then hop into the Jeep,” he said. “I’ll take you over. It’ll take too long to get back and forth.”
“I was hoping to find Kota, too,” I said. “I was supposed to meet him.”
“I’ll let him know where we’re headed.” He reached into his pocket, finding keys. He shot a look at Luke. “Stay with the fire. Don’t let it burn down the forest.”
“Aw, I have to stay?” Luke said and then walked over to the campfire, sinking down onto a log. “What about the buddy system?”
“And don’t play with the fire, for fuck’s sake. Last time I left you with it, you burned the tent. I have no idea how...”
Luke waved him off, although with a sheepish grin. “Go drive them to the bathroom.” He waved at me. “Bye Sang!” He waved at Lake. “Bye, Bringer of the Sang!”
