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North grunted again and waved us toward the Jeep.
I hopped into the front while North held open the back door for Lake to get in. Once she had her seatbelt on, he shut the door and got in behind the wheel.
Within moments, we rolled slowly along the paved road, following the paper map toward the trailer site. He drove very slowly as we occasionally pulled up on people walking down the road in different directions. They parted to allow us through, some waving to us in the vehicle as we passed.
“I was there earlier,” North said. He had a hand on the wheel, the other adjusting the temperature dials. “Are we hot or cold?”
“I’m fine,” Lake said.
North took his hand from the dials and placed it on the wheel. “Anyway, there’s a few trailers that have come in, but they’re all Academy. No surprises. Nothing to worry about.”
“Are these showers going to be busy?” I asked.
“Not likely. Not everyone’s going to want to walk the distance just for a shower. Everyone will figure out to try throughout the day to shower, or will skip days. It’ll work out.”
“And then we go home,” Lake said.
North peered at her through the rearview mirror. “You got a ride home, kid?”
“I have no idea,” Lake said. “I was told there was a school. Then I woke up this morning about a secret trip. I got in the car with the clothes on my back. I haven’t seen the lady who brought me since this morning.”
North huffed and dragged a palm down his cheek, the rasp of his stubble against his palm audible. “I know the feeling.”
I wanted to ask him about it but wasn’t sure he’d wanted to reveal so much with Lake around.
Soon we rolled into an area of the campground where there was a long field and small dirt roads leading in different directions. There were what I realized were RV sites—each with an electric pole and a small pad of concrete. I could only see three big campers, spread out from each other, but still close to the latrine.
The latrine was similar to the other one. Except this one was bigger, with brighter lights, outside and in. The doors were left wide open so we could see as we got closer.
When we got out of the car and approached, we could see the insides of these latrines had white tiles, smelled clean, and I didn’t see any spider webs above our heads. Maybe it was technically an identical building, but it seemed better than the other restrooms.
“How are these so much nicer?” I asked. “How come they have bathroom tiles?”
“People in RVs expect nicer latrines,” North said. “They pay more for their campsite because they use energy and plumbing. They bring in more money, so the campground spends a little more money on their latrine.”
“Don’t trailers have their own bathrooms?” Lake asked.
“Not all of them,” North said. “And sometimes if you’re here with family, you want a spare bathroom. Most of the time, people don’t want to bother pumping out the waste if they don’t have to.”
Lake and I peered into the girls’ bathroom. I could hear a shower running, but it sounded like it was coming from the guys’ side.
Lake breathed out a sigh and shuffled over to a stall. “About time,” she said, moving past me into the bathroom. I heard her close a stall door with a snap and set the lock. “I really had to pee.”
North spoke, holding me outside of the bathroom. “You wanted to talk to Kota?”
“Yeah,” I said, wondering why he was pulling me away from the bathroom. “He was going to meet me at...”
He pulled me behind the shadow of the door, out of view, and when I paused to figure out if there was a spider, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.
I froze, surprised. I’d been with other people all day, and I’d missed them, but still worried other people were watching.
But I assumed North wouldn’t dare unless he was sure we were alone, so I tried to relax and kiss him back.
It was short but intense kiss, leaving me wanting more when he backed off. “May not get another chance this week.”
I knew he was right. I wanted to talk about the night before when I’d bitten him, but I didn’t want Lake to think I’d abandoned her and I was concerned that conversation may take way too long. “Okay,” I said simply, and then wished I’d thought of something else to say, feeling stupid.
“I’ll call Kota,” he said. “And have him meet us here. I think he’s still over by the cabins, so he isn’t far.”
“I’ll go wash up,” I said.
“Are you okay with him in there?” he asked.
I assumed he meant Lake. “Yeah,” I said. “Sure.”
“You know she’s a guy, right?”
I wasn’t surprised he’d picked up on it—they were all observant. “Yup.”
“You’re still okay with it?”
“Yeah,” I said. “She’s fine. She just wasn’t sure about...with the other girls…”
He stopped me with a finger pressed to my lips. “If they don’t accept her for who she is, then they don’t deserve to be here. But I understand that Lake doesn’t want to cause any trouble. It doesn’t matter to me. I just don’t want you uncomfortable.”
“I’m fine,” I said, mumbling through my finger. I was pretty sure Lake was much more concerned about her Academy career than wanting to stare at naked girls. Otherwise she wouldn’t have said anything. “There’s stalls. We’re not kindergarteners. We can keep our hands to ourselves.”
He squinted down at me and then removed his finger from my mouth. He kissed me once more and then nudged me toward the door. “I’m right here,” he said. “Maybe remind him of that.”
I had to smile inwardly at his little warning, the mild jealousy he was hinting toward. “Her,” I whispered, although I hadn’t confirmed with Lake what pronoun she preferred. I’d just assumed by how she’d dressed and that she wanted to use the girls’ bathroom.
I wasn’t about to intimidate Lake by repeating North’s warning.
I went in, relieved that other than us, the bathroom was empty. Lake stood at the sink, washing her hands, her clothes in a heap under her arm. “Did you want to shower first? There’s several shower areas but they are completely open stalls. Thought I’d ask…”
I shook my head. “No,” I said. “You go. I’ll wash up out here.”
“Huh?” she asked.
“I’m not that bad,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t think me gross for not showering after today. “I’m too tired to do a full shower. I just want to wash my face and brush my teeth and...”
“Tell me about it,” she waved her hand over her head and then headed toward the shower. “I’m not even bothering shaving my legs this week.” She paused and turned slowly back. “Uh...I don’t suppose you have a razor.”
I did have one in my kit and passed it over to her. “Keep it,” I said as I deposited my things into a dry sink and headed toward a stall. “I may not shave this week, either.”
I assumed she needed to shave her face if she was going to keep the girl appearance up.
I finished with the toilet and had changed into clean underwear, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and cotton pants when I heard the shower start up.
At first, I began to tremble, but as I forced myself to take deep breaths, I realized this shower was different. The echo of the tiles made the noise reverberate so much, that it didn’t sound like a shower at all. It sounded more like kids were stomping around in puddles.
The odd noise made it easier to try to ignore and pretend it didn’t even exist.
Would I be able to survive the week without fainting in a shower? Maybe with the chaos and us coming out to these showers, I had a better chance getting away with it?
I stood in the stall, waiting, wondering if Lake was comfortable with me being here while she showered or was it just that I was better than having all the other girls around.
Secretly, I was grateful she had been too scared to join the others. Changing for school gym was always slightl
y uncomfortable, and I’d always used the stall. I hadn’t known what it would be like to be among other girls here at camp. Lake had thought maybe they walked around naked. Did girls do that? It made me uncomfortable thinking about it.
I forced away the questions and opened the stall door.
There was a shadow by the entryway, and I hesitated, thinking someone from the trailers was coming in.
I was relieved to see it was Kota leaning in, looking at me. He had dark circles under his eyes but was smiling. He had on his green jacket and wore jeans and sneakers. He was clean, so I wondered if he had been able to do any camp stuff at all or if he was in training all day. “Hey,” he said softly. “I don’t mean to barge in. Is it okay to come in?”
I shook my head, looking toward the shower area. “There’s...” I wasn’t sure how to explain. “Uh...”
“Who’s that?” Lake called from the shower.
