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“It’s a boy!” one of them said. “Coming to spy on us!”
“Or a bear!”
Lake chuckled and finished opening the zipper and then growled a little.
We went inside. Some of the girls were in bed, lying down but with blankets over their heads.
Emma was turned in her cot, asleep, as was April. Taylor was sitting up and grinned at us. “Ha,” she said. “Good one, girls.”
“Where have you been?” Carla asked. She had been sitting up and now dropped her pillow back into place at the head of her cot. “It’s past ten.”
“I don’t have a watch,” Lake said. I knew she had a phone so that wasn’t really true.
I didn’t want to get into where we’d been. I went to my cot, dropping down onto it and yanked off my boots. “We’re here now.”
Carla pointed a finger at us. “You could have been caught. You would have gotten into trouble.”
“They’re fine,” Taylor said. “They weren't causing a ruckus. As long as you’re quiet, no one cares if you’re out of your tent after ten.”
“They said it was a rule,” Carla said.
“They say that every year,” Taylor said. “But they aren’t prison guards. You don’t get a demerit or get put into the clink.”
Carla frowned, pursing her lips.
Lake paused, looking around after she zipped up the tent again. “Hey,” she said. “Where...”
“You’re over there with Sang,” Carla said. “We rearranged some of the cots.”
After I’d finished with my boots and had put them aside, I paused, checking out the cots, which had been moved around a little. An empty one was closer to mine than it had been before, and the others had made room for a big air mattress in the middle, where three girls were sleeping on it. The arrangement didn’t make sense and wasn’t the most efficient use of space. It seemed Carla had made sure Taylor, her team, Lake and me were shoved out toward the edges.
Lake rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she said and she dropped down into the cot next to mine.
“I didn’t do it because of you,” Carla said.
Lake frowned, lay down on her cot, and then turned toward me, putting her back to Carla not saying anything.
I didn’t blame her. She’d been on the other side of the tent before and now it felt like she was being pushed away.
Maybe it wasn’t what it looked like. Carla might have meant well; maybe the young girls had asked to sleep closer together and she’d complied. But I could see why it looked like they were trying to cast Lake out. Maybe Lake assumed it was because she was a boy.
It was obvious they weren't going to get along. They weren't going to be a team together. Lake was going to have to find another team sometime this week, or allow the Academy to put her in a team.
“Lights out,” Taylor said.
CAMP CONTINUES
For the next two days, I saw very little of the boys, and Carla seemed determined to keep the girls together.
We met other people, but we were always together.
Mrs. Rose met with us every morning at nine. She went through explaining managers, more about the favors and money systems, and tried to answer questions. She also went over more details about the special jobs for girls, like April had done the night before.
I was her voice, and when my voice became weak and tired, I would relay to Lake, who had a louder voice and could go on for a long time.
Because Lake and I had turned into something like camp counselors for the younger girls, they followed wherever we went. Lake and I often tried to sneak away from camp activities in the afternoons when we split up, even going back to fish crabs with Silas. But we wouldn’t be there long before we had five fourteen-year-old girls behind us, and Carla trailing behind them.
They did, however, participate in everything we did. They fished for crabs, took in a first aid training lecture, and painted. One day we volunteered to cook lunch and clean up after.
We never went on another hike, but Mrs. Rose occasionally joined us at these activities and continued to answer more of our questions. She talked about examples of inside jobs, too. Even though I’d been on a few, like that time when we helped a family of children from Mexico, and her examples were different from what I’d experienced, it just showed me how varied Academy jobs could be.
The burritos had a long cooler life, a fact Lake was surprised about, considering they had mashed avocado inside. However, not everyone wanted them, so Taylor made a vegan bean salad on the third morning.
Lake and I polished off a box of Pop-Tarts and started in on granola bars. Those held us until lunch when we could fill up. By the time dinner came around, Lake and I often were able to sneak over to the boys, but I was usually still full of lunch and ate a small bag of chips for dinner.
Every morning, a cooler loaded with a fresh collection of chilled mocha Frappuccinos appeared on the picnic table. I suspected Victor and one of the others made sure to stop by before we woke up. There was enough for everyone, including April, although she drank her regular coffee Frappuccinos, too.
Everything seemed fine, and Lake and I were sure we could probably survive the rest of the week simply existing on Pop-Tarts and putting up with a trail of fourteen-year-olds following us everywhere.
The one thing that became more of an issue every day was the fact that we had North drive us to the other latrine every night to wash up, and then tended to disappear for hours after that point.
Kota usually met up with us and listened to Lake and I talk about our day. There was always some complaining about Carla, and Kota encouraged us to talk to her. But the truth was that we both found it hard to talk to her.
After returning from the latrines, we spent our evenings with the guys around the fire. Lake and I often got too tired to even talk, but Gabriel and some of the others talked about the different teams, the classes going on, and what they might do the next day.
The boys were acting a little distant, I noticed. We were all friendly, but I wondered if something was going on because none of them pulled me aside or talked about the important issues: about me joining the Academy and the plan. No one brought up Kota kissing me, either.
The evening was the only time I really got to see them all. I missed them so much that once Lake and I could join them after we’d been to the latrine, we lingered there until close to ten, leaving only then so Carla wouldn’t make a fuss about us being out late.
On our third full official day, Lake and I, in an attempt to get the younger girls to leave us, spent all afternoon at the most seemingly uninteresting booths and activities. There was a geologist who pointed out rocks in the area and had us practice identifying them. There was a botanist who worked with us on identifying plants.
Unfortunately, those turned out to be really interesting. The lecturers made them fun. The most boring activity ended up being fishing because of all the standing around, waiting for a bite.
After twenty minutes at each station, we’d retreat, even if we liked the lectures going on, and try another booth, trying to shake the girls. But each time, they followed.
; Carla was always last to trail behind them. Eventually, we ended up at the arts and crafts area, where there often wasn’t room for all of us to sit together, so we were forced to spread out, finding seats where we could. It was as good as Lake and I could hope for.
“I don’t understand it,” Lake whispered to me, trying to weave the start of a sweetgrass basket as an instructor had shown us. “I would have ditched you by now...”
I smirked and shrugged.
“You know what I mean,” Lake said. “How many times have we told them to mingle?”
“I don’t know,” I said, focusing on the grass. Weaving was harder than it had appeared and was already hurting my hands.
That night, we had a quick dinner of vegan hotdogs at Taylor’s invitation, with Lake and I and a couple of girls opting for granola instead.
Every night, Carla tried her best to rally the girls into songs and skits and games. Lake and I often bowed out, not because we didn’t want to. Carla, however, often didn’t ask us to join in. Sometimes, she pretended we weren’t even there.
Once Lake and I were done, we left to get to the showers early and then spent the evening with the guys. As we sat around the campfire making s’mores, the guys let us complain about the girls following us, sympathizing. At one point I looked up at Kota and could tell he still thought Lake and I should talk to her, but he didn’t say anything and I looked away.
Part of me hoped the week would end without any sort of confrontation. I didn’t want to fight. Why couldn’t they understand we needed space?
When we returned from the guys’ camp, Carla was waiting outside the tent.
“We have ten minutes,” Lake said before she’d said a word. It’d been a really long day and I imagined she was as tired as I was and didn’t want to get a lecture about being out past the scheduled time.
“I don’t care about that,” Carla said. She had her arms folded over her chest, standing close to the door, blocking our way. She leaned in, her eyes focusing hard on us. “I need to talk to you two.”
“We’ll be late,” Lake said with a teasing grin.
