My hawkeyed bestie had no qualms about being nosy AF and saw the message. I hastily shoved my phone into my pocket, as if hiding it would make the text go away.
“What does Gia want?” Autumn arched a brow defensively, as if she were ready to jump to my aid.
I let out a sigh. “Don’t know, don’t care.”
Autumn must have felt my cold tone because she wisely didn’t press, and my shoulders relaxed, only to be bunched right back up a moment later when she used her too casual tone. “So how are you doing with the Nat of it all? Having her back here?”
I shrugged. “I couldn’t care less. It doesn’t matter to me. Not even a little.”
Autumn’s eyes met mine, as if she could see right through me. This wouldn’t be a problem if I could just ignore Nat, but instead, I was doing the opposite. For some annoying reason, I couldn’t get her being almost kind to me out of my head.
Luckily, Autumn went on, so I didn’t have to elaborate. “Look, I’m team Jack, always, but I’m also assistant director, so I can’t be mean to Nat. And neither can you.” She gave me a look that said I needed to suck it up. “We all have to work together.”
“Like I said, I don’t care. Having her around is no big deal.” And before Autumn could question the validity of that statement, I waved and gave her an excuse about needing to snake the drains, even though that was now Nat’s job.
Leo and Hazelarrived just before flag football, looking jet-lagged. I figured they’d both take a break from the festivities and get some rest, but Hazel said she was riding a second wind and was excited to be the referee. Apparently, she wasn’t messing around when she came out wearing a vertical black-and-white striped shirt with a whistle around her neck. She looked like someone you didn’t want to fuck with.
We started the second Camp Wars competition with all seven counselors, and the new week’s campers who’d chosen to participate were lined up on the beach, ready to learn the rules and watch the first game between Chase’s and Lamar’s teams.
Sawyer had been a quarterback in high school, so they announced the rules as Hazel gave each of us bandanas. I tied my blue bandana on my bicep, and Nat tied her red one into her hair. I watched as she moved the long locks out of her face as if this meant showtime. I wanted to remind her that it wasn’t even her round, but that’d sound petty, and Autumn had just mentioned I should get my shit together.
We’d chosen the beach over the meditation meadow as our field because, as Leo had pointed out, the meditation meadow was all about serenity and didn’t need to be tainted with our aggression. The field would have five team members from each side, with subs on the sidelines.
“The main difference is that this is a no-contact game. No fumbles, it’ll be a dead ball. No tackling. That’s what the flags are for, people. No blocking,” Sawyer explained before putting their yellow bandana over their forehead like they were the Karate Kid or something. The majority of us moved to the seating area to watch the games begin.
Autumn had created a bracket, which she displayed on an easel. The plan was for each team to play a game until they lost, and the winners would move on to play each other.
Things didn’t turn out so well for Sawyer’s team. They lost in their only round when they went up against Nat’s team, who’d won their first match against Emerson’s team. Felicia was out after my team bested hers. Chase and Lamar had faced off, with Lamar coming out on top. When I won my match against Lamar’s team, it only meant one thing: there would be a Nat and Jack showdown. What a surprise.
I’d just come off from the field after an arduous win and wiped the sweat from my brow. Nat, meanwhile, looked all too happy, soaking up the sun and laughing with Chase. Chase had just flashed himself in the face with the sun on her compact mirror, and they both couldn’t stop laughing about it. She then held the mirror and touched up her eyeblack. And of course, it looked cute on her.
Just what I needed, more reason to think she was cute. I couldn’t let her get to me like this. Gia had thought Nat was cute, too. Ugh, I hated how my ex kept popping into my mind after that text. We were over. It had been months of no contact. Why was she messing with me now? Maybe it was good to remember, since it reinvigorated my hatred of Nat. I could use that.
Throughout the day, people had come and gone, choosing to sit in to cheer teams on or participate themselves. Most didn’t choose a side, but Chase, the poor sucker, seemed all too happy to cheer Nat on during both her games. Was he trying to flirt with her? That man was a kind soul, too sweet for Nat, that was for sure. But based on her track record, she’d chew him up and spit him out. I shouldn’t have cared who was into her.
We walked toward Hazel for the coin toss. “Okay, heads is Nat. Tails is Jack,” Hazel said, flipping the coin in the air.
Of course, my nemesis won. But she wouldn’t be winning this game. That was all that mattered.
Hazel blew her whistle and headed over to Leo.
Nat tightened the bandana in her hair so it didn’t fall out. “Can’t wait ‘til I get your flags, Jack.” Her voice made my blood boil. Her every expression had me bursting at the seams. Then I remembered my secret weapon.
I removed the trophy keychain from my shorts and spun it on my finger, purposely antagonizing her. “What were you saying?” I taunted, and Nat looked ready to blow a gasket. I probably looked like a cartoon villain.
The more she stared, the more her eyes filled with longing. “How about this, the winner gets Bernice? If you win, I’ll make you a hundred bucks richer.” Man, she was desperate.
“Get lost, Nat. This is my lucky keychain now.” I tucked Bernice back into my pocket with a smirk, and Nat turned on her heel. “That’s right, walk away.” I grinned to myself. Needling her was so much fun.
Autumn sidled up to me, looking accusatory. “What did we just talk about, Jack?” Before I could respond, she chastised me. “I know you have your reasons, but grumpy being mean to sunshine is not a good look. You’re coming off like an asshole in front of the campers. Be a professional.”
My gaze immediately tracked for Nat, and I shook my head, angry that I did care about what she was doing, where she was, if I was pissing her off or not. But it was fun to piss her off. And the truth was, Nat was competitive, a worthy adversary. She was a lit fuse ready to blow if I said or did the wrong thing, which was infuriating and impossible to ignore.
“I can do that,” I groused.
Autumn nodded at me and seemed appeased as she turned away.
When we finally started the game, I lost confidence that we’d have it in the bag. Nat’s team was formidable. They stole flags left and right, had bursts of energy that led to scoring, and were all-around athletic. Our teams were evenly matched, which made it harder to get ahead on the scoreboard.
