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He gave me a funny look. I hadn’t said it rudely, but who was I to tell a grown man how to live?
“All right,” he said. “I will.”
Tiffany waved at us from the doorway.
“She’s waiting for you,” I said, turning away in my seat.
“Who?”
“Tiffany.”
“Oh.” He didn’t get up right away. “I’ll be back. Stay here.”
Whatever. I always did what I was told, whether it came from my parents, teachers, Tiffany, or, now, Manning. And where had that gotten me? Here, watching him walk away with her. “Why should I?” I asked.
“Because I don’t want you walking around in the woods by yourself at night. That’s reasonable, isn’t it?” He didn’t wait for my answer, just stood and left.
What if I did walk alone through the woods at night? Would he put me in counselor time-out? He had no real power over me. Why should I listen to anything I said when he was outside with my sister?
“Are you all right?”
I looked up at Corbin, who towered over me. “Yes. I mean, no. I’m tired.”
“Long day, huh? Can I walk you back to your cabin?”
Manning had told me to stay put. I knew it was because he cared, but in that moment, I questioned what that even meant. I stood. “That would be nice.”
Corbin held the door open for me, and we passed into the night. As soon as we left the glow of the cafeteria, darkness was all around us. “Man, I love it here,” Corbin said as we crossed through the woods. “So peaceful. I would’ve done the counselor thing, but I start baseball camp this week.”
“Are you really on the all-star team?”
“Yep. I’m applying for scholarships, actually.”
“Really? Where?”
“My dad wants me to go somewhere in California, like Stanford, but I’ve always wanted to move east.”
I stopped to gape at him. “You’re kidding. You’re such a California guy.”
He laughed. “I know. It’s weird. But I love that the East Coast has history and that the city’s like the center of the world. I want to do big things, Lake. Be someone. That’s what New York’s about.”
“What about surfing? Skating? All that stuff?”
“You can surf in New York. There’s this place called Montauk. It’s bad-ass, or so I’ve heard. Haven’t been yet.”
We started walking again, his knuckles brushing mine. “What about you? I know you’re a year under me, but have you started thinking about college?”
“I’m going to USC.”
He chuckled. “Just like that, huh?”
Just like that. Easy. Wasn’t it? I hadn’t really considered there might be other options. It’d only ever been ’SC. “Would you stay in California if your dad asked?”
“Only if I wanted to.”
The east coast seemed so far away. Going to school there would be like moving to a new country. If I was honest, even Stanford in Northern California intimidated me. “My dad went to USC. We’ve been working on stuff for my college apps since middle school.” We hadn’t even discussed it. Dad and I had just started planning at some point.
“That’s cool,” he said. “I mean, it’s a great school. They’ve got a baseball team, too.”
I looked at the ground, unsure of how to respond to that. For a few silent seconds, the only sound was our feet crunching on the forest floor and the chirp of crickets. I smelled the cigarette smoke first. It made its way through me instantly, leaving me warm and cozy, because it usually meant I was close to Manning. With as strongly as I associated him with it, it still surprised me that he’d never actually smoked in front of me.
“I hear voices,” Corbin said. “Who’s smoking?”
“Who do you think?”
“Your sister?”
I nodded and called, “Tiff?”
“We’re over here,” she said.
Corbin and I cut through the trees until two shadowy figures came into sight.
“What’re you doing out here, Lake?” Manning asked. “I told you to—” He stopped, and the four of us stood in silence a moment.
“Told her to what?” Tiffany asked.
“To stay where she was.”
It was so quiet, I could hear Tiffany shift in her platforms. “Why?”
I was following his rules. He couldn’t protest. And if he did, how would it look to Tiffany and Corbin? “He doesn’t think it’s safe to walk around in the dark alone,” I said. “But, as you can see, I’m not alone. So, goodnight.”
I felt his eyes on me. He wanted to say more. Now he knew how I felt, always having to keep things inside.
Finally, Manning took a drag of his cigarette and after a few seconds, he stepped back. “’Night.”
What had I expected him to do? Ditch Tiffany to walk me back himself? He couldn’t, but that didn’t make me feel any better. It just frustrated me more.
“He’s an intense dude,” Corbin said as we walked away.
I couldn’t answer, not without snapping at Corbin, who had nothing to do with this.
“You want to go check out the lake?” Corbin said. “It’s a little bit of a walk, but it’s amazing at night.”
