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As I got in line for breakfast, Carla stood at the head of one of the tables and motioned to gain everyone’s attention. “Good morning, OCC Campers!” she said with deafening positivity. I grabbed a muffin from a basket, listening with half an ear. “I know we went over most of the itinerary last night, but I just wanted to remind you all that this is anopportunityto foster relationships and develop meaningful progress as a united team.”
I wonder how late she stayed up writing this speech,I thought, heading for the coffee machine.Ooh, they have a cappuccino maker.
“So, here’s the plan, people,” Carla continued. “We’re going to push ourselves to the limits. We’ll scale those towering cliffs together, showing each other that we trust and rely on one another. We’ll navigate the wilderness together and overcome the odds as a united front.”
I pushed the caramel cappuccino button, starting to feel an inkling of dread about the speech. What did she mean “odds?”
“To that end,” she went on, clapping her hands together and sweeping a look across the room that had a definiteglintto it, “we’re starting off strong. You’ll each be paired with an employee I hand-picked for you to really break down those walls…”
I paused, my hand frozen around the coffee cup.Oh no.
“… and stitch any wounds that might have opened up. Our job is stressful, people. It’s hard work. But it’s not as hard as a five-mile hike through the wilderness. And I think you’ll find that if you work together, you’ll realize that interpersonal communication is a cakewalk in comparison.”
I looked around desperately. There was only one person Carla knew I didn’t get along with. In fact, he was the one person who had been responsible for this cursed Wild School gathering in the first place.Maybe if I sneak out the back, they won’t notice I’m gone.
Moving slowly, like the hungry eyes of a T-Rex were trained on my back, I lifted a lid from the stack next to the cappuccino machine, quietly fitted it around the mouth of the cup, and then clutching it between my hands, I backed away slowly. Slowly. Past the omelet bar. Around the juice machine. The kitchen doors were only a few steps behind me.
I bumped into something solid.
Two hands clamped around my upper arms like manacles.
I squeaked, and craning my head to confirm my worst fears, I stared up at the perfect jawline of towering Dr. Brady.
He flicked a glance down at me. “Going somewhere?”
Eight
June
Iswallowed, turning my attention to Carla just in time to hear her read off the pairs. “Andrews and Black, Rhodes and Nayar, Vasquez and Collins.” Little ripples of unhappy noises had already started to fill the gaps between each set of names. “Brady and Matthews…”
“Fuck,” I hissed.
Brady squeezed my arm painfully. “What was that?”
I stomped my heel down, intending to mash his toes, but he was quicker, and sidestepped me easily.
“Alright, everyone got their assignments? Come on up here and grab your maps! One of you will use the compass and the other will use the map, and together, youwill not come backwithout the scavenger hunt items.” That last part Carla said like a bloodthirsty Spartan warlord.
Amos pushed me forward. “Map or compass, Matthews?”
“Neither,” I ground out. But I couldn’t exactly make a scene. Not when my colleagues, who seemed just as displeased as I was about the pairings, were obligingly standing from their tables, coffee cups in hand, and heading over to the folding table at the front that held laminated maps and sporty-looking compasses on lanyards.
“I feel like you’re less likely to screw up the compass part, so I’ll take the map,” he said.
“Gee, thanks,” I muttered.
Amos gave me another push at the small of my back, and then we were walking amongst our colleagues, shuffling along toward the table. Because we’d been in the back of the room, we ended up with the last map, and I got a grumbly feeling in my stomach about that.
Amos picked up the laminated map, examining it. His brows pinched together.
Carla came up beside us and glanced at the map in Amos’s hands. “Honestly, you two deserve that route,” she said with an enormous amount of sass. “Good luck. We’ll see you for dinner.”
“Dinner?” I asked in horror. “As in… this is an all-day thing?”
Amos blew out a sigh, and still examining the map, leaned over to snatch up the compass and hand it to me.
“I don’t know how to use these,” I warned him.
