CHAPTER EIGHT
As the last few teams are called up, I sit in stunned silence. I’m glad Fallon didn’t end up with Mindy. Parker whispers to me that Mindy’s team includes a team lead whose group came in last the previous year, Mindy, and two newbies. This surprises me because the teams are supposed to be even. The newbies must be able to walk on water or have superpowers.
As they release us to our assigned classrooms in the basement under the auditorium, a buzz of confusion and discontent fills the air. Sideways glances and snide comments float from the people we pass. I shrink back into Jay. The boys notice my discomfort and surround me in a diamond pattern with Jay still behind me, Noah and Lucca to my left and right, and Parker in front. Mr. Smyth gives me a slight smile as we pass him.
When we reach our classroom, Parker unlocks the door for us and lets me enter first. I go immediately to one of the desks, sit, and put my head down. Someone kneels next to me and gently rubs my back.
“You guys knew I was going to be on your team. That’s why you’ve been so nice to me,” I mumble into my arms.
After about thirty seconds of silence, Parker responds, “Noah hacked into the records to figure out the teams. We were surprised to see a girl’s name on our list, but we didn’t care. We did want to find out more about you and let you get comfortable with us before this started. I can’t say that we wouldn’t have talked to you. You’re the hottest girl here. We just may not have all talked to you.”
Did he just add that hot comment to make me feel better? Only perverts who make me cringe have ever called me hot, at least not to my face. I decide to ignore them for a few minutes while I think this through. If I had to guess, my name was incorrectly submitted as a boy at one point, which is why I was assigned to a boys’ cabin. Why didn’t Kelly fix my team assignment when she fixed my cabin assignment?
I shouldn’t blame the boys, though. They didn’t create the assignments. “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday what was going on?” My eyes meet Jay’s. “I asked you directly why you were hanging out with me. You told me that it was because you didn’t want me to think everyone was like Mindy. You lied to me.”
Jay kneels in front of my desk and places his hands on either side of my face, forcing me to pay attention to him. “I didn’t lie, but I’m sorry for not telling you the whole truth. After lunch, the four of us got together and decided we wanted to keep you on the team. You had already met Lucca and Parker. We didn’t want to scare you away by telling you everything. By dinnertime, our minds were made up. We planned on telling you that evening, but you never came back out of your cabin. I’m sorry if we hurt you or you feel betrayed. That was not our intention.”
I would’ve done the same thing if given the choice. Their friendships started years ago, but they only met me yesterday. I’ll go along with this.
I put my hands on his face, but instead of being gentle, I squish his face. Everyone laughs, and the tension diminishes but doesn’t vanish altogether. Jay sticks his tongue out at me, and I think he’s going to lick me, so I let go and cringe away from him. This causes them all to roar with laughter, again.
Parker, who still kneels on my left, grabs my hand. “Thank you for believing in us. I know you don’t trust us yet, but I hope you will.”
He lets go and stands to do a quick survey of the room as Noah, Jay, and Lucca sit on either side of me. “This is our room. We can do what we want, say what we want, and store what we want in here. I’ll give you each a key. If you enter, please make sure you lock the door behind you so no one comes in to see what we have planned.”
I giggle a little, and all eyes shift to me. A little information never hurt anyone. “I can pick that lock in thirty seconds or less. I brought my tools with me. I’m sure I’m not the only one with that skill, so if there’s something important you want to store here, we’ll need to find a hiding place. If we can’t find that, we should take it with us and hide it somewhere else.”
The boys mull this over. The meeting revealed no secrets as to why we need secrets. This is a game, and we’re here to play it. I feel like I’m in a Mission Impossible movie.
Before I stop myself, I say, “We should also check the room for listening devices or cameras. If all of this is mission critical, then they might employ other measures to track us.”
Lucca moves a curl that fell from my bun behind my ear. “Oh, it’s good we have you on our team. I wouldn’t want to work against you. You have a devious mind.”
I must’ve made a face because Noah pipes in. “Not a vindictive mind, just a mind that thinks about both sides of the situation. He’s right that we’re lucky to have you. The rest of us would’ve gone on the assumption that our stuff was safe. We wouldn’t even think about how to protect our plans. We can be a little cocky when it comes to that kind of thing because we’ve been doing this for so long. As far as I know, no one has ever stolen anyone’s plan, or at least been successful at it.”
“Someone”—I focus on Jay—“stole my original paperwork so I don’t know the rules. Is stealing against them?”
Jay’s not the least bit embarrassed. “No. The only things you can’t do are change teams or purposely hurt someone. People do get hurt. I haven’t seen the schedule yet, but there’ll be a time when we have to do things like relay races, capture the flag, and the like. People will run into each other and fall. That’s about the extent of it, though.”
Thinking about the races, I wonder if we’ll have to swim. I bet the lake is involved in some of these quests. Panic crashes through me at the idea, and I start to hyperventilate.
Parker rushes over to me. “No one is going to attack you again. We’ll protect you.”
“I can take care of myself.” I try to take deep breaths to calm down. I’m going to have to tell them. “Except when there’s water involved. I can’t swim.”
“Why didn’t you tell me yesterday?” Jay demands.
Was that just yesterday? I feel like I’ve been here a week already.
“I didn’t know you, and I don’t like to show weakness in front of anybody. People tend to exploit that. I guess me passing out was a good thing since no one realized I couldn’t swim. Are we going to have to swim during any of this? Can we skip those tasks?” I hope for confirmation that no swimming will be involved.
“You’ll have to be able to swim. There’s a mandatory task at the end where we have to do several days of tracking and wilderness life. Last year, we had to traverse the lake.” Jay rubs his temples as he works on the issue. “We can try to build some sort of raft, but we may have to swim in parts as the raft will take too long to make, and it will be too heavy to carry around with us.”
I reach over and touch his arm. “Hey. We have time before that happens. Let’s focus on this week. In our free time, we can go down to the lake or over to the pool to help me learn. The lake may be better since there will be fewer people to see what we’re doing. Just because I don’t swim doesn’t mean I can’t. I’m a quick learner. We’ll be okay.”
Jay nods, but his eyes unfocus as he ignores the rest of us. I point to Parker to put us back on track.
Parker picks back up on our security issues. “Once we get through our required business for today, we can check the room out and make some decisions on what we need to do.”
We all agree, and Parker pulls a page out of his planner. “We have to come up with a team name. I have no preference, but everyone throws out a name or two, so we can work on making a short list.”
The boys throw out names. Clearly, they spent the last year contemplating this. I, on the other hand, have no idea. I do laps around the room. Movement helps me concentrate. I also need to tune them out, or I won’t be able to come up with anything.
Before long, everyone moves around, and energy builds in the room. With this experience known to the guys, they’re ready to jump in feet first. This contagious excitement helps me brainstorm ideas. What’s a good name for a group of people? What if that group is a girl with a bunch of guys? I giggle at the direction of my thoughts.
The boys stop and stare at me.
I put my hand over my mouth to suppress the giggles. “What? I’m just trying to think of a name. Did you guys decide on something?”
Noah narrows his eyes at me. “No, everyone has to contribute, and you haven’t said anything yet. What has you giggling over there, missy?”
My jaw hurts from the grin covering my face. I press my lips together to seal in the name. Before I know it, Parker lays down the pen and paper he held and strides toward me.
“I will tickle this information out of you. You don’t want that, do you?” He tries to sound evil, but he says it more like a joke.
I put my hands up to stop his advance as I back away from him and shake my head. “I haven’t thought of a good name yet. Give me a couple more minutes.”
Parker peers down on me. “I don’t want the good name. I want the name that has you in fits.” He grabs my arms, spins me around, puts his hands on my sides, and digs his fingers into them. I squeal and dash away, managing to put a desk between us, but Lucca sneaks up on my left.
“Lucca, don’t let your leader bring you down.” I position the desk between the two of them at a slight angle. While I focus on them, I miss Noah coming up behind me.
He grabs under my armpits and won’t let go. It’s all I can do to stand up because I’m laughing so hard. “Okay, okay, Uncle. The name was Cassie’s Harem.”
Jay, who must have picked up the pen and paper at some point, writes the name down.
“Wait! No! What are you doing?” I yell at him.
Jay finishes writing and formally announces, “All those in favor, please say aye.”
All the boys’ hands reach for the sky, and they say aye in unison.
Jay glances around, his expression mock serious. “Opposed, please say nay.”
I yell, “Nay!” but it’s too late.
Jay’s proclaims, “The ayes have it.”
I run at Jay and tackle him. He’s not expecting it, but catches me anyway. We go to the ground as I scramble for the paper. We wrestle to determine who wins the prize. If I place it down my shirt, I’ll be safe. Before I grab the paper, three short knocks reverberate from the door. We both scramble to our feet.
Jay hands the paper to Parker as Lucca goes to unlock the door. I remember I’m in a sundress and work to smooth out my skirt and straighten my bun. Sparks fly from Jay’s eyes. The tension in the room was gone for a few minutes, but with the click of the lock, the air shifts from light to suppressive.
The door swings open, and Mr. Smyth, Ms. Carlton, Kelly, and Mr. Baker enter.
Ms. Carlton addresses us. “Please shut the door.” She waves her hand at Lucca and waits until the door clicks closed before continuing. “The four of us have discussed your team situation. Even though it’s against the rules, we will allow Cassie to switch teams if she’s uncomfortable here.”
In the back, Mr. Smyth scowls before he contains his features. He doesn’t want me to change teams.
Do I want to change teams? They’ve been nothing but nice and supportive. We get along well together, especially if I take the last ten minutes into account. “I’m happy where I am.”
Sighs of relief escape from the boys. Good, they agree with my decision.
Kelly clicks her tongue. “This is a one-time opportunity. After today, you cannot change your mind. These tasks require you to be in some pretty tight places with your team. Are you worried they’ll take advantage of you?”
The boys, irate over her statement, yell protests at the same time.
“Gentleman, no one says you’ll do anything.” Ms. Carlton clarifies to help settle the room. “Kelly is just trying to make sure Cassie understands her options. You’ve all been through this before. She has not.”
“There’s no one I would rather be with. There have been girls here that have tried to kill me, even if on accident, but these four have been supportive, kind, and considerate. They’ve never assumed my place on the team. I don’t know what the future will hold, but this is where I want to be.” I stand as tall as I can to deliver my speech. Hopefully, they won’t question me again.
“Very well.” Small lines crease around Mr. Smyth eyes.
Did he place me on this team? I’ll have to talk to Noah about it.
The four adults walk to the door, but at the last second, Mr. Smyth turns around. “Right before we knocked, we heard a crash. Is everything okay in here?”
I turn and widen my eyes at the boys. They hold back their laughter and smirk at me. My lips purse. I decline to answer the question.
When I assume they’re about to take our silence as our answer, Parker speaks up, “We were discussing our team name. Everything’s fine.” He emphasizes the word discussing.
Hopefully, the adults accept his response and leave.
No such luck. Mr. Baker raises an eyebrow at us. “What was the name you were debating?”
“There’s no debate. We voted on the name. We’re now Cassie’s Harem,” Parker announces with pride.
My mouth hangs open, and my brow furrows. How could he do that? We can’t change names now.
The adults chuckle to themselves, and Ms. Carlton finally shoos everyone out the door. As she goes to shut it, she turns to me and winks.