1
MAVERICK, AGE 15
“Holy shit,”Rami hisses, elbowing me. “Hot guy alert, six o’clock.”
I spin in place and then almost fall over. The hot guy in question is older than us by a few years and kind of skinny, with dark chocolate hair, sexy eyes, and the prettiest tan skin. Like maybe he’s Italian or something.
He’s come in with the group of counselors helping us run the summer camp that we’re sponsoring with Uncle Hopper.
It all started when our dads said we had to start helping people. When Maya found out that some kids barely have a park to play in, let alone a place to camp, she asked if we could start here. The Wildings put it to a vote, and her idea won over my far superior idea for an inclusive paintball course, but whatever.
Aunt Parker and Uncle Raf are in charge, but we came up with all the activities. Half of the funding comes from our trust-fund pool.
Pretty proud about that fact, actually.
The other half comes from Uncle Hopper because he just really liked the idea.
Rahm and I watch as Hot Counselor takes an information packet from my dad with a shy smile.
Holy choir of angels, I’m in love.
The dads forced us to sit through a marathon of old movies and TV shows yesterday, the overly sweet kind where everything works out in the end. When the one British boy finally realized he was falling for the other British boy, little cartoon hearts practically exploded over his head, which totally made the dads gross with nostalgia.
Don’t tell them, but I’m grateful they made us watch. Because I’m pretty sure cartoon hearts are exploding all around me.
“Who isthat?” I ask, rubbing my chest. “Oh, and dibs.”
Rami pushes his shoulder into mine. “Greedy.”
“Inevercall dibs,” I say, shouldering him back. “This is a special occasion.”
“Oh yeah? What’s the special occasion?”
I find the guy again and my mouth goes dry. My chest feels too small, and my brain just…
“Mav?”
“I’m going to marry that man.”
Rami clucks his tongue, shaking his head at me like I’m adorable. “That’s our new camp counselor, Mav. He’s off limits.”
Those words could not have meant less to me.I didn’t agree to any limits.
“Psh.How is that even possible? He just got here.”
“We’re not supposed to hit on the volunteers. The dads say it’s wrong,” he says with a fake pout.
Bastard knows that condescending shit boils my ass.
“Are these the same dads who saidwewere in charge of making sure these kids have a special summer, and then showed up and took over anyway?”
Rahm’s get-real look is epic. “We were in over our heads.”
“No, we weren’t.”
I mean, kinda, especially after the campfire incident. Butstill.
“Please.” Rami rolls his eyes. “When Uncle Raf says it’s too much, you know we’re in trouble. And Aunt Parker must’ve agreed with him because she made the call,” he says, as if I don’t know.
