Ava laughed then and fell back against a bunch of pillows on her bed. “I wish I had your outlook on life.”
“Get out of that city life for a weekend. Come on up and smell the fresh air.”
“We could sneak into camp in the middle of the night and swim in the lake.”
I could picture it, how I’d introduce her to Heller and bring her to one of his hockey parties, how I could finally show her off. Ava would dazzle them all like she dazzled me, proving maybe thereissomething special about being one of the Alpine Lakers. That they’re not all leeches, sucking Roxwood dry of its resources.
“How about Thanksgiving weekend?” I said, hope pooling in my voice. “Come up the Friday after?”
Ava winced. “Excelsior Prep has a big alumni gala thing that night. Another time, though, yeah?”
All traces of tears had disappeared from her pretty face, but myheart dropped. I had cheered her up, but still, even in her darkest moment, she didn’t want to come to Roxwood. “Yeah,” I said. “Another time.”
“Promise me you won’t ditch me for some loser this summer? I don’t think I could stand it. Having to share you and Imo with a couple of douches? Not when the brats are running around camp.”
I laughed and wondered if she could tell my voice was hollow, that I was holding something back. It would have been so easy to slip in a mention of Heller. To tell her about our kiss and ease her in to the fact that my heart was changing and growing and turning toward someone else’s. But I pushed him out of my mind, worried that if I did tell her about Heller, she would assume I was betraying her, too.
Both our phones buzzed and Ava sat up. “Ah, there’s Imo.”
Imogen’s face appeared on the screen, zombie makeup still smudged from whatever Halloween party she had been to the night before. But before she could say hello, Ava launched into a monologue.
“You’ll never guess who my garbage can of a father is sending to Alpine Lake...”
Imogen listened intently and I continued swiping polish on my toes, tasting Heller’s name on the tip of my tongue.
CHAPTER 7
Now
It’s 7:45 a.m. and I wake up to the sound of reveille blaring over the loudspeakers. I groan, pulling my pillow over my face. My ears ring as the trumpets blare through camp.
“Morning, buggers,” Meg says from her bunk beneath mine. I glance at her with one open eye to see she’s already showered, dressed, and spraying herself down with sunscreen.
“How are you even awake right now?” Ava asks. She’s curled up against my back, spooning me into cozy oblivion.
Meg laughs. “I’m on breakfast duty. Leaving Advil for you.” She tosses the plastic bottle up onto my bunk. “You two look like you need it.”
“You’re a hero,” I call after her as she darts out of the cabin.
Ava sits up and leans back against the wall, draping her legs over mine. The air is thick with humidity and our skin sticks together.
“I’m gonna miss cuddling with you when all these annoying campers get here,” Ava says, reaching for a water bottle. She throws back two Advil and chugs. “Especially since those little goobers will be here in Bloodroot.”
I grimace. “Maybe they’ll be cool?” I ask, taking the water bottle from her and swallowing the pills. But we both know her twin halfsisters will probably be the worst kinds of campers—needy and spoiled, furious they have to change their own sheets and sweep their own floors. Ava and Imo were never like that. But we had a few in our cabin. Cindy Hall, who told the counselors her parents weren’t paying her tuition so she could wipe down shower stalls for Sunday inspection. Lora Jenkins, who only ate food her private chef shipped up from Manhattan. Ashley Nevins, who had her own horse brought in on Mondays to ride.
We ignored those girls, rolling our eyes at them from our bunk beds. But I could see shades of my friends in them, in the way they never broke eye contact with authority figures and walked with confidence. In moments of doubt, I wondered if Ava and Imogenwerelike them—that they were better at hiding those parts of themselves from me.
Ava shrugs and we’re both silent for a second, listening to Stu read the morning announcements and the weather for the day. When he finishes, we chime in for the final line he says every morning. “It’s going to be an amazing Alpine Lake day!”
Ava smiles thinly. “Not with this hangover.”
I nudge her with my foot. “It’ll go away by the time we head down to the waterfront.”
“Always looking on the bright side.” Ava pushes herself to the edge of my bed and peers over the edge. “Bombs away,” she says, launching off my top bunk, so she lands on the floor below. I dangle my legs over the side and she grabs on to my ankles, moving them up and down like I’m a doll.
“Hey, you okay after last night?” Ava asks, resting her chin on my knees.
“Yep,” I say, trying to ignore my own dragon breath and thememory of those boys looking at me in disgust, of Ava realizing not everyone sees me the way she does.
