Beyond the Point(29)



For the time being, Dani decided to follow Hannah’s advice and ignore Avery’s rude behavior. To room with the girls’ basketball team all summer was far better than getting stuck with a bunch of random girls she didn’t know. But West Point wasn’t keen on giving out pleasant surprises. There had to be a catch.

“So is this a mistake?” Dani asked rhetorically. “Would they really put us all in the same room?”

“I unpacked as fast as I could,” laughed Hannah. “Before they realize what they’ve done.”

“No one’s asking any fucking questions,” Avery said, her eyes buried again in the People magazine photo spread of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston.

“If it was a mistake, it’s a good one,” said Lisa, from the other side of the room. Taller than any girl on the team, Lisa Johnson had a head full of cornrows and long fingers that she presently used to point in all their faces. “I’m with Avery. No one talks.”

“So what does this mean?” Dani asked, taking a seat next to Hannah on the bottom bunk. “Are we in the same company too?”

“Charlie,” Hannah answered in the affirmative.

“The guys too,” Lisa said, pointing across the hall toward the room of football players. “All Charlie Company.”

Dani quickly realized her luck: if all the football players were in Charlie Company, that meant Locke Coleman—the guy she’d met just a few minutes ago out among the rucksacks—was going to be near her all summer.

“Oh snap!” Dani shouted excitedly. “If we’re in the same company as those guys, then no one else stands a chance! We’re the most athletic girls in our class, by far. And they’re some of the most athletic guys. Our company is going to crush this!”

“Ooh,” Avery cooed from the top bunk, raising an eyebrow. “Aren’t we cocky?”

“I’m cocky because I know how awesome we all are,” Dani replied. “And that includes you, Adams. You’re fast as hell.”

That seemed to soften her, because in that moment, Avery turned her gaze from the magazine and looked at Dani straight in the eyes, as if to determine whether or not the compliment was genuine.

“That’s not what Coach Jankovich thinks.”

“Yeah, well, screw Coach J.”

“Can we not talk about her this summer please?” said Lisa from her bunk. “Thanks.”

“I thought you two were like, best friends,” Avery added to Dani.

“Are you kidding? That woman is the most racist person I’ve ever met.”

“Here, here,” added Lisa from her bunk.

“I’m beginning to doubt if she ever even played basketball, let alone if she can coach it,” Dani said. “She is so horrible. You know she’s as bad to us as she is to you guys on JV. Maybe worse.”

“See,” Hannah said to Avery, as if she’d been trying to convince her of the truth before Dani had arrived. “I told you.”

IN DARKNESS, DANI heard whispers.

“Shh!”

“Dani,” Avery whispered into the top bunk. “Get up. Get your shoes.”

Stumbling out of the bed, Dani rubbed her eyes until they adjusted. Avery and Hannah stood in the doorway, lit by the moonlight and waving her into the hall.

“What’s happening?” asked Dani, her voice as quiet as she could muster.

Shaking her head, as if to say they couldn’t talk, Avery tiptoed down the hall and carefully pushed the screen door at the end of the bunkhouse. It screeched open, threatening to wake everyone and blow their cover, but closed without a sound.

“We’re meeting the guys,” Avery said once they were outside, her eyes focused directly on the lake in front of them.

Hannah crossed her arms over her chest and kept looking back at bay number eight, where they were supposed to be sleeping. “We could get in trouble, Avery. It’s the first night.”

“Exactly,” she said. “They won’t expect us to sneak out on the very first night. That’s why it’s perfect.”

At that moment, Dani heard a branch snap in the woods. She imagined an officer walking out of his bunkhouse and catching them in the act, and so grabbed Avery and Hannah’s arms, pulling them to hide behind bay number six.

“Shh!” she said. “I heard something.”

And at that moment, six guys emerged from the woods. Locke Coleman stood at the very center of the group, his gap-toothed smile shining through the darkness.

“We can see you,” Locke said, and the girls stepped out from behind the shelter.

Without warning, Avery took off jogging toward the water’s edge, followed by several of Locke’s teammates. Clothes littered the sand under a grove of trees, and Dani tried to keep her composure as she watched Locke Coleman drop his shorts and tiptoe toward the water, wearing only boxer-briefs. He offered Dani a smile, then raised his eyebrows at Avery’s pale body in the middle of the lake, as if to say, Your friend’s got balls. Dani shook her head and shrugged, as if to say, I’m not sure she’s my friend.

“I’m not getting naked in front of those guys,” Hannah said under her breath. “We’re going to get caught!”

“Come on,” Dani said without breaking a sweat. “It’ll be so fast. They’re not even looking.”

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