Bookishly Ever After (Ever After #1)(61)
His expression was frustratingly unreadable. “You’re eight, too?” I nodded and he stepped aside to make room for me. “I guess we’re partners.”
“I guess so.” The universe had a sick, sick sense of humor. I faked a smile to cover up the churning in my stomach and stood next to him with just enough space between us that I didn’t risk brushing up against any part of his body. “Go team eight?” I said halfheartedly, leaning against the wooden boards.
“Ha, yeah. We’ll make a great team. Band geeks unite.”
I rolled my head against the fence to look at him. “I don’t think it would instill a lot of hope in our campers if they heard you say that.” He laughed and a little of the tension seeped out of me. At least he didn’t seem to notice I was freaking out inside.
Breathe. Deal. It was easy enough to politely avoid him at school, but here…not happening. I was a big girl and if Maeve could work alongside Aedan, I could counsel a few kids and shoot some arrows. I let my eyes slide over to Dev, who was checking his camp papers with an intensity that made the whole breathing thing stop working again. Easier said than done.
While we waited for all of the kids to get sorted, I pulled out my cellphone, which was picking up barely a bar of signal, and started texting with my screen angled away from Dev.
You will never guess who my partner is at camp.
Em’s response was fast, as if she’d been waiting. Dev. No question mark. A sick realization dawned in me.
I frowned at the screen. How did you know? I held my breath, waiting for her answer. Something simple like ‘lucky guess’ or ‘He already texted me.’
Instead, I let Cooper know that you two would make a great team. You can thank me later.
WDSFJIEWHFE!
Huh?
I’m going to kill you when I get home. I shoved my phone into my pocket and ignored the ping of three or four texts that followed. Great. Set up by my best friend. For five days. In the woods. Without real showers. At the same camp as Kris. This was going to be about as fun as the presidential fitness test in gym class.
Dev looked over at me with that same odd expression. Maybe not so weird, considering I was the one ignoring my buzzing and ringing jacket. He opened his mouth to say something, but the rush of ten and eleven year olds coming our way stopped him. There was no way this was going to work. No way.
“Okay. Dish.” Cassie said, coming up beside me, her bag bouncing on the bumpy dirt path to the mess hall.
I looked up at her for half a second before focusing again on the ground. Between my sleeping bag throwing off my balance and tree roots, my odds of falling were high. “Dish about what?”
“This excrush thing of yours. Bad luck with the group assignment, by the way.”
That was the understatement of the millennia. Thankfully, Dev and my group were all the way at the front, yelling some kind of campy song. “Yeah.”
“So, if you don’t mind telling me, why is Dev an excrush?” She plucked a dead leaf off a blueberry bush and shook it at me like an old lady wagging her finger disapprovingly. “And please don’t try to keep me out of the loop. I’ll get it out of you whether you want to tell me or not.”
As much as I appreciated her save earlier, I didn’t feel like baring my heart to someone I barely knew. “He just wasn’t interested in me, that’s all. There isn’t really a story to tell.”
“That sucks.” She pat my arm and added, “If this is really hard for you, we could ask to switch our assignments. I’m sure the teachers would be cool with it.”
“No, that’s okay.” If Marissa could deal with Cyril every day despite her broken heart, I could be Dev’s co-counselor, build fires, and sing Kumbaya. “I’ll be fine.”
“If you change your mind, let me know.”
“Thanks.” We were almost at the mess hall and hearing range of the rest of the group, so I picked up speed and prayed I wouldn’t step in a hole and fall face-flat in front of everyone. Last second, I stopped in front of the mess hall steps and said, “You won’t tell anyone about this, right?”
“Never.” She propped her suitcase along the side of the building and reached over to give me a quick little onearmed hug. “Just say the word and I’ll switch. I can already tell half the kids in my cabin are going to be a pain, anyway.” She glanced up at the mess hall door and whispered out of the corner of her mouth, “Don’t look now, but it looks like your co-counselor is looking for you.” She then waved and bounced up the steps. “See you inside.”
I tried my hardest not to look at the mess hall windows or door and busied myself finding a place for my duffel and sleeping bag that wouldn’t make them disappear in the mountain of look-alike campy stuff.
“C’mon, Phoebe, you’re the last one. Team eight is waiting for you!” Dev’s voice came clear through the screen door.
Marissa pulled herself up off the ground and pushed her hair—and random drops of viper blood—out of her face. She had to get to the mirror. Ignoring the part of herself that wanted to curl up in a little ball and hide from the vipers, she nodded at Cyril. “I’m ready.”
I took a deep breath and gave myself an extra second to adjust my bow bag strap on my shoulder before nodding and heading for the steps. This wasn’t the Otherland, full of goblins, or the mirror world. I didn’t need Cassie’s help. I could do this. “Be right there.”