Daring the Bad Boy (Endless Summer)(10)

Right. Who knows? Camp was fueled on gossip and speculation, and we hadn’t heard anything about Hannah and Brian prior to our arriving. How could we? All kinds of stories buzzed from cabin to cabin, sights of people just hanging out together turning into a major event. Are they into each other or not? Did they hook up? Are they fighting? Our phones didn’t work up here, so we were all social-media deprived. We’d turn anything to gossip, claiming we had the facts to back up the story when we had nothing but our vivid imaginations.

It seemed all in good fun. I hadn’t heard any malicious stories.

Yet.

“What’s the deal with the new guy?” Presley said as she strolled into the bathroom.

I cracked open my eyes when Gwen stepped away from me. “What new guy?”

Presley rolled her eyes. “The other lifeguard. The one we’ve all been trying to flirt with the last few days. Jacob or Jake or whatever.”

Right. He was a lifeguard. Not that I would know, considering I never went to the lake.

“I don’t know. He never talks,” Gwen said as she grabbed a giant, fluffy brush and a compact of facial powder. She popped the compact open and dabbed the brush in the powder, gathering up so much my eyes went wide at the thought of all that powder being brushed onto my face.

I’d end up looking like a ghost.

“He’s hot,” Presley said, going to lean against the counter. “But he doesn’t give me the time of day.”

“He’s not supposed to. They get in trouble for messing around with the campers,” Gwen pointed out, sounding logical, which always seemed to infuriate Presley.

“Whatever. Like there are never any counselor/camper hookups here.” Presley grinned. “Give me a break.”

“From what I’ve heard, Fozzie doesn’t want his nephew hooking up with anyone at camp. That goes for counselors, too.” Gwen wielded the brush at me and swept it across my cheeks and forehead. “Rumor is he’s a troublemaker who got busted by the cops for stealing.”

“He’s a criminal?” Presley rubbed her hands together. “Intriguing. How do you know all of this?”

Gwen shrugged and turned to face her. “I hang out a lot at the lake. I’ve heard stories.”

“Hanging out, drooling over Dane?” Dane, the head lifeguard, was absolutely gorgeous, though way too old for all of us. What sealed the deal was his Australian accent. He only had to say a few words and girls were swooning left and right. Not me, though.

I didn’t hang out with lifeguards.

“Whatever.” No one really spoke about it, but we were all aware of Gwen’s raging crush on Dane. The fact that he had a solid eight to ten years on Gwen wasn’t a deterrent. She tried her best to gain his attention and though he gave it to her, it wasn’t in the way she wanted. He patted her head and called her cute—this, according to Kaycee when she told me the story, infuriated Gwen. She’d hatched a plan to land him by the end of the summer.

We all figured she was in for a big disappointment.

“So…why are you guys helping me?” I asked as Gwen feathered the compact brush across my cheeks. I appreciated that they wanted to make me over, but I also didn’t really get it.

“Because you’re our friend, silly. And we know you like Kyle,” Presley said. I started to protest, but she just laughed. “Don’t bother coming up with some lame excuse. You like him. It’s okay. At one point or another, all of us have liked him, so it’s expected. It’s like a camp ritual.”

Gwen and Presley laughed some more.

But I didn’t.

Was it typical of me that I fell into line and crushed on Kyle like all the rest of the girls? I liked him for his looks and nothing else, considering I didn’t really know him. So did that make me shallow? I wanted to get to know him better, but it was so hard. He was always with his friends. He hung out a lot at the pool or the lake. And I was never there.

I was too scared to go there.

“Is there, um…” My voice drifted off and I cleared my throat, my heart starting to pound when Gwen and Presley turned their curious gazes on me. “Is Kyle more than good-looking? Like, is he funny? Nice? Smart?”

Gwen winced. “Smart?” The look on her face said it all.

Maybe not.

“He says dumb stuff, and that makes us laugh,” Presley said like she was being helpful.

But that only made me feel worse.

“Listen, he’s very nice. Entertaining,” Gwen said, grabbing another makeup brush and waving it toward my face. “Now sit still. I need to finish your face. Pres, quit distracting her.”

I let her work her magic, my mind racing with possibilities. Most of them negative, like my fear of water possibly causing me to freak out. I needed to stay strong. I needed to act like tonight was no big deal.

I’d embrace it. Embrace me. Tonight I was going to wear makeup and a cute outfit and one of those bikinis I brought with me that still had the price tags on it and I was going to have fun. I was going to convince Kelsey to go with us and have fun, too. It could be done. It would be done.

I guaranteed it.





Chapter Five


JAKE

Everyone was out tonight.

I left the staff cabin around ten thirty to see a bunch of people milling about. More like sneaking around. I knew Brian and Hannah were meeting at the bonfire pit, so that wasn’t happening. I didn’t want to hang out on the volleyball court again. I wanted to go somewhere more private. Somewhere Lacey and I could really be alone.