Daring the Bad Boy (Endless Summer)(61)

I figured Jake was just lashing out. He thought I told on him to his uncle, so I could understand why he was so upset. That he wouldn’t even let me explain why exactly I told Fozzie about us frustrated me to no end, but what else could I do? Fall to my knees and beg Jake to listen to me?

No way.

It had been reassuring to talk to Jake’s dad. Fozzie’s secretary spotted me crying near the volleyball courts and called me over, escorting me into an empty office where a handsome man who vaguely reminded me of Jake had been waiting. When he introduced himself to me as Jake’s dad, my knees had started knocking together. I figured he was going to rip into me just like Jake.

But he didn’t. He was so nice, offering me kind words and asking me to be patient with both Fozzie and Jake. He explained what happened, how frustrated he’d been with Jake at the end of the school year. How he shipped Jake off to camp with all of these expectations and rules. And how he fully expected his older brother to keep watch on Jake and not let him get out of line.

“It was all because of me,” Jake’s dad had explained, his expression earnest, his brown eyes so like Jake’s it was uncanny. “I’m the one who didn’t want Jake to fail, and my brother took it to heart.” He smiled. “Us Fazios are a passionate bunch.”

I could only nod in agreement.

“Don’t give up on my son. Let him grovel a little bit, of course, but if you can find it in your heart to forgive him, I think he’ll do right by you,” his dad had said.

I didn’t want to give up on Jake, but I did think he needed to definitely grovel. And I needed some time alone. To think. That’s why I was hiking one of the trails around the lake. I had a water bottle and wore my thinnest tank top since it was so dang hot. I’d sneaked off, not telling anyone where I was going because I didn’t want Hannah to tell me no. I’d wanted to hike in peace.

That’s why it was so shocking when I plowed right into someone, nearly falling on my butt I hit them so hard. This was what happened when you walked with your head bent and your thoughts in the dark clouds.

“Annie! Are you all right?”

I glanced up at the familiar voice to find I’d run into two someones. Kelsey and one of the girls from cabin G7B. Sylvia, I think was her name.

And they were holding hands.

When they saw my gaze drop to their linked hands they let go of each other and took a few steps apart, putting distance between them.

“I-I’m fine.” I nodded and wiped at my cheeks, hoping I had no stray tears running down my face. I tried to smile and act like I was okay when I so wasn’t. “What are you two up to?”

“Oh, nothing.” Kelsey sent Sylvia a weird look, one I’m pretty sure I could decipher since I was proficient in sneaking around.

Busted.

“Look, I’m going to head back to the pool. Bye, Annie. Thanks for your help, Kelsey!” Sylvia said cheerfully, waving at us both before she ran down the trail back toward the camp.

Kelsey sighed as she turned to look at me. “You’re going to tell the girls, huh?”

“Tell them what?”

“That you caught Sylvia and me holding hands.” Kelsey’s shoulders sagged. She looked utterly defeated. “Go ahead, tell them all I’m a big scary lesbian and then they’ll freak out and never want me around again.”

I was sort of shocked that she just called herself a big scary lesbian, but really? That didn’t matter to me. I just liked her for her. “That’s your story to tell, Kels. Not mine. I can keep a secret. Trust me. Though I don’t know why you’re hiding it, considering Courtney and Riya were a thing during first session.”

Everyone knew about Courtney and Riya, and no one seemed to care. Why should we? They were two nice girls who happened to be in a relationship. I hated that Kelsey felt like she should sneak around.

Kelsey pressed her lips together, looking on the verge of crying. “My parents will freak.”

“They don’t know?” I asked softly.

She shook her head and sniffed. What was it with today and all the crying? “They sort of know. They think it’s a stage. It’s why they sent me back to camp. They figured I needed to get away from, and I quote, bad influences.”

Huh. Seemed like everyone treated camp as a place to get away from everything else.

“But now I’ve met Sylvia and…I really like her. She likes me, too. We just don’t feel comfortable being together in front of everyone. We don’t want them to make fun of us.”

“I get it. Well, not fully, but I understand how hard the sneaking around is. How it puts a toll on you and her and your entire relationship.” I told her a brief summary of what just went down with Jake and his family and how he nearly got kicked out because of me, and we both ended up in tears. Sitting on a hill, passing my water bottle back and forth and wiping our eyes with the hems of our tank tops, we were a sniveling mess.

“I wish you wouldn’t have excluded yourself so much,” I told her once we got ourselves together. “The girls really are nice. They’re just kinda hard to get to know at first because they’re such a tight unit.”

“I figured they’d hate me if they knew the truth,” she admitted.

“Well, I can’t guarantee every single one of them will be comfortable with it right away, but they all say nothing but nice things about you, Kelsey. They like you.” I reached out and touched her arm. “I like you, too.”