Daring the Bad Boy (Endless Summer)(9)

They all started to laugh, and so did I. Kelsey just picked at her hash browns and I wondered what was up. The girls hadn’t fully embraced us into their inner circle yet, but they weren’t rude, either. I figured it would take some time, and I was fine with that.

Maybe Kelsey wasn’t.

There was more gossip to be had, and I listened with rapt attention, waiting for any mention of Kyle. Dreamy, handsome, slightly-cocky-but-who-could-blame-him Kyle, with his sweet lopsided smile and his sparkling hazel eyes and the way he’d always say hi to me when we passed each other. It made me want to walk past him all the time, just so I could hear his deep voice say hey or hi, always calling me “new girl.”

Like when he gave me the chin lift and a quick “what’s up, new girl” as he jogged by. Then he stopped and asked if I knew the time and I said I didn’t and he said “oh, that’s cool” just before he smiled and left me. I’d stood frozen in the middle of the trail for what felt like forever, a bunch of ten-year-olds running past screaming at the top of their lungs finally snapping me out of my Kyle-induced haze.

Okay, fine, I had it bad for Kyle. Problem? He barely knew I existed. I figured I would stick out like a sore thumb, considering I was the new girl among girls he’d gone to camp with for years, but it actually turned out to be a good thing. I was the girl who never liked the spotlight before, but at camp, it was totally to my advantage. The boys all asked about me, with the exception of Fozzie Bear’s nephew, Jacob.

He avoided all of us like the plague. I was fairly certain the girls tried to chat him up at one point or another over the last four days, but he wouldn’t give. Not even crack a smile, which just infuriated them. And then spurred them all to try even harder.

It was kind of amusing to watch, though I never participated. He…scared me, in a way. There was this intensity about him, like he could see right through all of us. Right through me. That he knew my bravery was a facade, that I was really nothing more than a weak little girl falling into line, trying my hardest to make friends.

Or maybe that was my own fears. I don’t know.

“We’re going to the dock tonight,” Gwen told me as she guided me into the bathroom later that afternoon. The other girls followed after her. “The boys are meeting us there after lights-out. And you’re coming with us.”

“Why?” I didn’t know how to say that I was scared to go out on the dock. What if it collapsed and we all fell into the water? God, I’d probably drown. My entire body trembled just thinking about it.

“Because all the boys will be there, including Kyle.” Gwen got right in my face and smiled. “It’s the perfect opportunity for you two to get to know each other better.”

I wasn’t sure about that, but I wasn’t going to argue.

Gwen grabbed her caddy full of makeup and started going through everything. “I’m going to give you a makeover,” she told me.

Excitement rose inside me, despite my worry about the dock. Gwen was the makeup guru of the cabin. She could transform any of the girls with her expertise. “You don’t have to…” I started to protest, but she shook her head.

“Nope, I’m so doing it. This will be fun.”

This summer, I’d wanted to belong to something bigger than me. And I felt like my girls—excuse me, my women—in cabin W7A were already becoming my gang. My posse. My squad.

Whatever I should call them, I believed they were my friends, and I wanted to get to know them better. They were fun. They didn’t push me or make me feel dumb for my preference of learning the fine art of lanyards over going swimming or hanging out at the lake in my bikini. Though I did bring bikinis with me. A bunch of them. I refused to bring a one-piece swimsuit for fear that would be all I wore all summer. Not that I’d hung out around the water much yet.

Yeah, I’d sort of failed that summer bucket list item so far.

I frowned as Gwen riffled through her cosmetics, searching for the right colors that would suit my skin tone, she’d told me. Did they make fun of me behind my back? Sometimes I wondered if they found me amusing and that’s why they kept me around.

That was a depressing thought. One I didn’t want to focus on.

“Bobbee is going to help you with your outfit for later.” Gwen stopped just in front of me. “Close your eyes.”

I did as she asked, pressing my lips together as I felt the brush start to feather over my eyelid. “What’s later?”

Gwen let out an exasperated sigh. “The dock, remember? We’re going to wait until Hannah sneaks out with Brian, and then we’re all going to the lake.”

“But don’t Hannah and Brian meet on the dock?”

Gwen started in on my other eyelid. “Presley overheard them talking earlier.” All we ever seemed to do was spy on our counselor. If only Hannah knew. “They’re meeting at the bonfire pit. It’s s’mores night and Brian told Hannah he could keep the fire going long into the night.”

I started to laugh, and so did Gwen. “That’s so cheesy.”

“I know, right? But Hannah said something like, ‘Oh, I bet you could.’ Those two are so hot for each other and camp’s barely begun.” Gwen started working on the first eyelid again. “Though we’re second session, so maybe they’ve been together the entire summer. Who knows?”