What Happens Now(31)

I followed Camden another few yards and around a bend, until he stopped. The creek ran over a rock face here. It was steep, and I could see the rock was covered in green moss. The movement of the water made the moss appear as if it were moving on its own, a bubbling entity under the surface.

Camden pulled his shirt over his head and hung it on the branch of a nearby bush. Even though I’d seen him shirtless before, I found myself glancing away. He didn’t speak, but simply made his way from the trail and down the bank. It wasn’t until he stepped into the water that he turned, finally, to face me.

“Does this remind you of anything?” he asked, spreading his arms wide and fanning his fingers.

We had so little shared experience. I knew he must be talking about Silver Arrow, and then it suddenly seemed so clear.

“‘Do No Good,’ Season Four.”

Camden threw his head back and practically crowed, Peter Pan–style.

“Do No Good” was an episode set on a planet populated by sentient rocks. (Yes, it was one of the sillier ones. Which probably explained why I loved it so much when I was seven years old.) Azor Ray communicated telepathically with the rocks while Satina and Marr set out to find the largest rock on the planet, known as the Great Mass (the silliness, remember?), for help getting the Arrow One back in action. They had to cross a river filled with guardian rocks to reach this big one.

The creek, the rocks, even the way the trees on the bank bent and bowed toward the water—it all looked eerily like that scene.

“This is freaking me out a little,” I said.

Camden grinned and held out his hand to me. “Come down here.”

“It looks really slippery.”

“It is. But I know the good footholds.”

I took off my boots and slipped my dress over my head, thinking of how carefully I’d chosen my bathing suit that morning, and draped it on the branch next to Camden’s shirt.

I took a step down from the bank and into the water, which gathered so cold and frenetically around my ankles. Then I reached and on the other side of that reach was Camden’s waiting hand. I grabbed it, felt a jolt of warmth. Then I stepped up close to him.

“I knew you’d get it,” he said. “I love that episode.”

“For years, I talked to rocks,” I admitted. “Until my mother made me stop.”

“I was thinking we could do a cosplay photo shoot here someday.”

“But you guys only have the reboot costumes.”

“Maybe we’ll make new ones,” he said, something suddenly ablaze in his eyes. “I have one more thing to show you, but we have to get over there to be able to see it.” Then he pointed downhill, toward a pool of water where the creek flattened out about thirty feet away.

“And we do that how?”

“We slide. I’ll show you.”

He took one careful step, then another, then lowered himself so he was sitting on the rock. He flashed me a devastating smile, then pushed off with both hands. The flow of water caught him and pulled him down the creek, away from me, faster and faster. He let out a whoop as he landed in the pool.

“So easy!” he shouted as he climbed up onto a rock. “So fun!”

“You’ve never gotten, like, a concussion doing that?” I shouted back.

“No.” He scratched his head. “Well, not a bad one. You gonna try it?”

I didn’t really want to try it. But also, I did. Badly.

“If you feel like you’re going to tip backward and crack open your skull, clasp your hands behind your head. That’s what Eliza does.”

“Thanks for the tip.”

I stood there. Afraid to take even a step, because it didn’t seem possible that my foot could find steady purchase on the rock face.

“I’ll catch you when you get here,” yelled Camden.

I flashed him a thumbs-up, then took a step onto the spot Camden had pushed off from. Sat down on the rock, the moss soft as fuzz. Why was I doing this? To save face, to look like a good sport, to please a boy? Because I’d probably regret it if I didn’t? That was all part of it. But I thought of Satina and how this kind of thing was nothing to her. She felt present here.

I pushed, and started moving, and continued moving. It was like the water was playing with me, tugging and nudging, tipping me off balance. I kept my hands firmly planted on the rock, felt its bumps and ridges painfully under my palms as I slid. Before I knew it, I was going feetfirst into the pool, closing my eyes just before I went under. When I came back up, the first thing I saw was Camden’s face.

“That was spectacular,” he said.

I swam to where he sat on the rock and he helped me up. The rock was barely big enough for him to leave a sliver of space between his body and mine.

We were silent as I took a few seconds to catch my breath. I remembered a scene with Atticus and Satina in the “Do No Good” episode. How Atticus had stumbled on his way across the river, and how Satina had caught him (and how my mother used to shout at the TV, “You go, Satina! Sometimes the men need saving, too!”). How, after Satina had grabbed his arm and pulled him close, they’d had one of those Almost-Something Moments.

Were Camden and I having this kind of moment? I felt like if I turned to look at him, I’d know.

Go ahead, you idiot. Turn to him. Know.