The only problem was Sawyer sitting two rows ahead of me. It meant my eyes fell on him every three seconds if I wasn’t careful. I forced my gaze back to Merrilee and squinted with the effort of keeping it there. After about fifteen minutes, she began fidgeting from my attention.
It was creepy. I knew it was creepy. But I didn’t know why I was feeling such a weird vibe toward Sawyer, and I only had an hour to get my head right before we got back to camp. I made my smile brighter, listened to Merrilee more intently, and—if the speed she flung herself from the Rust Bucket at camp was anything to go by—skeeved her out even worse.
Natalie and Ben were waiting by the parking lot for the van, and Natalie pounced on me as soon as I set foot on the ground, sweeping me into a giant hug before turning and giving Sawyer the same squealing welcome. I watched her carefully, but she didn’t seem to be suffering from unexplained tingling.
She let go of Sawyer to grab me by my wrist again. “Let’s get your stuff and go or you’re going to end up by the door.”
She grabbed my backpack from the rear of the van, and I hurried after her with my bulging duffel bag, huffing as I tried to keep up.
“What did you pack? Bricks?” she asked when I dropped it on the last cotnotby the door.
“Some kitchen stuff,” I said. “I wanted to try a few things this summer.”
She shook her head. “You did get the foil dinners to passable last year, but you’re tempting fate to ask for more kitchen luck.”
“Wasn’t luck,” I said. “It was seasoning salt and sautéing the onions ahead of time. I’ve got a few ideas.”
“You think Cook Marge will let you try them?”
I grinned. “Maybe I won’t tell her.”
Nat laughed but it trailed off, and her face grew serious as she bit her lower lip.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m not going to tick her off.”
“It’s not that. There’s something I need to tell you, and I don’t want you to be mad at me. Promise?”
“No,” I said. “How can I promise when I have no idea what you’re going to say?”
“I’ve been talking to someone from camp all year. A guy,” she clarified.
A knot of anxiety formed in my stomach, small but definitely there. Was she about to tell me she and Sawyer were a thing? The knot got tighter.
What in the—
Why would I care?I wasn’t into Sawyer like that. He and Natalie would be cute together. But now my chest was starting to hurt.
“We’ve been messaging then FaceTiming. And I like him so much.”
I tried to take a deep breath without her noticing, hoping it would neutralize the irrational wave of acid rolling through my stomach.
“—and he’s so cute and funny, which I already knew, but I had no idea Ben was so deep, and—”
“Ben?” She was talking about Ben? She thought Ben was cute? I mean, he was pretty average-looking, although he did have a great smile. He wasn’t nearly as cute as Sawy—
Ugh. I wanted to punch my own face. He was my friend. He had only ever been my friend.Knock it off.
“Yeah, Ben,” she said. “You’re not mad, are you?”
“Why would I be mad? Do you think I like him or something?”
She shook her head. “No, but we’re all pretty tight, us plus Sawyer. Ben’s talking to Sawyer right now because we want you both to knownothingis going to change.”
I snorted. I wasn’t upset, but those were famous last words every girl heard from a friend who got a boyfriend.
“I’m being for real.” Natalie knelt on the bed and grabbed my hands, looking into my eyes with so much Natalie sincerity, I could only laugh. “You know there’s no PDA at camp, and we’ll do all the same stuff as last year. Sundays off in town, group hikes, all that.”
She looked at me like she was waiting for a verdict, maybe even dreading one, but so much relief flooded through me that she’d meant Ben and not Sawyer that it was easy to give her a comforting smile.
