I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure Director Warren is ‘checking on’ Nurse Debbie.” I gave the phrase the sarcastic air quotes it deserved.
“Sorry?” His forehead wrinkled.
“You’ll see. What’s your name?”
“Sawyer.”
“I’m Tabitha. I’m a junior counselor. Came here as a camper forever, but this is my first time on this side of things.” I held up the whistle on the string around my neck. All counselors got them.
“Shiny.” His tone was uncertain, like he wasn’t sure what response I wanted.
I let the whistle fall. “I hated the sound of these whistles when I was a kid, but part of me wants to use it immediately. Power really does corrupt.”
A half smile peeked at me. He had a nice mouth, nicely full lips. “You a dictator in training?”
“Maybe? I guess I’ll find out when the campers come.”
When I stepped from the dock to the bank, I could see how tall he really was. I wasn’t super short—5’5”—but I had to tilt my head slightly to look at him. “Come on, Stretch. I don’t know too much counselor stuff, but I know where things are. I’ll show you the boys’ cabins.”
“Stretch?”
“Camp names are a thing, and now you have one.”
“Super original.” His tone was dry.
I pointed at my chest. “Tabby Cat. Because I’m Tabitha. I didn’t say we tried hard. The more obvious the name is, the better it sticks. Let’s move it,Stretch.”
When we reached the boys’ cabins, I stopped and knocked on the first one. “Get out here, Ben.”
Ben’s head popped out. “What’s good, Tab?”
“This is Sawyer, AKA Stretch, the guy who missed orientation this morning.” Sawyer winced, but I ignored it. “We need to catch him up. Sawyer, this is Ben. We’ve been campers together since sixth grade, and now he’s a counselor too.”
“Old friends, huh?” Sawyer put the slightest emphasis on the word “friends,” so slight I might have imagined it. Was he digging for relationship status info? My heart gave the tiniest skip.
Summer romances were as much of a tradition as camp names at Oak Crest, but I’d sworn them off after Krish Varma broke my heart when we were fifteen. Still, it was good for my ego to think this pretty cute guy might be interested.
“Old friends,” Ben confirmed. “Practically siblings.” So itwasn’tmy imagination. Ben had heard Sawyer’s unasked question and was setting him straight. “Nice to meet you, Stretch. I’d offer to give you the rest of the tour, but I’m trying to work out the archery schedule for the first session.”
“Ben is a deadeye,” I told Sawyer. “He won the archery competition every year, and he gets to run the range this year. Toss your bag in here for now, and I’ll show you the rest of the camp.”
He obliged, taking the only remaining open bed, which was closest to the door. It was the worst one because people always bumped it going in and out, especially to the bathroom at night. He might as well get used to it. Counselors were paired in twos and put in a cabin to sleep with eight campers, and we all had to sleep by the door to catch sleepwalkers or kids trying to sneak out. But until the campers showed up, the counselors all bunked together.
“It’s nice here,” he said as we wound through the cabins.
It wasperfecthere. Warm but not humid, with plenty of shady spots from the surrounding trees. All the facilities were comfortably worn so you didn’t have to feel like they were too nice to drag in half the beach after sand volleyball.
“Natalie—she’s my bestie—says this place needs a remodel, but I disagree. The whole vibe here is scruffy hospitality, and that’s how it should be.”
“Got it,” he said. “You love every splinter of this place, and you’re going to judge me hard if I don’t.”
His tone was teasing, not snotty, but I narrowed my eyes at him. “Basically.”
“Then I love it. Greatest sleepaway camp in the history of Virginia.”
“The United States,” I corrected him. “No, the whole world.”
“Greatest sleepaway camp in the whole world.” He made his expression as earnest as if he were giving testimony in court.
