by M. F. Lorson
“Harper, did we lose you?” a woman’s voice called from the front of the line. The rest of the group was out of view, but the interruption scared us both. Suddenly, Harper’s hands were on my chest as she shoved me back toward the thicket of leaves and bushes behind me. I was falling for a moment before I landed, and all I heard was the scramble of her feet as she took off to catch up to the others.
I laid there for a moment, hidden by shrubbery and wondering what the heck just happened.
After I pulled myself out and got back on the trail, I had thorns and branches to remove from places I didn’t want to mention. I cursed Harper’s name as I hobbled back to camp. To my surprise, Drake was there, sitting around my campfire in one of my camping chairs.
“Oh man, you look rough,” he laughed as I pulled a twig from the back of my shirt.
“Had a run-in with an angry beaver on my hike,” I muttered as I disappeared into my tent to change my clothes.
When I came out, he offered me a tall boy that I refused because for the first time ever, I wanted to be clear-headed to deal with this problem. But when he cracked open his, I was secretly hoping he’d get loose lips and spill everything.
The more I had on this guy, the better.
“I better see my girlfriend tonight,” he groaned as he leaned back and kicked his feet forward, crossing at the ankles.
I let out a little laugh thinking about her in that outfit and what he would think when he saw it. “Let me warn you now, that girl scout uniform they’re wearing is a real mood killer.”
“Psh,” he replied. “I don’t really care.”
For a moment, I thought he was being genuine, like a standup guy who cared about his girlfriend no matter what she had on, but then his smile turned real creepy real fast.
“The girl is nice and all, but I’ve got plans for her...if you know what I mean.”
I swallowed down the bile in my throat and pulled out my best acting skills as I smiled and leaned back, mimicking his posture. “And what are those?”
“When I met Harper, it was like everything just fell into place. A little rebel who happened to be the chief’s daughter. Imagine my luck when I found out she was a virgin.”
I really hated this guy.
“Why’s that?” I asked, picking up the shovel, ready to either end this conversation or stir the embers. Probably the latter.
“Come on, you know what I’m talking about. Young girls like these...they get attached, start to trust you, you know.” He took a drink, and I tried not to think too hard about what you know implied.
Did I know? How many girls had I let get attached only to hit the red button every time they called? I took a swig from my water bottle and packed that thought away for a rainy day.
“The girl would do anything I asked, even something...a little criminal.”
“So you two haven’t…” I said, letting my voice trail.
“Not yet. But talk about two birds one stone, if you catch my drift.” When he stood up to grab another drink from his backpack, I narrowed my eyes at him. I couldn’t wait to see him in cuffs. I hoped Hunt was the one to put them on him.
When he sat down, I leaned forward with an evil grin that honestly, came a little too easily. “So, are you saying you’re getting into her pants to get back at the chief then building her trust so she takes the fall for you?”
He leaned forward and tossed me a tall boy even though I never asked for one as he winked. “Exactly.”
Harper
Joy bubbled up in my chest whenever I pictured Landon, arms stretching forward, eyes wide with shock, plummeting into the underbrush. I wish I could have stuck around to get a good laugh in, but if I had waited even a second longer I was sure Reagan’s mom would turn back to investigate.
Now, however, no one was around to check up on me. Mrs. Riley had been in her tent for a good hour, and either a small earthquake was occurring in Abigail’s tent or she and Keena were asleep as well.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Reagan as I pulled a hooded sweatshirt over my pajamas and began lacing up my shoes.
“Probably not,” I said. “But he drove all the way out here to be with me. The least I can do is get a little face to face time in. So far I’ve seen more of Landon on this trip than him.”
“About that,” said Reagan. “He also drove all the way out here to see you.”
“No,” I laughed. “He did not come out here to see me. He came out here to torment me.”
“Maybe,” said Reagan. “But I get that vibe from him. Like you know, like he likes you, but doesn’t know how to say it.”
“I’m roughly 400 percent positive that is not the case. I know you like to see the world as a happy place, but Landon is and always will be a giant bag of tools. There are only two things he likes to do with girls. Tease them and…well, I can’t think of the other on a full stomach.”
Reagan laid her head back on the pillow. “Just be careful, okay?”
I would be. I just wasn’t sure how careful I was going to have to be. With Landon in camp, Drake wasn’t likely to make a move. I knew it was juvenile, but I was actually kind of relieved. Every time Drake and I were alone together he tried to take it one step further. He acted like sex had the same place in your day as breakfast. You could skip it and be alright, but if you did you ended up complaining about it all day.
Not a week went by that he didn’t remind me we had been together six months, and saving yourself was little girl stuff. It’s not like I was saving myself for marriage. I just didn’t know if I was saving myself for him.
When I arrived at their fire. Landon was already packing up for the night. There were more than a few beer cans laying on the picnic table behind him and for a brief and terrifying moment I wondered exactly how friendly the two had gotten while I was across the way. I had seen both Drake and Landon drunk and neither of them carried themselves very well.
“Glad you could grace me with your presence,” said Drake, his eyes travelled over my hoodie hungrily, and I could tell that the bulk of those cans, if not all of them were his.
“Sorry,” I mumbled and took a seat beside him at the fire. “This trip is important we ha-”
“I know, I know.” he said, cutting me off. “You have super important girl scout duties.” I didn’t like his attitude, but I wasn’t going to argue with him. Not with Landon three steps behind me just waiting to tell me how we should break up again.
“Come on,” I said, grabbing him by the hands and pulling him up to a standing position. “Let’s go somewhere private.”
A smile slid across his face. “Sounds good to me.” I made a big show of leading him into the woods, all sexy siren style, but really the only person I wanted to think he was about to get any was Landon. It clearly bothered him that I was dating Drake, and I had a fond spot in my heart for things that bothered him.
The only problem was, once we were out of his sight Drake was on me like a frat guy at a sweet sixteen party. It started with kissing. The kissing part I liked, but soon he was getting handsy and it took so much effort to push his hands back out from under my shirt that making out felt less like fun and more like a sporting match. Couldn’t he tell I wasn’t into it? Wasn’t a girl shoving your hand away repeatedly a clear sign for no thanks, not tonight?
Finally he pulled back and the moment he did I wished he hadn’t. I could tell from the look on his face that he was frustrated, and not just sexually.
“Cool trick telling me you wanted to be alone, Harper. I just love it when you act like you want to be with me and then spend the whole time acting like my touching you is repulsive.”
I looked down, unable to meet his eyes. It wasn’t that I was repulsed. I was just...unsure. I had explained all that before though. He didn’t seem to want to hear it.
“I get it.” he said, “You want to be a bad girl, so you date someone like me. Someone your daddy wouldn’t like. What’s the name for that group of guys in the movie you lik
e so much? The greasys”
“Greasers,” I corrected, biting the bottom corner of my lip.
“Yeah, a greaser. I get it, you just want to have a little fun with a greaser for a bit, but it doesn’t mean anything to you.”
“That’s not it at all,” I said, not liking the way his face fell in defeat. The truth was I did like the fact that my family would have hated him, but that wasn’t the only reason I was with him. I liked things about him too. It was just that lately, it felt like there were less of those.
“Really? So if I asked you to take a real risk, you’d be game? You wouldn’t run to your daddy and tell him how I pressured you to break the rules?”
I was getting really annoyed with his use of the term daddy. At what point had I ever given him the impression that I ran to my dad for anything?
“What did you have in mind?” I asked.
He folded his arms around my waist and tilted my chin up so that I couldn’t look away.
“I was thinking your girl scout project is going to grant you access to the restricted part of the riverwalk. Can’t clean it up if you don’t go down there, right?”
“And?”
“And I was also thinking that would make a perfect location for a party. Down under the bridge where the cops don’t patrol.”
I really wanted to say no. Because honestly that sounded like a terrible idea and I didn’t like using my Gold Award project as an excuse to get away with partying, but if I said no now, after everything he had just said, it would be like confirming that I wasn’t willing to take any real risks.
“I think it sounds like fun,” I lied. And then kissed him good and hard to prove I wasn’t the little girl he thought I was.
Landon
I almost packed up and went home. Almost.
That conversation with Drake made me want to barf while also making me feel a hint of guilt for some stupid reason. I was nothing like this guy. Nothing. Sure, I’d had my fun, but I wasn’t bragging about getting girls to trust me so I could frame them for minor crimes. I mean, sure, I was bragging...but not about that.
And for a second, I actually felt bad for her. I sympathized with the one person you don’t sympathize with—the enemy. I was here to keep her out of trouble and keep her out of her dad’s hair, so whatever she did in those woods was her problem. And if she was dumb enough to fall for his tricks, then that was on her.
Then again...if she got a little too cozy, he would get exactly what he wanted and she’d end up right back in the patrol car, or worse.
I sat in my tent, tossing and turning and convincing myself that she wasn’t worth helping. That I couldn’t keep them apart if that’s really what she wanted.
But then his words echoed in my head…
The girl is nice and all, but I’ve got plans for her...if you know what I mean.
“Dangit,” I muttered as I threw off the sleeping bag and climbed out of my tent. Slipping on my boots and grabbing my lantern, I marched off into the woods where Harper and Drake disappeared to. I didn’t have a plan, and I really hoped this wouldn’t involve a scuffle with him. Although, the idea of knocking him square in the jaw did sound really nice right about now.
Once I reached the clearing, I heard Harper whispering his name in a way that sounded like she was trying to get his attention. What the heck?
After a few more steps, she whisper-shouted toward me. “Landon, I need your help.”
I rushed toward the open area, and the first thing I noticed was Harper standing in her pajamas. Upright and fully dressed. That was a good sign. On the ground, lay a snoring heap that I could only assume was a passed out Drake.
“I think he drank too much,” she whined.
“Ya think?” I asked with a huff.
“Please don’t give me attitude right now, Landon. I’m not in the mood.”
“But you want my help?” My tone was bitter, laced with anger and a touch of disappointment. I hoped she saw it in my eyes.
In the way she avoided my gaze, I’d say she did.
“So what are we thinking? Cover him in honey and leave him for the bears?”
“Landon,” she warned.
“At the very least, he’d be mauled by a badger.”
“If you’re not going to help me, then just leave.” She was busy trying to hoist her boyfriend up by one arm. The dude was a scrawny loser, but his dead-weight was still too heavy for her to carry alone.
I set the lantern down on the ground off to the side, and it illuminated the tight-lipped look of annoyance on Harper’s face. She was on edge again, and I started to wonder if this girl ever relaxed. She was happy today during the water fight. I’m pretty sure I spotted a smile on her face as I careened into the brush. Did she ever smile with Drake? Not like she did with me.
Not that I was trying to be her boyfriend, but I wish she’d at least see the difference and stop being so ignorant.
“I’m helping, but what would you do if I hadn’t shown up?” I asked as I grabbed the other arm.
“Why are you here? What if we were making out or something?”
“That’s exactly why I’m here, Harper. Why are you so dense?”
She dropped Drake's other arm, letting his head fall against the cold ground. “I am not dense! I know exactly what I’m getting into, okay? It’s not your job to protect me, Landon. I feel like a broken record by saying this, but you’re not my boyfriend.”
“That’s right. This loser is,” I said, shoving Drake’s snoring body with my foot. “Do you know what he told me at camp? He told me all he wants is to get in your pants, Harper. He hates your dad so much that banging the chief’s daughter is his idea of revenge.”
She gasped and shoved me hard with her palms across my chest. “You wish! You’re so obsessed with my dad, you wish that was true so you’d have more reason to hate Drake.”
“I hate Drake just fine without making up reasons, Harper.”
“Because you’re jealous!” she shouted. Well, not really shouted since we were still whispering, but it was an intense whisper. She jabbed a finger at my chest for good measure.
“Jealous? Ha! What could I be jealous of? His criminal record or his dinky motorcycle?”
“Me, Landon! You’ve been stalking me even more than he has, and all you seem to care about is breaking us up.”
“Because I want to keep you out of trouble. You’re welcome,” I snapped back.
“Why are you so determined to be a jerk? One second, I swear you hate me, then you show up at my house for dinner and act like my friend. I’m starting to get the idea that you like me more than you’re letting on.” Our faces were so close, and I hadn’t even noticed when that happened, but the more we fought, the more drawn together we became. Her face was still screwed up in anger, her lips pinched and her eyes narrowed as she yelled at me, and I had this growing knot in my chest, like the angier she made me, the harder it beat, and if I didn’t do something about it, I would explode.
I leaned in, my eyes intent on hers as I whispered, “I don’t like you.”
Then, I wrapped a hand around her neck and pulled her face forward until our lips met. She froze for a moment, her fingers digging into the front of my shirt before she shoved me away, her face looking even angrier than before.
“What was that?” she gasped. “I have a boyfriend, Landon.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She had a very good question. What the heck was that? Kissing girls with boyfriends was strictly off limits, but kissing Harper Huntington was even more off limits. Last I checked, I couldn’t stand her. She embodied everything I hated: rebellion, stubborn ignorance, and chaos.
Swallowing down this rising anger, I grabbed Drake by the arm and avoided her eye contact, but I felt her staring at me. “Let’s go,” I mumbled, and I waited for her to grab his other arm. Together we hauled him down to his stupid freaking hammock, which we couldn’t get him into, so I suggested we just throw him in my tent. I would sleep in m
y car or on the ground...or who cared at that point. I wasn’t thinking straight.
Harper didn’t utter one more word before she stomped off toward her camp. I paced around the dying campfire, trying to make sense of a hundred things at once.
First, I kissed her. On purpose. And I wanted to do it again. To see this thing through and understand why I did it in the first place.
Second, after I kissed her, she distinctly said: What was that? I have a boyfriend. Which wasn’t a rejection. She didn’t hate it, and she didn’t bother to acknowledge the fact that we couldn’t stand each other, like Drake’s existence was the only reason we weren’t still kissing.
The last thought to work its way through my mind was that Harper didn’t believe me about Drake. She didn’t even care, even after I told her how he planned to use her as revenge against her dad. Until she believed it, she would walk right into trouble because of it.
And there was only one thing left for me to do.
Harper
I didn’t tell Reagan about the kiss. I knew what she would say, the same thing I had said. Landon Maxwell wanted to have all my babies. Landon Maxwell had a super secret voice protected diary with Landon plus Harper forever written all over the inside. That couldn’t be right though.
This had to be about my dad...didn’t it? He couldn’t really think that he and I were a good idea. Today alone I had shoved him into a bush, doused him with ice cold water and called him a stalker. That’s not dating material. He needed a homecoming queen in a pink floofy dress. I looked like the aftermath of a toddler with her first Barbie and a pair of kitchen scissors.
We didn’t make sense, and that was bugging me—but not as much as it bugged me that I didn’t actually want to stop that kiss. In the moment, with his face all close to mine and the scent of pine needles creeping up from beneath the Weekend at Bernie’s version of my boyfriend, I wanted to kiss him back. And unlike when Drake was pawing all over me thirty minutes prior, I was thinking about where I wanted his hands to go, not how to stop them. This was all very bad and there were still two days of camp left.