Purple-shirted guy loses. The round is over, and the whistle signals it, loud and clear. Mikey finds his way over to my side right after the game.
“What’s wrong?” His eyes are so soft and sincere as he approaches me. I know that he cares about me and that makes it harder.
“I’m just tired,” I lie.
“Okay. Well, cheer up. We just won!” He nudges my shoulder, trying to knock me out of my daze. I fake it for him, because I know how awesome of a friend he’s been to me.
“You’re right.” I smile up at him, nodding.
“Later, Ryder.” He smirks and runs back to the group of guys. My eyes track him slowly. That’s when they meet with Ari’s. He’s jealous—I can tell that much. I shrug, not wanting to upset him. He lifts his brows, asking a silent question, and I just shake my head, not wanting to elaborate any more.
The rest of the games, I stand in the freezing cold, waiting for it all to end. I’m exhausted. I’m cranky. My pills have completely worn off, and I’m agitated. Every time someone tries to talk to me, I snap. And then I feel guilty after for snapping.
So I stand alone on the sidelines to protect my friends from myself.
We come in second out of all of the girls, and we are definitely proud of that. Purple beats us, which stinks since we teamed up with them, but better purple than orange—or another enemy team we’ve created.
It’s clear now which teams are playing with the others. Alliances have been formed, and I hope that ours will stick and be worth it. Orange is the worst, gunning for us constantly. They’re rooting against us the entire time, slandering our name. But I pay them no attention, unlike Megan, who takes it all to heart.
Once we are dismissed, we are allowed an hour before we have to head to the main building for dinner. My group of four—Kara, Lisa, Megan and I—head back to the cabin to shower, change, and then leave in search of food.
I grab my shower bag from my suitcase in the cabin and a change of snug clothes to wear tonight. Nobody else is back yet, so the showers are fully open. I grab a pill and pop it really quick, hoping it will take the edge off of my bad attitude.
Two stalls line the back wall of both bathrooms, so we’ll each get one before more girls start piling in wanting a turn. I drop my bag on the sink and hang my towel on the hanger before turning the shower on, letting it get steamy before jumping in.
Kara barges in the room with all of her accouterments in tow. Her hands are literally filled with full shampoo bottles, multiple hairbrushes, and some big cube. She pulls the cube shaped device in the center of the room on top of a sink. I look at her with muddled eyes, but hers are lit up, Christmas style.
“Jam time.” Kara pushes in a button on the top, and the music starts flowing from the small speaker. Flux Pavillion’s “I Can’t Stop,” fills the small bathroom with its dubstep noises.
I smile as I sing along to the song. I quickly strip my clothes off and then jump into the hot shower—it pays being first. As I start to lather my head with shampoo the song changes. Kara scurries into her stall next to me. Now Miley’s voice floods the bathroom, and Kara sings along. The hot water relaxes me, but the song is grates on my last nerve.
“And a Britney song was on,” Kara screeches out, jamming to the music, dramatically emphasizing “on.”
“And a Britney song was ON!” I add, sarcastically singing with her. She giggles, but I don’t let myself be embarrassed. This is fun; I’m having fun. I need to do this. This is my life, not a past life, not what could have been. Right now, I have to live. Even if that means singing to an incredibly over played ballad.
We finish out the rest of the song together, completely off pitch and off beat. There’s a mild break in the music before the next song comes on, and we hear noises from the girls in the other bathroom.
“Will you two shut the hell up!” Lisa yells over to us, her voice barely making it before the Backstreet Boys enter. I’m a sucker for a boy band, and this one was my all-time favorite as a kid. We sing at the top of our lungs until we’re both clean and jumping out of the shower.
“You guys suck.” Megan laughs as she pushes open the bathroom door. She peeks her damp head in, glaring at us but a hint of humor underlies it.
“You’re just jealous you weren’t invited to the sing along,” Kara smirks, sticking her tongue out from behind the shower curtain. I smile at the interaction as I grab my stuff and head back into the main cabin.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
forgiveness is healthy
The large building where dinner is held is to die for. I saw it when we pulled up, but we all immediately dispersed to our cabins, so I never got to look inside. My entire cabin crew walks to dinner together, all twenty of us. The green roof and wood paneling is much cleaner and up kept than the small cabins around the yard that look like they’re falling apart. Once we step inside the double doors, the three girls—Kara, Megan and Lisa—walk ahead of me.
I pause to admire the large wooden staircase that’s taking up most of the foyer. A stone fireplace is almost hidden in the back. The large and mostly empty foyer is magnificent and two stories high. There’s an area rug over the wood floor that ties in the green and brown perfectly, with little shrubs lining the edges in a whimsical way.
I start walking forward to where the girls are going, but have to jog to catch up with them. “This is crazy,” I say to Kara, linking arms with her so I don’t get lost behind the pack. But she’s too giddy with joy over being here to even look at her surroundings.
After going through a set of doors with glass cutouts, we come into a cavernous dining hall nearly full with students and teachers.
The tables are long, fitting over twenty people per table—family style. There’s a buffet line of food near the back of the room, and we immediately head that way. I grab myself a heaping pile of fried beans, a hot dog, and some coleslaw that I really don’t want but pick up anyway since it’s the healthy thing to do.
We sit at a nearly empty table, and after putting our trays down, we dig in. I regret grabbing so many beans, because my cabin mates will probably pay later tonight, but I don’t dwell on it. I’m starving, so I clean my plate almost instantly to the point where my stomach objects.
“Are you pumped for manhunt tonight?” Kara makes her voice deep and spooky as she asks us. Her eyes roam the table as if she’s telling a ghost story, and for a second, I’m actually worried.
“I don’t really get it. We just hide in the dark?” I don’t grasp the concept of the game. I don’t know whether I’ve lived under a rock or if Connecticut is just a completely different world. I’ve never heard of the game and have definitely never played it.
“We’ll be split into teams. Knowing the boys, it will be us versus them. We either hide or we hunt. If we hide, we get five minutes to find a hiding spot. If we’re all found, we lose. Bottom line.” Lisa stares at me like I’m stupid.
“So it’s grown up hide-and-seek?” I clarify, rolling my eyes at their game.
“Nice one.” Megan laughs, slapping me on the back. She gets her own icy stare from the ice queen, Lisa, but it affects her more. She sinks into her seat and stays quiet.
“Sup, girlies?” Mikey struts over to us, moving Megan over and sliding in next to me on the bench. His stare comes off sultry and sends my nerves on high alert, because I know the rumor going around is that he’s crushing on me—still. I look across the table at Kara, but she’s too busy chatting with Carter to view my SOS plea.
“Which cabin are you guys in?” Shane asks, having eyes for only Megan.
“Twelve.” Her voice changes whenever he’s around. She’s not scared or weak Megan. She’s just Megan, and it warms me. I like to see her like this—happy. Plus, I love the pair.
“Sick, we’re all in ten with Professor A.” Mikey pulls me close to his lean body—as if I could even get closer. I try to shy away, but I don’t want to make it awkward and cold so I make sure there’s always an inch of air between us.
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“What time do we want to rendezvous?” Kara asks, but I stop paying attention when my cell vibrates in my pocket. I pretend to listen to their plans for manhunt, but as I open my phone, Ollie’s name gets all my focus.
I’ll be at your cabin at midnight.
I don’t know how to react. Aribelle impairs my thoughts. He never told me about her. It kills me to know that I would have had a daughter with him. But the rational part of my brain takes over.
Why would he tell me?
He knew it would only upset me. It’s not like he hid it from me. When I confronted him, he tried to tell me. But I just shut him out. I ruined it. He probably would have told me if I just asked him like an adult.
My head starts to throb. I press my fingers to my temples and try to soothe my impending headache, but it doesn’t work. I want to talk to my mom. I want to fix things with Ollie. I shouldn’t have kicked him out of the room when I had a break down.
I’m sorry about before. I took out my grief on you. Forgive me? I type.
I’ll always forgive you. I’m sorry you found out like that. I never would have thought you’d have a dream about Aribelle. We can talk about her if you want. Ollie responds.
I don’t want to talk about it…See you later. I type.
Love you.
After dinner, we’re allowed to mingle for a little bit so we all congregate in a big lounge room on the top floor of the main building. This place is like a labyrinth of rooms. It’s much larger than it looks from the outside, and homier.
Downstairs, there’s two kitchens—two! There’s a formal dining room and then the main banquet hall that we have dinner in. There’s tons of little parlors around the place where people are supposed to sit and converse.
The lounge has a roaring fire going in a stone fireplace dead center on the wall, making the air toasty. I sit on a plush, leather couch with Kara and Mikey on either side of me.
I lean myself against Kara so my head is on her shoulder. I pretend I’m tired, but I mostly do it to distance myself from Mikey, who’s laying it on thick tonight. I don’t know if it’s the altitude or what, but it’s starting to make me miserable. We’re all sated from our meal and in food comas, so it’s strangely quiet, which doesn’t happen much with this group.
After relaxing by the hot fire, we head back to our cabins for “bonding time,” according to Magdelina. Of course, Magdelina comes for us first, and we have to walk around behind her, gathering the rest of our cabin from the main building. Mikey gives me this look in goodbye that perks my radar up. But I let it go and follow Kara outside.
“Pst,” someone whispers. “Eury.” I look around and spot Ari underneath the large staircase in the foyer. I rush to him, immediately wrapping my arms around his neck.
“What are you doing?” I ask him, my eyes wide as I steal some time with him.
“I just wanted to see you before we all had to go back to our cabins. I missed you,” he tells me and my heart skips a beat. I nuzzle into his neck, smiling to myself.
“We have go bond with each other.” I elongate the my words because the idea of bonding makes me want to puke. “But I have to say, this visit definitely perked me up.” I refuse to let go of him for fear of the sadness that will follow.
“Want to sneak out and meet up with me later?” He pushes me back, but grasps my hands, so we’re still touching. He’s in comfortable clothes, all dark like usual.
“I do,” I tell him. “But I can’t.”
“What do you mean you can’t?” he asks me, his face falling.
“Well, Ollie was able to talk to my mom and she agreed to talk to me tonight at midnight. But you can’t come.” I let him down. Truthfully, I’d like him to be there to support me.
“You don’t want me there?” His voice is soft, almost like he’s hurt. I squeeze his hands in mine.
“I do. It’s just Ollie doesn’t.”
“Oh…” Realization sinks in, and he nods.
“I’m sorry, Ari. I want you there. I really do. Maybe after, we can meet up and talk,” I try to make him feel better but the fact of the matter is, he’s hurt. And I get it.
“Listen, I have to go rally my cabin students. Text me if you need anything.” He drops my hands, and the loss overwhelms me. He gives me a fake smile, and I fake it back, both of us depressed for different reasons.
“Love you.” I shrug, and on my tiptoes, I kiss his cheek. Just as he’s about to say something, a girl from my cabin comes over to us, breaking our moment even though it was ending anyway.
“Mag said we can’t start until all the girls are there, so can you hurry up?” the short blonde asks me.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll be right there,” I answer and then return my attention back to Ari. “Bye,” I say, waving as he slowly walks away from where we are. He smiles and then he’s gone, a steam of air left behind him.
I catch up with my group near the cabins. Kara is going on and on about how fun this is going to be. I’m not really looking forward to bonding time, and I’m really not looking to “bond” with Magdelina.
I jump on the bottom bunk of my bed when we’re back in our cabin and lie against the stiff pillow. I could pass out, but contemplate taking a pill. Even though I feel crappy when Ari leaves me, it’s still better than before, so I forgo the pill and focus on Magdelina in the center of the room.
“It’s time for a murder,” Magdelina announces, sending shivers up my back. I glance around the room, waiting for someone to shoot down her announcement, but everyone actually looks excited. I look to Kara, who’s rubbing her hands together like an evil genius.
“It’s a game, Ryder.” She frowns at me, making me feel stupid. I have literally never heard of half the games these people play. Last time I checked, I didn’t live under a rock, but I’m starting to second guess that.
“I’ve got cards,” Megan exclaims jumping up on the bottom bunk next to me. She pulls out a brand new pack of playing cards and tears the plastic off, dropping it on the wood floor. She takes out certain cards, leaving only the amount of people playing in the desk—21.
We all get up off the bunk beds and flock to the center of the room, creating one big oval shape. Magdelina holds the stack of cards, fanning them out so that each one is seen but face down so we can’t read them. She starts walking around the group and each person picks a single card.
I notice most girls quickly look and then hide it so only they know what card they have. When Magdelina comes to me, I grab a card and do what the other girls do, playing along. Nobody’s explained the game yet so I’m kind of left in a fog.
I pull the card I got back, and it has a red seven on it. I have no idea what it means, but I pretend to. I nod to myself and then hide the card against my leg so nobody can see it. Once all the cards are gone, the room is dead silent as people read their cards and ponder on it.
“Damn-it. I’m detective,” Kara complains, throwing her card down on the table near the bathrooms. Everyone else trails behind her and puts their cards on the table face down. I do the same.
“If you’re the murderer, use this pen to stab someone. After you kill them they yell murder and everyone must freeze. Got it?” Magdelina asks, making sure everyone understands. Thank the gods she gave a run through of the rules, because I would have fully been left behind. We all branch off while Kara goes and hides in the bathroom.
“How do I know if I’m the murderer?” I run to Megan’s side and ask before the game starts.
“What was your card?” she asks me.
“Seven of hearts.”
“You’re fine. A queen means you’re detective and an ace means you’re the killer. All others are normal people,” she explains, relieving me. “You’re either going to want to run around so you don’t get killed or find a good spot to hide.”
“Thanks, Meg.” I hug her small frame, thankful at least someone helps me around her. She fixes her hair after I release her and pulls her glasses off. “Don’t want them to break.” Sh
e laughs as she puts them safely in her bedside drawer. I wouldn’t think she’s competitive, but I’m coming to learn that she is. I like this side of her. Girl’s got spunk.
We all start in the center of the room bunched together, and the murder weapon, the pen, is on the floor in the center of us all. The room is so small that I have no idea how this will go down. I just brace myself and hope for the best.
Before I have a chance to catch my breath, the game starts. Magdelina shuts the lights off, and the room turns to pitch black. Immediately, I back up into someone whose elbow nails me right on the arm. I plow through her, not wanting to get murdered and head towards a corner.
The blackness in the room really disorients me, so I’m beyond confused as to which way I’m going. My eyes hurt, straining to see through the murkiness. I run into another girl who pushes me off her with inhuman strength. It takes me off guard, and I’m thrown back towards a bed, my back landing square on the wood post.
I let out a little grunt but try to hold it in so nobody can hear me. The wind knocks out of my lungs so I sit against the wood and try to catch my breath. I enlarge my eyes as I try to see through the room, but it’s literally pitch black.
My technique of walking around isn’t working, so I crawl until I feel a wall against my back. I sit down and cover my head like I’m hiding from a tornado or earthquake. I cower down in the fetal position. I don’t know where the heck I am or why I’m playing this stupid game, but it’s legitimately scary. I’m terrified that I’m going to get stabbed or trampled.
I ‘m rocking back and forth, not wanting someone to step on me when I hear someone yell, “Murder!” and the room goes dead silent. Not even a second after the scream, the lights flick on, and Kara comes out of the bathroom, surveying the room with slitted eyes.
The Curse of Betrayal Page 25