“Why do you hate her so much?” Jade asked. “I don’t like her, and she’s totally rude to you, but isn’t that, like, her job as a sister?”
Archer didn’t discuss this with other people. But for some reason, she said, “Because…summer break, about two years ago, she transformed into this thing. She started piling on makeup, talked my mom into a superexpensive haircut with highlights, and made friends with the snobby crowd. She started treating me like something that crawled up out of the sewer.”
Jade frowned. “So, she became this whole new person? That actually makes sense. She’s trying to figure out how to be that person. From everything I can see, she seems super-insecure.”
There were times it seemed that way, but it hardly justified Makayla’s rotten behavior.
“What’s the prank?” Jade asked, when Archer didn’t respond.
When Archer told her, Jade looked horrified.
Archer had dreamed up “Paolo” the year before, the day Makayla humiliated her in front of the entire school. Archer had just walked into the cafeteria and was standing by the door, looking for a place to sit down, when Makayla had dumped blue slime down the front of her shirt. Archer had shrieked and tripped, and she’d busted her lip on a table. The lunch monitor had yelled at her to be more careful, as if the fact that she was covered in blood and blue goo was her fault.
Archer had gone straight to her room when she got home and found a picture of a hot guy on Google. One just a little older than them, so Makayla would fall for her plan. Then she sent her sister a series of messages from Paolo, a “male model from New York.”
It was hilarious, at first.
Makayla had written flirty messages, and Archer had said outrageous things back. But something unexpected had happened—her sister started taking it seriously. She’d dumped the guy she’d been talking to and bragged to everyone about her fabulous new boyfriend who traveled the world modeling and was up for a leading role in a new television series.
The situation gave Archer power, but it also gave her this weird glimpse into Makayla’s world. It was messed up, but Paolo helped her know what was going on in her sister’s head. It would be sad when they broke up.
It would also be the ultimate revenge.
Every time Makayla was mean, Archer thought about the breakup. She wanted it to be public, humiliating, and educational—to teach her sister not to treat other people like garbage.
“That’s awful,” Jade said. “How would you feel if someone did that to you?”
Archer jumped to her feet. “You’d better not rat me out!”
Makayla would kill her. Plus, it would be over. Paolo was fake, but the conversations with her sister were real. She needed them. Like that one time when Makayla had told Paolo that sometimes she felt like an outsider.
There are days I move through my life saying and doing the things people expect, like lines from a movie. I wonder, is this really me? Or am I a total fraud?
The words spoke to Archer’s deepest fears. There had been so many times she felt the exact same way, like a total fraud. Like when Cotton Candy Baby Doll’s latest music video came out, Archer had made fun of it because the girls who hated
Archer loved the video. But that night, alone in her room, she’d watched it ten times in a row, dancing and mouthing along with the words.
I know what you mean, she wrote back to her sister. Most days, I live in this box people have put me in. They would be shocked to know what I really thought and felt!
Her sister had replied ten minutes later. Finally. Someone who understands me.
“Girls,” Rochelle called back to them. “It’s about time to get back to your group for capture the flag.”
“I know how to keep a secret.” Jade got to her feet. “But what you’re doing isn’t right.”
The two put away their supplies in silence. Jade dumped her painting into the recycle area. Outside, the sky had gotten dark, as if it might rain.
Jade looked at her. “I’m not judging you. I just want you to think it through.” Her blue eyes were pained. “It’s easy to make assumptions about someone based on how they look, but you never know what people are going through. Do you know what I mean?”
Archer looked down at her boots. “I’m sorry to hear about your friend.”
Jade shoved her hands in her pockets. “Yeah. Me too.”
Chapter Fifteen
It rained for three days straight.
Jade didn’t mind. She liked falling asleep to the lightning that flashed just outside the window, the rich smell of the damp earth in the forest, and the raindrops glistening on the screen. She also liked the fact that the camp had all these indoor activities like movies and scavenger hunts that weren’t mandatory, so she could spend as much time as she needed napping in her bunk.
Lauren got on her for it, though. “I understand that you’re tired,” she lectured the afternoon Jade opted to sleep instead of attending an indoor carnival. “But you missed out on something truly extraordinary. Jade, they had a man on stilts and a live tiger. How could you sleep through that?”
Jade was groggy, fresh out of a nap. “A live tiger?”
The other Fireflies burst out laughing.
“Dang it, you guys,” Lauren cried. “I almost had her.” Then Lauren passed a cone full of blue cotton candy into her bunk. “You were there in spirit.”
Jade ate it in one sitting and actually joined the girls for a game of cards.
The only drawback to the time indoors was that it gave Archer’s sister way too much time to pick on her. The latest incident happened during Indoor Rec, when the rain outside poured down like a deluge.
The Fireflies had been seated around a long table, gathering supplies to decorate picture frames, when one of the Cardinals walked over. She set down a picture torn from a magazine.
“This is from a secret admirer,” she said, then walked away.
Eagerly, Isla grabbed it. “That’s weird. It’s a dog with blue and purple hair.”
Moments later, another camper walked up. “Candy-gram,” she sang.
This time, it was a picture of a pig with blue and purple hair rolling around in mud. The Fireflies all seemed to get the significance at once. They turned to look at Archer.
Archer did a great job pretending she didn’t care, but Jade could tell she was embarrassed. The whole tough-girl thing was clearly an act. Jade knew Archer well enough already to get that she was supersensitive, no matter how much she tried to hide it.
Jade held up her hand as another girl approached. “Stop right there. What do you want?”
The girl hesitated. Then she looked across the room.
Jade followed her gaze. Makayla sat at a corner table with the Bluebirds, gesturing at the girl to continue.
“I think you dropped this,” the girl mumbled, and placed another picture on the table.
It was a donkey with its bottom facing forward and his head turned to look over his shoulder, showcasing a big-toothed grin. Of course, he had blue and purple hair.
The Bluebirds shrieked with laughter. Rage shot through Jade. She was about to tell the girl what she could do with the picture when Lauren beat her to it.
She shot to her feet, face red with fury. “You leave my friend alone,” she hissed. “Or I will take a glue gun to your hair.”
The girl screamed and darted away. Lauren stood at the edge of the table, fists clenched like she might still go after her anyway.
Their counselor rushed over. “Everything okay?” Cassandra asked, resting her hands on the art table.
Archer slid the pictures under her project. “Fine.”
Jade nodded. “We’re good.”
Cassandra gave a perky nod, then headed back to gossip with the other counselors in the television area.
Lauren sank into a chair. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get us in trouble.”
Rain drummed against the roof. The crowded room was getting hot, and Jade looked over at Makayla. Their eyes loc
ked. After flashing a catlike smile, Makayla turned back to her friends.
“Your sister really needs to back off.” Jade twisted her ponytail. “We need to do something.”
“Like what?” Lauren asked.
“Prank her,” Isla suggested, taking a drink from her water bottle.
Jade nearly choked. “What?”
“Prank her. I found the thing with the snake quite funny.” She stuck a flower decal to the corner of her picture frame. “Why not do something similar?”
Jade loved that a prank sounded innocent when it came from Isla. The Fireflies really were starting to grow on her.
“You know…” Jade flexed her fingers. “I have a good one. If you’re interested.”
The Fireflies leaned in.
“Someone could sneak into their cabin at night,” she said. “Draw a pink heart on everyone’s forehead except Makayla’s. Then plant the pink Sharpie on her pillow. The Bluebirds would totally blame her.”
Lauren’s freckled face split into a grin. “Where do you come up with this stuff?”
“Eh.” Jade squinted at her picture frame. “I used to be a lot of fun.”
The girls fell silent, and rain continued to pound against the roof in earnest.
“I believe that.” Lauren’s voice became gentle. “What changed?”
Jade drew back. Lauren’s tone indicated she knew exactly what had changed. That meant Archer was a two-faced rat.
“You know what, Archer?” Jade speared her with a look. “You suck.”
Archer’s face crumpled, and Jade realized her mistake.
“Wow.” Archer’s heavily lined eyes filled with tears. “First, my sister treats me like crap, and now you. I should have expected it. Thanks.”
Jade opened her mouth to speak, but couldn’t. Instead, she rushed away from the table and searched for the door. It was too hot, there were too many people, and she had no business being around any of them.
She was a terrible friend.
Outside, Jade stood beneath the overhang of the door. The rain was coming down too fast for her to run out into the yard without getting soaked. Tears streamed down her face, and her breath came in ragged gasps.
Why didn’t I trust Archer? I really am a terrible, terrible friend.
She put her hands to her ears to drown out the words.
“Hey.” She felt a hand on her arm. “Jade. Talk to me.”
Lauren stood there, her red hair frizzy around her worried face. She was such a nice person. She didn’t deserve to be around a monster like Jade.
“Leave me alone!” Jade rushed down the steps and into the rain. She raced to the enormous weeping willow down by the lake and stared out at the water, shivering.
It was all so gray. Like how she felt inside.
What if I dove in? And never came out?
A chill rushed through her, followed by a warm hand gripping her arm. Lauren. Her hair hung in wet strings, and her upper lip trembled. “I am not going to leave you alone! You’re my friend.”
“You don’t want to be my friend,” Jade cried. “Let me tell you what happens when I’m your friend.”
In short, angry bursts, she told Lauren about the night of the wreck. Her stomach twisted with the memory. When she repeated Kiara’s final words, she expected Lauren to draw back. Instead, she pulled Jade into a tight hug.
“Let me go.” Jade pushed at Lauren, who hugged her even tighter.
“No,” she whispered. “Kiara would not want you to feel this way.”
When the therapist said that, Jade had scoffed. Hearing the words from Lauren made them feel authentic somehow. But that still didn’t change what had happened.
Jade wrenched away. The wind whipped the branches of the weeping willow tree, slapping her in the face. “Please leave me alone.”
“Let me help,” Lauren pleaded.
“How? Kiara is gone because of me. Can you change that?”
“No.” Lauren’s face was fierce. “But you would if you could. Right?”
“Of course,” Jade cried. “I would have gotten in the car instead.”
Lauren’s eyes filled with tears. “Then how are you a terrible friend?”
Lightning lit the sky. Thunder crashed and someone shouted from the porch. Cassandra waved at them with a furious expression on her face.
Lauren looked back and forth between their counselor and Jade. “I know this isn’t easy, but I don’t want you to forget this summer. You’re a Firefly, Jade. Nothing will ever change that.”
Jade’s throat tightened. She was so tired of being alone, battling this on her own. Would it be so terrible to let someone in?
Cassandra shouted once again. Then she started to stomp down the porch steps.
“Shoot!” Lauren burst into giggles. “We’d better go.”
Lauren grabbed her arm, and Jade ducked her head. They fought through the rain back to the building, where Lauren tried to tell Cassandra some convoluted story about seeing a rainbow.
“I don’t want to hear it.” Cassandra handed them ancient Blueberry Pine sweatpants and sweatshirts. “Go get dry.”
“Let’s go,” Lauren said, holding up the clothes.
“Okay.” Jade hesitated. “Then there’s something I need to do.”
Nothing had changed. She didn’t deserve good friends. Still, the second she put on dry clothes, she took a deep breath and went to apologize to Archer.
Jade found Archer sitting alone in one of the Lodge’s storage rooms. Her eyeliner was smudged but still thick, like she’d cried for a second, then made herself stop. She scrambled to her feet when Jade opened the door.
“Excuse me.” Archer tried to force her way out.
“Archer.” Jade put her hand on her arm. “Can I please talk to you for a second?”
“Why?” Archer’s expression was a million different shades of hurt. “So you can tell me again how much I suck? I already know that, thanks.”
“I’m so sorry. I…” Jade glanced at the open door. “Can I please shut this?”
Archer hesitated but finally moved aside. Crossing her arms, she glared. “What do you want?”
“You do not suck,” Jade said. “You’re awesome, Archer. You’re so authentic, which is why I told you about Kiara in the first place. I thought, if anyone would have something real to say, it would be you. And I was right. The things you said about her being a good Firefly…” She choked up. “It meant a lot to me. But I’m not used to sharing secrets with people other than her, and when I thought you told Lauren, I panicked. I’m sorry.” When Archer didn’t say anything, she slid down to the floor and sat in silence for a minute. In a low voice, she said, “The thing is, I’m not great at being a friend these days. I’ve made too many mistakes, and really, I don’t think I deserve good friends at all. But I’d be really sad to lose you too.”
Archer looked down at her feet.
“I’m not a good friend, either,” she said in a low tone. “I can’t keep lying to you about that.”
Jade paused. Had she read the situation wrong? Had Archer, in fact, told the other Fireflies her secret after all?
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I knew about Kiara. We all did.”
Jade winced. “How?”
Did the counselors know? Did they say something?
“That first night…” Archer let out a weighted breath. “I stole your scrapbook. At the time, I thought I was being funny. I didn’t realize…”
Jade flushed hot and then cold. “You looked at my scrapbook? That book means everything to me! It’s—” Through the lump in her throat, she couldn’t explain that the book was the only way to have Kiara here, at camp. But Kiara wasn’t here, and never would be, which made her burst into tears.
“Jade, I’m so sorry.” Archer slid down next to her on the floor. “If I could go back in time and change it, I would.”
Go back in time.
Change it.
“There’s no going back,” Ja
de told her. “That’s the thing.”
“But we can move forward,” Archer said. “If you want to.”
Archer fiddled with her bracelet, and the firefly seemed to flash in the light. Jade leaned her head against the wall. Finally, she nodded.
Archer reached over and took her hand. Jade squeezed it. The two sat in silence, the sound of the rain pounding steady and sure on the roof above them.
Chapter Sixteen
Lauren was reading in her bunk when the rain stopped. She set down her book and sat up straight.
“Fireflies.” Lauren held her breath. “Listen. It’s not raining.”
Isla set down the headband she had been embroidering, and Archer hid something under her blanket. Jade had taken down the lavender sheet, and Lauren watched as she propped herself up on one elbow, listening.
“It’s not raining,” Lauren repeated, leaping to the floor. She spun in a circle, her long hair swirling like a streamer. “It’s not raining!”
Archer leaped out of bed and raced to the porch, followed by Isla’s more cautious steps. In the faded light of the evening, small drips of water fell from the eaves. The forest was quiet, and the air, fresh and clean.
It didn’t take long for the other cabins to catch on. Girls shouted from porch to porch, singing songs and doing funny chants. The three of them quickly joined in.
Jade walked out onto the porch and stood at the railing next to them.
Lauren smiled at her. It was such a relief to have everything with Jade out in the open. The four of them had talked late into the night, and Jade had reassured them again and again that she forgave them for snooping in her scrapbook. Then she’d shared funny stories about Kiara, like the pranks they loved to pull in school. Once, Jade had spent all her birthday money from her grandmother to have pizzas delivered every hour to the PE teacher who said girls shouldn’t eat as much as boys. Jade was finally opening up and letting the Fireflies get to know her, and it made Lauren feel guilty for not being honest with her friends.
It’s okay. They don’t need to know everything.
Lauren pressed her thumb into a raindrop on the railing. What would happen if she told them the truth? Nothing good; she had already told too many lies.
The Girls of Firefly Cabin Page 8