“You can do this,” I tell her.
She hurries off the trail and into the trees, finding a spot a ways back where she’s mostly hidden but can still get a good view of the trail.
I wait for my cabin mates to come around the corner, trying to look more confident than I feel about this, because I don’t need Amelia seeing how nervous I am and freaking out and botching the whole thing. Because there’s a chance none of this is going to go according to plan and that my cabin mates are going to take one look at me—alone in the woods, with supposedly no witnesses—and just murder me or something. Though I guess if they do at least Amelia will have a recording of it and can play it for the counselors or the police or whatever. I mean, getting them sent to jail for my murder is not the plan here, but at least I’d still get some kind of revenge on them. Sort of.
My cabin mates come around the bend. I step out in front of them and the smiles on their faces disappear. Suddenly nobody’s laughing.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Aiden sneers at me in disgust. “We told you to stay out of our way.”
Staying out of their way would be great, but it’s not going to happen. I take a deep breath. “Riley’s in the infirmary because of you.”
“So?” Gabe snaps.
I clench my fists, willing my electricity to stay in check. “You guys hurt him, and you don’t even care.”
He scoffs. “And you’re what, here to get us back?”
“Don’t you guys get it?” Eric says. “He’s got us where he wants us, alone in the woods with no witnesses. He thinks he’s going to use his villain power on us out here.”
Gabe’s shoulders go stiff. Aiden takes a step forward, and Noah’s forehead twists up, like he’s concentrating, getting ready to use his power on me.
Then Aiden says, “You can go ahead and try. But you won’t succeed, and everyone will believe us when we tell them what you tried to pull. Coming out here isn’t going to make any difference.”
Unless I totally obliterated all four of them in one giant blast of lightning and no one ever found their charred remains or heard from them again. But whatever. That’s not what I’m here for. “What happened to Riley wasn’t an accident.”
“Sure it was,” Aiden says. “We didn’t mean to ice him.”
“You didn’t, you mean,” Noah mutters.
“But you did it on purpose.” I look Aiden in the eyes. “You purposely used your power on another student.”
He shrugs, though his voice wavers a little when he says, “Yeah, so what if I did?”
“That’s not exactly camp unity.”
Aiden smirks at that, and then all four of them bust up laughing.
Eric’s the first one to recover from his laughing fit enough to talk. “Oh, no, not our precious camp unity. That crap is a joke.” He rolls his eyes. “Every single person at this camp is lame, and we’re going to kick all their asses when we win the scavenger hunt. Including yours if you don’t get out of our way.”
I hesitate, not moving, because I can’t let this part be too easy. I have to look like I didn’t get what I came for yet. And maybe like I really am thinking about blasting them, which I don’t even have to fake.
“Move it,” Aiden says, shoving me out of the way so that I stumble into a tree. “We’ve got a scavenger hunt to finish.”
I watch them leave. Once they’re out of hearing range, I turn toward where Amelia’s hiding. “You get all that?”
“Yep,” she says, stepping back onto the trail. “Every word.”
Chapter 7
WE’RE AT THE FAREWELL campfire ceremony that night. Me and Riley are sitting on the first tier, by the entrance, like we were for the first one. Unlike at the first one, though, Riley had to be brought out in a wheelchair, because the nurse wouldn’t let him use his crutches. He had to practically beg to be allowed to go to this thing at all, and when the nurse finally gave in—I suspect because she thought he wanted to go for sentimental reasons, not because I told him I had something to show him—it was on the condition that he didn’t put any strain on himself.
So now we’re here. There’s a big screen set up far enough away from the campfire that it’s not a safety hazard or anything, and they’re playing a slide show of camp memories. Which is basically about a million photos of everyone having fun at camp with a sappy song playing over it. A lot of people are crying this time—not just Amelia’s cabin.
Riley sighs. He looks bored. I think we might be the only two people in the entire camp who aren’t enjoying this stupid slide show. Maybe because we didn’t make any happy memories here, and maybe also because we’re not really in it. Though there was one of me standing in the cafeteria with food all over my shirt. In the slide show, it probably looks like a silly accident, like, Ooh, remember that time I screwed up and accidentally dumped food all over myself at camp? Ha ha. But given what really happened—that some douchebag stole my lunch tray while I was still using it—and that it happened every day, it’s not exactly a memory I want to cherish.
“I hope this isn’t what you wanted to show me,” Riley says.
I turn and raise my eyebrows at him. “Seriously, Perkins, how can you even ask me that?”
“Because I can’t think of anything at this ceremony I’d actually want to see.”
“Oh, you’re going to want to see this. Just be patient.”
He shrugs, not looking that convinced.
Once the slide show is over, the counselor who gave the speech at the first campfire ceremony takes the stage. For another spiel on friendship. Ugh.
“I don’t have to tell you that some pretty strong bonds have been forged this week.” He takes a deep breath for emphasis and lets it out slowly. “Bonds that can last a lifetime. I hope everyone here tonight realizes how valuable the friendships you’ve made are. They’re like seeds that you’ve planted and nourished all week. Just like the trees in the forest around us, which all started out as tiny seeds. And like these trees, the friendships you’ve made here will last a lifetime, but only if they’re taken care of and attended to. You’ve got to keep watering that friendship tree if you want it to grow. Not just when you get back to Heroesworth, but in the years to come.”
Barf. I tap my foot and drum my fingers on my knee, wanting this guy to hurry it up.
“My leg hurts,” Riley says, his voice a little strained. “I think maybe I should go back to the infirmary. Whatever you wanted to show me can—”
“No, it can’t. You can only see it tonight, and trust me, Perkins, you’re not going to want to miss this. Even if your leg hurts.”
He looks like he’s going to argue some more, then seems to change his mind. “Yeah, okay. I’ll stay a little longer.”
“Or a lot longer, depending on how long this speech lasts. I mean, friendship, bonding, everyone having a good time except us. We get it.”
“It’s not just my leg that’s bothering me,” Riley says, his voice kind of quiet. “It’s this whole camp thing. I don’t feel any better about it now than I did on day one. In fact, I feel a lot worse about it.”
“You mean because it wasn’t a magical paradise of friendship and unity?”
He nods. “Something like that. All that happened was some douchebags were mean to you—”
“To both of us.”
He waves that off. “Some douchebags made your life a living hell while basically I just had to watch. I couldn’t participate in anything—”
“What about all those art projects? What about that picture of the camp you made out of colored macaroni noodles? Don’t pretend you’re not going to treasure that forever.”
Riley smirks a little at that, but then he shakes his head. “I felt like I couldn’t do any of the important stuff. I couldn’t go on hikes with you guys—I could barely make it to the dining hall and back.”
“You weren’t missing anything.”
“I didn’t get to see my parents’ tree, or any of the other sights they saw at camp, other than the main bu
ildings, and those don’t really count. And I hated that I wasn’t on those hikes, knowing those guys were probably pushing you around. Maybe even worse than they did at the cabin. And I know Counselor Steve was there, but that never stopped them.”
“You couldn’t have done anything about it.”
Riley clenches his jaw. “I know, but I can’t help feeling like maybe I could have. Like if I’d just been there, maybe I could have done something, or… I don’t know. I just hated being stuck back at the cabin, not knowing how badly they were torturing you. And then, to make things even worse, I hurt my leg, and now I can’t really go anywhere. And those douchebags never even got called out for it. For any of it. And I hate to say this, X, but maybe you were right. Maybe they really did win.”
“They won the scavenger hunt. They didn’t win against me.”
He looks over at me, his forehead wrinkling. “What? What does that mean?”
“Just watch.” I gesture to the stage, where the counselor is finally finishing up his friendship speech.
“Alright,” the counselor says, “now it’s time to announce the winners of the scavenger hunt.”
Riley’s still giving me a confused look. He starts to ask something, but I interrupt him. “You’ll know it when you see it.”
Someone runs up to the counselor and hands him an envelope. The counserlor makes a big deal about opening it, as if we all don’t already know who won, and then looks it over, drawing this out. “The winner is… our very own Cabin B!”
“Our very own?” Riley whispers. “Is it ever not one of their own?”
Everyone applauds while our four cabin mates make their way down to the stage.
Everyone except me and Riley. And technically we’re part of Cabin B, too, but we stay in our seats, and nobody questions it when only four people instead of six show up to receive their award.
“Yeah!” Eric shouts, pumping his fists in the air once they’re onstage.
Two of the counselors carry out a giant, three-tiered trophy, beaming at our cabin mates.
The counselor giving them the award starts to congratulate them.
Then the giant video screen behind them comes to life, only this time instead of playing a slide show of camp memories, it’s playing a video, starring our cabin mates.
The video starts out with a short compilation of footage of them being mean to other campers, just to set the tone and show everyone who these guys are, in case they’re one of the cabins who they miraculously weren’t jerks to. Amelia and the rest of Team Glitter asked around earlier today and got people to look through all their videos they took this week, searching for any instances of our cabin mates being awful. Then Amelia used her power to call up her laptop from home so we could edit them all together.
There’s not a whole lot of clips, and they go by fast, but seeing our cabin mates laughing at the expense of everyone else and making fun of other cabins really doesn’t make them look good. Then it gets to the video Amelia took earlier. It’s focused on the four of them, and you can’t see me at all, even though I’m the one talking to them.
In the video, the four of them are looking really disgusted and put out.
Then my voice says, “What happened to Riley wasn’t an accident.”
“Sure it was,” Aiden says, though he’s got this smug look on his face that makes it seem insincere. “We didn’t mean to ice him.”
“You didn’t, you mean,” Noah mutters.
“But you did it on purpose,” my voice says. “You purposely used your power on another student.”
Aiden shrugs, sounding like a complete douchebag when he says, “Yeah, so what if I did?”
A shocked murmur runs through the amphitheater. Onstage, our cabin mates glance around nervously.
“That’s not exactly camp unity,” my voice says in the video.
All four of them start laughing. It’s the same nasty laugh we just saw in a couple of the clips when they were making fun of people and thought it was so hilarious.
Then Eric says, “Oh, no, not our precious camp unity. That crap is a joke.” He rolls his eyes. “Every single person at this camp is lame, and we’re going to kick all their asses when we win the scavenger hunt.”
It ends there.
Everyone stares at our cabin mates. Nobody hands them their trophy.
“Wait,” Aiden says. “We can explain.”
It might just be the firelight, but I think his face is turning red.
Noah searches the crowd until he spots me. He looks seriously pissed, and I think at first he’s going to use his power on me again.
I keep my head up and brace myself. I give him a look that says, Bring it.
But then the counselor running the ceremony interrupts. “You boys are going to have a lot of explaining to do. And we’re going to have a very serious talk about using your powers on other students.”
Eric points in my direction. “But he’s the one who—”
“That’s enough!” the counselor barks. “We’ve all heard what you did. I want to see all four of you in the main office in five minutes. We’re having a talk, and then I’m calling your parents to take you home. And no,” he adds as they immediately start to protest, “I don’t care that it’s Thursday night!”
A few more counselors come up and herd our cabin mates off the stage.
“Well, you were right, X,” Riley says. “That was definitely worth waiting for.”
Chapter 8
EVERYONE’S MILLING AROUND OUTSIDE the main buildings on Friday afternoon when I show up, running and out of breath. I was sure I was going to be late and that the buses were already going to be here—or, worse, that they’d have already been here and left again—but thankfully everyone’s still waiting.
“Dude,” Riley says. “You almost missed the bus.” He’s sitting on a bench in front of the office.
I motion for him to move his crutches so I can sit down next to him. “The buses aren’t even here yet.”
“But they were supposed to be. What if you’d gotten left behind?”
A nightmare situation I’d rather not think about. “Whatever,” I tell Riley. “I’m here now, aren’t I?”
“Oh, my God,” Amelia says in a choked voice, hugging Melissa. “I’m going to miss you guys so much.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re going to see everyone again on Monday.”
Amelia glares at me. She has tears streaming down her face. They all do.
Actually, now that I look around, a lot of people seem to be crying, and if they’re not actually crying, they still look pretty upset. As if leaving this place is a bad thing.
“For your information,” Amelia says, “we’re meeting up tomorrow for ice cream and maybe a slumber party at our house, if Mom and Dad say it’s okay. But it won’t be the same.”
“You guys,” Jana says, pointing up at the sky, “look at that cloud. It looks just like that rock we saw in the woods!”
They all squint up at it.
“Oh, my God,” one of the other two girls whose names I don’t know says, “you’re so right! It looks exactly like it.”
“It’s a sign,” Amelia tells them. “It means Team Glitter’s going to be together forever.”
“This calls for a cheer.” Hil gets her bunny ears out. “One more shout out for Team Glitter while we’re still at camp.”
They all put on their bunny ears and then clap and shout, “Team Glitter!” a bunch of times like before, except now they’re all crying so hard they can barely get the words out, so the cheer sounds kind of sad and deflated.
I turn to Riley. “I am not going to miss this place.”
He shakes his head. “Me, neither.”
“Though seeing the looks on our cabin mates’ faces when they realized I’d just gotten my revenge on them is a pretty good memory.”
Riley laughs. Then his face falls a little, and he looks like he’s thinking really hard about something.
Probably about how camp was no
thing like what he wanted it to be. I clear my throat, almost afraid to bring this up. “Look, Perkins, about your parents’ tree—”
“Don’t worry about it, X. It’s okay.”
“Yeah, but camp really sucked for you. For both of us. But I knew going into it that it was going to suck, and I didn’t have any ties to this place. I wasn’t looking forward to anything, but you were, and… All this was important to your dad, and you should have gotten to at least see some of the sights he did, if not relive some of his experiences.”
“You can’t really have the same experiences as someone else, though. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and even if everything had gone exactly the same way for me as it did for my dad, I still would have experienced it differently. That’s just how it works.”
“Yeah, but you could at least have had a closer experience to what he did. Like actual good memories of this place. Stuff you could tell your kids someday so that they could come here and find out it doesn’t hold up.”
Riley grins at that. Then he takes a deep breath. “Listen, X, this is probably going to sound really stupid after everything that happened, but I feel like maybe I do have some good memories of this place.”
“You what? Since when?” Did his fall the other day rattle his brain? “Name one, and you can’t use the campfire ceremony last night, because I already said that one.” As if there are any others.
“Well, that one was pretty good, but… Okay, I don’t know if it’s any one moment or anything. It’s more like how maybe I didn’t fit in with everyone else here, but if you hadn’t been here, then I wouldn’t have fit in with anyone. So, like, even though this week sucked, and even though it wasn’t the camp experience I was hoping for, I was still here with my best friend, and we got through it. And maybe us not fitting in with everybody and having to do our own thing wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “You must be thinking of some other time you and your best friend went to camp for a week, because that’s not how I remember it.”
“I just mean that making our own art projects and stuff while everybody else did something different was kind of cool.”
The Torment of Renegade X Page 6