Summer by the Lake

by Kay Gordon

  “I thought I heard-” Another growl cut me off and Hannah’s eyes went wide.

  “What the hell?”

  We both stared at the door to the tent, like we’d be able to see something, but nothing happened for about thirty seconds. Suddenly, another loud snarl sounded and something began to shake the back of our tent.

  I gasped, Hannah whimpered, and three of the girls woke up screaming. I heard screams coming from the other two tents, too, and the shaking and noises both got worse.

  “It’s a bear!” Cate shrieked, holding Joe close. That just caused some of the other girls to panic and Alexandra’s eyes went wide.

  “Play dead! Don’t move!”

  “No!” Jenny yelled frantically. “Make yourself bigger to scare it off!”

  Amongst the girls’ shouts and screams and the animal’s snarling, I heard something else. A muffled laugh. I went completely still and attempted to block out the girls so I could listen. When I heard the laugh again, I shook my head.

  “Son of a bitch.”

  Hannah’s face was pale and she was gripping Emma’s hands as she looked at me. “What?”

  I didn’t reply. Instead, I grabbed for the zipper on the tent and pulled it open while the girls shouted in protest behind me. I didn’t listen and pushed out of the tent while yelling, “You boys suck!”

  Sure enough, the second I was out of the tent, the outlines of several people came into view. Crowded around our tent was Cabin Seven, including their fearless leaders. The other two tents had boys around them, too, and I was assuming it was Cabins Six and Eight.

  The snarls and growls stopped when they realized they’d been caught and they all broke into laughter.

  “We got you girls,” one of the Cabin Six counselors yelled gleefully. “Let’s go, boys!”

  Drew was grinning and he blew me a kiss before taking off back towards the cabins with the rest of the boys. Girls started to crowd around me as I watched the guys leave, my hands on my hips and my heart still beating wildly.

  “Damn it,” Hannah grumbled as she came to a stop next to me. “The scaring pranks suck the worst. I almost peed my freakin’ pants. I thought we were going to die.”

  The other four female counselors joined us, agreeing with Hannah’s sentiment, and it took us another thirty minutes to get our girls settled back down. Even once they were under the blankets, all they could do was whisper about revenge.

  Hell, I couldn’t blame them. I was pissed. My heartrate still hadn’t normalized.

  Hannah and I stood with the other counselors and plotted our revenge. The boys were camping out Saturday night and we needed the extra time to plan because none of us had any good ideas.

  The next morning at the dining hall, I turned away from Drew when he tried to kiss my cheek. If his jubilant laugh was any indication, he wasn’t deterred by it at all. He just led his campers, who were taunting my girls, to the buffet line.

  Cabins Six, Seven, and Eight spoke loudly in the dining hall, asking one another if they’d heard about the bear attack the night before. Their loud laughter just pissed off all of the girls even more and I was fairly certain that blood was going to be shed soon. Luckily, it didn’t come to that. Howard stepped in and asked the campers to stop with their teasing because they were scaring the younger kids who thought the boys were talking about real bears.

  “That prank brought them ahead in the leaderboard,” Hannah growled, her eyes glaring daggers at her boyfriend’s retreating back. “You girls need to kick butt in basketball today.”

  I nodded my head and sipped my coffee. “Wipe the court with their smug faces.”

  Hannah and I grumbled about the boys throughout our entire day, ignoring both Jordan and Drew again at lunch. The latter dropped a kiss to the top of my head as he walked by our table, chuckling when shifted out of his reach.

  “Don’t be mad, ladies.” I could feel him standing directly behind me but still refused to acknowledge him. “It’s all in fun and for the good of Cabin Wars.”

  “Go away, Drew,” Hannah said in a flat voice. “We don’t want to see your smug mug right now.”

  His hands squeezed my shoulders and he laughed softly again. “Got it. See you ladies later.”

  We finished eating our meals and trudged back to our cabin quietly. The girls all settled into their quiet activities for the rest hour and I fell face first onto my bed.

  “We need something good to get morale back up.” My voice was muffled by my pillow but I knew Hannah could hear me.

  “Agreed. Let’s go pow-wow with them so we can brainstorm.”

  I groaned but let her pull me from the bed and the two of us went back out into the main area. We spent the entire rest period writing out ideas to try and get the boys back during their campout. We also came up with ideas for the final two weeks. Some of them were really great and some were kind of lame but it didn’t matter at that point. We had to act.

  “I know!” Robbie’s eyes lit up and she jumped to her feet. “I know exactly what we can do tomorrow night.”

  We all listened to her idea and my lips slowly curled into an evil grin. Her plan was amazing and I knew it would work. Hannah and I would need to coordinate with the counselors of Cabins Fourteen and Sixteen because I was sure they’d want in on it for revenge.

  “Are you singing tonight?” Jenny asked me as the girls stood to put their shoes back on at the end of the hour. I met Hannah’s eyes and grinned.

  “The two of us might be planning on something for you guys.”

  Our girls had a pep in their step for the rest of the day. When they met us at the dining hall for dinner, they all had huge smiles on their faces. The idea of getting the boys back had been like a shot of adrenaline and they’d dominated them during the basketball game, getting us back to a tie on the Cabin Wars point sheet.

  I pointedly continued to ignore Drew while my roommate did the same to Jordan. The bear prank had been really frightening and I wasn’t quite over the trauma from it yet. I figured there was no harm in letting the two of them stew for the rest of the evening. We would be nice to them the next day, before their campout, and lull them into a false sense of security.

  “It's not always rainbows and butterflies, it's compromise that moves us along, yeah,” Drew’s soft voice sang behind me as I finished eating the enchiladas we’d had for dinner. I kept my eyes on my plate, fighting the smile that threatened to break free. “My heart is full and my door's always open. You come anytime you want, yeah.”

  “She’s not falling for your charm, Drew,” Lizzy said from across the table, a stern look on her face. “It’s going to take more than song lyrics to get you out of the doghouse.”

  “We’ll see.” He kissed the top of my head and left without another word. I waited about twenty seconds before cracking up quietly, causing the girls around me to laugh, too.

  Emma shook her head, chewing her food with a huge smile. “He’s actually starting to look worried, Shay.”

  “Good.” I used my napkin to wipe my face and gave her a triumphant smile. “There’s nothing wrong with making them sweat.”

  The dining hall cleared out and the droves of campers started to head towards the amphitheater. A couple of our girls went right to the sign-up sheet for karaoke but most of them opted to just take a seat, happy to watch the events unfold.

  Hannah made sure to sign us up for our song, winking at me once it was done to let me know our song choice was available. The last and only time I’d done karaoke in my life was when I’d sung that Maroon 5 song at the tender age of twelve. I loved to sing in the shower and the car but was well aware that I wouldn’t be winning any singing competitions in the future. I was in it for the fun and the fun alone.

  Our girls chose to sit with the eighth and tenth grade girls, all having bonded over our near-death bear experience, and I grinned when I saw how forlorn some of the boys looked over the snub. Jordan was probably the most devastated
, his expression akin to having had his puppy kicked, but when I glanced across the way at Drew, the ass had a smug grin on his face. When he caught me staring, he winked.

  Yeah, my boyfriend wasn’t scared of my ire. In fact, I’d go as far to say that he had something up his sleeve.

  I narrowed my eyes at him, only causing his grin to widen, and forced myself to look away when Howard began speaking from the stage.

  “Good evening, campers! Welcome to our annual Camp Holcomb karaoke night!” He smiled when a few people let out gleeful cheers. “Sign-ups are closing in five minutes, so get in while you can. We’ll be picking from the list at random, so be prepared to sing at any time! To start us off for the night, we have Casey from Cabin Thirteen. She’s going to be singing “Invincible” by Kelly Clarkson.”

  The poor girl was obviously nervous but she went up there and sang her heart out. The audience was very supportive, standing and clapping to the beat, even singing the chorus along with her, and Casey was grinning like a fool at the end.

  About five more people went, including one duet and one group sing, before our names were called. Our entire cabin cheered as Hannah and I climbed the stage together, accepting the microphones from the DJ who was set up on stage.

  I inhaled a deep breath and grinned at Hannah, accepting her fist bump before looking out to the crowd. My eyes met Drew’s immediately, like they couldn’t help it, and he had the biggest smile on his face as he sat forward.

  The first couple of notes sounded through the speakers and a few people cheered, recognizing it immediately. There was no warming up as I jumped right into the lyrics of “Shut up and Dance” by Walk the Moon. Hannah and I alternated each line of the verse and sang together for the chorus. The two of us moved around on the stage, gesturing towards each other and dancing like a couple of crazy people.

  Hannah’s voice wasn’t half-bad and my cheeks were sore from grinning when we neared the end of the song. The crowd of campers was on their feet, singing along to the chorus, too, and they clapped loudly when the last notes sounded.

  The two of us took exaggerated bows before surrendering our microphones and leaving the stage. People praised us as we walked back to our seats but our girls were our biggest fans. I fell back in my seat, still hyped up from the adrenaline, and turned to look at Cabin Seven.

  Drew smiled and extended his arms out in front of him as he gave me a mock bow, stating his unworthiness. I flashed him a smile before remembering that I was supposed to be mad at him and averting my eyes.

  More people went up over the next ninety minutes, including Thalia and Alexandra, and two older campers had just finished a Chainsmokers duet when Drew’s name was called. I snapped my eyes back to his and raised my brows. He grinned at me and headed towards the stage amidst the jeering from his campers.

  “Oh, geez,” I murmured to Hannah. “He’s going to sing that Maroon 5 song.”

  Before she could reply, Drew’s deep voice boomed through the amphitheater.

  “I want to dedicate this song to my beauty queen.”

  “He’s totally going to sing that Maroon 5 song,” Hannah agreed but I couldn’t look at her. My eyes were glued to Drew and when the notes to the song started, I laughed. It was a Maroon 5 song but not the one I’d expected.

  The musical arrangement for “Sugar” started and when Drew began to sing the lyrics, I was completely surprised. He sounded amazing as he sang about hurting, being weak, and needing loving. The entire time he did, he kept his eyes fixed on me, along with a cocky smile. His feet moved to the music in a very Michael Jackson-esque manner, even gracing us with a perfect imitation of the moonwalk.

  Singing the last few lines of the song, Drew pointed at me, and I just shook my head, unable to keep the grin off of my face. The cheers for him were deafening and my throat hurt from being one of the loudest.

  He handed off the microphone and left the stage. Once he was back to his seat, he turned and winked at me again before paying attention to the campers around him. I shook my head and turned to look at Hannah.

  “He totally showed us up.”

  She nodded, trying to look serious but the smile pulling at her lips betrayed her. “That jerk.”

  Four more songs were played, including a rendition of ‘Happy’ sung by Howard and May as the closer. Their version of it was better than Pharrell William’s in my opinion, and I loved how happy the two of them looked on stage together.

  We were dismissed back to our bunks shortly after that. Our girls were chirping excitedly at a hundred miles an hour. Maria spent the walk back imitating some of my dance moves, causing us all to laugh, and I just shrugged my shoulders good-naturedly.

  “You’re all just jealous.”

  “Jealous of your boyfriend,” September exclaimed, grabbing my hand in hers. “Holy crap, his performance was amazing. He has better moves than Chris Brown.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Chris Brown isn’t someone I’d aspire to be or date, honestly.”

  “Yeah, he’s kind of a jerk.” September paused. “Usher?”

  “I’ll take Usher.”

  Everyone started the shower rotation once we were back to the cabin and I took a spot on Jenny’s bed with my crocheting. In the six weeks since we’d been there, I’d finished one full-sized throw and was close to finishing my second. I’d already given the completed project to Hannah after she’d fawned over it and the one I was currently working on was grey, white, and a blue color that reminded me of Drew’s eyes.

  Jenny had one of my other hooks in her hand and had a nice square made out of the slip stitch. I’d been teaching her off and on for about three weeks and she seemed to be getting the hang of it.

  “What happens when camp is over?” Lizzy asked from where she had been writing a letter on her bed. I glanced up at her with my brows raised.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Like, do we stay in touch with you and Hannah?”

  Thalia nodded her head. “Can we add you guys to Snapchat and Instagram?”

  “Of course.” I put down my creation and smiled at our girls. “I think I speak for Hannah when I say you all better keep in touch with us. Social media, texting, calling- we love you, girls. That doesn’t end when summer does.”

  “For real,” Hannah agreed as she entered the room, freshly showered and in her pajamas. She settled next to Alexandra on her bed. “We’re expecting to hear from all of you.”

  The girls went to bed shortly after that and I pulled on my running clothes in our bedroom. Once my shoes were laced, I headed towards the door.

  “Night, Tegan.”

  Hannah grinned from where she was writing in her journal. “Goodnight, Sara.”

  I made my way down to the lake and wasn’t surprised to find Drew standing near the path, just staring out at the water. When he heard me behind him, he turned and a brilliant smile lit up his face instantly. He took five steps to close the distance between us and wrapped me up in his arms.

  “Hey, sugar.” He smirked and pressed a kiss to my lips. “I think ‘Shut Up and Dance’ is my new favorite song.”

  I chuckled and kissed him again before turning to walk along the path with my fingers laced through his. “Funny, because I was going to say the same thing about ‘Sugar.’ You had to pick a Maroon 5 song, huh?”

  “Of course.” He flashed me a grin and followed my lead when I broke into a slow jog. Although he didn’t run with me every night, Drew made a point to join me once or twice a week. As a result, he was getting better at conversing in motion. I couldn’t go as fast as I could without him but I enjoyed his company.

  We ran for about five minutes before he spoke again. “So, still mad at me?”

  “Yes,” I said without bothering to look at him. I knew if I did, I’d smile. He chuckled quietly.

  “In my defense, it wasn’t our idea. We just went along with it.”

  “You guys suck.” I glanced over at him and did end up
smiling. “Between that and the clown dummy from earlier in the week, my girls are out for blood.”

  “Noted and deserved.”

  A comfortable silence stretched between us for about a mile and we had just rounded the lake when I heard him humming the song he’d sung earlier. I laughed and pushed on his shoulder, causing him to stumble slightly.

  Light conversation flowed between us for the last mile and I found myself slowing my pace even more in an attempt to prolong the run. I wasn’t ready to leave him just yet. He didn’t object when we stopped jogging altogether and began leisurely walking instead.

  With my hand linked with his, I suddenly realized something.

  I’d fallen in love with Drew Moore.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The evening following karaoke, the boys headed out to do their own campout. While they were gone, we took advantage of their empty cabin by taping pairs of flip-flops up in several layers of tape, rubbing charcoal on their door handles, placing salt on their toothbrushes, and taping the down the lids to their toilets.

  Back at their campsite, we waited until the boys went to the lake to fish and then our cabin, along with Fourteen and Sixteen, snuck into to the tents to place sand inside the bottoms of their sleeping bags. Before we left the area, I checked the rain flies to see how secure they were.

  “I bet they are going to think that the sand in the sleeping bag was our revenge prank,” Robbie said gleefully as we headed back to our cabin. Hannah grinned and nodded her head.

  “Let’s hope so. It will make their middle of the night wakeup call that much more fun.”

  When I ran a few hours later, I caught sight of Drew near the treehouse as I passed, his hands on his hips and a smirk on his face. I offered him a small finger-wave and his smirk only widened. He knew that the sand wasn’t our only trick.

  Pulling off our prank wasn’t going to be easy since we weren’t planning on executing it until four in the morning. There was no way I could stay up that late and we didn’t have alarm clocks to wake us up. One of the Cabin Sixteen counselors said she was up around four like clockwork every morning and offered to come by and wake us when she did.