First Kiss: The Ghost Bird Series: #10 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series) (41 page)

“There’s stalls,” I said. “We can just change and leave.”

“There’s another problem,” she said. She looked up at me. “What if they’re naked or something? Will they kick me out?”

It suddenly made me hesitate, too. With it being dark out, the lights inside seemed so much brighter, the fluorescents lighting up the entry.

Would they call her a pervert just for simply trying to wash up in the bathrooms? If she was in there, in the light, would they notice she was a boy? If she was caught and the girls protested to an Academy council, it could mean the end of her Academy career, even if she was just trying to change and use the bathroom.

I wished Mrs. Rose was there so we could ask her. I looked at Lake in the eye. “We could just tell them…they’ll probably understand.”

“I really just don’t want to answer a thousand questions right now,” Lake said. “I get enough of that at home.”

I could understand she was tired and probably frustrated with what to do. I snapped my fingers. “Wasn’t there another shower somewhere?”

“Where they park campers?” Lake asked. “It was on the map.”

“It’s a little further to walk,” I said. “But if the others ask us later, we could tell them we were just splitting up so we wouldn’t take up all the hot water.”

Lake nodded slowly. “Okay,” she said. “Should we go now?”

I nodded. “Sure. Why not? We’re using the buddy system, right? There’s two of us.”

She nodded again and then turned. “Then let’s go.”

Did I have time to walk over there and get back for Kota? “Hang on,” I said and started toward the boys’ campsite. “I have to talk to someone.”

“Someone from that boy group?” she asked. She kept pace beside me, holding the clothes and towel I’d given her. “Are they the ones who brought you in?”

“Yeah,” I said. I’d debated for a second about telling her, but it seemed I should. She’d trusted me with her fears and I felt she might understand about my situation. “It’s... my group.”

She watched our feet as we walked. Our shoes scuffed along the grass until we met with the paved road. “Are you...like me?”

My heart raced. She thought I might be a boy? Did I look like one? “No,” I said.

“I didn’t really think so until those guys showed up. Then I thought maybe that’s why you talked to me. I didn’t know a girl could be on a guy team. So I just thought...maybe...” She shrugged.

“It’s rare, from what I hear, to have a girl on a guy team, but it happens sometimes.”

“So you’re in?” Lake asked, looking up at me. “You’re an official Academy member with your own team?”

“No. Not yet. I mean, I think I have my team, but I haven’t told the Academy and...it’s a little complicated.”

“So why aren’t you in training with them?”

Good question. I’d been wondering why Dr. Roberts had seemed to lead the discussion, giving give me such glorious recommendations where the result was I ended up on the girl team. “The...council this morning. When they asked our names and such, they asked me to help Mrs. Rose this week with translating for her.”

But as I thought about it, I wondered if it had been lucky that I knew sign language or had the whole thing been orchestrated?

“Oh,” Lake said. As she walked, she scuffed the back of her heels along the paved road. “I guess that makes sense.”

We approached the guys’ camp, and at first, I didn’t see anyone, except there was a small fire still going. They wouldn’t go far without putting out the fire, would they?

As if to answer my thought, the tent flap opened and North appeared. With his dark clothes and grumpy expression, he was a terrifying sight with the flickering light of the fire shining on his face.

Lake stopped instantly. “Whoa,” she said, her eyes wide as she studied North. “Something wrong?”

North frowned at her and then looked my way. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with the girls?”

There was an edge to his question. Was he mad? I tried to figure out if it was me sleeping in the other camp that had him upset, or if there was something else behind it. With North, it could be lots of things. “I...”

“Don’t blame her,” Lake said, stepping in front of me. “That crazy Carla wanted ‘all us girls’ together in one tent. Otherwise, we would have been here.”

I could handle North, but I was glad Lake seemed to understand and stepped in. It surprised me and made me feel like I really could trust her.

North’s head jerked back and he turned the full force of his glare on her. “Who the hell are...” He broke off and the glare vanished as someone inside the tent pushed on him.

“Get out of the way,” Luke said. “I haven’t seen her all day.”

While Luke and North argued over the tent flap, I leaned into Lake. “Don’t mind North. He’s always grumpy.” That wasn’t totally true, but I hoped she’d forgive him for being rude.

“I can handle guys,” she said and turned her eyes on Luke, who dodged a punch in the gut from North and raced toward us.

“Sang!” he cried out and picked me up, spun me around once and then hugged me tight. “I haven’t seen you all day!” he exclaimed, even though he’d seen me earlier—I knew he was saying it to cover up. He turned his eyes on Lake and then approached her as though he was going to give her the same greeting.

Lake raised her arms up, warding him off, but Luke ignored her, picked her up, whirled her once and put her back down. “And yay, you...whoever you are. You brought the Sang!”

“Aren’t you
‘not supposed to be here’
?” Lake asked with a smirk before she pushed him away.

Luke leaned in close. “That was earlier,” he said quietly. “I can be here now.”

North approached, looking past us, over our shoulders. “Where’s the other girls?”

“At the latrine,” I said. “We’re heading to the other one, over by the trailers.”

“That’s a good walk,” North said. “Why don’t you just go with the girls to this one?”

I shared a look with Lake and then turned my full stare at North. “To make sure there’s enough hot water to go around,” I said, hoping he’d catch my intent that this was a must and I didn’t want to explain it and embarrass Lake.

He glared at me and then grunted. “Then hop into the Jeep,” he said. “I’ll take you over. It’ll take too long to get back and forth.”

“I was hoping to find Kota, too,” I said. “I was supposed to meet him.”

“I’ll let him know where we’re headed.” He reached into his pocket, finding keys. He shot a look at Luke. “Stay with the fire. Don’t let it burn down the forest.”

“Aw, I have to stay?” Luke said and then walked over to the campfire, sinking down onto a log. “What about the buddy system?”

“And don’t play with the fire, for fuck’s sake. Last time I left you with it, you burned the tent. I have no idea how...”

Luke waved him off, although with a sheepish grin. “Go drive them to the bathroom.” He waved at me. “Bye Sang!” He waved at Lake. “Bye,
Bringer of the Sang
!”

North grunted again and waved us toward the Jeep.

I hopped into the front while North held open the back door for Lake to get in. Once she had her seatbelt on, he shut the door and got in behind the wheel.

Within moments, we rolled slowly along the paved road, following the paper map toward the trailer site. He drove very slowly as we occasionally pulled up on people walking down the road in different directions. They parted to allow us through, some waving to us in the vehicle as we passed.

“I was there earlier,” North said. He had a hand on the wheel, the other adjusting the temperature dials. “Are we hot or cold?”

“I’m fine,” Lake said.

North took his hand from the dials and placed it on the wheel. “Anyway, there’s a few trailers that have come in, but they’re all Academy. No surprises. Nothing to worry about.”

“Are these showers going to be busy?” I asked.

“Not likely. Not everyone’s going to want to walk the distance just for a shower. Everyone will figure out to try throughout the day to shower, or will skip days. It’ll work out.”

“And then we go home,” Lake said.

North peered at her through the rearview mirror. “You got a ride home, kid?”

“I have no idea,” Lake said. “I was told there was a school. Then I woke up this morning about a secret trip. I got in the car with the clothes on my back. I haven’t seen the lady who brought me since this morning.”

North huffed and dragged a palm down his cheek, the rasp of his stubble against his palm audible. “I know the feeling.”

I wanted to ask him about it but wasn’t sure he’d wanted to reveal so much with Lake around.

Soon we rolled into an area of the campground where there was a long field and small dirt roads leading in different directions. There were what I realized were RV sites—each with an electric pole and a small pad of concrete. I could only see three big campers, spread out from each other, but still close to the latrine.

The latrine was similar to the other one. Except this one was bigger, with brighter lights, outside and in. The doors were left wide open so we could see as we got closer.

When we got out of the car and approached, we could see the insides of these latrines had white tiles, smelled clean, and I didn’t see any spider webs above our heads. Maybe it was technically an identical building, but it seemed better than the other restrooms.

“How are these so much nicer?” I asked. “How come they have bathroom tiles?”

“People in RVs expect nicer latrines,” North said. “They pay more for their campsite because they use energy and plumbing. They bring in more money, so the campground spends a little more money on their latrine.”

“Don’t trailers have their own bathrooms?” Lake asked.

“Not all of them,” North said. “And sometimes if you’re here with family, you want a spare bathroom. Most of the time, people don’t want to bother pumping out the waste if they don’t have to.”

Lake and I peered into the girls’ bathroom. I could hear a shower running, but it sounded like it was coming from the guys’ side.

Lake breathed out a sigh and shuffled over to a stall. “About time,” she said, moving past me into the bathroom. I heard her close a stall door with a snap and set the lock. “I really had to pee.”

North spoke, holding me outside of the bathroom. “You wanted to talk to Kota?”

“Yeah,” I said, wondering why he was pulling me away from the bathroom. “He was going to meet me at...”

He pulled me behind the shadow of the door, out of view, and when I paused to figure out if there was a spider, he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

I froze, surprised. I’d been with other people all day, and I’d missed them, but still worried other people were watching.

But I assumed North wouldn’t dare unless he was sure we were alone, so I tried to relax and kiss him back.

It was short but intense kiss, leaving me wanting more when he backed off. “May not get another chance this week.”

I knew he was right. I wanted to talk about the night before when I’d bitten him, but I didn’t want Lake to think I’d abandoned her and I was concerned that conversation may take way too long. “Okay,” I said simply, and then wished I’d thought of something else to say, feeling stupid.

“I’ll call Kota,” he said. “And have him meet us here. I think he’s still over by the cabins, so he isn’t far.”

“I’ll go wash up,” I said.

“Are you okay with him in there?” he asked.

I assumed he meant Lake. “Yeah,” I said. “Sure.”

“You know she’s a guy, right?”

I wasn’t surprised he’d picked up on it—they were all observant. “Yup.”

“You’re still okay with it?”

“Yeah,” I said. “She’s fine. She just wasn’t sure about...with the other girls…”

He stopped me with a finger pressed to my lips. “If they don’t accept her for who she is, then they don’t deserve to be here. But I understand that Lake doesn’t want to cause any trouble. It doesn’t matter to me. I just don’t want you uncomfortable.”

“I’m fine,” I said, mumbling through my finger. I was pretty sure Lake was much more concerned about her Academy career than wanting to stare at naked girls. Otherwise she wouldn’t have said anything. “There’s stalls. We’re not kindergarteners. We can keep our hands to ourselves.”

He squinted down at me and then removed his finger from my mouth. He kissed me once more and then nudged me toward the door. “I’m right here,” he said. “Maybe remind him of that.”

I had to smile inwardly at his little warning, the mild jealousy he was hinting toward. “Her,” I whispered, although I hadn’t confirmed with Lake what pronoun she preferred. I’d just assumed by how she’d dressed and that she wanted to use the girls’ bathroom.

I wasn’t about to intimidate Lake by repeating North’s warning.

I went in, relieved that other than us, the bathroom was empty. Lake stood at the sink, washing her hands, her clothes in a heap under her arm. “Did you want to shower first? There’s several shower areas but they are completely open stalls. Thought I’d ask…”

I shook my head. “No,” I said. “You go. I’ll wash up out here.”

“Huh?” she asked.

“I’m not that bad,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t think me gross for not showering after today. “I’m too tired to do a full shower. I just want to wash my face and brush my teeth and...”

“Tell me about it,” she waved her hand over her head and then headed toward the shower. “I’m not even bothering shaving my legs this week.” She paused and turned slowly back. “Uh...I don’t suppose you have a razor.”

I did have one in my kit and passed it over to her. “Keep it,” I said as I deposited my things into a dry sink and headed toward a stall. “I may not shave this week, either.”

I assumed she needed to shave her face if she was going to keep the girl appearance up.

I finished with the toilet and had changed into clean underwear, a long-sleeved T-shirt, and cotton pants when I heard the shower start up.

At first, I began to tremble, but as I forced myself to take deep breaths, I realized this shower was different. The echo of the tiles made the noise reverberate so much, that it didn’t sound like a shower at all. It sounded more like kids were stomping around in puddles.

The odd noise made it easier to try to ignore and pretend it didn’t even exist.