First Kiss: The Ghost Bird Series: #10 (The Academy Ghost Bird Series) (45 page)

After returning from the latrines, we spent our evenings with the guys around the fire. Lake and I often got too tired to even talk, but Gabriel and some of the others talked about the different teams, the classes going on, and what they might do the next day.

The boys were acting a little distant, I noticed. We were all friendly, but I wondered if something was going on because none of them pulled me aside or talked about the important issues: about me joining the Academy and the plan. No one brought up Kota kissing me, either.

The evening was the only time I really got to see them all. I missed them so much that once Lake and I could join them after we’d been to the latrine, we lingered there until close to ten, leaving only then so Carla wouldn’t make a fuss about us being out late.

On our third full official day, Lake and I, in an attempt to get the younger girls to leave us, spent all afternoon at the most seemingly uninteresting booths and activities. There was a geologist who pointed out rocks in the area and had us practice identifying them. There was a botanist who worked with us on identifying plants.

Unfortunately, those turned out to be really interesting. The lecturers made them fun. The most boring activity ended up being fishing because of all the standing around, waiting for a bite.

After twenty minutes at each station, we’d retreat, even if we liked the lectures going on, and try another booth, trying to shake the girls. But each time, they followed.

Carla was always last to trail behind them.  Eventually, we ended up at the arts and crafts area, where there often wasn’t room for all of us to sit together, so we were forced to spread out, finding seats where we could. It was as good as Lake and I could hope for.

“I don’t understand it,” Lake whispered to me, trying to weave the start of a sweetgrass basket as an instructor had shown us. “I would have ditched you by now...”

I smirked and shrugged.

“You know what I mean,” Lake said. “How many times have we told them to mingle?”

“I don’t know,” I said, focusing on the grass. Weaving was harder than it had appeared and was already hurting my hands.

That night, we had a quick dinner of vegan hotdogs at Taylor’s invitation, with Lake and I and a couple of girls opting for granola instead.

Every night, Carla tried her best to rally the girls into songs and skits and games. Lake and I often bowed out, not because we didn’t want to. Carla, however, often didn’t ask us to join in. Sometimes, she pretended we weren’t even there.

Once Lake and I were done, we left to get to the showers early and then spent the evening with the guys.  As we sat around the campfire making s’mores, the guys let us complain about the girls following us, sympathizing. At one point I looked up at Kota and could tell he still thought Lake and I should talk to her, but he didn’t say anything and I looked away.

Part of me hoped the week would end without any sort of confrontation. I didn’t want to fight. Why couldn’t they understand we needed space?

When we returned from the guys’ camp, Carla was waiting outside the tent.

“We have ten minutes,” Lake said before she’d said a word. It’d been a really long day and I imagined she was as tired as I was and didn’t want to get a lecture about being out past the scheduled time.

“I don’t care about that,” Carla said. She had her arms folded over her chest, standing close to the door, blocking our way. She leaned in, her eyes focusing hard on us. “I need to talk to you two.”

“We’ll be late,” Lake said with a teasing grin.

“This is important,” she said.

I cringed. Kota had been right. We probably did need to talk to Carla and get stuff out in the open. I’d kept my allegiance to the guys’ team a secret, to not confuse the girls with my complicated situation, and because I simply didn’t want to talk about it. Lake had never asked about it or let on what she assumed.

Maybe if Carla knew, she wouldn’t lecture us about hanging out with the boys or wonder why we were out so late with them.

She kept her arms folded as she walked away from the tent, nodding her head for us to follow. I frowned, keeping my own arms around my stomach as we fell in step behind her. Maybe she wanted to kick us out for trying to escape all the time. Could she even ask that?

Maybe it would be better.

She walked until she was in the middle of the paved road, well away from the tent. She turned to us then, seeming to be thinking about what she was going to say

Lake and I waited. It was on the tip of my tongue to offer to get Lake and I a separate tent. 

“The girls are worried you don’t think they’re good enough for the Academy,” Carla said. “They’ve been asking to go home.”

Lake’s mouth dropped open. “What?” she said, shaking her head, obviously as surprised as I was. “Why? We don’t have any control over that.”

“I told them that,” she said. “Probably because you two talk for Mrs. Rose. And you saved some of them from the pit. And Sang saved them from the nettle. You start out nice and helpful, but... I don’t know...”

“Because we’re supposed to split up,” Lake said. “We’ve been trying to encourage them to spread out. We’re supposed to get to know other campers.”

“They’re scared,” Carla said. She dropped her folded arms from her chest to her stomach. Her lip trembled. “Everything seems like a test to them. They think this is part of getting accepted. I can’t keep them confident and together when you two run off every night. Even Taylor can’t convince them.”

“Why are they scared?” I asked. “They aren’t doing badly. We’re not judging them. We’re just trying to get them to try different things and talk to different people.”

“They’re worried,” she said. “They think you two trying to ditch them means you don’t like them or don’t think they’re good enough. And what happens at the end of the week with the exit interview and you two don’t have nice things to say about them?” She breathed in deeply, letting out a soft whistle. “I understand you two are probably trying to explore and find your own teams, but right now, they’re a split second away from demanding to go home because they feel like rejects.”

Lake frowned and looked at me before she spoke. “We didn’t know,” she said. “We were just...”

“I don’t care,” Carla said. “I know you’re just doing camp activities. I know that’s how it’s supposed to work, but...they looking up to you two, not me.”

“Maybe if you weren’t so bossy,” Lake said flatly.

Carla looked down, sniffing as she nodded. “I don’t know what else to do,” she said between deep breaths. “I thought if I took control a little, they’d want me to be their leader. But no matter what I did, they kept saying if Sang and Lake didn’t think they were good enough, then they should just go home.”

Lake rolled her head back, looking up toward the sky. “God, don’t cry. How were we supposed to know? Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

I trembled, tearful myself because Carla was crying, and also feeling sorry for the girls, who had directed their hopes into Lake and me. Carla wasn’t trying to intentionally exclude us, she was trying to help the girls and give us our freedom. It just wasn’t working.

And worse, Lake and I were letting the other girls down.

Carla breathed in deeply, looking up and wiping at her face. “I know you’re probably trying to explore and look at other teams, but right now, I need your help to convince them they can’t just quit the Academy. They don’t believe they’re good enough on their own. I just don’t want it to be my fault if they decided they can’t join if I could do something about it. They need us, all of us, to show them.”

I sighed, looking at Lake. Were we responsible for this? Would the Academy ask us why we were making the others uncomfortable when we hadn’t meant to? This had suddenly become more complicated than we’d realized.

“It can’t be up to us,” Lake said. “You heard April and Mrs. Rose and what they’ve been through. They can’t need us backing them up. They need thicker skin…”

“They don’t know as much as we do,” Carla said. “We come from troubled families, don’t we? Even if they don’t join the Academy, they’ve been trusted with our secrets. What loyalty do they have to keep our secrets if we push them away?”

She was right. I stuffed my hands into my jacket pockets. I’d been so worried about getting onto my team, that I didn’t stop to even ask them how they were doing.

“We have an issue,” Lake said, looking at me. “Sang’s already on a team or trying to get on that team. She’s been trying to work it out with them. And I...I’m not...”

“Tell her,” I said. She needed to trust other people, the Academy. It was time if Carla hadn’t figured it out by now.

Lake groaned and then lowered her head. “I’m a boy.”

Carla snapped her head up, looking at the two of us. “What?”

I cringed. Lake bowed her head lower, her hair falling in her face, covering her eyes. “I dress like a girl because I feel more comfortable like that. And I don’t... I don’t exactly like hanging out with guys.”

I gasped and turned to her. “What?” I said, thinking back to the evenings sitting around the guys’ campfire. “I thought you liked...”

“I don’t mind
them
,” she said with a frown, finally looking up. “And I don’t mind talking and being around guys in general. I’ve just had bad experiences with guys and I’m not ready to join with a guy team. I was hoping there would be a girl or two somewhere that would understand. Finding a team for me is going to be impossible.” She shot me a look. “I know you have your team already. Kind of wished you didn’t though.”

I frowned, suddenly torn and unsure. I didn’t even know Lake that well and the guys needed me. But Lake was nice, and if she wouldn’t feel comfortable with the guys in the long run, what did that mean for her?

She needed someone.

Carla spoke quietly then. “I didn’t realize,” she said. “I never would have thought...”

“Thanks,” Lake said. “Kind of the point.”

“And that’s why you don’t go to the showers with us?” she asked. “The girls were wondering. Like... I don’t know. Like you thought they were weird or annoying.”

“We went to the other latrine near the RV area,” I said. “So they wouldn’t find out and feel awkward.”

“I wish you would have told me sooner,” Carla said. “We could have worked out a system.”

That would have been helpful to us all. . We stood quietly together, the three of us, studying each other, our feet, the sky as we all seemed deep in thought.

I wondered what they were thinking about, but I now wondered about the boys, too. Here I was, in the middle of this girl group, suddenly feeling responsible to make sure no one bailed on the Academy. While at the same time, I was so lost trying to figure out
my
place in it.

“So,” Lake said after a while. “What do we do now?”

Carla shrugged. “Help me help them,” she said. “I can make up some excuse for the bathrooms if you can spend more time with them.”

Lake pushed her palms to her face, pressing them into her eyes. “I don’t understand. What do they want us to do? We’ve been spending all week with them.”

“Maybe try not to run off like they’re your annoying little sister you’re trying to get away from,” she said. “They need to feel like they belong here. They’re not feeling that yet.”

Feeling like they belong. I knew that feeling, or was more familiar with it now, thanks to Kota and his team.

Kota.
My
team.

I snapped my fingers, as wave after wave of memories flooded my brain, of all the things the boys and I did together that made me feel a part of their family team. It wasn’t about our relationships, the complicated romance we wanted but had yet to work out.

It was the things we did together. It was the sleepovers. It was swimming in the pool and playing games. It was when we worked together to feed the hungry people of Charleston.

Carla was right, we couldn’t run away anymore. “We can do this,” I said. “But I need the guys. We need their help. And we need to find more people.”

“Why?” Carla asked.

“Because they need a family,” I said and started down the paved road, heading toward the guys’ tent. I knew we had a curfew, but this was more important. The girls didn’t have faith in the Academy, and that was the first step. “Trust your family, right? The girls need to believe the entire Academy is their family. That they can trust anyone here.”

Carla didn’t move at first, staring at Lake. Lake shrugged and then started following me.

I had a plan, but it would take an entire league of Academy teams to do it.

WHAT THE ACADEMY CAN DO

W
hen we got to the boys’ tent, their lamps were off, and other than a few soft snores, they were silent inside the tent.

We slowed as we got closer.

“Let’s not spook them,” Carla whispered.

I paused and then thought carefully. It was risky, but it was too much to resist. I thought of Gabriel breaking my tent and the others giggling at me for not knowing my sleeping bag heated up. They could stand to be a little scared. “No, let’s spook them,” I whispered back.

Lake grinned, Carla shook her head. “They’ll turn us in,” Carla said. “They’ll tell the others.”

“They won’t,” I whispered and then motioned for them to get close. When they did, I let them in on the plan. “Let’s sneak around the back. Carla, do you have your flashlight.”

With it being a clear night, and the moon glowing above, we hadn’t needed the flashlight. Carla had brought it, though.  She pulled it out of her pocket and held it up.

“You stand back,” I told her, figuring she’d want this job. “Shine the line toward the back of the tent. Lake, you and I stand close to the tent wall. When Carla shines the light, you pretend to be a bear and roar. And we’ll make shadows.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lake said.

“Only we have to be quiet from here out,” I whispered. “North can hear everything.” I wasn’t so sure he couldn’t hear us out here now with his supersonic hearing. Maybe he was asleep...

The girls followed me as I tiptoed my way around wide toward the back of the tent. Carla positioned herself near the trees, so her light would cast a good glow. Lake and I stood halfway between.