Mr. Baker calls Parker’s name. I watch him as he walks by. He skips to the front, happy to be the team lead. Next, Mr. Baker calls up Noah. If Parker wasn’t happy before, he should be now. They seem to get along well. Noah passes me and gives me a quick wink. After Noah, a Jameson Wright is called. I search the crowd to see who that is, but Jay stands up. Jay must be a nickname for Jameson. Last, he calls for Lucca. Sighs echo from some of the girls left sitting around me. How silly to get caught up over some guy that will probably never talk to them. I assume they’re done when Mr. Baker talks again. “Cassandra Martin.”
My eyes shift to the people around me then to Fallon. Was my name called? I stay in my seat. There has to be a mistake. Fallon purses her lips at me like she doesn’t understand either. Mr. Baker lifts the paper to review it closer. I remain still until Mr. Baker says my name again. I slowly stand. The boys grin at me as I slide from the middle of the pew.
Did they know about this? Is this why they’ve been so nice to me? Mr. Smyth smirks as well. I’m really confused at this point.
I stand in front of the boys who tower over me and look back at the room. Stunned faces spin to whisper to their neighbors. One of the boys must have said something because someone pokes me in the back. “We have to sit down now, Boo,” Parker whispers into my ear.
I climb down the steps and follow Lucca into the next empty pew. My mind races with possibilities.
Lucca leans over to me and whispers, “It’ll be alright. We’ve got you. You aren’t alone here.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
As the last few teams are called up, I sit in stunned silence. I’m glad Fallon didn’t end up with Mindy. Parker whispers to me that Mindy’s team includes a team lead whose group came in last the previous year, Mindy, and two newbies. This surprises me because the teams are supposed to be even. The newbies must be able to walk on water or have superpowers.
As they release us to our assigned classrooms in the basement under the auditorium, a buzz of confusion and discontent fills the air. Sideways glances and snide comments float from the people we pass. I shrink back into Jay. The boys notice my discomfort and surround me in a diamond pattern with Jay still behind me, Noah and Lucca to my left and right, and Parker in front. Mr. Smyth gives me a slight smile as we pass him.
When we reach our classroom, Parker unlocks the door for us and lets me enter first. I go immediately to one of the desks, sit, and put my head down. Someone kneels next to me and gently rubs my back.
“You guys knew I was going to be on your team. That’s why you’ve been so nice to me,” I mumble into my arms.
After about thirty seconds of silence, Parker responds, “Noah hacked into the records to figure out the teams. We were surprised to see a girl’s name on our list, but we didn’t care. We did want to find out more about you and let you get comfortable with us before this started. I can’t say that we wouldn’t have talked to you. You’re the hottest girl here. We just may not have all talked to you.”
Did he just add that hot comment to make me feel better? Only perverts who make me cringe have ever called me hot, at least not to my face. I decide to ignore them for a few minutes while I think this through. If I had to guess, my name was incorrectly submitted as a boy at one point, which is why I was assigned to a boys’ cabin. Why didn’t Kelly fix my team assignment when she fixed my cabin assignment?
I shouldn’t blame the boys, though. They didn’t create the assignments. “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday what was going on?” My eyes meet Jay’s. “I asked you directly why you were hanging out with me. You told me that it was because you didn’t want me to think everyone was like Mindy. You lied to me.”
Jay kneels in front of my desk and places his hands on either side of my face, forcing me to pay attention to him. “I didn’t lie, but I’m sorry for not telling you the whole truth. After lunch, the four of us got together and decided we wanted to keep you on the team. You had already met Lucca and Parker. We didn’t want to scare you away by telling you everything. By dinnertime, our minds were made up. We planned on telling you that evening, but you never came back out of your cabin. I’m sorry if we hurt you or you feel betrayed. That was not our intention.”
I would’ve done the same thing if given the choice. Their friendships started years ago, but they only met me yesterday. I’ll go along with this.
I put my hands on his face, but instead of being gentle, I squish his face. Everyone laughs, and the tension diminishes but doesn’t vanish altogether. Jay sticks his tongue out at me, and I think he’s going to lick me, so I let go and cringe away from him. This causes them all to roar with laughter, again.
Parker, who still kneels on my left, grabs my hand. “Thank you for believing in us. I know you don’t trust us yet, but I hope you will.”
He lets go and stands to do a quick survey of the room as Noah, Jay, and Lucca sit on either side of me. “This is our room. We can do what we want, say what we want, and store what we want in here. I’ll give you each a key. If you enter, please make sure you lock the door behind you so no one comes in to see what we have planned.”
I giggle a little, and all eyes shift to me. A little information never hurt anyone. “I can pick that lock in thirty seconds or less. I brought my tools with me. I’m sure I’m not the only one with that skill, so if there’s something important you want to store here, we’ll need to find a hiding place. If we can’t find that, we should take it with us and hide it somewhere else.”
The boys mull this over. The meeting revealed no secrets as to why we need secrets. This is a game, and we’re here to play it. I feel like I’m in a Mission Impossible movie.
Before I stop myself, I say, “We should also check the room for listening devices or cameras. If all of this is mission critical, then they might employ other measures to track us.”
Lucca moves a curl that fell from my bun behind my ear. “Oh, it’s good we have you on our team. I wouldn’t want to work against you. You have a devious mind.”
I must’ve made a face because Noah pipes in. “Not a vindictive mind, just a mind that thinks about both sides of the situation. He’s right that we’re lucky to have you. The rest of us would’ve gone on the assumption that our stuff was safe. We wouldn’t even think about how to protect our plans. We can be a little cocky when it comes to that kind of thing because we’ve been doing this for so long. As far as I know, no one has ever stolen anyone’s plan, or at least been successful at it.”
“Someone”—I focus on Jay—“stole my original paperwork so I don’t know the rules. Is stealing against them?”
Jay’s not the least bit embarrassed. “No. The only things you can’t do are change teams or purposely hurt someone. People do get hurt. I haven’t seen the schedule yet, but there’ll be a time when we have to do things like relay races, capture the flag, and the like. People will run into each other and fall. That’s about the extent of it, though.”
Thinking about the races, I wonder if we’ll have to swim. I bet the lake is involved in some of these quests. Panic crashes through me at the idea, and I start to hyperventilate.
Parker rushes over to me. “No one is going to attack you again. We’ll protect you.”
“I can take care of myself.” I try to take deep breaths to calm down. I’m going to have to tell them. “Except when there’s water involved. I can’t swim.”