Dead of Summer - Page 100

If the phrase ‘I wonder if Kayde will like it,’ goes through my head ever in the few minutes I take to get ready, I’ll certainly never admit it. Not even under penalty of death. But coincidentally, this is my favorite swimsuit I own, with a black top that’s tied with a thin, cute bow, a border of turquoise under it, and turquoise and black shorts that I’m wearing under my longer, slightly baggy running shorts.

From the room next to mine, I hear my girls getting ready, and time it so I end up on my little deck just as their door opens, revealing all eight of my girls dressed in shorts and Camp Crestview t-shirts.

I smile at that, and the way they all assemble in a line on their deck, with Melody at their head, of course. They’re like a little legion, and I’m the only thing keeping them from taking over Crestview to rule with an iron fist.

I can only imagine what their flag would look like, should the day of a coup ever become reality.

“You girls look ready to conquer the day. Any plans I should know about?” I ask, trudging along the wet path toward Otter Hall. It’s a good thing that the plan for today is swimming instead of something like the obstacle course.

Not that I’d let any of the kids near the obstacle course while everything is slippery. Harnesses or not, that would be absolutely asking for it.

“We’re swimming today, right?” Melody asks, Lily at her shoulder with her eyes trained on me. While she’s definitely not my favorite, like Melody, Lily is a constant. Plus, she’s dependable enough that I know she won’t try to kill anyone, break anything, or run away.

At least, as long as Melody is in charge. Quite frankly, I doubt any of my girls would step out of line with Melody here. But on the flip side of that, Melody is excellent at riling up her peers when she wants to do something spontaneous or ill-advised. So while none of the other girls will do anything on their own that makes me have to go track them down, if Melody wanted to get all of them in on something, I’d have eight girls to worry about, instead of one.

Pushing open the door to the dining hall, I’m unsurprised to see that apart from Daniel’s cabin, we’re the only ones here. It isn’t my choice to be up this early, but I certainly don’t mind being one of the first. Not when it means my girls can swarm the window where the food is laid out without competition and get themselves seated rather quickly.

I wait for them to do so, then swoop in for my usual eggs, one whole sausage link to say I ate something with iron in it, and a biscuit smothered in gravy. Then I grab coffee, a glass of water, and waltz over to the table for four I share with Liza and Kinsley on most days. Though neither of them are here yet, I sink down into my chair by the wall, my eyes on the eight girls slowly waking up now that they’ve been given sustenance.

Another cabin of boys filters through the dining hall next, heading to the window and slowly, sleepily fixing themselves plates. They’re not Daniel’s, obviously, and I don’t know enough of the newest boys to really place them.

At least, until Kayde sits down beside me, one arm draped over the back of my chair. “Good morning,” he murmurs, leaning in to kiss my cheek just as all of my girls turn to look at us. Naturally.

With my eyes on them, I can see their looks of delight at Kayde kissing me, and a few of them cover their mouths to giggle, while three others, including Melody, put their heads together to whisper conspiratorially. All the while staring at me, of course, so there’s no doubt of what’s gotten them going.

“They’re going to be making jokes at my expense for the rest of the week,” I sigh, but I settle back against his arm. “You know that, right? We’re going to have to hear ‘Kayde and Summer sitting in a tree’ until our ears bleed.”

“Too bad,” Kayde murmurs in my ear, just as he turns to grin and wave at my cabin. This sets off another rumbling of conversation, and when his boys join my girls at the large table, I see them all leaning in to talk to one another, shooting glances at us when they can.

Too bad they aren’t very subtle about it. If they even know the definition of the word, or give a damn.

I don’t really think they give a damn if we see them or not. All of our combined kids are too busy looking like they’ve caught us doing something illegal or that they’ve found out some hush-hush secret.

By the end of the day, I have no doubt we’ll be the center of Camp Crestview gossip. Especially since the newness of Liza and Kinsley has worn off and everyone in the camp knows they’re dating.

But this with Kayde? Yeah, it’s going to be an event all day long, I’m sure.

My eyes catch more girls filtering in and heading up to the window with Kinsley in tow, just as Liza sits down across from us, a question in her eyes as she looks at Kayde. “Will you be joining us often now?” she asks, crossing her arms and leaning back like she’s staging an interview for the position of Fourth Seat at the table.

“Am I allowed?” Kayde chuckles under his breath, reaching out to my plate and snagging the sausage link. I certainly don’t mind. I probably wouldn’t have ended up eating it anyway, after all.

“Depends. If you’re going to take the few sources of iron that Summer deigns to put on her plate, then you are not.” Her voice is crisp as she looks at him, seeming unimpressed.

“I’ll get her another one,” Kayde assures Liza, getting to his feet. “Do you want anything?”

Liza shakes her head, still eyeing him up and down as he strides toward the window. “So,” she remarks, watching as he sidles up to Kinsley and accepts a plate from her. “Should we assume this is an official thing now? Certainly all the kids are convinced it is.”

I grimace at that, stabbing my eggs and shoving a forkful of them into my mouth. “There’s nothing to be official,” I grumble, dragging one knee up onto the chair and sitting sort of awkwardly on my calf. It’s not the most comfortable thing, that’s for sure. But sometimes I like sitting like this where I feel smaller or, alternatively, like I could spring out of my seat at any moment.

Though in this position, I’d probably manage to just smash my face into my plate of eggs.

“He certainly got back late last night,” Liza goes on, as if I’m not looking mightily uncomfortable. “His cabin is next to mine, in case you didn’t know that.”

“Oh, I totally knew that.” I stab more of my eggs as I eye her, attention flicking between Liza and Kayde at the window. “Will you be keeping a timetable of when Kayde goes to bed this week?”

Liza’s grin is a little slyer than I expect, and she can’t help a soft snort as she shakes her head. “I’m just surprised he isn’t staying with you in your cabin, is all.” Kinsley sits down beside her right as she says it, Kayde following a step behind as he sinks down in the chair at my left.

“She won’t let me,” Kayde sighs dramatically, dropping two sausages and more eggs onto my plate. “You should eat those, by the way. Your body will like iron. I promise.” His voice is sickly sweet, and I roll my eyes at him dramatically, making sure I go slow enough that there’s no way he can miss the message at any point.