Chapter 05.10

Just as planned, once it was dark enough that only our silhouettes were visible, the guys quietly slipped away from behind the chatting girls.

Paul,” Jenny called back, ”are we far?”

“Not really,” Paul replied. ”Just a few more minutes.”

We both slipped off into the trees.

We followed the girls from a few rows of trees away, staying in a group. We could hear every word they said. Mayoko and Jenny had fallen slightly behind the others, who were walking ahead.

“Did you bring the goggles?” Aaron asked Brian.

“Of course,” Brian said, handing over the night vision goggles.

“Careful—they’re borrowed.”

“My infrared lens is borrowed too,” Paul laughed, cheerfully adjusting his gear.

The girls chatted for a few more minutes until Jenny suddenly stopped.

“The boys are gone,” she said calmly.

“I knew they were planning something,” Mayoko replied. ”Brian brought some weird goggles. Said Paul needed them. Jay didn’t say anything?

“We haven’t really talked,” Jenny said. Then she called ahead, ”Girls—stop. We’re alone.”

“Oh my God,” Diane said. ”What now? I have no idea where we are.”

There was a bit of noisy panic—clearly, they were a little spooked.

“As you all know,” Jenny said calmly, ”I’m terrible with directions.” She laughed, and the girls joined in. I just smiled and nodded to the guys.

“We know, Jane,” Susy said cheerfully. ”You’re the only person who can get lost in her own school.”

“My mom’s the same,” Jenny said. ”That’s why Dad taught us years ago.”

“Taught you what?” Jessica asked.

“How to find our way home,” my girl laughed. ”One of his tips was to always look for a fixed point—something that doesn’t move. A building, anything—and use that as a reference.”

“That’s why you hate parking garages,” Mayoko teased.

“Exactly,” she laughed. ”There’s nothing to go by. But here, we have the lake.”

“But we don’t know where we are along the lake,” Jessica pointed out.

“True, but we know the tents were set up along the long side of the lake, and the bigger part was to the left.”

“So there are two possible directions,” Susy said. ”Opposite sides of the lake.”

“Exactly,” Jenny said seriously. ”I don’t remember which side we’re on. Do you?”

“I can check,” Mayoko offered.

“How?”

“From the top of that tree,” she said calmly, and headed toward it.

Brian signaled me, and with the goggles on, we started moving toward the girls.

“Will you be okay?” Diane asked.

“Yeah,” Mayoko said brightly. ”I did gymnastics for years—and I have two brothers.”

I couldn’t see much, just followed Brian. We stopped a few steps from the tree. The girls’ chatter covered the sound of our footsteps.

“Got it!” Mayoko called down. ”We’re on the long side of the lake, but the bigger part is to the right.”

She climbed down quickly, and we backed away.

“Then we need to go around the lake,” Diane said.

“I doubt it,” Jenny replied. ”Paul and Brian wouldn’t leave us far from camp. We just need to walk that way.” She gestured toward the direction of the camp. ”It’s on this side—not across the lake.”

“I agree,” Mayoko said. ”Brian wouldn’t take that risk.”

“Knowing him, he was probably standing right under the tree just now,” my girl laughed.

“Yeah,” Mayoko said with a grin. ”He does go overboard sometimes.”

“Just like Jay,” Jenny added. ”Back when we were dating, I couldn’t even step outside at dusk.”

“As soon as he wasn’t your boyfriend anymore, he stopped caring,” Jessica muttered. She was clearly still upset with me.

“Paul did care, though,” Susy said. ”He wouldn’t let Jane walk anywhere alone.”

I looked at Paul—his silhouette nodded.

“Doesn’t it bother you that he’s single?” Jessica asked.

“Who? Where?” Diane asked, confused.

“Jay,” Jessica clarified, clearly curious.

“We’re friends,” Jenny replied with a smile. “We broke up almost a year ago, and in a few months, he’ll be flying off again anyway.”

“Why do you ask?” Mayoko stepped in to help Jenny.

“When I started school,” Jessica said, ”one of the first things I heard was to watch out for the swim guys—especially since I play basketball. They said the blond one’s super attractive, but he’ll break my heart in a few days. I’d definitely be bothered seeing him with another girl. And he won’t stay single for long.”

“What’s with this swimmer vs. basketball rivalry?” Jenny asked, smoothly steering the conversation.

“I don’t know,” Susy said. “But there’s this guy Alan, and his younger brother Mark. We share a few classes, but Paul basically banned me from talking to him.”

“The basketball guys have been trying to get back at the swimmers for years,” Diane added.

“Why? Who started it?” Jenny asked.

“It started when I was still dating Daryl—before we broke up,” Diane explained. ”There was a weekend basketball party, and I brought Daryl along. Jay and Brian snuck in and ended up having a weekend fling with a few girls.” She laughed. “Since then, Alan and his crew have been trying to get revenge or steal their girlfriends.”

“But since none of the girls really mattered to the guys before us, they didn’t care if Alan’s crew succeeded. So the basketball guys never really got their revenge,” Diane finished.