Page 43 of Puck Your Friend

He shrugs without turning. “Doesn’t matter.”

I play with my necklace through the material of my turtleneck. Trying to distract myself from how my skin hurts and the pounding in my head.

My stomach flips as I press my head against the cold windowpane and try to center myself. The noise needles through my skull, fraying whatever thread of calm I’ve got left.

I go back to ignoring them all. The bus ride stretches long enough to dull everything. I nod off at one point.

11 years ago…

A dozen or so of us older campers have been called in to help build tents for the first year’s star gazing club’s sleepover. They want us in pairs, so it will go faster. We don’t get to pick who we are paired with, which sucks.

Counselor Ted flips through the pages on his clipboard. “Thank you fourth years for volunteering to put up the tents for the first years. Snack Tokens will be added to all your accounts for your time.”

A few kids cheer. I’m happy anytime I can get Hot Cheetos for free, so it’s worth part of our rest day to build tents. It’s not like it will take long. The guys are here, too, so that we can pool our tokens and get some good snacks to have by the lake.

The names come quick. Logan’s paired with a guy named Ethan. We’ve talked to him a few times, so he’s a good guy. Jaceand Wes are matched with girls, which should bother me, but I get the feeling I don’t have to worry about them. Not that we will be far from each other.

Ford gets pulled with a kid I don’t recognize. We’re all building tents just scattered along the south field so we don’t crowd each other. I’m not sure why we have to have partners. I guess for the people who don’t know how to build tents?

I stay where I am, my arms folded over my chest, and my brows tight. I want to get paired with someone who I don’t find annoying if I can’t be paired with one of the guys. But I guess we can’t always be paired together for things.

“Frankie and Benji. You’ll have tents numbered five and six in the quadrant over there near the section of birch trees.” He points with his pen and I glance over my shoulder. It’s farther than I’d like.

Benji strides over. He’s got short, flat brown hair, pale skin already going red across his cheeks, and faded blue eyes. Tall and a little soft through the middle. I know of him, but we’ve never talked or hung out.

His gaze travels over me, making my skin prickle. I look anywhere but him. Hopefully, he works fast and doesn’t like to talk. “Guess we’re stuck with each other. Frankie, right? I’ve seen you in a few of the challenges lately.”

I turn on my heel to head toward the tent bag pile. “Guess so.”

The guys are picking up their bags as I find the blue bags marked five and six. I hand him one.

I head for the birch trees and he easily keeps stride with me, being almost a head taller. What’s new in that regard.

“Last week at the lake relay, do you always swim that fast? You looked like a mermaid.”

I scrunch my nose, not liking the comparison. “How else would I swim during a race? Slow would defeat the point of it all.”

His eyes trail over my chest. “Well, I could watch you swim any day.”

My stride slows as I look over at him. Did he mean to say it like that? “Are we going to talk or do what we volunteered for?”

I pick up my pace, but it does no good as he keeps up with me without effort.

He shrugs. “We can do both.”

Why did I have to get someone who likes to chat and clearly isn’t put off by my RBF?

“So, do you have a boyfriend?”

I shift the bag to my other hand. “Why do you care?”

He grins. “It’s a fair question.”

We’re not allowed to punch people. I have to remind myself of that fact as my hand forms a fist. “It’s not a relevant one.”

We reach the section of birch trees and drop the bags. I open mine, pulling out the poles, stakes, and the folded up tent. These will be even easier than I thought.

I don’t get why the first years couldn’t do this themselves, but I wasn’t part of the star gazer club back then. So maybe it’s like tradition or something for the fourth years to do it for them.

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