“I can’t leave my sisters.”
“They’ll be okay. Right, girls?” I glared at him. He laughed and stumbled off to pee in the woods but not far enough that we couldn’t see him. His white tank top had sweat stains under his armpits, his jeans shorts sagged.
“I want to go back to our camp,” I said.
Dani nodded and started to gather our things. Courtney and I got to our feet, shook out our towels.
“Hold up,” Brian said. “Let’s have another beer.”
Gavin spun back around, doing his shorts up. “What’s going on?”
“We’re going back to the campsite,” Dani said.
“What’s your problem?” He started walking toward her. “I thought we were having a good time.”
“We have to work tomorrow.” Dani sounded friendly, still trying to keep the peace.
“That’s what you’re worried about?” he said. “Shit, we go to work hungover all the time. Nothing to it, just drink lots of water.”
He sat down on the towel, gripped her arm, and pulled her down beside him. This time she got mad, shoved him.
“Hey, asshole, that hurt.”
He shoved her back. “Fuck you.”
“Let go of my sister!” I picked up a bottle, ready to throw it.
“Hey, hey. You girls calm down, now,” Brian said.
Dani had wrenched herself free from Gavin and stood up.
“We’re going back to our camp.” She started walking up the trail, motioning to us to follow.
Courtney and I jogged to catch up, the camera bouncing against my chest, my hand trying to hold it in place.
The boys were trailing a few paces behind, carrying their towels and the cooler.
“Come on, don’t be like this,” Brian said.
“We’ll talk in the morning,” Dani said over her shoulder.
“You better if you want your truck back,” Gavin said, his voice mean.
Courtney looked scared. We both glanced at Dani. I could tell she was scared too, but she also looked pissed off. She wasn’t going to back down now. I figured she was angry that we’d let the guys have this power over us, that she hadn’t listened to me when I wanted to leave hours ago. We walked all the way back to the campsite, the boys following us in their truck, its lights blinding us whenever we looked over our shoulders.
“What are we going to do back at our camp?” I said. “Should we hide?”
Dani said, “Shut up, let me think.”
I could hear the truck behind us, a dark beast nipping at our heels.
“Maybe we should just let them think we aren’t mad, you know? Like everything’s okay?” Dani sounded desperate, like she didn’t know what to do either. Which scared me more than anything.
“They’re idiots,” Courtney said. “They might believe it.”
When we got near our site, Dani spun around and walked to the truck.
“Hey, sorry things got out of control back there,” she said through the window. I couldn’t see into the cab, couldn’t see the boys’ faces.
“We’re just tired,” she said. “Tomorrow after work we’ll go swimming again, okay?”
“Sure thing, babe.” Brian’s voice. “It’s all good, right?” He sounded calm. “We just wanted to make sure you got home okay.”
“Thanks,” Dani said.
The boys backed into the field, turned the truck around, then drove off.
*
We zipped up our tent, changed into our sweatpants and sweatshirts. I had a flashlight, but I didn’t like the idea of our bodies being silhouetted. I wrapped a shirt around my camera, shoved it into the bottom of my packsack.
“They’re still mad,” I said.
“I know,” Dani said.
Courtney was fumbling around. I could hear the zipper on her packsack opening.
“What are you doing?” I said.
“Getting my knife.”
“You think they’re coming back?” I hated how scared I sounded.
“No, they’ll calm down. Just get some sleep.”
I climbed into my sleeping bag, heard my sisters settle into theirs. I tried to stay awake, listened to every noise outside, but my eyes kept closing.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I woke, my pulse racing as my eyes searched the dark. Footsteps outside, the rustle of clothes, something brushing against the side of the tent.
Dani whispered, “Shhh,” almost too low to hear.
Beside me Courtney was feeling for her knife.
My hands also groped around under my sleeping bag for my flashlight. I touched the cool metal, wrapped my fingers around it. I strained my ears. It sounded like two sets of footsteps circling the tent. Brian and Gavin. Were they trying to scare us?
I remembered the look on Gavin’s face earlier. The rage. Now there was silence. Where had they gone?
I rolled over slowly, trying not to make any noise, reaching out for Courtney, touching her arm. She grabbed my fingers, gave them a squeeze. Dani slowly moved to a kneeling position. I could see the faint outline of her body.
Someone moved outside again.