Grabbing my things from the backseat, I head toward the people lining up to register their arrival. Pulling out my phone, I see a string of messages in the group chat Stassie set up last week.
PRETTY BEST FRIENDS
Stassie: Let us know when you get there safely, Muffin
Stassie: Drinking before a big drive wasn’t the best idea
Kris: He’ll be fine. He had an early night ;)
Mattie: I’m not fine in case anyone cares
Bobby: How early?
Kris: According to the UCMH gossip page he took Aurora Roberts up to his room and they did not reappear
Lola: I can’t believe you read that shit. They posted that I might be pregnant two weeks ago because someone told them I was crying in Kenny’s. I literally had hot sauce in my eye
Mattie: Nobody cares then? Okay cool cool cool
Bobby: Why does Aurora Roberts sound familiar?
Stassie: She’s friends with Ryan
Robbie: You watched her give Russ a lap dance last night genius
Bobby: No I know that but her name sounds familiar
Mattie: “Friends with Ryan” has never worked out well for any guy
Stassie: Nate told me to tell you to fuck off
Kris: That was Aurora Roberts???
Lola: Am I the only woman at this school Ryan Rothwell hasn’t stuck his dick in?
Robbie: Yes and I thank the stars for that daily
Stassie: Nate told me to tell you to fuck off as well
Kris: Her dad owns Fenrir. The F1 team with the wolf
Bobby: Oh shit
Stassie: Nate is excited by that news for some reason
Lola: She was hot. Congrats Muffin
Henry: You guys are annoying
Henry: I thought someone had died
Henry: There’s no need for people who see each other every single day to text this much
Robbie: The only person who’s gonna die is Muffin when he realizes he’s gonna have to pretend to like F1 if he ever wants to get laid again
JJ: At least it isn’t something boring like tennis
Robbie: Who let you in here? This group is supposed to be for the people actually staying in Maple Hills
JJ: I’ll be there in spirit
JJ: And I get FOMO
Kris: It was Stassie, wasn’t it?
Stassie: Excuse you
JJ: Nah, I negotiated with Hen
Bobby: “Negotiated”
Henry: He hid my paintbrushes
JJ: You’ll be glad of my presence when one you ask for advice from a real world adult
Lola: I’ll be sure to never ever do that
Russ: This was a lot
Russ: I’m here but the cell service sucks
I always wondered what it’d be like to be in the “inner circle” when I was on the outside. Now I’m in it, I realize it’s mainly chaos but in a kind of wholesome way. By the time I’m done catching up, I’m at the front of the line, which gives me the perfect opportunity to not dwell on the fact I am once again on some shitty college gossip page, the girl I’m with on there has a super-rich family and that there’s absolutely no way I’m going to be able to fake knowing anything about race cars if I ever see her again.
It doesn’t take long for me to be given my welcome pack, told a meeting starts in an hour and find my cabin. Pushing my way through the stiff door, I immediately spot my new roommate for the summer.
“What’s up, man,” he says coolly, nodding from the bed he’s taken on the other side of the room. “I’m Xander.”
“Russ.” I swear I nearly say Muffin. “Good to meet you.”
“You too.” His eyes drop to my chest, the white Titans logo stands out against the navy-blue material. “You at UCMH?”
Part of me dies a little bit, because I didn’t think when I put this t-shirt on. I hoped there wouldn’t be Maple Hills students here, since it’s so many hours away, but it was silly of me to assume they wouldn’t be attracted to the same things as me. You’d think familiar faces would be a comfort, but as soon as I mention hockey they bring up the rink, which I fucking hate talking about. I reluctantly answer Xander. “Yeah, you?”
“Nah, man. My mom’s husband is faculty and I don’t need that in my life. Plus, my stepbrother is there and we’d probably kill each other if we played on the same basketball team. I’m at Stanford. You play?”
Dropping my bags to the floor and emptying the things from my pockets, I take a seat on my bed and brace for the normal reaction. “Yeah, ice hockey.”
“Sweet.” He gestures toward the keys. “Was it a long drive?”
It takes me longer than it should to answer him because it wasn’t the question I was prepping for and, the more small talk we make, the more relaxed I become because he doesn’t mention the rink at all.
I’m sure it’s an anxiety thing to assume that every single person with links to Maple Hills knows about the situation I caused at the start of the year. It’s my biggest shame, the first time I thought “yeah, Dad’s right, I am a fuck up,” so it isn’t as easy as choosing not to think about it like my teammates suggest. Stassie says that over time it won’t be the first thing I worry about, but I’m still waiting for that to happen.
An hour flies by so quickly I don’t even get a chance to open my welcome pack before we have to head over to the main hall for the meeting. This place is huge but, thankfully, Xander worked here last summer so he knows exactly where we’re going.
We grab two empty seats on the front row and wait for the rest of the room to fill up. Xander passes me a sign-in sheet being sent around the room and right at the top is the Wi-Fi password.
“The Wi-Fi fucking sucks, by the way,” he groans. “It’s not too bad if you’re in the main buildings but in our cabin it’s non-existent. You’ll get random service and all your messages will come through at once and scare the shit out of you.”
“No service is good for me, to be honest.” I sign my name and connect anyway, passing the sheet on to the people beside me. More messages from the group chat come through, along with some other notifications and messages from my mom.
MOM
I’ve been trying to reach you all week and so has your brother
I hope you have a great summer at the camp
Please visit when you’re back
Missing you, sweetie
Me and your dad both do
I check the other notifications and the one that stands out is the one from my dad.
DAD
Request from kcallaghan19
$50
I lock my phone quickly in case anyone is looking over my shoulder and put it back in my pocket. I feel bad for ignoring her calls, but it’s always the same excuses I’d rather not hear. My brother, Ethan, only calls to give me shit about not visiting, despite the fact he fled to the east coast with his band as soon as he possibly could, leaving me to deal with it all alone.
I’ve always been second choice. To my dad’s addictions, to my mom’s excuses for him, to Ethan’s desire to move away far enough that he can pretend nothing’s wrong.
I love my family, but I hate what we’ve become. Tiptoeing around the things that keep us divided, making excuses for Dad, refusing to work toward a solution in favor of pretending there isn’t an issue. I’ve reached the point where it’s easier to ignore them and keep my distance both physically and emotionally. Thankfully, now I’m here, that distance I’ll be keeping is four hours north.
An older woman taps a live microphone at the same time a fluffy, golden head lands on my knees. Xander immediately reaches for the dog, scratching between its ears in a way that makes the dog’s eyes close and tail wag. “Hey, Fish! I’ve missed you and your hair all over my clothes,” he coos. He looks at me to explain. “She’s Jenna’s dog, you’ll meet her, she’s a director. Jenna works in the office mainly, so Fish just roams around the camp, getting attention from everyone. She usually picks a favorite and sticks with them. Looks like you’re a contender.”