Lucky Penny (7 page)

“I think there may have been a little bit of cheating going on earlier. It’s the only explanation. Team Weston never loses.”

I smiled. It was impossible not to when Blake was being playful—something I’d realized was a big part of the new Blake. I watched him interact with the kids, with the other counselors, even Troy and Tina. He was charismatic, a total charmer, but he was also warm like the sun, and people gravitated to his light.

“It had to happen at some point. Besides, my girls rocked it.”

Blake tipped his water bottle at me. “That they did. So how are the girls?”

I glanced over at them laughing and joking with the boys. “They’re okay. Erica isn’t responding yet.”

He followed my gaze to where Erica sat on the edge of the huddle with Brianna. They were toasting marshmallows on their skewers but didn’t have the same expressions as everyone else.

“It doesn’t happen right away, not for them all. Give her time.”

“I keep forgetting you’re a pro at this.”

Blake shuffled beside me, sliding off the trunk and sitting against it on the ground with his knees bent. “Pro? Nah, I just get them. Hell, we were them, Penny. After-”

“Agh, I’m on fire. Someone help me, AGH.” Trevor, one of the boys, was leaping around on the spot waving his rapidly burning skewer while the rest of the kids all laughed hysterically.

Blake got to his feet. “Trevor, drop the skewer. It’s on fire. Not you, buddy. Just let it go.”

Trevor stopped and glanced at Blake and back at the skewer, which was completely charred on one end. He threw it out in front on him and started stomping on it over and over.

“Trevor, I think you killed it.” Blake laughed and Trevor stopped, ducking his head with realization.

“I- I thought I was on fire. My bad.” He skulked back to his seat and shrugged off a couple of his friends.

Blake didn’t come back to sit with me. Instead, he joined the boys. It had felt like he was going to say something before the fire incident. Something significant. But now he was avoiding me. Dusting myself off, I joined the girls. Even if it was something significant, what did we know about each other anymore? I didn’t even know where he lived, what he did with his life. We really were strangers to one another.

And maybe it was for the best.

“I’m not doing it. No way. You can’t make me.” Erica stood in her usual pose; arms folded over her chest, an icy glare aimed in my direction.

Ten days, and I was still no closer to cracking her. It was like whatever I did or said sparked a reaction from her. It was the same with most of the adults in the camp. It was frustrating, but more than that, it concerned me. Most of the other kids relished the opportunity to be free for two weeks; to play and experience and grow. Some of the kids who came through the Camp Chance program were fortunate enough to have supportive and wholesome foster families. Those kids stood out—they were confident and wore a smile in their adventures. But others, like Erica and Brianna, were wary and unsure, and the foster kid in me knew it stemmed from their experiences back home.

Home.

If Erica was anything like I was when I was her age, home was not a word used to describe my foster home. It was hell on earth—a time in my life made bearable by one person. That was the reason why I couldn’t let Erica walk away from Camp Chance without doing something… anything, to give her hope of a better life. It was also the reason I needed Blake’s help, but that would have to wait until the group campfire tonight because, right now, I had to get eight girls across the lake on canoes.

Marissa was our instructor for the afternoon, and she had an endless amount of patience with the girls as they struggled to stay upright in their kayaks. Lucy, being small, was surprisingly buoyant and had managed to navigate across half the lake with little support. Marissa was working closely with Crystal and Brianna, and the rest of the girls were goofing around, flicking water at one another with their paddles.

“We have to get across the lake, Erica. That’s what today's activity is all about. Perseverance and determination. We could-”

“I’m. Not. Doing. It,” she hissed.

I sighed glancing away from her to watch the rest of the girls out on the lake. The water was glistening in the afternoon sun making the water look inviting, but not enough that I was particularly looking forward to canoeing across it.

Being the calm and compassionate counselor was getting me nowhere, so I wrung my hands in front of me, bent down to pick up the paddle for the canoe pulled up onto the embankment and thrust it at Erica. “Let’s go.”

“Wha-what?” She blinked staring at me as if I had totally lost it.

“I said let’s go. In the canoe. You and me. Now.” I pushed the paddle at her a little farther forcing her to take it from me and then spun on my heel to push the canoe to the water’s edge. “Let’s go, Miss I’m-not-doing-it.”

Inside my chest, my heart was pounding so hard I felt a little nauseous. This was out of character for me. All the kids had me pegged as the quiet one. A lot of them liked that about me, but with Erica, it didn’t work. I couldn’t reach her that way. Blake had told me to give her time, to let her come to me, but time was running out.

“Move it, Erica. We haven’t got all day,” I shouted glancing in the direction of where I’d left her standing. Only she wasn’t standing there anymore. She was moving toward the canoe with a look of pure hatred on her face.

“If you capsize us and I drown, I’ll sue.” She climbed in the back end of the vessel and huffed loudly.

I couldn’t help the slight grin on my face as I sat down and started to shimmy the canoe forward using the paddle to push off the ground. The vessel whooshed into the water and started to float away from the shore. My smirk grew into a full smile, feeling pretty pleased with myself on both fronts—getting us out onto the lake without sinking and coaxing Erica to join me.

My smugness didn’t last long.

Marissa was busy showing off to the girls up ahead of us by creating ripples with her paddles to make their kayaks rock. Laughter echoed around the lake each time she did it, as they rocked from side to side. But by the time the ripples reached us, they had merged into waves rolling toward shore.

“We need to paddle into them, I think,” I called back at Erica, trying to remember what Marissa had taught me during our staff lesson out on the lake.

Erica muttered something I couldn’t make out, and we both started to rotate the paddles in the water to force the vessel forward into the gentle waves. Marissa spotted us and said something that caused the rest of the girls to look in our direction. The next thing I knew, six girls started copying Marissa’s action with their paddles, sending ripples rushing out toward us.

“Marissa, seriously?” I yelled, still paddling forward, my pulse quickening.

The canoe seemed to ride the waves with ease, even if the slight rocking churned my stomach.

“How long is this going to take? I hate it out here,” Erica muttered sounding almost bored.

“Keep at it. I can’t do it alone.”

Concentrating on the movement of the paddles, I didn’t notice Marissa instruct the girls to turn their kayaks in full circles. The force of their vessels cutting through the water created stronger waves that started lapping at the front of the canoe. “She’s crazy,” I murmured under my breath. My panic was rising; I was beginning to feel as if capsizing might be a valid concern now.

We continued forward, despite having to grip onto the sides a couple of times, and by the time we reached Marissa and the girls, they were all in fits of hysterics.

“That was not funny, Marissa. I thought we were going to capsize,” I said breathlessly. Really, I wanted to shout a string of expletives at her, but that would have to wait for later.

“You were fine. We didn’t make big enough waves to flip you.”

Sensing Erica watching me from the back of the canoe, I glanced behind me and smiled. “You good?”

She nodded. It was the most positive thing I had managed to drag out of her all week. I returned her nod and turned back to Marissa, but not before I caught a slight smile on Erica’s face. It was barely there, but I saw it. Relief flooded me. Finally, I was getting through to her, and my mind immediately went to the one person who would understand the hugeness of my small win—the only person who would really understand how important this was for me.

Blake.

T
he sound of Troy’s guitar floated on the summer’s breeze. Tonight was group camp, the last one before the final goodbye camp in three days’ time.

“I can’t believe it’s almost time to leave,” Lucy sighed dramatically, and Crystal pushed her from behind with a snicker. “What? I don’t mind it with the Peterson’s, but Camp Chance is so freakin’ cool. I don’t ever want to leave.”

I chuckled amazed by how far the small girl next to me had come in just ten days. Troy had been right; Camp Chance really did change lives.

“We all have to leave eventually, Lucy.” I ruffled her hair, and she ducked away from my hand smoothing it back down.

Some of the girls took group camp very seriously. It was one of the few times they had to interact with the boys. Gone were their daytime scruffs, replaced with cut-off shorts and pretty tank tops and tees. Even Erica had made an effort tonight, and although she hadn’t spoken to me again since her slip earlier, something about her felt less detached.

We entered the clearing, and my eyes did a quick count. We were the last cabin to arrive, it seemed, and everyone else sat quietly around the fire.

“You made it.” Marissa came to the edge of the circle to greet us. “Hi, girls. Come on, Troy’s about to start.”

We hurried behind Marissa to our section of the circle and the girls squashed in beside Sheridan’s group. When the girls finally settled, I looked up and my eyes found Blake.

“Okay, now that everyone’s present and accounted for, how about a song? Everyone remember flea fly?” Troy strummed a note on the strings and a sea of heads nodded.

“Flea,” he said.

“Flea,” the circle responded.

I tried to turn my head to Troy, but Blake’s intense gaze refused to let me.

“Flea fly.”

Flea fly.
My lips moved but nothing came out, and a slow grin spread over Blake’s face. He knew exactly what he was doing, and yet, I still couldn’t drag my eyes away from him.

What in the hell was happening?

“Flea fly flow.”

I heard the words, heard the circle repeat them, but they sounded distant as if someone was turning down the volume button.

“Feasta…”

Hi
. Blake mouthed at me, his mouth hooking up in a smile.

Just look away. This is dangerous territory. What are you doing?

Hi.
I mouthed back with a coy smile ignoring the little voice in my head. The familiar flutter of butterflies started in my stomach. It was a feeling I was becoming used to whenever Blake was near.

“Cooma lotta, cooma lotta, cooma lotta feasta.”

Hi.
He mouthed again, and I dropped my eyes. It was too much all at once, and I needed to break our connection. I had felt things change between us the other day, but I hadn’t expected to feel so exposed around him. Just as I did when we were kids, Blake always saw me. Not the front I tried to put on or the brave mask I wore so often, he saw
me
. The real me. Broken, tired, alone. The girl holding on by a thread. I wasn’t exactly that girl anymore. I was stronger. Hardened.

I was a survivor.

But it didn’t matter because, looking at me across the fire, it had felt as if Blake could see straight into my soul.

“Oh, no, no, no, na feasta,” Troy’s voice rang out loud startling me.

I didn’t risk glancing back up at Blake. Instead, I joined in with the rest of the song. I tried to think about anything but the boy who once saved me and how it might have been more than just coincidence that we found our way back to each other seven years later at a camp for kids living what we had lived.