The temperature has dropped to a comfortable heat, and I find myself smiling in the darkness.
This is what I’d hoped camp would be: hanging out with new friends and doing something fun. Olly squeezes my hand as we come out the other side of the forest. Across the quiet road is the teeny town. It’s quaint and cute. From here, the streetlights make it look prettier, like the town is dotted with fairy lights.
“Okay, there’s a little arcade on the outskirts. They have Rollerblading too, if anyone wants to break an ankle,” Tia says.
“I’ll pass,” I reply as we cross the deserted road.
Kayla’s eyes dart from my and Olly’s joined hands to my eyes.
Don’t say anything!
She presses her lips together, stifling a smile. Tia nudges Rebekah.
Great, everyone has seen.
Olly either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care that we’re being watched.
“Lead us to the arcade then, Tia,” Jake says. “I’m dying for a drink.”
I want to ask how he’s going to get a drink, but my filter kicks in before I open my mouth. Yay for that. There might not even be a bar or restaurant nearby.
Fake IDs are a thing and Jake, being one of the popular kids at his school, is likely to have one. Kayla and I thought about it once, but we were both too scared to buy one from Mason, the dude at school with a supersketchy private life.
“Easy, Esme,” Olly says, shaking our joined hands.
I release my death grip a smidge. “Sorry, didn’t realize I was squeezing.”
I’m not sure what I expected, but a run-down arcade on the very edge of town was not it. The place is huge, but the games are old, and the patterned red carpet is so worn in areas there are bald patches.
“Right,” Tia says. “It’s…nice.”
Jake laughs. “It’s not Vegas, but it’ll do.”
“Come on, Esme, I’m challenging you to a game of table hockey,” Olly says.
“Does anyone even have cash?” Rebekah asks, looking around as if we could be busted at any moment.
She and Tia follow closely behind us. Jake and Kayla stop by a claw machine to try to win a stuffed animal.
“I do, but I need change,” Olly replies.
Tia grabs Rebekah’s hand. “I already have change. Come on, Rebekah, I see Pac-Man and I’m awesome!”
Rebekah follows without a word.
“This has always been my favorite game,” Olly tells me as he picks up a puck.
“Mine is the claw.”
He looks up from across the table. “You know they’re rigged, right?”
“Yes, but it’s so satisfying when you finally win.”
“After twenty dollars.”
I roll my eyes. “Okay, so once my dad did spend twenty-three dollars before we got a prize, but I still have that little stuffed pony.”
“Your dad rich or just enjoy burning money?”
Laughing, I grab the other puck and send it flying to his side.
“He’s never been very good at saying no to me, and I wanted that pony more than anything,” I say.
I glance up quickly as Olly positions himself to hit the puck back to me.
The chances of Lillian being in here are small. What is she doing, messing with camp by day and hitting the dance mat by night? There is a chance, though. In this small town, there isn’t a lot to do.
Olly and I play two games, each winning one, and then we move on.
“Olly,” Jake calls, “basketball!”
He’s standing with Tia and Kayla.
“I’m going to see if Rebekah is okay,” I tell Olly. “I’ll meet you over there.”
He walks off to the basketball hoops and I split, heading to Rebekah. She’s in a corner with her back to the room and her hands up to her face.
“No, they don’t know…,” she mutters.
Is she talking to herself?
“Rebekah?” I ask.
Startled, she jolts and spins in my direction. One hand clutches tightly around her cell phone.
“Sorry, I didn’t know you were on a call,” I say.
“Esme.” She smiles and her finger hits a button on the screen. “It’s okay, I was just speakin’ to my mom. She worries if she doesn’t hear from me.”
What did she say? They don’t know. Who doesn’t know what?
“Shouldn’t you call her back? My mom would go crazy if I hung up on her.”
Shrugging, Rebekah tilts the screen so I can’t see. “I’ll send her a message. We were almost done anyway.”
I watch her tap away and then she slides the phone in her pocket. “Okay. Hey, you want to play Whac-A-Mole?” she asks.
“Sure.”
“So, are you havin’ fun?” she asks, glancing behind us.
I follow her line of sight and there is no one there. “Yeah. You?”
“Yep. Tia and I played a couple games and then she wanted to find Jake and Kayla. I don’t think she enjoys my company that much.”
I start the game and pick up the giant spongy hammer. “Of course she does. She probably saw some girl she likes and went to talk to her.”
“Thanks, Esme, but I saw her with Jake and Kayla two seconds later. I’m not the most fun person, I know that.”
We whack moles, Rebekah as if she’s actually trying to kill them, teeth bared and eyes narrowed. I wouldn’t like to be on the end of her anger.
Her phone buzzes in her pocket, but she continues hitting moles.
“Don’t say that,” I tell her. “I thought we were all having fun together. It wouldn’t be the same without you.”
“Thank you,” she says quietly. With a frown, she adds, “You’re so nice.”
We spend an hour at the arcade, and I have the face of every person in here memorized. I age them, or rather de-age them ten years and none look like Lillian.
She isn’t here unless she’s had facial reconstruction.
“We should get back,” Jake says. “It’s been almost two hours.”
When we get closer to the entrance, my heart stutters. On the sidewalk, right outside the open door, is a blond girl, around twenty. Suddenly, she whips around and runs.