Really? I shake my head and ignore the question. “Anyway, he was understanding about the fire. He knew it wasn’t intentional.”
“Then what? You definitely didn’t mention Lillian? We were supposed to take that to our grave.”
“I’m sorry. It all got a bit much. I swear I only told him that I did it, no mention of you.”
“Why do you look so down if Olly doesn’t blame you for the fire and he kissed you?”
“Um…so I told him the truth about why I was snooping in his room, that I was suspicious. That annoyed him, but he got over it. After the kiss, when I dropped the bomb and said maybe what’s happening now is due to that, he said something odd.”
“Well?”
“He said that I’m probably not the only one to get into trouble at camp.”
Sitting taller, Kayla tilts her head closer to me. “Like something else has gone down?”
“Thank you! That’s exactly what I thought, too, but he got all shady and left in a huff, slamming the door.”
“He’s overreacting, right? That means the dude’s hiding something.”
“Do you think he was a camper here?”
“We’d remember those eyes.”
“Yeah, I would, but maybe he was here after we were?”
“Isn’t that a little too much of a coincidence? Bad stuff happened to three campers who all find themselves shiny-new CITs at the same time in the same place?”
“I guess.”
“Ugh, I hate that I’m being sucked back into this…but what’s the theory here, Esme? Olly’s involved like Lillian, or he’s like us?”
I’m not going to apologize for “sucking her back into this.” She never should have left.
“I have no clue.” I throw my hands up. “It’s so frustrating because I know he’s keeping a secret even after I told him mine. It wasn’t easy to spill. Now he has a confession…maybe. Does it even matter?”
Kayla seems to consider this. “You have to talk to him. We need to know what he’s hiding.”
“How, though?”
“I vote for the direct route. Rip the Band-Aid off, Esme. Walk up to him and demand answers.”
“Thank you,” I say sarcastically. “That was superhelpful.”
“Well, I don’t think he’s going to have it all written down for you to snoop again and steal!”
“That reminds me, I should try to get another look at Rebekah’s diary.”
“I love that almost getting caught isn’t a deterrent for you.”
“Getting caught just makes me sneakier. Besides, next time you’re going to do a better job of keeping her busy.”
“What do you want me to do, lie on the ground and hold her ankles?”
“No, start crying and she’ll comfort you.”
Kayla opens, then closes her mouth. Then she says, “That’s actually a good idea.”
“I know!”
I strip my clothes off and get into my pajamas.
“Fine, I’ll do that,” she says. “What do you want to do first tomorrow, interrogate Olly or ransack Rebekah’s room?”
She makes us sound so delightful. At least she’s with me again. I’m not sure how long it will last, though. She’ll probably spook again with Lillian’s next move.
“I’ll start with Olly,” I reply. “There’s a hike tomorrow afternoon, and I’m going to have a very bad headache.”
“I don’t know if I should be proud of you or fear you.”
I smile. “Think you can talk to Jake and find out if Olly has mentioned anything to him?”
“Sure.”
“Just don’t be obvious about it. Oh, and if you tell Jake about the fire, that’s okay.”
“Do you think Olly will tell him?”
“I hope not.”
“I hope Jake doesn’t know anything,” Kayla says, sighing dreamily.
“That’s going well, then?”
Her expression turns mushy. “I picked a good one that day. He’s sweet and also has that alpha male thing working for him.”
“Because he wants to go into the forest and pummel the person doing this?”
“He wants to protect us.”
“Stop swooning long enough to keep a straight head, yeah?”
“What does that mean?” Kayla demands.
“Olly’s not being honest about a lot. I think he might know Jake better than he says he does. They’re very…in tune. They’re a little too close for having only met a couple of weeks ago, don’t you think?”
“Jake wouldn’t lie.”
“You’ve known him for, like, three minutes, Kayla.”
“He wouldn’t lie.”
“You can’t be certain of that.”
“You need to stop pissing off all your friends, Esme.”
Oh, come on!
Is she really arguing with me over a boy she barely knows? This is the last thing we need with all that’s going on.
“Not trying to. I want to get to the bottom of this, same as you do,” I tell her.
“Then can we agree to not accuse my boyfriend of being a liar?”
Boyfriend? Since when? Something tells me not to focus on that part or she might get cranky with me again.
“Yep,” I say, smiling with gritted teeth. “We can agree to that.”
I climb up onto my bed and scoot under the blanket.
“So, our suspect list is currently sitting at two? Rebekah and Olly?” Kayla asks.
“Yes,” I reply, silently adding a third as I curl up.
Jake.
38
I jump awake, clutching the thin blanket to my chest.
What was that?
There was a crash. I’m sure I wasn’t dreaming.
I throw the blanket off and climb down the ladder. Kayla is still asleep—she wouldn’t wake if there were an atomic bomb. Surely I can’t be the only one who heard the crash.
The girls are also asleep. But the noise was too real to just be my imagination.