Authors: Bekah Bancroft
The next morning Lissa finally got a chance to talk to Josh. He was already eating breakfast when she approached the table and grabbed the chair next to him.
“Hey.”
“Lissa! About the other night, I just wanted to say—”
“There she is!”
They both looked up to see an angry Raven stomping toward the table.
“Hi, Raven,” Josh said. “What’s up?”
Raven pointed a finger at Lissa. She noted Raven had perfect long nails painted bright red. She wondered if the nails were fake, in one of those split-second thoughts that intrudes on reality.
“
She
violated the rules last night.
She
had a student in her private bedroom!”
In a flash, Lissa realized immediately what must have happened. Alexis must have gone back to her cabin, the one Raven was in charge of, and said something about seeing Victoria and Lissa hugging.
“Oh, that. Yes, one of the campers had an emergency last night and I took care of it.”
“Nobody, and I mean
nobody
is allowed in your private area! You had a student in there alone, with no witnesses. What are you, some kind of lesbian predator?”
Lissa gasped.
“How dare you! I’ll have you know a camper started her period while wearing white shorts. She didn’t have any pads and I took care of it.”
Josh stood up and moved between the two women.
“Now, look, Raven. That’s enough!”
“No, I have had enough of you, Joshua. You send her packing right now!”
Everybody in the cafeteria quieted down, watching the argument unfold.
“I will not send her packing right now. She’s done nothing wrong.”
“You’re just saying that because you’re sleeping with her!”
Several girls in the cafeteria gasped.
A look of anger crossed Josh’s face, and Lissa thought he looked ready to explode at this allegation.
Instead, he fought down the anger, and didn’t say anything for a moment until he could control himself.
“Let’s go to the office, Raven. Come on Lissa, we can sort everything out over there.”
~~~
Lissa sat outside in the waiting area while Josh and Raven argued in the office. Even though the door was shut, she could hear Raven yelling. Josh didn’t yell, but his deep voice carried through the door and Lissa could follow the conversation.
Raven accused Lissa of all sorts of things, mostly incompetence and inappropriate fraternization with campers. They were all false allegations. It seemed patently obvious to Lissa that Raven hated her and was just making up stuff to try and get rid of her.
She regretted bringing Victoria into her room and private bathroom. But she didn’t stop to think when she did it. The girl needed help right at that moment, and Lissa acted immediately. Had she known ahead of time that Alexis would go talking about it back at Raven’s cabin, she never would have brought Victoria in. She could have walked her over to the large bathroom and let the girl take care of things there.
Well, hindsight is twenty-twenty,
she thought glumly.
At least Josh was sticking up for her. He dismissed every baseless charge Raven brought against Lissa, much to Raven’s annoyance. Her voice grew more shrill.
“You WILL get rid of her! You WILL fire her, or I will make SURE she’s fired!”
“Raven, you’re out of line! She hasn’t done anything worthy of firing. Even letting the student in her room was justified under the circumstances.”
Raven stormed out of the office and slammed the door shut. She stopped and glared at Lissa, then pointed an index finger at her.
“You’re history, slut!”
She stormed out the front door.
Josh came out of the office looking very embarrassed.
“I am so sorry, Lissa. I don’t know what’s gotten into her. Raven really has it in for you right now.”
He plopped down in the chair next to her and let a long sigh, blowing strands of hair that dropped down in front of his eyes. Then he turned toward her and smiled.
“Welcome to Hill Country Nature Camp. You know you’ve been here when you get reamed out by Raven Harquart.”
Lissa smiled back. Then her brows furrowed as she thought about what he said.
“Wait a minute, Raven
Harquart
? As in Harquart Hall?”
“That’s right. Didn’t you know? Her family owns the camp. They bought it years ago. Her dad makes Raven work it every summer. It’s kind of a family chore, I guess. She doesn’t much like the place, and she really doesn’t like giving up her summers. She goes to UT and she prefers to hang out in Austin. But as long as she’s on the family payroll, he makes her come out and be a camp counselor every year.”
He leaned back further in the chair and raised his eyebrows, in an ironic expression.
“Technically, I’m her boss.”
He smiled at her, but his eyes looked tired.
Lissa laughed, and grabbed his arm to try and make him feel better.
“Well you sure know how to ‘handle’ your employees. You were kissing her the first time I met you.”
He put up his hands in a mock defensive gesture.
“Hey, she practically assaulted me. I did not instigate that.”
She let go of his arm. He reached down and grabbed her hand, though. She let him, and they sat there in silence for a while in the reception area, holding hands.
“You see, I’m just about the only guy here. Yeah, Charlie and Marco work here too. They live nearby and they’re here year round. They do maintenance and lawn work and stuff like that. But they’re older and married. So, I’m the only eligible bachelor. She gets bored and likes to play around. She did it last year, too.
“But when school started, I never heard from her. She went back to the group she runs around with at college. Never returned any of my texts. I got the message and stopped trying.”
“So she was just using you as her toy?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
“But that’s not right. And that’s mean, to not even speak to you until the next summer!”
He shrugged.
“She’s a mean girl, if you hadn’t noticed. Anyway, I came back to work here this summer, and I decided I didn’t want anything to do with her. She’s just not my type. She’s a ‘rich bitch,’ you know? I mean yeah she looks good on the outside, but inside she’s a horrible, self-centered person.
“I pretty much told her we weren’t going to be an item this summer, that I was going to concentrate on work instead of fooling around. When you walked in that day, she had pretty much thrown herself at me, trying to make me change my mind.
“She tried again later, after you left. But I kept saying no. I told her this summer is going to be different.
“So, now you know one of the reasons she was so upset when she saw us kissing the other night. I won’t kiss her and be her toy, but I’m falling for you. And that burns her up.”
Lissa felt like her heart jumped in her chest when she heard him say he was falling for her. She squeezed his hand a bit harder. But then thoughts of Raven intruded.
“I just can’t believe she’s telling everybody I’m sleeping with you. Who does that? I’ve got a girl in my cabin, and her sister is in Raven’s cabin, and she’s always telling me these horrible things Raven says about me. Those girls are in middle school, and she’s spreading all these lies about me to them.”
Josh nodded.
“It’s a pretty crummy thing to do. Hey, just try to keep your head down for another few days and we’ll get a nice little break from her.”
“I like the way you say, ‘we.’”
He smiled again, then he leaned over and kissed her. This time they were not interrupted.
Short-staffed
The day went by fast. It was Lissa’s turn to take a group of girls on a nature hike, and they went up into the hills for about three hours. She showed them the different fauna and went into lecture mode, trying to follow the outline given by the guidebook she had read.
By the time they got back to the campgrounds, everyone was a little tired from the long walk. Lissa hopped into her private shower and changed clothes before heading to lunch.
Josh was already sitting down with his food. Raven was there too, on the opposite end of the table. She had a tray, but wasn’t eating. Instead, she was sitting with her arms crossed, glaring at Josh. He ignored her.
Lissa sat down next to him. He looked up and smiled. Raven started staring daggers at her, too.
About the time they finished eating, the
thumpa thumpa thumpa
from a helicopter filled the cafeteria. Several girls ran out the door to go watch it land on the helipad.
Josh looked at Lissa and raised an eyebrow.
“I wonder what that’s about? I better go check on it.”
“Go ahead. I’ll take your tray to the window.”
He hurried out the door. Lissa stood and gathered up both their trays. She glanced over at Raven, who still sat at the table with her arms crossed. But now instead of glaring at her, Raven had a smirk on her face. She stood up and slowly walked out the door.
“I guess I’ll take your tray, too,” Lissa said after she was gone.
After depositing the trays at the dishwasher’s window, Lissa followed everyone else out the door and walked down toward the helipad to find out what was going on.
On the pad, its rotors slowly coming to a stop, stood a sleek executive helicopter. An older man in a business suit climbed out, and approached Josh. They shook hands.
Raven walked up to the pad, and gave the man a big hug.
“Hi, Daddy!”
~~~
The older man walked down to the office with Josh and Raven. Once the helicopter’s blades stopped twirling, most of the campers disbursed, heading off to nature hikes or other activities planned for the afternoon.
Lissa’s next hike she was scheduled to lead started at two that afternoon, so she didn’t have anyplace to be right away.
She thought about heading back to her cabin, and started walking that way. Then curiosity got the best of her, and she turned around to go toward the office. She sneaked a peek through the window, and to her surprise she saw Josh standing in the reception area, looking worried. The door to his office was closed.
He turned around when she walked in, and gave her a nervous smile. He nodded toward the door to his office.
“She’s in there talking about us. You might not want to be here when they come out.”
Lissa walked up to him and wrapped an arm around his middle, trying to comfort him. She brushed hair out of his worried eyes.
The door to the office opened, and Mr. Harquart walked out, followed by Raven. Lissa pulled her arm down from around Josh.
“That’s the one, Daddy. This tramp has had campers in her room, and has been spending lots of time alone with children here. We’ve been hearing some terrible rumors about her.”
Mr. Harquart glared at Lissa. He looked like he was in his fifties. He had a tanned face showing signs of wrinkles and black hair that was starting to gray around the temples.
“You’re fired. Get your things and go.”
Lissa’s mouth dropped open. It was so sudden, and unfair. She didn’t know what to say. She just stood there, stunned.
Raven made a little shooing motion with her hand.
“Go on, slut. Go.”
Lissa turned and rushed out the door, fighting back tears. She walked back to the Adventurers cabin and went through the door. Kylee and Victoria looked up from the table they were sharing in the common room.
“Miss Lissa? Are you alright? What’s going on?”
“I’ve been fired. Raven’s dad, he owns the place. She had him come in and fire me after Josh refused to.”
The tears flowed freely now, she couldn’t stop them anymore.
“What? That’s terrible! Is this because I was in your room last night?”
The girls came around the table and hugged her, trying to maker her feel better.
“It’s not just that, Victoria. It’s a bunch of things. I don’t want you thinking it was your fault. I was the one who let you into my room, and that was my decision.”
Lissa gently broke away from their hugs. They traded cell phone numbers and promised to text each other and stay in touch.
“I wish we could text you while we’re still here at camp.”
“It’s okay, Alexis. I won’t lose your number, I promise.”
Then she went to her room, and packed up her stuff.
~~~
Lissa walked past the office, heading toward the parking lot and her car. Just as she walked by the entrance, the door opened and Josh, Mr. Harquart, and Raven walked out. She caught the tail end of their conversation.
“I’m really disappointed in you, Josh.”
“Frankly, sir, I’m even more disappointed in you. These are baseless allegations, and you’re leaving the camp short-staffed for the rest of the season.”
“We’ll find somebody to fill her spot. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in business, Josh, it’s that everybody is replaceable.”
“Well that’s fine, sir. You can replace me, too!”
The older man showed a look of surprise on his face at that statement. About then, the three of them noticed Lissa. Raven made her shooing motion again.
“Bye. Hope your old car starts.”
Lissa shifted the travel bag on her shoulder and headed out into the parking lot. Josh ran after her.
“Hey, listen. You know that burger joint on the right in the first town headed back?”
“Yeah. The one with an outdoor patio?”
“That’s the one. When you get there, stop and order a soda or something. I’ll be along in a little bit.”
“Okay.”
They smiled at each other then, and he pulled her close. He gave her a long, luscious kiss. She could feel Raven and her dad staring at them, but she didn’t care. He felt so good.
“Wait for me!”