Jennie

Everybody went about their business as if nothing had changed.

As if Lisa hadn't been gone almost two hours.

As if taking away an innocent person in a police car was normal.

I helped every girl in the cabin pack her things, leaving mine for last. The cabin was messier than I realized. Ali and I worked in silence to pick up, strip beds, empty the trash. The girls sat outside in the sun on their packs.

"Can we turn on the radio again?" one asked.

"No."

They were quiet after that, and even though I wanted them to be, it didn't help. My hands were busy, but my mind wandered. Lisa had said I wasn't involved with why they'd taken her, but I couldn't see how that was possible. I'd been there every step of the way. The officer had to have seen something and gone back to the station with it. Would they come for me next?

I hoped so, that way I could explain everything. The sneaking off, the driving, the swimming, the almost-kissing—if the alternative was Lisa getting in trouble for being with a minor, I'd tell them the truth: it was all me. I was responsible for all of it. I'd make sure they knew that, even if it meant being grounded for life. Even if the result was ruining myself in my dad's eyes.

When the cabin was clean and all the girls had their bags in hand, Ali looked at my bunk. "We're supposed to take them over now."

I wiped sweat from my brow. I wished I'd showered, because I was sure after all that labor, I smelled like a swamp. "It'll only take me a second to pack. Let's get them situated."

Kids were everywhere, bees buzzing around a hive, as we walked the girls to the buses. I searched the area for anyone who might have news. Lisa wasn't back yet; I could sense her absence.

I spotted Gary before he saw me. "Start loading your things," I said to the girls, and to Ali, "I'll be right back."

Gary looked up, waving his clipboard at me. "Hey, Jennie. You girls ready to go?"

"Yes. What happened?"

He made a note. "What?"

"With Lisa? Where is she?"

Gary glanced around the immediate area. "She's still at the station."

"Why? What happened?"

"I can't tell you that."

"Did Nayeon go?"

"No." He looked back at his list. "In fact, go check on her for me. She isn't here yet, and we have to stay on schedule."

My mouth dropped open. "We can't leave Lisa here."

"We have no choice."

"But she's by herself with no way of getting home."

Gary dropped the clipboard to his side. "What am I supposed to do? Keep the campers here all weekend while we wait to hear if one of our counselors is getting arrested? How do you think the parents would feel about that?"

Arrested. The word hit hard enough to make me step back. "But we can't just—"

"I think you ought to get your sister. I need her girls here, and . . . she's probably more upset than you, don't you think? She's her girlfriend after all."

Anger rose in me like a wave. Nayeon only cared about Lisa when it was convenient for her. I was the one who cared. She had no right to be upset. I did.

I wanted to explain all that to Gary, but my frustration must've been written on my face. Gary put a hand on my shoulder. "You have to calm down, Jennie."

"I need to see Lisa."

"You can't."

"Then I want to talk to her lawyer."

"Why?"

"I can't say."

Gary frowned. "I'm starting to get concerned."

"About what?"

"I don't know." We stared at each other. "Should I be concerned?"

It probably looked as though I were overreacting. Gary didn't get why this was so important to me, but making him understand could get Lisa and me in more trouble. I'd promised Lisa I'd keep my mouth shut. "No," I said with a deep breath. "She's just been a good friend to—us. Our family. And Nayeon."

"Okay. So you'll go check on Nayeon?"

There was nothing left to do. It wasn't as if I could go into town and talk to Lisa myself. At least Nayeon could drive. Once again, she was my only link to Lisa.

Nayeon was frazzled. She'd thrown her hair up in a messy bun, and her bangs stuck to her forehead. "Momo, why are you taking everything out of the bag we just packed?" she asked.

"I can't find my Walkman." As Momo dug around, her dirty socks jumped onto the floor like fugitives on the run. "I need it for the bus."

"But you guys wouldn't shut up on the way here!" Nayeon began shoving Momo's things back into the duffel. "You didn't even listen to music."

I put my hands on Momo's shoulders. "We have games planned for the bus. You won't need your Walkman. Right now, I need you to do a job for us."

Momo pouted. "What job?"

"Go around to every bed that doesn't have a sleeping bag, yank the sheets off the mattresses, and pile them in the middle of the cabin. Sounds fun, right?"

I'd given her permission to cause mayhem. She sprinted the two feet to the nearest bed. "You make it too hard on yourself," I told Nayeon.

"If I ever, ever mention having babies, remind me of this experience," Nayeon muttered. "I'm just glad Lisa isn't here to see me like this."

That's because she's with the police, I wanted to snap at her. But that wasn't the way to get through to Nayeon. "What'd she want?" I asked. "When I sent you to talk to her."

"Iris!" Nayeon gaped behind me. "Are you kidding me?"

I looked back to find Iris grinning in red lipstick. She made kissing noises. "Oh, Lisa. I lo-o-o-ve you."

I recognized that lip color—it was Chanel. This wouldn't go well. I was about to intervene when Nayeon stood up. "Come here," she said to Iris.

Iris took a step back.

"You did it wrong. I taught you guys the other night how to use lip liner. You should've put that on first because now the lipstick is bleeding. You look like a hooker."

"Nayeon," I said through my teeth.

"What?" she asked me. "Do you want her to look like a hooker?"

Iris narrowed her eyes and then went to Nayeon, digging the lipstick from her pocket. She handed it over. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Nayeon popped off the cap, inspected the lipstick, and muttered under her breath, "This would cost you a month's allowance, but it's okay."

If I hadn't been so concerned about Lisa, I might've fainted with shock. Somehow, at some point, Nayeon had been struck with an ounce of patience. Though it made me happy to see her try, I needed her to focus. "Nay? What'd she say?"

Nayeon capped the lipstick, sat on the ground, and put it in the mesh pocket of her luggage. "Who?"

"Lisa."

She blinked up to me. For the way she'd just screeched at Iris, her voice was eerily even. "She's in trouble because she left camp last night."

I scratched my elbow. I shouldn't feel guilty about lying. How many times had Nayeon lied to me or omitted information to get her way? "Do you know why?" I asked.

"Don't you? You talked to her."

My palms sweat. I didn't know what she was talking about. "When?"

"This morning. You were the one who told me to go to her cabin. Didn't she tell you all this?"

"No. She said it was . . . adult business."

Nayeon arched an eyebrow and laughed. "You're an adult, aren't you? You've been trying to act like one lately. To be like me."

My face reddened. "What do you mean?"

She looked away. "Lisa doesn't think it's a big deal, whatever the police want. But she wasn't sure how long they'd keep her, so she might need me to come pick her up later."

"That's a long drive to get back here."

"Who else is going to do it? You? Her family? She wants me there." She sat on her overstuffed suitcase and tried to pull the zipper closed. "All I know is it has to do with something that happened last night. She wouldn't tell me more."

I knew it. Either she'd lied by saying it didn't involve me, or there was something else going on. Lisa wanted to protect me, she'd made that clear since we'd met, but at what point was she making things worse? I didn't exactly feel safe with her in custody, unable to talk me through our next move.

"Can I come with you to pick her up?" I asked.

Nayeon yanked on the zipper so hard, her fingers slipped, and she flew backward. "Fuck." She shook out her hand. "God, that hurt. And I broke a goddamn nail."

"Nay?"

"I'm so sick of this place," she said. "It's dirty and loud. I only came for her, and now she's . . ."

"What?" I asked, every hair on my body prickling.

"Never mind—"

"What else did she say?"

"Nothing, I already told you."

"But if there's anything else, anything—I need to know."

"What do you want from me, Jennie?" she said, pounding her fist on the suitcase. Surprised, I stepped back. "I have no idea what's going on. She wouldn't tell me shit. I don't know what to do or if I should do anything or just . . ."

Her body shook with the threat of a sob. I was so shocked by her tears that I got on the floor next to her. She rarely cried if it wasn't to get something out of my dad. I pulled her hands from her face to put my arms around her. "It's okay."

She pulled away. "Don't."

"Why?"

She narrowed her eyes on me. "You're the reason we're in this mess."

It seemed to me Nayeon and Lisa were adult enough to decide whether or not they wanted to be here, but when had Nayeon ever taken responsibility for her decisions? "Whatever, Nayeon. I came here to check on you and Lisa, not fight."

"What if she gets in real trouble?" she asked. "How will you feel then?"

"She won't."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Innocent people don't go to jail."

She looked at me hard. "What if she's not innocent?"

"She is," Gary said from the doorway. "Lisa's a good person. Whatever happened, I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding."

"Take us to the station, Gary," I said. "Please."

"I can't. Not only would it not help, but Lisa specifically asked me to keep you two out of it."

"But I'm her girlfriend," Nayeon said.

"She's trying to protect you." He sniffed at us, his eyes roaming over our faces. We must've looked as bad as we felt, because he conceded, but not without an eye-roll. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll come back as soon as I can and check things out. Once everything at home is sorted, I'll drive back up here on my own and make sure Lisa's all right."

It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but I could see it was all we were going to get. It was better than Lisa being alone. "Thanks," we said.

"But I have one condition—relax. You girls are too young to worry about this sort of stuff. Actually, I have two conditions. Pack up your shit and get over to the buses now." With a poor attempt at an angry-face, he turned and walked off.

Nayeon looked exhausted. I could tell she was thinking about leaving her stuff behind just so she could stop packing. Considering there were designer purses in there, she must've been desperate.

"I'll sit on the bag, and you zip," I said. "I'm heavier than you." I might've been, if I'd had the boobs and butt she did, but it was exactly what she needed to hear. She inhaled a breath and stood so I could take her place. After wrestling with the zipper, she got the bag closed. Her face and eyes were red, her hairline sticky with sweat. I couldn't help wondering what'd happened just now, before Gary'd interrupted us. Nayeon was clearly distraught. Was it possible she actually cared about Lisa?

With that realization, a new fear settled over me. Not for Lisa or even myself. If Nayeon found out I'd snuck off with her girlfriend, she'd be furious. Embarrassed. Hurt. What I'd done, I'd done without considering how it might affect my own sister. It'd been easy to convince myself it wouldn't matter to her because she didn't have real feelings for Lisa. But did she?

"I'm sorry this week was so bad," I said sincerely. "I'll go to the mall with you when we get home and buy you something."

She wiped her nose. "With what?"

"I have some allowance saved. Probably more than you."

She turned around and climbed onto her bed to remove pictures of her and her friends she'd taped to the wall. "You know I can have almost anyone. Lisa's lucky I'm still around."

I wasn't sure where that was coming from, but there was only one way to answer that if I wanted to get out of here alive. "I know." I waited for her to continue, but she just picked tape off the corners of the photographs. "Did something happen with her?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"Are you thinking of breaking up with her?"

"Maybe."

So many things ran through my mind at once. If they broke up, Lisa would be out of her life. But would she then be out of mine, too? No. Lis and I had to find a way. We knew it'd come to this. It wasn't as if I'd expected her to stay with Lisa for two whole years until I turned eighteen.

"We'll see how it goes if I pick her up," she said.

I didn't know which way to encourage her. It was a very real possibility that without Nayeon, Lisa and I would be separated until I turned eighteen. That was two excruciating years away from her. But the thought of them together felt like having a piece of glass lodged in my chest—I couldn't go very long without being reminded it was there.

Lisa and I needed Nayeon, but at the same time, there was no denying—she was also something in the way.