Chapter Fifteen

Kit

Natalie and Coco will be the team of seekers, with the rest of us pairing off to hide around the grounds, sharing a single flashlight. We'll have ten minutes to get into position, at which point someone from the Glamp-Out staff will ring a cowbell warning that the seekers have left homebase—the yurt. Winning is determined by two factors: not getting tagged by either Natalie or Coco and making it back to homebase before any of the other teams.

Both members of the team.

The second requirement prevents teams from hiding out the whole game and winning by default just because they don't get found, or splitting up to attack the base from multiple angles.

First team back to the yurt, untouched by the seekers, wins.

We've all gathered around Natalie now to draw straws. There was some suggestion of allowing teams to be chosen amicably, but all of us remember high school gym class, and no one wants to relive the humiliation of being chosen last.

"Mills, the honor is all yours," Natalie says, readjusting her hands around the straws to make sure their lengths remain incognito. Millie wiggles her fingers around above the straws before diving straight into the center.

She pulls out one of medium length, holding it up so it's easy to compare. We follow suit clockwise, until Lisa exclaims a whoop of cheer and runs over to grab Maddie by the forearm when she matches their straws. Jenni and Heather are next to match up, their excitement minimal to the point of nonexistent. When it's my turn to draw, the only straw currently in play and unclaimed is Millie's.

Coco lets out a chortle of glee as I tug my straw from the remaining ones hidden in Natalie's fist. My draw is easily the shortest in the bunch, and with just a quick glance at the still unattached Millie, I can see we aren't even close. Piper and Julia remain as the only two options left for us to team up with. One for Millie and one for me.

Spirit, help.

Being alone with Piper in the dark sounds like the beginning of a slasher movie that I don't walk away from. But being alone with Julia is somehow more terrifying.

Julia and Piper step up to Natalie in unison. Piper chooses first, not giving Julia a chance. Her agitated energy is probably a result of not being paired up with Julia. My eyes catch on Julia's as Natalie drops her hand away to reveal the lengths.

"Mystic Maven and the Wedding Planner!" Coco announces it as if we are a circus act. Natalie looks disgruntled at the way the partnering has played out. And I don't think it has anything to do with Julia and me teaming up.

"Piper and I were sorority sisters. Rush leaders," Millie says, sunny and sweet as always. "We are formidable."

"This game isn't that serious," Piper chides. Coco's lips dance into a snarl.

"Excuse me, what happened to we're the best, hell yes ?" Millie says, and then for good measure, "Kappa Kappa, Alpha Alpha…"

Piper fights it. "Theta Theta Theta," she chants, unenthusiastically.

"We're the best, hell yes!" Millie finishes, a little anticlimactically.

I move up beside Julia as a guy from the Glamp-Out staff begins to pass out flashlights.

"You know what this reminds me of—"

"That party at Dev Laghari's dad's beach house," she breaks in, nodding. "There's not a boathouse to hide in here."

After an entire tray of Jell-O shots, Dev Laghari instigated a free-for-all game of hide-and-seek with no prize up for grabs besides bragging rights. It was enough for drunken high school partygoers to make a go of it, but Julia and I never intended to go it alone.

"We were close to base at Dev's," Julia recounts, sounding slightly confused. "I can't see that working here, because they'd find us fast."

"I'm suggesting we strategize from a different part of that plan."

That time, hiding turned into a discussion of The Five-Year Engagement —which we had seen with my dad at the ArcLight opening week—and then a lovefest over Alison Brie—whom neither one of us had ever seen before that movie, but we were both immediately obsessed with. We dabbled in shit-talking Karen MacMillan, who had not become less of a bitch in high school, and laughed until our sides were in stitches as we tried to quote all of Clueless from memory.

The booze made us sleepy; the hours of laughter wore out all our energy reserves. We woke up the next morning to discover they had called a search party overnight, and the totally terrified—then super pissed off—Dev and his very famous father were worried we'd gotten swept away in high tide.

"Falling asleep in the desert won't work for this. We have to be first back to the yurt," she replies. "Plus, aren't you, like, terrified of wildlife? I'd think you'd want to limit your time out there."

"Oh, yeah, that fear's alive and well," I reply with a nod. Julia snorts. The camaraderie of her almost-laugh makes it hard to resist the urge to grip her arm and tug her close to whisper my plan in her ear. "I'm thinking most of them won't want to venture into the dark, including Natalie and Coco. So if we go out to the edge of the playing area, we'll be well disguised by the shadows and we can use that to sneak back up until we get within running distance."

"And then make one big break for it?" she questions, getting the gist.

I wait for her approval. I always wanted her approval.

Her eyes search my face. "There are snakes in the desert."

"Then we'll have to watch each other's backs." I quiver at the thought, but try to play it cool. I can't tell if she's onto me. I take the flashlight in hand, flicking it on and off, just as Natalie screams, " On your mark, get set —"

Julia grabs my hand in a loose hold, but my fingers close willingly, brushing the tips over her knuckles, holding on.

"Go!"

We both run.