First Kisses: Trust Me by charlieboo97 (free ebook novel TXT) 📕

we'd done since last summer --- which was fine with me, since I'd done very little that I would classify as exciting. Now that I was actually here, I was beginning to have doubts that I could be an amazing counselor. Could I lead? Could I keep the campers entertained? Could I protect and serve.....oh, wait, that was the job of the police. Could I care for and console those who got homesick?
I was pretty sure I could, but soon I'd be tested.
Liz, Caryn, Torie, and I teased each other about the fact that none of us had kept our promise to stay in touch through e-mail or instant messaging. School has a way of taking up your time.
"I don't remember the counselors wearing these uniforms," Liz said. She was still hung up on not being entirely fashionable. Although trekking through the woods has a fashion of its own.
"Last year it was T-shirts," Caryn said. "I guess they wanted something a little more classier."
"Classier?" Liz asked. "You think this is classier?"
"No, but I guess they thought it looked better than T-shirts."
"Maybe we'll get T-shirts after we finish this week of training," Torie said. "You know what I'm saying?"
"I liked T-shirts on the guy counselors," I admitted.
"Especially on Cute Casey," Liz said. "Anyone know if he's going to be here this year?"
Before anyone could answer, a clanging began. An iron triangle hung off the porch of the main lodge. Whenever our attention was needed, someone banged its insides with an iron rod. Our adventure camp had a rustic feel to it. While we had electricity, the bulbs always seemed to burn dimly. The TV in the dining hall, where we all gathered if we wanted to watch any television shows, was a very small screen and not high-def. The reception was lousy. No satellite dish. It did have a VHS tape player, but it wasn't exactly modern.
A woman --- the tallest woman I'd ever seen, and her blond hair was practically buzzed --- stood on the porch beside a man whose long dark hair was held in place with a leather tie. Excitement hummed on the air. In front of them stood four counselors I recognized from last year. Unfortunately, there wasn't a Casey, Hank, or George among them. I wondered what happened to those guys. They'd probably been the oldest of the crew, and it seemed like they'd been around forever. Surely they hadn't moved on to other things. Like college or the army or a real job.
Everyone who'd been standing around --- talking and waiting for the meeting to begin --- shuffled closer, jockeying for a better view. And that's when I noticed him.
Sean Reed.
"Oh, my gosh," Liz whispered harshly beside me. "Do you see---"
"I see."
"How are they even letting him be a CIT?" she asked. "That is so not fair!"
As usual, she was totally reading my mind.


Chapter 3

Sean Reed. My arch-nemesis. Four years running. And it looked like we were going to make it five. He couldn't be a CIT. Absolutely couldn't be.
But he was wearing the uniform. And he was standing in the midst of the crowd, waiting to hear whatever She and He standing on the porch had to say.
The first year we'd met Sean, we'd rated him a nine out of a possible ten. But that was before we really got to know him. His ranking quickly desended to zero for a variety of reasons, including some dumb pranks that involved flying mashed potatoes during supper our first summer here. He was an absolute loser, although it wasn't apparent just looking at him. You had to get really close to him to see beyond the dark hair and the blue eyes and the killer smile.
Against my better judgement, I angled my head slightly to get a better look of him. Something about him was different. Was he a little taller? Definitely. But something else was different. He looked older. Duh?!? He was older. But he looked way older than he had last summer.
I wondered if they'd sent him to juvie hall for what he'd done last year on the last day of camp. Maybe being a counselor was part of his rehabilitation process, because he certainly needed rehabilitating. Still, I couldn't believe after the way he'd sabotaged our games that they would trust him---
"Jessica Kane," the woman on the porch said.
I snapped my attention to her. She was reading from a clipboard. What had she been saying before she announced my name? Was she taking roll call?
"Here!" I called out, raising my hand, standing on my toes so I could be more easily seen. Lacking in height had its drawbacks. And I was seriously vertically challenged. Not that I was a midget or a dwarf, but I had definitely inherited my mom's height, and she barely topped five feet.
Sean jerked his head around. Our gazes clashed, and I felt that little thrill of recognition that I'd experienced the first time we met---
"Put your hand down," Liz whispered harshly beside me.
"And Sean Reed," Amazon woman announced.
He snapped his head back to her, then twisted around completely to look at me. He took a defensive stance, crossing his arms over his chest. Something funny registered in his expression. A look of incredible disbelief. As though he'd been hit with a Taser gun. And then his mouth slowly turned up into that killer smile for which he was so well known.
A smile that before I got to know him made my heart beat a little faster. Just like it was doing now. Old habits were hard to break. But I was so over Sean. Not that we'd ever been an item, but there had been a time when he'd drawn my interest. A time way before I really knew him, before I discovered he had the maturity level of a five-year-old.
"Why doesn't he answer roll call?" I asked.
"She's not taking roll, dummy," Liz said. "She's partnering people up. Weren't you listening?"
Apparently not.
"So whose name did she call out before she called mine? Who's my partner?"
"Geez, Jess, where were you?" Liz asked. "You're team member one. Team member two is.....ta da! Sean."
"Sean Reed?"
"Do you see any other Sean around here?"
"That is so not going to work," I said. Now I completely understood the look that had crossed Sean's face. I figured my expression was looking exactly the same. It said, "No way, no way, no way. Absolutely not! That was so not going to happen."
Our matchup would be worse than the counselors' shorts and shirts. At least I could do a little creative altering with those. Sean had been unchangeable for four years. Always goofing around, playing practical jokes, never serious. Totally irritating. A royal pain in my---
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Again with the clanging of the iron triangle.
"All right, everyone, find your partners and form a circle," the woman said.
Liz started to walk off. I grabbed her arm. "Wait a minute. I'm totally lost. What is going on?"
She jerked her thumb toward the porch. "That's Edna and Ed. Apparently, they're the new people 'in charge' this year and are the ones who are going to train us. They're twins, by the way."
"They don't look anything alike." Although really, what did I care about their relationship? They were setting me up for disaster.
"Whatever." Liz said. "Torie whispered to me that she'd heard they were twins. Anyway, they've paired everyone up---"
"I don't like the pairing."
She was looking seriously irritated with me. "I can't believe all this went totally over your head. This is lesson one. Learning to get along with whomever---"
"So what? They picked the worst possible matchest they could come up with?" I couldn't help it, bu tI was starting to get a little freaked out!
"Could have said it better myself," Sean said. "We have absolutely nothing in common."
I hadn't seen him approach. I wished that he hadn't. I could feel myself blushing. What could I say? We did have nothing in common. Last year proved that without question.
"Is there a problem over there?" Amazon Edna called out.
"I've gotta go," Liz said. Typical Liz, worried about getting into trouble. Shouldn't a leader lead? Like lead a revolt against this insane pairing?
Liz walked away, leaving me facing Sean. His hair was cut shorter on the sides, but since he was wearing the CLS cap, I couldn't tell much about the top. Last year, he'd worn it spiked. It had made him look tough. And I'd sorta fallen for that tough-guy look. It had also made him look like a loner, but he'd spent a lot of time hanging around with a younger kid named Billy. I'd learned later that Billy was his brother. They looked nothing alike.
Now Sean shook his head. "I can't believe they paired me up with Paris Hilton."
I glowered. "I can't believe they paired me up with a cheater."
He shrugged like I'd said his worst offense was parting his hair on the wrong side.
"You weren't going to win anyway, so what difference did it make?" he asked.
I glared at him. It had been the final day of camp. The game had been Capture the Flag. Two teams competed for the prize: a plaque with the name of each member of the winning team iscribed on it. The plaque was given a place of honor on the wall inside the main office. My name was inscribed on three plaques.
Last year I had been the captain of Team One. Sean had been captain of Team Two. Each team had been given