Camp Koradel

“There you are!” Chris exclaimed from the cabin’s front porch when he saw Sophie and Scott emerging from the woods. “You can’t just leave whenever you want without informing anyone.”

“Galvin knew we were out here together.”

Galvin stepped out from the shadows of the porch and said loudly, “I did not, young lady. Don’t try to lie yourself out of this.”

Glaring at him, she opened her mouth to speak, but Scott interrupted, “I’m sorry, Chris. It was my fault.” The man hesitated. He couldn’t criticize Scott, because he did apologize and was obviously sincere.

“It’s alright; just don’t let it happen again.” With that, he turned around and entered the cabin, leaving Scott and Sophie alone with Galvin on the porch. They continued walking and intended on going inside, but as they passed, Galvin decided to make a move.

“Sophie,” he said sweetly, “we need to talk. Stay out here and your…” he studied Scott for a second before continuing, “friend can go inside.”

Scott muttered friend under his breath just as Sophie said, “No, we don’t need to talk.”

His eyes narrowed at the girl. “You will stay out here.”

“She doesn’t have to.” Scott pulled gently on Sophie’s arm, stepping towards the door, but with sudden, random speed, Galvin was suddenly in front of them, slamming the door closed even though it had hardly opened a crack.

“Fine, then, neither of you is going in. There is no romance tolerated at Camp Koradel, and if it’s a problem, perhaps we need to keep to ourselves and prohibit the boys and girls from hanging out together.”

Neither said anything for a minute. Sophie was disgusted with Galvin. Almost as quickly as she had decided not to speak, she decided against herself. “You’re one to talk.”

“Excuse me?” he snapped.

Attempting to hide her terror, she said confidently, “Yeah, I said it. Madame Rosette and Scott know now. What are you going to do about it?” For a moment, when she looked into his eyes, she thought she saw true pain there, as if he actually cared for her. She quickly overturned that idea, though, convincing herself that it was only his pride that he was afraid of hurting.

“Scott Bane, you will say nothing to anyone about any of this, do you hear me?”

He nodded in his normal, polite manner. “Yes, sir,” he said still, even considering the circumstances.

Sophie glared at him, but Galvin stole her attention. “Sophie, you really are something.” Her head snapped up and now her glare was directed at him. “Wouldn’t you agree, Scott?”

Scott hesitated. “Um. Yes, I would agree, Mr. Wellman.” He thought she was a little more than just something, though.

“Perhaps you think more of her than just that, Mr. Bane?”

The sudden name “Mr. Bane” sent a chill through Scott’s spine, and he only nodded absently. All that ran through his mind were thoughts of Mr. Bane, his father. Mr. Wellman knew what he was doing, and Scott hated that he could do it.

I’m sorry Dad, can’t you forgive me? He never could. Scott was glad to be here, away from his unappreciative father. Chris had to have told Galvin the story, because there was no other way he could have known. And he had to know! He couldn’t have just guessed.

“Are you alright, Scott?” Sophie looked at him, concerned, and he smiled at her. The memories were washed away then, and he nodded honestly.

“You don’t look good, Mr. Bane,” he paused for a moment, grinning evilly; “Maybe you should go inside and get some water.” He pulled Sophie closer to him by wrapping an arm around her shoulder, and he said, “Sophie and I need some alone time anyway.” He kissed her neck…

Resisting the urge to yell at him, Scott glared at him. Sophie tried to squirm out of his grasp, but he pulled her into a full hug before pressing her back against the wall. Defeated, sophie relaxed, but she still glared furiously at Galvin, whose head turned to look at Scott again. Galvin cleared his throat, and Scott looked at her sadly but wasn’t sure what else to do, so he opened the door and hurried inside.

Galvin stepped away and Sophie felt endangered without Scott. Wondering why she would feel as if she was in danger, she looked up at him. “Why are you being like this, Galvin?”

He flinched slightly. “I — I just don’t want you getting hurt.”

“You’re a liar. All you want is to hurt me.”

“Maybe it wouldn’t be this way if you hadn’t told—”

“I didn’t have to tell anyone about it! Madame Rosette saw!!”

“I’ll get you for this, Sophie. I’ll get you for telling those two. I’m not an idiot; I know you told Erin, too.”

“I wouldn’t have told Scott if you wouldn’t have been yelling at me earlier.”

“I’m not yelling, and I wasn’t yelling then.” He took a step closer to her. “It doesn’t have to be like this, does it?”

“You’re making it this way,” she said just as Scott stepped outside. Only now, it wasn’t just him. Erin was behind him, along with Mary, Kasie, Charley, Charles, Roy, Brad, and Anna. “Hey guys,” she said with attempted nonchalance.

They each smiled back except for Scott. He simply glared at Galvin as the big group walked off of the porch and into the front yard of the cabin. Sophie glanced at Galvin, only to see him stalking towards the front door. “Where are you going, Galvin?” Charley asked from the sidewalk. “Stay out here with us.”

“No, I … have things to do.”

He was gone, and Charley looked slightly disappointed for a moment before turning back to Charles. She kissed him swiftly on the cheek, walked onto the porch, glared oddly at Sophie, and then went inside.

Trying to ignore the look on Charley’s face, which had been an interesting mix of fear and hatred, Sophie stepped off of the porch, but sat on the edge, allowing her legs to swing off, barely touching the mulch in the garden.

“Sophie,” Paige said suddenly, stepping closer to her on the porch. “Can we talk?”

“Sure,” she said, and as they stepped away from the group, Sabrina followed not too far behind. Paige was probably one of the prettiest girls there, and she and Sabrina actually resembled each other very much. “What’s up?”

“Are you, like, interested in Scott?”

Sophie looked at her questioningly. “Why are you asking me this?”

“Because I know you are, Sophie.” Then why ask? Sophie thought to herself. “And girl, he, like, doesn’t feel the same. You may think he does, but really, he’s just, like, too nice to hurt you. He was just being polite and, like, welcoming you, but when you got, like, flirty and googley-eyed, he realized he should have been more careful. He isn’t interested, Sophie; he’s, like, just sparing your feelings.”

She supposed Paige had reiterated because Sophie had been staring absently at a caterpillar crawling on her finger. “Why would he do that?” Slowly, she turned her hand over, inspecting the little critter’s fuzzy body and the odd little patterns on its back.

“He told me, like, earlier today. Actually, he told me he’s kind of tired of you and I said it’s, like, wrong of him to, like, pretend for you. He’s actually interested in me, but” —she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder— “I just can’t handle romance in a war, you know? It’s like getting caught up with somebody when they could, like, possibly die, and it doesn’t make any sense.”

Sophie agreed. She couldn’t believe it. How could he do that to her? He had seemed so honest... Then she remembered what she had told Erin: All the guilty ones look innocent, and the ones who are actually innocent get blamed for their mistakes.

“I’m sorry to, like, break it to you, Sophie. I just didn’t want him, like, leading you on anymore.”

“Thank you, Paige,” she said, hugging her gently. “You’re a great friend.”

Paige smiled sadly at Sophie as she wiped a runaway tear off of her cheek. “It’s alright,” Sabrina suddenly chimed in. “I know how you feel, girl.”

She chuckled. “Thanks. I —um— I’m going inside.”

Paige and Sabrina glanced at each other, and Paige said, “Okay, but don’t, like, disturb Galvin and Charley.” With that, they began walking away, leaving a confused Sophie standing frozen there for a few moments. When she finally moved, she hurried so as to not be utterly secluded by the forest.

As they climbed the porch stairs, none of the three girls noticeably looked at Scott as he conversed with Roy and Erin. Secretly, Paige “like” stole a glance, but no one seemed to have seen, and when Sophie sauntered inside, she and Sabrina merely sat in the rocking chairs on the porch.

Inside, the lights were dim, and Sophie realized for the first time that the living room’s light switch had a dimming setting instead of just off/on. She hurried past it, though, into the hallway that led to each of the girls’ rooms. As she passed Charley and Anna’s room, she heard Charley say, “Stop; I think I heard someone.”

Sophie came to a halt outside her door, but she didn’t stand directly in front of it. Still, she could hear Galvin mutter, “Don’t worry; no one would dare interrupt, and if they did, I’d kill them.”

Charley seemed to snort. “What if it was Sophie?”

Sophie thought he sounded drunk as he said, “Oh, I’m not worried about that bitch. I’d kill her just as easily as I could kill anyone else here. You remember Elle —”

“Shh!” Their voices came to a halt and there was a dead silence as Sophie begged and pleaded silently to herself that they would keep talking so she could walk away. Her foot had squeaked on the hardwood flooring, and Charley had apparently been listening even though Galvin was talking. “Won’t you just go out there and look?”

Galvin groaned, and as Sophie heard him getting up, she rushed away from there, petrified.