Page 34 of Who Let The Wolves Out?

Watching her smile like nothing’s wrong when I’m trying not to unravel in front of thirty campers eating dinosaur nuggets?

Nah.

Can’t do it.

After lunch, I find myself dragging a rake across the archery range. Not because it needs raking. But because I need something to do with my hands before I find myself ripping pinecones apart or accidentally shifting just to release tension.

“What’d that dirt ever do to you?” Julie’s voice startles me.

I blink. Realize I’ve been stabbing the same patch of earth for ten minutes.

Julie walks over, sipping iced tea like it’s a personality trait. “Everything okay?”

“Peachy,” I mutter.

She tilts her head. “You’ve got the same look I did when my ex texted me ‘Hope you’re doing well’ after ghosting me for four months.”

I snort. “That’s oddly specific.”

“Because it’s true.”

I shake my head. “It’s nothing.”

Julie pauses. “Does this nothing have to do with a certain counselor whose name rhymes with ‘palace’?”

I don’t respond.

She nods slowly. “Thought so.”

I glance down at the rake. “She’s... amazing. And I think I’m falling.”

Julie grins. “You think?”

“Iknow.But I overheard her talking about not coming back next summer. And it felt like...”

“Like someone pulled the floor out from under you.”

“Exactly.”

She pats my arm. “Then maybe talk to her.”

I grip the rake tighter. “I don’t want to guilt her into staying. I want her to choose this. To choose me.”

Julie nods. “Then maybe let her.”

That night, I see her again.

She’s sitting on the dock alone, feet dangling above the water, hugging a clipboard like it can keep her from drifting off.

I stay back.

Because if I get any closer, I might ask her what we’re doing. Where we’re going. What that kiss meant.

And I’m not sure I’m ready for the answer.

So I just watch her from a distance, heart thudding, telling myself I can wait.

Even if it’s killing me.

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