Page 50 of Disharmony

Ripper: I’d love that. x

No way! A gigantic smile stretches my cheeks. I bow my head and let my hair cover my face to disguise it. It’s the biggest swell of excitement I’ve felt since arriving.

“Hey!” Leila’s voice halts my imagination from running away with possibilities. “Mind if I sit?”

I gesture next to me. “Go ahead.”

“Are you okay?” She looks at me funny. “You look flushed.”

“It must be the fire,” I lie, then notice she’s wearing ripped jeans and a tiny crop top. “You’re not swimming either?”

She shakes her head. “I’m only here because Conor begged me to come.”

“What’s going on with you guys?” I ask.

She sighs, running her hand through her bouncy hair. “Nothing... yet.”

I raise my eyebrows to invite her to say more. “Do you want anything to happen?”

“He’d like it to,” Leila skirts around the question, “but I don’t want to ruin our friendship. You get it, don’t you? After what happened with you and Brick?”

“I guess,” I sigh. “It’s different with me and Brick, though. He’s always been a brother figure to me. I’ve never seen him in a romantic way, but it seems like there might be a spark between you and Conor. It’s your last summer here, right? Who knows where we’ll be after it? My mom always used to tell me not to waste any opportunity. If you want something, go for it.”

She bites her lip as she looks out to Conor on the water, and her eyes light up. “You might be right.”

* * *

The stark moonlight and glowing fire cast pretty colors across the still lake. Couples who were making out in the water emerge dripping wet and holding hands, then disappear into the tree line. On the rocks nearby, someone sprinkles a line of white powder, and a group takes turns snorting. I also see a bag of pills exchanging hands. The music is getting louder, and campers dance around the pit like they’re part of a weird ritual.

“Welcome to Camp Harmony,” Leila says. “It’s not exactly what you see in the brochure, right?”

“Doesn’t Jacqueline know what’s going on?” I ask as a group of first-years giggle and wipe coke from their nostrils then rub it into their gums.

“Jacqueline Tate doesn’t care about us.” Leila laughs. “All she cares about is Camp Harmony’s reputation and cranking out the next superstar. Drugs are normal. It goes with the lifestyle. Most of the kids here have parents who are addicts and have been getting high for years. They can have a rager and wake up to perform the next day.”

“What do your parents do?” I ask curiously.

“They’re film directors and workaholics,” Leila says with a thin smile. “Working is their life. That, and cocaine. When you grow up in a house where your parents do coke at the breakfast table, drugs are as normal as adding sugar to cereal.”

“My dad’s a cop,” I admit. “He’d lose his shit if he saw this.”

“I bet he would,” she snorts. A stormy cloud rolls over her expressions as she gazes across the lake. “But Jacqueline is above the law. She has people to shut down any scandals. She’ll cover up anything.”

“Hey!” Conor’s voice booms toward us as he strolls across the sand carrying two red cups. I avert my eyes from his toned torso and six pack. Underneath their baggy clothes, the twins are surprisingly toned. He hands me and Leila the lukewarm beer. “Why don’t you two come over and join everyone by the fire? I’ve lined up your mixtape to play next, Lei.”

“You listened to it?” she asks.

Conor grins. “Only a hundred times over.”

She smiles and arches one eyebrow at me. “Do you dance, Ash?”

“Nope.” Although, everyone knows that’s a lie since I have to take dance lessons. “Well, yes… but I don’t.”

“Why not?” She stands and holds her hand out. “If my mixes are coming up next, you’re going to want to dance.”

I groan, sensing she won’t let this drop. I stand, wiping the sand off me and draining the beer. I hand my empty cup to Conor. “If we’re gonna dance, I’ll need another.”

“Coming up,” Conor says.

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