Proof of Forever (20 page)

Tali bites her lower lip. “I had to talk to your mom about what happened with Shane . . .” Her lip starts twitching then, like it did the night Luce walked in on her arguing with her own mother on her cell phone in her kitchen . . . the night of the camp reunion. Exactly two years into the future from today. She looks up, her eyes the exact color of maple syrup. “Someone set me up. Shitty prank. Probably Rebecca. I think she hates me.” Then she adds, so quietly Luce almost doesn't hear her: “I think a lot of people hate me.”

Luce sits bolt upright, filled with a new clarity.
This
is one problem she
can
fix, one mess she can clean up. “I wrote the note,” she says. “
I'm
the reason my mom came to Cabin 43.”

Shock and outrage flicker like lightning across Tali's face, but before she has a chance to respond, Luce goes on: “But I didn't
mean
for her to catch you. I had no idea you'd be there. How would I have known?”

Tali squints. “You signed the note with my initials.”

“They're . . . someone else's initials . . . too,” Luce admits. Her throat feels thick, and the words have a difficult time coming up and out.

“Whose?”

“Mr. Wilkinson's.” Luce practically chokes on his name.

Tali's brow crinkles. “I don't get it.”

“Believe me, I don't either,” Luce says. A relieved breath ratchets through her chest and she knows: she's going to tell.

And then the story comes, all the gory details, even more than what she told Andrew. Not just the image of the kiss, seared into her brain, but also her fury and powerlessness, as though everywhere she turns there's another wall of fog, impenetrable, refusing to let her through, refusing to reveal an answer. She even explains how she planned to entrap her mom at Cabin 43 and confront her there.

Tali listens but doesn't react right away or immediately reach around to give Luce a hug, like Andrew did. Instead, her brows knit together and she nods slowly, taking it all in.

When Luce finishes talking, Tali simply leans back into her club chair. “I wish you'd talked to me, Lulu.” Luce looks up quickly, startled by the old nickname. Tali goes on. “Look, parents are . . . they're unpredictable. It's a simple fact that they will disappoint you. It's like, their purpose in life.”

Luce looks down, blinking quickly. Now that she's confessed everything, it's like the words have left a void inside of her. She feels deflated. “Tali,” she starts.

“Yeah?”

“I overheard. Part of it, anyway. That call with your mom. What happened? I should have asked sooner, I just—”

Tali's body tightens next to hers, like she's bracing herself. “It's my dad.”

Luce's heart is racing. Tali and her dad are
thick
. Her dad is her hero. She's his baby. He's been to every tumbling match. He's
there
for her, whenever he can be. Way more than Luce's parents are for her, even though they never travel far, while Tali's dad is always flying around the country and the globe.

Tali clears her throat. “He's been lying to our family my whole life. He's a fraud. His company is under investigation by the government. I don't even get what that
means
, but it's bad.” Then after a pause, she adds, “I know it means he's not who I thought he was. And that he has, quite possibly, destroyed my life.”

Now it's Luce's turn to wrap her arms around Tali's shoulders.

For a full minute or two, they're silent. Luce is filled with wave after wave of guilt. She overheard the phone conversation on reunion night. She knew Tali's family was in trouble this whole time, but she didn't say anything. She was too concerned with making it out of the past and back to the present. Back to
her
present.

Earlier, she accused Tali of being selfish. But maybe she's the one who's selfish.

Tali heaves a halting sigh. “The funny thing is,” she says, “I'm not even certain I have any present worth returning to, ya know? But after everything that's happened in the last couple of days, I'm not sure I want to stick around here, either.”

“I know exactly how you feel,” Luce says, standing again. Then, after another pause, “So . . . the lifeguard. Do you actually . . . like him?”

Tali looks up, and to Luce's surprise, there's a small smile on
her face. She nods. “That's the crazy thing. I do.” But then the smile evaporates. “Unfortunately, he hates me now. I can't say I blame him. There's no way to fix it. Unless,” she adds, “you've got another plan to travel back in time.”

Luce snorts. “I couldn't even get the merit badge.” She cracks a smile. “I did get Most Improved, though.”

Tali raises an eyebrow.

“Don't even get me started,” Luce says. “I actually kind of
stole
it, but I stole the wrong one.”

Now it's Tali's turn to snort. Then she drops her head in her hands and starts to laugh, which makes Luce laugh—at the hopelessness of it, the absurdity. Soon, they're both hysterical, cackling in the middle of her mother's office.

“Ohhhhhh, man,” Luce finally says, when she can draw a breath. “What are we going to do now?”

Tali stands up, wiping tears from her eyes with a thumb. “We're going on a scavenger hunt,” she says. “It's our last night at camp, and no matter what happens, we're doing this thing together.”

For once, Luce is relieved to have someone else take over and lead the way. She looks around her mother's office, briefly wondering if she should clean up, if there's some way to undo all of this, but Tali's pulling her hand now.

They slam the office door behind them, and Luce turns to Tali. “Let's do this,” she says.

Even with the rain now falling heavily down on them, there's an impressive showing at the flagpole—the designated meeting spot for the scavenger hunt—when Tali arrives, her arm linked in Luce's, both of them sharing a sweatshirt as feeble covering. She feels lighter somehow, despite the rain—and despite the thoughts of Shane that keep cycling through her mind: the disappointed look in his eyes, thinking she betrayed him. It's got to be the fact that finally, after all this time, she is linked to Luce again—not just physically but in some other, more profound way. It's not just that they bonded over their parents sucking so bad either—though they did—it's something else. It's like Tali has rediscovered Luce
now
. Whichever version of her this is. A girl who needs Tali, and cares about her, and sees her for who she really is. And so her heart feels a tiny bit less heavy. Because despite everything, there's this:
hope
.

A second chance.

People are crowded around, sharing umbrellas and tarps, some simply letting the rain soak their clothes.

The staff carries on with preparations for Carnival Night, trying to erect a giant tent despite the weather. Which means no one has attempted to disband the scavenger hunt.

Tali's fingers flutter across her exposed collarbone for the Taurus pendant, then she remembers she lost it. She can't see Joy or Zoe in the crowd.

She's desperate to apologize to Zoe. She shouldn't have freaked about the fact that Zoe hooked up with Blake. She owes her an apology. It's the least she can do. More than that, she wants to
understand
. Especially since she found out what a gross player he really is. She needs to hear Zoe's side of the story. It hits her that she hasn't thought enough about what really is going on with Zoe, and now more than anything she feels like that's a loss. She wants in again—back into the friendship they used to have. Zoe and Luce were right—she
has
been selfish.

Joy was right, too. She needs to tell her so.

For the first time since all of this began, it hits Tali how much she took Joy for granted. And when Joy disappeared from their lives, Tali pushed the hurt away, refusing to feel ditched, instead just chalking it up to everyone growing up and growing apart. She didn't spend too much time thinking about it—hadn't wanted to.

But now she does. She wants to do it all differently.

She wants to know what happened to make their friendship unglue.

More than anything, she wants to know why Joy left.

“All right,” Doug Ryder barks out, trying to get everyone's attention.

He hands out copies of the list of twenty-five clues: the best catch at camp, the most evil foul-caller, the one thing the Cruz can't live without, the horniest noisemaker, Indigo's hole, Simon Says, Foot-Spunk, White Flag of Surrender . . . and the list goes on. They have to split into five teams of five, and then figure out what the clues mean. Whichever team gathers the most items on the list wins.

Tali and Luce end up on a team with Hadley, Uma, and Sam Puliver.

“I know one of these,” Hadley says, her face fuming. “Horniest noisemaker.”

Uma gasps. “Your horn?”

Hadley nods. “It's been missing from my bunk since afternoon session. We need to find that
first
.”

“Okay, but we still need to go for quantity,” Sam points out, then shuts up under Hadley's stern glare.

Before Tali and Luce make it into the trees with the other girls, Ryder calls out to them. They stop and turn, and he jogs over, handing them a spare umbrella.

“Here, use this.”

“Thanks,” Luce says.

Tali assumes he'll turn away again, but he lingers for a second, his face flushed.

“Also . . . I was wondering. Have you guys seen Joy?” he
asks. “She was helping me set up earlier, but then we split up, and now I'm not sure where she went,” he says, scuffing the toe of his sneakers in the damp ground. “I'm kind of starting to get worried.”

Tali raises an eyebrow and looks at Luce. She knows they're both thinking the same thing:
Does he
like
Joy?
Does Joy
like
him?
She smiles. “I'm sure she's fine,” she reassures him. “She's probably just planning some extra surprise.” As they walk off, she adds with a mutter, “Boys are such puppies.”

Luce giggles, and for another fleeting moment, Tali feels just as close to her as she once did. Like together they can conquer anything.

More than an hour later, Tali's team has procured four items: Hadley's horn (they found it in the old birdbath behind the rec hall), Indigo's Hula-Hoop (this was “Indigo's hole”), as well as a guitar pick (“Something Ryder has fingered a lot”), and the official camp rule book (“Simon Says”). It's a good start but not nearly enough to win. They ran into a team of boys who had a cafeteria tray, a big foam pool noodle, Farber's whistle, Brianna's favorite zebra-striped push-up bra,
and
the water ski that Dave Krauss infamously broke when he ran into the pier.

After a brief huddle, they decide it will be faster if they all split up. Hadley pairs off with Uma, planning to return her horn safely to their cabin first. Sam Puliver goes off on her own.

“Let's separate and look for these three,” Luce says, pointing out the final items on the list.

“Aye, aye, captain,” Tali says, marching in the direction she
thinks
is south, toward the stables.

Not long after, she hears giggling and ducks behind a tree. As she peers around the rough bark, she catches a glimpse of something ivory: it's a piece of cottony fabric, stuck to a baseball bat, looking not at all unlike a
white flag of surrender
. It's hidden somewhat beneath a pile of twigs, but that has to be it.

The flag and accompanying pile of twigs are propped against a rock down a short slope from where she's standing. Tali sprints for it, slipping and sliding a bit in the mud, the rain making it hard to see.

Just as she's closing in on the flag, however, another figure darts out of the woods—a figure with cropped, bleached-blond hair.
Rebecca
: the girl who was acting like Blake was her personal possession during the bonfire on Tali's first night back in the past.

Rebecca reaches the flag at the same time Tali does, and they both grab for it.

Oh. Hell. No.
Rebecca may be sly, but Tali is determined. She yanks at the fabric, which, she now realizes, is a pair of boxers. And then she gasps. The boxers aren't just plain white—they're white with Batman symbols on them.

She recognizes these boxers.

“What the fuck?” she blurts out. “These are Blake's.”

Rebecca takes advantage of Tali's momentary shock and grabs them from her. “You didn't hear?”

Tali leaps forward to wrestle the boxers out of Rebecca's
hands. The baseball bat is still attached to one end and it drags through the mud, tripping Tali. Both girls fall onto the ground. “Hear
what
?” Tali says, gritting her teeth as she tugs on the boxers.

Rebecca huffs, struggling. “He hooked up with Hadley at his party. She stole them.”

“Wait,
Hadley
? Hadley Gross?” Tali lets go for a second and props herself up. “I thought he hooked up with Zoe.”

Rebecca sits up. There are brown leaf crumbs in her hair. “Ya know what? Take them. They're probably crawling with herpes anyway.”

Tali scrunches her brow and stares at Rebecca for a second. “Here,” she says, getting an idea. She grabs the boxers at the seams and begins tearing them in half. Then she hands the half still tied to the baseball bat to Rebecca. She doesn't really need the flag. Winning the scavenger hunt isn't the important thing.

Winning
Blake
was never the important thing either, she realizes.

It's time to focus on getting back to the present.

Rebecca looks into Tali's eyes. Rain falls between and around them, tapping the leaves on the trees and on the ground. She sighs. “Thanks.”

And then Tali is off and running to find Luce, the boxers in hand.

When she finds Luce, her friend is bent over something on the ground in a small clearing. “What is it?” she asks, approaching.

Luce looks up at her, holding a clipboard. “The one thing the
Cruz can't live without. This makes six.”

“That's great!” Tali comes over to pull her to her feet, but Luce stops her.

“Yeah, but . . . look.” She gestures toward a drenched backpack at her feet.

Tali squats down next to her, turning it over in her hands. “Is it a clue, do you think?” Tali asks.

Luce shrugs. “I don't know.” She unzips it and takes out Joy's sweatshirt, an empty Nalgene, a flashlight, a bottle of pills, a notebook, and a dead cell phone.

“What are those pills for?” Tali asks.

Luce holds up the bottle and shakes it. “Not sure. The label is faded. Long, doctory words. Trust me, if I don't know what they mean, no one does.”

Tali's own puzzlement grows deeper, driving lines of concentration into her forehead. They can hear shouting through the woods, and the echo of distant laughter. Other teams.

“I don't get it. Maybe she just lost her bag? But that seems weird.”

“It doesn't fit any of the clues on the list, though,” Tali says, trying to ignore the eerie sensation worming its way through her gut, the certainty that something isn't right.

Fear flashes across Luce's face. “What if something bad happened?”

“Like what?” Tali tries to act like she wasn't thinking the same thing. “We're, like, a quarter mile from camp. We'd know if she'd gotten hurt.”

“Why don't we bring it with us, just in case,” Luce suggests. “Besides, we can use the flashlight.”

Tali reaches out and grabs it. She flicks it on and they begin making their way back toward the flagpole to meet their team. For a while, the only sound is the rain pattering against the leaves of the trees overhead. Nothing, Tali realizes, is as it seems. All this time she thought Rebecca was her competition, when maybe she could have been an ally. All this time she thought Blake was the ultimate guy, the ultimate win. Instead, she can see so clearly now that he's a loser.

What else has she gotten completely backward? For a moment, she feels breathless, like her own personality has been flipped inside out. She feels exposed, and wrong. So wrong. About all of it. This summer. Her life as she knew it. Her friends. Even Joy.

In the flashlight's beam everything flickers silvery as it bobs and weaves through the rain, tickling something deep in the back of Tali's mind, some mystery she can't quite articulate. She thinks of Joy's urgency when she called them all together for the reunion five days ago—or two years from now. She thinks of Joy's face as she hung up the phone outside their bunk on the first night. She recalls how Joy ran off with the Miss Okahatchee tiara right after winning it. She pictures Joy dancing with abandon at Blake's party, right in the center of the outdoor dance floor, her arms in the air, her face ecstatic and Zen and pretty in the strobe lights . . . and something else, too. There was something in her eyes last night, wasn't there? Or a feeling, maybe that's all it was, just a feeling that passed between Joy and Tali, but Tali had been
too distracted by her attempts to corner Blake to really think about it until now.

Tali stops in her tracks. “Luce,” she says.

Luce turns, rain falling on her face, soaking her clothes. “Yeah?”

“What's Joy hiding?” she says, surprised by her own words.

Luce shakes her head. Her normally golden-tan skin, courtesy of her father's Filipino heritage, looks wan in the gray light of the storm. “I have no idea,” she says.

But the scared look in her dark eyes tells Tali she's right—Joy
has
been keeping a secret from them, and Luce has sensed it, too. The woods have become dark and gaping around them, and the voices of the other teams farther away.

“Come on,” she says, grabbing Luce's hand, rain slicking across her skin, giving her the chills. “Let's get out of here.”