Warrior's Rise (2 page)
Authors: Brieanna Robertson
Logan looked over the list. “How old is older, anyway?”
“Your age group is fourteen to eighteen.”
“Why do I only have five?”
She sighed. “Because I said so. Now, go take your things to your cabin. The kids’ll be here before you know it.”
He raised an eyebrow, then put his hand to his forehead in a salute. “Yes, ma’am,” he mocked.
She glowered at him, then turned her back, dismissing him. She bent back over her desk to try and organize the chaos spread out across it.
“Hey, one question.”
She suppressed an aggravated growl and looked up at Logan. He’d almost made it out the door. So close… “What?”
He scratched at the back of his head and looked genuinely puzzled. “Where are the strippers?”
She did a double take, then stood straight and placed one hand on her hip with a frown. “I beg your pardon?”
He pointed down at the papers in his hand. “Well, this is fantasy camp, right?”
She just stared at him. Was he serious? The befuddled look on his face told her that he actually was. She cleared her throat and gave him a level, flat stare. “Medieval fantasy, Mr. Savage.” He still looked confused. She sighed. “You know, dragons, wizards…?”
He blinked rapidly, then scrunched up his face. “
Geek
camp?” he cried.
She did growl then, and if looks could have killed, he would have at least been seriously injured. “They are
not
geeks,” she spat, “and I will kindly ask you to refrain from calling them that. They are a bunch of children, most of which have either bad home lives, or not many friends to speak of.”
He snorted. “Gee, there’s a surprise,” he muttered sarcastically.
“Mr. Savage!” she snapped. “This place is somewhere where these kids can come to be around other children like them. It is a place where their creativity is embraced and praised. If you can’t respect that—”
“Okay, okay, lady! Cool your jets! Dang!” He held his hands out and rolled his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair and huffed.
“Didn’t you even
read
the papers the judge gave you?” she asked.
He frowned. “Uh… I never really got past the part that said ‘Fantasy Camp.’” He shook his head. “I got really wasted and kind of threw up on them.”
She stared at him. “Lovely. You’re a real winner, aren’t you?”
He met her eyes and grinned.
She sighed and turned her back on him, hoping, praying he would leave. He didn’t, of course.
“Hey, speaking of fantasies,” he said. “I’d really like to know some of yours.”
She looked up at him. He was chewing on his bottom lip and smiling. It would have been cute on anyone but him. She sighed again, then smirked and swaggered up to him. “You know, it’s funny,” she said. “I have one about you, actually.”
His green-gray eyes sparkled and he looked smug and victorious. “Oh yeah?”
She nodded. “You and me, alone, in the desert.”
“Mmm, I like it so far,” he purred, taking several steps closer to her.
She smiled up at him. “You, in a straight jacket.”
He looked taken aback for a minute before he raised an eyebrow. “Kinky…okay.” He grinned again.
Her smile was sickeningly sweet and she knew it. “Buried up to your neck in the sand. With your jaw wired shut. And buzzards circling overhead.”
He opened his mouth, then frowned as if trying to process her words. He held one finger up. “I’m not sure I understand the point of the buzzards.”
The breath she expelled sounded like a mix between a growl and a hiss. “Let me put it in terms you’ll understand. You have five seconds to vacate my office before I kick you wear it counts. Capiche?”
He raised his eyebrows and backed up. “Capiche!”
He looked her over for a minute in a way that made her think he might actually be a little frightened. She smiled. Good. She pointed her finger at the door, as he was still standing there. “Out.”
He muttered something incoherent and all but fled the office. She huffed and ran her fingers through her hair. As if she hadn’t already been flustered and running behind…
She shuddered to think of having to spend the summer with that man loitering around her camp. Men like him should be castrated and kept from procreating. She shook her head and turned back to her desk, feeling tension knots in her shoulders. If this morning was any indication of how the summer was going to go, she dreaded it already.
* * * *
Darien watched the green, Oregon scenery fly past the bus window and sighed. He wished they’d just get there already. He was sick of sitting on the bus. It always seemed like it took a million years to get from Portland to camp, but that might have something to do with the fact that the only enjoyment he got out of the entire year was while he was at camp. He spent all of the other seasons just counting the seconds until he could go back.
It made him sad to know that this was his last year, but then again, after this summer he would be eighteen and could move out of his dad’s house. That would improve his life. All he had to worry about then was surviving his senior year.
“Dude, Darien, you have to check out this sick CD I bought.”
Darien turned his attention away from the window and back to his friend Colton, or Colt, as everyone called him. He had to smile a little to himself. Colt, unlike most of the rest of them, was completely comfortable with who he was. Yeah, all of the
normals
thought he was as much of a geek and a freak as everyone else on the bus, but Colt had some sort of defensive barrier that shielded him from the taunts and jeers. Either that or maybe he was just really happy with himself. He was overweight with black fingernail polish on one hand and purple polish on the other. His dark brown hair was spiked, and he dressed like he couldn’t decide whether or not he was a skater or an Emo kid. Baggy, tan shorts with chains long enough to strangle someone hanging out of his pockets, eyeliner, a lip ring… The whole thing made Darien love the guy. He was the only one out of their group that was really and truly happy just to be who and what he was.
He took the portable CD player Colt was offering him and put the headphones on. “What am I listening to?”
“
Cannibal Corpse.
Check it out.” He pressed play.
Darien frowned at the name, then jumped in his seat as ear-splitting death metal invaded his ears. He yanked off the headphones and shook his head. “Holy crap, Colt,” he muttered, thrusting the headphones back to his friend.
Colt frowned. “I thought you liked rock music.”
Darien rolled his eyes. “I like
rock
music. Not rampaging murderer music.”
Colt looked offended and placed his hand in a theatrical display over his chest. “Do
I
look like a rampaging murderer to you?”
Darien smirked and was about to turn his attention back to the window when the seat in front of him was suddenly invaded by a tiny Japanese girl with glasses and a slender girl with pigtails. He smiled. “Hey, Aki.”
“Hey Darien!” the Japanese girl exclaimed. “We finally made it all the way around the bus! We were talking to everyone.”
“I noticed,” he said. He let his eyes graze over the girl with the pigtails again, and he gave a shy smile when she met his eyes. “Hey, Lucy,” he murmured. “Make any new friends?”
She waved her hand. “Aw, it’s cool to say hello to everyone. I like to make the new kids feel welcome, but you guys know you’re my people.” She grinned and high-fived Colt.
“Where’s Doug?” Colt questioned.
Lucy thrust her thumb towards the front of the bus. “He’s giving a lengthy lecture to a seventh grader about why Anakin Skywalker descended into the dark side.”
Darien smirked. “Some things never change, huh?”
Lucy grinned and rested her chin on the back of the seat. “This is your last year, isn’t it?”
He looked up at her and nodded. “With any luck I might actually graduate next year.”
She giggled. “How was last year? Schoolwise and stuff?”
He shrugged. “More of the same. Dad telling me how lame I am. Jocks throwing me into garbage cans.”
“I had the varsity quarterback give me a swirly,” Aki volunteered.
Colt frowned. “They actually do that to girls?”
She shrugged. “I guess. It wasn’t so bad once you got past the smell.”
Colt and Darien gave a simultaneous wince.
“Check it out, guys, we’re here!” Lucy exclaimed.
Darien looked out the window and sighed in relief. Finally, he could get off the bus and start his summer out right. It was the last one he would spend with his friends. He wanted to make it the best it could be.
Chapter Two
The other counselors were tools. Logan could tell. One of them looked like Merlin on crack and the other one looked like she should be living in a cabin with a bunch of cats. Heck…maybe she did. The only one who looked normal was Willow. She was so hot. Slender, regal, curvy in all the right places. She looked like a dancer, graceful. He wanted to run his fingers through her lustrous auburn hair. Too bad she’d told him she wanted to bury him in the desert and then kick him in the cajones. That was a first. He’d never had a woman reject him like that before. He almost didn’t know what to do with it. Maybe she was a lesbian… His stomach knotted at the thought. He sure hoped not. That would be such a waste of a gorgeous woman. A woman like Willow Avaris was made to be loved by a man… A man like him.
His lecherous thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a big, yellow school bus. He heaved a sigh and put his clipboard behind his back, adopting a no-nonsense pose that he hoped inspired a little intimidation. He had no intention of making these kids think that he was a pushover like the other two lameoid counselors.
The doors opened and the saddest bunch of reject kids ambled off. He suppressed a groan. This was his worst nightmare. At least three fourths of them were wearing glasses and were paler than the undead. Almost none of them had any muscle mass, and the ones who weren’t pathetically scrawny seriously needed to go on a diet.
“Welcome back, campers!” Willow greeted with a great, big, stunning smile.
The kids grinned collectively and a few cried out, “Hey, Miss Willow!”
“Now, I know some of you are new here to Rogue River, so let me be the first to give you a warm welcome. I’m Miss Willow, head counselor. If you have anything you need to talk about, or have any complaints, you can come to me any time. Let me introduce you to our other counselors, Counselor Linda and Counselor John. Most of you know them already.”
A lot of the kids waved to Merlin and Cat-Lady also.
“We have a new addition this year.” She pointed over at Logan, but didn’t look at him. “Counselor Logan. He will be taking care of some of our older campers.”
The same bunch of friendly kids waved at him also, but he did his best to look fearsome. As a result, they averted their eyes almost immediately.
“Now, the other counselors and myself will be calling out role, so listen for your names. After you’re into your groups, you’ll be taken to your bunks where you can unpack and get settled. Dinner is at six and we will have an orientation meeting at that time so that everyone can get to know one another. Lights out is at nine. Be sure you get a good night’s rest because we have lots of exciting things planned for you tomorrow.” She grinned. “Is everyone ready for an awesome summer?”
The group screamed and cheered.
“All right! Let’s get to it then!”
Willow took her list and started to call names so Logan did the same. “When I call your name, I want you to line up in front of me!” he commanded. “Don’t talk and don’t give me any crap! Just do as you’re told!” He saw Willow give him a scornful look, but he ignored it. He wasn’t going to go easy on these geeks just because she did. He was there to make men out of these losers. He cleared his throat and looked down at his list. “Lucy Wilcox!”
A girl scrambled to stand in front of him and he almost whimpered. She was dressed in some frightening hippie skirt and she was actually wearing a brown knit shawl. Her dark blonde hair was in pigtails and she was toting an enormous book of some kind under one arm. He grimaced.
“Colton Mason!”
Okay, never mind. Pigtail girl was okay. This guy was a walking disaster.
“Doug Evans!”
A gaunt, thin, short boy with thick glasses scurried up like a frightened mouse. The large boy Logan had called up to the line a moment ago grinned down at the newcomer and tousled his hair.
“Aki Takahashi!”
Dang, he could barely even get her name out. He wasn’t surprised to see that she was Japanese.
“Darlene Rivers!”
A few giggles and snickers caught his attention and he looked up as a tall, decently built kid rolled his eyes, sighed and joined the group. “Darien,” he corrected. “I’m a guy.”
Logan took a moment to look over this one. He was still undeniably freakish, but less so than his comrades. Reasonably muscular, black hair… But he
was
wearing that ridiculous black nail polish. What was with that? Guys were not supposed to wear fingernail polish. And… Oh good lord. Was he wearing eyeliner…? Maybe not. Okay, maybe he just had thick eyelashes… He shook his head. What did he care? They were all freaks. Every last one of them.