Page 74 of Wildfire
What Aurora didn’t mention when she told us we had to be prepared enough to do a good job is that we would have to decide on our talent as a group.
I know what my and Aurora’s talent is, but it wouldn’t be appropriate to do it on a stage with an audience.
She stands beside me, occasionally bumping me with her hip, while Maya and Clay stand on my other side, and the four of us watch our two other counselors argue. Again.
“It’s a talent contest, Xan,” Emilia snaps.
“And I am brimming with natural talent,” he argues back.
“I’m a professionally trained dancer.”
“You can’t teach what I have.”
Maya folds her arms across her chest, tilting her head. “Should we intervene?”
“Nah,” I say, taking a swig of my coffee. “He’ll wear himself out eventually.”
“Emilia won’t,” Aurora says, taking my mug out of my hand and sneaking a sip. “She’ll never back down to a man.”
The kids were getting antsy about not having enough time to practice since we keep them busy all day, so we switched things up to give us all the morning before returning to regularly scheduled programming this afternoon.
I assumed Aurora was exaggerating when she said it’s a big deal, but she wasn’t. Everyone takes it super seriously, which makes me worry even more.
Rory steps closer to me, seemingly absentmindedly; her arm rests against mine as she continues to watch our friends fight like siblings. God, I’m pathetic for enjoying something as simple as her gravitating toward me.
“Hey!” she shouts at Xander and Emilia, making them both look at us all watching them. “How about you come up with something and you can just teach us when you know? If I wanted to watch two people fight over something pointless, I’d spend time with my parents.”
“Fine,” they both snap, immediately returning to arguing with each other.
“Go enjoy your day off,” Aurora says to Clay and Maya. “There’s no way they’re agreeing on something in the next two hours.”
“You’re a real one, Roberts,” Maya says, yawning and waving as she disappears in the direction of the cabins.
“I don’t mind hanging around here for a bit longer to help,” Clay says, sticking his hands into his pockets and shrugging lazily.
His smile is odd today. It’s forced and awkward, and it’s making me want to stand in front of Aurora and shoo him. I can’t, obviously, because that would be rude, not to mention slightly unhinged.
“There’s nothing to help with,” she says, her tone sharper than I’ve ever heard. “You deserve a break, so go enjoy it.”
Clay’s eyes flick to me and I instantly realize I’m missing a piece of the puzzle. Clearing my throat, I put on my best fake smile to match his. “Enjoy your day off, dude. There’s nothing interesting happening here.”
He finally concedes, looking embarrassed as he heads off toward the cabins behind Maya.
“Why’s he being weird?” I ask Aurora quietly as he gets farther away from us.
“Dunno. Can you make sure nobody gets eaten by a mountain lion for five minutes?” She takes the empty mug from my hand and grabs our water bottles from the picnic table. “I’ll get us some water and some deck chairs and we can just sit and watch everyone, okay? Should I get us some paper for origami? Yeah, I should. Find us a strategic spot.”
She’s disappearing toward the main building before I even have a chance to answer her. I watch her leave before ambling toward Emilia and Xander who are, unsurprisingly, glaring at each other. “Why is Clay being weird today?”
Emilia’s eyebrow immediately rises. “Why are you saying ‘today’ like he isn’t like that every day?”
“Rory was snappy with him and he looked embarrassed.”
“He’s been like that since he tried to kiss her,” Xander says casually. “You just haven’t noticed because you don’t pay attention to any of us because we don’t have blond hair and suck your dick.”
“You sound jealous,” Emilia snorts.
“I am. I’d look fucking great as a blond,” he says back. “Not into dicks, though, sorry, dude. Tried once, not for me.”
