“Poor Adrien, huh?” Remington says as he walks past us to his wardrobe. He opens it and fishes for clothes. “You are coming to the funeral, right?”
My heart races.
“Chrys,” Hunter says, “you don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”
“If she doesn’t go, more people will just think she did it though,” Remington says.
“No one really thinks that,” Hunter says to me. “At the meeting, Li said you didn’t do it and that you’re going to investigate it as your second task.”
“Yeah but plenty of people—the kids especially—still seem to think she did it,” Remington says.
“Do you think I did it, Remington?” I ask.
He turns from the wardrobe to face me. “No, I don’t. But you have to admit… I mean, you’re the only one here capable of doing that sort of thing, so I get why the kiddos blame you.”
“But I didn’t do it,” I say.
“I believe you,” he says. “I’m just trying to explain to you other people’s point of view.” He turns to Valeria and says coldly, “Why are you still here?”
Valeria narrows her eyes at him. “I was just talking to Chrys when you bozos interrupted. Jeez.” She turns to me, her eyes softening. “Anyway, I should go eat something before brunch is over. See you.”
As she walks past me, I say, “Uh, yeah. See you later.”
She leaves.
“What’s going on with you two?” I say.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Remington says. He grabs the clothes he fished out earlier and heads to the bathroom. “I’m going to take a shower.”
“It’s no big deal,” Hunter says, making me jump.
“Sorry,” he says.
“No, it’s fine. I just forgot you were next to me for a moment. What happened between them?”
“They used to date,” he says. “The break up was… not pretty. And I don’t think they’re quite over it yet, seeing that it happened just last month.”
“I’m not surprised. They don’t seem compatible at all,” I say.
He shrugs. “Maybe.”
“Did they love each other?” I say.
“Uh…” He shifts his stance awkwardly and his cheeks turn pink. “Why are you asking me that?”
“I mean, you can read people’s emotions and stuff. Doesn’t that mean you can pick up on stuff like love too? Isn’t that an emotion?”
“Yeah, sure. I can pick up on it. They… liked each other a lot, but I don’t really think it was love. They only dated for a couple of months too.”
“I see. So doesn’t that mean that if there were someone you liked, you could tell if they like you back or not without even having to ask them?”
“Yeah. It sucks.” He walks past me to his desk.
“So you have experience with that then?” I say.
He puts his hands on the back of the chair, his head hung. “How can you not be embarrassed at all right now?”
“Why would I be embarrassed?”
“Because I’m embarrassed. Haven’t you ever had an unrequited crush before? It’s awful and embarrassing, and talking about this kind of stuff is embarrassing too.”
“Well to answer your question, no because I’ve never had a crush on anyone before—I mean, who has the time? Anyway, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was embarrassing for you. We don’t have to talk about that. I just… didn’t want you to bring up the funeral so I thought if I kept you talking about something else then… Anyway it doesn’t matter. I’m sorry.”
He releases the chair. “It’s fine. I won’t talk about the funeral. But, I’ll just say this. You probably should go. You don’t have to dress specially or anything. We decided to keep it casual. It’s at two.”
“I don’t really want to go. Frankly, I never want to leave this cabin again.”
“I get that but you can’t avoid it forever, unless you decide to… to leave the camp.”
I sigh. “Maybe I should.”
“Don’t,” he says quickly. “I wasn’t trying to tell you to leave.”
“I know, but I really don’t feel comfortable being here. I thought it was going to be this great thing—being with others like me. But the stupid nickname and now Adrien. I can’t see myself ever feeling comfortable here.”
“It’ll get better. I felt uncomfortable at first too, and the kids teased me when I came too, calling me Emo Kid and junk like that. That’s just how kids are. Besides, you promised that you’d do all the tasks, didn’t you? That means you have to stay here to complete them.”
That makes me remember that I didn’t come here to stay for the long term anyway. All I need to do is finish these tasks. The quicker I find out how Adrien died then the quicker I can do the third task. There’s no time to wallow inside the cabin, hiding from everyone.
“You’re right, Hunter,” I say. “I need to do the tasks, which means I need to get out there and investigate.” I look down at my hands. “If the kids are scared of me then I can at least give them no reason to worry.”
“What do you mean?” Hunter says.
I take the gloves from my back pocket and pull them on. I still hate the look of them.
I show my gloved hands to Hunter. “See? Not a threat anymore.”
“So you’re just going to wear gloves all the time now?”
I shrug. “Why not? Just giving the kids what they want from the scary ole Grim Reaper.”
He frowns. “Well if that’s what you want to do…”
“It’s not. I hate wearing these stupid things. But maybe it’ll help the investigation go more smoothly.”
“Maybe.” He sits down in his desk chair and starts rummaging through his backpack.
Looking down at my hands, I remember the last time I wore these gloves when I woke Ron up in that truck. It feels like ages ago, but it’s only been a couple days. Back then, Ron said she’d stay in that town nearby. If she’s still there, maybe she can help with the investigation. Besides, I really just want to talk to her again.
