Part 13 (2/2)
”I can totally relate.” Claire sighed.
”Huh?” Layne knitted her eyebrows.
”Hey, Kuh-laire,” Ma.s.sie called.
”Yeah?” Claire quickly played back the last twenty-four hours in her head, trying to figure out if she was in trouble.
”Fall back,” Ma.s.sie insisted.
Claire stopped and let everyone pa.s.s. Once there was a safe amount of s.p.a.ce between them and everyone else, Ma.s.sie spoke. ”I need your help.”
”What?” Claire wasn't sure she'd heard right. Ma.s.sie never needed help.
”Shhhh,” Ma.s.sie insisted. ”What I'm about to ask you goes to the grave, 'kay?” She held out her pinky. Claire lifted hers and they shook.
”What is it?”
”I need you to teach me how to kiss,” Ma.s.sie whispered.
”What?” Since when did making out with Josh Hotz once make her an expert?
”Pleeeease.”
Claire searched Ma.s.sie's amber eyes. Was she joking? Was she joking? But there was no flicker of mischief and no innocent eyelash batting. This was real. But there was no flicker of mischief and no innocent eyelash batting. This was real.
”Ma.s.sie, I-”
”Please,” Ma.s.sie begged.
Claire wished someone had been around to witness this moment. She had always fantasized about Ma.s.sie desperately needed her for something something, but never this this. For the first time in their relations.h.i.+p Claire was in a position of power over Ma.s.sie. And she intended to take full advantage of it.
”Okay.” Claire straightened her shoulders and raised her chin in the air.
Ma.s.sie sighed.
”But only if you do something for me.”
”Anything,” Ma.s.sie promised.
”I need you to help me get Cam back,” Claire said. ”Before he ends up liking someone else.”
”No problem.” Ma.s.sie sounded like she already knew exactly how she was going to pull it off. ”Done.”
”Done,” Claire answered back, feeling like she had just made a deal with the devil.
One she had no idea how to repay.
LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK FOREVER WILD CAMPSITE.
Monday, February 23rd 6:47 P.M. P.M.
Ma.s.sie turned on the four battery-powered heaters she had swiped from her cabin and placed them around the igloo. She wanted Claire to feel warm when she arrived for their private kissing lesson.
Earlier that afternoon Mr. Myner had taught them how to build igloos by cutting blocks of snow and packing them to form circular walls. But no one's was as s.p.a.cious and comfy as Mr. Myner's, so Ma.s.sie had opted to hold her underground meeting in there. She sneaked out of dinner early to decorate it with sheepskin rugs and beanbags from her cabin. And for ambience, she placed eight red cinnamon-scented candles evenly along the floor near the walls. It wasn't like anything in the ice palace could catch on fire. Igloo decorating had its advantages.
By the time she blew out the last match, the heat was blasting. What had once been a frigid ice hut was now a warm and inviting secret clubhouse. All Ma.s.sie could do now was wait for Claire and try to stop imagining a hungry family of black bears circling outside, licking their lips.
Finally, dinner let out. The wood doors of the dining pavilion squeaked open, giving way to a swell of simultaneous conversations and laughter. It was break time. And everyone would be going back to their cabins to digest and change into their pajamas before the nighttime bonfire reading of Hatchet Hatchet-a novel about a thirteen-year-old boy who survived a plane crash and had to learn to fend for himself in the Canadian wilderness. Ma.s.sie peered out of the semi-circular doorway knowing her her survival depended on Claire and her kissing lesson. survival depended on Claire and her kissing lesson.
Suddenly Ma.s.sie heard a deep voice. ”Uh, h.e.l.lo ma'am, mind if I join you?”
Ma.s.sie looked up and shrieked. There was a giant moose head in the doorway of the igloo and it was staring straight at her.
”Relax.” Claire giggled. ”It's me.” She hunched over and squeezed through the narrow opening, then turned the moose sideways so his antlers wouldn't chip the walls. ”Wow, it looks great in here.”
”Thanks.” Ma.s.sie's heart was still pounding. ”What is that that?”
”It's Derrington,” Claire said, like it should have been obvious. ”You didn't think you'd be practicing on me, did you?”
”No.” Ma.s.sie didn't know what she'd expected. ”Of course not.”
Claire pulled a tube of cherry ChapStick from the back pocket of her cla.s.sic-cut Gap jeans and swiped it across the moose's bulbous lips.
”Ew, stop that.” Ma.s.sie burst out laughing. ”Why didn't you take the duck or the fish? That moose's head is bigger than my leg.”
”Do you really want to kiss a fish?” Claire smiled. ”And duck lips are so thin and hard.” She ran her finger across the dead animal's long lashes. ”I thought the moose was the closest thing to Derrington.” She paused and looked into his still black eyes. ”Let's name him Doose, like Derrington and Moose Derrington and Moose combined.” combined.”
”I get it.” Ma.s.sie knocked the ChapStick out of Claire's hand.
A droplet of water landed on the leg of Ma.s.sie's True Religion jeans. She wiped it away, then got right back to business.
”Okay.” Ma.s.sie sighed. ”Should we get started? The MUCK girls will be here soon.”
They looked at each other and giggled. Neither knew where to begin. Ma.s.sie took out her Krispy-Kreme-doughnut-flavored Glossip Girl and slathered it on her lips.
Claire held Doose at arm's length and looked him in the eyes. ”Okay.” She sighed. ”This is how you'll be positioned seconds before the big moment. You'll be talking about something or someone and then, all of a sudden, there will be nothing left to say. And you'll just know it's time.”
Ma.s.sie's stomach dropped. ”What? What do you mean I'll just know know? What if I don't? Or what if I know and he doesn't? I need more than that, Kuh-laire.”
Claire turned Doose around to face Ma.s.sie. ”Shhhhh, you have to relax.” She shook the moose head so it seemed like he was the one talking.
Ma.s.sie slapped the side of Doose's long mouth, knocking the head out of Claire's hands. Both girls doubled over in hysterics.
”You better not do that to Derrington.” Claire was still laughing.
”I might have to if I don't know what I'm doing.”
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