Since Forever

Chapter 7

Archie's POV

I smirk at Zac. "It's okay. It was a close game."

He glowers at me across the table. He is sitting between Alice and Ethan who were on his team. Finn and Bailey are also sitting on their bench. I am facing them with the other winners: Freddie, Zachary and Thomas.

"Close game my ass," Zac mutters, pulling his crossed arms tighter to express his dissatisfaction.

Freddie smiles kindly. "It's just a game. Why are you so upset?"

"Easy for you to say; you won." Finn pouts.

Alice pats him on the shoulder comfortingly. She doesn't seem to mind losing. "It's okay. We'll get 'em next time."

"Yeah, you will," Ethan says bitterly. I hadn't thought he gave a rat's ass about capture the flag but apparently he cared a lot.

"You could always flunk this year and stay back," Bailey offers, straight-faced.

Ethan turns to him in surprise, almost choking on his lunch. "Wha...?"

Bailey bursts out laughing. "I'm totally kidding."

"You should have seen the look on your face!" Thomas crows, also laughing.

Bailey quiets down, still smiling widely. "Don't worry, you're not going to flunk out."

Ethan glares at him and Thomas cracks up again, receiving his own glare.

Zac watches the exchange in amusement. I nudge his foot under the table. "Feeling better?"

He crosses his arms again and his smile fades. "Nope. Not even close."

"Hey," Alice pipes up, "I'm going to dump my tray. Anyone have any rubbish they want me to take?"

We pile our rubbish onto Alice's tray. When she stands, Finn stands with her. "I'm done, too. I'll come."

Suddenly, Ethan stands up from the table and marches off, leaving his tray. Thomas goes after him and Bailey stands to follow. We must have missed a lot of their conversation.

Bailey glances quickly at their trays and back at us. "We'll be back to clean up," he assures us before running after his friends.

Alice and Finn return to the table and Alice is grinning from ear to ear. "They're getting out the boats after lunch. We should go." She pauses and smiles hopefully. "Please can we go?"

Zac shrugs. "I'm up for it." Then to himself, he mutters, "Something I can't lose at."

I jump up when Freddie and Zachary go to put away their trays. 

Alice looks questioningly at the seniors' trays. "Um...?"

"They said they'll be back," Zac explains as he gets up as well.

We change into bathers in case we get wet and then make our way down to the lake. Lots of other campers are already there. 

Alice runs over and points at a canoe. "This should be big enough for all of us." She picks up a paddle but Zac gently takes it from her.

"You don't have to paddle," he says gently and she smiles. "If there's 6 of us, that means two to the first seat, three to the second, and one to the third. Then two people don't have to paddle."

We end up with Zac and Finn on either side of Alice in the middle seat, Freddie and Zachary on the front seat, and me in the back. I don't get a paddle and I don't get anyone to talk to. Great.

Zachary and Freddie pull us into the water before getting in. As they start to paddle, Alice leans over and rests her head on Zac's shoulder. I let my face crumple, not bothering to hide my sour expression since no one is looking at me.