Every Summer Has A Story

Ch. 45 - Zayne's Revenge

Lila was the last camper to approach Eve's checkout table later that day, still sporting her trademark pigtails.

"Hello, Nurse Eve," she greeted with a reserved smile, "I need to get my vitamins."

Eve tried to return Lila's warmth, but truthfully she was growing impatient.

"Where's your parent, sweetie?"

"She's already at the car," Lila replied, the light leaving her brown eyes, "I need to hurry."

Warning bells went off in Eve's head.

"What's the hurry?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Lila worried her lip and glanced around,

"I don't want to keep her waiting."

Eve smiled gently.

"I cannot sign medication out to you, Lila, I'm sorry. I need your mom's signature."

Lila sighed heavily and looked back at the door.

"Okay, I guess I'll go ask if she will come in."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"No!" Lila said quickly, taking a few hurried steps away from the table, "I'll be right back."

Eve watched Lila's tiny retreating form and cocked her head, a funny feeling filling pooling in her belly.

"Hey Eve," a familiar squeaky voice sounded from over her shoulder, breaking into her thoughts.

Scooby picked at the haphazardly made friendship bracelet on his wrist and showed his brackets in a small grin.

"What's up Scoob?"

He fidgeted nervously with his thumbs,

"Zayne told me to come over here and tell you to go out back and sort the pop cans."

Eve was acutely aware of the tick in her jaw but couldn't turn it off.

"Excuse me?"

The ire in her words nearly melted Scooby into his shoes.

"I-I-I'm sorry Eve." He stuttered, the tips of his ears going a fire engine red.

Eve swallowed hard,

"I'm not upset with you, Scooby. You're just the messenger."

"I guess so," Scooby sounded unconvinced, "but he wants you to go now."

"What a colossal douche bag," Eve muttered, sliding back in her chair abruptly, causing Scooby to visibly startle.

She stalked toward the office, blood boiling, and threw the door open. Sandrine, the office manager, gave her a look of both surprise and irritation.

"Goodness, can I help you Ms. McKinley?"

"I know Zayne is in there with Rev, and I need to speak to him."

It took every shred of self control to hold back her rage, but Sadrine seemed unaffected.

"He told me you'd be looking for him, and he asked not to have their meeting disrupted."

"That son of a bitch planned this," she seethed inwardly.

Sandrine rolled her chair back from the rest and rose to her feet.

"I was told to take over the medical table so you can go complete a task. And, just for your awareness, he and the Rev expect it to be accomplished before you can leave camp grounds this evening."

"You... You were what? I have to do what?"

"I was told to take over the medical table because Zayne gave you something important to do," Sandrine repeated, the annoyance in her voice adding fuel to Eve's fiery fury, "and you can't leave until you're done."

"You have got to be kidding me," she whispered under her breath.

The disapproving purse of Sandrine's lips told her she had heard, but Eve didn't give a tiny rat's ass. She turned on the heel of her Chaco sandal and bee-lined toward the medical table where Scooby still stood wringing his hands. Eve knew she should reassure the CIT, but the blind rage searing her stomach rendered speech impossible. She grabbed her backpack and lanyard of keys soundlessly, and tossed her radio to a prissy Sandrine before heading toward the back door of the deck. Of all the camp jobs, sorting the sticky disgusting pop cans stored by the dumpster was notoriously one of the worst. Not only did they sit out in open recycle bins to collect rain water and get baked in the sun, but the sickly sweet and sour soda residue was a siren call for obnoxious yellow jackets.

Eve threw her backpack down onto the gravel and started heaving the big blue plastic bins out from behind the rancid smelling garbage can, nearly gagging at the smell amplified by the hot late afternoon sun. Eve muttered a slew of profanity under her breath at the sheer magnitude of the job.

"This will take me hours," she said aloud, surveying the mounds of empty pop cans.

Eve realized there were two choices here: stand around and mope while wasting precious time, or get the task done in record time. With a defeated sigh, she dug into the first trash can and began sorting returnable cans from the Ohio ones. 

"Screw Michigan and their stupid deposit returns."

Throughout the first solid hour of painstaking and disgusting work, Eve swatted away undeterred Yellow Jackets and stewed. Her brain was in overdrive. Clearly Zayne had planned this not only as punishment for scorning him, but also to prevent her from leaving with Austin when she was suppose to. It was a gross abuse of power, and the more she thought about it, the worse it became. 

"The Rev agreed to this? " She thought, a fresh wave of vitriol washing over her, "what kind of backwards ass good ole boys patriarchal tiny penis syndrome bullshit is this!?"

She threw down the handful of pop cans she'd been holding and brushed her sticky hands off on the front of her shorts.

"Screw this!" Eve shouted at the dumpster.

She bent down and slung her backpack over her shoulder, hastily checking her watch. She panicked slightly to see the hands sitting soundly at 6:30 PM. Austin would be picking her up in 30 minutes and she was covered in an attractive mix of sweat, camp dust, and sticky rotten soda sludge. Bypassing the lodge, she headed straight to Auden's cabin in the Girl's Village. She had already packed and put her suitcase in the back of her Jeep, hoping to meet Austin in the parking lot for a quick get away. She knew Auden would have shower stuff and clothes she could borrow in haste.

Eve burst through the door, a few stray Yellow Jackets still trying to tail her, and struggled to adjust her eye sight to the dim lighting.

"What the hell happened to you?" Auden asked from her bed at the back of the cabin where she was curled up with a cold bottle of water and a book.

Eve bit her lip in an effort to hold back tears and approached Auden's bunk.

"Oh, just a little taste of Zayne's revenge."

Auden dropped her book onto the floor and sat up straight.

"Excuse me his what?" she wrinkled her nose, "and what on God's green Earth is that smell?"

Eve huffed and quickly filled Auden in on what had transpired while gathering some items.

"Can I use your shower stuff?" she asked, pulling a towel from Auden's bunk.

Auden nodded vigorously.

"Obviously. But Eve, this is not okay. None of it. I always knew Zayne had a spiteful streak, but it's hard to believe the Rev would go along with it."

"Oh I know," Eve replied, meeting Auden's troubled gaze, "and that's exactly why I'm quitting."