What are you doing here?” Archie hissed at his stepmother. One of the twins—they were named Bryce and Aubrey but he could only ever think of them as “the twins”—had something on its face. He thought it was the girl one, but he wasn’t sure, since they were dressed in matching clothes. For some reason Alicia thought that was cute. Archie, however, was completely opposed to cute in all forms, toddler or otherwise.
“We came to see you!” Alicia said loudly. Too loudly. He looked around in panic. If anyone caught sight of Alicia they’d know in a minute that he wasn’t a rich kid like he’d been pretending to be for weeks. So much of his summer hinged on people thinking his family was mysterious and wealthy, and possibly even famous.
And now here was Alicia, frazzled and wearing flip-flops and shorts, her hair in a messy bun. She looked like the average mom, but younger, and far from the sophisticated and glamorous movie-star type he pretended his mother was to everyone at camp.
Everything Archie tried to pretend his family wasn’t, here in full force and in front of everyone.
It wasn’t that he didn’t like Alicia. She was okay. She always made him grilled cheese sandwiches when he was sick and made sure he had new clothes for school even when his dad grumbled about the cost. Last year she bought him a pair of sneakers that probably cost a hundred dollars, and told him to tell his dad they’d gotten them on sale. It wasn’t her fault—she was who she was. It was just that Archie didn’t want to be like her.
At least not here, at Camp Shady Crook.
His mind raced. Maybe he would tell people she was his old nanny? Come to visit him at camp? Or a poor relation. Or his black sheep older sister who had been disowned for marrying the pool boy. Or, or.
“Come say hello to your brother and sister,” Alicia said with a big grin. One of the campers from the Rainbow Smelts’ cabin who was standing nearby glanced over with a questioning expression.
“Hello,” Archie said through gritted teeth. “Come on, let’s go.” He turned and tried to herd his family away from the crowd, toward the far side of the main camp building, even though he knew the campers were supposed to keep their parents as close to the main hall as possible—primarily so they could stay under the watchful eyes of Miss Hiss. But he needed time to think. What if Mitchell saw her? Mitchell wasn’t stupid. He’d have a ton of questions about who Archie really was, and who he’d been claiming to be, and his big con would fall to pieces before he even got started.
“I thought that lady over there said we needed to check in?” Alicia wondered, but Archie ignored her. “And where are we going? I can’t walk on dirt in these shoes!”
“I’m giving you a tour, of course,” he said grimly. “Isn’t that why you’re here? To see the place?”
Alicia had one toddler in her arms but the other one was lagging behind, picking up rocks and leaves and examining each one placidly, as though he had all the time in the world.
“Come on, let’s go!” Archie said. He had to get them away from the other kids before more people started to notice and ask questions. “Why is he walking so slow?”
“Archie,” Alicia said, this time with more than a hint of frustration in her voice. “He’s only three. Give him a break, would you?”
Archie clenched and unclenched his fists. Then he walked over to his little brother, picked him up, and began to carry the boy quickly down the path. “I think I’ll show you the lake first,” Archie said over his shoulder, trying to keep his voice pleasant and calm. “No one will be there this time of day.”
Or at least I hope not, Archie thought.
He led his family the long way around the lake, toward the old boathouse. Nobody was supposed to go back there, so it meant he could he get his family away from everyone else while he figured out a plan.
The “new” boathouse, closer to the cabins, was ugly and rusted and looked like a stack of shipping containers left to rot by the docks in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Meanwhile the old boathouse had high arches and was full of rustic charm and the smell of old wood. Of course, it was also notoriously full of bees, which was why nobody ever went near it.
“This is very nice,” Alicia said as they examined the building. The sounds of the campers greeting their parents had already faded into the distance. “Sort of like exactly how I pictured summer camp.”
She paused. “But what about your friends, Arch? Can’t we meet them?” her eyes narrowed. “Or don’t you have any friends?”
He thought her tone was more mocking than motherly. She always seemed to care about things like him having friends, and having fun, as though he didn’t have more important stuff to do. He knew Alicia was trying to be nice, but it felt like pressure. She wanted him to be “happy” and “content,” but she had no idea what that actually meant for a kid like him. And yet, she’d also driven all the way to Vermont from New Jersey with two toddlers, just to spend an afternoon with him and make sure he was okay. Which only made him feel even more rotten about how much he really, firmly wished she hadn’t come.
And she didn’t seem to notice the way the sound of buzzing increased the closer they came to the old boathouse. He was hoping she wouldn’t get close enough to notice the bees, because she’d insist on going back to the main part of camp immediately. He just needed them to hang out here long enough for him to decide what to do next.
He just needed time to think.
Archie cringed when one of the twins—the girl one, Aubrey—headed right inside the small building and immediately went to investigate a dark corner. He waved his hands frantically at her to come out.
“You can meet my friends later,” he said. “They’re all with their families now, anyway. It is Parents’ Day, right? I mean, that’s why you’re here?”
“Fabulous, I can’t wait,” she said. “Because I don’t want to have to go back and tell your father you’ve been sitting in a cabin all summer coming up with your little schemes instead of playing with the other kids, you know. Especially after that e-mail we got.”
“What e-mail?” he asked, shocked. But she didn’t answer, because without warning, there was a troubling shout from little Aubrey, and the low buzzing that emanated from the boathouse suddenly sounded ten times louder and about a thousand times angrier. “Run!” Archie yelled, pushing his little brother in front of him and trying to get him to hurry up the hill back to the main part of camp where the rest of the campers and their parents were still milling around.
But before he got more than a few feet away, he realized his little sister was still in the boathouse, crying, while Alicia just stood outside, shocked. “Take Bryce!” he shouted at her, which snapped her out of her trance. She grabbed her son and headed up the hill, while Archie darted inside the building, covering his head with his hands until he could reach his little sister, scoop her up, and run as fast as possible outside and up the hill to Alicia.
He handed his stepmother the screaming toddler, then collapsed on the ground, wheezing from the effort of running and batting at the bees that still clung to him. Kids and parents gasped in shock and dismay. Already, Archie’s arms and legs were blossoming into angry red marks. His body was in agony, but his mind was even worse.
If he’d been trying to avoid attracting attention to his visiting family, this was definitely not the way to do it.