cruel summer. [ rini au ]

chapter eleven.

Nini pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her damp hair to try to retain her heat with the chill of the afternoon air. She was seated in the pool office, trying to change the pool schedule. When the clouds had darkened and let loose pounding rain around noon on that Saturday morning, Dave approved the pool staff to close the pool and plan indoor activities for the campers.

Hearing footsteps above the gusts of wind, Nini looked up from her clipboard as Charlotte opened the door to the office, holding a mug of tea. Nini gratefully accepted the mug as Charlotte took a seat opposite Nini.

"You are awesome," Nini said, taking a sip of the chai tea. "This place is freezing."

"I was useless in the gym, I can't play basketball for the life of me and Ricky kept yelling at me for travelling. So, do you need any help?" Charlotte asked.

"I'm almost done," Nini said, capped the highlighter. "I just need to run everything by Dave and then I'm set."

"This weather sucks. I can't believe it's supposed to rain all week. I was really looking forward to tomorrow's scavenger hunt." Charlotte told Nini.

Nini nodded as the girl continued to chatter about the weather and her day. She double-checked everything on the schedule one more time, before printing off a copy to give to Dave.

"Could you just double check that for me?" Nini asks, handing it to Charlotte and taking a sip from her mug.

"Looks great," she said and Nini slid it into a plastic folder. "So what's going on with you and Ricky lately?"

"Nothing, why?" Nini asked, tapping on her keyboard to close the program on the laptop.

"Things seem different between you," Charlotte said. "You guys seem to be getting along."

That was a truthful statement as much as Nini wished it weren't. Since Monday night on the basketball court, they both tried to make an effort to be tolerant if not friendly. They still bantered but one of them would always walk away before their tempers got out of hand. The sarcastic comments were limited and Nini began to join the staff basketball scrimmages at night, although she never did play on Ricky's team. Outsiders would consider them friends, but Nini was reluctant to go that far yet.

"We are. Or we fake it." Nini said, finishing off the tea in her mug. "We talked and agreed to keep our problems between us and not involve the rest of the camp."

"So,  you're friends?" Charlotte said, testing the word on her tongue with hesitancy.

"We're-" she thought about it for a second, "working on it."

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Ricky's plan for the scavenger hunt on Sunday afternoon was falling apart. He had spent hours creating maps and clues for the campers, covered all the problems and worked them out and even argued with Nini about how this was not the first time he put 100% effort into something other than basketball. But now, it was falling apart.

The rain had started that morning and from the moment the first drop landed on the asphalt, Ricky knew his plan was going down the drain. Literally. It was Saturday and he had half a day to come up with something to keep the campers busy for the afternoon and keep them inside. Frustrated, he leaned back on his bench in the dining hall and let his head fall against the wood panel.

"Have you seen Dave?" Nini asked, standing on the opposite side of the table, the hood of her windbreaker pulled up, water dripping down the fabric.

"No," Ricky told her. "Why do you need him?"

"The filter system in the pool got backed up and I need a key to turn it off before the whole pool needs to be vacuumed."

"How long have you been looking for him? You are soaked," Ricky pointed out and Nini just shrugged at the question.