Twisted (Editing)

Chapter 9 (Edited)

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My face shined with a coat of perspiration. The air hung so heavy with the humidity that the sweat refused to evaporate. The only thing that gave me relief was the rare cool breeze. But those only served to make me bitter.

"We have enough," Liz said, carrying a handful of sticks. She had a leaf stuck in her hair, and I picked it out and threw it to the ground. "Let's go back."

"When do we eat?" I asked.

"Twelve. That means we have about⁠⁠—" She looked at her wrist, but her watch⁠⁠—which was linked to her phone⁠⁠—wasn't approved, so they took it on the bus. She scowled at the pale tan line it left behind. "Well, we have time."

When we got back to the camp clearing, we found a crowd lingering. I could only pick out a handful of people that were in our group. Liz dropped her sticks and went closer. "Shouldn't you guys be in your own camps?"

One of the twins was still there. She looked at me with sharp green eyes. "We're done our chores and we're getting ready to eat lunch."

"But we haven't gathered lunch," I said.

She wrinkled her nose. "I said, we're going. With our friends."

"We're supposed to be working together. You're going to ruin our grades like this." I walked closer to them. "I'm going to tell⁠⁠—" I bumped into someone in the crowd and stepped back, the words flat in my mouth. I looked up and found Jonah staring down at me, face hard and sweaty. I recoiled.

I thought we were on pleasant terms. Weren't we?

"There's nothing to tell," he said. "It's just lunch between friends."

If that was true, then why did he have to look at me like that? Liz's hand wrapped around my wrist, and she pulled me backward. "We don't need whatever their families packed with them. We'll find something else," Liz said. She led me away, and I could feel shame biting at the back of my heels.

That night, after eating one-half of a fish that I managed to catch in a stream and some watercress, I returned to the camp to find my toiletries. Upon seeing my toothpaste, I turned around. Someone was tampering with my things.

"Did someone go through my bag?" I called out, looking at the hunched forms of the other people in the camp, gathered around a fire. I approached them. "Did someone take my toothpaste?"

One girl, Thea, blinked her wide eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Who took my toothpaste," I said. I held out the blue tube. Mine was green. A very vibrant shade of green. And I'd packed it myself. "This isn't mine."

"But it's a brand new full tube. Why would anyone take a pack of toothpaste and replace it with another one?"

"God, I don't know, what's why I'm asking." I glanced at every person sitting around the fire. They responded with frowns, scowls, and confusion. "Are you saying none of you know what happened?"

Thea's twin sister Ramona giggled. "You just forgot which one you packed. Be honest, Imani, who here would steal toothpaste."

I lowered my hand, and heat ran into my face. I know what I saw. I know what I saw. But it had been early morning, and I had been in a rush. Memories could be falsified. We could've run out of our normal brand. Or we could have switched just that week. I looked around the circle again. They thought I was an idiot.

"Sorry," I said. "My mistake."

I turned around and trudged off. I swallowed my anger and brushed my teeth in the woods, spitting into the bush and rinsing with a cup of water. I couldn't name a single thing that had gone right about the day. Worse, tomorrow I would wake up with six more days ahead of me. My chest tightened to bursting, and tears brimmed behind my eyes. None of that. I wiped my eyes until they were dry. None of that.