48. A Cameron Problem

**Margo**

Margo woke up to an unpleasant feeling. It was as if she was stabbed all over with needles covered in pepper. Her nose felt tingly. And the more she arose from her slumber, the more her mouth felt tingly too.

Finally, she sneezed, and she’s sure that something came out of her nose. She woke up and the pain was enough to make her gasp instinctively. That was her first mistake.

When she gasped, several tiny things were flung down her throat, causing her to cough and sit up. What she witnessed was worse than the pain she felt. It was enough to make her think that she must have been dreaming.

Thousands of ants crawled all over her body. The few glimpses of flesh that she could see was red from all the bite wounds. Her body was covered in some sticky substance, but Margo didn’t think about that. She figured it must have been something done by these horrible pests that were eating her alive.

She screamed loud enough for the whole camp to hear.

Queenie woke up beside her. When she saw what was happening, she kicked and pushed her body backwards until it hit the edge of the tent.

Margo was screaming and brushing the ants off her skin erratically. They were in her hair, her nose, her mouth and now in her throat. Everything hurts like hell. She had never been in so much pain in her life. She could feel them crawling out of her ears too.

Queenie watched in horror as Margo tore the tent open by pulling the zip apart and lunged herself outside. On the grass, Margo twisted and turned, trying to get the ants off her as tears flowed down her cheeks. How was this even possible? All she wanted was her mother to tell her that everything was gonna be okay and for someone to bloody help her already!

Teachers arrived. They were shocked at the sight of Margo’s swollen, red, ant-covered body thrashing around on the ground.

________

**Rosé**

She was forced to leave camp. The teachers figured she stole the honey and sugar to eat in the night and left a trail for the ants to follow. She must have not noticed when she was heading to Queenie’s tent. After falling asleep with the sweets that must have been when the ants attacked. That’s the scenario they decided to run with.

Queenie managed to convince them that she didn’t know Margo had sneaked into camp and got off scott free. Good for her. I didn’t mean to implement her into my plan, that’s why most of the honey and sugar is on Margo’s right while Queenie slept over a foot away peacefully to her left.

As for me, I felt peaceful. As I decorated one of the poles for tonight’s Halloween party, I couldn’t feel a single ounce of anger or displeasure. To me, this was simply an average afternoon.

“Did they say green glitter or orange glitter?” Keona showed me the two containers.

My mouth twitched from side to side before I pointed to one of them. “Orange. I distinctly remember him saying that he wanted orange and black for this one. Teams 2, 5 and 6 are already doing something with the color green.”

“Ah right! I completely forgot.”

Keona continued working and chatting with our teammate, Tara. They worked on the top of the pole while I and a couple others did the body.

Then Cameron had to appear out of nowhere and destroy my concentration.

“Hi Rosy.” He sat down beside me on the spread. “Did you miss me? You didn’t even come and say ‘hello’.”

I ignored him.

“So mean, but that’s fine. I still like you.”

I ignored him again.

“Anyway, guess what I brought?”

Cameron removed something from behind him and showed me a little plastic bag. He dumped all the contents onto the spread.

Out of it fell a number of stationery items, including a small container of mac and cheese. He wore a proud smile on his face.

“I overheard you saying what you wanted while I was passing by.”

I finally looked him in the face. “You mean while you were eavesdropping.”

Cameron scoffed as if offended. “It hurts me that you think that way. My heart aches. Don’t you want to feel my heart, Rosy? It might feel better if you touch it.” He winked.

He waited for a reaction. When there was none, he sighed.

“Yeah, I earned that. I caused you a lot of trouble, huh? With the blackmailing and all that. I owe you an apology, for all of it. I just don’t know where to begin.”

When was the other shoe dropping? I waited for it. Cameron’s tender eyes met mine. Was he really waiting for me to accept his apology?

Cameron went on. “Do you think there is a chance that you can let me in? That we can start over?”

Start over and try to trust him just because he gave me some stuff? Absolutely not. I smiled. “Only if you can steal something for me.”

He laughed, then he leaned closer and whispered into my ear.

“Who said I bought any of these things? So how about it, Rosé?”

_________

**Manuel**

“It hasn’t left the area,” Tommy said.

Manuel rolled his eyes. “Jeez, you think?”

Tommy shrugged. That was obvious enough by the dead body. Jeff’s eyes were no longer in its sockets. His body laid on its back, arms close to its sides. There were claw marks all over his arms. The water dog did a number on him.

“Does it usually stay in one place for this long?” Manuel asked.

Tommy shook his head. He strode around the body, observing the injuries. “I’m not sure about thatI’ve never had to face one before. We need to find a way to get rid of it before it kills someone else.”

Manuel placed his hands on his hips. Insects were already crawling over Jeff’s body.

“We can use the party tonight as cover and go hunting,” Manuel suggested. “I’ll take care of the body. In the meantime, do what you can to make sure that no one goes into the woods at night. Especially-”

“I know. I’ll keep her safe and let the others know.”

Manuel took in the body one more time. This should be easy enough. With his vast knowledge of creatures it shouldn’t be hard to find something that succeeds in killing it. What a pain. I wanted to relax a bit and maybe tease Rosé some more. It’s not everyday I get to catch a break from dealing with the elders.

________

**Rosé**

Fairy lights were strung up everywhere. The teachers had put up these fake stands that were meant to mimic the ones at a festival. There were enough games for the seniors to take part in. Electric music filled the air.

We didn’t pack any costumes, so Keona drew cat whiskers on her face and wore a headband with ears on it. I picked out an orange top with matching shorts and drew some tiger stripes on my face with a few splatters of white paint.

We walked around and chatted, my arm wrapped around her elbow. That was until someone held my upper arm.

“Hi, Rosé.” It was Denis. For some reason, he seemed nervous. “Do you wanna go dancing with me?”