Warrior's Rise Read Free Page B

don’t swing that way.”
    Laughter erupted and Logan felt anger boil up inside of him. Mainly because the kid had actually made his face get hot, which meant he was blushing. That was humiliating. “Not sexually, you idiot!” he snapped. “I said no talking!” He shot the bedraggled group a sinister scowl, but was not met with the reaction he hoped for. He’d hoped they’d shrink back, maybe even tremble a little. Instead, they just rolled their eyes and stared at him like he’d grown another head. “All right, get to your bunks on the double!” he commanded.
    The group turned, muttering under their breath, and trudged off toward their designated cabin.
    “Four to a cabin!” Logan barked. “Girls and boys separate.”
    The blonde four-eyes turned and looked at him with a confused expression. “We were going to sleep the five of us to a cabin,” he stated. “We come as a package.”
    “Well not anymore you don’t. Four to a cabin. Girls and boys separate. Those are the rules.”
    “But Counselor Logan,” Pigtails interrupted. “Miss Willow has never cared before. She trusts us. She just lets one of us pull in a cot—”
    “Am I hearing backtalk?” he snapped. “You heard what I said. Do as you’re told!”
    Darien snorted and shook his head. “Whatever, dude.” He pushed open the cabin door and motioned his friends inside. The blonde boy looked confused for a moment, but Darien ushered him in also.
    “What did I just say—”
    “You can cram it,” Darien replied, looking him straight in the eye. “I have to take this macho man crap from my dad. I don’t have to take it from you. We’ve been here longer than you have. All five of us always stick together. That’s the way it’s always been.”
    Logan folded his arms and glowered. “Well, things are going to be different this year!”
    Darien rolled his eyes. “Screw you.” He went inside and shut the door.
    Logan stared at the closed door in bafflement for a minute, then scowled and went to push it back open. He wasn’t going to take lip from a seventeen-year-old.
    The door wouldn’t budge. He pounded on it, yelled and threatened for a few seconds, but all remained silent as the dead inside, and the door didn’t move one inch. Finally, Logan swore and just gave up. He simmered silently on his way back to his cabin. Who did these kids think they were? Well, they could be assured that their antics were not going to work for long. If he was stuck there for the rest of the summer, he sure wasn’t going to be stuck there with a bunch of snotty wimps. Maybe Willow let them run all over her and do whatever they wanted, but not him. He’d show them who was boss…
    * * * *
    “Who let that guy in here?” Colt asked as he flung his duffle bag down onto a bottom bunk.
    “He was like Darth Vader,” Doug murmured. “I almost peed myself.”
    Darien rolled his eyes. “He wasn’t like Darth Vader, Dougie, or any other famous villain for that matter. He’s just an idiot who’s stuck on himself.” He moved the chair they’d used to barricade the door out of the way.
    “Why would Miss Willow even hire him?” Lucy asked as she climbed onto a top bunk. “I can’t believe he actually tried to separate us. We’ve been coming here for years together. We always share a cabin.”
    “For real,” Colt piped in. “We’ve paid our dues. It’s nice to be the upper classmen who get leniency and privileges. The little kids still have to be same sex bunks.”
    “Yeah, that was me last year,” Doug put in. He shook his head. “I had to sleep with these kids who actually liked Magic, the Gathering. All they did was play it 24-7. I almost went insane.”
    Darien chuckled and sat down on his bed. He was the oldest at seventeen. Aki, Lucy and Colt were behind him by one year. Doug was the youngest, having just turned fourteen, but he’d bonded with the others the year before and they all stuck together like a team. Miss Willow always went easy on