(TW: References to Sexual Assault)

POV: Rowan

"Ohhh my god, Ro-- so are you like, actually fucking your CIT?" Kalea giggles, stumbling into a hug. Addison, who I hadn't spent much time with this Summer, sips from a red solo cup and raises her eyebrows, giving me a side-hug as well while Tia stands back with the guys.

"No, I'm not," I mutter, giving Kalea a pointed look. I hadn't really talked about Frankie with anyone, and even though I didn't mind being spotted with her, I wasn't exactly eager to have everyone trivialize it. I guess that's the thing about camp romances, though, they're all trivial. And over in a matter of weeks. 

Malik spits on the ground and makes a snide comment to Tanner. 

"Which one do you think is hotter?" Malik asks, doing little to keep his voice down, his own cup sloshing over the rim. Tanner howls, giving him a fist bump. 

"Who cares? You already got Ro, now you gotta go for her girlfriend, too,"  

Addison, hiking a fistful of her curly ginger locks into a pony-tail on top of her head gives me a wide-eyed look, and I feel myself shrinking. Kalea openly rolls her eyes. 

"Please, Malik. We all know you can't keep your dick in your pants, there's no need to advertise it," She mutters, pretending like she doesn't care. We all knew she still had feelings for him, despite it all.

"Jealous?" He asks, smirking. Tia, forever the pick-me girl, snorts at his attempt at a joke. Kalea lets out a sharp laugh. 

"Oh no, by all means, Malik, go fuck the angry lesbian," She mutters, knocking back the dregs of her drink. Addison flinches, and I feel my hands go numb. 

"Shut the fuck up, Kalea," I hiss, grabbing her by the arm. She shakes me off.

"Don't pretend to be hurt, Ro, we all know you're just doing it for attention-- just like last Summer," She snorts, doing everything in her power to hurt me. Everyone goes silent. She really is just a mean fucking drunk.

"Kalea, go take a walk and sober up," Addie prompts, grabbing Kalea's cup and trying to pull her away. 

I close my eyes, wondering why I even bother with her. 

"Admit it, Rowan. Admit that you lied about Malik so that you could make it all about you," She spits, Addison now using her full strength to drag Kalea away, and ultimately failing. Tia watches with her arms crossed, never moving a muscle to make anything easier for anyone. Malik and Tanner are just about dying in a fit of laughter, beyond amused at the chaos that they largely created.

"I didn't lie about anything," I mutter under my breath, taking a step back, getting ready to walk away if Kalea takes it any further. Kalea throws her head back, laughing dramatically as she stumbles against Addison.

"I was trying to protect you from him!" I yell after her, as she finally decides to follow Addie's guidance and walk away. Addison throws me an apologetic glance over the shoulder, and I offer her a weary half-smile, before storming off in the opposite direction, not wanting to be alone with Malik and his asshole friends. 

As I rush away, rounding the corner towards the infirmary, I start to get the sensation that I'm being followed. I stiffen, and turn around abruptly, facing Malik straight on. Fuck.

"What do you want?" I say boldly, trying to disguise the tremble in my voice. 

"I just want to set things straight, Ro," He says calmly, stepping towards me. 

"There's nothing to set straight. I'm not confused about what happened," I mumble back, trying to avoid being cornered by him. 

"See, I think you are confused though. You seem pretty convinced that I'm a bad guy," He takes another giant step forward, placing his large hand on the infirmary wall and leaning in towards me, almost looming like some kind of cryptic serial killer. 

"Don't gaslight me," I spit back. 

"I don't even know what that means," He chuckles. "All I know is that you seem to think something happened between us, but all I remember is an innocent little kiss-- a kiss you were pursuing all Summer," He laughs darkly, adjusting his body to get in my way every time I tried to shift out from under him. 

"Yeah, but a kiss doesn't give you permission to put your hand up my skirt," I mutter, breathing heavily. There's no going back now. "And then I caught you not even ten minutes later trying to pull the same exact thing with my best friend," I exclaim, feeling the rage bubble up inside me. For me, for her-- for the pain it caused between us. 

"She wanted it," He protests, still smiling. 

"All either of us wanted was a stupid Summer fling. You used that against us-- you tried to take advantage of me, and you fully took advantage of her!" I hear myself yelling, and I hope that someone can hear me. 

"You walked away, Rowan. If I'm a bad guy, then what does that make you?" 

"I was scared." I say firmly, trying to convince myself. Tears leaked out of the corners of my eyes, and Malik snorts. 

"Look, Rowan. Consider yourself lucky. Nothing happened to you, Kalea got what she wanted-- she doesn't completely hate you for lying about what happened between us--"

"--She was drunk, Malik!" I scream, letting the tears run down my face now. "It doesn't matter how much she liked you then, or now-- you just wanted somebody to hurt. I told Darlene what happened to me because I knew Kalea would never speak up!"

"Yeah, and who did Darlene believe?" He shouts back, trying to grab my wrists with his hands. I dodge him. 

"I get it. You're still here," I sob, fighting to stay away from his angry grasp. Who knows what he could be capable of when he's desperate.

"Yeah, I'm still here. And if you try anything with me, I'll make sure Kalea knows that you saw everything. And you let it happen," He barks, slamming a fist against the infirmary wall and stalking away, leaving me to sink to the ground, sobbing.