Chapter 10

Pete Maguire stood just outside the bath house door, but effectively blocked our exit. The look in his eyes was one of frustrated pain, which was not what I expected. I was thinking that either he'd be angrier than he seemed or ready to turn and walk away as fast as he could.

"You've been looking for me?" Keira growled. "I figured you'd be too busy fucking Cynthia to have time to even think about me! What the hell do you want, Maguire?"

"Whoa, girl!", his exasperation now quite obvious. "What the hell do you mean, fucking Cynthia? The only time I've ever been with her, you were right there. Hell, I thought it was your idea! Why else would I have sex with her?"

Keira's features softened a bit, but she still kept her guard up.

"So if you weren't fucking her, what were you two doing then? Playing tiddly winks?"

The anger in her voice was just as strong as it had been the day before. It was almost as if she wanted to pound Pete into the ground, then pick up the pieces and put him back together again for another round. Even the veins on her neck became visible enough that we could see her heart rate.

"Talking, mostly," Pete gave as an explanation. "This thing with her and her parents is getting to her. She's feeling guilty as hell about it. The girl's about two notches away from doing something rash, Keira. She needed an ear to bend, and I guess I was elected. I thought she'd told you that. She said she had."

"Never said fuck-all to me!" Keira spat out. "Shit, I haven't seen or talked to her since last Friday when Manny went berserk. And how the hell do I know if you two have been fucking or not? Hmm? All I have is your word, and right now, that isn't worth a pinch of sauteed slug shit!"

"Want to go over there and ask her yourself? Ask if we've been fucking, as you put it?"

"Fat lot of good that'll do. She lied to you, according to your lame story, so why wouldn't she lie to me too? Hmm? She'll do whatever she has to in order to keep her supply of tail intact, and we both know it. Tell you what, Pete. I'm going to go have breakfast with my friends here. Maybe after we've eaten I'll have the stomach for your bullshit! Until then, just fuck off and leave me alone!"

With that she dismissed Pete entirely, then stormed off towards the dining hall. The rest of us were still in shock from her explosive anger, and that included Pete. Except that he was not only shocked, but now in emotional pain as well.

"Let me talk to her, Pete," Dwayne suggested once his sister was out of earshot. "She's pissed at you right now. Let her cool down a bit, then give me a chance to get her thinking again. Just make me believe that you weren't doing what she thinks you were doing."

"Buddy, I wasn't screwing anybody!" Pete was adamant.

"Good," Dwayne panned. "Now all you have to do is make me believe it."

With that, he dismissed Pete summarily, then steered my sister towards the dining hall. All I could do was shrug my shoulders as I tried to give Pete whatever support I could muster. That didn't sit too well with Tanya, but she kept her thoughts to herself, although I knew I'd hear all of them soon enough.

We ate in silence, the earlier mood of intimacy now completely shattered over Keira's anger and pain. No one was inclined to make a move to change that for fear of being on the wrong end of her anger themselves. It was Dwayne that finally took matters into his own hands.

"Keira, how long are you going to stay mad at Pete? I mean, he's been faithful to you for over a year now, and I doubt he's stupid enough to throw that all away over a sloppy piece of tail like Cynthia. Manny might be a lot of things, but when he said she was a slut, he was right, and you damn-well know it. Hell, after that guy finished with her, you could probably drive a bus into any of her holes, make a U-turn, then drive right back out! You really think your guy's going to throw it all away for something like that? Come on! Give him some credit!"

"Whose side are you on?" Keira almost shouted at her brother.

"Yours, and you damn-well know it! Look, Pete's made you happy for as long as I've known him. He cares, Sis. A lot. I'll give you odds that's still true. So how about you turn off your irrational emotions for a minute, use that gorgeous head of yours for its intended purpose and actually think this thing through?"

Keira glared at her brother, then began to push her chair back in preparation to leave us.

"You can bugger off if you want, Sis, but it isn't going to change the fact that Pete Maguire loves you as much as I do. And you can try to ignore me, but I'm going to be on your butt until this thing is settled. I can't stop you from breaking up with him, but I'll be damned if I'm going to just sit back and watch you fuck up your happiness. I love you too much to see you do that."

Dwayne went back to shovelling cereal into his mouth, letting his words sink into his sister's head. She was about halfway between sitting and standing, frozen in that position as she contemplated what she'd been told. Finally she let herself slump back into the chair, almost resigned to the realities that her brother had illustrated for her.

"You really think all they did was talk?" she enquired in a soft, reticent tone.

"Knowing Pete?" Dwayne answered pensively. "If that's what he says, then that's what happened. He's a straight shooter, Sis, and we both know it."

I spotted Pete hanging around just inside the dining hall door, almost like he was waiting from some sign from Dwayne that the coast was clear. But it was Keira that followed my line of sight and saw him. She seemed to waffle between leaving him alone and seeking the truth. The latter finally won out as she slowly got up and made her way to where he stood. They talked quietly for several minutes before parting company, with Pete heading back outside and Keira returning to the table.

"Going to keep us in suspense, Sis?" Dwayne asked, his vision focused on the last of his breakfast and not his sister.

"Gawd, I feel like such an ass. Pete wants to talk to all of us, but not in here. Too many ears around that could do more damage than poor Cynthia needs. He says she's hurting bad, guys, so maybe we should cut her some slack?" Keira pleaded with all of us.

As soon as Dwayne had finished his second heaping helping of cereal, we cleaned up our mess, then headed for the lake. It was easy to find Pete. He was the guy sitting all by himself in the middle of the old playground site looking like he'd lost his last friend. But as soon as he spotted us heading his way, that blue mood changed dramatically in a single second. We gathered around him, with Keira almost sitting on his lap.

"How's the butt?" Dwayne asked as a way of breaking the ice.

"Still a bit sore, but at least I can sit on it again. Anyway, thanks for coming down, guys. And I owe you a big one, Buddy," he addressed Dwayne specifically, "for stepping in like that. I've told Keira about Cynthia, and I'd appreciate it if the rest of you would try to understand what she's been going through. This thing with Manny hasn't helped any, and she's scared enough that she's afraid to show her face right now."

Pete went on to tell us that Cynthia was no longer interested in being her parents' lover, but couldn't bring herself to break away from them. Manny had been her escape from their oppressive treatment, although his domineering manner was almost as bad as theirs. After the fight she'd had the previous week, Cynthia felt like everyone in camp was judging her. It was more than she could take.

"She's not going to do something stupid, is she?" my sister voiced that question running through all our minds.

"That's what I asked when I went over yesterday morning," Pete expressed his worries, "and she said she wasn't, but I don't know if I believe her. She kept eyeing the bathroom door as if she wanted to be in there by herself. I found a couple bottles of heavy duty sleeping pills in their medicine cabinet with no one's name on the label. I moved them to somewhere a little less conspicuous, just in case."

"Babe, I owe you an apology," Keira broke down, with tears threatening to spill out.

"What you owe me is the biggest and best kiss you've ever given anyone," Pete counter offered. It was a deal neither one of them could pass up. It also inspired the rest of us to follow suit. I love making-up kisses, especially when there's no fight beforehand.

"Umm, if my Mom and Dad are over at Tanya's place tonight, that means ours is going to be empty," Keira advanced when they finally broke their lip-lock.

"Mmm, I like the sound of that," Pete's suggestive tone chased her question. "Any idea when they'll be home?"

"Unfortunately, no. It could be midnight or as late as sunrise."

"Talk to Dad, Sis," Dwayne piped up. "Hellmans are staying until after breakfast, or so we've been told. Maybe you can get Mom and Dad to stay that long, too."

"So?" he was asked by his sister's boyfriend. "What's that got to do with you?"

"Maybe because the rest of us are staying at Steve and Karen's?"

"All four of you? Unsupervised? How the hell did you manage to make that kind of arrangement?"

"Karen's Mom and Dad. In fact, it was Mr. Hellman that suggested we all stay over there. Even offered Karen and me their big bed. They already know about us, and they're cool with it."

"Jeezuz, you have got to have a horseshoe where the sun don't shine! Son of a bitch anyway!" Pete expressed his envy.

"Don't sound so surprised, Babe," Keira attempted to calm his jealousy. "I'm pretty sure our parents know about you and me. I've just never brought the subject up. Never needed to before now."

Pete turned his gaze to Tanya and me, silently trying to find some kind of confirmation of our parents' acceptance of their children's liaisons. I smiled slyly and kept my big mouth shut. Even my sister was smart enough to keep things to herself. That left poor Pete with a look of envy that I soaked up like a sponge.

Most of that day was spent like the ones before it. We lounged on the beach, swam, played both volleyball and Water War, tossed the frisbee, and generally made as much noise as adolescent vocal chords can generate. Even Christina and TeeJay showed up in the afternoon. But each of us seemed to keep an eye peeled for Cynthia to arrive. She never did.

Making our way up to the dining hall for supper, Pete wanted to detour to Haywood's cabin to check on his friend, unceremoniously dragging his girlfriend along. Whether it was for moral support or self-defence I had no idea, but the fact that he hadn't asked any of the rest of us did make me wonder why not.

As we entered the dining hall, Dwayne spotted his Dad and went over to have a quick chat, then came back to join us without mentioning anything about whatever they'd discussed.

We'd just sat down to eat when Keira showed up — alone. That look on her face wasn't one of an amused or happy female. I waited until she joined us, then quietly asked her what had brought on such a sour look.

"Pete's still over at Cynthia's. She seems to have some weird idea that we were both going to join her and her parents tonight. I'm sorry, but that's not my thing. I have a feeling that it might be Pete's, though. He seemed quite comfortable with her invitation for tonight. Gawd, I'll never understand men!"

Supper was another one of those sombre occasions where everyone ate in silence. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what was going through Pete's mind if he was spending the evening at Haywoods and leaving Keira on her own. But then, I was just a dumb teenager that knew nothing of the real world, or for that matter, of the goings on of Kanata Camp.

After supper and clean-up, the five of us headed for the lake. As much as we'd looked forward to being alone in our cabin for the night, the mood from the dining hall seemed to follow us wherever we went. Tanya and I tried our best to get out of that funk from Keira's dilemma, but with little success. Karen and Dwayne, usually the most boisterous of all of us, didn't have any more success than we did, and Keira herself was about as much fun as a dentist's appointment. The net result was that we all just sat and moped.

As much as we usually enjoyed the brilliant colours of a mountain sunset, that night it was a complete waste of effort on Mother Nature's part. But the coming darkness induced a trip back to the cabin anyway. In the fading light, I almost missed the sight of someone sitting on the top stair of our porch. Only when we got a lot closer could I make out a figure waiting for someone, with no idea of who it might be. There was no greeting as we approached, further hindering any kind of identification.

I expected the lone figure to be Pete Maguire, but once we reached the cabin, it turned out to be Cynthia Haywood. Of all the people in Kanata Camp, she was the last person I expected to see, let alone at our cabin.

"Cynthia?" Keira's broken voice invaded the eerie silence of the night. "What are you doing here?"

"Umm, looking for you and Pete?" Her tone was more a question than an answer. "Your Dad thought you might be up here. Where's Pete?"

"I thought he was with you."

"He was for a while, just after you left. He said he wanted to find you, and I haven't seen him since. Didn't he catch up to you?"

"Haven't seen him since I left your place. I thought he was going to spend the night with you and your parents."

"He can't handle them any better than I can. I ... I hoped maybe he and I could talk some more. Gawd, Keira, I'm at my wit's end! You two seem to be the only two people that will listen to me! If I don't do something soon, I'm going to go crazy!"

"Cynthia, we both know that what you want is a good fuck!" Keira spat out. "Isn't that why you're looking for him? So you can get him between your legs again?!"

"No! Is that what you think? That I'm so fucking hard up that I have to steal someone's boyfriend?! Christ Almighty! You're just as bad as everyone else around this goddamned place!"

With those angry words, Cynthia stood up and jumped off the step as she started to run off into the dark. Dwayne had been standing with his arm around Karen's waist, but he moved quickly to stop her escape.

"Whoa, girl," he issued in as soothing a tone as is possible while almost tackling someone. "I don't know where you think you're off to, but running away isn't going to solve a damned thing. If you need an ear to bend, I've got two, and I'll bet you can find another half dozen more if you look around."

"Fuck off!" she cursed her captor. "What the hell do you know about it? Sweet fuck-all! So get your fucking hands off me!"

"Not until you calm down," Dwayne let her know in no uncertain terms, but still in a soft and gentle tone. "Pete's not the only one you can talk to. There's me and my sister, and these other three will listen too. Won't you, guys?"

That last question to the rest of us was more a command than anything else, but we all knew he was right. I agreed with him instantly, with as much sincerity in my voice as I could muster, and the girls concurred less than a second later. We must have pulled it off, because Cynthia calmed down and stopped struggling in Dwayne's arms.

"Is that true?" the confused teen queried. "You guys would listen to a crazy broad babbling her troubles?"

"I've no idea," Dwayne tried to soothe her a little more. "I've never met a crazy broad before. Still haven't, if you want to know."

Cynthia looked at him like a scared rabbit while the point of his remark began to sink in. Then she slowly let herself understand that we would listen and try to help if we could. With a little luck we'd get to know who Cynthia Haywood really was instead of who the rumours implied she might be.

"You want to come inside, or would you be more comfortable out here?" I finally found my voice.

"Out here, if that's okay with you," she gave her decision. "I've been stuck inside that cabin for the last week almost. It's like a fucking jail cell in there."

We all found seats on the steps with Cynthia, Dwayne, and Karen on the edge of the porch while Tanya sat in my lap on one side of the first step down and Keira on the other end of that same step. None of us knew where to start or how to open this conversation until Keira took the bull by the horns with a question that burned inside her.

"Pete said that all you two did was talk. I asked him if you and he were fucking, and he said no. Is that the truth, Cynthia? Were you two just talking?"

"I have no idea where you got the idea that we were having sex, because we weren't!" Cynthia snapped out in her anger and frustration. "Jeezuz, you're lucky enough to have a guy that would cut his balls off for you, and you accuse him of that? I'm surprised he didn't tell you to fuck off and walk out on you!"

"Hey!" Dwayne snapped right back. "Don't talk to my sister like that! She's hurting too. Maybe not as bad as you think you are, but we're not here to listen to a cat fight. It was a legitimate question, and you gave what I have to assume is an honest answer. So let's pull in the claws. Both of you."

Cynthia started to stand up, but Dwayne grabbed her arm and pulled her back down, hard.

"I don't need this shit!" the girl proclaimed.

"It's either this shit or the crap you've been going through," Dwayne told her forcefully. "Your choice. My sister thinks she's losing the boy she loves, and she's pissed. Me? Pete says that all you two have done is talk, and I tend to believe him. So if you want to talk, then sit and talk. But you walk out of here now, that offer to listen is done, finished, gone."

"He's right, Cynthia," Keira apologized, "I shouldn't have said that. But when your boyfriend starts spending all his time with another girl, you tend to make assumptions that he's cheating. However, he says he isn't, and you're saying the same thing. So for now, I'll give you both the benefit of the doubt."

"For your information, Miss Preston, Pete Maguire thinks the sun rises and sets over you! He wouldn't fuck me if I was the last woman alive!"

"He did, once," Keira countered.

"He thought that's what you wanted. We both did. I don't know if Manny went crazy, got jealous, or what that night. But I sure as hell wasn't trying to steal your boyfriend! Not then, and not now!"

"So what's going on then, Cynthia?" I attempted to redirect the conversation. "I mean, we all have an idea of what's happened with you and your parents. I have no idea if what I've heard is true or how long it's been going on, but what we're hearing now is that you want out. Is that true?"

Cynthia wanted to know what we'd heard, and from whom. I told her what Pete had relayed to us.

"Yeah, that's about right," she confirmed. "It started when I was almost fifteen. I was young and horny, and I loved the sex. But it doesn't work when your parents become your sex partners. There's too much confusion about whether they're parents or lovers, and they can't be both. I tried to get away from them by going out with Manny, but he was about as abusive as they are. Out of the pan and into the fire, I guess. In a way, when Madisons left, it was like I had a chance to be free again ... except that my parents were all over me. It felt like I was being raped! Every time I turned around, either my mother or my father wanted sex. Didn't matter what I wanted. I'm their goddamned sex slave, not their daughter any more.! I can't take much more of this, either. If I don't find a way out of this fucking mess, I'll..."

"You'll what? Commit suicide?" Dwayne put her implications into words. "That might be a solution, but I doubt it's the best one. You're all of what? Sixteen? And you're going to call it quits now? Before you've had a chance to find out what life's all about? Kind of chicken-shit, isn't it?"

"What the fuck would you know about it?" she almost yelled at him. "How'd you like to wake up every fucking day and wish you hadn't? Everyone telling you that you're a worthless slut, or worse? Using you for their own pleasure, and to hell with what you want, or what you need? You've got a girl that loves you dearly. I've seen you two together, and I really wish I had someone that cared even half as much about me. And you've got friends. What's that like? I've never had that, Buddy. Anyone that I've ever let close to me eventually wants my body, and as soon as they get it, I'm fucking history! They're gone, and I'm just as alone as I was before, if not more so! So yeah, maybe killing myself is the best answer, because living like this just isn't fucking worth it!"

"Maybe if you let people find out who you really are, they might get to like you for that?" Tanya put forth what was in all of our minds.

"Yeah, right!" Cynthia growled angrily. "I've heard that bullshit before, and what did it get me? Some horny lezzy that needed a pussy to suck on. The first time I wouldn't put out for her, she was gone! Told everyone that it was me that was a lesbian, and that I'd seduced her! You want to know how many people are willing to be your friend when they hear that shit? None. Zip. Zilch. Nada."

"We're all sitting here listening to you," Karen used a soft and calming voice, "and although I can't speak for the guys, we girls aren't after your body. And knowing my brother like I do, if he took you, he'd give you his heart in exchange. Dwayne's pretty much the same way. And what about Pete? Did he spend all that time talking with you because he wanted sex? Ever consider that there are people out there that do give a damn? Might want to give it a shot, because I've just showed you six. If you think about it, there's probably others that you know too."

"I haven't seen you making much of an effort," Cynthia almost yelled. "You've got your guy here, treating you like a little princess, and you've got the nerve to fucking preach to me? Get real!"

"I haven't seen you making an effort to do a hell of a lot to be friends either," my sister came right back. "Every time we saw you, you were crawling all over your own boyfriend. How the hell were we supposed to know you were hurting that bad? Hmm? Did you talk to us? Or try to tell us what's really going on in your life? I doubt there's been more than a dozen words between you and me in the three weeks we've been here. So if you want to feel sorry for yourself, don't let us stop you. And if you're looking for sympathy, it's in the dictionary under 'S', between shit and syphilis!"

I thought Karen might get up and leave, she was so pissed. But instead, she took a deep breath to calm down, and continued before Cynthia could start another thread in this nowhere conversation.

'Look," she went on, "if we can help in any way, we're all quite willing to do what we can, no strings attached. You want friends? We're right here. You want an ear to bend? Yak your brains out and we'll listen. You want advice? We've got lots to choose from. Take what you need and leave the rest for some other day. I hear what you're saying about your parents, and while I can't really relate, I can understand what it might be like. In my case... our case, including my brother ... we're lucky to have two of the most understanding people in the world for parents. I've got a guy that loves me almost more than life itself, and my brother has a girlfriend that has more understanding in her little finger than most people have in their whole body. We've got friends that would do almost anything for us. And guess what? It's a two-way street. So if you want to be part of that group, get the shit out of your head and off your chest, and get on with making your life what you want it to be. Right now would be a good time to start."

There was an uncomfortable silence after Karen's little lecture, broken only by the sound of a twig breaking as someone approached the cabin. We all turned towards where that crackle had come from, searching the darkness for whatever had made it. Our gazes were finally met with the sight of Pete Maguire, and he looked just as worried now as he had earlier that morning.

"I'm going to glue homing devices to your asses!" he snarled his greeting. "I've been all over this camp looking for you guys."

It was then that he recognized Cynthia at the centre of the gathering.

"You okay, Cynthia? I didn't know where you'd be. After your mother came on to me, I got the hell out of there. I sure as shit hoped you didn't go back with them."

"Yeah, I'm fine ... I think. I just got lectured by a young punk that's got more brains in her asshole than my fucking parents have between the two of them. Oh, and I set your girlfriend straight too, I think. She thought you and I were fucking. Jeezuz, I wish! But I told her you weren't stupid enough to want a slut like me..."

"Cynthia!" Pete snapped firmly as he interrupted her. "You may be a very scared and lonely girl who's got herself in a rotten spot, but you're not a slut. I told you before, you've got to stop thinking like that. You're not doing yourself any favours by putting yourself down all the time."

"He's right, Cynthia," Keira added softly, "so listen to him. I can see how you might think that about yourself, but it's not true. You know it, I know it, and the rest of these guys know it. So how about you lose the 'poor me' attitude, then let us try to be your friends?"

"Sure. Why not? And tomorrow morning when I go home, I'll have a mother and father, instead of a couple of perverts that only want my body to play with!"

"You know," Dwayne sighed, "I could be inside making love to the most wonderful girl in the world, and instead I'm sitting here listening to you boo and hoo. I'm going to say this once, and only once, Cynthia. If you want friends, we're here. But like Karen says, if you just want sympathy..."

He slipped an arm over her shoulder to emphasize the rest of what he was about to say.

"This thing won't fix itself, and it'll take time. But either you want it fixed and are willing to do whatever you have to do, or you don't. I think I can speak for everyone else here on this. I'll give you sixty seconds to make up your mind. And if you decide to fix it, you have to promise us that you'll stick to that decision."

We all sat while Cynthia gave herself some time to think, and each one of those sixty seconds felt like a week. Finally she looked up with a glimmer of hope desperately trying to burn in her eyes.

"Look, all I know is that I can't go on living like I am now. And I have no idea how to fix things. So, what do I do first?" she pleaded in the first soft voice I'd heard from her all evening.

"Could start by letting six people that care about you into your heart," Keira suggested. "Any chance you and I could share a hug? I promise I won't try to feel you up."

Cynthia seemed reluctant at first, but forced herself to open up to Keira with the first little step she needed to make towards recovery from sexual abuse. The two girls tentatively embraced, but as they continued to hold each other, I got the impression that Cynthia was in no hurry to let go. When she did, the moonlight sparkled in the tracks of her tears.

Tanya was the next to offer her arms to this lost girl that had cried for help, with my sister taking over as soon as my girlfriend released Cynthia. Pete, Dwayne, and I took our turns too, and I couldn't help but add a chaste kiss on her forehead as I offered her the safety of my own friendship.

"Listen, these guys have plans of their own that don't include Pete or me," Keira advised. "Maybe the three of us can crash at our place until my parents come home ... whenever that is. I sure don't think you want to go back to your place, do you, Cynthia?"

"Umm, Sis, I talked to Dad at supper time." Dwayne interrupted. "He and Mom are going to stay out until after breakfast. He wanted to know why I'd asked, and I told him that you and Pete might want the place to yourselves. He never said anything, but he did smile when I mentioned it. I think they not only know about you two, but are cool with it too. They know about Karen and me. Dad says that as long as we're not screwing when they're around, we can be in the cabin whenever we feel like it. I think the same applies to you and Pete."

"My brother the negotiator," Keira beamed just before she kissed his lips warmly. "Thanks, Munchkin. You really are one in a million, you know that?"

"Must have something to do with what my sister taught me," he deflected her compliment. "I love you, Keira," as he returned her kiss with one of his own.

"Don't wear him out on me," Karen softly giggled.

"You take care of my little brother," Keira advised my sister.

"I will, trust me. Now get the hell out of here so that I can."

The two girls gave each other a warm embrace before Keira sought her boyfriend's arms, then she offered a hand to Cynthia as they made their way off into the darkness.

We all sat where we were, watching in the darkness as the trio quickly faded from view, and continued to stare into the darkness for a few more minutes as the impact of what we'd just gone through made itself aware to us. It was Karen that broke the mental stalemates we'd adopted.