Jenna clutched the phone and darted between the trees, heart hammering. Ameena flashed the counsellors, bare chest bright in the sun, then bolted. Chaos erupted. The three women barked orders and chased after her, leaving the field wide open. Jenna found a shadowed patch of pines, dialed her girlfriend. Her pulse skipped. The line clicked. A cool hello, then a quick excuse—no rescue, no plan to come. The dial tone buzzed in her ear. Behind it, someone else’s script whispered. Christie. She swallowed the sting and turned to leave, but Nina stepped out from the brush. Downtown, she said, was only five minutes that way. Jenna’s eyes narrowed. Nina looked past her, voice steady. “I was here once. With Christie. Same bunk, same fences. Different decade.” A cut of memory: two girls, Scarlet and Lana, bodies pressed behind the showers while Casey’s whistle echoed elsewhere. Fingers slick, mouths open, every stolen thrust wrapped in panic and want. They whispered futures they never got. Nina met Jenna’s stare again. “She sold me out. I won’t let her sell you.” Hope cracked through the fear. Jenna thanked her in a rush, sprinted back to the others, plans sharpening. Behind every promise, though, Christie waited, smiling, already counting the steps her pawns would take straight into her hands.
Jenna clutched the phone and darted between the trees, heart hammering. Ameena flashed the counsellors, bare chest bright in the sun, then bolted. Chaos erupted. The three women barked orders and chased after her, leaving the field wide open. Jenna found a shadowed patch of pines, dialed her girlfriend. Her pulse skipped. The line clicked. A cool hello, then a quick excuse—no rescue, no plan to come. The dial tone buzzed in her ear. Behind it, someone else’s script whispered. Christie. She swallowed the sting and turned to leave, but Nina stepped out from the brush. Downtown, she said, was only five minutes that way. Jenna’s eyes narrowed. Nina looked past her, voice steady. “I was here once. With Christie. Same bunk, same fences. Different decade.” A cut of memory: two girls, Scarlet and Lana, bodies pressed behind the showers while Casey’s whistle echoed elsewhere. Fingers slick, mouths open, every stolen thrust wrapped in panic and want. They whispered futures they never got. Nina met Jenna’s stare again. “She sold me out. I won’t let her sell you.” Hope cracked through the fear. Jenna thanked her in a rush, sprinted back to the others, plans sharpening. Behind every promise, though, Christie waited, smiling, already counting the steps her pawns would take straight into her hands.