“Ah, hell,” Lily muttered. She wasn’t surprised cliques formed among the campers—they did in most social situations where some people needed to seek out the like-minded to feel safe. Often at the expense of others. Wasn’t that the norm for high school and even college? Bullying, though, took that natural like-seeking-like behavior and injected a toxicity that was far more common now, or at least far more overt. Maybe this hadn’t reached the point of outright bullying, but she certainly didn’t want it to. She wondered who’d left the note.

Marty?

Someone else in cabin eight?

Lily pulled out the roster sheet again and opened her computer to match names with faces. She already knew Ford Langford was in eight—they’d met on the porch that first day. Marty Riley. She focused on each face, linking it to a name, and paused when she came to another familiar face—the redhead Ford had been with the day before. Shannon Kelly.

Lily closed the files. She’d learned as a med student not to jump to conclusions, even when the answer seemed obvious. She needed more information, and she needed an expert consultation. Or two.

She texted Sarah first, then Alisha, to ask to meet as soon as they could. Before she got a response from either of them, a knock sounded at the door and a pretty brunette came in.

“Hi,” she said, “I’m Dee Murphy from cabin six. I think I did something to my arm yesterday because it hurts every time I lift it.”

“Well, let’s have a look. Come on in,” Lily said.

While Lily counseled Dee to use OTC anti-inflammatories and a cryosleeve, which she provided—because Sarah had ordered everything with the state’s generous health budget—for Dee’s tennis elbow, Lily got a text from Sarah.

Meet us when you finish in my office

When Lily arrived, Sarah was behind a big cluttered oak desk, a cup of coffee in hand. Alisha sat in a navy camp chair in a damp T-shirt. Her hair, a mass of inky curls, looked wet too.

“Were you swimming?” Lily asked. “Sorry to call you away.”

“Not a problem,” Alisha said.

“What’s up?” Sarah asked.

Lily showed them the note. “Marty Riley identifies as nonbinary. They also have a history of clinical depression.”

Sarah winced. “That’s a flaw in our system I’ll have to address. We didn’t get a flag there.”

“Probably because Marty’s parents didn’t identify any outstanding heath issues on the intake form. I only saw it because I read through them yesterday.”

Alisha said, “We have to assume there’s something going on, even though it could be one of those transient power plays with some girls staking out their territory. Then once everyone sorts themselves out, it quiets down.”

“It’s also possible,” Sarah said, “that Marty has been bullied before.”

“We can’t be sure unless we talk to Marty,” Lily said. “I wanted to meet with them anyhow. I think a one-on-one is the best first step, and then I can refer them to you, Alisha, if they want to talk to someone in the future.”