The Girl Who Chased Stars

XX

"Jesus Christ."

I laugh as Skai smacks her arm for the fiftieth time. "They're everywhere!" She says loudly.

"And that is why we brought Bug spray." I state. I throw her the bottle, and she catches it in mid air, spraying her arms and legs with the chemicals.

It's Saturday morning, and Skai and I sit in a pair of cheap little lawn chairs, trying to warm ourselves by huddling closely to the small fire that I had built earlier in front of us. We ended up getting to the campsite at eight last night, and by the time we had set out the tent, food, cooler, and everything else, it was already eleven. The day had been extremely eventful, and Skai and I were so tired that we decided to just go ahead and hit the hay right there and then. The fact that I was able to finally get some sleep was comforting. And the fact that Skai was pressed against me, breathing slowly, was even more reassuring.

And then, early this morning when Skai woke me up we were in such a good mood, so instead of getting up and starting the day, we ended up lying around and making out for two hours.

"Are you hungry?" I ask her.

She nods, and watches me scramble an egg over the fire in the little pan we brought along with us. Her eyes are still sleepy, probably because the lazy feeling you get while camping never really goes away. "So... what are we gonna do today?" Skai asks, taking a sip of her instant coffee. "Well..."

I pretend to think about it, even though I know exactly what I wanted us to do. "I've been here a million times, and a few trips back I found this little lake, and I think you'd like it. It's got a cliff we can jump off and this little waterfall. My dad loved to slide down the waterfall. It's real fun."

Skai smiles at me, and nods. "Yeah, totally. I'll go wherever, as long as you go too."

I try to hide the smile that creeps onto my face.

"Cool." I say, dividing the eggs onto two paper plates. "We'll go after breakfast then."

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I had figured that we would visit the lake on our camping trip, so I made sure to pack two bathing suits. One for me and one for Skai, considering she wasn't really able to go to her house and get her own stuff. Thank goodness she was the same size as me.

When Skai comes out of the tent in her bathing suit I smirk. There was a reason I gave her the more revealing bikini.

"I feel like a hooker." She states.

"You look like one." I mumble, unable to take my eyes off of her body.

Skai shoots me the middle finger, and I laugh. "To be fair, Skai, you would make a really hot hooker."

She laughs, and sits down in the lawn chair. "I'm done in there, you can get changed now." I nod, and head into the tent. I dig around in the duffel bag for my suit, and quickly put it on.

Skai's eyes widen when I step out of the tent, and I pretend not to notice. "Ready?" I ask.

"Uh, yeah." Skai's eyes are glued to my chest.

"Hey." I say with an amused tone.

Skai looks up at me bashfully. "Uh, sorry."

I just laugh, and start walking towards my car. "C'mon. It's not that far."

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When we get to the lake, I can practically feel the awe radiating from Skai's skin.

"This is insane." She tells me. Laughing, I park the car on the side of the road and hop out. "Wait till we get to the cliff, its... amazing up there." She pulls herself out of the car, and grabs my hand in hers.

The lake gets closer, and I can't help but look over at Skai with this stupid grin on my face. "Remember the night we first met?" I ask her. "Do you remember what you told me?"

Skai cocks her head to the side. "No..."

"You told me that nobody has time for walking. You said that the world is spinning, and... time's ticking, and that we're all dying. And then you took my hand."

Skai bites her lip, and smiles at her feet as we walk.

"I remember."

"Then why walk?"

Skai turns to me, and grins. "Race ya."

She's off before I can catch her. She darts through the trees like someone who was raised just to run. I'm laughing as I watch her.

I'm laughing as I run after her. This is one of those moments that can't be described, or even defined. I don't know how to explain what exactly I was thinking, or feeling.

Honestly, all I can tell you is at that moment the only thing running through my mind, besides the adrenaline, and the obnoxiously giddy love, is the thought of catching her. Catching her, and then kissing her with everything I've got.
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When I catch up to Skai, she's already around the lake. I watch her scale the safer side of the cliff. "You know there are stairs, right?"

Skai shushes me, and pulls her body weight up onto a boulder. "Stairs are boring." She declares.

"Well alright then."

I head after her, and start to climb.

The adrenaline rises with me. Every step is more exciting than the last. I look up once at Skai, and grin.

She's still climbing as well, but she's a good distance above me.

"You know..." I say, "from this distance you could seriously break something!"

Skai tells me to stop whining, and I laugh. Then I look up. And my blood goes cold.

Because suddenly I'm looking at the back of Skai's legs, and I feel something in my heart breaking.

Just near her the bottom of her bathing suit, all over the inside of her thighs, are small dark lines. Lines that are jagged and old.

Scars.

I push down the words I want to say, and continue to climb.

I want to ask her why. I want to tell her it's okay. I want to tell her that I love her more than I've ever loved anyone in my life.

But I don't say anything.

Because I know bringing up the scars will only tear her apart. It will only remind her of the past, when right now, right here in the present she's so happy. I don't want to ruin her happiness.

So when I finally get to the top, instead of asking Skai about it, I just peel out of my clothes, and give her the goofiest smile known to man.

Then I blow her a kiss, and run.

And plummet.

And then fall into the freezing water with a giddy overly girlish scream.

then half a second later, I hear Skai fall too.

And when I open my eyes under water, I see her.

Her eyes are squeezed tight, and her light brown hair is billowing around her. The smile on her face is so amazing that I wish I could freeze the moment and take a picture. But unfortunately, that doesn't happen.

Skai pushes herself up, and laughs excitedly.

Swimming towards her, I smile.

"You were right." She says,

"Camping is amazing."