Life, Love & Cupcakes (Rewritten)

Life, Love & Cupcakes 20.

When we got back, the other girls were sitting on top of the ten metre climbing wall. Poppie took off her shoes, and we scaled up the wall to join them.

"Where'd you guys run off to?" Loz asked suspiciously.

"We climbed up here to watch you, but you went too far into the trees," Belle laughed.

"We were just...dealing with some business," I told them. I couldn't stop smiling; Poppie's compliment had put me on Cloud Nine, and I was so happy.

The four girls looked at each other knowingly. "Boys," they all said together. We started to laugh, and they laughed too.

"Wow," I breathed when the laughter had died down. "Everything looks so amazing from up here." I sat down next to Belle and hung my legs over the edge of the wall. Poppie did the same next to me.

"I know, right," Juliette sighed. "I can't believe we have to leave tomorrow."

We all nodded in agreement. "You need a week in a place like this," I mused.

"Hah," Loz chuckled. "If I was here for a week, I'd play the biggest prank the school has ever seen on Miss Potts."

"If I was here for a week," Juliette began, "I'd explore every part of the woods."

Mel scratched her head thoughtfully. "If I was here for a week...I'd have to buy a calendar to keep track of all the days!" We all giggled at her answer.

Everyone turned to Poppie next, and she sighed. "You know what? I don't care if you guys know my secret. If I was here for a week, I'd spend every day with Caleb Bower." I smiled, and the other girls looked at her in shock, before erupting into a round of happy squeals.

"That's so cute!" Belle exclaimed.

"How about you, Belle?" Juliette asked her. "What would you do?"

"Hmm." Belle stroked her chin, just like a deliberating scientist. "If I was here for a week, I'd get to know Bek better." She gave me a friendly smile, and I returned it.

"Can I change my answer?" Mel piped up. "I'd do that, too!"

"Me too!" The other three girls exclaimed.

I felt my smile grow ten times bigger. "You guys are actually amazing," I told them. I felt like I was going to cry from being so happy.

"Aww, shucks!" Loz smiled, pretending to wipe away an invisible tear.

Juliette scoffed. "Tell us something we DON'T know," she said dramatically, and we all giggled again. My stomach was beginning to hurt from all the laughing I'd been doing today.

"Your turn, Bek!" Mel chirped. "What would you do if you were here for a week?"

"Besides spend every minute of it with us, of course," Juliette winked. "That one's obvious."

"Oh." I frowned, trying to think of an answer. What WOULD I do?

"That's such a silly question," Poppie smiled. "If she had a whole week here, I'm fairly sure she'd spend all her time with Sa-"

"What's Mr Buckle doing here?" Belle suddenly interrupted, pointing down to the ground. There was an unreadable look on her face. We all looked down, and Mr Buckle waved up at us.

"Hello, girls!" He called out. "It's good to see you're all having fun! I hope you don't mind, but I'm afraid I have to steal Rebekah off you." I noticed he was using his professional tone, and I tried my hardest not to laugh. It didn't suit him at all.

"Hey!" I smiled. I turned back to the girls, who were all staring at Mr Buckle admiringly. "I'll get back to you with my answer," I told them, then I descended quickly down the wall. "What's up?" I asked, walking over to him.

"Are you still cool for those singing workshops?" He asked. His casual attitude had returned.

"Of course," I smiled. We started to walk up to the main building together.

"Excellent," he grinned. "Well, us teachers will be running the warm up sessions beforehand. All we need you to do is sing a few songs for the girls, get them to perform some pieces themselves...you know, just help them feel more comfortable about singing. Is that okay?"

"Yep!" I answered. Even though I was extremely nervous about singing solo, I was genuinely excited about this.

"Excellent," Mr Buckle repeated. "Well, I was going to go set up now. Care to join me?"

"Sure," I smiled.

As we were walking across the grass, I saw Cupcakes running around with a group of sporty juniors. When he saw me, he barked happily and ran straight over.

"Hey, buddy!" I grinned, bending down and patting him gently on the head. He gave my hand a long lick, then quickly reached up and licked my face. "Yuck!" I laughed, wiping my face with the bottom of my thin grey tee shirt. "Silly puppy." He tilted his head, and the edges of his mouth rose up to form a little smile.

"He's quite a character, isn't he," Mr Buckle laughed. He gave Cupcakes a small pat on the head, then turned to look at me. "Do you reckon he'd want to sit in on the singing workshops?"

My grin widened immediately. "Definitely!" The session would be so much more entertaining with Cupcakes around.

"Brilliant," Mr Buckle chuckled. He stood up and brushed some loose grass off his blue jeans. I stood up too, and we continued our walk to the building, Cupcakes quietly following behind us.

"The weather's lovely today," I said absentmindedly. It was true; even though the campsite was covered by thick trees, the sun had managed to peek through and warm up the air. Luckily, I had packed some white denim shorts in my suitcase, just in case this happened. They were quite short, and probably a bit too revealing, but they looked awesome with my high tops, baggy shirt and loose, wavy hair.

"It is," Mr Buckle nodded, looking up at the trees. "The other teachers have been bringing drama students here for years, and they've never seen a day this nice."

"Wow," I breathed. I shut my eyes and enjoyed the warmth against my skin. A few seconds later, Mr Buckle grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. I opened my eyes and tried to regain my balance. When I had, I scowled at him.

"What was that for?!" I frowned.

"You were about to walk into a tree," he laughed, pointing behind me.

I turned around, and sure enough, I had narrowly missed the thick trunk of a tree. "Oh," I mumbled, feeling my cheeks go hot. This made him laugh even harder.

"You never cease to amaze me, Rebekah!" He was laughing so hard, I swear he'd start crying.

"That's mean," I grumbled, embarrassed. However, it wasn't long before I gave in and laughed at my misfortunes with him. I mean, technically, he HAD just complimented me.

We continued walking, and I made a mental note to keep my eyes open this time. We made our way through the rest of the trees - I even skipped some of the way, since I was still incredibly happy - and were nearly at the door of the building when Mr Buckle mumbled something to himself.

I started to look up at him, but decided that wasn't the best idea, and continued checking the ground in front of me for trip hazards. "Hmm?"

"Oh," he chuckled. "I said he should be waiting for us inside." He held the door open for me, and I walked into the front room.

I looked up and started to scan the room. "Who should be waiting for us?"

But he didn't have to answer. I saw the person he was talking about sitting in a plush white chair, tuning an acoustic guitar.

And my good mood disappeared instantly.