7 Days of Camp

41

•Kaila's POV•

After watching Hunter and Rosie congratulate each other in tug-o'-war and practically go all dreamy-eyed at lunch, I decided I couldn't take it anymore! I rushed out of the cafeteria before lunch was even over, and ran to the nearest willow tree I could find.

There, I slid down against the trunk and burst into tears.

I didn't understand why all this was happening. One day we were fine-perfect, even. And the next he was falling all over another girl? It just didn't make sense.

I'd always promised myself I would never cry over a boy. I refused to be that shallow. But here I was, breaking that promise and bawling my eyes out.

In the middle of my pity party, I heard footsteps approaching. I hoped it would be Amber, coming to rescue me from this awful state.

But instead, it was exactly the person I didn't want to see.

Rosie.

"Are you okay?" she asked, as if she even cared. "You ran out of lunch pretty quickly. Everyone at the table was asking about you."

You mean they actually took a break from staring into each other's eyes to notice that I was gone? I thought sarcastically. Yeah right.

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

Gee, thanks.

"So you know Hunter?" the demon-uh, I mean Rosie-asked.

I thought I did... "Yeah. Why?"

"Well you seem like really good friends." I could've sworn she put emphasis on the word 'friends,' which only made me angrier. "So I figured you would probably know if he was seeing someone."

"What?" I asked in disbelief. Was this girl serious?!

"You know, is he dating anyone?"

"No. He's not. Because he's too much of a jerk to actually care about the girl who's crazy about him."

"Who would that be?"

"You really don't get it, do you?"

She shrugged. "Get what?"

I stood up and brushed off the back of my jean shorts. "I like Hunter, okay? And he likes me, too. So you can just...go back to where you came from, and stop ruining my life!"

Whoa. Where did that come from?

Tears welled up in her eyes and she mumbled "okay" in this really shaky voice, before running away.

Oh, great. Now I felt even worse! I shouldn't have snapped at her like that... But she deserved it! She was getting all over my man!

Amber came running up to me with a look of concern on her face. "Dude, are you okay?"

"I'm..." I couldn't finish my sentence. I grabbed her by the shoulders and started crying all over again.

"Kaila, what's wrong?"

"R-Rosie. A-and Hunter. I-I-I...I blew up. I d-don't know w-what happened."

"Shhh," she said soothingly, stroking my back as we embraced. She was such a good friend. I didn't deserve her. Or anyone, for that matter. Not after the way I'd treated Rosie.

Soon, Hunter and Alex came out of the cafeteria. I pulled away from Amber and grabbed her by the arm. "Let's go. I can't face him right now."

We fast-walked back to our dorm and sat down on my bed. "So...what now?" Amber asked.

"I think I need to take a shower. It'll help me calm down."

"Okay. Do you want me to wait for you?"

"No, that's alright. Go hang out with Alex or something."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

"Okay. Let me know if you need anything."

"I will, thanks." We hugged one more time, and then she left.

I dragged myself out of bed and into the tiny bathroom. There, I stripped off my clothes and took a shower. I didn't care that I'd taken one right before lunch. Showers always made me feel better.

But today, even the warm water couldn't heal my broken heart.