The Natural

Chapter 6

Peter waved at us from where he parked his car. Andy's Volvo blue car was parked beside Peter's. Andy was still in his car, and what seemed to me he was texting someone. Not long after that, he came out of his car. My heart skip a beat.

Peter and Andy did their BFF handshake, which fascinated me. I found that it was hard to resist myself to look away whenever they did their handshake. It was the first thing they ever did every time they met each other. Peter and Andy had been friends since they were basically just kindergarteners. And this fact had made them look more than just friends; they were like brothers but with no blood-relation. Peter and Andy both had opposite personalities. Peter was the outgoing playful type of person while Andy was the one was more reserved. He was also an observant person who liked to speak up the truth from his point of view. And I found myself adoring that.

Peter and Andy walked over to us in a smooth kind of swag movement. My eyes were on Andy, and I quickly looked away. I had to look less obvious and to never let my weird feelings for him got exposed. I felt the heat on my neck and it itched me not to use it. I loosened the wrap to let some air in.

"Hey girls!" Peter wrapped his arms around us, with me on his left and Lany on his right. It was strangely uncomfortable and I had a strong urge to pull out from his sudden embrace. But I didn't feel the need to because I didn't want to be labelled as rude. Peter faced me, it was pretty close. I could see the curls of his brown hair and the imperfections of his skin, which I just seemed to notice. "Are you excited, Elle? 'Cause I am!" He smiled, showing his dimples.

I looked directly at his green eyes, and nodded. I didn't know why I felt so shy all of a sudden. Andy was next to me.

"Can't you see you're making her feel uncomfortable, Peter?" Andy said with a snort, shoving Peter's arm away from me. It was weird I could sense his annoyance but he said it in a joking way. Nevertheless, I was over the moon that he totally understood me as if he read my mind for that one second.

"Someone's a bit moody today," Peter said, disbelievingly but also in a joking kind of way.

"Someone ought to teach Peter not to be such a playboy," Andy mocked.

Lany was next to me now. Lany was eyeing Peter and Andy, and even from my eyes I could sense the mood of the moment was sort of off. I had to be on Peter side on this one. Peter was just trying to give us a happy cheerful greetings. Maybe Andy was in a very bad mood today?

"What's up with them? Especially Andy. They were cheery before and now they're like cats finding the right time to start a fight...with sarcasm I hope," Lany whispered through my ears, soft enough so Peter and Andy couldn't hear us. Lany had a point.

Was Andy jealous? Was this a sign that Andy did had the same feeling for me like I had feeling for him? But that seemed unlikely...a few days ago, he went googly-eyes with Raphel. I pushed away the thoughts that Andy did seem to like me. I didn't want to heighten my chances and expectations of him liking me back.

I looked at Peter then to Andy, then to Peter. Peter's jaws clenched. Peter held back his anger, which made him looked scary like he was about to explode any moment. He stayed quiet while Andy looked at his surrounding, and completely ignoring Peter.

I elbowed Lany to get her attention. "Strange," I mouthed to Lany.

Lany nodded her head, eyes wide with her mouth shaped like an O. Maybe I should take back what I said 'they were closer than friends'. I sighed, partly because of disappointment.

Peter and Andy burst out laughing. Peter gave Andy a fist pump.

Lany and I looked at each other with wide eyes.

"What's just happened?" I asked Lany.

Lany raised her shoulders, also oblivious of what was happening.

"Sorry," Andy apologized. He covered his mouth with his fist. "We were just playing around with you!" He laughed again. His broad shoulders shook vigorously from laughing.

Peter saw that we were still speechless with our blank looking faces. "It's a prank! We planned on doing it to you two last night." He tittered.

I stared at Andy. "Don't look at me. It was Peter's idea!" He pointed his index finger at Peter.

I punched Peter's muscular arm real hard, and regretted on doing that. My fist ached. "Ouch! What was that for?"

"For playing with us! Next time if you do that again, I'll aim this fist straight to your face," I lied. I wouldn't dare to do that again. Ever. Because it hurt.

"And make that more than once," Lany joined in, showing him her two clenched fist right in front of his face. Not a good idea, Lany.

"Wow! Girl power!" Peter applauded with satisfaction seen on his face. Andy just smiled.

"Welcome to Rider's Camp!" a girl greeted. She was wearing black t-shirts with Rider's Camp Committee written on them. She handed each of us a Rider's Camp batch. We all thanked her. She gave a friendly welcoming smile. "You guys just walk straight into the woods till you see the main building of Rider's Camp." She pointed the path to the forest.

We followed her directions and pretty soon we have reached the end of the path. Excitement bubbled up inside me. There was a long, two layered, white building with glass windows standing in front of my eyes. We were no longer walking on dirt. The ground was now cemented and tiled.

All of the other participants waited outside, whereas some of them had just arrived. The Rider's Camp's committees were also waiting outside.

From the distance, I saw a girl waving at us. Actually, she was specifically waving at Andy. I squinted my eyes. It was Raphel. I felt like wanting to roll my eyes, but I didn't.

She weaved through the crowd towards us. She gave Andy a full tight hug. My hand balled up into a fist. Raphel was wearing this beautiful white V neck lace dress, which made myself felt so underdressed.

"Hi, Andy darling. Thank you again for the ride home last night." I gritted my teeth. Last night? They met last night and Andy gave her a ride home? Since when she didn't have a car or a license?

Raphel put her arm around Andy's waist, and she was totally ignoring us. I elbowed Lany, and raised my eyebrows as if I was saying, "Do you think this is weird?"

Lany nodded, but stared at them with admiration. If I didn't have feeling for Andy, I might as well look at them like Lany did. They looked perfect with other.

Peter cleared his throat and said, "I better get going with these two beautiful ladies. We're actually... looking for someone!" He made that up as an excuse to escape somehow.

Peter pushed us away with his hands on our backs. I looked back at them. It was the horrible feeling that felt like Andy was out of my grasp....that felt like I just lost a true close friend. Walking further away from him made me realized that I was never his girl in the first place.