ISOLATION

Day 8

The breakfast bell woke me up at 7:30am, and I groaned as I rolled over in bed. It took me a moment to register that I wasn't in my own bed, but in Lauren's, and I was alone. I climbed out of bed and looked around the cabin, realising that she wasn't anywhere in sight. I walked slowly to the back door, peering outside and seeing her sitting peacefully on the tire swing, staring up at the sky.

I heard the door slot open and our breakfasts were pushed inside. I walked over to the front door to grabbed them, and decided to take Lauren's to her.

I walked out the back door, making my way over to the tire swing. She must've heard me coming, because she looked my way. We made eye contact for a brief moment before she cast her gaze down to the ground, muttering a shy 'thanks' as I handed her the plate of breakfast.

"Did you watch the sunrise?" I asked her quietly, and she nodded in reply.

"Was it nice?" I pressed on.

"Yeah, it was. Sorry if you wanted to see it, I'll wake you next time if you want," she said awkwardly, but I just shook my head.

"No, don't be sorry. I think I needed a good nights sleep," I said, but instantly regretted it.

I had admitted that I had had a good nights sleep while sleeping next to her, and I didn't want her to get the wrong idea. The last thing I needed was for her to spread a rumour that I was a lesbian. I wasn't against lesbianism, not at all, the entire concept of sexuality was something that I never truly understood anyway. In my mind, you love who you love, and it's as simple as that.

"Yeah, you didn't have any nightmares last night..." she said slowly, and I nodded.

"Yeah, um, I'm sorry I fell asleep in your bed though. I must've been really tired," I said quickly, wanting to diffuse the tension and try to put the subject behind us.

"It's okay," she said, and I smiled slightly before turning around and walking back inside to eat my breakfast.

It didn't take long for Lauren to make her way back inside, and she sat on her bed silently while I finished my breakfast. Once I was done, I put my plate in the sink and turned around, coming face to face with Lauren who was standing directly in front of me. I jumped backwards, hitting my back on the kitchen bench behind me. I hissed in pain, and she instantly looked guilty.

"Can we talk?" she asked me nervously, and I just nodded slowly, letting her lead me over to her bed where we sat down.

"Um, I just want to explain," Lauren said awkwardly.

"Explain what?" I asked her.

"Everything," she said, and she took a deep breath, refusing to look me in the eyes.

"I was jealous of you, that's why I treated you the way that I did," she began, and took another deep breath before continuing.

"When you moved to Stone Creek, I thought you were so beautiful. I was used to the attention being on me, and the thought of you taking that away from me scared me, so I bullied you...I thought that if I treated you badly enough that you might just leave the school, so I wouldn't have to worry about you."

I nodded slowly, trying to comprehend everything she was telling me. We were sitting cross legged on her bed facing each other. I didn't say a word, and she took the silence as an opportunity to keep talking.

"But obviously you never moved, and it got to the point where bullying you just became something that I did out of habit. I didn't even have anything against you, I was just intimidated by you, and scared that you had the power to be better than me..."