Trouble In Paradise

36. "Sleepy."

"Wake the fuck up."

"Mom, since when do you swear in front of me?" I mumbled, squinting at the figure looming above me in the dark.

"It's not Mrs Miller. I'm Rhea, you idiot," she hissed.

"Oh, it's my other mom," I muttered. "Why are you in my house?"

A loud groan filled the air.

"This is what I meant when I said that staying up all night talking was a bad idea," she sighed. "Do you have amnesia now? We're at a camp and you're in a sleeping bag like a worm." She huffed when I frowned, still very much asleep and confused. "Camp, you dead worm! Senior trip? Redwood?" I frowned some more. "Tyler Atwood?"

"Oh," I nodded as my eyes closed again. "I remember him," I grinned sleepily. "Why are you waking me up, Rhee?"

"Because you're the only one who can wake Mae up and if I don't wake you up now, we will all be horribly late," she yelled the last part. I winced, not liking how much that affected my left ear.

"Who cares?" I whined.

"I do. Now get your ass out of that sleeping bag, young lady," she commanded as someone yelled her name outside.

I got out of my sleeping bag under the scrutiny of Rhea Taylor, who had to have been an army officer in a past life.

Someone yelled out Rhea's name again and she sighed. After she was sure I was standing- stumbling, at least- she gave me a warning look and left the tent. All this while, my eyes remained half-closed from sleep.

Giving my sleeping bag one last longing look (I had given nine in total), I turned to stare at Mae, who was snoring happily.

"Mae."

No response.

"Mae Jackson!"

Nothing.

"MAE JUDY JACKSON!"

"What?!" She growled, finally some form of awake.

"We're at camp, apparently," I started, yawning.

"What camp?"

"Senior cam— Tyler Atwood?"

"Oh."

"Yes, oh. You need to wake up now or else, we'll be late."

Her only response was to cuddle into her sleeping bag some more and mutter, "Who cares?"

"Rhea."

She considered this for a moment, (or maybe she just went back to sleep, I wouldn't know). "Not good enough," she growled. "Wake me up 3 minutes before we need to leave."

I shrugged sleepily at her, one of my eyes now fully closed and the other only half-open. Picking up my bag of toiletries, I popped a piece of mint-flavoured gum in my mouth and trudged out of the tent that had taken us two hours to put together yesterday.

I stood at the entrance and blocked all sounds of students running amok- or maybe they were hyenas, I wouldn't really know because at this point both my eyes were closed. Sighing tiredly, I started dragging myself in the direction of the girls' washroom.

Hearing the sound of a million girls (or hyenas) screeching, I turned to my left, peeking one eye open only for someone to run straight into me. I stumbled back, ready to fall on my ass. Two arms wrapped around my waist, allowing me to stay on my feet.

"Whoa there, Miller," an all too familiar voice exclaimed. "Why are you roaming around with your eyes closed?"

Any other time I would've definitely noticed how Torryn's arms tightened around my waist protectively, as he manoeuvred me out of some bloodthirsty girl's way. But right now, I was just too darned— "Sleepy," I mumbled.