An Artistic Duo

An Artistic Duo Chapter 1

June 23, 2012

"Lace!"

"Alessa!"

My best friend and I ran towards each other and hugged. It was called for considering we hadn't seen each other in a year; surviving only by phone calls and texts.

"Gee, thanks for including me in this little love fest," my other best camp friend, Bianca, said, while dragging her suitcases behind her.

"Shut up, Bia, she loves me more," Alessa said to her twin sister.

"Yeah, right," Bianca replied with a roll of her eyes. Then the arguing began.

I watched them with a smile on my face. Not because they were fighting, but because I was back at Harleen; the best art camp there ever was. I took a look at the place. It hadn't changed since the first time I came here when I was only thirteen years old.

And I'm glad.

This place is perfect the way it is. Harleen is my safe haven. Anytime I'm here, I feel like I can just relax. The pressures of being almost-famous-but-not-really-famous melt away and I can just focus on my art. Nothing to worry about-

"Ladies, I think you're both wrong, because obviously, Lace has the strongest feelings about me."

Except for him.

He is what causes my heart rate to speed up, what doesn't allow me to sleep at night as I ponder ways to kill him, the bane of my existence.

Eli Evans.

I turned around to look at him as he stood there with that same cocky grin on his face. His arms were extended like he would actually get a hug from me, like he actually wanted a hug from me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I heard a rumor that you'd decided never to come back to this camp when one of the counselors’ rejected you."

"I heard a rumor that you lost all of your so-called artistic abilities and are only here to see if you can make them come back. But you can't lose something you never had," he shot back.

"I heard a rumor is that the only reason that you're here is because no one else wants you."

"I heard a rumor that you had an affair with your sister's boyfriend."

I gasped. "Take it back," I seethed and poked him in the chest.

"I won't take back the truth," he said, smirking.

"Argh! I hate you!" I yelled and pushed him, but he didn't fall, hit his head and go into a coma like I wanted him to.

"Hate you, Lace," he said backing away from me. "And I only came over here to annoy you!"

I groaned again then walked back to the twins. They both had knowing expressions on their faces with their arms crossed, which was kind of creepy considering it made them look even more identical.

"I don't want to hear it," I said, walking past them, picking my bags up and making my way up to the cabin.

You may be wondering what my problem with Eli is, but the appropriate question is what isn't the problem with him. Ever since I first got to this camp, he's made it his mission to mess with me. On my third day here, five years ago, he replaced my tooth paste with one of the counselor’s shaving cream.