Hold me close

chapter 3- young folks

Present day..

Liza and I were in her bedroom touching up on our final looks for dinner. It was just us two, but we wanted to get dressed nicely and treat ourselves for finishing up the school year. Liza wore a black singlet top with a white frilly skirt that sat nicely on her waist. I wore a short leopard patterned dress that I found hidden in my cupboard. I finally had the confidence to wear it. It outlined the curves but also made sure that it looked appropriate enough for a casual dinner.

Liza sighed loudly, "I can't say that this year has been too good," she turned off the hair straightener and placed it on the bench in front of her.

"It's like we hardly got to do anything, and everyone at school just sucks these days."

"I have to agree with you, I'm disappointed by the outcomes of this year," I replied to her statement.

"Well maybe when you go camping this year, you can have a little bit more fun, ...with you know who." Liza quickly chuckled and winked at me.

I jokingly slapped her shoulder. "Don't you even dare say that Liza, you know I can't stand his guts."

"I know, I know, maybe you'll find someone new to obsess over."

"God, I hope so."

It was Liza's final time seeing me before I went on my yearly camping trip with my family. We were all tight with our friend group at school, but Liza and I were basically the inseparable best friends. I've known her almost my entire life, but we didn't start becoming close until the 7th grade.

We spent the rest of the night at her house after coming back from dinner. We had Gilmore girls playing in the background whilst we snacked on Maltesers and corn chips, our favourite snacks. Liza and I talked about our plans for next year and all the things we'd organise doing together. 

We exchanged our early Christmas gifts and took photos as our time together was coming to an end. I gifted her with jewellery from Pandora, a bottle of perfume and a disposable camera for the Summer. She gave me a scrapbook of all the photos taken this year and gave me a stack of books to read to occupy myself if the camping trip took an ugly turn.

After it came close to midnight, I said my goodbyes to Liza and hugged her tightly, reassuring her I would update her on things that happen every day until I see her.

A couple days before our departure, Edith and Dahlia invited me to go for a quick shopping spree together. My bank account was already crying, but I decided to come along anyways to see if there were any last-minute essentials I would need. I've known those two sisters for about two years now, and I must be real about it, our friendship at the beginning was great, but now it's something I like to avoid.

As fun as they were to be around, party with and take photos with, they were insanely sneaky and controlling. They always had to know where I was going, what clothes I was wearing, who I was with and what I was doing. Worse than a strict mother. It was insanely toxic, but I've never been able to confront them about it only because their family was close with mine and I didn't want to stir any drama, so I dealt with the annoyance instead. 

Edith and I possibly remained more civil with each other, we would just catch up, and be more chill. Whilst Dahlia on the other hand drove me insane. She also never stops trying to force me to talk to Aaron or have random hook-ups with people, I didn't get the hype. If I ever told her off about it, she would make me look like the devil, luckily enough, her sister sometimes noticed it too and tried to calm Dahlia down.

It used to be just my family and I on the camping trips, but Dahlia and Edith's family have invited themselves for all future trips. Once again, I liked the girls when we would hang out, just be chill about things and have heaps of fun, but apart from that, they were complete control freaks and have honestly dragged me down way too many times for comfort.

After our little shopping spree, I ended buying another book for myself and a plain blue sweater. Our families gathered to pack and check that we had everything we needed for the trip.

The next morning, we were finally on the road.