Truth or Dare

Old Faces, New Problems and A Promise

                                                                                                                         Lydia

I am not a jealous person. Nothing good has come from jealous as far as I'm concerned. So I would like it to be known that I didn’t like Natalie not because I was jealous of her or her former relationship with Wes.

I felt hatred towards Natalie because of what she did to Wes, not what she did with him.

Last summer, Natalie and Wes were a thing. He really liked her and she seemed to really like him. Then half way through the third week she started avoiding him and then randomly going off on him about never really liking her and just wanting to screw her then leave. He finally convinced her that whatever she thought wasn’t true, but the damage was pretty much done. There were pretty distant that last few days and she didn’t even say goodbye to him on the last day. As far as I knew, they hadn't talked since then. He had tried, but she would answer him. Eventually he gave up and moved on.

I hated Natalie because she was the last person to break Wes' heart.

"I thought she wasn’t coming back this year," Jack whispered.

"She wasn’t."

"I haven't seen her all week," Annie whispered. "And I've hung out in every tent in Backwood." We looked back toward where Natalie stood. Her hair was black now opposed to last year's blonde. I liked the blonde better.

"Hey guys," Natalie made her way over to us. "I haven't seen any of you all week."

"Yeah, we were just thinking the same. You in Backwood?" Allie asked.

"Yeah, tent three. I was on the fishing trip all week though, we got back real late last night," Natalie smiled at me, making me wonder if she had seen me sneaking in or out of the section.

"That explains why we haven't seen you around," I returned her smile with one just as fake. "Such a shame."

"Well, we can all catch up next week. Dani's been telling me some interesting stuff you all have been up to this week. I understand she's your new recruit?"

"No, she's not." I said. "She didn’t make the cut."

"Right, you heads are your… requirements," Natalie pursed her lips. Last year, Natalie had wanted to be a recruit. She'd follow us around everywhere talking with the three older heads and buddying up to them. But when it came time to pick recruits, they asked me what I thought. Natalie was in it for the social aspect, for the instant respect you get when you wear the purple bandana, plus Annie was also in the running and it was between the two of them. So I was the loyal friend and said Annie, causing them to pass up Natalie without a second thought. It was probably wrong but I still believed Annie was better at what we did then Natalie would have been. "Well, I should get back. I'll see y'all tomorrow." She gave us a small wave and returned to her group of friends. I wondered how many of them were passed up as heads.

"Well, that was sufficiently awkward, don't you think Wes?" Hayley asked. "The e and the love of your young life talking and all."

"It was awkward for a lot more reasons than just that." Wes mumbled.

"It was fine Wes, it's not like she's going to try to steal you away like in some stupid teenage movie." I shrugged it off, glancing at Natalie once more. No, she wouldn’t try to steal Wes away. She didn’t have the nerve. Natalie was a follower, always looking for a group. First she wanted to be a head, then she missed out on that so she got with Wes to be able to hang out with us and then blew him off for the girls who always hung out at the beach. Now she had the tent three girls who all went on the fishing trip. She didn’t need us or Wes anymore.