"When you're through with life and all hope is lost hold out your hand because friends will be friends right till the end."
-Queen
Camp Oak Ridge. Population: 93
Meet Mary Anne, Myles, Penelope, Princeton, Emily, Blake, Mallory, and Chase - everyone...
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"Oh my god, I feel like death," Mary Anne groans, throwing herself on her bunk. "I don't think I've fully recovered from yesterday. Just walking to and from the challenge wore me out."
"At least you weren't puking your guts out. You just sat out on the porch letting Prince Charming feed you Gatorade from a spoon."
"Touché."
After a few moments of silence, I find myself getting bored of doing nothing. I get up from the bed and start to tell Mary Anne where I'm off to, but notice she's fallen asleep. I walk out of the cabin, carefully closing the screen door. Down the gravel path, I see Emily and Penelope walking with their beach towels.
"Hey, Emily! Wait up!"
They both turn around and wait until I catch up.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Sure." She turns to Penny. "You go on ahead. I'll just meet you there."
After she's gone, Emily turns back to me
"Look, I don't want you to be mad at me," I say.
"I'm not mad."
I run a hand through my hair, something I do when I'm frustrated. "Okay then what was that comment about last night? I know you were upset about me and Blake."
"No, I wasn't— I'm not upset about you and Blake," she says. "Actually, I'm kind of excited that you two are together. I just hate that you felt like you had to keep it a secret from us."
"I was just worried about what you guys would think."
"You know that's total bullshit right? We would've supported you, Mal. Same thing with the deal with your family." Emily sighs. "It just hurts my feelings knowing that you feel like you have to keep stuff. It feels like you don't trust me or like you don't want my help."
"Em, you know I trust you, I just—"
I try to find an excuse somewhere deep inside my mind. Every option that flies past sounds even more stupid than the last one.
What am I afraid of?
I know that no one's gonna judge me. No one here has ever judged me! The more I think about it, the dumber it seems to hide the fact that Blake and I like each other. Hell, everyone knows Myles and Mary Anne like each other and no one gives a damn!
"You know what," I say, turning back towards the cabins. "You go on down to the lake I'll be down there in a while. I have some announcements to make!"
"What?" She calls after me.
"I'll see you in a minute! Catch up to Penny!"
I run back to the Scotch Pine cabin where I can hear Princeton and Chase talking about something. Not thinking, I fling open the screen door, causing a girlish scream from Chase.
