A Silver Summer

Chapter 20

"She pushed her into the stream." Mel vaguely explained. Anika crawled back around the tree so she could sit against the trunk. 

"The stream?" Skinner parroted before his eyes narrowed in understanding. "She pushed you off a bridge?" Anika winced at his booming voice, but nodded. 

"Don't yell at her." Keira gave him a hard look. Skinner's face softened and he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. 

"So what did Ryleigh have to do with this?"

"He carried me to the infirmary and then back here." Anika confessed with a slight touch of pink tinting her cheeks. 

"What did the nurse have to say?" Skinner asked with worry, his eyes dropping to the bottom of her tank top. 

"Just that there's a lot of bruising and swelling but nothing is broken. I'm excused from field activities."

"Do you want me to run and pick up more pain medication?" Skinner kicked the dirt with his foot. 

"Thanks, but I think I might just get sick again if I take more. They seemed pretty strong." Anika offered a tired smile to Skinner. 

"If you're all good, then do you want to try and eat some food?" Ivy carefully helped Anika stand up with Mel on the other side. She nodded and walked back into the cabin with the girls' help. 

"So he helped you?" Skinner asked again in bewilderment. 

"It's over." Mel stated. 

"The pranking is done with." Keira shrugged. 

"What?" the girls rolled their eyes at his dumbfounded expression. 

"He's not all that bad to talk with, is what I'm saying." Anika explained. 

"And you trust him?" 

"I don't know yet." Anika admitted truthfully. 

"She doesn't know where they stand." Mel spoke up for a still slightly pale Anika. 

"Well, if you think he's sincere then... just be a little careful." Skinner avoided the 'aw' looks from the girls. 

"So big brother-like." Keira chuckled. 

"It's cute." Ivy laughed, trying to distract herself from her own color filled cheeks. 

"You aren't too bad yourself." Skinner's flirtatious smile made the other's eyes widen but before they could comment, he picked up a cinnamon roll and shoved a bite in his mouth. 

"Eat up. I didn't carry this all here for the flies."

Mel rolled her eyes but made a plate for herself anyway and distributed the food equally despite Skinner's excuse for being a man, therefore he should have more.

"Guys I'm fine." Anika said for what felt like millionth time. Ivy and Skinner exchanged worried glances, which Anika scowled at. 

"I can walk." she stubbornly persisted and took a step away from the two to prove her point. 

"Okay..." Ivy drew out the word but her eyes never left Anika. 

The three were walking to the art barn for their first activity. Anika still had a little limp in her walk, but most of the pain subsided and left her with a few aches in her lower back. 

"So, who are you drawing anyway?" Ivy asked to stimulate conversation. 

"Nope. Not telling." Anika smirked at their pouty faces. 

"I knew she was the creeper type." Skinner pretended to whisper loudly in Ivy's ear. 

"And don't you forget it." Anika smiled. 

"Are you going to sit in the corner again?" Skinner asked her. 

"I will if you guys want to keep talking mushy-mushy to each other." Anika teased. The other two both subtly looked away and Anika's jaw dropped.

"I'm giving it till the party." Anika told herself. 

"What?" Ivy asked. 

"Oh nothing." Anika smiled innocently and stepped through the wide barn doors. 

Anika pulled her chair to the corner where she had it yesterday and waited for her model to walk in. When he did, his dark blue eyes met her grey ones and she could have sworn his lips twitched in a smile. She had a feeling she was going to enjoy drawing this mysterious boy. 

She picked up a watercolor set and sketched the new scene that popped into her head. The boy had his back exposed in a small skiff boat in the lake. His long arms are stretched out and his hands were tightly wrapped around the paddle handles. A bright midday sun beat down on his head but his dirty blond hair cast a shadow over the half of his face that you could see. The rippled water broke his whole face reflection but you could still clearly tell he had a sharp jaw line. 

Anika focused on his back. She pictured how the smooth skin would look with taunt strips of solid muscle just underneath the golden bronze. Not that she had ever seen him shirtless, but she knew he wasn't overly bulky. More like a slim, hidden strength stature, with square shoulders. 

The more she painted, the more Anika wondered how his skin would feel under her fingertips.

"What the hell am I thinking." Anika grumbled to herself. They barely knew each other and even if he was interested in her, he couldn't possibly want to breath the same air as her once he found out what she had been through. With a disgusted frown, Anika stood up and caught a few stares when her chair scraped noisily on the barn cement floor. She felt even more disgusted with herself and hurried to escape their gazes by walking out of the barn to the water hose to rinse out her brushes and pallet. 

Her eyes burned with unshed tears at the thought of losing the girls' and Skinner's friendship. All traces of hope left her heart and it stuttered painfully at her newest nightmare. She'd lose everything that made her feel comfortable at Silver Lake. And Ryleigh, she didn't know where they stood but she was sure he wouldn't want to associate with a person so disgustingly messed up as she was. 

Her tears dripped down her cheeks and disappeared in the water running over her hands from the hose. Her brushes and painting pallet were clean as can be but she still kept the water running. 

So no one would here her quiet sobs.