Chapter 14
Friday, July 20
"Hello my campers!" Shirley called to all of us. "Welcome to another Friendship Friday!"
I fanned myself as she spoke. It was extremely hot today, and I felt like I was breathing in fire.
"Today's engaging activity is a game almost all of you should have played in your lifetimes; charades!" She said with a lot of enthusiasm.
I didn't really have a reaction, though a lot if people groaned, I was too busy trying to get myself to cool down. What I needed was someone to dump a bucket of ice cold water on me.
"You and your partner will be a team, and we'll have a little competition with this." She took out a bin and shook it up. "Each person will pick a slip of paper with a phrase, do not show it to your partner. To save time we will split into three groups. So can I have a partnership that does not want to participate?"
Almost everyone raised their hands, but she chose two people I didn't know very well to assist her in monitoring. They would each be working with different groups of partnerships and at the end the three winners would compete against each other.
We split up, and I headed towards a monitor but Shirley pulled us right back into her group to "keep an eye on us." Eli and Kelsey had to basically drag me to that woman.
"I'm too hot to even be competitive," I said to myself.
"I'm not, we have to win," Eli said, giving me a serious expression. I nodded, feeling dopey, I was sort of in a heat induced daze. I knew we weren't going to win.
We started by Eli grabbing a slip from the bin. He read what it said then stuffed it in his pocket. Shirley motioned for him to go. He held up two fingers.
"Two words," I said.
He nodded and continued, holding up one finger.
"First word," I said.
He thought for a little bit then started pretending he was squeezing something with his hands.
"Um," I muttered. I had no idea what he was doing. "Squeeze?" He shook his head and continued to squeeze air.
What in the world was he doing?
He then sat down, wiped his brow with sweat then plucked a piece of grass from the ground and put it in his mouth, chewing on it like a farmer with straw.
"You're a farmer?" I asked.
He frantically nodded yes, then continued with the squeezing he was doing.
"And you're milking a cow?" I said, getting more excited now.
He nodded again, pointing at me and almost jumping up and down. He pretended to pick up what seemed to be a cup and started drinking it. When I gave him a "you're losing me," look he squeezed the cow utters again and held the make shift cup under it. Then he pointed to the cup.
"The milk," I muttered, talking it out. He suddenly nodded yes, now actually jumping around. "Milk!" I said with more confidence. He continued nodding and jumping and I laughed at how boyish he looked.
He was so cute.
He stopped jumping, but he was still smiling as he held up two fingers.
"Second word."
He immediately started shaking around. It looked like he was having a seizure. I had no idea what that was supposed to mean. "You're hurt? You can't stop moving? Dancing? Seizure?" He kept shaking his head no and I sighed. I was too hot to think.
He stopped, thought for a second, then started shaking again, as if he couldn't think of any other way to explain it.
I threw my hands in the air. "You gotta give me a little more Eli, you're just shaking around like a maniac."
He started bouncing then, and pointing at me and nodding.
"Maniac?" I asked. He shook his head. "Around?" He shook his head again and moved his hands in a keep going manner. "Shaking?"
He pointed and nodded, jumping now.
"Shaking! Milk shaking.. Milkshake!" I shouted and started jumping around with Eli when he nodded frantically.
"You can talk now, you know!" I said.
"Milkshake, milkshake!" He exclaimed.
"Milkshake!" I repeated, laughing.
"That's one point for team Leli," Shirley said and wrote a tally in her notebook. "Just in time too, you had fifteen seconds left."
Everyone else in Shirley's group went after us, and it was hilarious to watch people act out these things. Some of these things didn't seem like they would be funny phrases or words, but when they were picked apart, the actions people did to convey them were so funny. And it turned out, Shirley had a team name for everyone. For example she called Bianca and Levi, Leanca.
Soon, it was our turn again. I let Eli be the actor again because he really seemed to enjoy it. He picked a paper from the bin, read it, then put it in his pocket again.
He was smirking as he put up four fingers.
"Four words."
He held up one finger.
"First word."
He pointed to himself.
"Eli? Boy? Artist? Kid? Man? Shirt?" I threw out, thinking of everything I possibly could that had anything to do with him pointing to himself, but he shook his head at everything.
He stopped pointing to himself then gave me this look. I'm guessing he was trying to be seductive but it just looked weird to me. Then he pointed to himself again, still making that face.
"Failure to seduce?" I asked, knowing it wasn't that but still wanting to say it.
He gave me a deadpan look then rolled his eyes. With no emotion he fanned himself and I knew.
"Hot!" I shouted.
He nodded in a 'Duh' way and I realized something. He had been pointing to himself to try to get me to say hot.
"Eli you are such an idiot," I said and shook my head at him.
He ignored me than held up four fingers.
"Fourth word."
He nodded then started pointing upward. I looked up at the sky then shielded my eyes from sun, it was extremely bright in this heat.
"Sky? Blue? Clouds?" I suggested.
He shook his head then wiped fake sweat off of his forehead. He pointed upward again and this time, looked up to, shielding his eyes.
"Up..?" I questioned. I really didn't know. I reviewed the facts over again in my head. He'd wiped his brow and pointed upwards. "The sun!" The sun made him hot and it was in the sky (or universe, whatever).
He nodded and motioned for me to keep going.
By the fact that he didn't keep going with the other words I guessed they were transitional and didn't have a way to explain. So the two words I had were hot and sun, hot being the first and sun being the last.
"Hot to the sun? Hot stuff the sun? Hots for the sun? Hotter sun?" Eli pointed at me then and started bouncing just as Shirley told us we had ten seconds left.
I tried to think fast, but I wasn't thinking straight under pressure and it was so hot outside, I'd never felt this intense heat before.
"Time," Shirley said just as I said, "It's hotter than the sun out here."
Eli groaned. "You couldn't have said that one second earlier!"
I gave him a confused look as I realized. "Hotter than the sun!" I turned to Shirley but she gave me a look of pity.
"Just a little too late," she said apologetically.
I turned to Eli and pushed him, as another group went up. "You had to waste all that time with 'hot'!" I scolded him.
He gave me a look of surprise. "That should've been obvious. The first thought anyone has when they see me 'hot'!"
"You are such an idiot," I said and shook my head.
He slung his arm around my shoulders. "I know you think I'm hot, and I know it came to your mind. You can't blame all this on me."
I shrugged his arm off playfully, pretending I was actually mad at him. "You are too cocky for your own good."
He only smirked and gave me a wink.
"Could I please have Lace Carter and Eli Evans to my office."
I looked up at the intercom and frowned. What did Marcus need us for? Especially this late, it was almost curfew. We hadn't pulled pranks on each other in forever and I'm sure we hadn't done anything wrong.
"What did you guys do?" Alessa asked.
"Nothing!" We both said at the same time.
Kelsey and her both narrowed their eyes at us as we stood up and started walking out the door. When we were almost up the terrible hill, I finally broke the silence that had settled upon us.
"What do you think he wants?" I asked
Eli shrugged, deep in thought. "I don't know."
I sighed and we continued up the hill. By the time we got to Marcus' Eli was basically dragging me.
"You are so weak," Eli said, laughing at my over exaggerated huffs and puffs while he supported most of my body weight.
"Don't make fun of my wimpiness. You have muscles on your muscles, I-"
The door opened and a very stressed out looking Marcus stood in the doorway. I straightened up and tried to make it seem like we were not amused in any way, and that I was not leaning on Eli, but he'd already seen.
"Come in," Marcus said and stepped out of the way.
When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was that we were not alone. A split second later, I realized that the other person in the room was none other than my ex boyfriend, Michael.
I immediately sobered up, no trace of laughter in me at all.
Michael was here. Michael was here. Michael was here.
And why? I thought he had finally let me go, had accepted that I no longer wanted him. I mean, he hasn't called my phone since... Forever.
But here he was, right in front of me. I couldn't deny it. He still had the same facial features; long nose, strong jawline and dull green eyes. But he had cut his hair off. Gone were the shaggy locks I used to love, now replaced by a buzz cut. Looking at him now, I realized that he wasn't as attractive as I thought he was. Now that I could see them, his ears seemed like they stuck out too much, and he was a bit on the scrawny side. The green eyes he had weren't particularly nice looking, not like Eli's.
"This is Michael," Marcus said, interrupting my analysis.
"Wait, the Michael?" Eli asked, then looked between him and me. When he realized who he was his face turned cold. He put his arm around my waist and pulled me towards him, catching me by surprise.
Then I remembered. The call. That was the last time Michael had contacted me, when Eli pretended to be my boyfriend. But he didn't have to keep going with it, so what was he doing? Not that I was complaining, the look on Michael's face right now was priceless.
Plus Eli smells really good. But mostly the Michael's face part obviously.
"Why is he here?" Eli asked Marcus but his gaze was directly in Michael; one of pure hatred.
And it looked so real.
"I came here to talk to Lace not you," Michael replied then looked back at me.
"Michael here, refuses to leave until he talks to Lace and was complaining about you Eli," Marcus said, rubbing his temples and sitting back I'm his chair. "And no matter how hard I try, he won't leave," he mumbled under his breathe.
"Well, my girlfriend doesn't have anything to say to you, so we're just gonna leave," Eli said and started pulling me out, but I stopped him.
"Wait," I said to Eli. "Let me just talk to him."
He stared at me for a second, his eyes showing an emotion I'd never seen before. Finally, he said, "Okay." Then he bent down and whispered in my ear. "Don't let that douche bag talk you into anything. To him, you're mine." He quickly glanced over at Michael then hugged me, putting his lips close enough to my face that to Michael it looked like he kissed me on the cheek.
I blinked, dazed, but then I reminded myself that this was all an act. It didn't mean anything to have Eli's lips almost touch my cheek.
Eli shot a look at Michael then exited the office. I slowly turned around and faced Michael. Marcus inconspicuously left the room, and I walked over the this boy.
Before I could say anything, he spoke up. "Lace, I came here to apologize," he said. When I was silent, he continued. "What I did with that other girl didn't mean anything, it was a mistake, and I miss you so much."
I almost scoffed out loud. "A mistake? Michael, I know you didn't just do it that one time."
He looked at me with his sad eyes. "No! It was only that once, I swear."
I narrowed my eyes at him and crossed my arms. "Michael, lying to me is not going to do you any good,"
"I'm not lying! I'm telling the honest truth. It was a one time thing and it's never going to happen again. Listen Lace," he said and stepped closer to me. I took a step back and a hurt expression came over his face. "What I did was wrong, and I know it. But I love you, and I can wait however long you want. You're worth it."
I shook my head. "I'm sorry, but that doesn't matter anymore." I had been referring to the fact that I no longer wanted to be with him anymore, but he took it as if I was saying I wasn't a virgin anymore.
He looked outraged. "You didn't lose it to that idiot did you? God, Lace, he's a tool. Why would you be with him? You would be happier with me, and you can do better, Lace. He doesn't deserve you."
"If anyone around here doesn't deserve me, it's you," I said to him and backed away towards the door. I was quickly getting tired of this conversation. Why had I even liked Michael in the first place? My whole end of the school year and beginning of summer wasted on crying over this guy? That was a joke.
"Lace, please-"
"Go home, Michael, nothing you say can convince me. I'm happier now." I didn't let him reply as I walked out of the door and closed it behind me. Eli, who had been sitting on the floor, stood up when he saw me.
"Did he cry?" He asked, but he wasn't joking about it, he looked like he actually wanted him to cry.
I shook my head and started walking out of the school, noticing Marcus walking down the hallway in the opposite direction we were going, heading back to his office. "No," I said to Eli's question.
But Marcus stopped us. "Wait, is it true about you two dating?" He asked.
I shook my head and decided to answer as Eli was still grumbling. "It's a cover up to get Michael to leave me alone," I said. Marcus nodded and almost looked disappointed as he walked away.
Then, Eli grumbled under his breath then said, "He deserves to cry."
I gave him a strange look. Why was he acting like this? "It's okay, I handled it. But if it makes you feel better he thinks you and I had sex, which makes him angry."
He cracked a smile but it didn't reach his eyes. "Good. Such a little bitch."
We were almost down the hill now, but I stopped walking. "Why are you so mad, Evans?"
He sighed and looked up. "I don't know, he just makes me angry."
I tried to lighten the mood. "Why, jealous?" I asked and smiled at him. "I know you think I'm hot, but Eli, you're taking it a little too far."
"I just hate guys like that," he said. "They think they can screw up then think an apology will make everything better. He should be grovelling for your forgiveness."
My eyes widened at what he was saying. I'd never really seen Eli this serious before. He was being like a protective older brother or something.
"You didn't get back together with him right?" Eli said, finally looking me.
"Of course not!" I said and punched him in the arm. "I'm not stupid you know."
He laughed, and I saw that he was finally loosening up. "If you had gotten back together again, I would've punched you."
I punched him in the arm again and laughed. "Imagine if we got back together though. I'd have to fake stage a breakup with you," I said, laughing again.
"Then I'd have to cry and that would suck," Eli said and chuckled. "And can you imagine the look on Michael's face."
I thought of the smug expression that would be written all over Michael and laughed again. Eli would probably just beat him up for that. Our laughing continued to get harder and harder, making me more weak with every smaller step we took.
The next thing I know I was tripping on something too dark to see from my lack of balance and I almost fell but I caught onto Eli. But he wasn't prepared for that, so I only pulled him down with me. I braced myself for the cold hard ground but Eli took hold of me and I fell on top of him instead.
"Mmph," I said as we landed. I opened my eyes to see Eli right in front of me. But not just right in front of me, we were touching. Or only one part of our faces.
Our lips.
My eyes flew open, and I expected for us to both shoot away from each other when we noticed, but something happened. We didn't.
My lips started moving against his and his moved against mine and my eyes fluttered shut. We were kissing. Hard. My mouth opened and I placed my hands on his chest without meaning to. He wrapped his arms around my waste and gently pulled me a little closer. I hate to admit it, but for those ten seconds, it felt so good and we got into it.
Then I realized what I was doing.
Eli seemed to realize at the same time because we both had the reaction we should have had when we first landed; getting away.
I scooted away and yelled. "What was that!"
"You answer that, you kissed me!" He yelled back, starting to stand up, as was I.
"I did not! Why would I do that! I... I hate you!" I exclaimed. It seemed that everything wrong with Eli was pouring into my mind right then, like a flood that had been held back unsuccessfully. "This was an arranged friendship, we should not be kissing!"
"You don't think I know that! I wouldn't even want to kiss you!" He made a point by wiping his lips with the back of his hand.
I walked over to him and poked my finger on his chest. "We will never, ever, speak of this. As a matter of fact, it never happened."
"Good, it's forgotten. Not like it was that memorable in the first place," He said and backed away from me, slapping my finger away.
We shot each other one last hateful glare before speed walking away from each other, me wiping my lips and hoping to get all traces of that asshole Eli off of me.
What had just happened?
********************************************************************************
BOOM!
HATE ME HATE ME I KNOW YOU HATE ME! But at the same time you love me don't you? *Insert Eli's smirk*
What do you thinks gonna happen? Who will find out? I know all of this, but you are left to guess...
WOW! Thank you guys for all the amazing comments on the last chapter, they were amazing. Some of you had the greatest comments. Some of you said things about this book that I didn't even think of. I'm dedicating to SerialArtist593 because her comment was one of the first where I was like... woah. And isn't it funny how there were so many Keli fans Chapter 12 but after Chapter 13 I only counted one and a half???
The picture on the side is who I imagine as Lace, and I think she fits really well. And guys, to those of you who did not see who is playing Eli go back to Chapter 13 and look again because.... just do it.
Anyways, other than all the stuff that I said before this, I only have one thing to say.
Let the drama begin.