I wake up to the feeling of something heavy on my bed. What the heck? My eyes flutter open, a figure is sitting on my bed. "Happy birthday babe!" Jacob.
I groan,"don't call me that."
He laughs," babe?"
I'm to tired to smile, so I don't,"yeah, it's super cringeworthy."
He chuckles."That's true. Sorry." How is he laughing so early in the morning? Wait...
"Jacob what time is it?"
"6:00."
My heads springs up from my pillow, causing my body to sit up. You've got to be kidding me." WHAT?!?! Please tell me your kidding."
He now has that stupid attractive smirk on his face," nope."
I groan,"off, off! Get off my bed, I'm going back to sleep."
"No, you're not."
I manage to smile this time,"watch me."
He sighs,"come on Ro. I have a fun day planed, let's go. Please?"
I sigh, shoving the covers off of me,"fine." I climb down the ladder of the bunk bed, wobbling as my sleepy feet touched the floor. I walked over to the door frame that Jacob is now leaning against."How did you even get in here? I mean I'm glad you're hear but how?"
He nods over to Lexi and Marlee who I didn't even notice were up. They are sitting on the floor, looking at some magazine." They let me in."
I slap my palm against my forehead,"why is everybody up so early?" It's not that I'm in a bad mood, I just went to bed really late last night, and I'm extremely tired.
Right then the front door flies open, revealing Jack and Kyle,"we're here too."
I smile,"of course you are."
Jack accidentally steps on Kyle's bare feet with his tennis shoes. I'm not even going to ask Why he isn't wearing shoes. Kyle screams,"frick amigo!"
We all look at each other, equally confused. Jack raises his eyebrows,"what did you just call me?"
" I said frick amigo. Amigo means friend in Spanish." Kyle says this as if just answered the most obvious question ever.
We all start laughing hysterically, even Jack cracks a grin,"where did you get that from, Dora?"
Kyle frowns,"don't judge my comebacks. I didn't question you when you made a spongebob reference yesterday, did I?"
They leave the cabin, arguing about what show is better, Spongebob or Dora. Marlee and Lexi leave the room as well, following the boys. I'm still uncontrollably laughing. Man, I love my friends. Jacob shakes his head, smiling.
"You can go with them. I need to get ready, I'll meet you out there."
He just nods.
I take his hand,"Jacob?"
" yeah?"
I squeeze his hand," happy birthday." He smiles. I give him a light kiss on the cheek before heading into the bathroom to get ready.
♡Molly's perspective♡
The sound of sirens take over my dreams. Her cries, echoing through my head. Stop! I scream. Someone make it stop, please! I've had enough, I spring up, now sitting in my bed, panting. Why? Why me? Why couldn't she have texted mom or dad? After a moment I start to breath normally, but then the tears come. They spill out of my eyes, burning, I feel weak. I feel like I did the day she told me, the day she told me what she did, the day she left. Uhh! I punch my pillow. I'm mad. I don't know who to be mad at, so I blame her, or her stupid boyfriend, or even Emily. My hot tears run down my face, I'm too weak to wipe them away.
"Molly?" A soft, concerning voice says. Rowan. Holy McNuggets! She's still here?! And she saw me crying, she saw the broken me. Just great.
I attempt to wipe my tears away with the back of my hand, but more keep coming, it's hope less." Sorry Rowan, I didn't know you were here." I cringe at how fragile my voice sounds.
Rowan walks over to me and sits beside me on the bunk bed. I'm really in the mood to talk, but Rowan is nice, so I guess I'll tell her about my sister. Not all of it, just parts. She starts to rub her hand on my back, attempting to comfort me. It actually works."It's fine", Rowan speaks in a reassuring way."You never have to apologize for crying. Sometimes it's better to let it out, you know? You actually feel a bit better if you do."
I nod,"thanks."
She gives me a genuine smile,"you're welcome. Do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"
I hesitates for a moment, but quickly remember what I told my self. Not all of it. " I just get bad nightmares sometimes. I haven't had one in a few months. I thought they were gone, but I guess not."
She nods,"why were you crying?"
I give her a light smile,"I just told you, I had a nightmare. A-And"-here we go-" my sister, she left one and a half years ago. She was eighteen, meaning she was legally allowed to live by herself. So they looked for her awhile, but gave up, telling us that she probably went somewhere to clear her head. Well,they were wrong. She never came back. Before I went to bed last night she texted me. I hadn't heard from her since she left. I didn't know what to do or say, so I ignored it. I don't know if I should be mad or happy. But anyway, I guess that's what triggered the nightmare."
Rowan nods, taking it all in. I hope she doesn't feel bad for me. I hope she doesn't turn into another pity friend. I hope she realizes that I'm a normal girl, I just have an interesting past. I don't like people to feel bad for me, so I put on a smile, hoping no one would notice how broken I am. I've been better though, I've gotten stronger.
I suddenly feel a bit guilty for not telling Rowan about my sister sooner,"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I just didn't want a bunch of pity friends, you know what I mean?"
She nods,"I understand. Molly, you are a funny girl and you're super nice, so don't worry,I'm not a pity friend, I'm a true friend."
I give her a weak smile and she returns it with one of her own," I know, thanks for always being there for me Rowan."
She smiles,"It's my pleasure."
Something suddenly occurs to me,"Can you please not tell anyone else about it?Jacob knows, so does Kyle, since I go to school with them, but they're the only ones."
Rowan stands up, grabbing her shoes and putting them on her feet,"I promise, I won't tell anyone."
"Thanks Rowan."
"You're welcome, you can talk to me anytime", she says, tying the laces to her converse.
I laugh, suddenly feeling in a better mood," you are extremely easy to talk to, did you know that? You could honestly make the president reveal secret spy information. You and Jacob both have that quality."
She blushes a bit when I say his name,"thanks, I think."
I chuckle."You're welcome."
She stands up," I'm meeting the group outside. I think they have something planed for my birthday, you're welcome to join us."
I considerate it for a moment, no, Mackenzie will get mad. I shake my head,"thanks,but I think I'm going to stay here for a while and read or something."
"Okay, but call me if you change your mind." She opens the door, shutting it behind her.
I sigh, feeling a bit better than earlier. I take out my phone and open the text that my sister sent me. The text she sent was still there,'hey sis.how are you?' her name is on the top of the screen. Clarissa. I miss her so much. I wish she was here, comforting me. I press my phone against my chest, hugging it,wishing it was her. I decided to text her back,' hey. I'm at an over night camp right now, it's a lot of fun. I miss you terribly. Where are you?' I feel a silent tear roll down my cheek and quickly brush it away, reminding myself to stay strong. It's going to be ok, Clarissa's voice rings in my head, I'm sorry.
♡End of Molly's perspective♡
I walk down to the RJ table and see my friends sitting there, chatting. "Hey guys!"
Thankfully they don't question why I took so long. But they do smile."hey Rowan", Marlee exclaims.
I smile," so, what's the plan for today?"
Jacob speaks up,"well we each picked one activity that we think you are going to like. And since today is the last day of camp we get to do whatever we want, and we want to do those activities."
I smile,"aww, thanks guys. Should I pick an activity too, since it's Jacobs birthday."
Everyone looks at each other," Ro, you don't have..."
Before Jacob can finish Lexi cuts him off, "sure."
Kyle points ahead,"to the first activity!" He then starts to sing Roar by Katy perry, and let me tell you, he can't sing, at all.
I chuckle, walking over to Lexi and Marlee."So, what activity are you going to pick for Jacob", Marlee asks.
"Mud bikes."
"They have that here", Lexi asks.
I nod,"yeah it's a new activity they got this year and they only allow the fifteen year olds to do it, but since my cousin works the mud bike station, I'm sure he'll let us on them."
They nod. We keep walking and talking, until Jacob interrupted up,"Ro, get on my back."
I shrug,"okay...why?"
He cracks a grin,"well this is kind of a surprise, meaning you have to close your eyes. And we wouldn't want you bumping into a tree, now would we?"
I smile,"good thinking captain." I jump onto his back, closing my eyes. We walk(well everyone except for me) for another minute or two before I can hear Marlee, excitement dripping from her voice,"open your eyes!"
I take my hand off of my eyes, revealing the zip lining course. I absolutely love zip lining."Who chose this activity?"
Jack raises his hand,"me."
I run over and give him a quick hug,"thank you!"
He chuckles,"you're welcome, I know you like zip lining, so that's the activity I decided to pick."
I turn around, looking at my friends,before I can speak I see that Jacob looks a little sad. Wha... Oh, I hugged Jack. Crud. Wait is he jealous? I quickly walk over to him, gripping his hand, causing a smile to appear on his face. perfect." What are we waiting for?"
We all run over to the lady working the zip line station. She hands each of us a helmet, along with a harness. There are two zip lines next to each other, Marlee and I decide to go at the same time. "Are you ready", she asks once we are all hooked up to the wire above us.
I smile,"yup." I push me feet against the wooden floor, soaring into the air. I feel the breeze flying in my face as I zoom down the zip line. I throw my arms out, laughing,"WOOOO!" The pressure of the air spins me around so that I'm facing backwards. I see the rest of my friends fading in the distance. Marlee is beside me, her expression reflecting mine. I feel like I'm on top of the world.
Eventually the zip line slows down, allowing me to unclip myself. Marlee is already sitting in a chair, a smile planted of her face. I sit on a chair next to her and we talk as our other friends have their turn zip lining." That was so cool!" I exclaim, wondering what the next activity is.
"I know, I can't wait for the other activities!" Once Marlee says this I start to get curious.
"Do you know what the other activities are", I ask.
She shakes her head,"no. Nobody does, except for Jacob. He told us to each pick an activity and tell him what it is. He decided what order to do them all in."
I nod. That was super nice of him, and I'm extremely grateful, for everything.
Sooner or later, we end up at rope course. It is extremely high off the ground, and it looks dangerous, but that isn't stoping me."I would ask who chose this one, but I don't want to know until after I finish the rope course, healthy and alive", I say.
They all laugh. The people working here hand us a harness identical to the one we used for zip lining. "Who wants to go first", the lady asks.
We all look at each other, begging with our eyes for someone besides ourself to go so we know it's safe. I might as well go first, right? So I can get it over with, and it looks extremely fun. I raise my hand, volunteering," I will."
Jack chuckles,"okay, your loss."
I just roll my eyes as the lady who works there clips the string that's attached to the harness to a rope thing above me, so that if I lose my balance I won't fall. I proceed to put my feet on the small metal steps, leading me to the top of the pole. I then walk across a thin rope. Luckily they had handles above the rope to help me keep my balance. I complete a few other challenges that include jumping to swing to swing and climbing across a net. I'm honestly having a blast.
After I complete the rope course I head inside to get some water, I can hear my friends arguing in the back ground. I open the door, feeling a sudden burst of air conditioning. It feels amazing considering how hot it is outside.
I turn a few corners before finding a vending machine. I insert a few dollars, and receive several bottles of water for me and anyone else who wants one. I also grab a few snacks since I'm starving. I walk out of the building with food and beverages cradled in my arms.
My friends quickly rush over to me. I place all of the snacks on a table, quickly grabbing a water and a pack of pretzels before they take everything."Here, I got food and water."
They mutter several thanks, stuffing their faces with food. I quickly chug a quarter of my water bottle, the cold liquid quenching my thirst. I set my water down, replacing it with my pretzels. As I munch on the salty snack I see a hand grab my water. I set my snack down and quickly turn to see the thief. There in front of me is Jacob, drinking my water. The nerve of this guy.
"Hey, you butt head!" I snatch the bottle out of his hand.
"What?" He says, smirking.
"This is mine. I love you, but get your own water." I didn't realize what I said until it came out of my mouth. I just said that in front of everyone. Well shit.
Everyone is silent. Well this is awkward.
"What did you say" Kyle asks, referring to the I love you part.
Marlee hits him on the arm. 10 points for my best friend. No one answers his question and Jacob still has a smirk plastered on his face, his eyes full of mischief," fine, I won't take your water"
"Thank y.. Hey!" He grabs my pretzels that I was eating, shoving a few in his mouth. He is going to regret this. I may be skinny, but man do I love my food.
He shrugs, smiling,"sorry." He sure doesn't sound sorry.
A smile creeps up on my face and I try to resist it, "if you're so sorry then can I have my pretzels back?"
His smirk somehow widens,"you'll have to catch me first."
He takes off running. Oh, so he thinks this is funny? Actually it kind of is. I start laughing as I take off, sprinting towards him."no fair, you got a head start!"
20 minutes later we are at the mud bike place. I'm on Jacobs back, eating pretzels. I made him buy me two bags since he ate a majority of the last one. He is too nice, so of course he bought me twice as much as he ate.
I crumble the small empty bag of pretzels, shoving it into my backpack along with the untouched bag."Jacob can you put me down please?"
"yeah, sorry."
Jacob let's go of my legs and I land, my feet making contact with the wet mud on the ground. I spread my arms out,"surprise."
He smiles,"you picked this?"
I smile, my left dimple showing(yes, I only have one dimple)"yeah. Do you like it?"
"I love it, but you know you'll get covered in dirt right?"
"Actually is mud, not dirt. And I know, it's going to be awesome! Let's go!" I reply, my smile still on my face.
I take his hand and run over to my cousin Cole who is running the mud bikes this morning."hey cuz."
"Hey shorty, what do you need?" I never understood why he calls me that. I'm not even short, I'm 5'8, and last time I checked that's pretty tall.
"Can we ride the mud bikes, pleasssse." I make a puppy dog face.
He looks at us," how many of you are 15?"
My smile falters a bit,"just us", I say, pointing to Jacob and I.
"Well in that case, I didn't ask." He throws us each a helmet, I catch mine with ease."Go over to the mud bikes, I'll be right there", he hollers. Jacob and I turn to walk away with our friends."hey, not you two."
I quickly look down to notice Jacob and I are still holding hands. I try to let go, but his grasp is too tight." What Cole", I ask.
He nods toward Jacob,"who is he."
Here we go. Cole is like my big brother, always has been, so I understand why he is doing this, but come on, Jacob looks like the nicest guy put on planet earth. I'm about to answer for Jacob, but he decides to answer instead,"I'm Jacob."
"Who's she", my cousin asks him. Is he joking right now?
"I'm Rowan", I say as if duh.
Cole ignores me."She's my girlfriend", Jacob says. He sounds a bit nervous.
Now Cole turns to me,"do your parents know about this?"
A blush explodes, taking over my cheeks, but I smile," yes, they do."
Jacobs eyes widened, I forgot to tell him that I told my parents. You can't blame me, that was one of the best days ever, I had to share it with my mom. We're super close.
Cole looks a me, a bit surprised,"okay, good. Now let's go, we don't want to keep the others waiting too long."
Cole goes over the boundaries that we have to stay in while riding the bike, along with instructions on how to ride it. We all look clueless as we hop onto the bikes and look at Cole to give us the thumbs up sign. He smiles and does just that.
Lexi takes off first and I'm right behind her, the boys and Marlee are catching up to us.
All of a sudden I hear Marlee scream,"how do you stop this thing?" We all start laughing. This is going to be a long, exciting day.
A few hours later we are hiking up a mountain. This was Marlee and lexis' idea. They decided to share an activity. I enjoy looking at the beautiful trees surrounding us. I smile to myself, remembering everyone's priceless expression when the group and I walked into the lunch room only an hour ago. A few asked us what happened.We just told them that we had a mud fight since most of us are not old enough to ride the bikes . Oh well, it was so much fun!
We suddenly reach an edge of a cliff that I don't recognize,"where are we?"
Jacob spreads his arms out like I had earlier, "surprise!"
I stroll over to the edge of the cliff. Below us is the beach, so that is his surprise, the beach. I love the beach! I smile," how do we get down there?" The cliff isn't super high, maybe 10 feet.
"We jump", Kyle says, leaping into the air and landing into the sand below us. And of course I think about this. My mom has warned me about this,'if someone jumps off a cliff, would you do it too?' I laugh to myself, screw it. I jump off as well, followed by my friends.
"I have an idea", Marlee exclaims.
I turn to where she had drawn a line in the sand,"what?"
"Let's have a sand castle building contest. Boys vs girls",she squeals, sounding proud of her idea.
I shrug,"sure."
Lexi smiles,"okay."
"Sounds like fun."
"Why not."
"Whatever."
So we get to work,building our sand castle with the sound of the waves crashing behind us. I am so great full for my amazing friends and boyfriend. This is definitely the best birthday ever.
☆I know, I posted late again. Sorry! Please forgive me. I have been super busy and haven't had a chance to really sit down and write. But I made this chapter extra long to make up for the late update. I will try to update more often, but it might be hard because I start school next week.
☆by the way, stay tune because summer 15 is coming up, along with a few cliff hangers.*evil laugh* anyway have a good day, and I'll see you soon!
Xoxo
Gentry💜