Chapter Fourteen:
Everlasting Smiles
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It's crazy how time flies when you're having fun.
For the past few weeks, whether Cameron was at my house studying or I was at his, we always had fun. There were laughs and tears of joy.
Now I'm school, heading towards my journalism class which will allow me to be part of the school paper. I couldn't wait to start writing again after taking a break from that class. I had to, to get my credits to graduate next year. On the bright side, Mrs. Foster is sending in a good report on me for the college I want to go to. It's exciting for me, and all I had to do was tutor Cameron. That so far was the best choice I made because now, Cameron is like my best friend. Since I started tutoring him, I got Amber back somehow, which was very unexpected at first. She later explained to me that she just wanted to stop ignoring each other and get back to the way we used to be.
Speaking of the blonde, she was walking right towards me since we had journalism together.
"Hey, Amber." I waved and grinned at her. I still had my glasses on since I keep forgetting to tell my mom to get me some contacts. She hasn't been out towards the direction of where my eye doctor's building is in forever. Who knows when I'll get more...
"Hey," Amber chirped. Her hair looked like a professional beautician did it this morning compared to mine. I had mine pulled up into a ponytail since I didn't feel like doing anything with it this morning.
We walked side by side into the classroom and took our seats near the front of the room. Mrs. Reid smiled at me when she looked up from her computer. Mrs. Reid was a young woman probably in her late twenties. She had shoulder length red hair and warm brown eyes along with a heart made of gold. Many students think she's a push-over but those students have never been in her class. She can light someone's attitude on fire if they give it to her, which is why I don't giver her any.
"OK, class," She put her hands together and stood in front of us all. I gave Mrs. Reid all of my attention as she assigned certain students to certain columns for the paper. She finally came to me, "Sophia, I want you to do the sports." I smiled at her. This is great! I think this is actually a good one for me since I do like to watch the sports. The boys' basketball championships are coming up soon and I'll get a free pass to watch them as well as write about it.
"Can I help her?" Amber asked from beside me. I was surprised that she offered to help me write something since she didn't like reading or writing. She always tried to avoid it at all costs. Then again, maybe she's doing this so she doesn't have to be with anyone else. Besides, I don't think she really knows anyone else in this class that's not in our grade.
"OK. Both of you work together on this. Now, go to the gym because I heard the girls were starting practice for the all star team." Mrs. Reid explained and shooed us off.
"So, you wanna help me, huh?" I asked Amber as we walked towards the gym. She gave me an uneasy smile, "Yeah." There was something about the way she wouldn't look me in the eyes that made me a little on edge. I'd have to ignore it now, I have business to take care of.
We sat at the top of the bleachers and watched the girls' basketball team run back and forth while in a scrimmage against each other. I missed this so much; running and fighting for the ball to win for my team. It was so much fun and even more fun when we won the games. Now, I don't know if i'll ever get that awesome feeling back. Amber must have read my mind.
"You still have a week to decide if you're trying out for the All Star team. This is just for girls that are wanting to practice before the tryouts. I'll do it if you do." She gestured towards the court. We were currently waiting for them to stop so we could ask a select few if they want and interview for the sports column. Danielle was down there, and I was not asking her.
I looked over at Amber's hopeful face, "I don't yet, Amber. I mean... it don't have anything else on my schedule that I can't handle," I thought about tutoring, the tree house we're supposed to build soon - that is, if we are actually building it- and now All Star's. I chewed on my bottom lip.
"Just think about it. Call me or text me tonight and give me your decision." She replied. I nodded my head at her, "Oh yeah, how was your trip mini golfing with Adam and Cameron? And Danielle..." I added distastefully. Amber chuckled.
"It was pretty good, actually. Adam is awesome and Cameron is hilarious. And Danielle, well, she's Danielle." She told me. I smiled at the Cameron part. I knew he was hilarious. I was around him almost all the time.
"Cam is funny, isn't he?" I said almost dreamily. I quickly snapped out of that state and mentally slapped myself. Amber gave me a weird look and for a moment, I thought she was going to take back what she said. There was no reason for that, though, right?
"Yeah," She chuckled, "Danielle was kind of all over him. She tried to get his attention every minute. I actually kind of thought that he-" Amber looked at me with a guilty expression on her face. It's like she was having a battle in her head with herself between what she was going to say to me. I looked at her expectantly as I waited for her to finish what she was saying.
"I actually kind of thought he was going to punch, for real." Her usual smile surfaced and I knew she was being honest. For some reason, I felt like I couldn't trust Amber like I used to. We used to be inseparable until, well you know, and I could tell her anything. Even now I still do, but later on I feel like I made a mistake by telling her. It's just that I have it stuck in my head that her and I are back to the way we used to be. Maybe I'm wearing my heart on my sleeve, but usually my gut feeling is right.
"I bet she was fun to have along with you guys. I would've come, to be honest. Cam even asked me. I just... I don't know. I didn't want to intrude." I said more to myself so i convince myself that's why I didn't go. The real reason? Danielle is the one who continues to warn me to stay away from Cameron (Which I obviously haven't done) so why would I go with Cameron if I knew Danielle was going to be there? That would be like adding gas to the fire -deathly. Knowing that she spends her summers with Cameron doesn't help my situation. Who knows how she's going to torture me. Danielle has been known to publicly humiliate people just because of the smallest things. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little frightened at what she may do.
Do you want to hear the weird part? She hasn't paid me any mind since... Well, since the day she went mini golfing with Cameron. That was also near when Amber and I became best friends again and when I got my first detention. Did something happen on that mini golfing trip that made her change her mind about me? I can only wonder...
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Cameron's POV
The bell rang for school's dismissal and I bolted out the door. With my backpack hanging from my shoulders, my eyes searched around the hallway to find one familiar face. I was way to excited for my own good to see her. Why? Because I love whenever she laughs, no matter how girly that may sound. I couldn't help it. Everything about her was just amazing. The way she understands me and doesn't get frustrated with me like most people do. She takes her time to get to the bottom of what could be bothering me. I know I shouldn't have these feelings wrapped up inside me, but they were there. The questions like "What will my friends think?" and "What would happen to my social status?" didn't even matter anymore. I could only concentrate on her.
Finally, my eyes landed on her short figure standing in front of her locker, Amber by her side. She listened contently as Amber rambled on about whatever it was she was rambling on about. Speaking of Amber, she doesn't shut up when she's hyper. A few weeks ago at our mini golfing trip, she proved that. A smile never left her face while Adam was there. The same for him to, he couldn't keep his eyes off the girl. Then you had Danielle who pulled Amber away a few times to whisper something to her. She wouldn't stay two feet away from me the entire time. To be honest, I was ready to punch that girl, Danielle. I didn't know if it showed or not but Amber gave me curious looks that were mixed with guilty ones. I didn't really pat attention to them, though.
"Hey," I said cooly as I leaned against the locker beside Sophia's. Adam came along and stopped in front of Amber. She immediately stopped talking and grinned at him before walking towards the parking lot. I scoffed playfully, "OK, see you later to man!" I called after Adam. He put his hand up in the air and gave me a small wave without looking back. Sophia shut her locker and smiled up at me, adjusting her backpack on her back. She seemed happy about something and i had a feeling she was going to gush about it any second.
There's another thing that happened, she practically tells me everything. She made me promise that if one of us needed to tell the other something, that we would keep it a secret. And so that we wouldn't keep any secrets between the two of us. I agreed, I didn't have any secrets to keep from her anyway.
"I have great news!" She broke out in a smile as we walked towards my truck. Although the weather was warmer now and there was no snow, I insisted on giving her rides home. Even if we spent almost every second together, it was nice to have her around all the time.
"What?" I asked, interested.
"I got the sports column in the school's paper!" She squealed and hopped into my truck, "That means I get to come to your games and not pay to get in since I'm writing and taking pictures for the paper. It's so cool." I laughed at her giddiness and started driving towards her house.
"That's great, Soph. You'll be able to come to the championships next month. I'll have a cheerleader for me!" I squealed playfully like a little girl would after getting a new doll. Sophia threw her head back and laughed, "Yeah right! I am not a cheerleader. There are actual cheerleaders for that purpose." I expected that answer.
I glanced at her through the corner of my eyes when we stopped in front of her house. It didn't take us long to get here.
"Remember, we are building the floor of the tree house, OK? How about we go to the lumber mill around... 5? Sound good?" She asked me. I remembered telling her earlier we could start building today, "Yep!"
She gave me one last smile before disappearing in her house.
The smile on my face never left.
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