I know it's been forever, and I greatly apologize for that. Things have been hectic, and when I say hectic, I mean HECTIC. But that's unimportant at the moment. Here's chapter 18, no guarantees on the next one. Vote, comment yadda, yadda, yadda...ya just go read the thing.
~Alex
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I woke up in the morning, my eyelids heavy and my head throbbing. I had barley slept a wink that night; confusing dreams plaguing every minute that I had been able to drift off.
I sat up and put my head in my hands. My brain was swirling with uncertainty and confusion, causing the room to spin around me.
When Andrew kissed me...I responded. I replayed that moment in my mind over and over and over. I could still feel his soft lips pressed against mine, the sparks that spread through my body, leaving smoldering embers in their trail. I had never felt like this before...it was all new and strange and, quite honestly, it scared me. I just didn't know what to think anymore.
He said he had loved me since kindergarten. I now rethought every hug; every time we held hands, every touch, every word he said...it had all meant something different to him than it did to me. Something more...much much more.
I suddenly felt the need to take a shower, maybe in hopes that the water would wash away some of the confusion, that the warm vapor would somehow help me clear my head.
I swung my legs over my bed, jumping slightly when my feet touched the cold floor, and grabbed some cloths from the duffle bag Connor had given me when I got here. My feet tread softly against the ground as I silently opened my door, not wanting to wake Elli. The door clicked behind me and I turned around only to be met with Davo's face a mere foot from mine. I froze and stayed silent, waiting for him to say something.
"Hey..." he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Look, Pix, about yesterday-"
"It's cool Davo," I interrupted him. His brow scrunched up in confusion. "I get it. It was just the heat of the moment. We can just forget it happened ok?"
His face dropped slightly as he processed what I was saying. "Uh...ya...sure..." he said, looking at my feet. "Heat of the moment..." He mumbled something inaudible while shaking his head.
"Well, I'm going to go take a shower, see you around Davo." I pushed past him and walked toward the stairs.
"See ya." He mumbled as I walked by.
I tried not to think about his dejected face as I opened the door to the large bathroom.
Tried, being the key word here.
I grabbed a towel from the closet and walked into the nearest stall.
The water felt good as it washed the dirt and mud off of me from the previous day. As good as the water felt, it did nothing to my state of mind. I couldn't help the knot of pain in my stomach, though weather it was from the confusion with Andrew, finding out our friendship was a lie, Davo's hurt face that I hoped I had just imagined, or any of the other things gnawing away at me, I didn't know.
I hated hurting Davo, but what happened between us could be forgotten, ignored, We could go back to the way we were before, but if I had let him continue, it might not have been so easily forgotten anymore. Unfortunately, that couldn't be done with Andrew. What he said could not be forgotten or ignored, that was for sure.
The water running cold took me out of my thoughts. I turned the water off and wrapped my towel around me. After I was dry enough, I got dressed, grabbed my dirty cloths and towel and headed back to my room.
"Maggie!"
I froze at the familiar voice.
Speak of the devil...
His footsteps echoed in the hallway as they drew closer, being the only thing to break the silence, since mine had stopped. He put one hand on my shoulder and I turned slowly, keeping my head down as to not look him in the face.
"Maggs, come on, look at me please." I sighed deeply and turned my face up to him. A sweet smile spread across his face, which made my stomach clench and flip uncomfortably. "See now that wasn't so hard..."
"Andrew, I..." My mouth hung open at a loss for words. I shook my head and turned, trying to make a quick escape.
Again, key word: Trying.
He grabbed my wrist and spun me back around so I was facing him.
"Come on Maggs, we've known each other since preschool. I can read you like an open book." He reached his hand up and brushed a piece of stray hair from my face. "You can't stand here and tell me that you don't feel anything. You can't tell me that that blush means nothing." He brushed his thumb against my cheek, where I could feel the blood begin to gather. "You can't tell me that that kiss meant nothing, because keep in mind, you kissed me back." His hand griped the back of my neck gently as he began to lean his face closer to mine. At the last second before his lips touched mine, I turned my head to the side. His lips landed on my cheek and he pulled back, confused.
"I...I think its best..." My voice came out in barley a whisper. "If you don't talk to me Andrew. I think we...we should keep our distance. Please just leave me alone." And with that I turned, his hand falling from my face to dangle at his side, and walked back to my room without turning back.
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It had been a week and I had put every effort into avoiding Andrew. Every time he had tried to talk to me I made some excuse, or just flat out ran away. I wasn't ready to face him, after all, just a week ago he had confessed to having loved me since kindergarten.
I felt horrible for hurting him, and missed talking to him terribly. Every time I heard his voice calling me across the yard, I wanted so bad to run to him...but in the end, I just couldn't. He wanted to know how I felt, but I couldn't tell him that...because I didn't know.
I hadn't talked to Elli, Cece, or Bailey about any of this because I knew it would bring about a set of questions that I just wasn't ready to answer. Though I hadn't told them, they had noticed me trying to avoid him and the tension between us when proximity couldn't be helped. I wasn't sure if they had talked to Andrew, but they hadn't said a word to me about it. They only way that I knew they knew was the questioning looks they gave us.
Davo was a slightly different story. I continued to talk to him, though it would get a little awkward at times. But, for the most part, we went back to the way we were before, that almost-kiss in the rain all but forgotten. If only it could be as easy with Andrew...
And not even to mention the hostility between Davo and Andrew. Every time they got near each other, it looked as if they would jump on each other any second. Sometimes I would catch them looking at each other from across the yard, Andrew looking sad and jealous, and Davo looking smug with a mocking smile. I never said anything though, not wanting to bring the events to attention and run the risk of having to discuss it.
We were all sitting on the couches in the rec. room, an awkward silence filling the room like smog. Thick and choking.
"Ok that's it!" Exclaimed Bailey, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. "I'm tired of all this tension between you two!" She looked pointedly at Andrew and I. "We are going to go swimming. You are going to talk to each other and have fun, whether you like it or not." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, making it
clear that there was no arguing on this one.
We all reluctantly got up and followed Bailey out the door.
"Actually guys," Said Elli. "I'm going to hang back. There are some things I've got to take care of."
"Ok see ya," Said Cece. We all said our goodbyes as Elli ran back into the house and the rest of our party followed Bailey into the forest.
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Water sprayed on me as Cece did a cannon ball into the small lake.
Bailey had led us to a lake she had found some time ago. It had a high ledge, easily fifteen feet, which had a waterfall cascading down it. The water was different depths in different areas, maybe twelve feet at its deepest and a crystal clear blue-green. It was beautiful to say the least.
I sat on a rock at the edge of the lake, watching as small silver fish darted back and forth under the rippled surface.
"Come on in Maggie!" Cece yelled from the water.
I sighed and dived in head first, knowing if I didn't come willingly, she would most likely just pull me in. The cool refreshing water encased me, making the world go silent for a few moments before I broke the surface. I swam over to Cece just as she yelled, "You too Andrew! Don't make me come over there!" I looked in the direction she was to see Andrew sitting on the edge of the lake, dangling his feet in the water.
He slowly lowered himself into the water and swam over to her.
I took that as my cue to leave.
I began to swim away only to have Bailey latch one hand around my arm and tow me back. "Oh no, you're not going anywhere." She whispered. We were in one of the shallower parts of the lake, so we could all stand without having to tread water. Bailey pulled me until I was standing right next to Andrew. My muscles tensed nervously, I could almost feel the tension growing between us.
Cece and Bailey stood in front of us, their arms crossed over their chests and wearing identical stern, 'no B-S' looks.
"Ok you two," began Cece. "We don't know exactly what is going on, but you guys need to cut this out."
"Yeah," agreed Bailey. "For the past week you've barley said two words to each other. You," she pointed at Andrew. "Have been all sad and cynical and every time you see Maggie, it gets worse. And you," She turned her accusing finger to me. "Have been literally running away from him at every attempt to talk to you."
"If you don't want to tell us what's going on, fine," Cece cut in. "But you two need to work this out. We'll just keep pushing until you do, so there's really no use in putting this off."
"Now talk," ordered Bailey.
*Jeeze, did they rehearse this or something?*
'I don't know, but either way, this isn't going to be good.'
We stood in silence for a minute, the tension rising under the hawk-like glares of Bailey and Cece.
"Look Maggs...I-" Before Andrew could finish his sentence, his eyes glazed over and he looked off into space, as if seeing something far away from here.
"Uh...hello?" I asked waving my hand in front of his face. I turned to Cece and Bailey to see the same blank look on their faces. Davo swam up behind me.
"What's their problem?" He asked.
"No clue..." Just then Andrew's eyes seemed to focus back on the here and now and looked down at me.
"Connor wants us," He said, sounding a little disappointed. "He says it's urgent." He looked down at me longingly, looking frustrated that he had been interrupted from what he was saying.
"Yeah, we should go," said Cece. "He sounded kind of worried."
"Yeah, let's go. But don't think this is over you two." Bailey narrowed her eyes at us. We all got out of the lake and ran back to the house in silence, the wind from the force of our run drying our cloths considerably.
When we got there we saw the entire the pack outside, all faced towards the picnic table that Connor was standing up on. The crowd was silent except for the occasional whisper.
Connor turned his head to see us enter the clearing. The look in his eyes shocked me, it was so hurt, so torn...and desperate. He looked as if someone just told him that he only had a day to live. His eyes seemed sunken and distant, his shoulders were slightly hunched, and he paced back and forth on the table nervously.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
He breathed a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Ok, well, I'm not completely sure how to say this..." He said, loud enough that the whole pack could hear. "I've been going over our records and I've noticed something..." He raked his fingers through his hair. "In our past fights with Danny's pack, they've anticipated our every step, known our every move. They've known things that only our own pack knows. And...though I've exhausted every other possible explanation...I've only found one to be plausible." He looked over the entire pack before speaking, "Someone here has been feeding information to them. It seems that there's a mole in our pack." A chorus of gasps and frantic whispers erupted from the crowd.
A memory flashed into my mind.
"Our informant has notified us of an impending attack," said Danny "They will come from the north. They were planning on taking us by surprise here in our camp."
He had said it himself, he had an informant.
There was a traitor among us.
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DUN DUN DUN! =D