A week passes by in a flash when you have alot to do but seems very long when you haven't posted anything. :P
---------------------------- -,- -----------------------------------------
Chapter 11- If you're happy and you know it-clap your hands!
Nathaniel
“Ohhh... My head hurts! What happened last night?” Jack sat up and rubbed his temples, his eyes screwed up in pain.
“Hey look! The belly dancer is awake!” Dell shouted, causing Jack to groan and then open his eyes and stare at us in confusion.
“Belly wha-?”
Dell walked over to Jack and placed his hands on Jack's shoulders. “You would put any girl to shame.” He said gravely. “Never let anyone comment on your fat. Coz when it jiggles, the girls giggle.”
That had to be the dumbest pep talk I had ever heard, but it didn't even raise a smile on my lips. Not even when Dell called Jack the next Shakira.
“I DID WHAT!” Jack screamed when Alex told him what happened.
“It's better if I show you.” Dell told him seriously. He took a pillow from his bed and another from Alex's and then stuffed them under his shirt, until he looked like a sumo wrestler. His face was devoid of any emotion and his eyes were closed. He brought his hands up, his forefinger and thumb joined together in a meditation stance and his elbows pressed against his sides to stop the pillows from falling.
“Hit it baby!” Dell yelled at Alex for no apparent reason and then started to imitate the moves Jack had showed us the previous day. “I ! I want to know if my hips don't lie...” Dell started screeching like an ostrich giving birth. (Not that I have ever seen/heard it before.)
Alex was howling with laughing with laughter and Jack just stared, his eyes popping and mouth falling to the ground.
“Show him what he did to Diana!” Alex said between laughs.
“Ah ha my favorite!” Dell said and slowly catwalked towards Jack, trying to be seductive and failing miserably. When he reached him, he jumped and turned around, causing a pillow to fall, and smacked his ass, pushing it back until Jack almost kissed it.
“OH MY GOD!” Jack screamed like a priest on fire and jumped backwards.
“Oh and not to forget. You proposed to her with an onion ring . Said you wanted to marry her, yada yada. Most beautiful girl you have ever seen. You love her. You gave her your number and said, “Call me baby”. And you said you'll stop eating for her.” Alex spun a bunch of lies, screwing with Jack's mind.
Jack looked shocked and then asked, “I said I would stop eating!!!??”
At that I couldn't help but give a tiny smile. Jack groaned and was asking Dell and Alex a bunch of questions. I heard Dell touch Jack and say, “Oh! The boy is a fart!” Alex said “No no, HOT not a FART!”.
“What happened to him?” Jack suddenly asked the others, nodding his head in my direction.
I was standing near the window, opposite them, and pretending to be very interested in a pile of animal poop on the front porch. I heard the guys shuffle awkwardly and Alex whispered, “Girl Troubles”.
Last night after I ran away from the lodge, I hid far into in the woods, walking away in anger until I got lost. Finally I sunk besides an old oak tree, banging my head backwards on its hard wood. Sometimes, I thought, by inflecting physical pain on yourself it numbs away the pain of your emotions. I screamed, letting all my feelings out through my voice and the dropped my shoulders in exhaustion. I was tired. What made me act that way. So cruel.... so different...... that I had forgotten myself. I just wanted to cause Jessica that same pain I felt. The toughest question a person has when hurt by someone is - Do they hurt as much as I do?
When I was angry I didn't care what I said, what I did. I wanted to be the one who won - not a loser who walked away with a bowed head. But what I did... was it right? Did I have a right to express myself in that way? I had publicly humiliated myself by doing so. Maybe when you're angry, you want attention. You want people to know that you are doing something they aren't. Willing them to try and stop you, being a star at that moment. What did they think? Were they excited by the drama, happy that they were mere spectators. Thinking, “Haha he's unhappy, I'm not.”
Clea. Her name popped into my head. Her face was hazy from the memories I had of the crowd. She was shocked, saddened,with a hint of what in my present state I thought as pity. I groaned. I hadn't thought of her ever since I saw my number. Only Jessica's name echoed with urgency in my mind. Stupid inner voice - where was he when I needed him.
I picked myself up and walked without any sense of direction, walking wherever my feet took me. Suddenly I reached the Hanging Monkeys cabin. I stood a little away from it. Just stood there looking at it for what seemed like hours. I wanted to go in to see her. The only thing that confused me was, I didn't know whether that her was Clea or Jessica.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Clea
When you hear a song you enjoy the music, but when you're hurt you understand the lyrics.
I couldn't sleep this night either. But not from boredom. Jessica was crying into her pillow, her sobs muffled by its fabric. I don't think anyone was asleep. All of us were dying to comfort her, we just didn't know how. I didn't know how I should feel. She was Nathaniel's ex. I was supposed to be happy that she was hurt. That he didn't want her anymore. But I felt sad and unfaithful. I loved him, then why did I let myself think of his bad side. When you loved someone, you had to only think of the good in them, forgiving them for their mistakes, pardoning anything that was undesirable. Right? Then why did I only think of his ugly truth. How he hurt the girl in the next bed without any thought. This wasn't the first time. He hurt her many times over the months, either with cruel words that made you want to scream at him or with wicked gestures. How could a person be an angel one minute, and a demon the next. I was confused, unsure of any decision. What was wrong with me? Suddenly I remembered people telling me how he was a bad boy, that I shouldn't even consider being with him. But they were all in relationships of their own, what right did they have to give me any advice.
I remembered the Karaoke and was tempted to believe them. The little voice in my head was screaming with delight and bouncing up and down on the Window of Truth. Nathaniel... where was he. I didn't see him after he had run away. I prayed he was alright. Why was it that even though he was the one who hurt Jessica, I wanted to comfort him? I groaned and punched my pillow. Maybe coz every girl was always attracted to a bad boy......
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nathaniel
I had only gone back to the cabin a few minutes before dawn, to see Alex worriedly sitting up in his bed. He gave me a weary smile and a squeeze on the shoulder. We sat in silence for a long time and finally he told me,”It's okay man. You didn't mean to.” I shook my head sadly, “I did and that's what hurts the most.”
“Whoa he did what?!” Jack asked, jolting me off my reverie and back into the present.
“Kinda sang re-dumped her.” Dell told him, nodding his head solemnly.
Jack looked at me with a total expression of awe. I glared at Dell and Alex and turned to the window. Jack came and placed a hand on my shoulder. When I turned to look at him, he was patting my shoulder and saying, “I know how you feel Nath. I guess...I guess I felt the same way when someone took the last packet of cookies at the supermarket.” Dell and Alex were giving Jack WTF looks while Jack's eyes started to mist up.
“Um... I'm sure that hurt Jack.” I told him, holding back a grin.
“It did!” Jack said sadly, “It was an all-in-cookie and those are so hard to find.” The guy was actually starting to cry, rubbing his eyes and sniffing at the memory of How-I-Lost-My-Cookie.
“Whoa whoa whoa!” Dell came to us, his hands raised in a stop gesture and a look of total disbelief on his face. “Jack! It was a cookie, for crying out loud!”
Jack was mumbling something that sounded a lot like- “It was D cookie.”
“You are supposed to be cheering up Nathaniel.” Dell said through gritted teeth. “Not telling him your cookie tales. Next you'll tell him about how Santa stole your milk and cookies for Christmas!!!”
I laughed, quickly turning it into a cough. I really didn't want to hurt Jack's feelings. Dell and Alex suddenly looked at each other with a I'm-A-Genius look on their faces and I imagined a light bulb clicking on above their heads. Slowly they grinned and mouthed “Jack Jokes”
Poor Jack.
“Hey Nathaniel, did you know, Jack's so fat, he has to put his belt on with a boomerang?” Dell told me.”Coz that's the only way to get it around!”
“Why did the chicken cross the road?” Alex asked, grinning wildly, “To get AWAY FROM JACK!”
“Guys...” Jack said warningly.
“When Jack was a baby, his parents had to feed him with a catapult!”
“GUYS...”
I was covering my mouth to stop myself from bursting out laughing.
“Jack is so ugly, he looked out of the window and got arrested for mooning!”
“Stop it...”
“Jack is so fat, his I.D says, “Picture continued on the other side!”
“I SAID STOP IT!!!!” Jack shouted.
“Hahahahah!” I burst out laughing. Jack was currently chewing on a mars bar nervously and glaring at Dell and Alex at the same time. The other two were giving each other high-5s and beating at their chests like King Kong. I grinned. Whatever shit there might be in your life, your friends are always there when you need them to pull you out !
“AND HE LAUGHS” Adrian shouted when he entered the cabin, a grin on his face.
My smile automatically turned into a scowl.
“Well you guys can't just sit here the whole day. Come on, get a move on, you have your activities to get to. Plus the Green Forest Cup starts tomorrow, so it's your last day to practice.” Adrian told us, pushing the other three out.
“Yes sir!” The three of them chirped and gave mock salutes and went out.
Adrian was standing near the door and when I reached there he rested his arm against the doorway, blocking my exit.
“Excuse me, sir.” I told him through clenched teeth.
“You know, if you keep running after your ex, Clea might just come running to someone else.” Adrian told slyly, “A.K.A me.”
“Then I'll make sure to catch her before she does.” I replied. We were not facing each other. I was looking outside, and he, into the cabin, but I could feel a smirk light up his features.
“Not while I'm around Kid.”
“We'll see about that Adrian. I'm not letting go so easily. She's mine.”
“Game on, Nathaniel.” Adrian said with a dangerous smile.
Yup. Game on.
------------------------- -,- ---------------------------------------
I really had no idea what to name this chapter and suddenly, "If you're happy and you know it" started playing in my head :D
So how did you like this chapter???
Love the reviews I have been getting, thanks for the comments and votes. XD
More than 800 reads in under a month- Me so happy!!!!
Please continue to Vote/ Comment/ Fan :)
I decided to put this up for the Watty Awards.
Hope I have all your support for this. :->