"Lila, time to wake up!"
I slowly sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes
"What time is it?"
"Almost 2:00, Zack is going to be here to pick you up in 2 hours, you need to get a shower and I have to help you get ready,"
"I'm gonna get in the shower,"
"I'll get everything ready while you shower,"
"Just lay the outfit you pick out in the bathroom and I'll get dressed once I'm done,"
"I have it hanging up on the back of the door, you're going to love it!"
I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I looked at the dress that she had picked out for me, and I smiled, It was perfect. Sarah had done an amazing job of picking it out. I got into the shower and stood under the water for about 10 minutes, before starting to wash off my hair and body.
"Lila are you done yet?"
"Yeah hold on, I'm almost done,"
I turned off the water and started drying myself off, I put on deodorant and got dressed.
Sarah knocks on the door "Lila, come on,"
I opened the door, and walked out, sitting in the chair she had placed in front of the dresser.
"Finally, I've only got an hour and a half and I have to blow dry your hair,"
"What are you gonna do to my hair?"
"You'll see, I think you're gonna love it, and so is Zack,"
"I hope so, I'm so nervous. my stomach is in knots,"
"You have nothing to worry about Lila, he loves you so much,"
"I know, he's my first boyfriend, and I'm still surprised that we've made it to a year already,"
"aww, I think it's so special that you're each other's first boyfriend/girlfriend, I wish I could have given that to Luke,"
"At least he's your first love, kiss and stuff like that,"
"Yeah, That's true. I still think about the night of that football game and everything that happened, even though I don't remember anything. I still feel like I let God down, and Luke too. Even though it's been 9 months since it happened, I still can't shake those feelings,"
"Have you told him how you feel?"
"No, I'm scared to say anything, I don't know how he'll react,"
"Talk to him tonight, you need to tell him how you feel,"
"You're right, we haven't talked too much about it,"
"Open up to him and tell him how you feel, I don't think you should hide it from him,"
I looked up to see that tears were starting to come down her face, I stood up and hugged her tightly, "Oh, Sarah, I'm sorry," I rubbed her back, trying my best to comfort her.
She wipes the tears from her eyes, "I'm sorry,"
I hugged her tighter, "Don't apologize,"
"I should be focussed on you though,"
I shook my head, " I'd rather listen to you and comfort you, especially knowing you're upset, If we're a little late getting done, so what, the boys can wait, They'll understand,"
"You're right, I just feel bad that I'm taking time away from you and Zack celebrating your anniversary,"
"Don't feel bad, we have all night to be together, and all week at camp, We still have 45 minutes until they get here, If you do my hair, I'll do my makeup, that way it goes faster,"
"You're the best Lila,"
"Let me put my necklace on first,"
"Isn't that the one he got you for your birthday last year?"
"Yeah it is, I wear it every day,"
"Aww, I love that,"
"It's one of my favorite things that he's bought me, besides my Bible,"
"I remember that night, It was the night you got saved, and you guys started dating, I had a feeling he was going to ask you that night,"
"I'm glad he did, he made the night perfect,"
"Hey guys," Sarah and I both turn our heads to see Luke standing in the doorway
"She's almost ready, is Zack here yet?"
"Not yet, I just got here, I figured you were still getting her ready,"
"Yeah, I'm almost done with her hair, and she's doing her makeup to speed up the process,"
"You look beautiful Lila, Zack is going to be speechless when he sees you,"
"I hope so, It's been a while since I dressed up like this,"
"He's gonna love it, Lila, I agree with Luke, you look beautiful,"
"Thanks, guys, I think I'm ready,"
"Perfect timing, I heard the doorbell,"
"Let me get the gift and I'll be down in a second,"
I grabbed the gift bag, purse, and sprayed some body spray and walked downstairs.
Zack smiled as soon as he saw me, "You look beautiful Lila,"
"Thank you, you look good too,"
"Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah, let's go,"
"Have fun guys," Sarah says as we walked outside
Zack holds my hand, as we walk down the driveway, "I'm excited to spend the afternoon and evening together,"
"Me too, I've been looking forward to this forever,"
"I have too, I've been wanting to take my gorgeous girlfriend on a date,"
"I love you, I'm glad we get to go out tonight,"
"Me too, I'm hungry,"
"Me too, I haven't eaten today,"
"Me either, I didn't wake up until late,"
"I slept until almost 2:00, I couldn't sleep last night,"
"I stayed up late playing video games, why couldn't sleep?"
"I was just excited for today, and thinking about camp, I'm just excited,"
"Me too, I'm nervous about preaching though,"
"You're gonna do amazing babe, I can't wait to see what you preach on,"
"I've got the sermon planned already, You'll have to wait and see,"
"I can't wait,"
Zack opens the door for me and we walk inside, "How about we go to the park and get ice cream after dinner,"
"That sounds perfect,"
Zack and I sit down at one of the corner booths, "What do you want to eat?"
"My usual, I gotta save a little room or ice cream,"
"We'll have snacks at Sarah's tonight as well,"
"Yeah, we're having a movie night, and I think going swimming when we get back,"
"That sounds like fun, I can't wait to spend time with you, Luke and Sarah,"
"I'm excited that you guys get to spend the night at her house, so we can all head to the church together,"
"I probably won't sleep much tonight, Every year I struggle to sleep the night before camp. I'm always excited, and a little nervous to see what the week will bring,"
"I was the same way last year, I barely slept that night, I was nervous, I had only known you guys for about a month and a half, and you were the only ones I knew,"
"Now a year later you have a bunch of friends,"
"I wouldn't say a bunch, I'm closest to Sarah and Josie, but I've also started getting closer to Cara and Addyson,"
"What about Katherine and Jordyn? I've seen you guys talking during youth group,"
"They're nice, I just haven't gotten to know them well, I'm hoping to get to know them better during camp,"
"I think that's a great idea, I'm proud of you Lila. You've come so far in the last year, I think you're going to be someone that the younger teens at camp look up to, especially in the next couple years as we become the upperclassmen,"
"Thank you, Zack, That's one thing that I've been praying about the last few weeks,"
"You should talk to Grace about it, She'd be excited, and I'm sure she'd let you lead cabin time one night if you asked,"
"You think I could do that?"
"Of course I do! I think it's something that God could be calling you to do, You'll have Sarah, and Josie there too,"
" There's also Cara, Addyson, Katherine, and Jordyn in our cabin, but I don't know who the other three girls are, last year Sarah was the only one from our church in my cabin,"
"This year we got to pick our own cabin mates though, last year they randomly assigned it,"
" Do you know who's in your cabin?"
"All I know is we're with Pastor Evan, and I have Luke and Asher, the guys don't care who is in our cabins because we get along with everyone,"
"Good point, with girls there's more drama and arguing,"
Zack laughs, "Definitely, Some of the arguments you and Sarah have gotten into, Luke and I just rolled our eyes about,"
"Most of them weren't that bad, the worst two arguments we had were at fall weekend, and the day of homecoming,"
"Fall Weekend was the worst though, you didn't talk to each other for two days, which was unheard of,"
"It's all because she didn't know how to handle the emotions from what happened with Luke. That's why she had been acting strange,"
"I knew something had to be up, I hadn't ever seen her act like that,"
"Did Luke act strange? or was he trying to act normal?"
"I didn't notice anything different about him, until after they told us what had happened, he took it hard for a while, and I think he's still struggling with it deep down,"
"Sarah is too, She had a breakdown earlier, I told her to talk to him tonight while we were gone,"
"I thought she looked like she had been crying, but I wasn't sure,"
"Luke didn't notice, or if he did, he didn't say anything,"
"I think he noticed, He had this worried look on his face,"
"Hopefully everything will be okay when we get back,"
"I'm sure it will be, they talk everything through, they rarely fight,"
"We don't either, thankfully,"
"It's because I love you and I don't want to argue,"
"I love you too, Thank you Zack, the last year of my life has been perfect because of you,"
"I feel the same way, no matter what we've gone through this year, we've managed to come out on the other side even stronger,"
"We've been through a lot this year,"
"I can't wait to see where we are next year, I'll be through my first year of college and we'll be going into our senior year of high school,"
"That's hard to believe,"
"I know, you ready to walk to the park and get ice cream?"
"Yeah, let's go"
Zack takes my hand into his as we walk out of the restaurant, "It's beautiful out today, almost as beautiful as you,"
"You're sweet, It is nice out today, I'm glad it wasn't too hot today,"
"The heatwave starts tomorrow when we go to camp,"
"Good thing there's a lake and a swimming pool,"
"I agree, It'll help keep us cool when it's supposed to be over 90 degrees the next few days,"
"What else are you looking forward to about camp?"
"Honestly, my quiet time in the morning before everyone gets up, do you want to join me? We'll meet under the gazebo again,"
"I'd love to Zack,"
"I loved the few days of you joining me last year, and I've loved getting to go out for coffee every week and discuss what we're reading and going through the different bible study books we've worked through this year,"
"Me too, It's been the highlight of my week,"
"Mine too,"
"Let me pay for the ice cream, you can sit on the swings,"
"Nope, I'm paying since it's our anniversary,"
I gently kissed him, "Fine, but you at least have to let me pay once,"
"During camp, you can plan something for us to do and I'll let you pay for it,
"Really?"
"Of course, I just wanna pay today since it's our anniversary, go find a place to sit at and I'll bring the ice cream over,"
I gently kissed him again, "I love you,"
He smiles, "I love you too,"
I walked over to the swings and sat down, placing his gift on the swing next to me.
"Here's your ice cream babe,"
"Thank you, You can open your gift if you want to,"
"I'll open it once we finish eating our ice cream, I have a little surprise for you,"
"That sounds perfect,"
I quickly ate my ice cream and got up to throw the cup away. "I've never seen you eat that fast before,"
"I've been wanting ice cream forever, that's why"
"I'm almost done, then we can go on a walk, I have something I wanna show you,"
I held his hand as I gently start swinging, "Today has been amazing,"
"Yeah, it has, because I have you by my side,"
"Let me throw your cup away and we can go for a walk,"
I got up and walked over to the trash can, Zack grabs the gift bag and takes my hand into his as we walk down the sidewalk. As we approached the pond, I could see a blanket set up and a trail of rose petals leading to it. I instantly started tearing up seeing all the thought that he had put into this.
"This is perfect,"
"I'm glad you like it, I had a little help setting this part up,"
We sat down on the blanket, and he wrapped his arm around my waist, placing a gentle kiss on my cheek. " I wanted to surprise you and do something special for today,"
"I love it, it means so much to me, and seeing how much thought into all of this, it made me tear up,"
"You're still tearing up a little,"
"I know, I can't help it,"
"It's sweet though,"
I laid my head on his shoulder and watched the ducks as they swam around in the pond.
"Do you want me to open your gift now?"
"Yeah, It's not much, but I wanted to get you something,"
He slowly opens the gift bag and gets everything that's inside out.
"These are some of your favorite snacks, and this is a letter from me, which you can read later,"
"What's this?" he asks pointing to the wrapped Bible
"Open it and see,"
He smiles as he starts unwrapping the box. "I wanted to get a new Bible before I started school this fall, I can't believe you remember me saying that," He opens the box up and takes the Bible out, "You even got it engraved with my name and favorite verse, Thank you, Lila,"
"I'm glad you like it, I know it wasn't a lot, but I wanted to get you something I knew you'd use, and I remember you saying that you wanted to get a new one for school, So I decided to make it special and get you one you'd use and keep forever,"
He gently kisses my lips, "Thank you,"
"You're welcome Zack, I love you,"
He reaches into the basket that's sitting on the blanket and pulls out a small bag. "This is for you," I smiled and slowly started opening the bag, inside was a small velvet box. Zack kneels in front of me, "I know what you're thinking, and it's not an engagement ring, This is a promise ring, Lila, I know you're the girl that I'm going to spend the rest of my life with, You're my best friend and the love of my life. I not only want to make a promise to you that in a few years, I'm going to propose, and marry you, but I also want to promise you that I'm going to keep myself for only you, and love only you for the rest of my life,"
Tears stream down my face as he slips the ring on my finger, "I love you, Zack,"
He wraps me in a tight hug, "I love you too,"
"I can't believe you got me a promise ring,"
"I thought of the idea a few months ago, and Luke helped me plan this part of the night,"
"You did amazing babe, I'm still in shock"
"I know, I could see the look on your face when you saw the box, That's why I wanted to explain it before I made those promises to you,"
"I knew it wasn't an engagement ring, We still have at least two years of dating before that happens,"
"I already know when I want to propose and I'm working on saving up for the ring,"
I smiled, "I can't wait, two years can't come fast enough,"
"I agree, let's go back to Sarah's house, I'm sure Luke's told her what's happening by now,"
"Probably, and she's dying to see the ring,"
Zack takes my hand into his as we walked back to Sarah's house, I stayed silent, I couldn't stop thinking about everything that he had planned tonight, I truly felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
"You okay Lila? You've been quiet for a while,"
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just got lost in thought is all,"
He smiles, "Good"
"Ready to be attacked with a million questions as soon as we walk through the door?"
"Yeah, let's go in,"
"Hello Lila and Zack, Sarah and Luke are outside in the pool if you want to join them, or you can go downstairs and watch movies," Her mom says
Zack smiles, "Thank you, Mrs. Campbell,"
"You're welcome sweetheart, and happy anniversary you two, I know you just ate, but we're having pizza delivered soon if you guys want some,"
"Let's change and go outside and swim,"
"Whatever you guys wear, I'll wash so you can have it back for camp tomorrow,"
Zack gently kisses me, "I'll see you in a bit babe,"
I nodded and ran upstairs to the bedroom. I slowly took off all my makeup and tied my hair up in a bun. I started digging through the dresser trying to find a swimsuit. When I finally found one, I walked into the bathroom to change.
I looked in the mirror and saw all of the scars from where I had self-harmed the last year, and I started to become self-conscious. I slipped one of Zack's shirts on over top and walked downstairs
"There you are," Zack says as he stands up from the couch
"Yeah, sorry, I had to take my make up off and stuff,"
"It's okay, let's go out and join them,"
"I think I'm just gonna lay out in the sun, I don't want to get in the water,"
Zack and I walked outside, Sarah and Luke were sitting in the hot tub, talking
"Oh, you guys are back already?" Sarah asks
"Yeah, we're back, everything okay?" Zack asks
"Yeah, we were just talking,"
"We can leave you guys alone,"
"No it's okay, We can talk about it later,"
"Is it about what you told me?"
Sarah nods, "Yeah it is,"
"Then we'll go inside and watch tv or something until you guys are done, you need to talk it out,"
Zack and I walk back inside and go downstairs to the basement, where her parents had set up snacks and drinks for us.
"What do you want to watch?"
"I don't know, I don't think we should start a movie but we can watch something on TV,"
"What do you normally watch on Tv?"
"Stuff you wouldn't like, so I'll let you decide,"
Zack turns the tv to some cartoon that I hadn't seen before, I laid my head on his shoulder and started to drift off to sleep
"Hey babe" Zack nudges me
"What?"
"They're done talking if you want to go out,"
"How long has it been?"
"45 minutes, you slept through most of it,"
"Let's go out then,"
"There you guys are," Sarah says as we walk outside
"Everything good?"
She nods, "We'll talk later, how was your date,"
"It was good,"
"Just good?"
"You didn't tell her did you?" Zack asks Luke
"Nope, I wanted it to be a surprise for her too,"
"What are you talking about?" Sarah asks
"Zack got me a promise ring for our anniversary"
"He what?"
I showed her the ring, "he gave this whole sweet speech and it was the most amazing thing ever,"
"I can't believe he did that,"
"Me either,"
"The look on her face was priceless and meant more to me than anything," Zack says
"That's so sweet that you even thought of that," she says
"He also told me he knows how and when he's going to propose, and that's still two years away,"
"It gives me plenty of time to plan it and save for a ring,"
"I have ideas too, but I won't say anything more than that," Luke says
"I have another idea,"
Zack whispers something in Luke's ear and he nods,
"What did he say?" Sarah asks
"You'll find out," Luke says
"Zackary James put me down,"
He jumps in the pool with me in his arms, as I start to resurface, I hear another big splash, Sarah had suffered the same fate I had
"I told you I didn't want to get wet,"
"Come on babe it was a joke,"
I got one of the towels that was sitting outside and started drying off a little before walking inside.
"Lila?"
"Go away Zack," I walked into Sarah's room and grabbed my pajamas, before heading into the bathroom to take my second shower of the day. as I took off the wet shirt and swimsuit, I looked in the mirror, once again noticing the scars.
I heard a knock on the door "Lila are you okay?" Sarah asks
"Yeah, I'm gonna take a shower, I'll be out soon,"
I got in the shower and stood under the water for about 10 minutes, before starting to wash off my hair and body, after a few more minutes, I got out and dried myself off and changed into my pajamas. I brushed my hair up in a bun and did my normal nighttime routine.
Once I finished, I threw my dirty clothes in my hamper, and laid down in bed, I closed my eyes pretending to be asleep as I hear someone coming down the hallway into the room.
"She's asleep guys," Luke says
"Do we wake her up?" Sarah asks
"No leave her alone, she's already mad at me, I don't want to make it worse,"
"Good point, you'll see her in the morning, you can apologize then,"
I felt a gentle kiss on my cheek, "Good night babe, I love you,"