Gone
By LandminesLandslides
(Mitchie's POV)
It's the day after Final Jam. Everyone's taking a last look at the camp before we leave. "Hey, has anyone seen Tess?" Ella asks.
"Didn't she get up with you guys this morning?" Caitlyn asks her. Ella shakes her head.
"She didn't even come back to the cabin last night," Peggy says, "I heard someone say they saw her going into the lodge. You don't think she spent last night there, do you?"
"Do you really think she would do that?" I ask out loud.
"Not normally," Ella answers, "But something really hit her hard at Final Jam. Who knows what's going through her head?"
"We should go look for her," I suggest, "You know, make sure she's all right."
"Yeah," Caitlyn says, "I'll go check the lodge. Maybe she's still there."
"Peggy and I will check the campfire area," Ella says, "Tess always talked about how being there made her feel good."
"I'll try the lake," I decide. We all head off in different directions. It takes about ten minutes to walk to the beach, even at a slight jog, but it pays off. Tess is standing there by herself, staring out at the water.
"Hey," I call to her. She turns around, looking a little panicked.
"Mitchie…I….um," she stammers.
"Hey, relax," I tell her with a smile, "I come in peace." She sighs a little, seeming relieved.
"How'd you know I was here?" she asks me. Not in a harsh tone, just a neutral one.
"This is where I would come if I didn't want to be found," I tell her, "I just took a chance that maybe you had the same idea. You know, everyone's looking for you."
"They are?" she asks, sounding a little surprised.
"Yeah," I tell her, "Peggy, Ella, even Caitlyn."
"I can't go back yet," she tells me.
"Well, the buses will be here soon," I respond, "Aren't you going to get your stuff out of the cabin?"
"I can't," she says, "How can I go back there and face Ella and Peggy after the way I've acted? Not to mention Caitlyn. After making their lives miserable, how can I possibly go back and ask them to forgive me?" She looks like she's about ready to cry. I've never seen her like this. She's always seemed so strong and put together.
"Hey, they will forgive you," I tell her, "Just look at me. I spent the whole summer living a lie and they've forgiven me. I'm sure they'll do the same for you." I pause for a minute and then ask the question I've been waiting to ask. "What happened last night anyway?" I ask, "Peggy and Ella said you were really shaken up."
"Mom left again," she says brokenly, "Just like always. Every time I'd call her, she'd have to leave. Every time I'd have a performance, I'd be lucky if she even showed up in the first place. Last night was her first time coming to see me perform and she bailed on me for a phone call." Tears are starting to stream down her face. "I thought that if I made everything perfect, she would stay this time," she says, "I pushed Peggy and Ella harder than ever. So hard that I ended up losing the two real friends I had in this world. I even got rid of you and Caitlyn because I thought you might be better than me. But it was all a waste. Because in the end, she left again anyway. I threw away everything I had and I got nothing. " She looks at me, her face now soaked with tears. "Say something!" she yells, "Tell me that I deserve it, tell me that this is punishment for what I did. Just say something!"
"Tess," I say, approaching her slowly, "I won't tell you that you deserve this because you don't. No one deserves to suffer like this." I kneel down next to her and pull her into a tight hug. "You didn't lose anything that you can't get back Tess," I tell her, "I'm more than willing to forget the past if you are. I'm sure the others feel the same way."
"You think so?" she asks.
"Of course," I tell her, "But you have to make the first step. Come back with me and talk to them. "
"Okay," she says simply. Nothing more than that, but at least it means she's willing to try, which is good. I let her out of the hug and help her to her feet. We start to walk slowly back towards camp.
"I'm sorry," she says as we walk, "I was so busy being selfish and petty this summer that I never stopped to see the real you. Turns out, she's pretty cool."
"Selfishness and pettiness aside, that's not your fault," I tell her with a smile, "I was too busy trying to hide the real me when I should've been letting her show. I feel really stupid now."
"Don't," she tells me, "Lately, I've been learning what it's like to want to hide. I still don't think it was the right thing to do, but I can understand what you were feeling now. No blood, no foul." She smiles at me and I kind of like it. Tess Tyler showing a real smile. I never thought I'd see that in a million years.
(Tess's POV)
This is different. Really different. I'm actually having a nice conversation with Mitchie Torres. If you'd told me at the beginning of this summer that this would be happening, I would have said you were crazy.
"Hey Mitchie," I say, "Thanks for coming to find me. You didn't have to do that."
"Yeah I did," she answers, "What was I going to do? Leave you there?"
"Most people would have," I tell her.
"I'm not most people," she tells me, "Hey look, we're back." I look up from the ground and see the main camp area. I'm seeing something else in front of me. Something that surprises me. Caitlyn, Peggy, and Ella are standing there, holding what look like my bags. "Hey guys," Mitchie calls out, "Check out who I found." I give them all a slightly embarrassed wave. They set down my bags and hurry over.
"Hey Tess," Peggy says, "You're one hard to find girl when you want to be."
"No kidding," Caitlyn says, "You had us all worried."
"You guys were worried about me?" I ask them, "Even after the way I acted."
"Well yeah," Ella says grinning, "Just because you acted like a major diva doesn't mean we want you to disappear on us."
"Yeah, about that," I say, "I really am sorry. For everything."
"Yeah, we know," Peggy says, "We covered the apologies last night, remember?"
"Yeah, but that was just you guys," I say, walking over to stand in front of Caitlyn, "I'm sorry for the way I treated you. You deserved better than that. I promise you, I'll do whatever it takes to make up for it." Caitlyn looks a little shocked.
"Let's just start over," she says, holding out her hand, "I'm Caitlyn." I smile a little and shake her hand.
"I'm Tess," I say, "It's nice to meet you. Again."
"Hey, the buses are here," Mitchie says, "Come on, let's go." We all start grabbing our stuff and heading for the buses. It's just starting to sink in what awesome friends I have.
"Hey guys," I say, "When we get back, you guys wanna go for pizza or something? It's on me."
"I'm in," Mitchie says.
"If you're buying, definitely," Caitlyn says with a laugh.
"We're in," Peggy and Ella say in unison.
"All right, it's settled," I say with a grin. I have only one thought as the bus starts driving off: Best summer ever.