Thanks everyone who enjoyed the first chapter and left kind reviews for me, it makes writing this story far more worth it. I hope you enjoy this chapter, with a little sneak at Paige's POV and what she feels towards Emily. SPDL
As I entered the cabin, the squeals and giggles of young voices filled my ears and I seemingly forgot the look on Paige's face as I walked down to the small room that would be hers and mine for the next six weeks. Unconsciously I threw myself onto the bottom bunk, not caring to glance around too much and closed my eyes, trying to think of why Paige seemed to dislike me so much.
I'd always been nice to her, or so I thought anyway, on the swim team I'd always smile at her, or cast a casual wave in her direction and cheered her on during meets, and seemed to always get one in return. Maybe she somehow knew about me, that I wasn't so straight and it made her loathe me, but then again, it couldn't be that, how could anyone see me as gay if I didn't know for sure myself who or what I was deep down.
Blindly I reached for the pillow that lay on top of my bed, and pulled in down to my face. Recklessly wishing I knew what had caused such harshness towards me in Paige's mind. I don't know how long I'd been laying like that, with my head buried in the pillow and my legs limply dangling off the side of the single bed, when I heard the door open and close softly and a bag drop to the floor.
Lifting the pillow slightly, I glanced out into the room, which seemed too bright for my eyes that had just been surrounded by darkness, and caught sight of Paige's back, along with her chestnut hair, that seemed trapped in the worlds tightest ponytail.
Without any sudden warning Paige had turned and was glaring at me, the same expression she'd had when we'd both been standing outside, and let out a low angry grunt, before she unzipped her duffel bag, grabbed a handful of clothes and headed to get changed.
Removing the pillow away from my face fully, I took a quick peak at my phone and frowned, it was 4:30 in the afternoon, it seemed as though time had escaped me, and that it was almost time for dinner. Unlike Paige I didn't feel the need to grab a change on clothes, it was dinner after all and would probably be followed by a game of murder in the dark or spotlight anyway.
Sitting up, and sliding of the bed onto my feet was a little difficult, as my legs were shaky from their lack of movement. It was easy for me to find my footing however and slowly walk to the cafeteria type room they was situated on the grounds between the cabins. It was relatively large, to fit the 200 odd children that were here, and was organised enough to have tables set up for each cabin area, as throughout the next six weeks rivalries would most likely arise between the different cabins as challenges got tougher.
The harder challengers, were set as a goal for the older kids, where the younger one had more of an egg and spoon race feel to them. As well as the point system for the younger ones being slightly different to those in double digits.
With the quietness of this area, I hardly even noticed the sounds of sizzling coming from the kitchen, meaning someone had started to prepare dinner for everyone. Following the noise I wasn't surprised to find my mum, tongs deep in sausages and burger patties as she settled them on to the hot plate to cook.
Hearing me enter she smiled and offered me a spatula which I accepted, as I knew it'd be hard for her to feed everyone if she were the lone cook. We stood in silence for a while as we turned and flipped the food as we waited for it to cook, it didn't take long for everything to be almost finished, as we added more and more until the hot plate was completely covered with food.
It was weird being quiet around mum in a kitchen, because she was always the one filling in the silence but now it seemed she was so deep in trying to get everything right that words were something she couldn't form.
Most of the food had been plated and was ready to be taken out when noise began to erupt in the main cafeteria area as all the kids started to cluster in and find their seats. Leaving my mum as she finished the last couple flips and turns I headed to where the younger volunteers would be sitting and noticed that name tags had been set up, and had an age group written in small print beside them, oddly enough, it made the whole thing seemed more organised, especially with the older volunteers arranged near the door, in case any of the kids felt the need to run off.
Hands full of platters of food I glanced around the room, and Paige was standing off to one side, her eyes focusing on one of the tables casually, a pleasant smile placed on her lips, she needed to smile like that more.
Paige's POV
It's weird how your mood can change in a matter of seconds, or from the presence of a particular person. Everything seemed great this morning when I arrived to volunteer, that was until I noticed her standing there, with her dark eyes on me, and a look that unsettles me more than I'd like to admit, a look that caught me off guard at just hey gentle it was. Emily Fields was definitely a mystery on most parts, though I knew nothing would change my opinion on her, not with her choice of friends in the past.
When I look at her all I see is her behaviour when she was with Alison. Alison the one person who seemed to control my life from the start of Middle School, and the one person who seemed to notice who I was, before even I realised it. I still didn't know who I was, which made my mind always find ways to escape the prospect of who I was becoming, and those moments scared me. But it wasn't only those moments that scared me, what scared me more was when I saw myself drawn to aspects of the same sex, of things that seemed to go against what I had grown up around, and I couldn't control the way my eyes would trail.
Standing in the cafeteria with kids giggling and goofing around seemed to put that part of me at ease though, with how energetic they all were, and while I was only a few years older than most, it made me miss the freedom that those years had given me, though I think maybe I was just ageing a bit before my time.
From the corner of my eye I watched someone as they stepped out of the kitchen, hands filled with plates, and it seemed they were struggling. The table set up for the food seemed too far away for them to make it, without an accident happening. I started walking walking towards them, ready to offer my help, a genuinely calm smile on my face. I stopped, stood about a half a foot away from the person until I realised who they were.
Emily.
I couldn't just stop now though, it would make me seem like an ass in front of the kids, so keeping the smile on my face and keeping my voice even I forced out, "Here, let me give you a hand with those, it seems like you're struggling a little bit." Carefully I took two of the plates from her arms, and glanced up to see her smiling at me, and oh was it a smile, one that I myself wish I could muster up.
"Thanks, I don't think I could have made it to the table, without a stumble," as she spoke her cheeks flushed, though I couldn't figure out why.
Quickly I nodded before making my way across the room and placed the two plates on the table, before turning away from Emily and walking back to the corner I had been in before spotting her distress. I know it was a jerk of me to do this, but I just didn't want to be near her, I already had to spend every night with her for six weeks in an enclosed space, and swim with her during the weekdays.
Emily's POV
I couldn't get my head around it, Paige had helped me, in a way that seemed so genuine and polite and then walked off, back into her little box. It was one thing to help, but another to rudely walk off without uttering another word. I felt the need to get to the bottom of this, and I had six weeks to do.
Mum was bringing the last plate of sausages out, as well as what I guessed was bag of bread to go with tonight's meal. As she neared the table I nodded and smiled before heading off towards the volunteers table and sat, right opposite Paige. Her way of acknowledging me was by her forehead wrinkling and her eyes wondering in varying directions to keep away from me.
Once everyone was seated and the children were told to go grab there dinner, it became a free for all, not in a bad way, there were no fights, or much pushing and shoving, it just seemed to be all hands in at once not caring about what they were taking. As quickly as the free for all had started it had settled again, as the sounds of voices were replaced by chewing, drinking and swallowing.
As they enjoyed there meals we all gradually got up and collected ours as well, dropping back into our seats and enjoyed the simple meal we were all eating. Once the food had been served the evening seemed to have run its course, with bellies being filled tables cleared off, and games filling the them in exchange; from drawing, to connect four, monopoly or just simple games outside as an option.
I'd been sitting on the step outside watching the sky transform from its array of vibrant colours into one solid colour, when Amalie and Lissa bounced outside dragging Paige in toe, wide grins adorning their faces.
"Could we play a game of Spotlight? You, Paige, Amalie and the rest of us?" Lissa asked slightly shy, as I glanced behind her and noticed Marlie, Rose and Sophia standing huddled together close by, eyeing the other girls.
Laughing, I nodded my head, "Sure, why not, what's the worst that could happen?" The other three girls ran over and burst into giggles of excitement. "First thing though, who's up first?"
Rose looking bold grinned at Paige, who seemed in a spot where she could hardly argue with.
"Fine, I'll go first, but remember first one found is up next," the grin Paige had on her face matched so similarly to the young girls around us. "I'll quickly grab a flashlight from inside, while I'm in there you'd all better start hiding, because once I've found one I'm after you. Oh and the cabins are the boundaries no going past them!"
The aura that Paige seemed to be casting off made everything felt so light and joyful as we all ran off in similar directions while she turned and went back into the cafeteria. The younger girls seemed to have a plan, and I didn't want to disrupt it so slipped away and went in search of a spot Paige would surely not think to look.
While it was dark, there was still enough light in areas to see where you were going, and somehow I'd made a loop to the cabin right beside the cafeteria, walking behind it I found that there was a little door that must have lead to a storage room, and which thankfully was unlocked. Peaking in I noticed that there was enough room to sit behind the door and not be squished if someone were to open it and peak in.
Crouching down, I giggled softly as I heard Paige leave yelling, "I'm coming for you guys!" Followed by the sound of feet jogging in the opposite direction, and everything went quiet, excluding the hum of voices coming from the cafeteria itself. Laying my head against the wall I closed my eyes and listened out for any noise, which didn't take too long.
Paige's POV
Leaving the cafeteria I jogged in a random direction, hoping that luck might have its way with me and I stumbled across one of the girls, it didn't take long before I'd hit one of the cabins and changed my course of direction, scanning the flashlight in various areas hoping I'd see something and slowed my jogging to a casual walk.
About ten minutes later, having passed five of the cabins, my light caught sight of a figure crouched low behind a very large bush with a foot slightly exposed, as I got a bit closer I laughed, because not only had I found one but hidden behind the bush were the younger girls, who let out a line of oh's and damns realising they'd be caught, flashing my light in the direction of the girl I'd first seen I grinned, "well seems you're up next, Rose, once we find Emily that is." Rose didn't seem to mind though, and picked herself up before preparing to begin her search for Emily.
As the other girls stood I passed a flashlight to share between them and they set off following the path that stayed in front of the cabins. Deciding it was best to have eyes in many places I started to search the back of the cabins, my eyes darting into areas that would appear as a good hiding spot. Once I hit the last cabin I scanned around it and noticed that it had a storage room which was unlike the others, twisting the doorknob I let out a soft chuckle when it turned.
Making sure to turn off my flashlight I opened it slowly and walked inside, making sure to leave it open to cast some light in, what surprised me when I entered however was the way Emily was sitting, clearly having fallen asleep from waiting to be found. A soft smile was on her lips, and she seemed so at peace, though I knew I had to wake her, thankfully I didn't have to do the job as in ran the girls, their flashlight blaring and voices high.
"Emily, we found you!" They chanted causing her to wake abruptly and blush nervously.
"Yeah, yeah you did..." she yawned, "good job guys. So who's catcher next?"
Rose raised her hand, and left the room saying she'd count to fifty and we'd all better have found great hiding spots. The evening seemed to progress this way until everyone was exhausted, and we headed off with many of the others to the cabin to get some rest.
Once Emily and I had entered our cabin the energy seemed to be very positive, and I realised it was coming from Emily. As we both climbed into bed I heard Emily yawn and mumble tiredly, "Tonight was fun," the smile in her voice was highly noticeable, and made me wonder why I felt the need to despise her so much, she hadn't caused the pain in my life, and was actually one person who over time had always smiled at me, or cast a nice gesture my way. She couldn't help that one of her friends, well ex friends, was a bully.
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