Campout Part Two

Previously…

We chased each other around and played Marco Polo. Suddenly I saw something on the shore. It was the guys. I could tell they saw us in the water.

"Uh oh!" I exclaimed to my friends. "Look over there!"

Sharpay whipped her head around, saw the boys, and started screaming. Naturally, the rest of us immediately followed suit. Then I realized that screaming was just going to attract more attention, so I made everyone shut up. We were huddled in a circle, with just our heads out of the water, discussing our next move when I saw the boys moving down the shoreline, headed towards our clothes.

I inwardly groaned. I knew them well enough to be able to predict their next move.

"Don't even think about it, Troy!" I yelled, loud enough for the boys to hear.

He grinned evilly.

"Why not?" He hollered.

"Because…because…because…I said so!" I retorted triumphantly.

"Nice try!" He exclaimed. With that, he walked over to our clothes and picked them up. With his posse following him, he walked off. A couple minutes later, they returned, and sat down on the beach, watching us, waiting for our next move.

I rolled my eyes. It was so obvious that they just wanted to see us in our underwear. Or flustered and embarrassed. But most likely both. I decided not to give them the pleasure of both. We had no choice.

"Girls, we're going out!" I exclaimed. I had nothing to be ashamed of. My underwear was actually quite attractive. I felt a little sorry for Kelsi, whose underwear had "Tuesday" printed on the seat, but hey, you win some, you lose some.

As we emerged from the water, the boys' eyes widened. Troy literally stared at me, gulping.

"Where did you hide our clothes?" I demanded.

"Behind that tree," Troy said quickly, pointing, not wanting to waste energy talking when he could've been using it to stare at me.

We all ran to the tree and quickly dressed, standing behind it. By then it was starting to get a little dark, so after one final glareful glance in Troy's direction, we headed to our campsite for supper.

………………………………………………………………………………

For supper we were making camper stew, a mixture of noodles, ground beef, Campbell's soup, carrots, celery, and the occasional mosquito. It was getting late, so I was starving. After hastily making the stew and eating it, it was time for our evening fireside session.

We started the session with dessert. Someone pulled out a bag of marshmallows and passed them around. I sighed. Roasting marshmallows was not my forte. I usually ended up setting the marshmallow, the stick, my hair, the tent, or all of the above on fire.

Troy glanced in my direction and I could tell he immediately knew what I was thinking. Once, there had been a party at Chad' house. We had been roasting marshmallows, and having a grand old time, until I managed to ruin things by accidentally setting Chad's little Yorkshire Terrier, Sophie, on fire. Chad never did forgive me for it…I saw him look warily at me as I tentatively picked up a roasting stick. Troy started making his way through the crowd towards me, trying to get my attention.

"Hey, Gabi. Gabi! Gabi!!! I'll roast your for you!! PLEASE!!! I mean…if you want me too…" I grinned gratefully at him.

"Aw, thanks!" I said, flashing him my killer smile. He smiled back.

"Trust me, it's my pleasure!" He responded weakly.

After enjoying smores and campfire songs, we were allowed to disperse, and just hang out. It was getting to be later, around 11:00, and some people wanted to go to bed, but not I!! Taylor and I decided to walk down to the beach to look at the moon and find our favourite constellations.

We sat down on the sand and just enjoyed the view. The stars were crystal clear and we could see some gorgeous Northern Lights. We had been sitting and talking for at least half an hour when Troy came up behind us.

Upon hearing his footsteps, I turned around to face him. He looked really nervous.

"Uh…Gabriella, could I talk to you for a minute?" He asked, wringing his hands nervously.

I smiled.

"Sure!" I said sweetly. Taylor gave me a knowing look, and then Troy and I started to walk away.

He kept fidgeting. Finally we reached a spot that seemed suitable for this important discussion we were about to have. It was a little clearing with a couple stumps in it, on the path to the bathrooms, but a little bit off the path so it was pretty private. We each sat down on stumps, about two feet apart, facing each other. We sat in silence for a moment or two, then Troy spoke.

"Gabi…I think we need to talk about what's going on between us. You've been avoiding me." He explained.

"No I haven't been avoiding you! It's just…things are really busy right now and…" I trailed off, realizing I had no excuse.

"I guess…you're right," I said lamely.

"Soooooooo……." He said.

"Wellllllll……." I replied.

"Gabriella, what are we? Are we friends? More? Enemies? I felt you kissing me back the other night, and I want you to know that I didn't just kiss you because I was forced. I really wanted to. I like you, Gabs. More than you could ever imagine," he finished softly.

A tear came to the corner of my eyes. I was about to answer when someone shone a bright light in my eyes.

"Hey! What are you youngsters doing," a voice exclaimed. "Are you having sex? You better not be!! Sex is bad. If you have sex, you'll get syphilis. And breast cancer. Come to think of it, that also will happen if you play tackle football. I don't approve of tackle football. It always leads to sex. Bad bad bad. And you'll also probably get gonorrhoea. And you'll get pregnant. And, you'll probably die."

Troy and I both felt very confused. At least, until we looked at who the person was.

"Brett!" I exclaimed. "You're on mischief patrol, aren't you!"

"Why yes. You two seem to be up to mischief if you ask me."

Troy and I looked at each other, rolling our eyes.

"Brett, we were just talking, I swear," said Troy.

Brett rolled his eyes, then walked away, muttering to himself.

"Keep it PG!" He shouted as he left. I sighed gratefully. Finally. Maybe now we start up where we left off.

………………………………………………………………………………

I hoped you all liked it! Sorry for not updating. I'll probably be just updating every two weeks now because I'm super busy with school and homework and cross country and swimming and volunteering and all kinds of stuff. Remember, review!! They keep me going! Please please review!!!