A/N: Sorry this took so long! I was sick (again) and I have two HUGE summer reading books for AP world history and english honors that I just started reading. I want to update two times a week and I'm really going to try. Please read the note at the bottom, I need your feedback on something :)
Chapter 7
Tris
After I change into my bathing suit and grab some lifeguarding gear, I talk to Lauren, the head life guard, to find out what I should do. "Are you the guard from water sports?" she asks me.
I nod, and she looks disappointed. "But you're with Four, right?" I nod again. "He usually does it," her voice turns sour and her face screws up in displeasure.
"Well, he wasn't looking forward to it so I said I'd do it for him. What do I have to do?" I try to stay polite, even though she's really getting on my nerves. She obviously has a thing for Four and she's disappointed that it's me here. I'm just as capable as he is, if that's her problem.
She huffs, before gesturing towards the docks where Christina, Shauna, and Lynn are currently watching the kids do their tests, "Go over there and talk to Lynn, she'll explain it if you don't know what to do."
"Okay, thank you," I say nicely, and walk over to the docks. I hear her mutter something under her breath but I can't make out any words. The sand shifts under my feet as I step up onto the wet docks, and I carefully go over to Christina and sit down next to her.
"Hey! How's it going with the kids so far?" she asks, swinging her feet back and forth over the edge, making ripples in the water and occasionally splashing up at us.
"Pretty good, actually. You?" I swing my feet over the edge too, but my legs are too short to reach the water.
"Great! Shauna's really nice, I got lucky. I just hope that next week I'm with you, or Will," she says.
"Yeah, Four's nice too, and he's great with the kids," I say, failing to hold back a smile at the thought of him.
Christina gives me a knowing look, of which I ignore, and doesn't push me again on the subject. "But he seems so quiet," she points out after a few seconds silence.
"Yeah, he's quiet, but he's a whole different person around the campers. I swear, it's amazing," I say truthfully. No matter how distant he may seem around people his own age, he's really in to talking with the younger ones.
"Really?" Christina asks, astonished, "I don't think I've heard him say more than five words, ever."
"He talks to me, sometimes. And like I said, he talks with the kids."
A whistle is blown behind us, and we hear the sound of feet hitting wood and water sloshing under the now-swaying docks. "Christina!" someone calls.
"Be right there, Shauna!" Chris turns around and hollers. "That's my cue, I have to go. Back into nature," she fakes a gag. "See you at dinner?"
I nod and wave as she gets up, "See you at dinner." I turn back to the beach to see the first four campers getting into the water slowly. Lauren, who still looks irritated, blows her whistle loudly and yells something at the straggling swimmers who are still wading slowly. They all dive under the rope and swim to one side of section two, as Lynn gives them instructions. They all nod when she's done and she blows her whistle, making the campers begin swimming. She walks over to me, keeping an eye on the swimmers at the same time
"You remember how this works, right? I'll give the instructions and you just make sure nobody's drowning," she says curtly.
"Okay, yeah I know what to do."
"Good," she says as she walks to the other end, shouting and encouraging the campers to finish their laps. All four of them make it successfully, and they climb up the ladder and over the dock into the next level as four more campers enter level two.
Lynn shouts instructions to the level two group first, and then informs the level three group of what they'll be doing. I watch level two while she watches level three, and again, everybody makes it.
We get through the tests quickly, and all the sudden we're on the last group. Four girls, about 12 or 13 years old, swim to level three, and after being briefed by Lynn, start swimming. A firey haired girl leads the pack, followed shortly by two blondes. Another redhead brings up the rear, going significantly slower than the rest. She's halfway done with her first lap when the other girls pass her, and that trend continues until they're all done and she's on her third lap. She slows down and her arms barely get out of the water, and I hurry over.
"I'm done!" she says loudly, struggling for breath, her head almost going under again. I waste no time in reassuring her that she's safe and putting the float within her reach. She grabs on to it, heaving for breath, and I drag her to the ladder. She gets out and sits down on the dock, leaving a splatter of water around her.
The girl puts her head in her hands, shaking her curly locks slightly. Then I remember her from earlier. I think her name is Arden, and the girl who's hair matches hers is her twin. They're identical, and they look exactly like their mother, who I met during check in. Arden was quiet in the back, and her twin who's name I can't remember was loud and rambunctious, immediately running up to all of her friends excitedly.
I bend down next to Arden, putting my hand on her back, "Arden, right?" I confirm, and she nods, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she says quietly.
She doesn't look okay, at all, but if it's not medical she doesn't have to tell me about it. I don't want to push her to talk to me, but I think I know what's going on here: the overbearing sibling. A problem in which I have a lot of experience.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask, sitting down next to her and trying to look through her hair, which has fallen over her face.
She shakes her head and stays quiet, only making the occasional wet sniffle. I look behind me and see the rest of the group drying off and sitting on the logs, with Four looking over here curiously. There's no way I'll be able to get him to understand me from here, so I just use my hands to tell him to go ahead. I'll meet them at the changing tents, I just need to let Arden calm down first.
"You don't need to stay here," she says shakily a little while after Four left with the rest of the campers.
"I need to make sure you're okay, I can't leave you alone out here. Let's go talk on the beach, okay?" The next group is coming in, and I think they're waiting for us to leave before they start.
She nods slightly and I lead her to the beach. I get her towel from a log and hand it to her as we sit down. She dries off in silence, wrapping the towel around her wiry frame. Arden looks out to the lake, her eyes glistening.
"It's just…I wanted to prove to her that I could do it," she says. I have a feeling as to who the 'her' is, but I wait for her to go on. "Aria, I mean. My sister. All of her friends are on the swim team, and she bet me that I wouldn't get into the third level. And she was right," she finishes with a long sigh.
"You're twins, right?" I ask and she nods. "Well, believe it or not, I actually understand your situation."
"You're a twin too?" her head snaps to mine, a hopeful look in her emerald eyes.
"Well, no, but my brother is only a few months older than me, so we were in the same grade at school. He was so smart, in all the advanced classes. He's a scientist now," I say, smiling at the thought. I haven't seen Caleb in a while, because he got into an early acceptance program at some college across the country, so he left during senior year. "Anyways, he was considered the smart one. I was always a step behind, even though I was pretty smart too. I was always compared to him, he was like this shadow over my whole life.
"But when I got into high school, I realized that we didn't have to do the same things. He likes science, so what? I like reading and writing. I started taking classes on the creative track, and did a lot of art. People stopped comparing me to him, after a while, and I became my own person," I smile and look over at Arden, who is watching me with a small frown. Her eyes are dry, and full of frustration instead of sadness.
"But I don't know what I want to do. My whole family swims, and I just hate it!" she curls her hands up into fists, then relaxes them, "I'm not any good at it, either," she says in a softer tone.
I touch her shoulder, "You don't have to be good at swimming. And you don't have to know what you're good at yet, either. Okay? Come on, let's go get changed and then we can go boating."
She nods and we head down to the changing tents after grabbing our bags. "But, Tris?" she asks, somewhat hesitantly.
"Yeah?"
"I don't really have any friends," she says weakly, looking at her feet again.
"Well, you're in luck, then, because you're in the right place. That's what camp is for, making new friends and new memories. One of the other counselors here was my best friend at camp, and we still hang out a lot today."
"I don't think any of them like me," she presses on.
"Have you tried talking to them? Don't worry, it'll happen, I promise. And you've already made one friend today."
Her brow furrows and she looks at me with confusion, "Who?"
I smile, "Me."
Arden and I get to the docks right when Four finishes explaining about boats and groups. He's set out the life vests and paddles, and I feel a bit guilty that he did all this work and I just made friends with one camper. He catches my eyes and looks relieved, flashing me a rare smile. I quickly explain everything to Arden and encourage her to meet new kids. She goes over to where the kids are all pairing up in groups, as Four comes over to me.
"Hey, sorry about that. I didn't intend for it to take so long," I apologize.
"No, it's fine! I have it under control, for the most part. Is she okay?" He asks, concerned.
"Yeah, just sister problems," I answer quietly, not wanting anyone to hear. He nods in understanding and we walk over to where the campers are assembled. There are four groups of three and one group of two. Perfect. I see Arden with two other girls, and they appear to be getting along. I'm glad I was able to help her.
We assign each of them a brightly colored boat, show them how to put on the life vests, hand out paddles, and get them in the water without any problems. They can have the whole lake, and we'll be out for an hour. Four and I will be on the water too, but we'll go back in a bit early to start calling them in.
Once their all out we strap on the life vests and get the last two paddles. The only boat left is a small red canoe, with paint peeling on the sides.
Four chuckles as we push it towards the water, "I can see why they didn't pick this one."
"And why is that?" I joke, seeing cobwebs underneath one of the seats.
"They're too young to appreciate the historical value," he says. We wade into the water, up to my knees and his calves, and he holds it steady while I get in.
"And what exactly is that?" I ask him when he's situated in the little seat, facing me. He shrugs his shoulders in response and we both start laughing. We pick up our paddles and try to get in rhythm, but he's so much stronger than me we start going back to the shore.
"You need to paddle backwards!" I shriek as I'm almost impaled by a rock. I turn around to see Four smiling smugly at me. I fumble for words when I notice his muscles shifting under golden skin as he starts to row.
"Are you going to help?" he asks mockingly, shaking my thoughts from his body.
I laugh and pick up my row wordlessly, and start to paddle. I watch as it disappears into the water, making ripples and waves, and comes out again bringing droplets of murky lake water.
"Somehow we're going slower," Four says, bringing my attention back to him. It almost sounds like he's flirting with me, but I refuse to believe that. Nobody would want to flirt with me, and besides, I don't even know what flirting is. This is just…banter.
"I'll just relax then," I pull my paddle out of the water, making sure to splash him, and put it across the middle of the boat.
He wipes the drops off his cheek with his hand, flashing a bright smile. My heart flutters and I feel butterflies in the pit of my stomach. I'm getting too attached to him. I've never had my heart flutter before, besides palpitations during anxiety attacks, but that's because of fear. Not…love.
I fakely smile back, leaning back and crossing my legs. Four just shakes his head and starts paddling again. I look out at the lake, and count all five boats. Some of the boys are having races, and the girls are looking at lily pads in one corner near the shore.
When we get to the middle of the lake, Four puts his paddle down next to mine and sits back, shutting his eyes.
I look around quickly to make sure none of the campers are watching, then stand up slowly and start to rock my weight back and forth, making waves in a circle around the canoe.
Four's eyes open and he puts his hands on the side of the boat to steady himself, looking at me and biting his lip, probably trying not to smile. His eyes flick to mine before he reaches forward and grabs my wrists, pulling me down. His face is only inches from mine, and I can't bring my eyes away from his. They're a fascinating color, matching the water, and I'm entranced just like when I first met him, only yesterday. It feels like years.
"Stay down," he says with a quirk of his eyebrows. He's still holding on to my wrists, and doesn't let go until I agree to sit for the rest of the ride.
"Good," he says, his voice a low rumble. We both pick up and start to paddle again. We wander around the lake, occasionally racing campers and splashing each other, until it's time to go back in.
A/N: Please leave a review to let me know if you liked it! I didn't proofread this, so if there are any mistakes my apologies. I have two things to ask you:
So in this chapter I talked quite a bit about Arden and her twin Aria. I don't plan on delving into the camper's lives too much, as the counselors are the focus of this story. I personally don't like OC's but it has to be done a little bit since they have a ton of campers under their control. Is it okay with you guys if I include a tiny tiny bit of camper? Let me know if you want more or less.
Okay, this isn't really a question regarding my fic, but my writing. It's pretty much an insecurity…I want to be a writer some day, so I write as much as I can to improve. I guess I'm asking if you guys think I'm good, like honestly. OK longest AN ever but I'm done, thank you for reading!
