Chapter 27

"Excuse me, is there a person named Dana Fairbanks working here?"

"Are you a member here?"

"No…I just want to know if…"

"If you are not a member here I can not give out this information."

"Listen lady, I've been at every damn tennis camp I can find and I just want to know if Dana Fairbanks is working here or not!" Alice said annoyed. This was the fifth camp she'd been at and none have had heard of Dana Fairbanks.

"I'm sorry but I can't…" The snotty lady started.

"I don't care what you can or can not do, it's a easy question that only requirs a simple yes or no!" Alice snapped, starting to lose her temper.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave, miss."

Alice sighed. "Listen, I need to find this girl, okay. It's very important…please, just give me a break, okay?"

The lady softened when she noticed the look off despair on Alice's face. "I understand but these are the rules…"

Alice let her shoulders hang in despair. "Fine, thanks anyways." Alice said, walking away.

"You know, if you where a member here I could give you a possitive answer to your question." The lady said just when Alice was about to open the door to leave.

Alice turned back around, noticing the small smile on the lady's face. "You mean she's here?" Alice asked.

The lady nodded softly but didn't say anything. "I don't know, are you a member here?" She smiled.

"I am now." Alice said, throwing some money on the counter.

"Welcome to our camp, miss. I'm sure miss Fairbanks will have time to be your instructor." The lady smiled.

Alice grabbed the lady's hand and shook it. "Thank you, thank you very much."

"I didn't do anything." She smiled.

"You really did, I was beginning to give up hope." Alice smiled. "So…I'm a camp member, erm…does that mean I have to sleep in a tent?" Alice asked, not really sure if she wanted to do that.

The lady laughed. "It's not that kind off camp here, miss. We have rooms to sleep in but we also do have tents if you would like one, I …"

"No thanks, a room will be fine."

The lady handed Alice a key and give her the final instructions. Alice smiled and made her way into the building. She looked around, happy that she was going to be running in Dana here sooner or later but also anxious to see her. She made her way in her room and let herself fall on the bed. Knowing that Dana was safe, sleep finally came over her.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Alice phone woke her up. She groaned and rolled over to reach for her bag. "Hello?" She asked, still half asleep.

"Alice, where the hell are you? We woke up this moring and you weren't here."

"I'm fine, Shane."

"You scared the shit out of us, Al."

"You could off just called me like you did now." Alice said, turning back over to lay on her pillow.

"I tried like ten times before, Al."

"Really? I didn't hear anything." Alice said. "I must have been more tired then I thought."

"Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm fine, Shane." Alice said. "I discovered were Dana is."

"What? How? Where?"

"Just tell Carmen not to worry about Dana anymore, I'll bring her back, okay?

"Al, she's going to want to know where Dana is." Shane said.

Alice heard Carmen in the background once Shane said Dana's name. Alice found Dana. She heard Shane say to Carmen. There was some muffling going on and Alice couldn't figure out what was going on.

"Alice, it's Carmen. Where are you?" Carmen's voice sounded.

Alice sighed. "I'm at tennis camp." Alice started. "I remembered that Dana once told me this would be were she would hide if something bad happened to her."

"How is she?"

"I haven't seen her yet."

"Okay, where are you? We are coming over there." Carmen said.

Alice gave Carmen the instructions on how to get to were she was staying now. She also asked that they would call her first when they got there so she could fill them in on what was going on. She hoped that she would see Dana soon so she ended the phone call to get dressed.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Hi again."

"Hey." Alice said as she noticed the same lady she met at the reception last night.

"Have you seen your friend yet, miss?"

"It's Alice." Alice started. "And no, haven't seen her yet." Alice sighed. "Any idea on where I could find her?"

"Well, around this time she's getting ready to start her first session."

"Great, maybe I can already go join then?"

"I don't think so." The lady anwsered.

"Why not."

"Her first session of today is with kids."

"Oh, well where will she be?" Alice asked, if she couldn't join yet she might as well go see Dana.

"You might want to stop by the A block tracks."

"Thank you, erm…?" Alice said, getting up.

"Lisa." The lady anwsered.

"Well, thank you for your help, Lisa."

Lisa nodded and walked off to talk to a few of other members. Alice walked out of the hall and onto the premises. She was looking around when she finally spotted Dana. Dana was talking to the kids and was laughing. She was showing a girl how to swing correctly.

"She looks happy." Alice thought as she went to stand behind a bush to prevent her from being seen by Dana. She listened to the conversation happening infront off her.

"I'll never be able to do this, Dana."

"Yes, you will, Becky." Dana said, crouching down infront of the girl. "You are doing fine as you are…we'll just work on your swing some more, okay?"

"Okay." The girl sighed.

"Okay, so watch me." Dana said as she showed the girl the right way to swing. "Now you try." Dana said, standing behind the girl to show her the right position. The girl swung her tennis racket again the ball which went flying down the tracks.

"I did it!" The girl smiled, jumping around. "I did it, Dana. Did you see it?"

"I did." Dana nodded. "Told you you could do it." Dana smiled at the girl.

"Thank you, Dana." The girl said, giving Dana a hug.

"You did it all on your own, hunni." Dana said. "No go on, go play a match against Kenny." Dana said, sending the girl off to play. Dana smiled as she watched the bunch of kids play and started to walk over to her bag.

Alice noticed Dana coming over and saw the bag as well. She started to back away when she fell over a small wall between two bushes and landed in between them. Dana heard the loud thud and walked over.

"Hello?" Dana asked, looking around when she noticed someone. "What are you doing in…?" She asked as she walked around the bush.

Alice quickly stood up and turned around to face Dana. Dana gasped when she noticed it was Alice standing there. Both of them stood still and just watched each other.

"Alice?" Dana finally said.

"Hi Dane."

Dana didn't know what to say, she just starred at Alice until she noticed she was hurt. "Oh my god, are you okay?" She asked, noticing Alice's hand was bleeding.

Alice looked at her hand and noticed the cut. "I'm fine." She said.

"No, you are not." Dana said, walking over to Alice and taking her hand. "Come on, let's clean this wound." She said, leading Alice over to her bag. "Sit down." She told Alice who did what she was told to do.

Dana pulled some things out of her bag and cleaned the cut on Alice's hand. "How did you find me, Alice?" She asked without looking up from her task.

"This is your safe place." Alice wispered.

Dana looked up, still holding Alice's hand. She remembered how she once told Alice about this. Remembered the time they spend at the beach that day. She looked back down and put a bandaid on Alice's hand. "There ya go, all set." Dana said, changing the subject.

"Thank you." Alice said, her voice still silent.

"You might wanna stay clear from the bushes next time." Dana said.

"I will." Alice nodded. "Do you always have a first aid kid with you?" Alice asked when she saw Dana putting her stuff back into her bag.

"When you work with a lot of kids, you need one." Dana said.

"You're a great teacher." Alice commented.

Dana smiled. "How do you know that, Al?"

"I saw you teaching that girl how to swing." Alice said.

"Becky? She already was good. She just needed a little boost of confidence to get her on track." Dana said. "So, you were watching me?"

"Erm…I was…I wanted to…" Alice stuttered out.

"It's okay, Alice." Dana started. "You don't need to explain anything to me."

Both went back to starring at one another. "Dana, can we talk?" Alice finally asked.

Dana shook her head. "I can't. I still have classes to give."

"After that then?"

Dana hesitated. "Sure, meet me at the central hall in two hours, okay?"

"Is that the main building?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, I'll pick you up there so we can go to my place." Dana responded.

Alice smiled. "Cool. Okay, I'll be there." She said, getting up with Dana. Alice wanted to say something else to but Dana was being called by a few kids.

"I have to go, Al." Dana said, turning around and running back to her group.

Alice watched Dana for a moment longer before turning around and moving back to her room.