Camp Kiwachee
Chapter 7: Mina to the Rescue!
Rating: PG13
Author: Adrial
E-mail: Adrial_06@yahoo.com
AN: *sigh* I'm spoiling you guys by giving you a chapter
after only TWO weeks. It usually takes me a month to find the
time to get a chapter out b/c I'm a perfectionist. It's a good
thing CK is so much fun to write!
NEway, enough rambling. Here it is! Chapter 7! Starring
your favorite couple and mine, Mina and Kunz! Heh heh heh...
told you I'd get to them! I even made their part especially
longer. ^_^ You can thank me by keeping those reviews comin!
And for the sake of my poor, poor time-impaired brain, the
whole Brianna/Darien/Serena issue happened on the sunday before
the last week of camp OK? So when this starts, it's Monday and
camp ends that Friday. Comprende? BUENO!
** * * * * * * * * * * * *
She really didn't want to do this. In fact, she would
have gladly had her canines pulled by a dentist on crack if
such an option had been given to her. But no such luxury
existed, and Mina found herself face to back with the last
man in the world she wanted to look at, much less ask a
favor from.
"U-um...*ahem*..." She stumbled, trying and failing
to keep cool. When her stuttered intro seemed to fall upon
deaf ears, she glared at his back and crossed her arms
over her chest.
"EXCUSE ME!"
"AH! Wah--?" Kyle's stony eyes, a perfect match for
the overcast skies looming over them (Mina begrudgingly observed),
opened wide at the glaring girl before him.
He nearly chocked on his own tongue at the sight of
the girl that had plagued his mind since he'd set foot on
Camp Kiwachee's soil and subconciously lowered his eyes to
her fumbling hands. A wave of relief washed over him at the
absence of anything that could potentially be thrown in
his face.
Joey's bright amber eyes narrowed at Mina and
Kyle's steadfast gaze on eachother, and even at the young
age of 7, he could tell when a quick exit needed to be made.
Dropping the baseball glove Kyle had been helping him slip
onto his clumsy hand, he smirked and scampered off towards
the acre of land speckled with people readying themselves
for a game of T-ball--possibly the last game of T-ball
they'd be playing at the camp ever, compliments of Brianna
"The Bitch" Lawson as Raye and Makoto had justifiably
deemed her.
Mina swallowed, the periwinkle sparks in her eyes
losing the edge she had so desperately fought to maintain
underneath Kyle's obscure, confused gaze.
"I, uh, I guess..." She resisted the urge to flee,
but it had to be said; he was the only one who could pull
it off. She gritted her teeth, subsequentially blurting
out, "I'm sorry."
Kyle raised a platinum eyebrow, wondering what the
goddess standing before had to be sorry for. Wait a minute...
hadn't he spent an entire day battling a hoard of blood-thirsty
mosquitos away from his apple-sticky face even after he'd
scrubbed it till it was raw and another after that tending
to the unattractive blothes peppering his neck and forehead
where the aforementioned vermin had quenched their thirst?
Somewhere in his mind he knew he should be demanding
an explanation for her ambiguous actions, but one look into
her bottomless blue eyes and he turned into a 200-something
pound blob of mush.
Watching the flickers of emotions flash across his
eyes like fireflies she could never quite get within grasping
reach of, Mina uncomfortably played with long strands of
her sun-kissed hair.
"Look. I don't think we ever really got started on
the right foot," She began, opting to speak when obviously
he wouldn't, "So...do you think we could start over?" Staring
at him through her eyelashes, she bit her lip and wondered
why she so desperately wanted to touch the unique hair
framing his face like halo of silver and melt into his
embrace like liquid metal into a mold.
Kyle realized that throughout the five agonizingly
long minutes that she had been standing before him he had
only managed to scratch the surface of his jumbled emotions,
which was the fact that she was beyond beautiful, and he had
yet to do anything but stand and stare at her. He swallowed and
internally wished he could have stolen an ounce of Jason's charm
and confidence or Zach's quick wit right about then.
Mina wanted to shake him to make sure he hadn't fallen
asleep with his eyes open. Why isn't he saying anything? He
can't be *that* mad...and all those bites finally healed,
anyway.
When he finally did say something, she jumped.
"Uh..."
"Yes?" She eagerly licked her lips. Maybe she hadn't
lost her chance after all!
"Uh..." Kyle's mind raced, giving his heart a good run
for its money. You already said that you tool! "I gotta go."
He blurted before he could stop himself and all but ran away.
Mina's shoulders sagged. She really did suck. In fact,
she worse than sucked. She was replusive. She repulsed a guy
she didn't even know!
Great, Mina. Just great. Now how do you plan on--Oh
crap, he's coming back!
She immediately tucked away the sledge hammer she was
using to mentally bash her self to pieces with and straightened
her shoulders to brace herself for the unknown.
It had taken Kyle a full twenty seconds before he
smacked his forehead with a force that would have knocked out
the everyday Homo sapien and turned back around to the spot
she had been, praying she was still there.
She was.
He swallowed hard, shoving his hands into the pockets
of his shorts. The funny thing was, he still had absolutely no
idea of what to say to her even when she was standing mere inches
in front of him with the cutest expression of confusion on her
face that he'd ever seen.
Okay, maybe not *that* funny...
Mina smiled tightly, unsure of whether to stalk off in
annoyance or lose herself in his steely eyes. She immediately
ignored both impulses.
History went on to repeat itself as they stared at
eachother, neither knowing what to say or how to say it. The
section of hair Mina had been twirling violently between her
fingertips had knotted itself into a huge mass of tangles,
but she had yet to notice.
Kyle looked as if he was on the verge of saying something
every two seconds, but then he thought better of it and started
the process again. After a minute or two of failures, he rubbed
his hand over his face and sighed, cracking the stone that was
"KYLE" with a hint of a smile. After all the tossing back and
forth between things to say, he finally settled on one phrase
that summed it all up.
"I am an idiot."
Mina was startled at first at his declaration, but then
grinned bright enough to burn his retinas and laughed
lightheartedly.
"Me, too." She breathed, tucking the rats nest she
had finally noticed behind her ear and inconspicuously trying
to hide it with more hair. We're perfect for eachother!
Her smile was like a part in the clouds after an endless
downpour and lifted Kyle's heart to an unnatural high. He'd been
waiting seven days for her to smile at him like that.
Mina felt her heart melting. Every obnoxious thing Kyle
had done or she'd "imagined" him doing blew away with the
wind, and every emotion she hadn't let herself feel for
him sparked back to life inside of her chest.
"I know you're probably wondering about the whole
apple juice incident--"
"Mina, it really doesn't--"
Acting as if she hadn't even heard his words, Mina started
babbling at top speed, "Well, you see, I was just...jealous I guess-
of you and the girls, you know?"
Kyle moved to speak, but she stole his oppurtunity.
"Because you were always flirting with them and being the
'perfect gentlemen'", She inwardly cringed at the memories of Kyle
valiantly catching Serena before she aquainted her face with the floor,
"And all I wanted was for you to look at me like you did them for
once. So, that night I sorta snapped. And I am SO sorry. It was
totally uncalled for and--"
Her rambles were abruptly silenced by a large hand covering
her mouth. Kyle's lips stretched into a barely traceable smile.
"My turn, OK?" He laughed, which was about as rare as Serena
studying, and Mina blushed.
He removed his hand from her face, and she licked her lips,
which now tasted a little salty. She hardly minded.
"Honestly, I only did all of that to...impress you." In all
his life, Kyle had never felt so stupid. If only the guys could see
him now...he'd never hear the end of it.
Mina's heart swelled. He wanted to *impress* her?
Oh, that is so sweet! She beamed, laughing lightly
at his confession and the way his ears turned red when he was
embarrassed.
"Wanna start over?" Grinning still, she offered
him her hand.
Kyle gladly took it, wishing she'd offer him her lips
instead...but, hey, we can't always have what we want, now can we?
"Deal."
They stood there, hands still clasped over one anothers
and resorted to gazing into eachothers eyes like love-sick
puppies. Mina wanted to sigh and float up on Cloud 9, but
she couldn't forget about her reason for being there.
Clearing her throat and breaking the comfortable silence
they were enveloped in, she spoke.
"As much as I would love to stand here all day and
stare at you," Oh, God...did I just *say* that?!, "I
have a favor to ask." She smiled sweetly, turning on her
charm to full power.
In truth, she could have asked him to jump into a
leech filled swamp buck-ass naked and wade around for eternity
and he would have done so willingly. He just hoped she
wouldn't demand anything so...disgusting.
"What's up?"
Mina peered over her shoulders, looking for
anyone who could be eavesdropping and brought her parted lips
dangerously close to his ear, which in itself was a task since
Kyle easily topped her 5'9" frame by nearly a foot. Standing on
tip-toes and completely oblivious to the sensations she was
arousing in Kyle by being so close to him, she hurriedly
whispered into his ear.
As she spoke, Kyle's eyes widened and a shadow of
a smirk etched itself across his face.
** * * * * * * * * * * * *
Raye looked at her friend incredulously, "So, tell me
again why it is that Serena and Darien can't know about it?"
Mina sighed, exasperated, and threw a cautious glance
towards the handfull of floaty-ed children bobbing like apples
in the camp's pool to make sure none of them were drowning
or anything.
"BeCAUSE, Raye, you know Serena! She'll get all noble
on us and try to talk us out of it. And Darien's too busy trying
to talk Queen B's father (Raye knew what the 'B' really stood for)
out of axing the camp for this right now."
Sticking out her nose purposefully, Mina stood, "It's up
to us to fix this! And I'll be damned if this camp goes down
without a fight."
Raye had to admire Mina's ambition. She shrugged and
squirted about a gallon of sunblock onto her sunburn-proned skin.
"Alright, I'm game. But who's going to convince Amy?"
At that question, Mina furrowed her brow. They couldn't
possibly pull this off without Amy's help. It took all of three
seconds before she grinned devilishly and peered around the pool
for a familiar head of blonde.
When she spotted her desired target, she grinned and
waved a hand coyly in the air.
"Oooh, Zachary!"
** * * * * * * * * * * * *
Three days after the Brianna/Darien incident, Serena
still couldn't bring herself to watch the kids laugh and play on
camp grounds when she knew that within two days, it'd all be gone.
During the end-of-camp play all of the campers had put on
she had started bawling on the spot and had to be ushered out of
the mess hall, citing an upset stomach for the worried kids who
questioned her sniffles and the mound of tissue accumulating in
her hand. It just wasn't fair! Damn her emotions. Damn Brianna.
And damn Darien and her stupid attraction to him!
She growled and practically threw herself into the
squishy chair sitting outside the female counselor's bunks. Just
the thought of Brianna made her blood boil.
True to her word, Brianna had called her father the
minute Karen had finished bandaging her twisted ankle properly.
On the phone, she rattled with over-exaggerated sobs and a
dramatic rendition of what "really" went on inside the
barn.
Karen had spent an entire hour trying to talk down the
heated Mr. Lawson and resist a threatened law suit against the
camp. In the end, he'd been more than happy to cut off his
sponsorship of the camp completely and verbally assault
poor Karen for her "barbaric way of treating his precious
baby girl."
Serena wanted to spit and did so, wishing for
Brianna's hairsprayed head to be in the line of fire
rather than an unsuspecting pine cone.
"Wow...pretty impressive, Meatball Head."
Suddenly, she felt like an ice cube had dropped to
the pit of her stomach at the sound of his voice. She had
drained every ounce of her energy avoiding Darien over the
past few days and had succeeded beautifully...until now.
He smiled weakly, not really as passionate about his
teasing as usual. Serena blankly stared at him, cursing her
heart beat for pounding so insistently when all she was
doing was sitting down.
Darien didn't wait for an invite and walked steadily
up the wooden stairs to the porch where she currently sat. He
leaned against the railing, ignoring its squeak in protest.
"So..." He began, desperately wanting to break the
tension between them. He needed her light more than anything
at that moment.
Serena remained silent, finding her fingernails much
more interesting than the attractive 19 year old standing in
front of her.
Maybe if I ignore him, he'll go away. She mused to
herself.
No such luck. Darien walked away from the railing and
pulled up another chair. It scratched loudly against the wooden
floor as he moved it close to her.
Serena jolted internally when he grabbed her fiddling
hands and held them in his own, larger ones. She hesitantly
met his gaze, startled by the vivid emotions held within it.
In the two years she'd known Darien Chiba, she'd never seen
any type of anything in his eyes other than mirth from
teasing her endlessly.
Now there was hope, sorrow, and regret. She swallowed
over the lump in her throat. It was a little too much for her
to handle at the moment and she tore her hands from his, stood
up abruptly and walked over to the very end of the porch, as
far away from him as she could get in the space provided.
"Look, Darien," She began, not allowing herself to look
at him again, "What happpened that day in the barn...it was an
accident. I just got caught up in everything, you know?" She
struggled to force the lies out of her mouth, "I-I didn't
mean for it to happen."
She hated herself at that moment. She hated herself
for lying to him, for ignoring what she knew was true, for
being scared again. She hated him for making her feel this way.
With her final words, Darien felt his heart collapse.
Had he been a fool to think that she would ever care about
him? He felt like bashing his head into a wall for allowing
himself to feel for her...for thinking she would feel
the same.
The dam behind Serena's eyes threatened to break,
but she was stronger than it and forced it to stay intact.
Darien's silence beat into her eardrums louder than an army
of marching bands, and she resisted the urge to clamp her
hands over her ears and hum to break it.
He stared at her, hard, for a few seconds of eternity.
He waited for her to take back her words but knew that she
wouldn't.
Instead, he masked his face with a shaky grin and
rose, "You're absolutely right, Meatball Head," He flashed
a lopsided smile that would have melted any girl's heart,
"I shouldn't have let it happen, and I'm...sorry." He had
trouble getting the last word out. He wasn't sorry, dammit!
He'd been waiting for almost two years to kiss her! And look
what happened. It blew up in his face.
Serena played with a thread of hair and nodded slowly,
almost on the verge of running at him and throwing her arms
around his neck, telling him that it really had meant something
to her, that she wasn't sure what she felt for him, but it was
what she'd been waiting for all her life. But like the prideful,
indignant person she was, she forced the words down her throat
like acid and refused to meet his gaze.
Admitting defeat and gathering what pride he
had left, he rose from his seat and descended the steps
slowly as if at any second she would call him back.
But she didn't.
He turned to her again, and Serena's heart cracked at
the wall of ice that covered his gaze now.
"You know...I'm glad that we agree on what happened
last weekend having no meaning to either of us...but it seems
wrong that all of these children should have to lose a part
of their lives because of our stupid mistake."
And he turned back around, leaving her to her own,
perplexities.
** * * * * * * * * * * * *
REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW
** * * * * * * * * * * * *
Adrial_06@yahoo.com
ja!
6/19/03
PS: And I'm having probz registering for shitennou.com, if you wanna
help PLEASE e-mail me! (e-mail: look UP)
Chapter 7: Mina to the Rescue!
Rating: PG13
Author: Adrial
E-mail: Adrial_06@yahoo.com
AN: *sigh* I'm spoiling you guys by giving you a chapter
after only TWO weeks. It usually takes me a month to find the
time to get a chapter out b/c I'm a perfectionist. It's a good
thing CK is so much fun to write!
NEway, enough rambling. Here it is! Chapter 7! Starring
your favorite couple and mine, Mina and Kunz! Heh heh heh...
told you I'd get to them! I even made their part especially
longer. ^_^ You can thank me by keeping those reviews comin!
And for the sake of my poor, poor time-impaired brain, the
whole Brianna/Darien/Serena issue happened on the sunday before
the last week of camp OK? So when this starts, it's Monday and
camp ends that Friday. Comprende? BUENO!
** * * * * * * * * * * * *
She really didn't want to do this. In fact, she would
have gladly had her canines pulled by a dentist on crack if
such an option had been given to her. But no such luxury
existed, and Mina found herself face to back with the last
man in the world she wanted to look at, much less ask a
favor from.
"U-um...*ahem*..." She stumbled, trying and failing
to keep cool. When her stuttered intro seemed to fall upon
deaf ears, she glared at his back and crossed her arms
over her chest.
"EXCUSE ME!"
"AH! Wah--?" Kyle's stony eyes, a perfect match for
the overcast skies looming over them (Mina begrudgingly observed),
opened wide at the glaring girl before him.
He nearly chocked on his own tongue at the sight of
the girl that had plagued his mind since he'd set foot on
Camp Kiwachee's soil and subconciously lowered his eyes to
her fumbling hands. A wave of relief washed over him at the
absence of anything that could potentially be thrown in
his face.
Joey's bright amber eyes narrowed at Mina and
Kyle's steadfast gaze on eachother, and even at the young
age of 7, he could tell when a quick exit needed to be made.
Dropping the baseball glove Kyle had been helping him slip
onto his clumsy hand, he smirked and scampered off towards
the acre of land speckled with people readying themselves
for a game of T-ball--possibly the last game of T-ball
they'd be playing at the camp ever, compliments of Brianna
"The Bitch" Lawson as Raye and Makoto had justifiably
deemed her.
Mina swallowed, the periwinkle sparks in her eyes
losing the edge she had so desperately fought to maintain
underneath Kyle's obscure, confused gaze.
"I, uh, I guess..." She resisted the urge to flee,
but it had to be said; he was the only one who could pull
it off. She gritted her teeth, subsequentially blurting
out, "I'm sorry."
Kyle raised a platinum eyebrow, wondering what the
goddess standing before had to be sorry for. Wait a minute...
hadn't he spent an entire day battling a hoard of blood-thirsty
mosquitos away from his apple-sticky face even after he'd
scrubbed it till it was raw and another after that tending
to the unattractive blothes peppering his neck and forehead
where the aforementioned vermin had quenched their thirst?
Somewhere in his mind he knew he should be demanding
an explanation for her ambiguous actions, but one look into
her bottomless blue eyes and he turned into a 200-something
pound blob of mush.
Watching the flickers of emotions flash across his
eyes like fireflies she could never quite get within grasping
reach of, Mina uncomfortably played with long strands of
her sun-kissed hair.
"Look. I don't think we ever really got started on
the right foot," She began, opting to speak when obviously
he wouldn't, "So...do you think we could start over?" Staring
at him through her eyelashes, she bit her lip and wondered
why she so desperately wanted to touch the unique hair
framing his face like halo of silver and melt into his
embrace like liquid metal into a mold.
Kyle realized that throughout the five agonizingly
long minutes that she had been standing before him he had
only managed to scratch the surface of his jumbled emotions,
which was the fact that she was beyond beautiful, and he had
yet to do anything but stand and stare at her. He swallowed and
internally wished he could have stolen an ounce of Jason's charm
and confidence or Zach's quick wit right about then.
Mina wanted to shake him to make sure he hadn't fallen
asleep with his eyes open. Why isn't he saying anything? He
can't be *that* mad...and all those bites finally healed,
anyway.
When he finally did say something, she jumped.
"Uh..."
"Yes?" She eagerly licked her lips. Maybe she hadn't
lost her chance after all!
"Uh..." Kyle's mind raced, giving his heart a good run
for its money. You already said that you tool! "I gotta go."
He blurted before he could stop himself and all but ran away.
Mina's shoulders sagged. She really did suck. In fact,
she worse than sucked. She was replusive. She repulsed a guy
she didn't even know!
Great, Mina. Just great. Now how do you plan on--Oh
crap, he's coming back!
She immediately tucked away the sledge hammer she was
using to mentally bash her self to pieces with and straightened
her shoulders to brace herself for the unknown.
It had taken Kyle a full twenty seconds before he
smacked his forehead with a force that would have knocked out
the everyday Homo sapien and turned back around to the spot
she had been, praying she was still there.
She was.
He swallowed hard, shoving his hands into the pockets
of his shorts. The funny thing was, he still had absolutely no
idea of what to say to her even when she was standing mere inches
in front of him with the cutest expression of confusion on her
face that he'd ever seen.
Okay, maybe not *that* funny...
Mina smiled tightly, unsure of whether to stalk off in
annoyance or lose herself in his steely eyes. She immediately
ignored both impulses.
History went on to repeat itself as they stared at
eachother, neither knowing what to say or how to say it. The
section of hair Mina had been twirling violently between her
fingertips had knotted itself into a huge mass of tangles,
but she had yet to notice.
Kyle looked as if he was on the verge of saying something
every two seconds, but then he thought better of it and started
the process again. After a minute or two of failures, he rubbed
his hand over his face and sighed, cracking the stone that was
"KYLE" with a hint of a smile. After all the tossing back and
forth between things to say, he finally settled on one phrase
that summed it all up.
"I am an idiot."
Mina was startled at first at his declaration, but then
grinned bright enough to burn his retinas and laughed
lightheartedly.
"Me, too." She breathed, tucking the rats nest she
had finally noticed behind her ear and inconspicuously trying
to hide it with more hair. We're perfect for eachother!
Her smile was like a part in the clouds after an endless
downpour and lifted Kyle's heart to an unnatural high. He'd been
waiting seven days for her to smile at him like that.
Mina felt her heart melting. Every obnoxious thing Kyle
had done or she'd "imagined" him doing blew away with the
wind, and every emotion she hadn't let herself feel for
him sparked back to life inside of her chest.
"I know you're probably wondering about the whole
apple juice incident--"
"Mina, it really doesn't--"
Acting as if she hadn't even heard his words, Mina started
babbling at top speed, "Well, you see, I was just...jealous I guess-
of you and the girls, you know?"
Kyle moved to speak, but she stole his oppurtunity.
"Because you were always flirting with them and being the
'perfect gentlemen'", She inwardly cringed at the memories of Kyle
valiantly catching Serena before she aquainted her face with the floor,
"And all I wanted was for you to look at me like you did them for
once. So, that night I sorta snapped. And I am SO sorry. It was
totally uncalled for and--"
Her rambles were abruptly silenced by a large hand covering
her mouth. Kyle's lips stretched into a barely traceable smile.
"My turn, OK?" He laughed, which was about as rare as Serena
studying, and Mina blushed.
He removed his hand from her face, and she licked her lips,
which now tasted a little salty. She hardly minded.
"Honestly, I only did all of that to...impress you." In all
his life, Kyle had never felt so stupid. If only the guys could see
him now...he'd never hear the end of it.
Mina's heart swelled. He wanted to *impress* her?
Oh, that is so sweet! She beamed, laughing lightly
at his confession and the way his ears turned red when he was
embarrassed.
"Wanna start over?" Grinning still, she offered
him her hand.
Kyle gladly took it, wishing she'd offer him her lips
instead...but, hey, we can't always have what we want, now can we?
"Deal."
They stood there, hands still clasped over one anothers
and resorted to gazing into eachothers eyes like love-sick
puppies. Mina wanted to sigh and float up on Cloud 9, but
she couldn't forget about her reason for being there.
Clearing her throat and breaking the comfortable silence
they were enveloped in, she spoke.
"As much as I would love to stand here all day and
stare at you," Oh, God...did I just *say* that?!, "I
have a favor to ask." She smiled sweetly, turning on her
charm to full power.
In truth, she could have asked him to jump into a
leech filled swamp buck-ass naked and wade around for eternity
and he would have done so willingly. He just hoped she
wouldn't demand anything so...disgusting.
"What's up?"
Mina peered over her shoulders, looking for
anyone who could be eavesdropping and brought her parted lips
dangerously close to his ear, which in itself was a task since
Kyle easily topped her 5'9" frame by nearly a foot. Standing on
tip-toes and completely oblivious to the sensations she was
arousing in Kyle by being so close to him, she hurriedly
whispered into his ear.
As she spoke, Kyle's eyes widened and a shadow of
a smirk etched itself across his face.
** * * * * * * * * * * * *
Raye looked at her friend incredulously, "So, tell me
again why it is that Serena and Darien can't know about it?"
Mina sighed, exasperated, and threw a cautious glance
towards the handfull of floaty-ed children bobbing like apples
in the camp's pool to make sure none of them were drowning
or anything.
"BeCAUSE, Raye, you know Serena! She'll get all noble
on us and try to talk us out of it. And Darien's too busy trying
to talk Queen B's father (Raye knew what the 'B' really stood for)
out of axing the camp for this right now."
Sticking out her nose purposefully, Mina stood, "It's up
to us to fix this! And I'll be damned if this camp goes down
without a fight."
Raye had to admire Mina's ambition. She shrugged and
squirted about a gallon of sunblock onto her sunburn-proned skin.
"Alright, I'm game. But who's going to convince Amy?"
At that question, Mina furrowed her brow. They couldn't
possibly pull this off without Amy's help. It took all of three
seconds before she grinned devilishly and peered around the pool
for a familiar head of blonde.
When she spotted her desired target, she grinned and
waved a hand coyly in the air.
"Oooh, Zachary!"
** * * * * * * * * * * * *
Three days after the Brianna/Darien incident, Serena
still couldn't bring herself to watch the kids laugh and play on
camp grounds when she knew that within two days, it'd all be gone.
During the end-of-camp play all of the campers had put on
she had started bawling on the spot and had to be ushered out of
the mess hall, citing an upset stomach for the worried kids who
questioned her sniffles and the mound of tissue accumulating in
her hand. It just wasn't fair! Damn her emotions. Damn Brianna.
And damn Darien and her stupid attraction to him!
She growled and practically threw herself into the
squishy chair sitting outside the female counselor's bunks. Just
the thought of Brianna made her blood boil.
True to her word, Brianna had called her father the
minute Karen had finished bandaging her twisted ankle properly.
On the phone, she rattled with over-exaggerated sobs and a
dramatic rendition of what "really" went on inside the
barn.
Karen had spent an entire hour trying to talk down the
heated Mr. Lawson and resist a threatened law suit against the
camp. In the end, he'd been more than happy to cut off his
sponsorship of the camp completely and verbally assault
poor Karen for her "barbaric way of treating his precious
baby girl."
Serena wanted to spit and did so, wishing for
Brianna's hairsprayed head to be in the line of fire
rather than an unsuspecting pine cone.
"Wow...pretty impressive, Meatball Head."
Suddenly, she felt like an ice cube had dropped to
the pit of her stomach at the sound of his voice. She had
drained every ounce of her energy avoiding Darien over the
past few days and had succeeded beautifully...until now.
He smiled weakly, not really as passionate about his
teasing as usual. Serena blankly stared at him, cursing her
heart beat for pounding so insistently when all she was
doing was sitting down.
Darien didn't wait for an invite and walked steadily
up the wooden stairs to the porch where she currently sat. He
leaned against the railing, ignoring its squeak in protest.
"So..." He began, desperately wanting to break the
tension between them. He needed her light more than anything
at that moment.
Serena remained silent, finding her fingernails much
more interesting than the attractive 19 year old standing in
front of her.
Maybe if I ignore him, he'll go away. She mused to
herself.
No such luck. Darien walked away from the railing and
pulled up another chair. It scratched loudly against the wooden
floor as he moved it close to her.
Serena jolted internally when he grabbed her fiddling
hands and held them in his own, larger ones. She hesitantly
met his gaze, startled by the vivid emotions held within it.
In the two years she'd known Darien Chiba, she'd never seen
any type of anything in his eyes other than mirth from
teasing her endlessly.
Now there was hope, sorrow, and regret. She swallowed
over the lump in her throat. It was a little too much for her
to handle at the moment and she tore her hands from his, stood
up abruptly and walked over to the very end of the porch, as
far away from him as she could get in the space provided.
"Look, Darien," She began, not allowing herself to look
at him again, "What happpened that day in the barn...it was an
accident. I just got caught up in everything, you know?" She
struggled to force the lies out of her mouth, "I-I didn't
mean for it to happen."
She hated herself at that moment. She hated herself
for lying to him, for ignoring what she knew was true, for
being scared again. She hated him for making her feel this way.
With her final words, Darien felt his heart collapse.
Had he been a fool to think that she would ever care about
him? He felt like bashing his head into a wall for allowing
himself to feel for her...for thinking she would feel
the same.
The dam behind Serena's eyes threatened to break,
but she was stronger than it and forced it to stay intact.
Darien's silence beat into her eardrums louder than an army
of marching bands, and she resisted the urge to clamp her
hands over her ears and hum to break it.
He stared at her, hard, for a few seconds of eternity.
He waited for her to take back her words but knew that she
wouldn't.
Instead, he masked his face with a shaky grin and
rose, "You're absolutely right, Meatball Head," He flashed
a lopsided smile that would have melted any girl's heart,
"I shouldn't have let it happen, and I'm...sorry." He had
trouble getting the last word out. He wasn't sorry, dammit!
He'd been waiting for almost two years to kiss her! And look
what happened. It blew up in his face.
Serena played with a thread of hair and nodded slowly,
almost on the verge of running at him and throwing her arms
around his neck, telling him that it really had meant something
to her, that she wasn't sure what she felt for him, but it was
what she'd been waiting for all her life. But like the prideful,
indignant person she was, she forced the words down her throat
like acid and refused to meet his gaze.
Admitting defeat and gathering what pride he
had left, he rose from his seat and descended the steps
slowly as if at any second she would call him back.
But she didn't.
He turned to her again, and Serena's heart cracked at
the wall of ice that covered his gaze now.
"You know...I'm glad that we agree on what happened
last weekend having no meaning to either of us...but it seems
wrong that all of these children should have to lose a part
of their lives because of our stupid mistake."
And he turned back around, leaving her to her own,
perplexities.
** * * * * * * * * * * * *
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Adrial_06@yahoo.com
ja!
6/19/03
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help PLEASE e-mail me! (e-mail: look UP)