A/N: This didn't take me very long to write :) Well, a lot of Vanessa's past is revealed in this chapter during the flashbacks, but I still haven't written about why she got sent to camp in the first place. I MIGHT add that in the next chapter, I'm not sure yet. Plus, I've introduced a somewhat new character in this chapter. I like her. She's got spunk, but we don't know that much about her yet. You'll get what I'm talking about when you read. So, please R&R:)
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Your Guardian Angel
Chapter 5: Revelations
The silence was screaming in her ears. All she could do was stand there and wait as the darkness engulfed any hope of her escaping her attacker. There was no sound, not one single sign of life except that of her own voice screaming inside her head and the fast-paced beating of her heart. Clearly there was no escape.
The sudden crack of a twig made the girl jump. She made an attempt to look around to see what caused the noice, but she had no such luck She couldn't see a thing. Not when the moon was bright and covered by the leaves of the tall trees.
Suddenly, a sharp pain coursed throughout the girl's arm and the silence was broken yet again, this time by her deafening scream. A pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and forced her to the ground. More pain came as the person slashed her arms and slit her wrists and soon, the earth was stained as her blood dripped all over.
Vanessa sat on the couch, watching this slaughter being depicted on her television screen. Warm arms were wrapped arund her tightly as she leaned onto her boyfriend who was sitting behind her.
"Scared, Nessa?" he whispered into her ear. His warm breath tickled her. She laughed and looked up and her eyes locked with his alarmingly blue ones instantly.
"Psh. Scared? Nah. Disgusted? Yes. Tell me again why I agreed to watching this with you?"
"Because you love me?"
"Oh, that's right, I do, don't I?" Vanessa said. "And why is that, exactly? Because I can't seem the recall."
"Because I'm devilishly handsome, incredibly hilarious, and an awfully good kisser."
She bit her lips. "Awfully good kisser? Nah, you must be confusing yourself with that guy I'm having an affair with."
His eyebrows furrowed and she winked, smiling brightly as she did so. He rolled his eyes.
"Very funny."
"Mhmm. See, I'm the incredibly hilarious one in this relationship."
"Whatever happened to the shy Vanessa I used to know?"
"She went away on holiday. For now, you'll have to settle for me."
He paused, appearing to think about what she said for a minute and then shrugged. "I'm fine with that."
They both leaned in, their lips colliding. His hands went from her waist and slowly crept up, cupping her face. His tongue found her lips and started begging for entrance. She parted her mouth slightly and her hands roamed up to his head, brushing along his hair. A slight moan escaped from her throat.
The boy leaned forward, pushing her down on the couch so that he was on top of her. He parted from their liplock to plant short kisses on her cheeks and forehead. Faces got flushed, breaths got heavier, and emotions went wild.
He was kissing her neck and his hands were slowly creeping down again when she stopped him short.
"Noah, we should stop. I'm.. I'm not ready for this," she breathed.
An exasperated sigh came from his lips. He had dealt with this before.
"Vanessa, didn't you just tell me that you loved me? If you truly loved me, you would be ready for this."
"If you truly loved me, you'd wait until I was ready!" her tone became harsh and bitter.
Noah's hands pinned her downs. His facial expression was no longer caring. Teenage hormones had taken over him completely now.
"I'm tired of waiting, Nessa." There was a sense of need in his voice. His lips found her neck again but this time,, Vanessa felt no pleasure or happiness in it. She tried to break away from his grip but to no avail. He was too strong for her. Much too strong.
No sound came from Vanessa for the rest of that night, but screams could still be heard all throughout the house. The T.V. had been kept on.
I was on my cot, my face buried in my pillow. I could feel the boys' presence near me and I could hear the sound of Squid's muffled voice explaining to them what had just occurred. Here come the sympathy hugs and pats on the back.
"Do you think we should leave her alone?"
"Probably. She doesn't look like she wants to be bothered."
"I think she's sleeping."
"Do you hear any snoring?"
I have no idea why, but right then, a fire inside me erupted. I got up and faced the rest of D-tent.
"No. No, I do not want to be left alone. I don't want to wallow in my own self-pity, thank you very much! And do you really think I could sleep at a time like this? I was just harassed, for god's sake! And for your information, I-DO-NOT-SNORE!"
Silence followed. A long, awkward silence. Armpit was the first to break it.
"Woah."
"Ya think she's PMS-ing?" Magnet muttered. That earned him slaps on the head from the rest of the guys minus Zero, who just rolled his eyes.
I sighed and then collapsed on the bed again, my head landing right on the pillow, just like they do on T.V. or in the movies.
"My life is a nightmare!" I groaned for more effect. I had found my inner drama queen.
"Seriously, I think she is," Magnet kept saying. No one ever told him when to stop when it came to girls did they?
I quickly went back to an upright position. Apparently, being harassed gave you a lot of adrenaline.
"I'm not PMS-iiiing!"
Great. I've turned from the prude, to the bitch, to the whiner.
All the boys gave me incredulous looks. Was it that hard to believe that I wasn't? Wait. Prude. Bitch. Whiner. Yeah, it was that hard.
"How about we just forget it? I'm fine now. Promise. Cross my heart, hope to die," I said. I had a sudden craving to sing again. The Rocket Summer's song filled my head but I forced myself not to burst out in sing-song.
"Sure thing, girlie," X-ray said, still looking at me suspiciously.
Another awkward silence followed. Boy, were they afraid of me now or something? Well, I guess they have a reason to be. I just totally snapped at them for wondering if I was sleeping or not. But it wasn't my fault I had to channel my anger somewhere. Or maybe it is. Just a little…
"So…" I started off, only now realizing that I had no idea where I was going with the sentence. "Is, uh… there anything fun to do around here?"
Stupid question. This was a fricken juvenile detention camp. If there was anything fun to do, these boys wouldn't be sitting in a tent with a seemingly PMS-ing girl who was about to bite their head off.
"There's the Wreck Room," ZigZag suggested. I had a feeling that the Wreck Room wasn't all that fun, but meh, beats sitting in the room of the awkward silences.
"Can we go?" I asked.
"Sure. But we all better go. We don't want another repeat of the shower incident," Squid answered.
"No kidding," I muttered.
We all got up and one by one exited the tent. I had changed out of my bathing suit into something that covered my body more. I was wearing a purple tank top and white shorts, but this didn't stop the boys outside from staring. God, couldn't they just get used to having a girl around? If they only knew why I was placed here in the first place…
We walked for a short time before arriving at what looked like a bit of a run-down shack. Was this the Rec Room? Then I noticed the sign that hung above the entrance. "Wreck Room". Hah. Figures.
Entering the wreck room, I took a quick look at what could be so fun about the place. There was a pool table, but I was never the one to suggest to a game. I sucked at pool. There was a T.V, which ZigZag immediately walked over to, but I had no idea why considering it was broken and all you could watch was television fuzz. There was also a stereo but what kind of music was blasting out of it at the moment I had no idea. That just left a couple of couches and chairs here and there to sit on. What an amazingly fun place! … Yeah right.
I walked over to one of the couches and sat, motioning for some of the rest of D-tent to sit with me. Magnet and Squid walked over while the rest challenged a couple of boys from another tent to a game of pool.
"So, how are you liking Camp Green Lake so far, Nessa?" Magnet questioned. I snorted.
"Oh well besides the fact that all the guys stare at me as if I'm a piece of meat, my hand is a home for blisters, I have to get up way early in the morning to dig god-forsaken holes everyday, and that the temperature is up to a boil? I'm having oh-so-much fun!"
"What, no complaints about your annoying tent mates?" Squid asked.
"Nah, no complaints. At least, no complaints said out loud," I said and stuck my tongue out at them.
Magnet then turned to Squid and attempted to block me out of the conversation. "So, she thinks she's better than us now, eh?"
Squid decided to play along and completely ignored my existence. "Yeah, just because she's a girl. She's not even that great anyways. Sometimes she never says anything and the next, she's saying something sarcastic or bitchy."
"Yeah, thanks guys. I love you too," I said. No reply.
I rolled my eyes. Well, if they were going to ignore me, I might as well have some fun with it. I got up from my place on the couch and jumped on Magnet's lap. Then I lifted my legs and placed my feet on Squid's lap. Just then, a guy from another tent walked by and whistled.
"Damn. How did you get her to get on your lap like that? I'd like to have some time with that hot piece of ass."
Damn. I did not think this all the way through.
"It's called being nice. You should try it sometime," I retorted. The guy had no response so all he could do was give a faltering wink and walk away. I turned back to Magnet and Squid.
"Even though you weren't being very nice to me at that moment…" I said with puppy dog eyes.
"Aw, we were just kidding Nessa," Squid said.
"Yeah," Magnet agreed. "We love having you with us. Especially if it's like this." He proceeded to wrap his arms around me.
I rolled my eyes again. No matter how nice D-tent was, they will always still be hormone-filled teenaged boys.
"You better be glad that I know that deep, deep, down, I know that you're both nice guys. Or else, Magnet, I might have to slap you like I did with that guy at the showers," I said.
"Wow, what happened to the shy Vanessa we used to know?" Squid asked, raising his eyebrows.
Something in that sentence stung. Maybe because the last time I had heard that was when a guy I thought I actually loved said it to me. But no, I'm not going to let that comment affect me. I wouldn't let these boys see me any more vulnerable than before. I've had enough of naive and shy Vanessa. That Vanessa got me nowhere, fast.
"Yeah, she's gone. At least for now," I said.
"Well good. I like this Vanessa," Squid commented.
Just then, Mr. Pendanski entered with a bunch of letters and packages in his hand. "Vanessa!" he called out to me. "There's a letter and package here for you!"
I got up to take them, already guessing who they would be from. My parents? Nah. It's true, they love me, but they are completely hopeless with writing letters. It would take them about two months to write you a thank you note if you gave them something for their birthday. No, this would be from my best friend. Right before I left, she said she would try to write to me everyday if possible. Knowing her, she would.
I opened the letter first. Tearing apart the envelope, I quickly unfolded the piece of paper to reveal Caitlin's neat writing.
Vannie J.
First off, please don't kill me the next time you see me 'cause I used that nickname. It's just too adorable not to use and you know it! Even if it's only deep, deep, deep, deep down in your loverly heart.
So how's prison so far? Woops. I mean detention camp. Is there really any difference? I think not. Now you're just a regular 'ol juvenile delinquent aren't you? Mhmm, don't even deny it. You love spending time with all the boys there. Are they hot? Remember, Nessa, you only get to pick one. If I ever somehow end up at that juvi place (hah, perish the thought!) I wouldn't want all the hot boys already taken by you.
Well, everything here is the same. Same as in BORING! And it's gotten even more depressing now that you're gone. I miss you. You know who else misses you? NOAH. He's been going around town saying how much his heart has been aching ever since his girlfriend left. Hah. Girlfriend?! So anyways, I got him to stop spreadin 'em rumours. Guess how? You're probably thinking in your head 'she gave him the 'ol one two right in the nuts!' Hah. You know me all too well.
So anyways, you better write back! Oh, and with pictures of some of 'em boys you've gotten close to. Pretty please? You know you wanna. Just for me? I know you will. But there's no harm in asking you, is there?
I love you to DEATH, Vannie J! Please, oh please don't get big headed and remember us little people!
Your bestest friend in the whole wide frickin' world,
Caitlin.
P.S. I knew you didn't bring your camera, so I took the liberty of buying you a disposable one. I don't want any excuses for no pictures! And I added a little extra something... to give you motivation. Mhmm, aren't I the greatest? I love you, betch! 3
I laughed out laughed after I finished reading her letter. Caitlin Hurst, how I miss her so. As I took the package to reveal my disposable camera and 'little extra something', Magnet and Squid took hold of my letter to read it.
Opening the package, I found the disposable camera right away. I picked it up and immediately took a picture of Squid and Magnet, who were still busy reading away at my letter. Both looked up from the sudden 'click' and made faces at the camera, but I refused to take any more pictures. At least for now.
I looked into the package once more and found items that made me squeal with delight. There was a box of chocolates, a container filled with candy, my favourite book, Twilight, two CDs that I had burned, and a bag of TGI Friday's Potato Skins chips. Caitlin Hurst, my untimely saviour. What would I ever do without her?
"Hey, J-Girl, what's in the box?" X-Ray questioned. He had stopped playing his pool game to come over to see what all the fuss was about.
"J-Girl?" I questioned, my eyebrows raised.
"Yeah. J-Girl. It's your new nickname. You know, Vannie J, J-Girl," Squid explained.
I thought about it for a minute. "Meh, s'ok. Better than Vannie J if you ask me."
"Well then, that's it. You're now officially J-Girl. And also officially part of D-tent," X-ray announced.
I smiled. I remember hoping that I would never become fully one of them. I thought that becoming a full-fledged juvenile delinquent along with these boys would be the end of me, or at least my mind. But now that I actually spent some time with the boys of D-tent, I had come to a revelation. Maybe being part of this tight-knit almost-family wasn't going to be so bad after all.