Chapter 5: Quick Glances and Pool Play

A week goes by faster than anyone could really think. The routine was the same every day, get up, go to breakfast, and rehearse. Have some free time, go to lunch, rehearse, have free time, have quiet time, go to dinner, rehearse, have some evening activity, go to bed. Then the cycle would begin the next day. As the days passed, I found myself staring at Erik more and more. Well, other than the fact that he sat diagonally to my left. I tried to avoid Nadir, though Meg and I would find times to bring up the sock. Rehearsals were quite amusing, Mr. Reyer and Andre were always quite amusing. With Mr. Reyer conducing and Andre playing the bass in the back, there was never a dull moment. Our pieces weren't all that hard either, which made life better. Possibly with the exception of the Vivaldi piece, a concerto in A minor. Mr. Reyer and our concertmaster, Nicholas, were playing the solos.

But more and more frequently I found myself thinking about Erik. His mysterious mask. Mr. Reyer never had him remove it. What was so bad that he could not show the world?

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She looked at me. I couldn't believe it. She was looking at me. I tried not to notice her gaze. But I found myself glancing back, and seeing Christine turn her eyes away. I began to look at her when she wasn't looking, only to have her to look up and for me to look away. My viola had never been more interesting when this happened. I suddenly had something important to tell William.

"Hey William." I said, determined not to look back at Christine.

"What Erik?"

"So what's the bowing for this passage?"

"I've told you about three times now. I even wrote it…"

"Oh…Right. Sorry." I looked back at her. She wasn't looking at me, but I felt the gaze of someone else. Nadir. "What?" I asked him, ready to defend myself.

"Nothing." He said quietly.

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"I can't find my bathing suit!" I cried that afternoon, it was Wednesday. Meg sat on her bed, getting her showering things together.

"Just borrow mine. I don't want to go."

"Well…ok…Will I fit?" I asked, looking at her body and mine. She was a taller than I, as well as bigger in the chest and hips.

"Just try it on Christine." She said, now searching for shampoo. I sighed and went into the tiny bathroom. It seemed to fit, I could feel it tightly in all the right places.

"Well? What do you think?" I asked her, turning around so she could see if it fit badly in my butt. She nodded.

"It looks good Christine." She said, gathering up her stuff. "I'll walk over with you, well as far as the shower."

"Ok."

So off we went. I had my towel, she had her bathing supplies. I had decided to take a shower later on in the day. As we walked, we chatted about the music, the other people, the food. Everything and anything we thought of. I decided to bring up the potentially dangerous question.

"Meg, tell me about Erik." I said tentatively. She rolled her eyes

"We sat next to each other for a whole year. He drove me crazy!"

"No, I mean, like…about him."

"What…? Well…ok…he plays the viola? And ok, let's see. Obviously he's our year. I think he and Nadir have been friends since kindergarten."

"I'm glad you're so helpful." I said sarcastically. But I was surprised to find that out about Nadir. I had just assumed they were friends from Jr. High. Meg shrugged, and waved as I turned up the path to the pool while she kept going.

When I got there, I found my two least favorite people there, Nadir and Erik. Well, maybe I don't hate him as much as I thought. But he sure was annoying.

Diving in that pool was one of the greater joys in my life at that time. It got so hot up in the mountains, especially in that tiny rehearsal space we called Pinecroft. When I popped up, Nadir and Erik made their way over to me.

"Nice dive, but I can do better." Nadir informed. He climbed out of the pool and did a very lovely swan dive into the pool. I scowled, not wanting to admit that he had done a good job. Erik had gotten out of the pool by this time, and did a flip. He landed with a smack. It sounded like he had done a back flop.

"Are you ok?!" Nadir and I asked him. He claimed to be fine, but I didn't believe him. So we spent the afternoon diving, and playing. The guys had breath holding contests, and at one point, I kicked Erik on the back on accident. I felt a tingle as my pulled my foot away. Sure, I felt bad, but it was amazing feeling that from touching him. I suddenly became self-conscious at what I looked like from below.

When Nadir popped up a few seconds later, the contest was over. When Erik decided to surface, I apologized for kicking him. He said it was ok, and we continued messing around until we heard the bell to go.

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She touched me. I felt giddy at the thought. God, Christine looked good in a bathing suit. How could she not?

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I was excited. We had promised to come back and resume the game of boys versus girls keep away the following day. I could hardly wait for my time with Erik. Did he know? I hoped I was being subtle enough.

"I like Erik." I told Raoul and Meg that evening.

"Oh Christine." Meg said with a sad smile. Did she like him too? I wondered. They were always fighting, so it was possibly a fight of liking. But that did not fall true with Nadir and I, so it shouldn't fall true with Meg and Erik…right?

That night, I couldn't stop scratching my stomach. Soon, a line of angry red dots ran along my belly button. The girls in my cabin decided to take me to the nurse. We sang songs we had heard that night at the campfire.
The bear went over the mountain,

The bear went over the mountain,

To eat the girls walking by!

We sang this as we walked nervously up the hill to the nurse's office. She gave me some medicine, but cautioned me that it would knock me out. Sure enough, when we reached the cabin and I went to bed, I was out. But not before Meg stuck socks on my hands to keep me from scratching. I must have been a sight to behold.

Unfortunately for me, I had to return the next day so the nurse could put anti-itch cream on. So I got up early that morning, smelling the fresh pine and walked to the nurse's office. I pulled up my shirt so the nurse could check out my rash and apply the cream. Because I was just that lucky, Nadir walked by the open door and way my shirt pulled up to my chin. I turned bright red. I didn't know whether or not he saw me. But it was embarrassing nonetheless. I never did find out what the rash was caused by either. Just life's mysteries I guess.

That afternoon, I again returned to the pool (without Meg). This time it was a massive game of keep away. Boys versus girls of course. There were many times when Erik and I guarded each other. I didn't really understand how he could have possibly played with that mask but he did.

Nadir often took the ball from me, shaking me off of it. He was a great deal bigger than I was. Andre found this amusing, since I had the "death grip". At one point, Erik was guarding me, so I pushed against his chest with my back and walked him backwards until I could throw it.

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"Aw…how cute!" Andre teased as Christine bounced away from me.
"Don't say that." I said. Alena giggled. I wanted to glare at her, but restrained myself from doing so she wouldn't know that I liked Christine. Instead, I laughed as Nadir shook Christine off the ball once again.

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As we sat in our evening rehearsal, Alena asked me about Erik.

"I like him. He's really cute."

"I know he is!" she said, giggling, her big eyes lighting up her expression. I felt a pang of jealousy. What if she liked him?

"I doubt he likes me like that though." I said, looking at him wistfully.

"Just ask him to dance with you tomorrow night." Alena advised. I thought about it. The dance…my one chance to tell him how I felt. What was the risk?

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Finally! the fifth chapter is up! I know people were expressing confusion over the third chapter, but the POV goes:
Christine, Erik, Christine, Erik, Meg(she probalby won't POV anymore), Christine, and an unknown person.
This is going somewhat the way i want it to, but just to give people a head's up, there may be a sequel.

enjoy!

AOD