Done my exams(: Expect updates to be faster now that I'm not studying!
PS, lazy days , beautiful nights . beachy hair , water fights . hot guys , tanned skin . school`s out, summer`s in. stoked or what?:)
"ALICIA?" Dylan shrieks in Landon's room. "ALICIA! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I HATE HER! PLUS, SHE KNOWS, LANDON! SHE'S GOING TO TELL SOMEONE!"
After Alicia had disappeared into her tiny room, Olivia and Claire had gone off to find the boy and Dylan had dragged me to the Big House. I'm sitting on one of the Adirondack chairs in Landon's room while Dylan screams at Landon less than 5 meters away.
"Dylan, please, chill!" Landon says. "I know she knows, how do you think she got the job back?"
"Wait, she's blackmailing you?" Dylan screeches. "No, that is NOT okay!"
"Dylan!" Landon puts his hands on her thin shoulders and shakes her slightly. "You don't know how cute I think this protective thing is, but it's fine. Seriously."
"You don't have to put up with her all summer," Dylan grumbles. "She's in our cabin, Landon. She could suffocate me in my sleep or something! And it'll be your fault."
"No she won't," Landon chuckles. "It'll be okay. But you guys have to get out of here, and don't be a bitch to Alicia. She won't be a bitch to you."
"Whatever," Dylan says and leaves without a goodbye.
"Bye!" Landon calls to the slammed door. "I love you!"
"But I guarantee she does not love you at the moment," I smirk and stand up. "And I'm pretty sure Alicia would murder us in our sleep. See you later," I quickly follow Dylan out.
I hear Landon sigh and mutter something. "Dyl, wait up," I pant. Her angry stride is ten times faster than her regular one.
"Jesus, she's blackmailing him! Can you buh-lieve that?"
"Chill," I say, "If she tells anyone about you guys, then you're both extremely screwed and—"
I stop, noticing some unfamiliar pink suitcases on the porch. "Whose are those?"
Dylan scrunches her eyebrows together. "I dunno. But whoever it is has gawd-awful taste in suitcases. Neon pink and blue? Ew," she winces.
"Those are mine," an unfamiliar voice says. "And brights happen to be big where I'm from."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were from Mars," Dylan says rudely.
I look up to see a tall, willowy girl with golden brown hair, hazel eyes and a glare that makes me somewhat nervous. Plus, this girl is mega gorgeous.
"What are you?" Dylan snaps. "I don't remember you here last year."
"Nikki Dalton," She openly gives me and Dylan the once overs, scrunching her ski-slope nose at my sparkling charm bracelet. I knew it was too flashy for camp! Why didn't I listen to myself? Now I was going to pay the price and everyone would stop looking at me as an alpha and—
Wait, what am I saying? I'm the alpha (well maybe not the since me, Dylan, Claire and Olivia sort of are all the girls of camp. Me and Dylan are more alphas though). Why the hell am I questioning my choices because of her?
"Dylan Marvil," Dylan raises one elegant eyebrow. "Yes, as in the daughter of Merri-Lee Marvil. And sorry, I don't do autographs."
Nikki Dalton raises an arched eyebrow too. "I'm sorry; I don't believe I've ever heard of your mother."
Olivia –who's now standing behind Nikki with Claire- gasps and Claire raises her eyebrows, shocked. Nikki turns to me, her eyebrows raised expectantly. "Are you a mute? Or just stupid?"
A sharp glance from Dylan and a subtle head shake from Olivia are what barely hold me back from slapping this girl. We all know that even the slightest thing will cause Alicia to send us to the Big House for punishment.
"Massie Block," I say through clenched teeth.
"Massie!" A familiar voice shouts from behind us and sends a warm feeling though my chest. "Hey!"
I turn around to see the grinning face of my boyfriend, Derrick Harrington. His blonde hair is slightly shaggier than I remember, and his caramel coloured eyes look just as happy to see me as I am to see him.
"Hey!" I rush into his arms. Looking beyond his shoulder, I'm disappointed to see the incredibly handsome face of Josh Hotz.
"Got a hug for me, Block?" He asks. To the untrained ear, it seems playful and teasing, like we're old friends. But to Dylan, Olivia and me, it's just one more way for him to be a whore.
"Sorry," I force a grin. "I'm all Derrick's."
Josh shrugs and moves towards Claire, who squeals and jumps into his arms. I notice Olivia has disappeared back into the cabin.
"Oh," Derrick notices Nikki Dalton on the porch. "Sorry! Hey, I'm Derrick Harrington," he grins and holds out a hand for her to shake.
"My boyfriend," I blurt out. It earns me a look from Derrick, and I instantly feel ashamed.
"Nikki Dalton," she giggles, as though she agrees with him that my pettiness is completely immature.
"And I'm Josh," Josh breaks away from Claire to hold out his hand. She takes it daintily and smiles flirtatiously. "This is your first summer, right?"
"Mmm-hmm," She nods and bats her Bambi-esque eyes. "What's there to do?"
"Everything," Josh and Derrick say at the same time.
"I can give you a quick tour around the camp before dinner," Josh says quickly. Claire shoots him a look, but he doesn't even notice.
What a man-whor—
"I'll help!" Derrick volunteers, cutting off my thoughts.
Claire and I exchange a look. This girl is trouble. Dylan, seeing my and Claire's distress, says, "Actually, I can show you around," she bats her long lashes sweetly. "I've been coming here since I was five, so I know my way around here."
"Oh, it's fine," Nikki says, her voice sweeter than sugar. It's so fake I want to strangle her. "You and your friends probably have a lot to catch up on! I'm sure Derrick and Josh can show me around," she giggles again.
Derrick, Josh and Nikki walk off towards the Dining Hall, chatting away. Derrick doesn't look back or even says goodbye.
"What the hell," Claire growls, and pushes her sunglasses angrily onto her head. "One bat of those brown eyes and they're both putty in her hands. I can't believe Josh. But he'd never cheat on me."
I feel my stomach climb its way into my mouth, and I have to clench my jaw to keep from screaming. And then there's Derrick –he's acting just like Josh! I hate Nikki Dalton. And I swear I will make this summer a living hell for her.
"Where's the necklace Josh got me for Christmas?" Claire searches frantically on the shelf by her bed. "I put it here earlier! I wanted to wear it to campfire!"
"What does it look like?" Nikki asks from her single bed. Dylan and I had debated giving her that bed, but we figured it would be kinda sacrilegious to give her Skye's bed. So now Dylan's purple Frette sheets are on it instead.
"It's a white gold heart on a gold chain…from Tiffany's…says 'C + J' on it…" she continues to look through her stuff.
"Oh…" Nikki lifts up one purple flip-flop clad foot. "Like this one?"
Claire takes several yoga breaths at rapid-fire. "Listen, bitch," she growls. "Josh and I have been together for a long time. Nawt even Massie tore us apart. So don't think you and your fake Marc Jacobs skirt can even try."
Nikki giggles. "Aw, honey, I'm sure it makes you feel better to think that, but we all know it's not true. I've made gay boys go straight. And this is real Marc Jacobs. Marc designed it for me himself after my mom planned his show for fashion week. So don't even try, hun."
Claire disappears into the bathroom to get ready for campfire. I know she's mad as hell since she didn't even bother responding to Nikki's comment.
"So, Nikki," Olivia says, looking up at her with her enormous blue eyes. She's sitting on her bed with her legs cross Indian-style, twisting her hair into a super cute side-braid. "Where are you from?"
See, Olivia's the nice one of our group. Always trying to see the good in other people, blah blah blah. What's the point though? It's way easier to be a bitch.
"Chicago," Nikki says, applying mascara to her already long lashes. "Born and raised."
"You must eat a lot of deep dish pizza," Dylan raises her eyebrows and stares at Nikki's bare thighs (the slut is wearing shorts that even Claire found short). I know there's no point though –so far Nikki doesn't have an ounce of fat on her body. Dumb bitch.
Nikki shrugs her petite shoulders. "I eat whatever I want, really."
Another reason to hate the girl: she's got a great metabolism.
"Do you have any siblings?" Olivia chirps. "I'm an only child and incredibly lonely. Claire's so lucky to have a brother like Todd!"
"He's pretty cute," Nikki admits.
"Stay the hell away from him you bitch," Claire explodes out of the bathroom. "It's btad enough you're trying to steal Josh AND Derrick, but stay the fuck away from my big brother!"
"Um, I'm not trying to 'steal Josh and Derrick', if I remember correctly, your boyfriends offered to show me around."
Point, I think but don't say. Alicia bursts into the room, glancing at each of us. "Who's ready for our first camp dinner?" she cries.
As we all start walking towards the DH, Alicia announces, "Dylan, hope you don't mind –I signed you up for stacking the plates after meals this week! Mass, I signed you up for next week!" she grins.
With a deep breath, I force myself to grin. "Great, Leesh! But aren't counselors supposed to do it to? I'm sure if I talk to Landon I can get you a week of helping too!"
But as soon as I say Landon, I know I've made a huge mistake. Alicia's eyes flash with malice and she glances towards Dylan, her head cocked to the right. "I'm sure Dylan can talk to Landon. Right?"
Claire and Olivia exchange a puzzled glance then glance at Dylan's angry face. Nikki cocks her head to the left and looks between Alicia and Dylan curiously.
"C'mon, we'd better hurry up, or we'll miss the hot food," I say quickly. As soon as we walk into the Dining Hall, I feel the oh-so familiar feeling of being looked at. Almost everytime I enter a room, there's stares –and with Olivia, Claire and Dylan surrounding me, the stares are almost ten times more intense. Only…they're not staring at me.
They're staring at Nikki Dalton.
A quick look at Dylan and Claire prove that I'm not imagining things. Olivia, who's already loading her plate with mac and cheese and Ceaser salad, doesn't seem to notice the lack of attention we're getting.
"Hey, Nikki!" I hear Josh shout from his cabin's table. "Come sit with us!"
Nikki turns and giggles. "Shouldn't you be asking your girlfriend?" she calls across the DH.
A bunch of glances turn towards Claire, who slips on her gold-tinted aviators and follows Olivia to our table.
"Oh, uh," Josh glances towards our table. "Claire, you can come sit here too!"
She fiddles with her fork and knife, pretending not to have heard him. Poor C. And fuck Josh. Nikki shrugs and follows me and Dylan to our table.
After dinner is my favourite activity ever, Bonfire. Like last year, my cabin sits with Derrick's cabin, and he sits beside me. Unlike last year, he's ignoring me, completely engrossed in a story Nikki is telling.
"But seriously," she giggles. "I couldn't have passed up an opportunity to model in in Brazil, right? So I don't see why my dean at boarding school kicked me out for missing a few days for working on my career!"
Derrick and Josh laugh. "I completely agree," Josh grins. "And I can't believe you model!" Derrick adds. "Can you, Mass?"
Instead of replying, I stuff a gooey marshmallow into my mouth, ignoring the fact that it just came out of the fire. It's incredibly hot and burns like everything in my mouth.
"Massie," Nikki says sweetly. "That's your fourth marshmallow, honey. Remember, it is bikini season, after all."
She and Josh laugh, and Derrick looks like he's choosing between laughing and not. WTF. He's supposed to tell Nikki to shut up, then put his arm around me and make me his world-famous s'mores.
Instead, Nikki launches into another story, captivating both Josh and Derrick's –and every boy around us- attention.
That night, instead of the usual first night's chatter, it's quiet. Our whole cabin is silent. Wow, that's definitely a first. Nikki's on her bed, scribbling something down in a little leather journal I noticed her hiding in her pillowcase this morning.
Dylan's flipping through a magazine, sitting cross legged. I know she actually isn't reading the magazing though –she's thinking about Landon. I can just tell by the far-away look in her green eyes.
Olivia's reading some big book, her big nerd-glasses perched on her nose. That's the thing I have never understood about Olivia –she's the tiniest girl I know, but she eats more than a trucker and she's the most…out there girl I know, but she reads more than my English proffesor. She's one big contradiction.
I notice Claire's motioning towards the bathroom with large pleading eyes. I carefully walk down the creaky ladder of my bed and grab my toilettries bag and follow her to the bathroom.
"Jeez," she whispers and leads me to the farthest stall. "It's taken forever to get your attention!"
She pushes me in the tiny stall and locks the door behind us. My left knee is touching the toilet and my right knee is touching Claire's. My elbow bangs into the toilet paper dispencer. Jeez, there is no room for both of us.
"Okay, what I'm about to tell you, you cannot repeat to ANYONE. Not even Livs or Dylan, okay?"
I nod, my stomach feeling queasy. Does she know about Josh and Olivia sleeping together? Does she know Landon and Dylan are completely in love? And why the hell did everyone tell only ME their secrets?
"'Kay, well you know how Danny Robbins lives in San Diego?"
I nod. Olivia is completely in love with Danny Robbins. Apparently she has been since they were seven. Unfortunately, last summer we found out that Danny really liked Claire.
"We both ended up at some USC dorm party and got totally drunk," she glances around nervously. "After that, we both went back to my place since no one was home. And well…I think you can imagine what happened next."
I slap her arm. "Claire!" I whisper-shout. "You know how Olivia feels about him!"
"I know," she sticks her pinky nail in her mouth and starts nibbling. "But we were both smashed and I didn't mean to hurt her! What if Josh knows and that's why he's acting so distant?"
I ignore the part about Josh. "So you slept with Danny, whom Olivia's madly in love with," I clarify.
She sniffles. "I know how awful I am. But yeah, I did. God, I'm such a hoe."
And Olivia slept with Josh, who's supposed to be in love with Claire.
And Dylan and Landon are dating even though it's totally against the rules. Alicia knows that, too.
I shake my head and push past Claire out of the stall. I splash my face with cold water, hoping to numb my brain. Claire follows me and stands behind me, looking like she's about to cry.
Then a toilet flushes and a stall at the other end of the room opens. Nikki breezes out and stands beside me at the sinks.
Claire glances at me in the mirror. "Did you…uh…?" she stammers.
Nikki grins wickedly at my reflection. "Did I hear anything?" she asks. "Well…" she wipes her hands on her t-shirt and winks at my reflection before sashaying back into the bunk area.