Next Morning….
(Emma's POV)
I wake up early and head into the bathroom and do my routine. I am happy to have all of my stuff today. I look back at Olivia is still out like a light. I go into the kitchen and grab some orange juice and my journal and head up to the loft. I wanted to check it out since I got here. It sits above the living room and there is a spiral staircase leading up to it. It's a small space with two recliners facing the ocean. There are small tables as well. I get settled and look out at the ocean and think what a great place to hide away. I look over my shoulder downstairs and I don't think anyone would even see me. I turn back to the ocean and take in the view, it's so peaceful. I pull out my journal and write about the past few days. It's sad that I'll be leaving in a few days; this week is going so fast. I write my feelings, my true feelings, for Scott. I hear someone coming up the staircase and quickly fold my journal away. I am relieved to see Kirstie.
"I thought you were up here," Kirstie says.
"Yea, I was just enjoying the view, it's amazing," I say.
"So, what do you want to do today?" Kirstie asks.
"I don't know, we could do anything," I say.
"So, did you have another evening in the basement sleeping on the couch?" Kirstie asks.
I laugh and say, "No, I slept in an actual bed, shocking, I know."
"Just teasing you, cuz. So, any updates on your little crush," Kirstie asks.
I shake my head no. I look down to make sure that no one is listening. She senses this and says, "No one else is awake, it's okay. It's just you and me," Kirstie says.
"I just don't know. I find myself liking him more and more each day. I just don't know what to do; I'm leaving in a few days, Kirstie." I say.
"You never know. Maybe, you can stay longer," Kirstie says with a smile.
"I need to get back to the camp, I made a commitment," I say.
"You are so good to those little campers, I hope they know what a treasure they have in you," Kirstie says.
(Olivia's POV)
I get up and see that Emma is gone. I head into the living room and hear talking. I sneak into the hallway where no one can see me. I hear Emma and Kirstie talking. I want to make sure that it's not about me. I hear Emma talking about someone, hmm, I didn't know that she had a crush. Hmm, I wonder who she likes? It couldn't be someone here in the house, would it? I listen more.
I hear Kirstie say, "Well, if it means anything, I think that he likes you too. He sees you for you."
I hear Emma respond, "That's sweet, Kirstie, but I don't know about that. I have to just have a good time while I'm here and then we will see what happens."
Kirstie then says, "You never know, he might just surprise you."
Emma replies, "You think so?"
I wonder if I should casually walk into the kitchen now, but I feel that I have been out in the hall too long and now it's awkward. They continue talking and I just have to know who they are talking about. I don't hear Kevin open his door and he practically makes me jump when he says, "Good Morning, Olivia."
I turn around and say, "Good Morning, Kevin."
(Kirstie's POV)
We hear Olivia almost scream and Kevin saying Good Morning. I share a look with Emma and we both wonder if she was listening to our conversation. We quickly replay the conversation in our head and I think we are okay. I whisper to Emma, "We didn't say a name, we are good."
Emma looks at me and says, "Good."
Emma looks over at Olivia from the loft and Olivia can't even look up, she is bright red. I shake my head and look back out at the ocean. Emma and I sit in silence as the others start getting up for the day. We head down and get ready for breakfast.
(Emma's POV)
I walk over to Olivia and ask her point blank, "Were you listening to me and Kirstie talk?"
Olivia doesn't look at me and just nods no. I roll my eyes and instantly know the truth. I sigh heavily and head into the kitchen. I didn't realize that I left my journal upstairs though.
At Breakfast…..
(Mitch's POV)
We are all sitting around the table and the TV is on in the background on some cartoons. Some are eating bagels; some are just having cereal today. We have lots of coffee made and we are all pretty quiet. I'm sitting next to Kirstie and Emma. Olivia is sitting beside Emma and on the other side of the table sits, Avi, Scott, and Kevin. We are sitting there and all of a sudden, Emma drops her spoon into her bowl. Everyone looks at her in silence. I look over at her and say, "Everything okay?"
She looks at Kirstie with a panicked look and Kirstie is saying,"What Em?"
All of a sudden, Emma gets up from the table as we all watch her. She quickly goes up the staircase to the loft and looks around and picks up a small notebook. She comes back down and sits down with such a relief. She places the notebook in her lap and says, "I'm good, sorry about that."
I look at her and say, "Okay, you are going to have to share what's in the notebook."
"Never," Emma says trying to laugh it off.
Kirstie shakes her head and giggles. Ooooh, Kirstie knows, I'll just ask her later.
(Emma's POV)
I can't believe that I almost left my journal out in the open like that. That could have been humiliating.
I look around the table and catch Scott's eyes. He smiles and I smile softly and look back at my cereal. Avi speaks up and says, "What are we going to do today, gang?"
Kirstie says, "They have a music festival down at the pier today, we could go check it out."
Kirstie shows us her phone and says, "local singers, there will also be arts and crafts, and food and drinks as well." Everyone nods.
"That sounds like fun, Kirstie," I say.
Olivia chimes in right with me, "Yes, sounds like fun."
We all get ready and head off into our rooms in different directions. Before I leave the table, Mitch touches my arm and says, "Can you say for a minute?"
I notice that Scott sees this, but I don't think much of it.
Everyone leaves the table and I look at Mitch and say, "What's up, Mitch?"
Mitch looks at me and says, "Okay, spill it, what's the notebook? I have to know."
I stand up and laugh and say, "Mitch, let a girl have some privacy. It's just a notebook." I walk away to my room.
(Mitch's POV)
I tried. I was just seeing if she was going to tell me. I walk towards my room and see Scott's door open and he motions for me to come in. I walk in and say, "What's up?"
"What was that about?" Scott asks.
"Oh, nothing, I was just trying to see if she would tell me what's in the notebook." I say.
"What did she say?" Scott asks.
"Nothing, she wouldn't tell me, you seem interested. Scott Hoying, do you have a crush?" I ask.
Again, he says nothing; he just smiles and looks away. He's so mysterious about who he likes, it bugs me sometimes.
(Scott's POV)
Mitch hates that I don't just spill all of my thoughts out into the open. I don't really know what's going on with me. I just see Emma and want to be with her all the time. I think of her, I dream of her. I need to find a way to talk to her privately and just see what's she's thinking. Maybe this is all just me.
We head out to the pier and everyone is happily talking. I hang in the back of the group and walk. Avi comes up to me and walks with me. I look over at him and say, "How are things with you and Kirstie?"
He smiles and says, "So good. I wish I made a move so much sooner. I didn't know how happy I could be. How about you?"
"I'm good," I say.
"Really, you seem really quiet today," Avi says.
"The Jeremy thing got to me, that's all," I say.
"Yea, that was messed up. Well, time for some fun, Scott," Avi says with a smile.
We get to the pier and eat and drink and listen to the different musicians. We all have sunglasses on and hats, so we aren't that easily recognized. We sort of hide in the back of the crowds.
We are thrilled that no one recognized us for once so that we could remain at the house in secret.
Olivia came up to me while we were all listening to this great musician, Shelley June. She looped her arm and said, "Thanks for letting me stay with y'all at the house."
I look at her oddly and say with a smile, "I thought it was Kirstie's call, so you should thank her."
Olivia grips my arm now with both hands and says, "I know, but, you are the unofficially leader, right?"
I think to myself, is Olivia seriously flirting with me. Great. Not.
I try to pay attention to the singer and Olivia keeps asking me questions about everything for some reason. I look over at Emma who is staring at me strangely. I mouth for her to come over. She shrugs and looks back at the singer. I roll my eyes. Ugh. I kindly look at Olivia and say, "Can I have my arm back now? I'm going to go check on Mitch."
Olivia says, "Um, okay. See you later, cutie."
I walk over to Mitch thinking, did she just call me cutie, good grief.
(Mitch's POV)
I see Scott heading over to me and he looks annoyed. I can't help but smile because I have a feeling why. I just sat back and saw Olivia ask Scott twenty questions with her arms wrapped around him. I laugh as Scott gets closer and he nudges me, "Shut up."
I laugh harder and say, "Looks like you have a fan."
He shakes his head and I see him look for Emma.
"She's not here," I say.
"Who?" he asks.
"Em, I'm not an idiot." I say.
"I never said you were," he says and then asks, "Where is she?"
"Bathroom break, she took Kirstie." I say pointing over to the public restrooms at the end of the pier.
Scott looks over and then back at the singer and we listen to the rest of her set.
Olivia finds her way back over to us and I nudge Scott with a warning. He whispers in my ear, "Save me."
I laugh and see Olivia and grab her elbow and bring her up the pier to another artist. I turn back at Scott and smile. He mouths, "Thank you".
Later that afternoon… back at the beach…
(Third Person – POV)
Everyone had a great time at the music festival. Everyone is changing and getting ready to go to the beach.
(Emma's POV)
I walk over to Mitch's door and knock and he lets me in. I look at him and say, "Can you look at my back again?"
He nods and proceeds to lock his door again. I turn around and take off my cover up, I have my swimsuit on. I put my hair down and then pull it away from my back to the front of me. He makes a noise and I turn around and say, "What, does it look bad?"
He gets a mirror so that I can see for myself. We go into his bathroom and he turns me facing him to where my back is facing the mirror. He holds a hand held mirror to my face and I can see the mark now. I sigh, "Wow, that looks bad." I look at the long mark that is now turning purple.
"Does it hurt at all? If anything, at least, it's not as long as last night. It's just purple now. We should ice that." Mitch says.
"Not too bad, there's some discomfort. But, I'll just take some Ibuprofen; I'll ice it some later." I say.
"I can't let Kirstie see my back." I say. I turn to Mitch, "Promise Mitch, you won't say anything."
Mitch promises and then we hear once again, someone trying to come into a room where we have locked the door. We look at each other and laugh. "The things that people must be thinking."
I pull on my cover up quickly and Mitch unlocks the door and Scott stands there. He looks to Mitch and then to me and says, "Okay, I'm not going to ask, just wanted to see if you were ready to go to the beach."
Scott walks away and Mitch turns to me and says, "I'm in trouble, now." We giggle and head down the hall. I walk up beside Scott and smile and he smiles back, but still has a confused look in his eyes.
(Scott's POV)
Okay, that was odd. Why in the world was Mitch locked in his room with Emma. I'll ask him later. I don't want to come off as someone who gets jealous, but it was odd. I smile at Emma when she smiles back and we all head to the beach. We have all of the chairs set up today with two umbrellas. We all head into the water, except for Emma. She sits back at the beach and I wonder why. I walk over to her and see that she still has her cover up wrapped around her. I sit down beside her and say, "You coming in?"
"Yea, just waiting a bit," Emma says.
"Okay," I say. I get up and walk into the beach and we all are swimming around.
(Mitch's POV)
Poor Emma, sitting there all by herself, trying to hide that mark. I don't know why she doesn't want to show Kirstie. Kirstie won't be mad at Emma. She might be upset at Jeremy, but, we all knew that there was going to be some mark, I mean, we all saw him push her into his car. I yell over to Emma, "Come in, Emma."
She smiles and says, "Okay."
(Emma's POV)
Okay, enough is enough. I'll just hurry and get in. My hair will cover my bruise on my back. I walk in slowly and walk up to everyone. We are all about waist deep. Scott looks at me and smiles and says, "About time."
He then splashes me and I scream with laughter. I splash him back and then Avi starts splashing Kirstie and me. We splash him back. I fall into the water and swim a little bit towards Mitch and I forget about my back for just a second. I stand up and pull my hair to the side and hear a loud, "Oh my god," from Kirstie. I hear Scott say, "Emma!" I look at Mitch and drop my head. I drop my hair and turn around and walk over to Kirstie and Scott both.
"Kirstie, Scott, it's okay." I say.
"What the hell, Emma, turn around," Kirstie said. She pulled my hair away from my back and inspected my back as the others came over to look. "Is this from yesterday, oh my God, are you okay?"
"Yes, it's just a little mark," I say pulling away from her hold. I turn towards her and I see the pain in her face. It's the same pain I see in all of their faces, especially Scott.
"It's not just a little mark," Scott says.
"Let's go back to having fun, okay?" I say.
Kirstie doesn't say anything; she almost looks like she is going to cry.
Mitch says, "Kirstie, I've been looking at it, it does seem smaller than last night."
Kirstie turns to Mitch and says, "Seriously, you let Mitch see it, but not me."
"Because I knew you would react this way," I say.
I walk over to Kirstie and hug her and say, "I'm okay, really. It doesn't even hurt."
She places her hand on the bruise and pushes in and I try not to wince, but I can't help it.
"Well, don't touch it," I say pulling away.
"Emma, I'm so sorry, this is my fault," Kirstie says. She's crying now. Avi comforts her and I feel awful.
I should have just stayed on shore.
To Be Continued…