11. jocks in varsity jackets

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Once all of the students are settled into their assigned cabins, everyone is ordered to meet up in the main hall of the camp.

The campsite is somewhat like how I imagined it to be. The cabins consist of eight people in each. They're all located in a circular shape surrounding the main hall, which is right in the center, dividing the boys' and girls' cabins.

"I heard a rumor," Madison says as she and I walk to the mess hall with our arms linked together.

My eyebrows furrow, curiosity piquing when Madison wiggles her eyebrows and a smile spreads across her face.

"Well, what's the rumor?" I ask with a shrug.

We enter the mess hall, where there are already about two hundred students chatting loudly as they wait for the camp counselors to arrive. There are long wooden tables on either side of the large room, leaving an aisle of space down the center.

"Let's sit there?" Madison suggests, pointing to a table that consists of about ten guys who are laughing loudly and hollering at each other. They all look like versions of the same guy.

I'm sure my hesitation to sit at that table is clearly displayed on my face. I turn to Madison with my bottom lip tugged between my teeth. "Do you think we could sit somewhere else?"

Madison tilts her head to the right, shaking it as she pulls me with her to the intimidating group of boys whose voices die down as Madison and I near their table.

Most of them wear some type of school merchandise. The most popular item of clothing is a varsity jacket that about six of the guys are sporting.

"Aw Maddie, how kind of you to sit with us. Where's your trusty little sidekick?"

A boy with short brown hair and dark brown eyes smiles at Madison as she sits down next to him. He's one of the boys who wears a varsity jacket. A certain twinkle in his smile appears as he stares at her.

"First of all, don't call me Maddie," she replies. "And if you're talking about Vanessa, I don't know where she is. We're not in the same cabin."

He nods slowly, and then his eyes fall to me, pointing, he asks, "Who's this?"

Before I'm able to respond to his question, Madison speaks for me. I'm slightly annoyed with the way she introduces me like I'm incapable of doing it myself.

"This is Estella."

"Ah, the new girl," he responds with a tone of realization.

I nod slowly. I don't want anything to do with the varsity jacket boy or any of the others who turn their attention to me after he called me 'the new girl'.

"New girl, why don't you come sit over here?" A boy with strawberry blonde hair waves me over, patting the empty spot on the table next to him. "Come tell me about yourself."

He wears a smug smile on his face as he waits for my response. I look over to Madison with wide eyes, this time hoping she'll talk for me because I feel like wouldn't be able to get a word out if I tried. I can barely even hear myself think with the loud beating of my heart blaring in my ears.

"She's gonna stay right here," Madison replies to the boy. "Maybe next time."

I find myself searching for a head of dirty blonde hair. I scan the room until I finally spot him, sitting with Asher, Devin, Josh, Justin, and many others I can't seem to remember the names of.

"I'm Austin." Varsity boy introduces himself with a sly smile.

Oh, it's Austin. Duh, Estella.

I've seen him twice. Once at the homecoming dance, but the lighting didn't allow me to get a good look at his features. Then I saw him at the bonfire, where he wore sunglasses and a cap, most of his face being covered by the accessories. It's obvious he didn't remember me, either.

"Nice to meet you," I reply. Officially meet him.

I was wondering why Madison wanted to sit here so badly. The fact that I was unable to but two and two together is a little embarrassing on my part.

I fiddle with my hands in my lap as I half-heartedly listen to the ongoing conversation between Madison and Austin.

You can just leave. She won't notice.

"Estella, get up." A voice comes from behind me. I twist in my seat and am met with Aaron, who isn't even looking at me. Instead, his eyes trail around the table slowly.

"What?" I ask dumbly.

"Come on," he lifts his hand, gesturing for me to stand up from the bench.

The boy who asked me to sit next to him just a few minutes ago catches onto what's happening. From the other side of the table, he decides to involve himself in the matter.

"What the hell do you want?" He asks.

"Fuck off, Jacob," Aaron replies bluntly.

I look back up to Aaron, shaking my head subtly. His eyes meet mine, staring right back at me.

"Estella, come on," he repeats.

I look over at the table his friends occupy. Asher and Devin sit beside each other, watching the interaction with faces full of anticipation. If anything happens, I'm sure they won't hesitate to make their way over here and defend their best friend.

If I'm being completely honest with myself, I would much rather sit with Asher and Aaron than the group of football jocks that I found myself stuck in the middle of.

But something about the way Aaron assumes I would just stand up and join him rubs me the wrong way. I've spent my entire life morphing myself into someone who would be accepted by others. And by others, I guess I only mean my mother. I've spent my entire life as a welcome mat, allowing others to walk all over me, crushing my self-esteem little by little.

"I don't think she wants to. Estella, why don't you come over here and sit with me?" Jacob interferes once again, and I visibly see Aaron's jawline clench even more as his patience begins running thin.

"You really wanna go down that road? We both know what happened last time you wanted to act tough."

I stand up from my spot at the table and walk over to Aaron. "Stop. Just— I'll go sit with you, okay?"

His gaze doesn't leave Jacob until I place my hand on his forearm in a comforting manner, an attempt to gain his attention. He finally meets my eyes once he feels my touch, nodding his head over to the other side of the hall.

We walk over to his table where everyone had been watching the entire scene that I've come to realize would be something straight out of a coming-of-age movie.

"The hell happened?" Asher asks as we sit down on the opposite side of the table, across from him and Devin. "Aaron, all I told—"

"Nothing happened."

They share a look, the same way they did at Starbucks a week ago. Asher taps his fingers against the table, finally looking away. My brain turns as I uselessly attempt to decipher their silent language. I don't think I'll ever be able to understand how they can communicate simply using their eyes.

"She happened." Devin chimes in and gestures to me, waving her hand in my direction. "Again. You had to go and make everything complicated when all he wanted was for you to sit here. Trust me, you didn't wanna sit with Jacob and them anyway."

My eyebrows furrow as I shake my head at her accusation. "I didn't do anything. Listen, Devin, I don't know what you have against me, but— "

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen!"

A group of young adults wearing matching blue t-shirts waltz into the mess hall with huge smiles on their faces.

Devin looks at me expectantly with her arms crossed, resting on the table. I turn around to face the front of the room where the counselors are trying to gain the attention of the hundreds of students who are still paying them absolutely no attention.

"Alright! Can everyone just give us a few minutes to explain the rules and guidelines for the next couple of days?!" A tall guy shouts, cupping his mouth with his hands to amplify his voice.

Finally, the students begin to quiet down and the counselors are able to explain the rules of the camp. It's nothing I wasn't expecting. They're all pretty reasonable guidelines.

Everyone back in their own cabins by 9 pm.

No opposite-gender cabin mingling after 7 pm.

No leaving the campsite for any reason without counselor supervision.

Once everything is explained and all questions are answered, everyone is dismissed to roam freely throughout the campsite until the first activity, which is going to be a 'very exciting surprise' for us.

"Estella, can we talk?" Aaron asks as we leave the mess hall.

The last thing I want to do is stand around and talk to Aaron after the stunt he pulled before the counselors walked in.

"I don't really feel like talking," I reply without stopping to look at him. "I'm gonna go look for Vanessa and Madison."

I begin to walk away, trying to put distance between me and him. I realize I fail miserably when he quickly catches up with me with a couple of his long strides.

"Wait, why are you mad at me?" He asks as his eyebrows furrow.

"Really, Aaron?"

"Yeah, really, Estella."

I shake my head in small motions, annoyed with his obliviousness. Crossing my arms, I turn on my heel and walk away. Again.

"No, no, no. You don't get to be mad and then not tell me why," he says as he appears beside me. Again.

With a huff of frustration, I run my hands along my face. "Because you— you embarrassed me! If I wanted to sit with you and Asher, then I would have! But I don't need you to come to my rescue and order me around like I'm some sort... some sort of pet. The way you just expected me to follow you around and, and obey—"

"So you're telling me you wanted to sit with Jacob the Jackass? Hm?" He nods, crossing his arms as he looks down at me.

"So what if I did?" I shrug.

You know very well you didn't.

"You shouldn't have. You shouldn't trust him or any of his friends," he replies calmly. "And plus, I'm not the one you should be mad at."

I chuckle sarcastically, nodding my head as I process the first half of his statement. "Let me guess, Aaron. I shouldn't trust him because he's a jerk, right? Just like Chris was? Which by the way, I still don't know what happened nor do I understand why he just decided to bail. Oh, oh, and let me guess again. You're the only guy I should trust because everyone else is out to get me, huh?"

He shakes his head, scoffing. "You don't have to trust me."

"I don't."

"That's fine."

"Then what's your point?"

He walks closer to me, closing our distance until we're mere inches apart. He looks down at me, his bright eyes boring into mine.

"I just want you to be careful."

My eyes gaze into his as I listen to his low voice. I almost forget what he said to me, the sight of those colored irises seemingly take away any and all of my common sense.

I bite the inside of my cheek nervously. "Okay."

He quickly steps back, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his black cotton sweatpants.

"You should go find your friends," he mumbles, kicking a pebble with the toe of his black old skool Vans.

I nod, finally composing my and walking away from Aaron, away from the secluded area of the campsite we were in.

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net