— III. STUPID SKI BALL

IT WAS A DAY LATER WHEN I HAD FINALLY MET UP WITH TWO OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN MY LIFE.

juliette jackson and tyson baker.

when i had first come to the campground in 2015, i had become friends with both tyson and jj after a social event the camp had done for all the residents. so here i stood, six years later, walking towards the red head and the surprisingly short 18 year old.

the two were arguing about god knows what when i walked up to them, and jj's red hair was flying all over the place.

"i'm fucking telling you ty! emily prentiss is a fucking lesbian! i would know!"jj shouted, and i could see tyson holding back his laughter.

"shes not wrong you know."i nodded towards jj who wore a proud smile across her face, "theres no way in hell shes straight."

"shes at least bisexual or queer."jj shrugged as the three of us walked towards the back exit, and tyson was silently laughing.

"theres also no way reid or garcia are straight."i added on, and jj's face lit up.

"that season two episode when he was in new orleans and met up with that dude! theres no way!"she exclaimed, and we all burst out laughing at her excitement over it.

"you better not get us kicked out of the arcade."tyson pointed at jj, who gasped dramatically at the accusation.

"i would never!"

"you almost got us kicked out of that store last year."i brought up as we reached the center, and turned to go order pizza's from liza's.

"that one girl was homophobic and i was sick of it."she explained, before we had ordered, and waited for it to come out.

tyson had gone to grab pier fries for us, so jj and i stood on the side waiting before she looked over at me with a wide grin on her face.

"we ready to get some bitches this summer?"she joked, and i let out a laugh, shaking my head as we got our pizza, and walked over to where tyson was standing with a box of pier fries in his hand.

we already had our drinks so we quickly sat down at a table, watching the bustling streets of old orchard, with the train going by at one point.

"we are so stopping by dicks on the way back."i announced, nodding towards the famous candy story that i had grown to love, "i want chocolate pretzels."

"simp."jj muttered, and i lightly shoved her, making her crack up laughing.

"you get them every year, more specifically when the three of us go out onto the town and do whatever."jj defended, and my mouth gaped open.

"okay miss.gets-pixie-sticks-and-then-act-like-shes-on-crack!"i exclaimed, making tyson burst out laughing and i could see a random lady shooting daggers at the three of us.

"c'mon you two,"tyson sighed, dragging the two of us up and towards the arcade, "lets go before the two of you get us a fine."

✧

PICKING UP THE HEAVY BALL,

my eyes stared down the ski ball machine, determined to win as many tickets as i could with the $10 i had in my right jean pocket.

and boy was i determined to win the big stuffed frog  that was hanging high, above anyones reach.

and it was about to be mine.

so i made it through two rounds, earning well over 100 tickets, before loosing one of the ski balls, letting it accidently slip through my fingers, and go through the crowd behind me.

'shit' i mentally cursed myself for letting it scatter through the crowd, and eventually i couldn't find it at all.

so i played on four more rounds, short a ball and my blonde hair getting in my way constantly, before i felt a light tap on my shoulder, causing me to turn around.

i was immediately met face to face with a girl, probably around my age, dressed in a white tanktop, ripped jeans and a pair of converse. her black curly hair flowed over her shoulders, with her pink lips slightly parted.

to say the least, she was what taylor swift exactly described,

gorgeous.

the blue lollipop that she had dropped out of her mouth, and she gripped it with an amused smile on her face.

"i think you're missing something,"she spoke up, and i had finally noticed the ski ball that she had in her hand.

"thanks."i told her as she handed me the ball, and i saw her dark brown eyes meet mine, still wearing that amused smile.

"found it a few rounds back, figured you'd like it back."she explained, and a small smile formed onto my face.

"i saw it get lost in the crowd and didn't even try to get it back."i chuckled, and i saw her smile become even wider.

"well, since i'm here, and i am standing next to a gorgeous girl, why don't we play a few games?"
she suggested, and i felt a smile creep onto my face.

"like a competition?"

"like a competition."

"so what does the winner get?"i questioned, and i could see the wheels turning in her head, almost like an internal debate on whether or not she wanted to suggest it.

"if you win, you get all the tickets we made from this towards whatever you want in the arcade."she explained, and i nodded slightly for her to continue.

"and if i win, i get your phone number."

i pondered for a moment, wondering if i should accept her offer or not. i finally nodded with a smile on my face, and she stuck out her hand, almost to seal the deal.

after shaking it, i turned towards the machine, looking over at her, "best of three?"

with a wide smile spread across her pink lips, she chuckled, putting in her coins and nodded, "best of three."

we both quickly pressed the 'go' button on the machine, and we quickly let the balls fly out of our hands, and towards the top of it, trying to get as many points as we could, and as quickly as we could.

we had split the first two, and had finally made it to the third round, and she had turned to me with an amused smile spread across her lips.

"you ready for the final round arcade girl?"she questioned, and i rose an eyebrow at the nickname she had given me.

"oh you better believe i am ready."i chuckled, and she grinned.

"it is so on."she said, before we both pressed go, and quickly sped our way through the game.

when we had gone through our eight balls, i quickly looked between our screens, and my mouth dropped seeing that i had lost by a massive amount of points. a wide grin spread across the mystery girls face, and i turned to her with my mouth still wide open.

"how did you do that?!"i exclaimed, and a laugh slipped out of her lips, making a wide smile spread across mine.

"its a secret."she told me while pulling out her phone, and opening it up before handing it to me.

"maybe ill teach you the next time i see you."she mentioned as i put in my phone number, and put in a contact.

"i'd like that."i told her, handing her phone back, and she smiled at me.

looking down at the phone, her face lit up with a proud grin, and looked back up at me, "well gracie ill text you when we could maybe do that."

i nodded, with a childish giggle escaping my lips, as i felt butterflies erupt in my stomach.

"so do i get a name mystery girl?"i questioned as we both picked up our tickets, and she nodded.

"its willow."

the smile never came off my lips as we stood by the ski ball machines, honestly never feeling like this with anyone, and i liked it.

placing the tickets she had into my hand, willow gave me a soft smile, "take them, i have no need for them."

"but i lost."i stated like it was obvious, and willow shook her head.

"and i want you to have them."willow reassured me, and i nodded, before she gave me a smile, and walked towards the back exit.

i stood there for a few moments, honestly in shock that i had met someone who gave me butterflies,

fucking butterflies.

i had finally turned around, seeing jj and tyson standing a little bit behind me, and jj wore the biggest smirk i've ever seen in my entire life. the two walked over to me, and jj crossed her arms and stood in front of me, with that stupid smirk still spread across her face.

"well?"jj started, raising an eyebrow, and i could tell she was holding back her smile, "did you at least get her number?"

i felt my heart drop a bit, and my smile too, but it was immediately replaced with a fake one, "what are you talking about j?"

"forget it."jj shook her head, but it didn't sit right with me, and tyson could tell.

"no jj what do you mean."i pushed, and jj looked at tyson before back at me, and grabbed the tickets out of my hand.

quickly handing them to him, jj dragged me by my hand out of the arcade, and towards the beach.

"gracie,"jj started, looking me dead in the eyes, with my expression mirroring hers.

"what's the real reason you got kicked out?"

my gaze immediately went over her shoulder, towards the soon to be raging sea due to a storm that was supposed to come in overnight, but you couldn't even tell. it was calm and steady unlike anything i was feeling at that very moment.

"jj i told you its because they were sick of me being a failure."

it wasn't a complete lie, but it also wasn't the whole truth and jj knew it.

"thats not the complete reason grace."

my eyes bored into JJ's, trying to hold up my façade, and i finally broke.

"alright fine! youre right!"i exclaimed, thankful nobody was on the beach, "they kicked me out for the same reason they kicked clem out!"

"no they didn't."jj was in disbelief, as i paced around the beach, finally feeling the anger i felt the night i left return.

"yes juliette they did!"i shouted, looking at jj who was looking back at me.

"they kicked me out because i like girls."

it was silent between jj and i, with jules trying to process the information that i had just given her, and me trying to calm down from my fit of anger.

shaking my head, i looked out at the ocean and scoffed in annoyance.

"stupid fucking ski-ball."