Chapter 21

Angelina's Point of View:

“Lee is my first serious boyfriend.” Mia blushed when she said those words. We were all sitting around the campfire now, saying our secrets. Nate and his stupid ideas, I thought as Lee thought of his secret.

“I thought I was going to hate Angelina but I was so wrong,” Lee admitted looking a bit embarrassed. I laughed and waved a scolding finger at him.

“You shouldn’t judge people so fast,” I mock-scolded him and he chuckled.

“Sorry,” he said and I waved him off. It didn’t matter what he thought back then, he didn’t know me. I judged them too fast too, especially Drew.

“Your turn Tia,” Nate announced and the blond twin looked a bit hesitant.

“I think I have a crush on one of the guys,” she said in a low voice and I smirked. I knew she was talking about Liam.

Liam didn’t let anyone say anything. He blurted out, “I have a crush on Tia.”

Her eyes widened at she stared at him. He blushed and looked away.

“Awww,” I cooed “I guess this game is not so bad after all.”

“Just wait till we get to your turn,” Jack said, sending me a cheeky grin. I gulped, raking my brain for a secret.

Tia and Liam kept looking at each other and blushing as I quietly laughed to myself.

“I met a girl,” Greg said “And she’s pretty awesome.”

“Who is it?” I asked quickly “And why didn’t you invite her to come camping?”

“She’s my new neighbor and I wasn’t sure you guys would like that…” he trailed off looking sheepish.

“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes at him “I’m meeting her as soon as possible.”

He chuckled and nodded. “Sure.”

I grinned. There were a lot of couples this summer.

“I’m jealous of my older brother,” Jack said hesitantly and my eyes widened in surprise.

“Why?” Nate asked.

“He’s smart, he got a scholarship to Yale, and he’s all my parents talk about. I mean come on guys you all know I can never beat that. Yale? Seriously?”

 “You don’t have to beat that,” I said softly “You are not your brother.”

“But my parents like him better because he’s smarter…”

“No they don’t!” I said fiercely “He’s good at sciences and math and you’re good at sports. You can get a scholarship for your football skills. And as I remember, your brother sucked at sports. He couldn’t even dribble a ball!”

“Yeah he still can’t,” Jack said cracking a smile “I guess your right…”

“I am right!” I said confidently “Not only books make you awesome.”

“So you think I’m awesome?” He asked, proudly.

“Yeah but don’t get too cocky,” I teased and he laughed.

“Thanks,” he finally said, smiling at me “You always know what to say.”

I smiled back. I’m glad I could comfort my friends like that.

“I like to draw,” Nate said his secret and everyone gave him bewildered looks, except me.

“I already knew that,” I pouted “No fair. You have to tell me something else.”

“I already told you this morning,” he pointed out and I scowled.

“You draw?” Mia asked, still stunned.

“Yep,” he answered embarrassed slightly.

“And his drawings are awesome,” I added.

“How do you know?” he narrowed his eyes at me.

“Hehe…” I laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck.

“I can’t hide anything from you, can I?” He sighed.

“Nope!” I grinned “Except for that crush…”

He laughed and nudged my shoulder lightly.

“Your turn Andrew!” Tia said.

“I’m a Chemistry freak,” he said and I imagined him wearing glasses like Dexter’s and laughing like a maniac while mixing colorful solutions which will end up with an explosion. I burst out laughing at that thought and everyone gave me weird looks.

“You’re imagining him like Dexter, aren’t you?” Nate asked, smirking and I nodded, still laughing.

Soon, my friends were laughing too as Drew glared at us, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“Angelina, your turn,” Nate said, a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Do I have to?” I whined.

“Yes,” they all said and I pouted.

“I’m afraid of ants,” I finally said, revealing one embarrassing secret.

“What?” Nate said, bewildered before everyone burst out laughing.

“Stop laughing!” I ordered them but they didn’t hear me because of their loud laughter.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at my friends. Now I know what Drew felt a few minutes earlier.

“Ants? Seriously, Angelina?” Jack said before chuckling again.

“They are small and barely visible! And they can crawl!” I said, horrified. My friends erupted in laughter again.

“I’m gonna go get the marshmallows,” I mumbled as I stood up and walked to the tent where our food was.

Yum smores, I thought as I took out all the ingredients needed to make the perfect smores.

“Hey.”

I jumped slightly when I heard Drew’s voice. I turned around and saw him standing behind me, looking down with a guilty expression.

 “What’s up?” I asked, avoiding his gaze and trying to act nonchalant.

“I’m sorry,” he said guiltily. I stayed quiet, playing with the box of chocolate.

“Stupid,” he muttered under his breath but I heard it.

“Excuse me?” I asked, surprised.

“Not you!” He said quickly “I’m stupid.”

“You are?” I asked, raising my left eyebrow.

“I mean, you are.” I then said firmly, trying not to let him see that I was joking.

“I know,” he said, frustrated, “I always do or say something stupid like I did earlier and I beg you for forgiveness afterwards.”

I was taken aback by his sudden outburst. Where did that come from?

“And you’re such a nice person; you always forgive me without hesitation. Why are you so nice?” he asked, looking straight into my eyes.

“I’m not?” I said, blushing.

He rolled his eyes at me.

“Come on, Angelina. I’m like the biggest jerk in the world and you always forgive me. Why?”

“You’re not a jerk,” I muttered. “And I forgive you because everyone makes mistakes.”

“But you shouldn’t forgive me just like that!” He exclaimed.

“Okay,” I said “Apology not accepted.”

His eyes widened in surprise.

“W-what?” he stammered.

“You heard me,” I said more sternly “Apology not accepted.”

“Besides I got really mad at you. You accuse me of something I didn’t do. And you kissed me without meaning anything!” I continued, feeling a bit of my earlier anger reappear.

He flinched slightly and something flashed in his eyes. He looked so sad and guilty. I felt bad for saying that but he kind of deserved it. This time was different from all the times I was mad at him, he really hurt me.

“I know, I know. I’m sorry for accusing you of that. And about the kiss…” His guilty expression was ten times more now.

“I remember the day we dressed up and I asked you to kiss me. You refused and said that you shouldn’t kiss someone if it didn’t mean anything. I remember every word you said and I know I shouldn’t have kissed you back there. I don’t know what came over me. But I’m just hoping you’ll forgive me and forget about it. I don’t want things to become weird and I don’t want you to stay mad at me. Please?”

My heart clenched uncomfortably in my chest and I glared at his shoes. I had to forgive him now because he was practically begging for apology and I’m hurt because he doesn’t like me back, not because of the incident, and I can’t force him to.

I sighed.

“It’s okay,” I finally said “Just don’t do that again.”

“I won’t,” he promised and I smiled.

“Time for smores!” I declared and he laughed, following me out of the tent.

“What were you two doing in the tent? Alone? Huh?” Jack teased, waggling his eyebrows and I immediately blushed.

“Shut up Jack!” I ordered him, going to take my seat. I heard Drew laugh quietly to himself and I scowled at him. His eyes twinkled with amusement as he winked at me and I blushed again.

“Smores!” Liam exclaimed happily and I grinned.

“We’ll continue playing the game after we eat!” Tia said to Nate and he nodded.

“What game?” I asked.

Nate smirked and I got a terrible feeling about this.

“Let’s make this simple Angelina. Someone asks you a question and you have to answer it.”

My eyes widened and I shook my head vehemently. This is bad!

“Let’s worry about smores now,” Jack said, taking the ingredients out of my arms. They’ll probably forget about the game, I tried to convince myself as I sat back in my place and we started roasting our marshmallows.

“Mm I love smores!” Greg said.

“Who doesn’t?” Jack replied while eating his.

We ate the delicious smores and when we were done, Nate immediately remembered the game. I internally groaned and glanced at my watch to see if I could lie and say I was tired. No such luck though, it was still 9:30p.m.

“I’ll start by asking Angelina,” Nate smirked at me and I scowled at him.

“Wait before you start,” I said “I have a few conditions.”

“We’ll see,” he said, frowning at me.

“One, no deep secrets and two, nothing sad,” I said, giving Nate a meaningful look. He nodded his head, understanding what I meant by ‘sad’.

Now that I knew that he won’t be forcing me to reveal some embarrassing secret nor will he ask about my family, I relaxed.

“You have to tell everyone his/her good and bad traits. At least two good and two bad.”

“Do I have to do the bad part?” I whined and he nodded.

“Stop nagging Angelina that’s a stupid question anyway…”

It was much better than what I expected him to ask and I knew he wanted to ask something else but my conditions stopped him.

“Fine,” I said, looking around at my friends’ expectant looks.

“Nate, good traits: kindhearted, trustworthy, and always there for me. Bad traits: mean and annoying.”

“You know you love my bad traits,” he teased and I rolled my eyes.

“See? Mean and annoying,” I said “But yes I love all your traits. Good and bad. And that goes for all of you.” I made it clear even though they probably already knew.

“Mia, good traits: good listener and innocent. Bad traits: Too shy and you don’t take too many risks.” She smiled at me and nodded.

“Lee, good traits: observant and honest. Bad traits: Too persistent and too shy.”

He grinned just like Mia did a while ago.

“Tia,” I stopped “I’m gonna do Tia and Liam together because you two are so alike!” They smiled slightly and blushed.

“Good traits: funny and childish. Bad traits: reckless and sometimes a bit too immature.”

“Hey!” They said at the same time.

“It’s not fun if we act mature,” Liam said and Tia agreed.

“See? That’s exactly what I mean,” I smirked at them as the crossed their arms over their chests.

“Whatever,” they said at the same time and I laughed.

“Drew,” I started and I suddenly felt nervous when his blue eyes bored into mine. I swallowed nervously and pushed my nerves away.

“Good traits: fun and soft. Bad traits: anger problems and those blank eyes of yours.”

 “I’m not soft!” He said, offended.

“That’s supposed to be a good thing,” I pointed out and he scowled at me.

“Guys don’t take that as a good thing,” Nate offered.

I frowned. “Alright… You’re not soft?”

“Much better,” Drew said happily and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Jack, good traits: outgoing and dependable. Bad traits: messy and picky.”

He winked at me and I smiled.

“Greg, good traits: studious and calm. Bad traits: stubborn and annoying.”

He put a hand over his heart, feigning hurt.

“I’m annoying?”

“Yes, yes you are.”

He laughed. “It’s okay. You’re used to it.”

I chuckled. “True.”

We continued asking each other questions which were just for fun and not personal. We laughed and joked around and I felt happy at that moment, all the other sad thoughts, locked away.

“Can we sing a song before going to sleep?” Nate asked and I nodded because I was really tired and about to fall asleep any second.

I took out my guitar and started strumming the strings of my guitar. I started playing ‘I’ll Be There for You’ by The Rembrandts and we started singing.

“So no one told you life was gonna be this way.

Your job’s a joke, you’re broke, your love life’s D O A.

It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear.

When it hasn’t been your day, your week,

Your month or even your year but,

I’ll be there for you,

When the rain starts to pour.

I’ll be there for you,

Like I’ve been there before.

I’ll be there for you,

Cause you’re there for me too.”

“You’re still in bed at ten and work began at eight.

 You’ve burned your breakfast so far things are going great.

Your mother warned you there’d be days like these,

But she didn’t tell you when the world,

Has brought you down on your knees that,

I’ll be there for you,

When the rain starts to pour.

I’ll be there for you,

Like I’ve been there before.

I’ll be there for you,

Cause you’re there for me too.”

“No one could ever know me no one could ever see me,

Since you’re the only one who knows what it’s like to be me.

Someone to face the day with, make it through all the rest with

Someone I’ll always laugh with.

Even at my worst, I’m best with you, yeah.

It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear.

When it hasn’t been your day, your week,

Your month or even your year but,

I’ll be there for you,

When the rain starts to pour.

I’ll be there for you,

Like I’ve been there before.

I’ll be there for you,

Cause you’re there for me too

I’ll be there for you.

I’ll be there for you.

I’ll be there for you,

Cause you’re there for me too.”

I grinned widely as I set my guitar back in its case.

“Shooting star!” Nate pointed up and I looked up just in time to see the beautiful shooting star.

I wished at that moment that my friends and I remain that close no matter what. And somehow deep down, I knew this was going to come true.

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