14 | Peww

14 | Peww

Paige's Point of View ~

~ Monday ~

I always told myself that crying over a boy was pathetic. Especially if I know for a fact that they would never deserve me. I'm not going to cry over Leo. Would it really be worth it to waste my tears over Leo Walker? No.

I'm currently in the car on the way to the kids drop off for summer camp where I will get on a bus and ride with 10-year olds for 4 hours. Yes, I'd rather be doing this than being even 10 feet near from Leo.

It's too early to be awake, let alone driving. I need coffee. I head towards the nearest coffee shop and park. I get out and slam the door making the car shake. I realize that my car wasn't parked right and out of place but I didn't care.

When the person in front of me in line was done ordering, I stepped forward and ordered but didn't look up. I didn't get an answer so I looked up.

Cole.

He stood there speechless as I was. He slowly put his hand on mine, that was on the cold counter top. I snatched it away.

"Look Paige, I didn't-" He started but I cut him off carelessly. I'd had enough with guys and they're bullshit. Why do they feel so entitled to just do what they want? They think they are so chill and awesome, but they act like literal children. Playing around with girls feelings like they mean nothing.

"Shut up and get me my coffee." I ordered. He started scribbling something on my cup and walked away from the counter. I stood by the tables waiting for them to be done with my morning fuel.

What a bad coincidence.

After about 2 minutes a random girl walked up to the counter about to call for somebody's name.

"One black coffee for...the slut wearing the ugly green shirt...aka Paige." She practically whispered the last part, but everybody heard her. Really Cole? I'm the slut? How is he not already fired for this? Without hesitation, I courageously walked up to the counter and everyone whispered as I did so. As I snatched the coffee out of her hands, she giggled and raised her eyebrows as Cole walked closer and stopped right next to her. He crossed his arms against his chest.

"You," I point my finger in Cole's direction "You need to get a life instead of messing up everyone else's" I turned around and started to walk out.

"Really? Because you're scaring the kids with that face of yours, Paige." He yelled from across the room. I stopped walking, turned around slowly and walked back to the counter facing him. I took the coffee cup he was holding in his hands and raised it to the top of his head. I dumped the strong dark liquid on him and he gasped dramatically as I walked out of the shop.

...

"Alright campers ready to rock?!" My grandma yelled checking something on her clipboard. She had a lot of energy for her age. All the campers woohooed and a couple yelled 'yeah!' I felt the bus start moving and my grandma started to sing along to some road trip songs with the other counselors. This was going to be an interesting couple of weeks.

I pulled my cheap earphones out of my backpack, but they were way too tangled and I didn't have the energy to untangle them.

I looked to the side of me where a little boy sat next to me. He was playing some sort of ninja game on his iPad. I moved my eyes to his bag and saw the perfectly untangled earphones on top of his pile of things.

I slightly poked him with my finger and he looked up at me. He looked mad that I interrupted his game. His iPad made a 'peww' sound and he moved his head to look back at it. I think he died. Oops. He groaned in a frustrated tone and sassily looked back at me. He looked around Maddie's age. Maybe 9 or 10.

"You made me die!" He snapped.

"Sorry." I apologized. I didn't mean to make him angry.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Can I borrow your earphones?" I forced a smile, but he gave me a rude frown instead.

"Fine, don't get your gross ear wax on them." He handed them to me and I quickly took them out of his hands in case he changed his mind. I swear if I get this kid in my cabin I'm going to resign.

I put his tiny bright blue earphones into my ears and flipped through Spotify for music. As I was trying to decide what to listen to, I realized my grandma was standing by me. I looked up and she smiled devilishly, putting her hand out for my phone. Seriously? I'm your grandchild and you're still going to take my phone.

"Camp rules!" She snatched it out of my hands before I could protest.

"But I-" I started to fight back but she cut me off.

"Sorry angel!" She quickly walked towards her seat in the front of the bus before I could say anything.

I looked out the window. All I saw was the freeway. No trees. No nature. Just pollution and cars speeding on the highway. I turned my eyes towards the mountains that looked a million miles away. I dozed off and couldn't help but slowly fall into a deep sleep.

....

A hand pushed my shoulder, attempting to wake me up. I moved around on the uncomfortable hard bus seat It was too small. After all it was made for a little kids ass. I refused to open my eyes and mumbled a small 'no'. I couldn't make out what the person said, but they seemed frustrated. I had my back turned, so I didn't see they're face. They pushed my shoulder once again and I groaned in annoyance. I wish I could sleep forever.

"Stop that."

"No," A strong voice said from behind me. I know that voice. Why was it so familiar? I frantically sat up and turned around. I screamed. This was in my mind, this was a dream. I'm hallucinating. pinched myself but his face didn't go away.

"What the hell?" I screamed and frantically back up in my chair.

"Calm down!" He yelled back. His expression didn't change, but it was very confusing. It was soft, but serious. He kept his eyes on me.

"Calm down? WHAT IS WITH YOU AND SAYING CALM DOWN WHEN I'M OBVIOUSLY NOT GOING TO CALM DOWN!" I yelled as loud as I could. His expression still didn't change. His gaze landing on what I was wearing. I threw on a random sweatshirt over my green shirt and jeans this morning because I didn't have time to care.

"Is that my sweatshirt?" He asked. My eyes widened as I slowly looked down at the sweatshirt. Walker #8. You Idiot, Paige! I must have thrown it in my closet after I found myself wearing it the morning after the party. Why didn't I throw it in the tree by our window so that he could find it himself?

I grabbed my backpack and stood up. "Yes, yes it is." I said and moved my hands to push his body out of my way, but he didn't budge.

"Leo move!"

"What if I don't want to?"

"Move."

"No."

I pushed his chest with my hands and his body still didn't move. Like I said before; I'm not the athletic type. I don't think I've ever lifted a weight in my life. I don't think I ever will. At least not on purpose.

"Please listen to me." He said softly.

"What if I don't want to?" I said mockingly.

Leo scoffed and walked closer to me. I backed up, but he kept walking. I eventually bumped into the back of the bus and he put his arms out and onto the bus wall on both sides of my head. He was so close our noses almost touched.

"What the hell?"

"Why so tense?" He leaned closer and I put my hand up to his face pushing it back. He groaned.

"Listen," He started but I put my hands over my ears like a child. He slowly moved his hands up to my small hands and moved them away from my ears. "I didn't kiss her, she kissed me."

"What is her name?" I asked.

"I... It's...Uh" He stammered, trying to figure out who it was kissing him earlier. Wow.

"Yeah, thought so." I said coldly. So what he's saying is: A random girl walked up to him and kissed him. Yeah sorry, but that's not that convincing.

"You're not allowed to just assume things and judge me, when you don't know what happened." He said not moving from his position.

"Move."

"No"

"Leo, move."

"No." He repeated.

I looked down at my feet and signed. I looked back up and put a fake surprised expression on my face. I think he bought it because his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. I pointed to a random tree outside the bus window and he fell for it. When his head was turned I ducked down and quickly crawled on the floor, between his legs.

As I got up I brushed off my jeans and grinned. When he realized I was gone he turned around and stared at me. My smile faded away as I stood there. I turned around and walked out of the bus leaving him behind.

First of all; why the hell is he here? Second of all; how am I going to get out of here. This was supposed to be my retreat. It's no spa or resort in Miami, but this place was supposed to lead me away from the drama and most importantly Leo.

...

"Everyone line up and we will give you your cabin number and campers list! You can meet your co-counselor when you get to your cabin! Remember this is randomly done, so you might not get the co-counselor you requested! Now everyone lineup or no dinner!" grandma yelled from the front desk.

Everyone did as she ordered and I ended up in the back of the line. Soon my time came and my grandma shuffled the papers around trying to find mine.

"Here ya' go darling" She yelled. Everyone turned around and looked at me. I ignored their stares and snatched the paper out of her hand. Before I could read it, she read it for me.

"Cabin 3! You're stuck with the 8-10 year olds!" She laughed and shooed me away, "Now, go, go, go or no dinner for you!" She said at the top of her voice.

"Wait grandma-" I turned around and she was gone. I sighed and turned back around towards cabin 3. I slowly opened the door and a bunch of kids almost tackled me as I tried to walk in.

"I'm Caden!"

"Hi miss!"

"Did you bring any pudding?"

"My name is Madeline!"

I paused. Maddie is here? Is that the reason Leo is too?

"Maddie?"

"Paige?"

As I turned around I saw Maddie running up to me. She jumped up and I caught her in my arms. She giggled as I spun her around.

I turned my body around at the sound of a deep voice. A boy stood a couple feet away from me with little kids crowded around him. He had curly golden blonde hair that almost fully covered his green eyes that glistened from the bright artificial lights in the cabin. He held a large duffle bag over his shoulder and was wearing a blue sweatshirt that fit perfectly to his athletic shape.

"Don't worry I'm temporary. They will find a replacement for me later, because girls and guys aren't allowed together." He took a couple steps closer and dropped his duffle bag on the floor.

"Um, pick that up and take it to your room. I'm Paige and I don't care whether or not you're here for a small amount of time, you will work as hard as I will." I ordered and turned around to see all the kids staring at me.

"We'll see about that princess" I frowned at the nickname he gave me. Ignoring him I walked towards the kids room. It was clean and had around 5 bunk beds all neatly made. I could tell It wasn't going to stay that way.

"When is lunch?" Maddie asked, still in my arms. She pointed to the necklace dangling from my neck.. "That's a pretty necklace." She jumped out of my hands and ran towards an empty bunk bed. Climbing to the top she threw Sunny at the end of her bed.

"Thanks Maddie. Kids, lunch is in 20 minutes and make sure you're ready." They all started running into the room, claiming their bunk beds. After around 15 minutes of unpacking my stuff I walked out of my room and into the kids room. Everybody was eating snacks and playing around. Nobody was ready to leave for lunch.

"What are you doing? Guys it's been 20 minutes!" I yelled as calmly as I could. Why do kids have to be so difficult? Maddie is a ray of sunshine why can't they be too. How am I supposed to deal with them on my own?

"Miss Paige, Daniel took my popcorn!" A little girl screamed.

"I was hungry!" A boy screamed back who I believe is Daniel.

"What? Lunch is in five minutes, you couldn't wait?" I asked and motioned for all of them to follow me near the front door. Where's that guy and why isn't he helping me? I don't even know his name.

I opened the door and they all ran out.

"Wait!" I yelled after them, but they didn't stop. As I turned around after locking the door behind me a girl around my age stood below the doorstep. She looked frustrated as she blew a huge bubble with her pink bubblegum.

"Great I'm stuck with the nerd," She snapped and carelessly pushed me out of the way to walk into the cabin leaving me to take the kids to lunch, alone. Great.

...

"Everyone must turn in their dirty dishes once they are done if they'd like to attend the campfire! See you at 8!" The director, Jayleen, stood on top of one of the tables instructing us what to do after dinner.

I led the kids to the kitchen where we were supposed to drop our dishes off. There were 3 different stations; Silverware, plates and bowls, and cups. There were 3 counselors at each station making sure everyone was turning their dishes in properly.

When our cabin's turn came, I carefully put my dishes down and the girl next to me threw hers in carelessly. When the dishes hit the water, it splashed everywhere, making me drenched in water. I grabbed my shirt, gasped and looked up. Three really popular looking girls stood before me and laughed.

"What is wrong with you and your aim?" I yelled.

"That shirt was ugly anyway," Ms. Regina George in the middle said with her hands on her hips. Her minions beside her laughed at her dumb joke.

I didn't speak.

"No really, if I looked at it any longer I would have gone blind." Her friends laughed again and I frowned. Ignoring them I took Maddie's hand and mine and instructed the kids to follow me towards the campfire.

It was already dark outside so everyone had their flashlights on, but me because I had forgotten it in my car. To be honest I didn't really didn't really mind the dark because I could see the sparkling stars from above. The trees surrounded the night sky making it look almost like a painting.

Me and my cabin were the last to be seated because Caden had to use the restroom. I had no idea where my co-counselor was and how I haven't seen her at all by now. I dozed off as the director started to talk about the rules about kindness and how things worked.

Moments later a strong form appeared and sat next to me on the wooden bench. Ignoring the person. I still frowned, thinking about how my favorite shirt was completely ruined. I looked down at it. It was my bright green shirt that heard a large pink heart made out of pink glitter on it. I guess it was a little ugly, but in my defense I picked it out when I was 12.

"You should smile more." I recognized that voice. I turned my head and glared at him. I was about to snap back, but a girl came running down to our log bench, and interrupted our almost-conversation.

"Leo, come sit with me" She started, "I'm so much better than her" She looked in my direction, grinned devilishly, and looked back at Leo with a fake pleading face.

His blank expression quickly disappeared, and his eyes filled up with anger. "If I wanted to sit with you, I would have done it by now." He said coldly.

She scoffed and glared at me. "Fine, but I'm so much prettier than her." My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach. I didn't know what to say. Why do girls bring other girls down like this?

He snorted and his gaze landed on me. I didn't say anything so he turned back to her and smiled sarcastically. "That's where you're wrong."

***