28The next day, Brooke woke up to an extremely rapid orchestral piece blasting through the speakers positioned throughout the camp. She proceeded to shove her pillow over her head and attempted to keep sleeping, but to no avail. After much tossing and turning on the lumpy and uncomfortable mattress, she finally gave up and threw her pillow out of the bunk and onto the floor
Oomph!
"Ow!" Someone stumbled across the cold wooden floor. "Ok, who's throwing pillows?" said a groggy yet slightly annoyed voice. Brooke tried to block out the sound, but that was impossible to do without a pillow. Damn.
"Ok girls! Time to get up!" called a perky voice that Brooke assumed to be Anna. A loud groan emanated throughout the room, all the girls contributing to it. "Breakfast is in half and hour, so I suggest you get moving. You don't need showers, since you'll be swimming later today anyways." Another groan. "C'mon girls. Up!" Anna started pulling girls out of beds, taking their pillows away, and finally, when nothing else worked, turning the fan on, high setting.
"Ahhhhhhh! Turn it OFF!" shouted every single girl in the cabin, suddenly jumping out of bed in order to rip the fan off the ceiling. There was suddenly a massive pile-up in the middle of the cabin, made up of screaming and laughing girls. Brooke just stayed in her bed, wishing they'd all leave. This is worse than a hangover.
"Anna?" said a voice that came from outside. "Anna, what's going on in there?" The voice manifested itself to be none other than Ms. Prinkle, who promptly opened the cabin door to see the spectacle of Black Eyed Susan. "Girls!" shouted Ms. Prinkle at the top of her lungs. All screaming and laughing ceased. "Is this how young ladies behave?" she asked angrily. "I expect you all to pull yourselves together and be at breakfast in twenty minutes!" With that she stormed out of the cabin.
Silence
It started small, with just a giggle, but pretty soon, everybody in Black-Eyed Susan was laughing hysterically. "Yes, girls, yes that was very funny, but you all had better get quiet before she comes back here," whispered Anna, trying to keep from laughing.
"I call a sink!" yelled Sydney, managing to maneuver her way out of the pile.
All the other girls scrambled to get to the last sink before anyone else, but it was too late. Gabrielle leapt up with effortless grace and got there before the rest of them.
"Sorry, girls. Better luck next time," she said with a cocky smile. The rest of the Susans (as Brooke had taken to referring to them) went back to their bunks and managed to scrounge up a camp uniform. They had all been given five pairs of t-shirts and shorts for camp beforehand, and every camper was expected to wear that uniform while they were here.
The girls started talking about the evening before and mocking the choice of movie. It had been Bambi, and Brooke was glad she hadn't gone, considering what the alternative was.
She smiled as she thought back to it. It was -almost- fun. The rush of sneaking out, the realization of where they were going, seeing Gabrielle and Logan together…meeting Jake.
She put the thought out of her head. She wouldn't have to see him again if she didn't want to… But she kind of wanted to…No Brooke. Stop it! Boys bring nothing but trouble…forget about him. But she couldn't. It was an odd feeling. They were just…friends or at the very least, friendly acquaintances. They hadn't really flirted or done anything else. It was the first time in a while where a guy had just talked to her.
Brooke was relatively attractive, or so she'd been told, but nowhere near as gorgeous as Gabrielle. Her brown hair was her best feature, cascading in soft waves down her back. Her eyes were three different colors at once, if that was possible, and she had a small nose, which she was thankful for. Even so, guys had never really treated her as just a friend and girls always saw her as some sort of competition. It was lonely, going to parties, because you didn't really have anywhere to go. Girls looked upon you with disdain, and guys tried to flirt with you, but when you wouldn't do things with them, they'd go off to somebody else. Eventually, she just stopped going. What was the point? Jake wasn't like that, or at least he didn't seem to be.
"Alright girls," Anna said after breakfast cheerfully, putting her hair in a ponytail. "Next on our agenda is your activity for the week. There's horseback riding, water sports, canoeing and kayaking, arts and crafts, and a nature hike. Whatever you want to do. I have a list of where to go for each activity, so if you want to take a look-" All the girls crowded around her except for Brooke. The only thing she planned to do was read her book.
"C'mon, we're going to the arts and crafts cabin," said Gabrielle, grabbing Brooke's hand and trying to drag her out onto the front stairs.
"Or not," said Brooke flatly, pulling her hand away from Gabrielle's grasp.
"Why not?" asked Gabrielle. "Afraid someone will see you?" She put on a mock face of horror.
"If you think you're gonna mock me into coming with you, you're more stupid than you look. Just call me 'chicken' while you're at it. I don't care," Brooke said condescendingly. She leaned back against the cabin wall to show Gabrielle that she was perfectly fine where she was.
"Broke, sweetie, you're gonna have to go do an activity. Camp policy," said Amy, walking over to Brooke's bunk just as all the other girls except for Gabrielle left.
Brooke sighed, reluctantly set aside her book, and got up. She never had been one to mess with authority. Gabrielle just raised a single eyebrow as Brooke passed her on the way outside.
They silently walked past a number of different girls who were chattering about their favorite horses or that new trick they wanted to try on the jet-skis. The sun shone brightly down upon the camp without a care in the world. Brooke hoped that, if anything else, she might get a tan out of this experience.
Arts and crafts must have been popular among the campers, because there were girls crammed inside the cabin from wall to wall seated by long tables with wooden benches beside them. The walls were covered with colorful artwork: paintings, drawings, things made out of yarn and beads and such. Gabrielle and Brooke managed to find seats in a back corner, with a bunch of chatty preteens around them.
"We're making dream-catchers. Completely useless," muttered Gabrielle to Brooke. Brooke didn't say anything. The counselors at the front were setting up materials, and she spotted a large box of popsicle sticks being pulled out from a cabinet.
Nothing made with popsicle sticks was ever useful. That was the main thing Brooke had learned from being in Girl Scouts.
"So what happened last night?" asked Gabrielle coolly, taking a seat on a wooden bench.
Brooke sat down as well, nearly falling over the bench the way she'd done with the canoe last night. She bit her lip and smiled inside as she remembered.
"Nothing happened," said Brooke, being intentionally blasé about it all, even though it was the opposite of what she felt.
Gabrielle gave a humorless laugh and tossed her curly hair behind her shoulder. "I'm sure. I saw you two getting cozy out there. What happened?"
"Nothing." Gabrielle gave her a look. "Why would I lie about this? You had just left with Logan, and he came up behind me, randomly thinking I was a homeless person—"
"A homeless person?" Gabrielle's look on her face said that she knew Brooke was lying.
"I'm not kidding! That's what I said too!" said Brooke earnestly. "And then we just…talked."
"You guys talked," repeated Gabrielle, not believing a word of it. Brooke nodded, looking over at the counselors passing out supplies. "If you say so." She leaned in to whisper something. "But, you know, guys always brag about this kind of stuff so I'll just hear it from Logan anyways."
"You won't hear anything from Logan, because we did nothing!" snapped Brooke.
But inside, what Gabrielle had said struck a chord. Had she misjudged Jake? Would he read more into what they did than she did? Or would he lie about what they did, fabricating this huge story in his mind that wasn't even true and tell that to his friends? She couldn't believe that about him. He really didn't seem like that type of guy, but what if he was? What if he was one of those charmers that her mother had always warned her about? "Remember," she always said. "Charm is a verb, not a noun." He couldn't be. He seemed so genuinely nice, except at first, of course. But she couldn't take any chances. She wasn't going to be making any more night trips back to Camp Pine Ridge.
Gabrielle was going on quietly about when she could see Logan again, and of course Brooke would come to see Jake. "—And there's all these stupid cabin games on Wednesday, you know cabin vs. cabin, relays and all that, so I figured that we could go back then too, and—"
"I don't think that's a good idea," said Brooke abruptly, looking up at Gabrielle.
Gabrielle looked slightly fazed "Why not?"
"I … I just…you can still go, but if too many people are missing from the games, someone's bound to notice," Brooke said, rambling while she tried to figure out he real reason. "And honestly, it wasn't that fun." Liar. "You can use a kayak next time. One person boat, easy to handle, and they're in the same shed."
Gabrielle nodded. "If that's what you want."
After lunch, the Village of Pine Ridge was open to girls who wanted to go for Free Time. All of the Susans wanted to go, and so they all piled onto the old green and white Camp Wildflower bus. Brooke went only out of curiosity. It only took five minutes to get there, but that didn't stop the girls from being any less anxious and excited. They all chattered about the cute little candy shop with the amazing fudge and the free samples, the general store with all the old-fashioned toys from centuries past, as well as a number of other different attractions.
Brooke just sat there and looked out the window, the scenery passing by, while Gabrielle prattled on about the vintage clothing that one shop had, and how she'd seen something there last year that would look perfect on Brooke, and she hoped it wasn't gone. Finally, the bus pulled up to the entrance. All the girls practically ran off the bus, pushing and shoving. Brooke and Gabrielle were the last ones off. But as soon as Brooke saw the village, she wanted to get right back on the bus and drive back, even if she had to do it herself.
Boys. Everywhere. They had overrun the village. Gabrielle practically dragged Brooke in, still mumbling about the color of green Brooke would look best in. Brooke shook her off, more violently than the other times.
"Brooke, what are you-"
"Gabrielle," Brooke said sharply.
"What?" asked Gabrielle, exasperated.
Brooke paused for a moment, trying to see if she could possibly sum up her problem in ten seconds and have it make sense.
No.
Suck it up, Brooke. If you've got a problem with the male sex, don't put that on anyone else. Deal with it yourself. You're stronger than that. Gabrielle seemed to enjoy them, anyways.
"Never mind," said Brooke darkly.
They started into the village, Brooke with her arms crossed and hostile expression on her face and Gabrielle as carefree as ever. The Village of Pine Ridge reminded Brooke of an old western town, but with a large forest surrounding it. It had a dirt road down the center with small shops on either side. There were cute little colorful homemade wooden signs for each of the stores. They moved back and forth with the slight breeze. The sidewalks were made out of wood, and there were little patios with sunroofs out in front of each store, some made of wood, but most with a sturdy fabric so as to keep the sun from coming down too hard in the summer.
The first thing Brooke spotted was a sign with a book on it, thee quarters of the way down the street. Bingo.
"I'll see you later," said Brooke to Gabrielle, and she stalked off in that direction.
The shops were full of campers browsing through merchandise and wreaking general havoc outside. There were a few young boys playing ball in the street, and when one of them accidentally threw it close to her head, she gave them all a menacing glare that sent them scurrying away.
Brooke turned inside Betty's books and was met with a musty old book smell that gave her chills. Heaven. She headed for the young adult section first, to see if there were any worthy reads, and then she'd move on to adult, looking for a title or a book cover that she liked.
The young adult section was right by the window, and she headed for it, looking at books with a clear view of what was happening outside.
Just as she picked one up that looked interesting and started reading the back cover, she heard a familiar voice resound through the doorway.
"Dude, go talk to her."
Brooke's ears perked up as she leaned over the case a bit to see where he was standing.
They were actually sitting on a bench to the right of the window and right next to the door, which was why Brooke could hear them so well. It was a group of about six boys who were looking across the street at a group of five girls who were sitting on a bench and talking and giggling. Brooke didn't recognize any of them from Wildflower.
"She is hot," said another voice.
Brooke looked out the window at the girls, her book forgotten, and saw the one who they were talking about. She was sitting in the middle of the bench with two girls on the other side and two on the armrests. Her long blonde hair fell in front of her shoulders, and she was a knockout. Her camp shorts looked extremely short to Brooke, and she could have sworn she saw midriff. Someone's sizes got messed up…
"Go talk to her!"
"Why do I have to do it?"
"No, it's 'why do I "get" to do it'?" retorted someone who Brooke thought sounded an awful lot like Logan.
"Jake, you go do it!" said someone, and Brooke inched closer to the door so that she could hear better.
"Yeah, have Jake do it!"
"Okay, okay, I will!" she heard Jake say, and before she knew what was happening, he got off the bench and started walking towards the girl.
That was it. Brooke was certain. He was just another shallow jock who was easily peer pressured into doing stupid things. She didn't like him. She didn't know how she could have ever thought that.
She reshelved the book and walked out of the bookstore, taking a right onto the wooden sidewalk and returning the way she'd come. She just wanted to go and sit on the bus for the rest of the time, doing nothing except wallowing in her misery. It seemed like the right thing to do.
"Cake?"
Brooke turned and saw Gabrielle sitting on an old knotty wooden bench, her legs crossed with a large slice of chocolate cake sitting on top of one knee. She lifted up an extra fork and offered it to Brooke.
Brooke just stood there. "I don't know," she said, not sure it she'd rather drown her emotions in gooey chocolate cake or just sit on the bus and feel better about herself later.
"I don't bite," said Gabrielle, giving Brooke a look.
Brooke shrugged and walked slowly to the bench and sat down beside Gabrielle, taking the extra plastic fork. She reached over to the cake and cut a sliver off, not even thick enough to stay on the fork. It started to fall before she brought it to her mouth, but her hand shot underneath the fork and caught it without any trouble.
"You can take more than that," said Gabrielle.
Brooke nodded, savoring the piece of cake in her mouth. She looked down and across the street to where Jake was talking with the girls, a few more of his friends had joined them, and they seemed to be having a good time.
"Why are you so gloomy?" asked Gabrielle, slightly annoyed.
Brooke shrugged, her eyes still on Jake. She had had such high hopes for him…
"Alright, if this is how you're gonna be, we'll do this my way. Let's play twenty questions," said Gabrielle. Brooke said nothing. "Brooke."
Brooke snapped back to reality. "Fine."
"Twenty questions. About each other. I ask you one, and you ask me one. You can either answer or not answer, but every time you answer, you get a taste of cake. Deal?"
Brooke sighed, eyeing the fudgy delicious cake with relish. "Deal."
"Okay, so did anything happen last night?" asked Gabrielle mischievously
"No." Gabrielle cocked her head and gave Brooke an "I know you're lying" look. "Promise." Gabrielle reluctantly moved the cake towards Brooke so that she could take a bite, which she did.
"How long have you been with Logan?" Brooke asked, saying the first thing she could think of. She wasn't really interested in Gabrielle's life the way Gabrielle was interested in hers.
"Two years," said Gabrielle smartly, taking another bite. "Do you like Jake?"
This was the question Brooke had been dreading, amongst many others. "I…I don't know."
"In other words, pass," said Gabrielle, drawing the cake away from Brooke's reach. Brooke nodded.
"What did you do with Logan last night?"
Gabrielle shrugged. "Just caught up, really. And kissed a bit." She took a bite for herself. "Why are you always so standoffish?"
Brooke paused for a moment. Why was she, exactly? The more she thought about it, the more reasons she came up with. She didn't want people prying into her business, telling her what to do. She didn't want to make herself vulnerable to others. She wanted to deal with her problems by herself.
"Because I don't trust people." Gabrielle said nothing. She just offered Brooke the cake.
"Hey! Gabs!" called a voice from the opposite side of the street. Both girls looked up to see Logan and his friends walking down the middle of the street, fooling around with each other and being teenage boys. Jake had joined them and was laughing along with his friends, throwing fake punches, and looking extremely immature.
Gabrielle wiggled some fingers and flashed them a smile that Brooke was sure was probably brighter that the sun.
Logan said something to his friends, and before Brooke could get up and run away, he and another boy started walking over towards the girls. Thankfully, Jake and his friends stayed in the middle of the street, talking.
"Hey girls," said Logan as he and his friend stepped up onto the wooden sidewalk. "How's it going?"
"Oh, you know," said Gabrielle coolly. "Just chillin'"
"This is David," said Logan, nodding to boy right beside him. "He's in my cabin."
Brooke was glad David wasn't cute; otherwise she might have had to strangle herself. He was extremely tall and lanky, with a messy mop of blonde hair and a shy smile. She hoped he hadn't come over because he thought she was cute. That could get awkward.
Gabrielle started asking David some questions about himself and life, and Brooke was free to relax and do whatever the hell she wanted.
She looked out at the boys playing an impromptu game of tag in the middle of the dusty road. Jake was it, and although it seemed like he'd be fast enough to catch someone right off the bat, it was taking him a while.
He had just narrowly missed someone when he stopped, laughing hard and breathing hard, to take a rest. He just stood there, looking at the other guys with a huge smile. They couldn't make him be "It" if he didn't want to be.
He looked over at Logan and David, and in turn, at Brooke, who was looking at him. He raised a hand in greeting to her, still laughing and smiling his wide smile, and she nodded a greeting back, only a small smile on her face, and that was only because his laughter made her smile.
"-And so camp is pretty much my second home," David finished telling Gabrielle, who was listening politely.
"Yeah," she said, nodding. "Me too. But this is Brooke's first year here, right Brooke?"
Why are you pulling me into this? "Yeah," said Brooke, doing her best to look hostile. Just go away.
David must have gotten the hint. "Well, I'm gonna go play tag with the guys. It was nice meeting you both." Liar. Brooke would have had more respect for him if he'd left out the 'both', and addressed it to Gabrielle.
After David left, Gabrielle scoot over and let Logan sit next to her on the bench, Brooke was scrunched off to the side, perfectly content with eating the forgotten piece of cake.
"So can you come over this week?" asked Logan.
"I think we're doing counselor sundaes on Thursday. I'll fake sick," said Gabrielle. Brooke contemplated doing the same, though only so that she wouldn't have to do counselor sundaes, whatever those were.
She watched the boys roughhousing in the street, stirring up an exorbitant amount of dust as they did so. Some kids threw Jake to the ground, and in return, Jake swiped his legs out from under him. It escalated to such a level that other campers were standing on the sidewalks and leaning over the rails, cheering certain people on.
Brooke saw someone crawling out from underneath a pileup, his body completely covered with dust. He got up and started limping towards Logan and the girls, shaking himself silly as he did in order to get all the dirt off. It was only after he did that that Brooke recognized him with his unmistakably black hair.
"I think I left…my wallet in the bookstore," said Brooke quickly, feeling inside her pocket and making up an item that she knew was safe back at the camp. "I'll be right back."
She set the empty cake plate down and hurried off to the bookstore before Jake realized she had gone. It wouldn't matter anyways. He wasn't coming over to see you.
"Man, you okay?" called Logan to Jake, who was hobbling over to the bench supporting him and Gabrielle.
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Jake as he dragged himself onto the platform. "Mike is just fatter than a pregnant elephant."
Gabrielle threw back her head and laughed. Logan did the same. "It's true!" protested Jake as he took Brooke's place on the bench. "He body slammed me and now I think my leg is broken."
"Poor you," said Gabrielle, still laughing.
"So yeah," said Jake, leaning back against the bench and breathing heavily. "Where's Brooke?" he asked, looking around for the girl who had just been there moments before.
Gabrielle looked around, not realizing that Brooke had gone somewhere. "I don't know. Did you notice her leave?" she asked Logan. He shook his head.
"I just came over to say hi to her." Gabrielle gave him a playful look. "And to you of course," he covered, laughing. "Last night was fun. Better than Monsters Inc."
And although she wouldn't admit it to anyone, five hundred feet away in the bookstore, Brooke thought so too.
A/N: Um wow. That probably took a lot longer than it should have. I've just been focusing on my other story more than this one(The Sweetheart, go check it out!) but that doesn't mean I've forgotten about TM. If you've stuck with this since the first version, thank you SOOO much, and if you're new, thanks as well. This probably isn't my best work, but I've got such a soft spot for Brooke and Jake that I'm not letting them go anytime soon. Reviews, critiques, questions, and suggestions are always welcome!
-A.