Chapter 19: Chapter 19
Nat had OCD and a sort of ideal way of doing things. She wanted her food the way she wanted it – cold fries slightly burnt, cold soggy burger, cold coffee, soggy biscuit in cereal for breakfast. Typical of Nat, as Jameela would say but Nat was proud of herself. She considered herself unique in that aspect. Different. For others, she was indeed different but in slightly another sense. With her long wavy brown hair, curvy hips and full lips, a lot of boys found her attractive. To her, she was not. And it was exhausting to go out only for someone to be sitting next to the small fountain outside the gate of her house. Sometimes she hated the attention. At times, she was intrigued by her power on men.
As the days went on, Jameela noticed her how friend drew back into herself. She sulked. With everything going on at camp, the last thing Jameela wanted was for her friend to be going through something without telling anyone. She made sure everyone had retreated outside to the yard, before following Nat to the main house. Today was quite sunny with not a cloud in the sky.
Even though none of the students slept in the rooms, each of them knew their beds in case they would be required to sleep there. Nat flopped on a small bed in the centre of the room, adorned with pink stripes to the headboard. Jameela stood by the door, arms folded as she stared at her. What was going on now? After the revelation two nights ago by her classmates, she had been on edge. Thank God the camp was calm at least for whole of yesterday. Mr Cameron hadn’t told the students about his plan to make everyone go on ‘field trips’. But there were still whispers amongst the guides. And the campers knew that soon or later he would make an announcement. He had the authority but there were things he shouldn’t even think of. Another worry was Alessio. She hadn’t got the chance to talk to him. Oh, how she missed him. She made a mental note to try and corner him later, perhaps after lunch.
“Hey.” Jameela removed her headscarf and flopped on the other bed next to Nat.
“What’s up with you? You’ve been grumpy these past few days, I noticed.”
Nat played with a red dice around her fingers. “Why wouldn’t I be, Jams? Everything is not going as it should. Look around us. Everyone is so down, what with Mr Cameron’s new plan which I’m sure would happen.”
“I understand how you feel but honestly, don’t think about all that. It will make you feel worse that you already do, girl. You know we don’t have a say in this.”
“I know but it’s just hard. Ugh. I’m seriously claustrophobic here. It’s so dull. And obviously getting worse. This wasn’t how I envisioned camping to be.”
“Don’t worry, we just need to find something fun to do on our own.”
“That’s if we all are not separated already.”
“Exactly. Anyway, let’s wait and see what Mr Cameron would say first. Then we find a way to have our own little fun away from the camp.”
“Seriously?”
“Of course!”
Nat’s eyes lit up. “That’d be crazy. I really would love that. But is it even possible?”
Jameela looked at her in mock surprise. “Oh please, of course it is. Everything is possible. We just have to try.”
“Oh I pray that’s true.” They stayed quiet for a while, before Nat broke the silence. “You know what, I think I don’t like my bed at this side. Let’s change it.”
Jameela laughed, “you never cease to amaze me. Just like that, you want to change your bed. Bed that you don’t even sleep on. And you might not even.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t look cool here. And who knows, things might change.”
With a shake of the head, Jameela clutched one end of the bed while Nat clutched the other and pushed towards the right edge of the room. It suddenly looked wide
r that way.
“Chica, let’s go out to the pool.” They walked hand in hand downstairs and through the backyard. Jameela felt a tug in her heart. At least Nat was feeling better now. The yard was in a mess - items lay on the ground as the campers played different games all around.
"Jams, come to the swimming pool. You'll love it," Ryan said. Known for his swimming abilities, he swam the backstroke perfectly much to his classmate’s amazement.
"Nah. Maybe later. But Nat, on the other hand, would really adore it. Right? You like swimming," she secretly smirked. Nat had an awful crush on Ryan, for much of junior year, and into senior year. Not much of the class knew about it, as Nat tried hard to suppress her feelings most of the time. Though Jameela still couldn’t believe Ryan hadn’t picked up on the blushes, the shyness and smiles. Any man would.
"What? No! I don't..." Nat started.
"Yeah, Nat. It's great. Besides, I also wanted to show someone my swimming moves. But since everyone is doing their thing, I don't know, maybe I could show you?" Ryan smiled at her.
"Oh well, uhm. I was planning on maybe sitting here and doing nothing but since you asked, I guess it's cool by me.” She smiles, before turning to Jameela and hissing in a low voice to hide her blushing cheeks. “I SWEAR I'm gonna kill you later."
"It's party time! Woo-hoo!" Daniel passed by popping open a champagne. The sound screaming directly in Jameela’s ear. She cringed.
"Where on earth did you get that? What if you're caught?" Adriana gaped. She was lying on a pristine white towel, her skin glowing in a black bikini.
"Don't worry. I brought it along with me. Or rather, I brought them.” His eyebrows rose in a comical way. “Besides, I checked first. The guides are busy engaging in an intense convo." He explained.
Jameela’s heart skipped a beat. Intense convo? It must be between Mr Cameron and her precioso. But what could they be talking about again?
"Well then, I think I need a glass too," Adriana said.
Jameela rolled her eyes, wondering what the girl was up to. She had caught her giving her sneaky looks at dining. Adriana didn’t scare her, but she would like to know what the girl was planning. She never stayed that long without planning something horrendous to someone. And she had her sight on Jameela for a long time. Perhaps, this was the perfect time for her plans to hatch. Whatever the case, Jameela got her eyes on her. As she sipped her blackberry juice, something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She slightly turned to see Alessio, standing by the trees looking directly in front of him, a hand through his hair. He looked exasperated. Her heart tugged at the unwelcome sight. What now? They made eye contact for a while.
"Going to the loo." She announced to no one in particular. Sprinting around the tents area, she walked away from the main house and then farther into the woods. For a while, nothing happened. Then the sound of feet against sand caught her attention. He emerged through the thicket in front of her. They walked a bit then sat on the bare ground. “How’re you doing?"
“I don’t know, precioso.” He sighed.
“I’m so sorry. Is it something personal?”
“Oh no. It’s about Mr Cameron’s idea. He’s still insisting on sending everyone on field trips.”
“Wow. That’s really scary, you know. I can’t imagine being in the forest with only some food and about five of us. Gosh. It’s absurd. We’re not some early age hikers.”
“Exactly. I don’t know what’s going on in his mind. I tried to convince him but well, it didn’t work.” His eyes looked dilated and somehow sad.
Jameela put an arm around him, leaning into him. She felt his sadness. He had always put the students first before anything. He knew what they wanted and what they didn’t. So she wasn’t surprised this had impacted him a lot. She wished Mr Cameron would see reason but the problem was, he never listened to anyone but himself. When he got something on his mind, he made sure he went through with it. How could she change things back to the way they should? How could she scrape this field trip off Mr Cameron’s mind? She couldn’t think of anything that could help their situation. Unless it was something tragic.