Chapter 18: Chapter 17 - Nat

Monday 7 December

~*Nat’s POV*~

I jolted awake to the sound of banging on my bedroom door.

“Come on Nat, we’re going to be late if you don’t get a move on!”

I groaned. This had become a habit. Every morning, Cody had thumped on my door at what felt like the arse crack of dawn to get me moving, regardless of how well or not I’d slept.

And she always sounded so damn chipper about it. It infuriated me.

The more time I spent with her, the more it felt like what I’d imagine having a sister would be like. Even after such a short amount of time, I found I cared about her deeply, but sometimes I just really wanted to throttle her. Admittedly, those feelings lingered in the morning, so maybe I simply despised mornings instead. I had not yet had a full night’s sleep devoid of nightmares since Auden and Cody had picked me up, so I assumed that was potentially why I was so irritable every morning.

Who needed an alarm clock, when you had the world’s happiest person waking you up every morning?

I had hoped that this might have been the first morning where she might leave me in some semblance of peace, as it was the first night we had spent in the camp rooms upstairs from where Cody usually lived. Alas, it was not meant to be. She appeared just as excitable now as she ever was.

She bashed against my door again. “Nat!”

“God damn it, Cody! I’m coming!”

She laughed. “Just making sure!”

I grumbled incoherently and shook my fist toward the closed door. I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, thinking about the day ahead. This was the first day of the camp. I had never actually expected to be going, but my memory was still eluding me, and I had nothing else to do.

At least the camp sounded like it was going to be fun.

I sat up suddenly. Something had just popped into my head that I couldn’t believe hadn’t occurred to me until that very moment.

“Uh… Cody?” I called out.

A slight pause lingered whilst I heard her shuffle back to my door.

“Yeah?”

“Is Bells going to be at the camp?”

Laughter erupted from the other side of the closed door before the soft sounds of her shuffling away drifted to my ears.

“Cody?”

No answer.

“Cody?!”

I could just barely hear the soft sounds of Cody cackling away in the kitchen or lounge.

I jumped out of bed and ran out of the room to find her comfortably ensconced on the sofa with an enormous bowl of cereal in her hands, looking at me with an innocent expression. Already dressed in a pair of close-fitted black jeans, and a long-sleeved, green t-shirt, of which she had pushed the sleeves up to her elbows, she rested her sock-clad feet on the edge of the coffee table in front of her, as relaxed as she could be.

“I’m serious Cody. Is Bells going to be at the camp?”

She grinned wickedly, as she slowly lifted a heaped spoonful of cereal to her lips, deliberately inserted said cereal into her mouth and started chewing. The sparkle in her eyes made me realise she had no intention of answering me.

I rolled my eyes exaggeratedly and flung my hands up to my cheeks, groaning. “Cody…” I whined.

She laughed again, lifting another heaped spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

I leaned forward and went to slap her shoulder, but she batted me away easily with her spoon. “Don’t start, Nat. You’ll find out soon enough if you get moving.” She waggled her eyebrows at me, using her spoon to parry away all my half-hearted attempts I made to smack her. She pointed her spoon back to my room. “Go and get ready,” she ordered.

“Fine…” I moaned at her. I poked my tongue out at her before turning around and stalking back to my room’s ensuite. Her giggles followed me, taunting me all the way.

Half an hour later, I was showered, dressed, fed, and following Cody down to the foyer area of the ground floor. There were quite a few people milling around, chatting in small groups of two or three.

Cody made a beeline to Zelda and Tatum, and I followed dutifully, craning my neck to see if I could recognise anyone else. After Cody sat down next to Tatum on a table that had been pushed against a wall, she noticed what I was doing as I approached and laughed. “He’s not here yet, Nat.”

Tatum had pulled Zelda to stand in between his legs against the edge of the table. He hugged her around her waist, as he looked around the room, occasionally nodding a hello here and there. It looked like he had dressed down a little today compared to what he’d worn the other times I’d seen him; matching an old pair of blue jeans that were ripped at both knees with a fitted black t-shirt, and a pair of old, white sneakers to complete the outfit.

Zelda’s eyebrows rose with interest. “Ooh… This sounds interesting. Who are you looking for, Nat?” Zelda had also opted for a more casual look in contrast to what she usually wore, but still held that edge of style that set her apart. The ends of her tight fitted black jeans were tucked into her low-heeled, black boots that had obviously been worn many times, but still looked clean and polished. A burgundy shirt fitted her figure perfectly, but again, had clearly seen many outings. Where Cody had gone with minimal make-up and a simple tie back of her hair, Zelda had felt the need to apply her typical full kit and style her hair. She had dressed down, but remained one of the prettiest females in the room.

My own hair was as wild as it always seemed to be, and in line with what had become the norm, I had opted for no make-up at all, much to Cody’s chagrin. Cody had advised me to ‘go casual’, so I had matched an over-sized black long-sleeve hoodie with a pair of black leggings and my black sneakers. Thankfully, I noticed several women had dressed similarly, so I didn’t look too much out of place.

At least from a clothing perspective, that is. I towered above all the other women in the room and most of the men. Coupled with the fact that I was a stranger to most of them, and I was attracting quite a lot of unwanted attention, that was making me feel rather uncomfortable.

I quickly brought my gaze around to face Cody, Tatum, and Zelda as I came to a stop in front of them, but there was nothing I could do to stop the blush emerging from my face. “No-one.”

Cody laughed harder. “Ha! You’re such a liar! You know exactly who you’re looking for.”

A mischievous grin emerged onto Zelda’s face, just as Tatum took notice of our conversation. “What’s going on? What have I missed?”

Zelda leaned back into Tatum’s embrace and tipped her head towards me. “Nat here is looking for someone, but she won’t tell us who it is,” she whispered conspiratorially into his ear, loud enough that everyone in the immediate vicinity could hear.

An evil smile overcame his face. “Really?” He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Pray tell, dear Nat. Who is this mystery person of whom they speak?”

I could feel the flush in my cheeks deepen, much to my chagrin. I hated how easy it was to make me blush, and Cody both knew and exploited that fact every chance she had. “No-one. It’s nothing.”

Cody kept laughing, which, of course, made Tatum and Zelda turn to look at her. “I’m not saying a word. You’ll both find out soon enough.”

Zelda scowled at her, but Tatum simply shrugged his shoulders in indifference. He turned back to me. “Are you ready for the camp?”

I mouthed ‘thank you’ at him, and he nodded in understanding. “I’m about as ready as I could be, I guess. Honestly, I’m not really sure what to expect…” I trailed off. Sure, Cody had shown me the website, and they had all talked to me a little about the camp, but I was quickly learning that hearing about something didn’t always mean that the experience would match what I’d heard.

“Don’t worry,” Tatum said. “Takeshi and Spence have been running this camp for years. They know what they’re doing. You’ll have fun, I promise.”

“I hope so.” I chewed my bottom lip. My ever-present nerves were coming to the forefront once more. Just as I thought I had a handle on them, I found myself in a new situation where they’d rear their ugly head again.