Chapter ten
Anika tossed and turned on her cot but no matter which way she moved, she couldn't get comfortable. With an inaudible sigh, she sat upright and looked over to her roommate's cots. Mel was curled into a ball facing the wall with her red hair spread over the pillow like a flowing river of lava. Keira on the other hand was sprawled over her sheets. One arm covered her eyes while the other and a leg hung over the edge of the mattress. Her other limb bent in a different direction. A soft snore rumbled in back of the golden blond's throat. With a tired chuckle, Anika gathered her lantern from her dresser, her new iPod and headphones and walked out of the cabin. She didn't bother to check the time as she guessed it was a good half hour before the sun would rise. The camp was silent except for the slight breeze that rustled the leaves overhead that she could barely make out the outlines of. The lantern swung in her hand as she meandered to the lakeshore. Swimming wasn't her strong suit, but she could at least dip her feet in the water off the dock.
Since she didn't bother to put on her sneakers, her bare feet softly padded on the dirt path as the beach came into view. A lazy orange stained the sky through the trees on the other side of the lake and cast a reflection on the glass surface of the water. Before coming to the camp, Anika had only sprayed landscapes like this one on the sides of buildings.
Once at the end of the dock, Anika sat and hesitantly dipped her toes in the chilly black water. Soon, the water was up to the middle of her shins and she started to swing her feet under the surface. She muffled the frightened scream that instinctively caught in her throat when something wrapped around her foot. The water rippled as a dark pink head emerged from the black inky water.
"Ow!" the girl groaned, her hand coming to rub her head while the other moved out around her so she treaded in the water.
"Are you alright? How long have you been down there?" Anika asked her, placing a hand over her wildly beating heart.
"Hold on." the girl muttered and disappeared under the surface and a second later resurfaced with her pale face clear of her short pink hair.
"Are you alright?" Anika asked again. The girl groaned a bit as she pulled her thin figure from the water and jogged down the dock back to the beach.
"Hey!" Anika growled after her and considered chasing the pink head girl.
"Don't hey me." the girl said over her shoulder as she walked over to a large boulder at the sand's edge.
"And quit yelling. You're going to get us caught." she reached behind the rock and pulled a hidden white towel out. After wrapping it around her shoulders, the girl walked down the dock and sat besides a standing Anika who just stared down at her. After a few seconds of silence, the girl turned her baby blue eyes up to stare Anika in the face with a raised light brow.
"I'm not leaving now that you're here. I was here first."
"I'm not leaving." Anika shook her head.
"Well then have a seat. You're making me feel awkward standing up like that." the girl turned her heart shaped face away to look over the water.
"Okay..." Anika slowly lowered into a crouch as she cautiously peered over the dock's edge.
"It's just me." The girl assured and Anika caught her rolling her eyes with a small smile playing at her slightly blue tinged lips.
"Can't blame me for checking. What were you doing down there anyway?" Anika asked, finally deciding that no one else would spring out from under the water as she dropped her feet into the water again.
"Couldn't sleep any longer." the smile dropped from her face as a flicker of annoyance crossed her baby blue eyes.
"Me neither." Anika said.
"Ivy, by the way." The girl rested her cheek on one shoulder as she peeked at Anika out of the corner of her eye.
"Anika."
"Ah, the famous Anika. Been here less than forty eight hours and already have everyone's attention." the girl nodded to herself.
"Am I really that much of a spectacle?" Anika smirked at her.
"Well considering people are actually taking sides, then yeah." Ivy laughed.
"Who could honestly be taking his side?" Anika asked, scowling at the thought.
"Victoria." Ivy said with a shrug.
"Is this the same icky Vicky I've heard of?" Anika asked and turned her head to look at Ivy when the pink haired girl stared to laugh.
"I'm sure. Who said that anyway?"
"Keira. She's one of my roommates along with Mel. You know them?"
"I know who they are." Ivy shrugged and avoided Anika's gaze.
"Is there something between you guys?" Anika questioned the hint of nervousness that showed in Ivy's stiff posture.
"No... not directly I don't think." Ivy sighed once she caught Anika's pressing stare. "I'm one of Victoria's roommates."
"Oh..."
"But just because I sleep in the same cabin as her doesn't mean we're all buddy buddy. 'Cause I don't do the whole 'chase every drool worthy guy' around here. Just not my thing."
"That's relieving. I would've thought you'd go run and tell her and I'd have my first enemy here." Anika offered a small smile.
"Unfortunately for you, you already are her newest enemy." Ivy frowned. "She has this obsession with Ryleigh now, even though he completely blew her off yesterday. But she can't shut up about him. Hence why I was out here this early."
"I don't blame you. I'd try to drown myself too if I had to listen to her talk about him. That might even be worse than actually listening to him talk." Anika joked and Ivy laughed.
"See? We're not ripping each other's throats out. Why don't you try to talk to Mel and Keira. I take that back. Mel can be really scary sometimes." Anika thought aloud.
"I'm not sure... They're kind of intimidating. Plus, if I do talk with them there's no telling what Victoria will do to me when I'm sleeping."
"If you're worried about that, then you can come sleep in our cabin. And about the whole intimidation factor... I guess you're right, but they aren't as bad as they put up."
"You weren't here last week. This kid, Jared winked at Keira. In the middle of the night those two went to his cabin and tore the bug flap off. They woke up covered in mosquito bites. Gelsey had them take off the rest of the week from their activities and gave them some special smelly cream to make the itching stop." Ivy shivered.
"So they're a little crazy. But you're talking to me no problem and I get along with them." Anika pointed out.
"We'll see." Ivy replied and they fell into a short lived silence, watching the sun rise.
"This chick Victoria is seriously talking about Ryleigh right now even though it's got to be only like six in the morning?" Anika asked in disbelief.
"All. Night. Long. She wouldn't stop." Ivy groaned, running a hand over her face as she tipped her head back.
"And why aren't you fawning over him too?" Anika asked with a teasing smirk.
"Sure the guy is a piece of smoking deliciousness but I'm more of a white blond gal than a dirty blond gal." Ivy admitted.
"Huh, white blond? Now that I think about it, Skinner hangs around with the girls and I. He has white blond hair." Anika said, brushing her arm against Ivy's under her towel.
"I've heard." she quietly ducked her head, hiding the slight flush in her cheeks.
"Oh wow!" Anika's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Ivy. "I hit that right on the nail, didn't I?"
"He is kind of cute. But that doesn't matter because I think Keira might like him." Ivy couldn't hide all of the disappointment in her voice.
Anika scoffed. "Judging by the way those two treat him, I don't think they have the hots for him. Not in the way you do." she laughed as she counted how many times the girls smacked his arm and the back of his head.
"I don't have the hots for him." Ivy stuttered indignantly, crossing her arms across her chest in a defensive manner.
"And I'm secretly in love with Ryleigh." Anika gave Ivy a pointed look. "Of course you like Skinner. He's a good looking dude and he's funny."
"Please don't say anything." Ivy begged with her hands covering her blushing cheeks.
"Alright, I wont." Anika vowed. "But I can find out more about him for you."Â Ivy groaned in embarrassment and pulled her towel to cover her head.
"Come on Ivy! I can be sly. Like this: hey Skin? Who's the girl with pink hair?"
"No! Don't do that. My hair is magenta not pink. If you say pink he'll think you're talking about Whitney." Ivy lifted her head so Anika could see the panic in her eyes.
"Okay, okay. So don't point out the pink hair. How about..." Anika thought for a moment as she looked over Ivy.
"How about this. 'Hey Skinner, who's the girl that rooms with Victoria? I saw her walking out of their cabin this morning but unlike the other one, she didn't follow Vicky out. Is she friends with her?' Bam! Then he'll be like-"
"The girl with the weird hair? Yeah, she doesn't talk to anybody." Ivy imitated a deep voice.
"He doesn't have a deep manly voice." Anika shook her head, hiding her smile beneath a wave of black curls.
"You get what I mean!" Ivy chuckled and shoved Anika's shoulder a little.
"I could always just tell him my opinion of this funny, pretty girl that kind of seems shy at first but then I found out she's actually here because she...." Anika trailed off, waiting for Ivy to fill in the blank.
"Lit her brother's girlfriend's car on fire because she slept around on him."
"See! You fit in with Mel already. She took a baseball bat to her principal's car. This was meant to be." Anika pushed on.
"I don't know." Ivy looked away as she battled with herself. "Even with the hair, I'm only known for being one of Victoria's cabin mates."
"So make yourself known." Anika urged, seeing the forming cracks in Ivy's wall of resistance.
"You know the rules. No trouble and I quite like my music."
Anika rolled her grey eyes at Ivy's thoughts. "I'm not saying you have to burn something... or someone." she continued, ignoring Ivy's playful glare. "I'm saying, make yourself known." she put more emphasis on her words.
"And how do you expect me to do that?" Ivy shook her head, shoulders slumping in defeat.
"What about lunch and dinner? What wing are you in?"
"North...."
"So you're in mine! Great, come sit with me this afternoon. I'll introduce you!" Anika rose to her feet in excitement and pulled a surprised Ivy up along with her.
"I don't think-"
"Fine." Anika quickly brainstormed another idea.
"What about the party?"
"Um, what about the party?" Ivy looked suspicious of where Anika was going with this new preposition.
"Well, I don't know all the details but Gelsey said there'd be music...." Anika wiggled her brow.
"I'm not slow dancing with him." Ivy took a step back from Anika.
"There's slow dancing too?" Anika's eyes lit with a forming plan and Ivy mentally smack herself for planting the idea in her head.
"No?"
"Too late." Anika chirped. "So maybe you won't dance with Skin, but how about you dance with me? I can make anyone look good with my moves." she bragged jokingly.
"I have good moves." Ivy defended her dancing skills.
"Great! So show him your moves." Anika smirked, knowing Ivy couldn't back out know.
"I swear, if you put me on the spot..." Ivy frowned and Anika held her hands up in defense.
"You have my word. But I will be watching." Anika chuckled at the look of dread that washed over Ivy's cheery features.
"Don't look so horrified. If it doesn't work out or you really don't want to go through with it than I won't make you do it. But really, all you're going to be doing is having fun at the party like you would, right?" Ivy dared to look at Anika's hopeful grey eyes and took a deep breath.
"Right." She just hoped that this wouldn't ruin the rest of her summer.