Chapter twenty one
"Here." Anika sniffed and jumped back from the hose, wiping her face with the back of her hands at the same time.
Ryleigh stood behind her with his arm stretched forward. Anika looked at his fist and then around the side of him to see Ivy and Skinner hiding in the doorway of the barn. How long had they been watching?
"What is it?" Anika asked, her voice cracking despite her attempt to control it.
"I stopped by the infirmary. The nurse gave me more of these." he said, opening his palm to reveal two white tablets.
Anika hesitated in taking them and once she had them in her hand she stared at them with a small frown.
"What's wrong? Aren't you in pain? I saw you out here and you were cry-" he cut off with a wounded look on his face. "They're pain pills. I swear they're not anything else."
Anika's eyes widened at what he thought she was hesitating over. "I know you wouldn't drug me."
Relief washed over Ryleigh's features before confusion became the dominant emotion. "Did they not help?"
Anika winced at the memory of this morning. "They didn't spend enough time in me to do anything. I was sick after you left the cabin."
"They made you sick? It could've been the bump on your head that made you nauseous."
"I'm not sure if I want to take more of those. I don't feel like getting sick again." Anika frowned at the horrible taste at the back of her throat just thinking about her previous retching.
"Well, hold onto them. Just in case. I can see if the nurse has any other meds?" Ryleigh said, ready to turn and run back to the office building if Anika said so.
"No, no I'll be fine." Anika insisted.
"Last time I checked, 'fine' people don't have tears streaks on their face." Ryleigh shocked her by closing some of the distance between them and wiping his thumb against her cheek.
After the initial surprise wore off, Anika slapped his hand away ans stepped back out of reach as her previous thoughts came back to her.
"Why do you care? Just... just leave me alone." Anika glared into Ryleigh's confused and hurt blue eyes. I'm doing you a favor, she wanted to yell in his face and cry. I'm pushing you away.
Anika held off the tears glistening in her eyes long enough so that he wouldn't see when she pushed past him on her way back to the cabin. She made a mental note to pick up her sketchpad and bring back the supplies later.
Minutes later, Anika arrived at her cabin. She paused at the front step and looked around.
"She ran off?" Anika whirled around at the voices coming up the path.
"Yeah. She stood up from her seat and practically ran out of the barn." she heard Ivy explain to the first voice, Mel.
"He was talking to her and then she stalked off." Skinner's bitter voice met Anika's ears. They were getting closer to the cabin and Anika wasn't in the mood to talk. Taking a leap, Anika ducked behind some shrubs as they came into view.
"What did you say to her?" Keira demanded.
"I didn't say anything to offend her... I think." Anika's ears perked at Ryleigh's guilt filled voice.
"What do you mean you think?" Keira shouted in outrage. There was some grunting sounds and a handful of curses from the other side of the bushes.
"Keira, let go of him." Mel commanded.
"You better hope Victoria doesn't do another stupid thing to her or I'll-"
"Keira!" Mel growled, cutting off the golden blond's dark promise.
"Alright, why don't we just stop for a second." Ivy spoke up. "What exactly did you say to her?"
Anika suspected all eyes turned back to Ryleigh. "Well, I followed her out to make sure she was alright but she was crying-" a loud groan followed by a growl cut him off.
"You're crazy!" Ryleigh hissed.
"In the cabin!" Anika peeked through the branches to see Mel facing away from her and pointing with an outstretched arm to their cabin. Keira muttered some more unpleasant threats before throwing the screen flap aside and disappearing into the cabin.
"So she was crying..." Skinner pressed on.
"Right, I thought she was in pain so I gave her more medicine the nurse gave me. She said they made her sick and that she was fine." he slowed down.
"And? What did you say after that?" Mel asked in a low accusing tone.
"I said that fine people don't cry. I just thought she might want to talk about whatever was bothering her but she asked why I cared and left." Ryleigh's voice dropped.
"Anyone can see she's been through some tough shit. She's not just going to come out and say it like it's nothing." Ivy stated.
"How do you know?" Ryleigh asked.
"She hasn't told any of us her background. That should be enough for you to know that she won't even tell people she trusts." Mel said with a frown.
"If Gelsey thought it would help to get it of her chest, she would have made Anika talk at the bon fire." Ivy said.
"But what could be so bad?" Skinner asked.
"Don't question it Skin. It's her story. She'll tell it when she feels ready." Mel said and turned to walk into the cabin but quickly faced Skinner again.
"And don't ask her. That goes for you too." Mel pointed her finger at Ryleigh.
"I won't." both boys promised.
"Hey Mel?" Ivy stepped forward and the red head turned her caramel eyes to her. "Mind if I stay?"
Mel offered a small smile. "Ivy, you can come in anytime."
"Um, I'll look around camp." Ryleigh rubbed the back of his neck and kicked the dirt.
Mel sighed from the doorway of the cabin. "No don't. She ran off to be alone. We'll start looking as soon as lunch starts."
"Are you skipping what's left of art?" Ivy asked. The two boys glanced at each other out of the corner of their eyes before nodding.
"I'm sorry. I should have left it up to you all to check up on her." Anika strained her ears to hear Ryleigh's quiet voice.
"It probably wasn't you. In the few days we've known her, she's the type to hold emotion in. So when you startled her while she was crying...."
"I spooked her." Ryleigh bent his head down.
"Yeah. Keira was the same way when we first met." Mel said.
"When she comes back, can you tell her I'm sorry?" Ryleigh asked Mel who scrunched her nose a bit.
"Tell her yourself." the red head looked him up and down before walking into her cabin with Ivy following. Skinner and Ryleigh were left outside the girls' cabin in a tense silence. Anika, still hiding in the bush, would have tried to escape unnoticed but her curiosity in the boys exchange had her bolted to the ground.
"What are you trying to do?" Skinner eyed Ryleigh with a suspicious glint in his dark cherry wood eyes. Ryleigh's eyes narrowed at his tone, obviously catching onto what he was referring to.
"Anika and I got off on the wrong foot. We talked this morning and things... are a little better. If I didn't screw it up just now." he added the last part in a low mumbled which Anika barely heard.
"So are you friends?" Anika wasn't familiar enough with this new protective brother attitude to read Skinner's direction of conversation.
Ryleigh opened and shut his mouth before letting out a long sigh and rubbing a hand down his face.
"I'm not sure. We aren't pranking each other anymore, she probably told you." Skinner gave a nod.
"Do you want to be friends with her?"
"I think..." Ryleigh started, looking at the ground as if the right words would magically surface in the dry dirt. "I'm not sure she would."
"What about you?" Skinner continued without missing a beat between his questioning. Ryleigh paused and Anika felt her heart drop at the suspense.
"I hope so... one day. I haven't been myself for a while. This whole coming to camp thing really stressed me out and I'm just worried for my family back home." he admitted.
Skinner took a few more minutes to study the other kid in front of him before he nodded once.
"You realize if this is all b.s. then I will find your ass, remove it and shove it down your throat, right?"
"I understand you don't want Anika getting hurt. Neither do I. We just... I know we don't understand each other. The ideas we've made for the other's back story is far from the truth, is what our problem is."
"Fine. But just so you know, that wasn't a threat. It's a promise."
"Understood." Ryleigh and Skinner exchanged nods in that guy way when they acknowledge each other before they both left. Skinner headed back to his cabin while Ryleigh made his way down another path.
Anika waited ten minutes before she retracted herself from the bush and thought about where she could go. The lake could possibly be filled with other people since there was still a good twenty minutes before lunch started. The fields were definitely filled. Anika thought about the bon fire clearing, but that would involve walking around the fields.
"Anika?" her heart thumped in her chest at Gelsey's voice. Anika slowed her steps and turned her body half around, not looking at the woman.
"Hey, did something happen at the barn?" she asked when she got a little closer. Anika waited for Gelsey to notice her irritated cheeks and the slight hiccup in her breath.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cause any trouble."
"Anika, what's wrong?" at Gelsey's concerned tone, Anika lost control of holding her tears back. At the sight of the girl's defeated, slumped posture, Gelsey closed the space between them and pulled the delinquent into a comforting hug.
"Do you want to come to my office?" Gelsey asked after Anika had calmed down to quiet sniffles. Too choked up with disgust and loneliness, Anika could only afford to nod.
"Alright." Gelsey kept an arm around her shoulders while Anika unconsciously held Gelsey's other hand with both of hers.