Chapter twenty five
"P!nk?" Keira raised a brow at Ivy.
"What? She's my inspiration." Ivy shrugged and handed the pen off to her.
"I guess that shouldn't surprise us." Mel sent a pointed look to Ivy's pink hairstyle.
Keira wrote down her favorite songs and bands before passing the pen off to Mel who did the same until the writing utensil came around to Anika. She quickly scanned over the DJ's list to see that most of her favorites artists had already been jotted down.
"Now that that's done..." Gelsey took another clipboard from the table out in the main lobby of the office building.
"What's this for?" Keira asked, picking it up.
"Theme ideas. If you have any ideas of what you want then jot them down here. If others like it, they'll put a tally mark next to it. By the end of the day the list will be tallied and we'll have our theme. Spread the word and vote for your favorite theme. Tonight, we shop!" Gelsey cheered with a smile before disappearing back into her office.
"I'm writing them all down if you guys want to sign up for jobs." Ivy pulled her iPod out and began to write down all the ideas the brainstormed.
"Can you put me down for black light?" Skinner asked.
"Sure. What does everyone else want? Black light, tropical or masquerade?"
Anika, Mel and Keira exchanged smiles. "Make that three black lights."
Ivy grinned. "And black light is in the lead with five tallies."
"I'm a genius!" Skinner held his arms over his head leaving his open for Mel's slap in the stomach.
"Take it down a bit boy." the red head playfully glowered at him.
"I speak the truth, woman." Skinner grinned cockily and the girls rolled their eyes.
"So Anika, you want to be on the decoration committee?" Keira asked, with the clipboard in hand. Anika nodded.
"Mel?"
"Put me down for food."
"Good. Usually we don't have enough people willingly helping to set up the food and tables." Ivy said. "I'll go down for a runner."
"Me too." Skinner offered a cheeky smile as Keira gave him a knowing smile.
"And I'm down for food as well, I guess." Keira wrote down their names on one half of the paper and checked off the box next to the correct jobs.
"Great. Now we can chill for a few hours while everyone else comes in." Ivy smiled and the group walked out of the office. The beach, as predicted was packed with delinquents all happily chatting about the party. Walking by the crowed shore, Ivy cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted her announcement.
"Ideas and job assignments are in the office!"
Kids automatically snapped their attention to the pink haired girl who gave a small wave before she pointed back the way they came on the path.
"Vote for black light." Skinner campaigned as the hoard of kids walked by. Most of them started to talk about what they could have if the theme was Skinner's idea.
"Come on." Mel rolled her eyes at the blond boy and shoved him from behind. He chuckled but started to walk in the direction of the girl's cabin.
"Um, I'll catch up." Anika told the rest of her group.
Skinner, looking the most confused, was about to ask if she was alright when Mel forcefully pushed him again.
"Okay, we'll be at the cabin." Mel gave her a small knowing smile as she spotted the retreating form of a certain dirty blond haired boy. Anika nodded and walked down the path she'd seen Ryleigh disappear down.
"Ryleigh!" she called once he was back in view. He turned around with a scowl on his face. His dark blue eyes met Anika's grey ones and his form lost all of its hostility but his face remained blank to Anika.
"Hey..." she breath once she jogged up to his side.
"Hey." Anika held in her frown at his stiff greeting.
"Um, are you going to the office?" she asked, her stomach suddenly blooming with butterflies. "To vote on the theme and sign up for a job?" Anika added once she received another blank look.
"Maybe." This time Anika didn't hold in her frown.
"Well-"
"What do you want?" he cut her off. Anika lowered her head so she stared at her sandals instead of his stormy blue eyes.
"To apologize." she tried not to wince at his scoff.
"Whatever. I don't care. Isn't that what you wanted. Maybe you're right and we should leave each other alone." he turned away from her and continued to walk down the path.
"I said I'm sorry." Anika wanted to scream back. She wanted to yell and get in his face but the fear she was feeling overwhelmed her and turned the butterflies in her stomach to bricks and kept her rooted in place. Ryleigh stopped but didn't turn around.
"What do you want?" he asked again but this time he sounded tired. He looked just as bad too when he half faced Anika again. His eyes were underlined with a light purple from what Anika could guess was from a lack of sleep.
"I know what I said was completely wrong." Anika begged him with her eyes to look at her but his gaze was trained on the ground.
"You wanted me to leave you alone. Well, I'm leaving you alone." Anika shivered at the emptiness in his voice.
"Stop it." Anika was surprised her plea didn't come out as shaky as she felt. Her head pounded with an oncoming headache and she felt like she could pass out at any moment. Ryleigh shook his head slightly before he turned and walked away once more.
"Stop." Anika whispered, knowing he could hear but he ignored her.
"Please." Anika begged in the same quiet voice. Could he hear the vulnerability in her tone? Anika thought, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. She hated it. She hated him for continuing to walk away from her. He didn't understand... She wanted to tell him...
"Please stop." the first tears broke from their well in her eyes. She held her breath as he turned around to face her.
"You know what, why don't you leave me alone." Anika physically flinched at his angry glare and could only wish she would turn numb and disappear after his cold look. Rejection and hurt were at the forefront of her mix of feelings. "It's probably for the best." his softened whisper carried over to her.
Just like that, he left before Anika could see the torn look on his face.
Anika turned behind the closest tree and squeezed her eyes shut as her stomach pushed out her lunch. After a few more dry heaves, Anika straightened and wiped the corners of her mouth with the back of her hand.
She wouldn't go back to the cabin just yet. How could she ruin everyone else's excitement just because she screwed up.
Anika closed the bathroom stall door. She made it to the girl's bathroom undetected due to everyone being at the office or down by the beach.
She ran over the encounter with Ryleigh in her head. She tried to make things right and propose a mutual friendship. Her plan failed miserably. He not only shut her out, but didn't want anything to do with her. So if he wouldn't even look at her, how could she tell him her past troubles?
Anika rubbed her face with her hands and then wiped them on her pants to get the frustrated tears off. She blocked out the pain and hurt and forced a blank expression on her face in case anyone happened to use the facilities while she was there. Walking out of the stall, Anika stared into the mirror above the sinks. Her hand came up to the side of her face where a dark ugly bruise remained burned into her memory even though the skin had returned to it's pale hue.
"Hey, you okay?" Anika jumped as Mel shut the girl's bathroom door behind her. Her hand dropped to her side and she busied herself turning on the cold water.
"Yeah." she forced her voice to stay steady. Mel scoffed softy before she slid the lock on the door.
"Please..." Anika lifted her eyes to Mel's slightly worried ones. Mel drank in Anika's slumped shoulders, her raw cheeks and the slight quiver in her voice.
"He wouldn't accept your apology?" she guessed.
"Accept?" Anika choked out a dead sounding laugh. "He wouldn't even look at me. He wants me to leave him alone." she finished in a whisper.
"So give him what he wants." Mel hoped up and sat on the counters. Anika snapped her gaze to Mel.
"I-I should?"
"For a little while." Mel nodded to herself. "Then bug the living life out of him."
"That won't solve anything. He'll just hate me even more." Anika splashed the freezing water over her face.
"What did you say to him, exactly?"
"I asked him why he even cared and then told him to leave me alone." Anika bowed her head in shame. It was stupid of her, but she couldn't face another rejection and having him get so close without knowing her past. Well, I was still rejected and he's about as far away from me as he can get and still doesn't know, Anika thought.
"Why would you say that? I thought you guys were getting closer." Mel frowned.
"We were." Anika angrily pulled a few paper towels out of the dispenser. "I didn't plan on coming here to make friends. But then there are you guys and Ryleigh. And he's has a past and I have a past. And Gelsey said we should talk together..." Anika raised her watery eyes to Mel's.
"I want to tell him but I'm so scared he'll run."
"So you pushed him away." Mel nodded with understanding.
"Yeah." Anika threw the wet paper towels away and took an extra one to blow her nose. "I talked to Gelsey about everything and she advised I should find a time to tell him too. And I want to, but I screwed everything up."
"Maybe you haven't lost that chance." Mel jumped off the counter. "Leave the issue alone till after the party. We'll keep a close eye on him and see whether he really wants to leave you alone or not. Guys are dumb like girls sometimes are. When we say we don't want to see the other, we don't always mean it. It's like a test to see if the other really likes you or not."
"Please tell me again, how do you not have a boyfriend?" Anika managed a smile at Mel's short laugh.
"You heard me say boys are dumb, right?"
"Yeah." Anika sniffled one last time before they walked out of the bathroom.
"So about the party, are you good to leave Ryleigh alone for a bit. And if you really want to, tease him a little at the party."
"Tease him?" Anika gave Mel a raised brow look.
"Of course. Get a little close with a guy. That'll be one way to see if he really meant what he said or not."
"What do you mean? If he gets jealous then he likes me, but if he completely ignores me then I just acted like a fool?"
"I'm not saying you have to make babies out on the dance floor with the guy." Mel smirked at the embarrassed blush on Anika's face. "Just a little flirting."
"Oh. I can do that." Anika shrugged a shoulder.
"I know you can. We all remember the your first day in the cafeteria flipping the kid back in his chair. That, my girl, was teasing." Mel chuckled in her usual husky way.
"You're right. Boys are dumb." Anika smiled at the memory.
"Dumb enough to keep pissing us girls off." Mel shook her head sadly.