Chapter thirty four
"Hey. How was the sun rise?" Mel looked up from her cards where she sat on her bed with Keira and Ivy who looked less tired than before.
"Beautiful." Anika chuckled under her breath. "You should come with me."
"And get up that early? I'm good. The sun rises to tell me when to wake up, I'm not going to wake up before it rises." Keira shook her head. "But thanks for the offer."
"Bad enough that I spoil your alone time." Ivy teased.
"I wasn't alone." Anika mumbled to herself as a smile lighted her face.
"Ivy!" Keira threw her cards down and playfully glared at the pink haired girl who looked alarmed at her sudden outburst.
"What?" Mel asked, wondering the same thing as Ivy.
"You left Anika alone with Ryleigh on the beach?" Keira fake scolded her.
"How'd you guess it was him?" Anika said at the same time Ivy said in an indifferent manner,
"We left them on the beach last night."
Mel tilted her head to the side when she looked at Anika. "Who else would you allow to keep you company?"
"Skinner?" Anika guessed and smiled sheepishly when the girls rolled their eyes.
"He's still passed out in the infirmary." Ivy informed. "Plus, you didn't have a towel when I was with you." Ivy pointed at the towel around Anika's shoulders.
"Aw! He gave you his towel? That's, um, I mean if he hurts you I'll-"
"Keira, calm down. Everything's good." Anika assured the golden blond.
"Just sayin'." Keira shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyway, I'm hungry."
"No surprise there." Mel rolled her eyes and collected the cards they were playing with and shoved them back into the cardboard box. Keira gave Mel a light shove when the redhead got off her bed and walked past her.
"So where's Ryleigh now?" Ivy asked on the way to the cafeteria.
"He went back to his cabin to change clothes." Anika chuckled and received amused looks from her friends.
"Is that so? Is he sitting with us now, by any chance?" Keira brushed her shoulder against Anika's.
"Um..." Anika searched the ground for answers. She hadn't thought to offer because it hadn't come to mind. A frown dulled her features as she thought about Ryleigh not sitting beside her.
Keira gave a fake surprised look. "Wow, you guys are nearly official and you didn't even think to invite him to the table for breakfast."
"Oh stop it." Mel chided and flicked the tip of Keira's ear when Anika's face visibly paled.
"Don't worry about it Anika. You can ask when you see him at the cafeteria." Ivy gave her a small smile as she hid her chuckle at the slight panicked look on Anika's face. "Besides, no one blames you for... getting distracted." Mel and Keira made sounds of agreement in the backs of their throat.
"Mmm." Keira went as far as licking her top lip.
"Yeah well, Skinner isn't bad either." Anika teased Ivy back making the girl blush.
"Oh gross. He's like a brother." Keira's nose scrunched up as she shook her head. Anika laughed as Mel shook her head as well.
"He's alive!" Keira shouted when she spotted the white blond haired boy started at their table already.
"Keira." Skinner moaned in pain and covered his ears and dropped his head on the table as the girls came over to the corner in the cafeteria.
"How's the head ache?" Ivy asked with a questionable chill to her tone.
Skinner looked up, sensing her hidden bitterness. A small frown pulled at his thin lips and creased a line in between his brow. Keira and Mel exchange looks of sympathy.
"It's throbbing." he replied after catching their change in mood. Ivy met his eyes for a second more before she looked at Anika and the other girls.
"I'm going to grab the food." she announced before walking off towards the serving stations.
Anika, Mel and Keira took their seats in silence and waited for Skinner's questions accompanied by the dread filled glint in his eyes as he watched them avoid his gaze.
"What did I do?" he asked softly.
"Well, let's just say that you and alcohol don't make the nicest pair." Keira grimaced.
"Oh no..." Skinner groaned and dropped his head onto his arm on the table.
"How bad was it?"Â The girls looked at each other uneasily and Skinner looked up at them again after the hesitation.
"Alcohol makes you very..." Anika started off delicately, looking for the right word. Mel and Keira were quick to help her out.
"Mean."
"Perverted, not that you aren't already. But normally it's laughable. This time was... a bit too much."
Skinner cursed and shifted in his seat to watch Ivy finish loading the two trays she had with food. He ran a hand down his face and sighed.
"Do you remember anything?" Mel pried gently.
Skinner shrugged his shoulders. "Only up to you guys dancing on the table. I was grabbing more lemonade with Ryleigh." Skinner made a face at the word lemonade.
"Where is he anyway? I thought you two were an item." he asked Anika with a confused look which quickly turned into a groan when he saw Anika fidget nervously and look at the other two girls.
"He's somewhere..." Anika dropped Mel's gaze in order to busy herself with looking for a certain dirty blond haired boy.
"Over there." Keira pointed to the doorway and Anika turned around to see Ryleigh walk in. His deep blue eyes scanned the room before he met Anika's shinning grey ones. She gave him a smile and jerked her head in a 'come over' manner.
Ivy returned to the table just as Ryleigh closed the last few yards to the table. Mel and Keira fell quiet and Anika settled for nervously picking at her fingers. Skinner watched Ivy with a look of disappointment in himself dulling his normally teasing cherry wood eyes.
Anika couldn't have been more relieved when Ryleigh finally reached her side. The last few seconds stretched out like minutes to her as Ivy continued to avoid Skinner's eyes.
"Miss me already?" Ryleigh joked. From the corner of his eye he saw Mel and Keira visibly relax as they released the breath they had been holding. He raised an eyebrow at Anika and caught the slight shake of her head.
"Are you sitting with us?" Anika asked.
"Is this an invitation?" he countered with a raised brow. Anika nodded with an embarrassed smile on her lips.
"You sure blondzilla won't eat me?" Ryleigh smirked at Keira who scoffed at him.
"Totally hot but such a bum." she muttered low enough so only the girls could hear.
"I think you're good. She has her breakfast in front of her." Anika chuckled as Ryleigh pulled up an extra chair.
"Yeah, you're probably not as delicious as you look. Besides, Anika would eat me if I ate you." Keira rolled her eyes and started to cut into her pancakes drenched with syrup so she didn't catch Anika's playful glare.
Ryleigh glanced at Skinner who was practically the living form of death sitting at the table. He followed Skinner's line of sight to the other side of the table where Ivy sat with her hair creating a wall shielding the hurt in her eyes as she occasionally glanced at one of the other girls before she focused on pushing a piece of fruit around her plate. Ryleigh looked beside him to find Anika watching him with a sad smile before she shrugged.
Skinner pushed his chair up and gained everyone's attention, including Ivy's as he walked around the table to her side. He picked up the hand that was limp in her lap and looked to the cafeteria door.
Ivy knew he wanted to apologize but in her mind she had already forgiven him. She couldn't hold him accountable for his actions or remarks and it wasn't like he purposely drank. If only she knew who was the little cockroach that spiked the lemonade and ruined at least half of the kids' nights.
Ivy caught Anika's encouraging nod. "We'll be right back." Skinner felt a surge of hope rise in his chest when Ivy squeezed his hand.
"What's wrong?" Ryleigh asked once Ivy and Skinner had disappeared out of the cafeteria.
"You know the lemonade was spiked right?" Keira started and continued when Ryleigh nodded his head. "Well, Skinner happens to love lemonade and after a while the alcohol made him sort of bitter."
"I don't think Ivy's mad. She's just a little upset but she knows that he wasn't in his right mind for most of the night." Anika frowned slightly.
"He can't remember anything after we danced to P!nk." Mel finished and everyone's eyes swung to the door where Ivy and Skinner had left out of.
"They'll be fine once they talk." Anika assured and went back to her breakfast.
Breakfast had ended and Ivy and Skinner had still not returned. The group wasn't worried though. Keira and Mel were still too busy teasing Ryleigh and Anika to see how red they would get in the face. But once they did walk out of the cafeteria, their smiles and embarrassed looks were replaced by shocked ones.
"I mean, I know the kid has a head ache and is more than hung over but I don't think sucking his brains out will take away his pain Ivy." Keira was the first to snap out of her shock. Ivy and Skinner jumped away from each other with beat red faces at being caught making out heavily against the building.
"I-I" Ivy stuttered still too embarrassed to form words.
"So, everything okay now?" Ryleigh asked with a raised brow and Anika struggled to hide her giggle behind her hand. Mel sported her own dark smirk.
"Obviously." Keira smacked Ryleigh upside the head much to his surprise. The golden blond girl frowned softly before inspecting her hand like it wasn't a part of her anymore before pointing to Skinner. "Sorry, guess I'm so used to hitting him."
"Ah man, bad enough I have to deal with her abuse. Now you do too." Skinner faked pity.
"And here I thought we were getting along blondie." Ryleigh shook his head.
Keira spent a moment studying him before she shrugged her shoulder dismissively. "Nah, we're good."
"She just hit's all of her friends." Ivy chirped happy that the attention was off her and Skinner's heated lip locked session.
"She hasn't hit me." Anika mention proudly.
"Well no. You don't act stupid like the rest of them do." Keira said, shooting her a wink so she never saw Mel's hand dart out to hit her upside the head.
"Have you all been checked out for concussions by any chance?" Ryleigh joked with an amused smirk.
"Oh shush before I hit you again." Keira threatened playfully causing the group to laugh when Ryleigh backed up with his hands in the surrender position.
"Hey all." they turned to see Gelsey walking towards them on the path.
"Hey Gelsey." Anika said as the rest of the group waved their hellos.
"You want me to explain so you can go catch other kids?" Ivy asked, feeling the weight of her friends' confused gazes on her.
"That would be great. Thanks Ivy." Gelsey said goodbye to the group before she ran off to track another group of kids further behind them.
"Okay, so you know how we had the party last night?" Ivy met everyone's eyes as she felt an evil smile play at her lips.
"Well now it's clean up time."