~*~
DAY FIVE
The sun hit Kate’s face through the window, waking her up. Her head was heavy, her wrist was sore, and she wasn’t sure where she was at first. She vaguely remembered the previous night. The thought of Matt popped into her head. She sat up, yawning, suddenly recognizing her surroundings. They had snuck into one of the vacant cabins down by the reception. She couldn’t tell why it had seemed like a good idea at the time, as it was tiny and smelled weird.
Matt wasn’t there, either. Kate was disappointed, but not especially surprised. She knew he wasn’t the kind to stick around longer than necessary with her. She had grown used to it by now.
It was a bit chilly, so she jumped down from cot she had fallen asleep on, putting on her shoes and walking over to the door. She wouldn’t be making a fuss over this with Matt. After all, they were friends and she didn’t want it to become strained between them. She was great at keeping a natural approach to all sorts of incidents, and she wasn’t about to throw a fit over something so innocently as this.
She opened the door and hurried back on the path that led to their camp. A day no stranger in Kate McKinley’s life than any other.
No one was up yet when she came back. She could hear snoring from one of the tents. At first, she wanted to go to Fred’s tent and sit there for a while, but was unsure whether Daniel would be there too, so she changed her mind.
It took a while before any of them stirred. Sammie showed up first. She took one quick look at Kate before turning away. ”Hey,” Kate said. Sammie just nodded at her and Kate swallowed hard, knowing Fred had been right when he had told her to be careful with her friendship with Sammie. Kate would take it all back if Sammie would just sit down and have a normal conversation with her again.
But it seemed to be too late for that. Sammie walked away with her pink toilet bag, not asking if Kate wanted to come along and keep her company. Kate felt tears well up in her eyes. She had liked Matt, sure, but she had appreciated the friendship with Sammie a lot more. A guy wasn’t worth more than a friend, Kate had realized.
”Kate?”
Kate twirled around at the sound of Daniel’s voice. ”Danny!” she shrieked, waking everybody else up. Daniel seemed lost at what to say, so Kate took the opportunity to try and explain everything to him. ”I’m sorry… I’m sorry about… I’m sorry!” was all she could get out.
”It’s cool,” Daniel said nonchalantly, also turning his back on her. This made Kate lose it completely and she started howling sadly like a lone dog. This scared the crap out of Daniel. ”Red, shut up!” he hissed, afraid Fred would hear her and come to her rescue. ”Stop crying!”
Kate threw herself in his arms, sobbing violently. Daniel made an attempt to shake her off, but she was stuck to him like glue. ”Please don’t be mad, please!”
”I’m not mad,” Daniel growled, shaking his shoulders again to get her to let go. ”If you don’t stop crying I’ll never speak to you again!”
This had a better effect, as Kate fell silent, sniffling. ”Promise you’ll listen to me?”
”Fiiine,” Daniel complained, brushing at his shirt with his hand. Kate had soaked it with her tears. ”Look what you did!”
”What’s going on?” Fred asked sleepily, getting out from his tent. ”Where have you two been all night?”
Daniel started shaking Kate around. ”You weren’t here?!”
”S-stop s-shaking m-me,” Kate begged, feeling lightheaded. ”I-I w-was w-with M-matt.”
”What?!” Fred and Daniel exclaimed at the same time.
”You promised to go back as soon as you were done talking to him!” Fred sputtered.
”What, you let her leave with that moron?” Daniel yelled at him. ”Are you stupid?”
”I’m not stupid!” Fred protested loudly.
Daniel and Fred kept bickering back and forth until Matt showed up, making both of them shut up and turning their attention on him instead. Matt ignored the two of them, immediately walking up to Kate. ”There you are. Do you wanna join me for breakfast?”
Kate hesitated, throwing inquiringly looks at Fred. ”I don’t know…”
”It’s okay, you can go,” Fred said, receiving a cold stare from Daniel.
Kate took Matt’s hand, following him out towards the food court while he questioned her why she had to have Fred’s approval to go get a simple breakfast. Fred had to restrain Daniel to keep him from running after and kicking Matt.
Sammie returned just in time to see Kate and Matt disappear together. ”They were together all night?” she asked Anna as soon as she had found her.
”I don’t know. Didn’t you sleep in his tent?”
”Yeah, but I thought maybe he’d gone to sleep in your tent instead,” Sammie said uncertainly. ”Are they, like, dating now?”
”You have Luke, remember?” Anna tried to make her feel better.
It didn’t work. ”Luke who?” Sammie said dimly. ”Oh, right. Is she doing this to piss me off?”
”Kate? You and her have always gotten along perfectly well before. Why are you acting like enemies now?” Anna asked, honestly having no idea.
Sammie wasn’t sure either, and she doubted Kate could remember the real reason. ”I don’t know how it began,” she admitted. ”We were talking, and Kate said something about Lex, and I took offense, and then we started talking about Daniel… I guess it got out of hand, because I can’t remember what she said to make me angry. I don’t even think it was such a big deal.”
Anna gave her a look filled with pity. ”Maybe it’s time to bury the hatchet before someone gets hurt.”
”I think it’s too late,” Sammie sighed. ”You heard Matt last night. He likes her.”
”Not like that,” Anna said. ”Not like he likes you.”
”But he cares about her,” Sammie pointed out. ”He was worried about her and now he’s…”
”Sammie…” Anna tried.
”Anna, he almost had sex with her,” Sammie exclaimed desperately.
”Haven’t you had sex with other guys since Matt?” Anna asked, already knowing the answer. Sammie didn’t say anything. ”Sammie, if this bothers you so much, why don’t you say something about it to Kate? She’s a reasonable person, she would step back if she knew how you felt.”
”I can’t tell her,” Sammie said sadly. ”It wouldn’t be right.”
”So go hit on Daniel for a while, to make you feel better,” Anna joked.
”Yeah, maybe,” Sammie said thoughtfully, leaving to go get some breakfast before it ran out.
Anna sighed discontentedly. ”I was kidding!”
Daniel was in a terrible mood this morning. All thanks to his stupid pride he had been forced to sleep on a bench all the way over by the reception. He couldn’t risk running into Matt, as Matt probably would have killed him in revenge. And Colleen and all her annoying little friends were also out to get him. Not to mention Fred, who wanted to sit down and discuss Kate’s slutty adventures. Daniel felt zero need to participate in any of that.
It always amazed Daniel how thick some girls could be, one second claiming not to care (even though they obviously did) and the next second going rabid over absolutely nothing. Kate was the supreme master of this, but it applied to practically every girl Daniel had ever been with.
Kate was just a spoilt, ungrateful brat anyway. Daniel didn’t care what she did or who she did it with – at least not anymore. If she wanted to run around and humiliate herself with any guy willing to look at her twice, it wouldn’t be Daniel’s problem. He had tried to spare her from becoming one of those girls he detested, but all he had gotten from it was sore knuckles. Not even a thank you.
It hadn’t bruised his ego, though. Daniel DeRienzo wasn’t the kind to regret actions or care about anyone but himself.
Because Matt wasn’t around, he sat down with the others and ate his sandwich without joining in on any of their conversations. He tried to remember how he had ended up in their company from the start, as it had only resulted in pain and suffering for him. That Anna had ever crossed his path was the worst disaster that had ever struck, and to let Kate share space with those guys were just a catastrophe waiting to happen.
If only Fred had never met Lex, all would be fine now.
Fred didn’t seem to care much that Lex was the root to all evil, or maybe he hadn’t realized it yet. It was too late to spare Fred’s feelings; no matter how things went, he would be hurt in the end.
Daniel only knew all too well how seriously Fred took these things. Lex had weakened him and made him into a wimp. Daniel decided to put an end to all the nonsense once and for all.
Lex was eating noodles and drinking hot chocolate. Daniel thought it was a disgusting combination but went over to her anyway. ”Hey, O’Leary, can I talk to you a sec?”
“No, not now,” she said dismissively. “We’re late for our rehearsal.”
“Later, okay?” he said sternly. Lex just shrugged.
When Matt came back from breakfast, the band gathered their things together and left for their rehearsal. Most of them were relieved to get away from camp life for a while, and Lex was glad to get rid of Daniel. Fred and Kate stayed by the tents, playing cards and drinking sodas, to Daniel’s absolute horror. When Kate and Fred were both on a sugar high there was no end to their yappering and general randomness.
The band took a walk instead of taking the bus around the area to get to the main stage, where they would be performing the following night. They hadn’t been able to schedule a rehearsal until now, and they had to make the most out of it as it would be their only chance to practice before they would be performing at the dress rehearsal.
”I hope our gear is all right,” Jeff worried.
”It was fine the other day when we checked up on it,” Anthony said calmly. ”I’m more worried how we’re going to be able to put everything together when it’s wet absolutely everywhere. We’ll short-circuit for sure.”
Sammie raised her eyebrows. ”Especially if you consider who our technical crew is.”
Lex snorted. ”They'll kill themselves and us if we let them handle any electrical stuff.”
”I can just picture them, Fred trying to figure out how to plug in the cords, Daniel being convinced he knows the right answer to everything so he just guesses which cable goes where, and Kate playing around with the mix table until it all goes boom,” Chris stated with certainty. The others laughed at the absurdity that he was probably going to be right.
“So, what’s the progress so far?” Jeff said, putting the key in the storage room door.
Sammie moaned. “Fred is a meddling moron, Matt likes Kate, Daniel is a lovesick jerk who would nail anything with a double X chromosome, Anna is crying over Daniel even though she’s way too good for him in the first place, Kate almost had sex with Matt, Daniel and Matt nearly killed each other twice and nobody is the least interested in me!”
“Thanks for the recap,” Chris grinned.
“But I actually meant the progress of our gig,” Jeff added, as Sammie blushed. “Good to know you’re not holding it in, though.”
“If you excuse me, I’m going to electrocute myself with my guitar,” Sammie muttered, grabbing her guitar case and heading towards the stage. Matt hurried up to her. “What, you want a replay?”
“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out for her arm. Sammie stopped right below the stairs that lead to the stage. “Can we talk?”
“Maybe it’s better that we don’t,” Sammie suggested, feeling hurt. Matt usually had to work really hard to make her feel this hurt. “We’re both free to do whatever we want.”
“Yeah, but-”
“But what? It’s fine Matt,” she snapped. “God, my world doesn’t revolve around you alone!”
They both stomped up the stairs, making more noise than necessary. The rest of them followed, knowing the rehearsal wouldn’t be going as smoothly as they had wished. After plugging in all the instruments, it took them three tries just to get the opening song right. Sammie was distracted, making her do small errors over and over so it sounded off key all through the song.
While Anna, Jeff, Anthony, Chris and Lex had no problem with this as they had all the time in the world to do the song one more time, it frustrated Matt to no end that Sammie couldn’t get a simple chord right. “Let’s start over,” he growled as he stopped playing again. “Sammie’s off key again.”
“From the top then,” Lex said, fixing her microphone stand. “Everyone ready?”
“I’m not off key,” Sammie spat, glaring daggers at Matt. “Stop ordering do-overs!”
“Well, play the damn song right for a change!” Matt snarled, angrily hitting the drumsticks against the drums. They rearranged their instruments and started the song a fourth time. Sammie was more than just distracted now, she was upset and pissed off, slamming against the guitar for every sound she had to make. It started to sound really bad in the amplifiers, and eventually they had to interrupt her before she smashed her guitar to pieces.
“Sammie!” they all yelled in unison.
“What?!” she shouted back. “What is it now?”
“You’re busting the loudspeakers,” Chris pointed out. “Tone it down a bit, will ya?”
“If you stopped interrupting me all the time, we would be done by now!” Sammie muttered. “Matt, stop looking at my like that, I’m fine!” With this, she threw the guitar to Lex, who had to struggle not to drop it on the floor, and then Sammie left in a huff, swearing loudly as she went.
They waited for a few minutes, thinking that maybe she just needed to cool off and then come back, but Sammie didn’t show up again. “Should we continue without her?” Lex asked, taking a look at her watch. “We’re almost done, and we have to clear the stage soon.”
“You can’t both play this song and sing,” Jeff pointed out. “Maybe if it was another song, but we need Sammie for this one. Matt, could you please go talk to her?”
“What did I do?” Matt frowned.
The others just stared at him until he couldn’t ignore them anymore. He left his drum set with a sigh and went to track down Sammie. She was sitting in the hallway to the dressing rooms, sipping on a glass of water. She didn’t hear him come in at first, so her plan to sneak off unnoticed failed. “What do you want now? I can’t be off key if I’m not playing.”
“What’s wrong with you? You’re usually not the one throwing instruments around.”
Sammie shrugged. “Nothing. You were getting on my nerves, that’s all.”
Matt sat down next to her, nudging at her to move over. “Listen, about me and Kate and all that-”
"I'm fine with it, Matt,” Sammie said easily. “You can do what you want and I can do what I want. That’s fine. We're fine. It's fine, I'm fine."
“Could you say fine a few more times, I don’t think I got it the first time,” Matt grinned, as Sammie made a face at him. They scuffled a little. “Look,” he continued. “I probably rushed things with Kate a bit, I know that. But we were both lonely. Well, we are both lonely. She has trouble finding people who love her and I was just there for her, okay?"
Sammie looked down on to the floor, speaking with a cold voice. "You were more than there for her. You were in her. Give me a break. I know you too well not to see that you like her. You're in love with her." She paused. “You’re supposed to be in love with me”
Matt shook his head. “That’s not fair, Sammie. You know it’s not.”
“What’s not fair?”
Matt leaned the back of his head against the wall, rubbing his face with his hands. "This whole fucked up situation isn't fair!” he declared loudly. “You're allowed to run off with whoever you want and mess around with Daniel and random people you meet on concerts, while I'm just supposed to be by myself the whole time and sit around waiting for you? What the hell, Sam, that isn't fair at all. It's not fair that Daniel tries to get you and Anna into bed and I’m not allowed to say anything about it, but when I hook up with Kate, both of you are giving me a hard time. That's not fair."
"It wouldn't have been so bad if it was somebody else,” Sammie mumbled. “Why did you have to pick Kate? She’s supposed to be my friend, and you’re supposed to be my friend. How could you do this to me? She knows how it works with you and I. I mean, she knows. And you should know…” Her voice trailed off as she stared at her shoes.
"I should know what, Sammie? I'm not a mind reader," Matt told her, shoving at her lightly to get her to look at him.
“It doesn’t matter. Never mind.”
“No, tell me. What am I supposed to know?” he inquired.
Sammie turned her head up, meeting his eyes. “How much I really love you,” she said quietly, almost as a whisper.
Matt didn’t make out one word of it. “What?”
“I said, how much I really love you,” Sammie repeated louder but still sounding shy. “Shouldn’t you know that by now?”
Matt placed his arm around her shoulder, so she could rest her head against him. “I love you too, Sammie, but you can’t do this to me. You’re driving me crazy, and running around with other guys, expecting me not to do anything on my own.”
"But not with my friends!"
“I told you, Kate and I are just friends who happened to do something desperate in a moment of weakness, and we didn’t even go through with it in the end. And you know I love you, Sammie, you know I do. But you and I...we never work out. And I can’t stand it when your hot little self is always getting hit on and asked out. I can't deal with it, Sammie. So, you do what you want, but I'm going to do what I want as well. And if I want Kate, I'm going to keep her."
Sammie burst out laughing. “Hot little self?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. They both chuckled at this, Sammie randomly exclaiming, ”Oh, Matt.”
“What?” he asked with a smile. Before he could ask her again, she leaned in and kissed him.
It took a while until the rest of the band realized that Matt and Sammie wouldn’t come back before they had to clear the stage.
Back at the camp, round five of a vicious thumb war commenced. Daniel had been tortured all day by Fred and Kate and their childish games. He’d been on his back on the bench ever since the band left, and watched thumb war, go fish, cheat, rock paper scissor and old maid. Kate always screamed when she didn’t get her way, and Fred wasn’t that good at adding things up in his head when it concerned card games.
When Kate had tricked Fred for the seventh time in less than an hour, Daniel threw a fit and threatened to stuff the deck of cards down her throat. So now they were having a thumb war.
After following their thumbs with his eyes, Daniel got dizzy and decided to take a break. It was like watching his siblings argue over Pokemon cards; he understood nothing of it but couldn’t stop meddling anyway, and when it was over, his head hurt like it had been hit by a truck.
He was almost relieved when Jeff suddenly showed up. Had it already been five hours? Felt like ten.
“Hey guys, we’re back,” Jeff announced, throwing his bag into the open tent. “What’s up?”
Kate held up her thumb in the air. “Thumb wrestling!”
Chris grinned as he appeared behind Jeff with the rest of the gang. “Yeah? Who’s winning?”
“I am,” Fred and Kate said in unison, quickly starting another round.
Daniel groaned and was about to make a snide remark about their childish behavior when he spotted Lex. It was time to talk, and this time she wouldn’t be able to sneak off. Lex was unpacking food from the cooler, so he swung his legs down from the bench, tried to ignore Matt as he went by, and kneeled next to Lex by the tent. ”You can do that later,” he said, nodding at the food she was holding. “You and I need to talk.”
Lex glared at him. “I’m hungry, Daniel.”
“You can be hungry any time,” he muttered.
“I said later,” Lex snapped, demonstratively turning her back on him. Daniel was beginning to lose his already short patience with her.
The rest of the evening was spent at the campsite. Daniel had to practice on his ducking technique, as Colleen showed up several times per hour, asking for him. When she finally disappeared for good, Daniel’s clothes were completely ruined from all the mud they had to endure.
Kate finished her bottle of cider and suggested that they would play spin the bottle. “Oh, like we haven’t fought enough already,” Jeff laughed. “Last time we played that-”
“It won’t be like last time,” Kate promised, making room for the bottle on the ground. “We can skip the dares and just ask questions about each other! Yay!”
“No, absolutely not,” Daniel protested.
“Well, if Daniel hates it…” Sammie giggled and grabbed the bottle. “I’m in.”
Daniel crossed his arms, sulking while the others agreed to play Kate’s game. “I’m not doing it,” he muttered. “I don’t play games.”
“Yes, you do, you just don’t wanna play a game where you can’t decide your own rules. Fine,” Anna added when Daniel refused to answer, speaking to everyone but him when she continued, “Anyone who doesn't play has to take a huge sip of tequila. Daniel, maybe you should go cut up some lemons, I'm sure you'll need them later.”
Daniel narrowed his eyes. “Fine, but I won’t spin the bottle.”
“We’ll take turns,” Sammie suggested, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders. “Kate can start.”
Kate clapped her hands excitedly, as she always did, and started juggling the empty bottle in her hands. “Oookay… Chris!” she yelled, making Chris start nervously. “Which of us girls do you think is prettiest?”
“Anna, hands down,” he replied, grinning at Kate’s disappointed face. “You’re pretty on the inside, Kate.”
Kate gasped. “The nerve! Only ugly girls are pretty on the inside!” She threw the bottle to Anna who sat right across from her. “Your turn.”
“Okay… Lex, who was your first kiss?”
Lex laughed. “What a stupid question! Everyone knows it was Anthony!”
“Yeah, well, nobody said anything about profound questions,” Anna smiled. “Would you like another question?”
“Hell no,” Lex said, handing the bottle to Jeff. “I have a question for Jeff.”
“What?” Jeff muttered, clearly expecting the question to be something less fun.
“On a scale from one to ten-” Lex started, “-how much do you like your new nickname Jeffster?”
Kate jumped up from the bench. “I know, I know! Ten!”
Jeff stared at her in disbelief. “I’ll take a sip,” he offered, unscrewing the cork on the bottle. The others cheered him on as he down a very small amount of tequila and grimaced. “God, that’s awful!”
Anna snapped her fingers. “Daniel, where are those lemons when you need ‘em?”
Daniel only grunted in response. “Cut your own damn lemons.”
“I don’t have to; I have you, don’t I?” Anna said happily, patting him on the head. Daniel looked enormously humiliated, but didn’t say anything.
Lex was doubled over with laughter. “Daniel, are you-”
“Hey, it’s not your turn to ask!” Daniel cut her off, glad to have someone to yell at. “And since I haven’t asked anything yet, I decide it’s my turn.” All the others booed at this decision so Daniel had to shout to make himself heard. “Fred, why did you break up with that lovely girl Lila?”
“Lila isn’t lovely!” Kate hollered, more wound up than ever. “She’s a bad girl!”
“Oh, yeah? What’s her number?” Anthony asked innocently. This made Kate scream incoherently for another minute. “I was kidding!”
“Do I have to answer that?” Fred questioned, glaring at Daniel. He didn’t want to discuss his private life and ex-girlfriends in front of the whole gang, and especially not in front of Lex.
“No, you can take a sip instead,” Lex suggested, holding out the bottle for him.
“Come on, it’s nothing that bad,” Kate said. “You’re among friends.” Somehow, that didn’t quite convince Fred.
“Fine,” he said, the others staring at him attentively, expecting him to answer the question. “I’ll take a sip.”
“Boring!” Sammie yelled while the others complained. “Okay, my turn… Daniel.” Daniel looked up when his name was mentioned, groaned and made an attempt to leave. “You’ll have to finish the whole bottle if you move one step in that direction.”
“This is stupid,” Daniel complained.
“You’re just saying that because we’re not playing on your terms,” Sammie said happily. “I have an interesting question: your parents are really rich and successful, so why do they live in a small-town like Lakewood instead of New York or L.A.?”
Daniel twitched, as if she had asked something along the lines of how many women he had murdered up and down the east coast. “Why would you wanna know that?” he sputtered.
“So, you can brag like hell about all your past and present girlfriends, but you can’t answer a simple personal question?” Sammie concluded. “Interesting.”
“Tequila or bust?” Lex grinned, nodding towards the bottle.
“Look, if he doesn’t wanna answer-” Fred started.
“Gimme a break, he would pressure all of us this way if he could,” Sammie interrupted him. Daniel took several sips out of the bottle, hoping to forget most of what Sammie had just said. Sammie imitated Kate, clapping her hands. “Great! Jeff, your turn.”
“I just answered a question!” he objected.
“No, ask a question, silly,” Kate shouted. “Ask me!”
Jeff frowned with an amused smile, ignoring her. “Well, I can ask this, I guess: Anthony, why did you start playing the piano?”
“Come on,” Anthony whined.
“It’s not that bad,” Kate claimed. “You guys are such wusses.”
Anthony made a face at her. “Fine. I wanted to be Billy Joel.”
Lex snorted with laughter. “That’s cute!”
“Shut up, Lex.”
“Who’s Billy Joel?” Kate asked. She was met by seven people staring at her like she was an alien. “What? Is he, like, a president or something?”
It took a while until they had all stopped laughing, while Kate was standing on the bench, demanding to know what was so funny. They kept throwing questions back and forth, the bottle quickly emptying, especially when a question was directed towards Daniel. He took extra sips just so the bottle would be empty faster and the game would finally end.
“Question: Kate, why do you never go out with any decent guys?” Jeff asked curiously.
Kate was licking at a lemon wedge that Daniel had shoved in her mouth to keep her quiet. “You haven’t asked me out yet, have you?” she beamed. “Okay, my turn! Who here has – euck, gotta hair in my mouth – done any kind of illegal drugs?”
“All drugs are illegal, and your question isn’t directed to anyone in particular,” Fred pointed out.
“Well, I’ll ask you then,” she decided.
“Walked right into that one, Fred,” Chris laughed.
Fred thought this over. “I’ll take the bottle.”
“Why are you so boring?” Kate whined. “I answer all the questions you ask me!”
“You answer all the questions even if they’re not meant for you,” Anna grinned. “Jeff, why have you never asked Kate out?”
“That’s an unfair question,” Jeff muttered. “Besides, she’s my friend.”
Kate snuggled up next to him. “I can sing you a song,” she suggested. “That’s romantic.” She started humming on the theme music to MacGyver, until Fred hit her over the head with a rolled up paper to keep her quiet.
“There’s love in the air,” Lex choked out through hysterical laughter. Jeff tickled her until she fell down from the bench.
“Okay, I got a good one,” Sammie giggled. “Where's the most unconventional place you've gotten laid?”
“What does that mean?” Kate asked with confusion.
“Where’s the weirdest place you’ve had sex,” Daniel clarified.
“Eww, it’s not your turn to ask!” Kate howled.
“That was what Sammie’s question was about!”
“Oh,” Kate said.
Sammie smiled sweetly. “Anna, would you like to answer that?”
“I knew you’d pick me,” Anna snorted. “Fine, but it’s not very exciting. It was outside on this field-”
“With who?” Daniel was trying his best to look like he wasn’t listening intently to Anna’s entire outlay.
“That’s not part of my story,” Anna grinned. “Anyway, it was a field and it was spring so there were all these flowers blooming all over-”
“Dude, are you Snow White or something?” Fred laughed. “Did all the little birdies step up and watch you?”
“Oh, so you have a much better answer, I take it?” Anna challenged him.
“No, I was just mocking yours,” Fred grinned, ending the discussion.
Kate waved her arms around. “My turn, my turn! What’s the grossest thing you’ve ever put in your mouth?”
“Please, don’t ask Sammie that. There’s really no need for us to know that,” Matt joked. Sammie threw her arms around his neck and tried to choke him. They both toppled over and continued to have a mock fight on the ground. Mud flew everywhere.
“I was going to ask Jeff!” Kate yelled to drown out the racket they were making. “Jeff!”
“I don’t know,” Jeff shrugged simply. “Oh, I guess it would be that bug I ate.”
“Eww, gross,” Kate complained.
“You have yourself to blame on that one,” Anna pointed out. “We told you not to do it.”
“We told him to do it, just to see if he would,” Chris grinned. Sammie crawled back up on the bench with Matt’s sneaker as a trophy. “And here’s Blondie, back for another round.”
“Shut up.”
Kate was bouncing up and down now, finishing yet another lemon wedge. “I wanna know who if you’ve ever been in love with someone. All of you have to answer!”
“I just want Daniel to answer this question,” Lex said with an evil grin. “Danny?”
“Shut up, O’Leary.”
Kate cheered. “I can tell you all about Daniel’s girlfriend!”
“What?” Anna laughed coldly. “You have had a girlfriend for real at some point?”
Daniel was seemingly angry now. “Red, shut your mouth. I don’t tell people your secrets, do I?”
“I don’t have any secrets!” Kate shouted happily, too drunk to notice that Daniel was really, really mad at her. “Anyway, it’s not that big a deal. She had a wicked cool name, though, like Diamond, or-”
“Crystal,” Fred helped her out. They both ignored Daniel’s protests.
“And Daniel was really in love with her, but then she-”
“Okay, that’s enough!” Daniel decided, getting up and walking over to Kate, throwing her over his shoulder. “No more for McKinley.” He carried her over to his tent and dropped her with a splash right in the mud outside. Kate howled for a second or two, and then started singing with a false voice that carried all over the campsite. She kicked some mud right in Daniel’s face.
Fred turned to the others. “When Kate gets a few drinks in her, she starts to think she’s Christina Aguilera.”
“Sounds more like when we tried to give our cat a bath,” Sammie said, wrinkling her nose. “How do we get her to stop?”
“We wait until she passes out,” Fred grinned. They all forgot about their game and found another bottle of tequila stashed in one of the bags. Lex got up to go to the bathroom, while the rest of them decided to have a tequila race – loser would keep Kate in their tent.
Daniel followed Lex as she left their camp. He was still furious at Kate for blabbing so much information about him, and he knew exactly who to take it out on. He waited until Lex was on her way back before he walked up to meet her. “I still need to talk to you.”
“What’s with you stalking me all day?” Lex asked, sounding relatively sober for having had so much to drink. Daniel was almost impressed. They glared at each other until Lex broke eye contact. Daniel felt he had the upper-hand right away.
“It’s important,” he told her. “Let’s go.”
“Fine.” Lex followed him against her better judgment, having a feeling Daniel would make a scene over something. They walked across the lawn up towards the forest. ”What is it that you want, Daniel?”
Daniel decided to be straightforward. “I know what your deal is.”
Lex stopped, even though she regretted it at once. She realized that it would have been much better if she had ignored him and not reacted to his words in any way. She knew what Daniel was about and she knew from the tone of his voice that nothing good would come from anything he had to say. “That’s great,” she muttered indifferently without facing him.
Daniel moved closer. “You’re not his type,” he said with a low voice. “You’re using him, and when he finds out what you’re about-”
“Cut the crap,” she snapped, turning around. He was standing right next to her, sneering superiorly at her. She refused to let him get the better of her. “I’m not using anyone for anything. If you want to say something, say it.”
Daniel watched her intently as she challenged him. He knew this better than anything. He knew what to say to make her do exactly what he wanted. “I know your type. You act like you have it all together, but deep down inside you’re scared that no one will ever love you.”
“You’re wrong,” Lex snorted. “That’s not who I am. You don’t know me.”
He shifted, leaning in to speak in her ear. “I’ve watched you all year. I can tell that you’re well aware of Fred’s feelings for you. You know he’s the kind of guy that would treat you well. He would love you. And you’re not sure you’ve ever been loved.” He laughed shortly. “You’re all the same, you know. I can take one look at you, and know exactly what you’re about.”
“I don’t know what kind of girls you usually take on, but that shit won’t work on me,” she replied.
“Fred doesn’t know you. He’s naïve and believes that most people are genuinely good. You aren’t what he’s looking for.”
“Maybe that’s up for him to decide,” she said coldly.
“So why are you so afraid of letting him know the truth?” Daniel paused for a second, knowing he was still in control of the conversation. “Maybe… you’re just scared he’ll find out… and won’t want nothing to do with you anymore. Do you want to know what I think?”
“No, I’d like you to mind your own damn business and leave me the hell alone before I have to punch you,” she muttered.
“I think you’re one of those girls who try to be bad so you can have something to hide behind. My guess is that you’re just the average screw-up.” He noticed that she was about to speak up, so he hurried to add, “You have issues with your parents. Someone has treated you bad; a boyfriend, or maybe your dad, and thanks to that, you’re insecure and you don’t trust anyone. You date jerks and losers, and you know Fred would never look at you twice if he knew what kind of a mess you really are. Or maybe you’re afraid that if you admit to his feelings, he’ll turn into a violent jerk himself.”
Lex decided that she’d had enough of his obvious attempt to break her down. “Just look at you,” she scoffed. “You’re pathetic. You’re trying to mark me down as insecure, just to feel better about yourself. You never let your guard down and you never trust anyone, and I’m supposed to believe that it has nothing to do with your insecurities? That’s bullshit. And you know it.”
“You can believe whatever you want, sweetheart. I would stay away from Fred if I were you, though.”
“What is it with your obsession with Fred?” she asked. “Are you jealous? Is that what it is?”
“I’ve known you longer than he has.” Daniel watched the effect his words had on her.
“Excuse me, you had no idea who I was until I somehow ended up in your circle of friends and you’ve never had a kind word to say to me from the start. Did I offend you in some way? I suspect I only bruised your ego with some throwaway comment you couldn’t handle. I suggest you get over it.”
Daniel looked at her, amused. “You know what I’m talking about. I know who you are. I know where you come from. I know what you’ve been up to.” Lex was starting to look confused, and this made him even more content. He lowered his voice to a whisper as he continued. “Does Fred know you’re not the good girl he thinks you are, that you’re not as innocent as he expects you to be?”
Lex took a menacingly step closer. Daniel might sound intimidating, but she knew that he was all talk. She wasn’t at all afraid of him. “You better stop following me around. If I find out you’ve been messing around in my business, I’ll have Matt beat you up.”
“Fred isn’t going to sit around and wait forever. I know your kind. You’ve been with so many assholes that you want someone nice like Fred to make you feel wanted - as long as there won’t be any strings attached to the deal, which is why you pretend to be clueless about his affection for you. Eventually you’ll throw him a bone to end his misery for a while. But you’ll grow bored… and you’ll grow impatient. And eventually, you’ll hook up with one of those bad guys again, because you know that Fred will always be there, no matter how many times you break his heart.”
Lex glared at him, finding it harder and harder to keep calm. “I’m not that kind of girl. I would never do that to anyone.”
“But you can pretend not to like him just because you don’t know how to let him down easy? It’s all fun and games, until someone breaks my best friend’s heart, eh?” Daniel was starting to feel a bit uneasy. This was harder to do than he thought it would be; he had never challenged anyone he knew so well before. He also knew that Fred wouldn't forgive him if he found out about what Daniel had done to Lex, not for something so serious like this. “You hook up with people for the fun of it. But Fred isn’t like that. He doesn’t do that. He especially doesn’t like girls who do that.” He stared at Lex with an almost mad look in his eyes. “I’m telling you, right now. Get out of this, before things get a lot worse for you.”
She was disgusted by his attitude, and wondered how Fred could be friends with someone so… evil. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with. I don’t let assholes like you tell me what to do. If you’re looking for a war-”
“I’m not. I’m just saying… make it easy for yourself, before you drag Fred into something he doesn’t wanna be a part of. Stick with your own kind. We don’t need you to ruin the good thing we had going before you showed up.”
“Fred won’t believe you. You can lie all you want-”
“I don’t need to lie,” Daniel sneered. “I can just tell him about the guys you used to date. The kind of guys you usually hook up with. He won’t find you very attractive once he knows all that.”
“You can make me out to sound like a slut, but I’m not one, and Fred knows that,” she said firmly. “I don’t randomly hook up with people for the hell of it.”
Daniel shrugged, taking a few step backwards toward the tents. “I guess I’m wrong, then.” He turned his back to her, smiling contently. “Must’ve been some other Lex I hooked up with at Ryan Hansen’s party last year. My mistake.” Letting the words effectively sink in, he calmly walked off, knowing Lex would stay where she was for a while.
He hoped this would do, that she wouldn’t cause any more trouble for Fred again.