Black Iris

The Fires.

Rose

I remember the day the fires started.

Or, I suppose they'd started earlier than that day, but they had been under control then. But this day, they flared up, and suddenly, the air was thick with smoke and the blue sky was stained with grey-brown.

It was the last day before the Independence Day break, and our parents would be coming to pick us up that afternoon to take us home until the following Tuesday. 

I was walking to breakfast with Charlie, trying to act as though everything was normal. We were both late, the rest of the camp already at the mess hall, but she'd had a slow morning getting ready to visit home, so I had waited for her so she wasn't on her own. 

Although, even without the fires, normalcy had been thrown out the window. Neither of us wanted to admit it, but the tension between us had been building for days. Despite her reassurances constantly that she would talk to Adam, break up for real, she had yet to do it, coming up with excuses like how it wasn't the right time, or that they were practically broken up already.

Except they weren't, and we both knew that.

The other day, a whole group of us had been hanging out on the green when Adam had pulled Charlie in to sit in between his legs. She slowly sat, and he had gently pulled her back so she was leaning against him. Charlie had glanced at me then at the rest of the group before shutting her eyes and relaxing slightly. I struggled to keep a straight face. When he started tracing circles on her leg I had to excuse myself.

Later, at dinner Charlie had pulled me into the bathroom and tried to justify herself, saying that she didn't want to embarrass him or make people talk by rejecting him.

I had snapped, "People are already talking, Charlene."

Which was true. The rumours were spreading. The two of us were spending so much time together outside of class, more time than she was spending with Adam. Meanwhile, Adam was spending plenty of time with Marley, and people were starting to wonder. Which was probably why Adam was making such an effort to assert his dominance, show that he was still the main guy.

But Charlene had just looked at me with a hurt expression, as though she was the victim.

The whole thing just sucked ass.

"So..." Charlie muttered, as we walked to breakfast. "The sky's pretty crazy, right?"

I looked up and murmured in agreement. We fell into another awkward silence.

After a few moments, she spoke up.

"Listen, Phil, about Adam, I'm sorry-"

"Stop," I said, cutting her off. "I don't want to hear any more excuses. Listen, we can't keep doing this forever. I'm getting sick of getting sidelined for him."

"I don't do that-"

"You don't?" I echoed, raising an eyebrow. She went quiet.

"You don't need to yell at me..." she murmured.

"I'm not yelling, Charlie," I said, exasperated. "Look, I'm sorry. This is just hard is all."

She was quiet, before I felt her fingers gently brushing my leg. "Oh is it?" She asked, her voice sultry. I pulled away, frowning at her.

"Stop doing that," I snapped.

She looked shocked. "Why, there's no one around?"

I shook my head, frustrated. "No, I mean stop going into sex-mode any time we get into a disagreement."