Soaring Higher

Chapter 10

I'm not sure where Erin is, but a girl named "Liv" is watching over us. We're about to go swimming.

I'm leaning against the changing room wall, waiting for Emery who is taking forever.

I'm wearing a dark blue one piece with lots of confusing straps and a hole in the back. I wish mom would've just gotten me a normal one where I don't have to get someone to tell me if the straps are in the right place.

I knock on the stall door.
'Hey Em, you done yet?' I ask.
'One sec.'
I roll my eyes and cross my arms.
I'm surprised when the stall door beside me flings open, almost hitting me. I wince and give the girl a dirty look.

I recognize her from earlier- Amber I think her name was.
'Watch it.' She snarls.
An anger bubbles over me.
'Watch it!? You watch it!' I attract a few eyes, to my embarrassment.
She snickers and walks off to her friend. I notice she's wearing a red bikini, inappropriate for a camp with kids in my opinion.

Emery comes out and glances at Amber.
'What's that all about?' She asks.
I sigh. 'Just nothing.'
Was I really making an enemy on the second day? Although I did convince Erin to take in a wild horse so...

Liv's voice makes me snap into zone. We all follow her out the door, carrying towels.
Liv has a bounce in her step, something I admire is that she seems to be always happy.

Soon after walking down a short trail in the forest, we arrive at a little lake.
'Alright!' She stops all of us. 'Before I let you swim, we do have some rules. So rule number one; no drowning each other. Even if it's accidental, it shouldn't be happening. Rule number two; don't go past the markers. Number three; no watches or electrical things in the water, we don't anyone getting electrocuted. Now I expect all of you to be safe- oh and last rule; have fun!'

She lets us run past and find spots on the beach.

Me and Emery find a spot shaded by a tree, and lay our towels and swim bags there. I kick of my flip flops and race Emery into the water. I struggle to run through the water, then once I'm past the shallow flop in.
Me and Emery surface once we're in the same spot.

'Ahh! Cold!' I shriek.
A mat of red hair covers Emery's face. She giggles as she flips it back.

Some other girls are coming in now, some are swimming, and some are standing by the shore cringing as they slowly get in. Amber's one of them. I catch myself staring at her.

She's giggling as one of her brown haired friends bribes her to come in. Most of the rest of her friends wait for her to make a move, so they can follow.
A boy is about to dive in when she seductively touches his biceps and starts talking to him.

I wrinkle my face and make a throwing up sound.

She pouts a fake smile and giggles.
From here I can only slightly hear what she's saying.
'Oh Gryphon, will you tell me if the water's cold?'
'Oh um sure.' He smiles politely.
He dives in and I can't help but notice how clean it is. His black hair brushed aside gets soaked when he surfaces and he's brown eyes shine. He nods too Amber.
'It's great.'

I look away. I decide I don't want anything to do with Amber. She sort of disgusts me with her pick me vibe.

'You good?' Emery taps my shoulder.
'Yeah. Fine.' I smile. 'Let's race to the shallow end.'
I dive ahead and am only above water long enough for her too say 'Hey!' and start catching up behind me.
————————————————————————

Liv has finally jumped of a rock into the water and convinced us to all play a game together.
'What about capture the flag?' A girl with copper-ish hair and big blue eyes suggests.
'Good idea!' Liv says.
Everyone seems to agree so we start making teams.
I'm on the same team as the copper haired girl, a black haired girl who seems to stay away from the crowd, and a few more girls. I search for Emery and notice she's on the other team.
Well, then instead of allies we'll be targeting each other!

To my disgust, Amber's on my team. She'll probably only slow us down.
The copper girl seems to take over as our team leader.
'So first, names everyone. I'm Elaine.'
She points at us in a circle.
'Casey.'
'Ally.'
Soon we've past the whole circle and we're making our game plan.
'Let's split into to groups, the attackers and the protecters.'
She splits us in half, my side was the attackers with the shy girl; Lucy, and some of the rest.

Liv is ready to count down from five, and us attackers line up to get ready to dash. One of the jobs we had was to try to find the flag that was placed underwater. Luckily all of us attackers had goggles. Except for Amber.

'-two, one..' I barely notice Liv has shouted go until it's too late. I leap forward, trying to catch up with the others, and successfully get back into line. The other team is took by surprise, probably not expecting the attack.

I decide underwater should be my best chance of been unnoticed and I urge Lucy, who looks somewhat out of place, to come with me. She's relived to have someone to follow and glides underwater with me. As we pop up for air, I hear the word "tomato!" being shouted. This was our random word for when to return to our side.

The flag was already found? Wow, this team must suck at hiding things. It only takes a second for me to get through to Lucy that we have to return, and once we're dashing back, I figure out she's a really fast swimmer.

Emery is on my tail, but I make it to Lucy who's already on our side before she can stretch enough to tag me. I stick my tongue out at her.

We're getting ready to do another ambush to retrieve the flag. I'm waiting for the cue of-
'Watermelon!'
This time I'm not late and dive forward, followed by Lucy who fumbles a bit.

The rival team is more prepared this time, but still surprised. Just as I'm approaching the flag, a strong hand pulls my foot back. For a second I'm confused, then scoff.
'Really Em?' I say turning around, but it's not Em.
'Oh nevermind.' I smile.
It's that boy who was talking to Amber. I'm not sure whether I think of him like Amber or like a normal camper. I decide anyone who Amber shows interest in, I should steer clear of.

'Finally got something.' She mutters.
'What, too slow?' I tease.
'Shut up.' He smirks.
I cross my arms and wait in jail for someone to come get me out.
I notice Amber is the only other person in jail.
She looks at me up and down and scoffs. I wonder how her hair stays perfectly silky after getting wet.
I scoff back at her and ignore her looking at me like I'm a bug.

Note to self: don't let Amber ruin camp.