Cabin Fever

6

I wake up and decide to skip breakfast since I'm not really a morning person. I make sure the kids are up and ready though. They're all pretty early risers so they decide to go out and sit at the picnic tables outside the mess hall until it opens. I watch them walk off until they round the corner. "Oh shut it" I hear someone say before hearing a door close.

I turn my head towards the noise to see Billie sauntering down the stairs. She sees me and waves coming directly towards me. I wrap my cardigan tighter around my body as I wait for her to get closer. "Good morning" she chirps as if it's 3 in the afternoon, how does she have so much energy it's barely 7.

"Morning" I reply tiredly, "not a morning person? My kids aren't either, they get up at the last minute to get to breakfast. They were complaining as I just walked out the door" she pointed towards her cabin, explaining her earlier comment. "I did want to talk to you, are you awake enough?" she jokes and I nod motioning for her to sit on one of the chairs on the porch.

"So, I'll just get right to it" oh god "I'd first like to say that I think you'll be really good here. Especially for Cordelia. She's a lot happier when you're around" she states, I look at her confused so she elaborates. "She hasn't really genuinely smiled in a while. I try to get her with my jokes but it never seems to really hit like I want it to. It's been—difficult—for her recently and I've enjoyed seeing her smile again" she says.

I make her smile? "Oh... uh thank you, I guess" I say questioningly and she chuckles. She's really not that bad now that I've sat down with her. Out the corner of my eye I see a door open and Cordelia exits her cabin. She takes one look at me and walks the other way. Odd. "Anyways, I won't keep you. Activities start at 9" she reminds me and I nod.

She walks off and I go back into the cabin to pick what I'm going to wear today. I use the bathroom and do all my hygiene things before slipping them on. I exit the cabin and breakfast has ended at this point so we have morning gathering, then activities start right after. It's pretty uneventful, just trying to keep the kids quiet and having them give ideas on upcoming things they want to do.

The first activity for my cabin is with Billie's cabin as well and they're just doing arts and crafts. There's plenty of supplies they can choose from, some decide to paint while others stick with a simple pencil and paper. We sit at the front of the makeshift classroom watching them work. They're not too loud, just talking amongst themselves.

"Did you see her this morning?" Billie asks me, "Cordelia" she continues seeing I'm confused. "Uh not really, I saw her leaving her cabin while we were talking but I haven't seen her since" I say. "Well after this, just before lunch, your cabins are going to the lake for canoeing; so talk to her then" she says. "About what?" I ask confused, "I'm old Alicia, not stupid. I can tell you like her" she says looking into my eyes.

"Of course I do, how could you not? It's not anything serious though... we're just friends" I tell her. "Did she tell you that? Listen... Dee is... complicated. It might take a while to get through to her but she'll loosen up" she says. "That sounds like harassment" I say with a straight face, "you know I don't mean it like that. I'm saying just... talk to her, get a feel for things. I have a feeling she likes you too" she states.

"It's been like a week, Billie" I try to reason with her but she's not having it. "You've practically spent every waking moment together this week. If you didn't have to sleep, I'm sure you'd spend every second together. Whilst you've been avoiding me like the plague" she nudges me playfully making her chuckle.

"You just made me nervous at first. You're actually OK I guess" I joke make her fake gasp like she's offended. "'Ok'? Wow Alicia you really hurt my feelings—if I had any that is" she jokes and I giggle. The sound of the door closing pulls our attention to it.