Twin Souls: The Story Behind The Broken Roses

Chapter Eight: July 29th, 2014

Penny Elmwood

Emma had managed to hide from every water based thing they had to do the entire camp, and Penny had no idea why she did it or how... But today, she knew where because Emma had not so gracefully scaled a tree when a counselor had come looking for her, and she hadn't come back down... Penny had just hid in the bathroom with her feet up against the stall, but what did she know, right? Now she just wanted to know why.

"You know, you can't hide from going canoeing forever." Penny said, leaning against the tree that Emma had crawled into. She watched her jump as she nearly slipped out of the tree... Shit... Penny reached a hand up to try to stop her from falling, but it really wouldn't have done much to stop her if she did.

"Oh, I think I can." She looked down at her with a grin. "I've managed to miss it the last three times we were supposed to go, I think I can keep this record up." Penny rolled her eyes. Emma skipping was great for Emma, but it left Penny without a partner and meant that she was always paired with one of the boys who made gross comments at her... She was more than sick of it.

"Well..." Penny squinted as she looked up at her. "At least pick a different spot." Emma's face fell and she looked worried, like she thought she'd been found out... She hadn't, but Penny appreciated the concerned look.

"Why?" Was that not obvious?

"If you're skipping, I'm skipping with you, and there's only room for one of us up there." Emma paused for a long moment before she nodded, like it made sense... It did. Plus Penny was sure it was more fun to skip with two people over one.

"There's a spot behind the staff cabins that no one checks." Okay... So why was Emma up in a tree and not there? That sounded like a much better option than what she had going on right now.

"Cool. Let's go." She said, and Emma nodded and climbed down from the tree, and she would've fallen flat on her face if Penny hadn't caught her arm and held her up. Dumbass.

"Why are you suddenly willing to skip out on that? You seemed to enjoy it." Emma said, and Penny sighed, shaking her head as they began to walk. Because men ruin everything.

"Because if I have to paddle with a guy again I'll end it." Penny said, and Emma furrowed her brows, looking confused as she stepped over a fallen branch, thankfully not tripping this time... She was clumsy, that was something that Penny had noticed.

"Why?" She shrugged. Did there really need to be a reason?

"They're all gross... Most of them are fifteen and keep hitting on me." She said, and Emma frowned, looking equal parts disgusted and upset... Part of her was tempted to ask if Emma would do something about them, she'd lit a school on fire, she could probably handle some minor crime, right?

"That's disgusting, I'm sorry." ... It wasn't that bad. She was fine, she had no idea why she was complaining about it anyway, it wasn't like it was going to fix it or change anything at all.

"No, it's fine... Esme normally tells them to shut up or pushes our canoe over... Helpful in getting them to shut up, not helpful to me." She explained, and Emma grimaced... Probably thinking about how scummy the lake was... Yeah, Penny had thought about that many times. While being stuck in the lake.

"Fair." Yeah. She knew that. "Well, I'm more than happy to help you skip." Good, that was kind of the whole point of them walking through the woods and risking getting caught and sentenced to 'the tent'.

"I was guessing as much." That was funny, but Emma didn't laugh, instead she walked quickly off the trail and towards something... Penny followed. She didn't want Emma out here alone.