This is Me Trying ⭑ Rafe Cameron

twenty

CHAPTER TWENTY
[20]
song: this is me trying by taylor swift

The first day was easy. They spent it in the ocean. Cassie had bruises on her ribs from when the boys tackled her into the water, not aware of their own strength. Her stomach hurt from laughing, her cheeks sore from smiling.

They float on their backs, holding hands like a family of otters as not to drift off from one another. Closing their eyes and letting the sun warm their faces. They surfed, or tried to. Cassie got swept under so many waves she thought she'd broken bones, but she just kept getting up on that slab of wood Pope found, falling right back off within seconds.

They held a competition, seeing who could last the longest on the 'board', Cassie came second to last to Pope, and Kiara first. Her cheeks were raw from the sun, her fingertips prune-y. She'd never get the sand out of her hair, or the sea-salt smell from her clothes.

When night came, they'd moved farther down the beach where John B had found a cave. Cassie was expecting that, a cave, but it was more of just a tall stone wall that slightly covered them all if they all got really close.

But they built a fire, and told stories, and no one talked about home. Or their families, or the cross, or the Cameron's. No one asked Cassie what happened, or how she ended up here. And it was nice, those few hours of distractions.

None of them slept much that night, everyone was still kicking it on leftover adrenaline. And without the comfort of a bed to go crash on, no one felt particularly inclined to leave the party early.

But the days grew long, and the nights even longer.

Days spent in the sea meant complete exhaustion by the time the sun set. It was rough cold in the sand, too hard near the cave. Pope had opted to go out and find stuff to make beds out of, and Cleo joined him.

"We'll need food, too." John B had said. "Think we can make some spears?"

"Oh, I can make a spear." JJ responded confidently.

"Yeah, but can you use a spear?"

"How hard is it? You just—" JJ uses his hands to demonstrate. "Stab."

"Okay, we have a spear-guy." John B says, rubbing his tired eyes. "There's coconuts, and berries. We just need like a basket, or something."

"I can make a basket." Sarah says.

"And I can get berries." Kiara adds.

"We had to camp on our own for two weeks at Kitty Hawk." Cassie says. "I had to find my own stuff to eat, so I know what's safe."

"Okay, Sarah on basket duty, Kie and Cas on food, JJ on fishing, Cleo and Pope on hospitality." John B says.

Cassie fell quiet, feeling the tension between her and Kiara. The girl hadn't spoken much to Cassie. Actually, she hadn't spoken to her at all. Any time Cassie had said anything around her it'd gone completely ignored.

But Cassie would be lying if it wasn't awkward with everyone. No one, not even JJ, fully trusted her. They probably never would again, and Cassie couldn't blame them. But it was Kiara she worried about. The girl held grudges, and rightfully so. She wasn't one to forgive and forget, and she certainly wasn't one to put on a fake front for the sake of kindness.