Today was quite possibly my favorite day of camp. Not Opening Night, not Newbie Night, not Movie Night, but Color War. Every year, we get split up into two teams: yellow and blue. This year, Maddie is leading one team and my brother the other. Obviously, captains get to choose who's on whose team.
"Hey, where were you?" I whispered to Maddie when she ran up to me at the amphitheater for the Color War kick off.
"Teaching Gina to canoe," she whispered back.
"Oh?" I said, only somewhat suggestively. Maddie smacked me upside the head.
"Not like that, you pervert."
"I didn't say anything," I said.
"Whatever. I guess I'll just not choose you for my team," Maddie teased me. My face turned serious – the look I use when I'm around my parents.
"You better not."
"Relax, I'm just kidding," Maddie said. "Obviously you're on my team. You really think I would let you be on EJ's team?" I laughed.
"Yo, love birds, when your secret conversation is over, Maddox, you have to say who's on your team!" my brother yelled.
"Shut up, Rocketman!" Maddie yelled back. I could've sworn she had a light blush dusting her cheeks. I was just trying to not turn into a tomato. Maddie turned to the greater Shallow Lake population. "On my team, we have Kourtney, Carlos, Jet, and Zoe!" We all moved to stand as a group, making it clear for viewers and their tiny brains who the teams were.
"Just so y'all know, I'm scrappy. I fight dirty, and I will cheat," Kourtney mumbled to all of us.
Maddie hummed. "So it's in the bag," she said.
"I'm also incredibly afraid of heights," Kourtney added.
"Okay. So plus-minus," Maddie amended.
After finding out that the grand prize for winning would be having cell phone access, a moderately controversial decision that clearly wasn't run by Dewey, we got into our team colors and "prepped" for the competition. Cut us some slack. We're (mostly) theatre kids that don't know a thing about sports.
I saw my cousin walk past me and Maddie, seeming conflicted about something. "Ashlyn," I said before I could regret trying to talk to her. She turned to me.
"Oh, hi," she said.
"How are you doing?" I asked, suddenly feeling awkward and uncomfortable.
"I-" Ashlyn cut herself off. "You're like... into girls, right?" I nodded, confused as to where this was going.
"Yes..."
"How- how did you know? How did you know that you were... that?" I thought about it, trying to come up with a response. How could I explain to my cousin that I saw Maddox and basically fell in love with her and never looked back?
"I... I got to know this girl, and I felt... fireworks," I finally said, trying my hardest to keep it vague and most importantly not look at Maddie. I of course lost the fight and couldn't help but glance at her, seeing a strange expression on her face. Almost resembling sadness or... longing. But when I blinked, it was gone. I'd probably just imagined it.
"Fireworks," my cousin repeated. I nodded. "Fireworks."
"Ashlyn, do you think you're..." I trailed off. I knew that, especially in our family, admitting out loud that you're gay can have... very serious consequences. It was something of a taboo for us. A word that was always hinted at but never said. Until I said it.
Ashlyn nodded. "Zoe, what do I do? I can't just, like, suddenly tell everyone, 'Hi, world! I'm Ashlyn Moon Caswell, and I'm gay!' Like, what?"
I saw Maddie step away out of the corner of my eye.
YOU ARE READING
Her | Maddox x OC | HSMTMTS
FanfictionMaddox and I have been close since we were twelve, but... I've kind of always wanted to be... more. She was my "gay awakening," so to speak. My "first crush." But we'll just have to see what happens. ** I don't own any of the characters except for Z...
