Christian Camp | ✓

Church Crushes

- Ginny -

Ginny had originally planned to spend Bible study sat next to her sister, but, once again, the 'hot' camp leader had stolen her sister's attention and she was left sitting at a table with her new roommates. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing; all four of the girls had been friendly enough yesterday when they'd bunked in the same cabin together, and it seemed they had a lot in common.

"Which Gospel are we in again? Is it Mark or John?" Maisie asked, leaning across the table to check which page Ginny was on.

"John. My favourite." Ginny smiled, pulling out a block of post-it-notes from her bag. Maisie grinned at her.

"Mine too! What about you, Ruth?" She asked, nudging the red-haired, freckled girl beside her. "What's your favourite book of the Bible?"

"Genesis." The girl answered immediately. Her Irish accent was strong. "It's where it all began, isn't it? You've got to love that." Ginny watched as she opened her Bible to the first page. It was already covered with bright orange highlighter and scribblings.

"Are you sure you need to be in Bible study? You look like you've got it all covered." She told her with a grin. The smile on Ruth's face faltered a little as her eyes settled on something past Ginny's shoulder. Frowning, Ginny whipped her head around, but Ruth immediately protested.

"Don't look at him! He'll think we're watching him!" She gasped.

"Who?" Ginny asked cluelessly, turning back to see her new friend's flustered face. Maisie raised her brow with a knowing smirk, wrapping her arm around Ruth's shoulder.

"Ohh! Is this Matthew?"

"Shush!" Ruth hissed. Maisie barked out a laugh.

"Come on, Rudes, it's obvious you both like each other! You've both been attending camp together since you were - what - six?"

"Who's this?" Ginny asked, leaning in curiously. She had come to Christian camp to improve her relationship with God - and helping her new friends out was surely following Jesus' command to 'love one another', wasn't it? Ruth fiddled with the marker in her Bible.

"Matthew Olson. The one wearing the bright green jacket with the blonde hair." She muttered, so quietly Ginny almost didn't hear her over the low chatter in the room. Ginny found the boy quickly, chatting animatedly to Gavin, who she had sat next to on the bus. She smiled when she saw him hurriedly glance in their direction before returning his attention to the conversation.

"You see!" Maisie announced, having apparently been watching his movements too. "He's looking at you, Rude! You've got your dream Christian boy - all you've got to do is ask him out!"

"Yeah right!" Ruth snorted. She shook her head, playfully shoving her friend's shoulder. "Stop trying to play matchmaker and read your Bible!"

"Spoil sport." Maisie pouted. Ginny couldn't help but smile at the interaction. She wasn't normally included in such conversations with people in the secular world. She returned her attention to John, yet she had only been writing her studies on a post-it-note for less than half a minute before she heard Maisie's chanting voice. "Ruudes, he's looking again..."

"Stop it, Mais!"

Ginny glanced over her shoulder. Sure enough, Matthew was shyly watching Ruth from his seat - and Ginny and Maisie hadn't seemed to be the only ones who had noticed. Beside him, Gavin frowned at him with a bewildered smile before following his friend's gaze. He caught sight of Ruth, a look of understanding settled on his face and in an instant, he had gotten up from his seat, dragging a reluctant, red-faced Matthew along with him.

"Hey, gals. Whattcha... whattcha doing?" He asked once he reached them. His startling blue eyes snagged on Ginny for a brief moment as she grinned up at him, knowing perfectly well what his plan was.

"Just studying our Bibles like every other person in the room. Right, Ruuuth?" Maisie deadpanned, drawing her friend's name out deliberately with a long stare at Matthew.

"Uh, sure?" Ruth mumbled, daring to lift her head before lowering it dangerously close to her Bible to scribble down what seemed to be a suddenly very important note. Gavin wrapped his arm around Matthew's shoulder, squeezing it teasingly. "Matthew here wanted to know which Gospel we're supposed to be studying. The poor guy keeps forgetting - right?"

"Er, yeah - yeah." Matthew coughed, dragging his eyes away from Ruth's lowered face. "Mark or John - or Matthew, which would be ironic, I guess..."

When Ginny only smiled at him wordlessly and Maisie continued to stare at him with a smirk, Ruth finally lifted her head, apparently arriving at the conclusion that nobody was going to answer the poor boy's question. "It's John we're studying." She told him, offering him a very shaky smile. The expression of disbelief on Matthew's face was almost laughable as he gazed at her for a moment, seemingly caught off guard.

"Oh - ok - thanks, Ruth." He managed. Gavin exchanged a triumphant glance with Ginny, slowly turning his friend's shoulder away from them.

"Yeah, thanks, Ruth. C'mon, Matt - let's get back to studying our Bibles."

They had long disappeared back to their table by the time Ruth finally managed to speak. "You both did that on purpose!" She accused through a wide grin. Ginny shrugged her shoulders, feigning innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about." She murmured.