One

Twelve

My Mom and Dad dropped me off that morning. On the way, they were reminding me to be careful and such. Fifteen minutes later, we were at the meeting place. No sign of the bus yet but I scanned the place looking for Althea. Then I saw her occupied with a book on the waiting shed. Then probably sensing me, she looked up and naturally, caught me looking at her. Darn it! There goes my cheeks.. Then she smiled. Knowingly.

I told my parents that I saw my new friend and walked towards Althea who by then had stand up and smiled at me and my parents.

"Hi Jade." She turned to my parents, "Hello Ma'am, Sir. Good morning."

"Hi! Ahm Althea, my parents. Mom, Dad, this is my friend, Althea. We go to the same school and this is her first time volunteering."

"Hello Althea, nice to meet you, drop the ma'am and sir, any friend of our daughter is a friend of ours." My mom said. She glanced around and saw my senior counselor. She waved at Janice and walked over her dragging my father behind. I looked at Althea and asked, "So, what time did you get here?"

"Hmm, I'd say 15 minutes earlier than you." She grinned and added, "So, how did you ahmm, hit the floor?" She said smirking.

"Hey! It's not funny." I tried to playfully punch her in the arms then I winced.

"Aha! I think I know now how.." She touched my left arm, "Are you sure you're okay? I mean, you could've at least put some ointment to relieve the pain."

"it's a bit sore but i'm fine. I'll be fine." I assured her.

There were a lot of volunteers that summer. Everyone's boarding the bus already. Althea went in first as i said goodbye to my parents. When i went up, i searched for her. I thought, "This is it, we'll be sitting together. God, i hope i'm not too obvious. Calm down, Jade. This is just a bus ride. Calm. Down." Whew! I saw her waved at me almost at the back of the bus.

I walked to where she was seating and she asked, "Which seat do you prefer? Next to the aisle or next to the window?" She reached for my bag and placed it next to hers above us. The gesture is killing me.

"Thank you. Whichever. Ahm, just go ahead and choose." trying to keep calm.

"Tell you what, why dont you seat next to the window?" She let me pass through her and I sat down. She then sat down next to me and gave me one of those to die for smiles. I avoided her eyes. I just can't --I'm afraid of looking into her eyes. My eyes might give my feelings away.. Sigh.

"Are you sure you're arm or shoulder is ok?" She thought i sighed because of the pain.

"Stop worrying. I'll be fine.." I smiled at her and jokingly, "next time, I'll lower down my ringtone." then winked at her. She smiled but is still looking at me with guilt in her eyes. "Althea.. Hey, stop it. I told you I'm fine."

"But it's my fault."

"It's no one's fault but mine, silly. Let's drop this topic and look, here comes Janice. Excited?"

She gave me a small smile then unconsciously, i squeezed her right hand to tell her not to worry. I realized what i did and pulled my hand pretending to get my cell phone out of my bag.

Janice then welcomed the new volunteers and told us that it will take about 3 hours to get to the camp site. I momentarily looked at Althea and wow, she's beautiful. I looked away my cheeks red. If she noticed anything, she did not say.

All through out the journey i am so conscious because my crush is sitting right next to me. And to make matters worse, wait no, not worse but exciting.. Magical maybe? Hmm.. i don't know but you see, an hour later after talking a bit, checking our facebooks and twitters and snapping some pictures, she said she'll continue reading. I, on the other hand, put on my headphones and listened to my phone's playlist and day dreamed about the girl next to me while looking outside.. The sky was clear, the clouds fluffy and white.

My phone vibrated and it was a message from Bette. "Hey there! Still remember me? I'm your best friend, Bette. *wink*"

"Silly! We're on our way to the camp. What's up wih you?" I smiled and looked sideways and then i saw this beauty beside me sleeping. I was mesmerized and stared at Althea's sleeping face. Her face was tilted sideways in my direction, her book to her chest. She looked like an angel. My eyes lingered at her slightly opened mouth. I want to move those hair draped across her face so badly. Darnit! I gulped and looked around. I hope no one noticed my obvious staring. And then I received Bette's reply.

"Just checkin' if you still know me, lol. Are you enjoying every moment with her? Yiiih.. We're going to visit grandma and grandpop tomorrow, btw."

"Ha ha! Very funny!" I glanced once again at the angel sleeping beside me. I composed my reply, "When are you coming back? Make sure you do before the class starts, ok?"

Althea shifted slightly. I wanted to put her head on my shoulder but i'm afraid of what she or the others might think but darn, arrgh! I don't care! I moved a little to my left and reached for her head. Just when my hand was inches away from her head, she opened her eyes, blinked and took me by surprise.

I stammered, "Your head. Ah.. It was about to fall and you might wake up with a stiff neck. Ahm, would you like to sleep on my shoulder?"

I guess it took her a while to understand. Silence passed.

"Huh? Oh.. No, i fell asleep." she yawned. "She looked at me, "No Jade it's ok. It's this book i'm reading. I'm getting bored with it." Then she smiled.

"Of course! I wouldn't miss our yearly summer get away.. Talk to you later, i'm going out." I read Bette's almost-forgotten-text.

I will never forget how she looked that day. An image of her adorable sleeping face will forever be etched in the deepest corner of my mind. And God, I miss her. After all these years, It is still her that i'm longing for. The one that I want, that I desire and the only one I have ever truly loved...