The Down Under

Chapter two

"Mom, wake up." That's the first thing I hear when we get there. I picked my head up slowly, only to see Conner.
"Oh, it's only you." I sighed. I laid my head back down on the center console.
"Who else were you expecting?" He questioned.
"My kids," I looked at him again," hey you asked. I answered."
"I wasn't expecting that answer though."
"Well don't ask questions you don't want to hear the answer to." I sat up. I looked to see we were parked near our cabin. At Camp Lakebottom we all slept in tents, but there was always that one pair of kids that would get the cabin every time. Not this year, my mom went to the camp directors and asked if I could have the cabin this year, and well, knowing my mother, it worked. I have the cabin this year, hopefully with my bestie too!
"Hey Conner," I began," who's your tent mate this year?" I asked giving him a smirk.
"Oh, you think I'm sleeping in a tent?" He smirked back.
"Are you saying we're cabin mates?" My eyes got wide, they never usually let a male and a female in the same tent, let alone a cabin.
"Yup, somehow I convinced them for you to be my cabin mate when I got to pick one out."
"YOU GOT TO PICK YOUR CABIN MATE!"
"Ow..." he rubs his ear. "Yes, if you're sleeping in a tent you get to pick out a tent mate. When I picked you out I thought you were going to sleep in a tent, but I stand corrected. Do you need help putting your stuff in the cabin?"
"Preferably, yes." I couldn't stop staring. He wanted me to be his campmate, something was going on. He walked around to the trunk, and I followed. When I got out, everything below my waist was still asleep, so I almost fell out of the car. By the time I got to the back of the car, Conner already got my suitcase out of the car. I was holding on to the vehicle so I didn't fall over. Man, why does everything in my body hurt? Conner looks my way.
"You ok?"
"Ummm, that depends, have you had your legs fall asleep and don't want to wake up?"
"Uh, no?"
"Well, let me inform you how it feels," I hop closer to him so I don't have to yell. "If my legs fall asleep, I forcefully have to move them for them to wake up. Sound painful, right?"
"Do you have to do that, or are you exaggerating?"
"Ha ha, very funny," I pushed a pressure point in his arm. "that's what it feels like Conner. It feels like someone is pushing on a nerve and won't let go, so no Conner, I'm not exaggerating." I let go.
"OH MY GOSH, Kathrine, I don't think you realize how stupid strong you are."
"What?" I say as I force my leg to move, I wince with the pain.
"I think I'm going to have a bruise there now." He lightly touches the pressure point and immediately pulls his hand away. "Yup, that's bruised."
"Oh," I let go of the car to see Conners's bruise, big mistake. As soon as I let go, I fell into the gravel parking lot. I tense when a striking pain shoots up my legs.
"Told you, Conner, not exaggerating." I dropped my head into the gravel, without hurting myself more in the process. Conner was baron for words, don't blame him, I just fell on my face. Honestly expected him to laugh at me, he never did though.
"Kathrine, are you ok?" I picked my face up and looked at him.
"I think you can answer that question." I felt my foot move. "Wait." I moved my entire leg. "Oh well, that fall must have been the thing that woke my legs up." I got up, with no problem, no pain.
"So you ok?"
"Yup!" Conner stared at me. "What, I have something on my face?" I start to brush 'stuff' off my face.
"No, it's, you just flopped like a fish, in gravel, and you said you're fine. I am genuinely concerned."
"Don't be it's happened before, I did it in the middle of a mall. It was a little more serious than since I was like six, but it's fine."
"No, I don't think that's fine. Did you go to the doctor about it?" He looked concerned, oddly.
"Yeah, there's nothing they can do about it, and I'm not going through surgery."
"Surgery, Kathrine?"
"Yeah there's a nerve in my hip that gets pinched every time I sit down, but I don't reap the consequences until after I stand up, which causes me to either freeze or my legs just won't work. And it's excruciatingly painful." Utterly dumbfounded, once again, the stone-hearted Conner has been found utterly dumbfounded.
"I think you should go get that procedure done. It will help with that."
"Nah, it's my character flaw, there's no need to get rid of it."
"Not if it's causing you to be in pain like that." He started to walk towards the cabin.
"I don't need someone else's hand in my body, trying to fix something that most like going to do the same thing again." I walked behind him. "Wait Conner, where's your stuff?"
"Already here." Then he stopped he turned to look at me. "Karthine, they offered you surgery, and they don't even know if it's going to work?"
"Yup, glad we're on the same page." He continued to cabin again, sighing and mumbling to himself. I didn't care to listen in. I took about two people to get my suitcase to the cabin, and it probably needed three people to get it up the stairs. Probably shouldn't have packed all of my stuff. When we got to the top of the cabin stairs, I told Conner I'd take my suitcase to my room, but when I walked in I dropped it on the floor. It was gorgeous, there were surprisingly high ceilings, the walls were red oak wood, and it smelled like an evergreen forest. All things that I loved about this camp. The cabin had two bedrooms and one bathroom, and it also had a kitchen!
"Is this the reason you don't see the people that stay here?" I said in awe.
"No, it's because they think they mean more than 'those tent dwellers'" he mocks with air quotes.
"You know you've stayed here almost every year, right?" I finally got myself to look at him.
"I know, but if you can make fun of yourself, so can I." He looks at me too. "Do you need my help again?" He looks at the suitcase on the floor.
"No, my breath was just taken away, that's all" I whipped my head from him. I grabbed my suitcase and went to the bathroom with a walk-in closet. Seriously, I had no idea that the cabin looked like this. I opened my suitcase and put my clothing away.
"You did bring your room." His voice scared me.
"There's no washing clothes here, so I made sure to bring lots of clothes."
"You know you're in the cabin, right, we have a washer and dryer."
"So this thing is like a house?" I yelled.
"Yes, it's like a house." He assures me. He was leaning on the doorpost with his hands in his sweatshirt pocket.
"You look like you want me to do something," I said as I continued to hang and fold my clothes.
"We'll check in in five minutes, so, I'm kind of waiting for you to go."
"Do we have to go to check in?"
"We're one of the main people that have to check in, if we don't they'll give the cabin to someone else." I hung up the last shirt.
"Well let's go then." I rushed past him.
"Ok then, off we go." We walked, together, to check in. When we got there the line was out the the lake.
"There is no way I'm waiting in that line," I said before I walked up to the check-in lady.
"I'm sorry ma'am you're going to have to wait your turn." She spat before I said anything.
"Well, the people that are in the cabin, names are Conner and Kathrine, are here and present. So don't you give it to anyone else." The check-in lady looked up at me finally and wrote our names down.
"Ok, thank you, have a nice summer break," she said as she waved me off. Conner looked impressed.
"That couldn't have gone wrong at all."
"I told you I'm not waiting in that line" I started to walk back to the cabin.
"Where are you going? Don't you want to see your friend?"
"Wait she came?" I spun around. I was looking frantically for my bestie when there she was. At the back of the line, black hair with blonde streaks in it. Stacy. I ran over to her. "STACY!"
"Kathy? OMGOSH KATHY!" I ran into her to give her a big hug.
"Oh my gosh, Stacy! You came!" I am ecstatic. Stacy, my only friend, is now here!
"Yeah I came because your little cabin mate over there said you were coming, so, I decided to come to." I looked over a Conner. He smiled and waved, and I smiled and waved back.
"Conner you nerd," I said.
"Oh that's his name, he's kind of cute." I glared at her.
"May I remind you that he has been a jerk to me since middle school."
"That doesn't not make him cute."
"My lord Stacy." I started to walk over to Conner.
"Wait, Kathy!"
"Yea?"
"Can you meet me by the pond at lunch? I don't know this place very well, it's been a while."
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea! Alright, I'll meet you at the dock at twelve, ok!"
"Yeah sounds good!" I continued to walk over to Conner, he was leaning against a tree and on his phone. Another thing as cabin members, we get the Wi-Fi password.
"Conner you nerd!" I yelled scaring him.
"What, what did I do now?"
"How did you convince Stacy to come?"
"That's a great question, and the answer to that is that I didn't convince her to go. She came because you were." I glared at him.
"No, she came because you were going, not me." I laughed. "Sometimes that girl just doesn't make sense." I started to the cabin.
"Well, I guess she did ask me if I was going."
"Yup and there your proof." Stacy you little...
"Uh, mom, are you ok?" I gave him a weird look until I realized that it was the deal we made. "You forgot didn't you?"
"Yes, yes I did." I walked up to the cabin, and when I walked up the stairs my phone rang. It was Stacy.
"Hello?"
"Wow, I'm surprised you even have a reception in the campground."
"Stacy aren't you on the camp ground?"
"Well, about that," I knew it. "I forgot that we sleeping in tents, and I'm kind of scared of enclosed spaces, especially tents. So I called my mom to come pick me up, and that's where I'm going now. Home." I freaking knew it, she never does anything with me. Then when she does come, it's for some other person she wants to be friends with, not me. THEN, she immediately leaves when she finds out it's a CAMP! "Ah, Kathy, are you alright?"
"Yeah, sorry I forgot you didn't like tents, I should've thought about that."
"Yeah, maybe you should of," she laughed through the phone. "Well I'm going to have to get off soon, I'm going to be home, see ya Kathy!" Before I could say goodbye she hung up the phone. I brought the phone down and looked at it. No text messages, no comments on my posts, not even an email. I started to squeeze my phone. I trusted her, I gave her everything, my attention, friendship, and my trust. What does she do with it, toy with it? With tears forming I squeezed harder and the only time I stopped was when my screen cracked, straight down the middle. I stared at my phone in disbelief. I tried turning my phone on, but my phone was busted. The screen was glitched and the touchscreen wouldn't work. I walked inside set my broken phone on the counter, walked to my room, and started to hang my clothing up again. I hung up my clothing very quickly, considering that I am a very tedious person, and started with my carry-on stuff. In my carry-on bag, I had my hygiene stuff, shampoo and conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, some other hair products, and some makeup, if I wanted it. I walk out to go put in the bathroom when Conner walks in.
"Well, you went off in a rush." He looked my way. "Kathrine, are you ok?"
"I'm fine" I barked and entered the bathroom. I didn't hear any other comments from him until after I was done. I walk out to see Conner holding my phone in his hands.
"Did you do this?" He stared at my phone in disbelief.
"It was an accident, but yes." He stared at me. My face was red with embarrassment and tears. I tried my best to hold back my tears the best I could, but with everything that's been going on, it was harder than I thought.
"Kathrine!" He rushed to my side. "Katherine, are you ok?"
"I told you I'm fine." I choked. I took a few steps back. I'm not fine, but I didn't want anyone to know. Especially Conner, I still don't trust him.
"No, you're not, you're trying not to cry. I can tell." He looked at me earnestly. He walked closer.
"Conner, please stop. I'm fi-" he was hugging me. "What are you doing?"
"You need comfort, for what, I don't know, nor do I need to know, but I'm here when you need it, Mom." I heard a little snicker from him. I didn't find it funny, but I did need the hug. I didn't hug him back, I just sat there, letting him hug me.
"Now what's wrong, and don't say you're fine, because I know you're not" he let go of me and walked over to the table. I walked over and sat in the chair next to him.
"Stacy left."
"We just saw her like fifteen minutes ago! How did she leave so quickly?"
"Don't ask, she moves in ways that never made any sense to me. She called right when she pulled into her driveway, so I didn't have that much time to talk to her, but it was for the best. I never wanted to talk to someone who only values material things more than her friends."
"Glad I gave you the hug now?" He looked at me. I glared at him. "Anyways, that doesn't explain your phone."
"When the call ended I squeezed it a little too tight"
"Squeezed? I don't think just anyone could 'squeeze' their phone like this." He used air quotes around the word squeeze.
"You're such a dork, you know that?"
"The one and only."