Family + Camp (working title)

Chapter 29 Part 2: Grown Up Pizza

Cash made a point of introducing Nell to everyone, not just saying the person's name, but something personal to help her remember them, even though they all had a lot of time to get to know each other—or not. Stacey made friendship bracelets that were so fly, everyone begged for one. Grant could burp the pledge of allegiance! Brock played the ukulele. Kate was a vegetarian. And on it went. At least one fact per person. Nell stopped trying to listen closely. Instead, she put forth reactions of delight and/or surprise to what Cash said about each person as he said it. She'd dig down for that feeling that was attached to the fact in order to remember what made each one unique.

Which brought her to wondering: what did Cash think was her unique thing? Was it the she was Morland Harte's daughter? That probably was her biggest distinguishing fact, although it certainly was not the most interesting—at least, she hoped it wasn't. But how could Cash know that? He didn't really know anything about her, not yet. Nor did she know much about him except his brother was her dad's new righthand man, he was tall, he was going to college in the fall, and...he had was funny.

Once again, Cash seated himself next to Nell. On her other side sat Izzy. Others filled in the table, and so the catching up started, the short hand for places and things Nell was ignorant of. But pretty soon, Nell noticed that Cash and Izzy were mainly talking to each other instead of the others. Stacey, Grant, Brock, and Kate stole glances at Nell, but they were too caught up in each other to be polite enough and include her. By contrast, Nell had spent hours and hours with Cash and Izzy already—they were practically family in comparison. Yet, for some reason, Cash and Izzy had stopped talking to the others and were just..conversing together.

They knew each other pretty well—both having gone to camp since they were campers. They joked around, and Nell wondered if they had ever gotten together. Or were they flirting now? Were they maybe already a couple? They were talking to each other over her head, and it was starting to get annoying. Like, they could be spittling into her food.

Nell thought of getting up to sit elsewhere, but that would be rude. So would asking if they wanted to sit together, since she didn't think she could have it come out of her mouth nicely and politely, even if she tried. So, she sat there and ate her fancy pizza, and half-listened to their banter.

She tried to be happy for them, if they were indeed a couple. She experimented with feeling neutral about the idea. Because she had nothing to contribute to the conversation, she finished eating way before they did. She didn't want to sit there a minute longer, so she stood up with her tray.

"You're done?" Cash sounded surprised, as if Nell and he had been chatting the whole time and she'd just decided it was over.

"Wow, you're a fast eater," Izzy said, taking a bite from her neglected pizza.

"I'll see you guys later," Nell said, heading to the tray drop-off window then out a side entrance without looking back.

This time, she had remembered her bicycle. It was back at the pool, but that wasn't far from the dining hall. Mounting it, she took off for her house over the rough path, the bumps rattling her teeth and body. She looked forward to the comfort of her own private bathroom. Why bother sharing with everyone else if she didn't have to?

Okay, maybe she was being a little bit of a camp princess. But she'd take a private bathroom over a shared bathhouse any day.

Besides, she needed time to separate the facts from the fictions her imagination had just created about her new friends.