Fencing The Line ( A Glassheart Short Story)

Unravelling Armour

Chloe and Bridget walk along a muddy trial, to the dismay of the pink-haired girl. However, it was rather difficult to get some alone time when every second of their day was curated around intense training.

"If it makes you feel any better, those rain boots are cute as hell," Chloe reassures her friend. If it wasn't blatantly obvious to the naked eye, Chloe seemed to be having a blast whereas Bridget would rather be anywhere else.

It had been four days into the retreat.

Four long days with only three more to go. Chloe had assumed sharing a cabin with Red would have caused some arguments between the two but the whole agreement they had been just friends was seemingly working well. Surprisingly yet not so surprisingly at the same time.

Chloe could easily make sure Red stayed out of sight from her mother, often redirecting practice to avoid the rival team, and with Red's sudden display of friendship to their teammates, she found herself gaining more respect as the days went on. It worked well to have someone with status by her side.

"I know they are, doesn't make this place suck any less." Bridget sighs, continuing to trudge on the trail, head to two in a yellow jacket and matching rain boots. Chloe opted for a more casual zip up hoodie and whatever shoe she had managed to pack with her. Maybe this is what Bridget meant when she told her that her wardrobe was 'middle-schooler-adjacent'.

"But you know what wouldn't make this place suck?" Bridget questions, eyebrows wiggling with all their might. Chloe was surely not looking forward to getting used to that. But whatever Bridget had proposed was probably ten times worse than her eyebrow waving. "You finally coming to a campfire tonight!" She squeals, "Dizzy Tremaine is having a little after-party and-"

"When is Dizzy Tremaine not having a party?" Chloe questions.

"Hush, not the point," Bridget hushes. "There's going to be a little, secret party after the campfire tonight and Dizzy decided to invite the both of us. We're like total superstars on the social scale now." Bridget gloats, but Chloe is a firm denier of anything party-related.

"Nope, no thanks. I told you I am not doing any more parties this year. Not after what happened the last time we went to one of Dizzy's parties." Chloe shakes her head firmly, crossing her arms so that Bridget doesn't get the bright idea as to cling onto one of them.

The last time Chloe went to a Dizzy Tremaine Party ™ one shot took her to the point of no return. Not to say she didn't enjoy kissing Red for the first (and thankfully not last) time, but the thought of getting that tipsy again brought a shiver down her spine.

Maybe this time she could stay home and watch Gossip Girl like she had wanted to the first time around.

Bridget groans, loud enough to startle the birds in the trees, "That's the whole reason she invited you, Chloe! She said you did some noteworthy shit at the last party. Wish I wasn't too wasted to have witnessed it,"

Chloe feels a cold shiver go down her spine, she thanks the gods Bridget hadn't remembered that night, but the thought of someone telling her was frightening. "She didn't tell you what I did...right?"

"No, but it must have been noteworthy enough to get you invited again. Come on Chloe, please." Bridget begs, almost dropping to her knees if it weren't for the mud beneath her sunshine-yellow boots. Chloe shakes her head once more, "I can't. Red and I decided to go over some practices tonight to demonstrate to the team."

And in any other instance, Chloe would be lying. But no, that was the truth. Without many other ways to spend their time alone, practising for the tournament was a great way to blow off steam. Even if there were other ways Chloe would prefer to blow off some steam- that wasn't the main goal of this camp.