Camp Pinewood ~Book 2~

23

An hour later I was standing in the Mess Hall waiting for Jesse and his mom to get here for our dinner. While I was waiting I took a look around the room. All around me were people eating with their families. The staff at the camp had somehow managed to turn the Mess Hall into a place that resembled a fancy restaurant in the few hours that have passed since the parents arrived. The wooden picnic tables had been covered in white tablecloths and were decorated with roses and candles. The hard seats now had plush red pillows on them and the plastic utensils were replaced with silverware. It kind of reminded me of when Jesse decorated the Mess Hall for our first date.

"There you are."

I turned around and saw Jesse walk into the room. His mother had her arm interlocked with his and when she saw me she looked me up and down. This time I stood up straighter and met her gaze with a confident one of my own. She couldn't look down at me because of my outfit anymore. I was wearing a (borrowed) white lacy dress that fell right above my knees. My hair was in loose curls and I had on a pair of killer gold heels on my feet. I was dressed to impress.

"Here I am." I whispered as Jesse let go of his mother and hugged me. When we let go I turned to his mother.

"Hello again Ms. Peirce." I said to his mother and opened my arms for a hug.

"Sydney." She chortled and eyed my outstretched arms warily. In the end she decided against the hug and instead offered her hand. I bit my tongue and shook her hand firmly.

After that Jesse led us to an empty table and we sat down, Jesse and I on one side with his mother sitting across from us.

"So Sydney, tell me about yourself." Ms. Peirce started with. She skewered me with her green eyes.

"Well I'm 18, I'm a counselor here at Camp Pinewood, I met Jesse two years ago-"

"Was that before or after you turned him into the police?" Ms. Peirce injected.

It was a good thing I was wearing blush, because I felt the color drain off of my face.

"Mom." Jesse hissed.

"I was just asking a question." Ms. Peirce widened her eyes innocently.

"It's ok Jesse." I patted his knee. "In answer to your question Ms. Peirce, that was before I turned Jesse in."

Obviously, cause it's kind of impossible to tell to report a person to the police without meeting them.

"Hm," Ms. Peirce muttered. "And why were you here in the first place?"

"To be completely honest, I was spiraling out of control in my personal life two years ago. I was acting out because I knew that it would upset my mom and I wanted to get back at her for marrying my step father."

"Why did you have a problem with your step father?"

"He was abusive." I replied tensely.

Ms Peirce gave me a distrustful look. "Are you talking about the man that I met earlier. He didn't seem anything but nice."

"Looks can be deceiving." I told her.

There was a pause in the conversation. Ms. Peirce took that time to look around the room. When she did she noticed the buffet that was on the other side of the Mess Hall.

"I'm hungry. Jesse please fix me and the girl a plate of food."

I felt my pulse go up. Jesse's mother or not, this woman was starting to work my nerves.

"The girl has a name and it's Sydney, please use it." I said. I didn't raise my voice but I used a tone that let Patricia know that I was dead serious. I wouldn't allow her to push me around.

"Jesse go, now." His mom repeated.

I nodded at him so that he knew I was fine. Jesse pushed out of his seat and went over to the buffet.

"I don't think that it's a surprise when I saw that I don't like you." Ms. Peirce let me know once Jesse was gone.

"You don't say?" I raised an eyebrow in mock surprise.

"No mother wants her son to be with a girl like you. Let's pretend for a second that you didn't attend a troubled camp and had your life together. But the main reason I can't stand you is that because of you, my son is a convicted felon. In case you didn't realize, convicted felons end up at the bottom of the totem pole in life. Jesse won't be able to get a stable high paying job and basically do a bunch of other things now because of you." Ms. Peirce snapped.

"No, Jesse won't be able to do a lot of things because he made a stupid mistake. A stupid mistake that he paid for and because of that he's a better person now. I'm not going to apologize for turning him in because it was the right thing to do. I realize that I can't make you like me and that's ok. But I'm not going to let you disrespect me and my relationship with Jesse. Throwing my past in my face was not only un-called for but hypocritical seeing as your son started coming here when he was 13 years old. I really wanted us to get along, but not at the expense of acting like someone else just to please you." I exclaimed.

"What did I miss?" Jesse returned then, balancing three plates of food in his arms. He handed me and his mom our plates before taking his seat again.

"Nothing son." Ms. Peirce forced a smile at him.

There was an awkward silence as we all ate. I avoided looking at Jesse's mom while she kept her eyes focused on her plate and Jesse looked back and forth at us trying to figure out what went wrong when he left.

"So Sydney, what do you want to do when you leave here?" Ms. Peirce broke the silence.

"I want to go to college and then after that I was to pursue a career as an author. I defiently have a lot of material to put in my books after everything I've been through here."

"That's nice." She muttered. "Anyways, let's not drag this out anymore. I have a train to catch later and I'm sure you two would like some free time." Ms. Peirce stood up.

"I'm not going to lie son, I didn't like Sydney coming in today. And I'm still not sure that I like her. But one thing I can say about her is that the girl has guts. She's not weak and I respect that. I approve of your choice in girlfriend."

My eyes widened when I heard the words come out of Ms. Peirce's mouth. She gave her son a hug before standing in front of me. I stuck out my hand for her to shake but she surprised me by pulling me in for a hug.

"Take care of my son." She whispered in my ear. "And if you do anything to hurt him again, anything at all, I will personally find you and make sure that it's the last thing you do."

She let go of me after that and gave me one last smirk before picking up her purse and leaving the room.

"What the hell happened when I left?" Jesse asked incredulously.

I pecked him on the lips before winking at him. "What you don't know won't hurt you."

I left a stunned Jesse behind me and left the Mess Hall, hoping to check up on my campers back at the cabin. However, as soon as I opened the door I ran straight into a woman who was making her way inside. The door hit her hard and knocked her down.

"I am so sorry." I told the woman with unnaturally long blonde hair. Her purse had fallen next to her and she was scrambling to pick up her things.

"Yeah you should be, watch where you're going next time. " She glared at me, stood up and brushed off her expensive looking clothes.

"It was an accident, no need to be so snarky about it."

"Whatever, I don't have time for this." She brushed past me and sauntered into the Mess Hall.

I rolled my eyes and was preparing to head back to my cabin when I noticed that she left something behind that fallen out of her purse. I picked up the brown pill bottle and started walking back to the doors of the Mess Hall.

"Hey you left some-"

I stopped talking when I noticed that Alyssa's name was on the bottle. I looked under that to see what was perscribed to her and gasped when I saw what it was.

Geodon.

Also known as anti psychotic medication.