The Slide Boy

Sixteen

Juliet POV

Once we got to the airport, we met up with Kayla first. I found out that Kayla and Cameron were friends since kindergarten, and she was also in the gang before she got out. The difference is she's not their target, me and Cameron are. She got off free.

"Juliet!" I heard someone yell, and turned around to see Nash and Matt. I ran over to them, hugging Nash tightly. "Are you okay? What happened to your face?" He asked, looking at the bruise on my cheek where the guy puched me. He looked up, his eyes landing on Cameron. "Did you do this?" He roared, letting go of me and walking to Cameron. He pushed him, and Kayla immediately tensed, glaring at Nash.

"Nash stop!" I yelled, grabbing his arm to stop him. He glanced down at me, then back at Cameron. "He saved my life! Nash stop!" I yelled, and Matt ran over, holding Nash back.

"What do you mean? What happened?" Matt asked, frowning.

"Some guys kidnapped me, and Cameron saved me. Now me and Cameron are in trouble, they want to kill us both." I explained, leaving out the part where Cam and Kayla were in a gang. Nash's eyes widened, and he looked around alerted. "They don't know where we are Nash" I chuckled, linking arms with him and walking to the ticket booth. Matt came on my other side, looking at me worried.

"Now I regret letting you dance with him." He grumbled, linking arms with me. I rolled my eyes laughing.

"Matt, the dance had nothing to do with it." I assured, laying my head on his shoulder as we waited in line. I felt eyes staring at me, but I knew it was Cameron.

"I thought you two were together" I heard Kayla whisper to Cameron, and I felt Matt stiffen.

"Well we kind of are but kind of not, I don't really know." He replied quietly, and I smiled.

"Then why is she on those guys?"

"Those are her best friends Kayla, calm down." Cameron chuckled, and I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face. Once we got to the counter, I bought my ticket and Cameron and Kayla bought theirs. Once we got it, we all walked to our gate, waiting for our plane to be called.

"So where are we going after Miami?" I asked, glancing up at Nash. We were going to Miami first, where we'd meet up with the boys and then spend 2 days there for the event before going somewhere else.

"Dallas" Nash mumbled, yawning. I chuckled at his tired face, remembering how late it was. Once our flight was called, we board the plane. I was between Cameron and Kayla, with Matt and Nash two seats in front of us.

"So I was thinking" Cameron suddenly said, looking at me. Kayka had fallen asleep, so it was just Cameron and I. We were sharing head phones listening to his music while I rested my head on his shoulder. "When we get to Miami, we should go on a date." I looked up at him, a smile on my face.

"Cam" I mumbled, laying my head back on his shoulder "you're my boyfriend now."

"Yes! I-i mean I'm perfectly okay with that." He nodded innocently, and I giggled kissing his cheek. I took out my headphone, and looked up at him smiling.

**

Once we got to the hotel, we were all assigned rooms. Me, Kayla and Mahogany were sharing a room. We let Kayla have her own bed since she didn't really know me or Mahogany. After I unpacked, I went down to the loby. I walked around, looking at everything. I sighed as I sat on the bench in front of the waterfall. I watched silently as the water ran down the rocks, into the pool of water. It was so clear, so beautiful.

"Hey" a voice said, and I turned to see Cameron. I smiled at him, motioning for him to sit next to me. Our arms were touching, it put me at ease. "Why?" He suddenly asked out loud. I frowned, looking at him. "Why did you want to talk to me? I know that its not because of my good looks." He threw a pennie into the water, closing his eyes.

"The slide." I looked at him, "I saw you on the slide and I know this sounds creepy, but I watched you, for days. I'd never seen anyone just sit on a slide all day, and then leave. It was weird, and I found myself wanting to know everything about you." I looked down at my fingers.

"Do you want to know why?" He whispered, looking down at me. I looked up at him, nodding my head. He tool a deep breath, "There was this abandoned park beside my old house, it was old and the swings were rusted and the monkey bars weren't sturdy. My father took me their everyday when I was a kid, and after. I always complained that it was boring." He paused, closing his eyes, "but my father, he told me not to hate something because it was ugly, but to take advantage of a bad situation. He'd always take me on the slide. It was his favorite thing to do. Sometimes, I'd just sit in the grass and pout while he went up and down the slide. When he died, I would go to that slide and just sit there all day. It was my safe place. No matter what happened, I always found myself back at the slide remembering him." A tear slipped his eye as he remembered his dad and the slide. "Do you know how I told you my dad died of cancer?" He asked.

"Yeah, and your mom became an alcoholic and ran off" I whispered, rubbing his back. He shook his head, his fists clenching.

"He didn't die of cancer. He was killed, murdered. We were at the park, and it was really late. I kept complaining that I wanted to go home because I hated that park. My dad finally said okay and on the way home, we witnessed a robbery. My dad being himself ran to help, but he was shot. He told me to run, and that's what I did. I ran back to the park, and hid under the slide." I was in utter shock as he told me what truly happened to his father. A tear ran down my eye as I imagined how much pain he went through. "It was my fault Juliet" he whispered, his voice breaking, "I made him go home, I got him shot." At this point he was full on sobbing. I cradled him in my arms, rubbing his back.

"No, Cam it wasn't tour fault." I whispered, "your dad was trying to help people, he died a hero. It wasn't your fault baby." I said, tears now running down my face. All this time he blamed himself for what happened to his father.

"My mom, she didn't become an alcoholic. She killed herself. She signed me off to my aunt and then killed herself." I gasped, my hold on him tightening.

"I'm so sorry Cameron" I whispered, "I wish I could make the pain go away, I do. But I can't and I'm sorry." I held him in my arms for hours as he cried, letting out all his unshed tears from over the years. I couldn't imagine what he went through. It hurt just thinking about it.