Camp Pining Hearts

Chapter 15

The first thing that Peridot noticed when she awoke on Saturday morning was the crick in her neck. The second thing was the odd angle at which she'd been laying, which at least explained the crick. Third, she noticed that she wasn't alone, which then explained the odd angle.

Initially confused, she pushed herself onto her elbows and blinked her eyes a couple of times to help her focus. In doing so, Peridot found that her feet—still strapped onto her shins—were resting on the end of the bed where her head usually lay. Right next to where her head had actually been laying, she found Amethyst's head. Sometime during the night, the other girl had spread out on her back like a starfish; now her mouth was wide open and breathing deep. Peridot tried to suppress a smirk at that as she glanced down to the foot of the bed. There she found Steven, curled up like a cat with his arm extended over the side of the mattress. Connie was in Steven's bed, arm also extended out. In between the two mattresses their hands nearly met, hanging limply next to each other. Peridot pondered if they'd fallen asleep holding hands.

And, by the looks of it, it seemed as if all four of them had fallen asleep in quick succession. They were still wearing their clothes from the night before, and playing cards were strewn haphazardly across the bed.

Peridot shifted—slowly, so as not to disturb the bed's other occupants—to remove her prostheses. After placing those gently on the cabin floor, she reached behind herself to retrieve her glasses from the windowsill. Once those were perched properly onto her face, she pulled her tablet from under her pillow, opened a word document, and began typing.

"Log date 062715."

Then she paused. Where even was she supposed to start?

After an indeterminate amount of time spent writing and erasing over and over again, she felt Amethyst's head nudge her thigh. Then she heard a grunt. "Wh—What. Where?"

"Morning," Peridot whispered, clicking the "sleep" button on her tablet and sliding it back into its proper place under her pillow. Then she watched as Amethyst opened her eyes, stared at her for a second, and closed them again.

"Morning," Amethyst replied. She yawned, smacked her lips, and then reopened her eyes. "How'd you sleep?"

Peridot shrugged. "Fine, all things considered. You?"

Amethyst smiled serenely. "Like a rock." She moved her hands to rest her head on top of them, stretching a bit as she asked, "So. What's the game plan today?"

Unable to help herself, Peridot chuckled. If you don't laugh, you cry, right? "I honestly have no idea," she said.

"Just take it one step at a time," Amethyst mumbled, eyes drifting closed yet again. "Inch by inch, life's a synch."

Peridot rolled her eyes. But she couldn't deny that it was relatively sage advice from someone so young.

"Wait," Peridot said, staring dumbstruck off into space. Then she transferred the look down to Amethyst. "It's your birthday."

Amethyst smirked and cracked open a single eyelid. "Yep."

"Well—Huh." Peridot cocked her head to the side, kind of grimaced in an attempt to smile. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks, Wondernerd."

Guilt was a feeling with which Peridot had grown quite familiar over the past few weeks. But still, that didn't keep it from making Peridot feel a little sick to her stomach. "You didn't go out last night," she said, frowning.

"Figured that none of us really felt up to dancing, am I right?"

"I'm so sorry."

Amethyst's eyes popped open at that. "Hey, don't sweat it."