The Natural

Chapter 5

I waved back at Mrs Eleanor who was standing on the front porch of my house and watched her figure got smaller as we kept moving forward. I took a deep breath then exhaled slowly. I couldn't believe I was leaving home for the whole three months of summer holiday without my family coming along with me. Usually, it would always be the four of us hanging out and having an incredible quality family time. Last year, we went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; mostly because we missed their food. They were super cheap and affordable and delicious.

This year was different. I could sense the void in my life like there was something missing that needed to be filled in. I had big expectation on Rider's Camp, maybe it could fill in the emptiness that was found in my heart and in my current state of life.

Lany's car was a 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS. It was a classic car with black exterior and leather seats on the inside. The car wasn't entirely clean. There were crumbs on the floor carpet and on the seats itself, which I noticed had not been vacuumed since the last time I hopped into this car. There was a filled water bottle on the floor besides my foot. It rolled back and forth hitting my shoe and gave out a swishing sound. The car smelt like old people with the hint of cow's fur. It wasn't a pleasant scent but I was used to smelling it already so I didn't mind. Some may complain about this, but I didn't want to because that would be rude even though I was stating out the truth.

"It's kinda hot here isn't it?" Lany asked. The car's air conditioner wasn't really functioning well since it was an old car.

"Yeah"

"Wait...let me slide down the windows." Lany pressed the buttons, and the windows squeaked as they slid down and out of view. The morning air blew and whooshed into the car. My scarf that was wrapped around neck flapped in vigorous motion. It was refreshingly cold.

I turned on the radio in loud volume. Delicate – Taylor Swift was playing. It was one of our favorite song. We looked at each other with a smirk plastered on our faces. Then we sang and bobbed and shook our heads following the rhythms of the song. It totally brought in some good moods.

This ain't for the best

My reputation's never been worse, so

You must like me for me...

We can't make

Any promises now, can we, babe?

But you can make me a drink

Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?

Phone lights up my nightstand in the black

Come here, you can meet me in the back

Dark jeans and your Nikes, look at you

Oh damn, never seen that color blue

Just think of the fun things we could do

'Cause I like you

This ain't for the best

My reputation's never been worse, so

You must like me for me...

Yeah, I want you

We can't make

Any promises now, can we, babe?

But you can make me a drink

Is it cool that I said all that?

Is it chill that you're in my head?

'Cause I know that it's delicate (delicate)

Is it cool that I said all that?

Is it too soon to do this yet?

'Cause I know that it's delicate

Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it?

Isn't it? Isn't it? Isn't it?

Isn't it... delicate?

Third floor on the West Side, me and you

Handsome, you're a mansion with a view

Do the girls back home touch you like I do?

Long night, with your hands up in my hair

Echoes of your footsteps on the stairs

Stay here, honey, I don't wanna share

'Cause I like you

This ain't for the best

My reputation's never been worse, so

You must like me for me...

Yeah, I want you...

We can't make

Any promises now, can we, babe?

But you can make me a drink

Lany used the GPS on her phone to guide us to where the Rider's Camp was located. It was a long way there and things had quieted down. The radio was tuned out and had become a background to fill in the silence.

Suddenly, I had the urged to ask her, "Lany, do you have a crush on someone?'

Lany smiled smugly. "When did this coming from?"

"Out of curiosity I guess. We never talk about "crushes" before."

Lany nodded in agreement. "True, we never talk about them. I used to have one and it turned out pretty awful. Ever since then I didn't want to have a crush on anyone except on Josh Hutcherson. He's so handsome." Josh Hutcherson was a famous actor who acted as Peeta Mellark in The Hunger Games series. But we all knew that he was impossible to date. And what did you expect? He was a celebrity after all. You would be pulled away from him before you even utter a single word. Dating him would only be one of those far-fetched dreams that any fan-girl could ever think of.

"What happened?"

"He figured out that I liked him. And humiliated me in front of everyone. I begged my parents to send me away to another school and that was when I met you. All I need was a fresh new start and a new best friend to forget about him, don't you think?" She smiled.

I gasped. "He is such an idiot!"

Lany chuckled. "Well, it was my fault to liking a jock who already has a girlfriend."

"But at least you didn't force him to like you back or make her girlfriend jealous. He's such an idiot humiliating you in front of everybody. He is so heartless!"

Lany stayed silent and I could see that she was thinking, remembering. I could see through her pain. I held Lany's shoulder and said, "Sorry I brought up this conversation. You need to forget him. He's not a good person to be remembered."

Lany sniffed. "That's okay, Elle. It's nice to let it out finally. And you're right. I do need to forget him," Lany said and nodded her head. It was clearly written on her face that he did hurt her badly. Whoever he was, he shouldn't be treating an innocent girl who had a heart of gold like that? If I knew who this person was, I would give him a piece of my mind. I may be 5' 4" tall but I would gain my height and win this battle with my words. Words are my weapon, babe.

I looked at the time on my watch. 8:15 am. Lany drove slow as we entered a corner and we saw a big vacant lot for parking numbers of cars.

There was a huge and tall piece of metal board supported by two poles. It stood on the side with Rider's Camp Parking Lot written on it. And we knew in an instance that we were on the right place.