The Last Blue Rose// Reggie Mantle (1)

Chapter Twenty

Caia was impressed with herself. She hasn't know the limit of her own strength. But she had been lifting and carrying rocks right along with the boys. She had really been able to keep up. She grabbed a rock she had just split and lugged it over to the pile.

"Hey Keller!" One of the boys called out. Caia didn't recognize him. "Looking good! Looking buff." Kevin looked over his shoulder and set down the rock he was carraying. "Get you on our team." Caia scoffed. She could never see Kevin playing football.

"I prefer my contact sports," Kevin replied. "One on one. You know, like boxing." Caia choked on a laugh. Kevin playing boxing was also a dream she saw not coming true.

The boy looked to his right, where Caia was standing. "How 'bout you, Sinclair? Holding up?"

Caia raised her eyebrows at him. "Yep," She replied, popping the p. "Didn't you know I was training for the olympics?" She set the rock down in the barrel next to her. She straightened up and dusted off her gloves.

The boy nodded mockingly. "Yeah? For what? Gymnastics?" Caia clenched her fists. Of course that's what he would say.

She flashed him an annoyed smile. "No. Punching douchey boys in the face," She spat, picking up the handles of the wheel barrow and pushed it passed the boy. He widened his eyes as he saw what she was doing.

"Pretty handy with that wheelbarrow, Caia," Jughead observed walking next to the girl.

"Yeah?" She choked out, clearly struggling. "Dude made me mad." She turned behind her while still walking forward to look at the guy who had annoyed her. "Truth be told, I don't know how much longer I can hold this."

Archie came to the rescue, taking the handle of the wheel barrow from Caia. She rubbed her muscles as soon as she was relieved from the pain. "Lord. You did this all summer, Archie?" She questioned. It was a hard job. She could do it, but not very easily.

"My dad loves this kind of work," Archie replied. "And I love him, but-"

"No, I know," Jughead interrupted. He started to strip off his gloves. "Your dad's path is not for you."

Caia nodded. "And it won't ever be," She added. She felt that about her own father. She was never going to become a drunkard who hit their own kid. "I totally get it." Jughead nodded in agreement.

"He works his ass off for me, bro," Archie explained. "Never asks for anything, always has my back. Even when I mess up. So if having his back means I gotta haul some rocks, then bring it on."

Caia wished she could say the same thing about her dad. But she would have never worked like this for the sake of her own dad. Or maybe she would have. He did give her life, after all.

Jughead was silent for a moment. "Agreed," he finally stated. Caia senses he didn't really mean it, but she couldn't exactly tell. Maybe he felt the same way about his dad as she did about hers. "My dad's got my back too." Scratch that. "More than some people do." Just kidding. He totally felt the same way about his dad.

Archie set the wheel barrow down. "Exactly."

Fast forward a few hours to darkness. The group of temporary workers decided to call it quits as soon as the sun went down. Caia gladly put up her tools. She was so tired. She really needed to work out more if this was what exercise did to her.

She sat down on a rock. "I think I'm gonna die," She exclaimed. "Pretty sure my heart's about to give out. At least I'll die with amazing looking legs, though," She mumured, examining her legs.

"Maybe you should have stuck to cheerleading," the boy from earlier stated, throwing his hard hat at Caia. She caught it and stood up, setting it on the rock she had been previously sitting on.