Among the Vinca

Chapter 22: Ryan

Well, this sucks. More like stings. It was freezing, and I was laying on a bunch of bug infested leaves, and every time I managed to drift off, I woke up to a bolt of red hot pain. Stupid bugs. I was pretty used to the little suckers; My family believed very strongly in survival training. I could still remember one of the first ones...

"Why do I have to do this?" I whined out loud. I knew they could hear me, and knew that they didn't tolerate whining. Double whammy for their attention.

"Because it's for your own benefit."

"You don't understand now, but it will all become clear later."

But this was really annoying. I hadn't had to sleep directly on them before. My parents weren't that hardcore. Like Blake and Whynne in the desert. It was pretty stupid for those two to fight each other, but I had to admire how persistent Whynne was. Don't get me wrong, Whynne was being a brat, but it had been a crazy night. I'm sure everyone was irritated. But she was very determined to get at her.

Is that Whynne's talent? Her persistence? She seems to do whatever she can to accomplish her goals. I hoped those two wouldn't be at each other's throats. At least we weren't in the desert anymore. That would haunt my nightmares for a long time.

If I ever manage to sleep, that is. I heard Whynne sigh softly. Seemed that I wasn't the only one awake. I shifted slightly and saw that her eyes weren't closed, they were wide open.

"Are you ok?"

"Wha-what?" She was shaking like a leaf.

Alright, obviously not ok. I squeezed over by her, huddled against the wind. I managed to put my arm around her. She barely noticed. Her expression was petrified. But even in her scared state, her eyes glowed and her hair shone in the moonlight, like someone out of a fairy tale. I scolded myself for noticing. Poor girl was a lot more scared of bugs then she showed. I thought that I heard her voice quivering... She needed to toughen up a little if she wanted to survive, though.

"Come on Whynne, close your eyes. Try to sleep. It will be a long day tomorrow."

"Ca-can't-"

"Yes you can. You can physically close your eyes, I've seen it." Rather than closing, they rolled.

"No need for sarcasm," She told me. A bit of color was returning to her cheeks.

Maybe she just needs to keep her mind off it?

"So where are you from?" Whynne asked.

"Detroit. You?"

"Los Angeles."

"Naturally a fashionable stylish girl comes from Los Angeles." I was awarded with a faint smile.

"I've done some modeling, actually." I had a mental image of Whynne strutting in a bikini.

"What did you model?"

"Just today's fashions. Skinny jeans, moccasins, that kind of thing. Some shampoo commercials too. And lotion ones. And makeup ones. I've actually done just about everything you can think of, accept inappropriate ones."

Aw man. Oh well, can't blame a guy for hoping.

"That's really cool!"

"Thank you. It was really fun actually. You get to meet a bunch of people. But you wouldn't believe the stuff people do for attention!"

"Like what?" Whynne started to giggle told me a bunch of things that she had seen celebrities do.

"And then, she broke the plate over his head and started swearing in French!" She beamed radiantly as I laughed. We heard stirring, and whipped our heads in Blake and Eric's direction. It was a sign of their exhaustion that the sound settled a few moments later.