Hearing My plea

14

As it turns out, my date with Toni was not going to work out yet again. Because of all the attacks that had been going on, Nora thought it was wise to move the home visitation up into the week. Lots of my classmates were going home Monday through Wednesday to visit their families to take stress away from the camp.

But I knew the real reason Nora wanted everyone away from camp. The note had said to meet Acheron at the border that night at midnight, but she wasn't planning on going. In case something bad were to happen, like another attack, Nora didn't want the campers to be around.

Willis complained the entire time she packed that she didn't want to visit her mother, and that she would much rather visit her father but had no choice. Toni said his father had some work he was dragging him to out of state, and Todd was staying home with his mom. Chip planned on going home, but only because he wanted to sneak away and visit Willis, which he wouldn't be able to do at the camp.

I had called my mother, expecting her to be delighted that I could have a few days with her, but I was surprised when she said, "Peyton, it's probably not the best idea. You would waste your gas driving all the way over here and I've been working double shifts to pay for the summer school so the only thing I do when I get home is sleep. I'm sorry sweetheart, but I really don't have any time to spend with you. Next time, okay?"

I hung up feeling numb, my fingers already working the buttons on my phone. "Hello?" Olivia answered.

"Hey, I know it's last minuet and everything but I have the next few days off school and my mom's busy so I was thinking maybe I could come over?" The words all came out in one big rush.

There was a slight pause on the other line before she finally uttered a, "Oh, umm..."

"It would only be till Wednesday," I said, holding my breath. I didn't understand why she wasn't jumping at the chance to have me over, she had always been like that.

"Peyton... I'm not exactly home..."

A pause. And then, "What do you mean you're not home?"

She sighed. "I'm in Mexico."

I exhaled, deflated as a balloon. One thing Olivia and I had always agreed on was that one of these summers, we would visit Mexico together and spend a week on the sunny beaches. Now that I listened closer, I could hear the distant sound of waves crashing.

"You... went without me? I thought we were going to go together. That was something we were always saving up for."

"I know, and I'm sorry, but the opportunity came up, and you were gone, and I couldn't pass it up..."

"What do you mean the opportunity came up?" I asked suspiciously. She was keeping something from me.

"Well, you remember Josh, right?" Yeah, the ex boyfriend that treated her like shit and whom she said she would never get back together with in her life. "Well, his uncle owns this plane, and he was taking a trip down here, and Josh asked if I wanted to come, so I kind of said yes."

"You WHAT?" I shouted, leaping off of the couch in my cabin. "Olivia! What if he hurts you? What if something happens? Like you get murdered there and Josh leaves you for dead?"

"Oh, and you wouldn't do the same?" she asked jokingly, then laughed.

"Olivia, I'm serious. Not to mention the fact that we were going to go together, had said that since we were ten!"

"Well, you know what Peyton?" she asked, getting exasperated. "If a guy asked you to go to mexico with him and I wasn't able to go, you would have done the same thing!"