Queen of Hearts

Six

This chapter goes a little fast because I want to move on to other parts. Eventually, I might go back and expand it, but for now, this is what I have :)

I woke up the next day to the sound of honking, yelling, and crying. My sheets and covers had been thrown to the ground, probably because I was so hot at night. I groaned and sat up, rubbing my eyes. Immediately, I saw 2 new girls in my cabin, each with their mother and father. The girls were organizing their belongings, and the two moms seemed to be chit-chatting together. One of the girls noticed me and gave a quick smile, but quickly returned to her unpacking. I sighed and rolled off of the bed. I slipped on slippers and a sweatshirt and stumbled my way over to the two girls. 

"Hi!" I chirped. "I'm Jasmine, and I'll be one of your roommates. It's lovely to meet you!" Both of the girls turned to look at me and the moms paused from their conversation to smile at me. 

"Hello, Jasmine! It's nice to meet you too," one of them said. The other mom just smiled but didn't really acknowledge me. Then, the girl who smiled at me before introduced herself. 

"I'm Kate, and it's great to meet you! How long have you been here?"

"Oh, only one night. My parents just had to drop me off early." I gave a meek smile and looked over Kate. She looked older than me, about 13 or 14. She also had beautiful wavy blonde hair and her skin was perfectly tanned. I wondered where she was from, but before I could ask her, she asked, "so Jasmine. Where are you from?" 

"New York, but New York state, not the city."

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "That's cool, but like..." she trailed off. "Where are you from- from?" I stared at her, not really understanding. But after a few seconds, I realized what she was asking. "Oooooh, I'm half Filipino and half German, but like... I'm still from America." 

"That's cool!" she chirped. "Well, I really should unpack, but it was nice meeting you. See you later?"

"Yeah, sure!" I called out. The other girl seemed preoccupied, so I threw off my slippers and grabbed a pair of sneakers, heading for the big house. "See you guys later!" I called out. 

Leaving the cabin, I saw why there was so much honking. There were at least 30 cars packed in the small driveway, and almost no room for parents to turn around. I saw a mixture of both boys and girls, ranging from 10 to 15 years of age. As a made my way to the big house, I spotted Cole talking to a few of the parents. He must've been directing them somewhere. 

"Cole!" I exclaimed. "Cole, over here!" He looked up, barely registering me. But then, he smiled that adorable smile of his and bolted up from his seat. He quickly apologized to the parents and bounded over to where I was. 

"Jas!" he called out, pronouncing it 'Jazz". "Hi!" I smiled, really happy to see him. I'd hoped that he forgot about what had happened between me and his mom yesterday, and to me, it seemed as he did. 

"Hey," I replied. "So, where's breakfast?" Cole laughed, and teased, "already hungry? That's ok, follow me." I'd expected him to take me to the cafeteria, but instead, he led me into his house. "Are you sure you're mom will be okay with this, I don't mind eating cafeteria food." 

"Nah, we have plenty to share." I smiled, feeling victorious. I'd wanted to be friends with Cole, and it seemed to be going well. But that quickly ended.

 As we entered the house, he turned to me. "So happened between you and my mom yesterday," he asked. I jumped, startled. 

"Oh, that, nothing," I said. Then I grinned, and slyly responded, "she just had a change of... heart, I guess." He frowned at my response, so I commented again, "it's really nothing to worry about. I just wanted to carry my trunk." At that, he seemed to relax. 

Entering the kitchen, we saw someone else there. It was another girl, about my age I thought. She saw us and stared, gawking. 

"I'm lost," she squeaked. To my surprise, Cole laughed. I stared at him, shocked. 

"Here, let me help you out," he said. But then he paused, thinking for a second. "Unless you want to stay. This is my mom's house after all." To that, the girl seemed to perk up, but me, I was fuming. I was supposed to be the lucky one. Me. 

As they were talking, something inside me snapped, and in the next second, I had the heartstrings in my hand. I grabbed at Cole's and fueled with rage, I pulled strong towards me. But I did something else too. For some reason, I was able to feel the connection between them too. It wasn't strong. Actually, it was barely there, and it was stronger from her end then from him. On instinct, I grabbed out, and pulled their connection, snapping it. 

At the time, I didn't know why I did it. Why I broke my rule, which I had been trying to follow for so long, not just once, but twice. But now, I know what it was. My little 10-year-old heart was not angry, I was jealous. 

Suddenly, Cole stopped talking to her. "Actually, Jasmine and I are going to leave. Sorry, but bye." He grabbed my arm, but instead of pulling me to the kitchen, he was leading me out of the door. I could hear the girl behind me following us, confused, but no longer interested. When we were outside on the main porch, he waited for the girl to leave, but did not loosen his grip on my arm. Instead, he tightened it. 

"Never do that again," he spoke, forcefully, and angry. I froze, scared by his tone. "What?" I asked. "Do... what?" Even though he was 10, I still remember his cold, harsh gaze, one that genuinely scared me. Something in him changed, he turned into something I'd never seen before. His grip tightened as he murmured, "don't ever change my heart again." 

"Ok," I whispered. "I'm sorry," I whined. He released my arm and frowned. Then, as he started to turn away, I followed him. "Cole, wait!" I called. "How did you find out?" He didn't reply so I asked again. 

"Cole! Please, how did you know?" 

He stopped again and stared me straight into the eyes. "Let's just say you're not a very good liar."

I frowned, but before he started to leave again, I pressured him, and said, "don't tell anyone. Please. I've never told anyone, and if my parents, if-if- anyone found out-" I choked. I looked him in the eyes, pleading. Cole started back but nodded. "I can do that."

I sighed in relief, and before I could thank him, he left, leaving me stranded in my thoughts.  

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The rest of the camp went by pretty fast. Every day we were made to do activities, so I was stuck with my cabin most of the time. Whenever Cole and I saw each other, we would wave, but we weren't friends in the slightest. Of course, I made other friends. Kate from my cabin was actually really nice and a few others had things in common with me. But the entire time, I couldn't help myself feel guilty and... bad. Cole's words branded me with a new thought, first of how he knew, and second, why I was suppressing my ability. I wanted to change his heart, I wanted him to not ignore me. And it felt good while I was doing it. 

So I made another decision, one which I regret to this day. I had decided that I would stop hiding, stop lying to myself. I'd chose to be selfish and to get whatever I wanted. I chose to be a Queen of Hearts. 

Ok yeah, this should've been like three separate chapters but now I'll be writing about Jasmine's present life versus her past. Upcoming chapters will be longer so I'll probably be uploading every other day until the summer ends. Enjoy!!