The Dog Sitter

Chapter 17: Campout

They all cheered, but it sounded as if I was underwater, I was too deep into my thoughts. "Darla." I heard a voice say. Then I felt someone grab my shoulders, it felt as if I had swam back up to the surface. "Huh?" I said. Benny was holding my shoulders and looking into my eyes. "You ok?" He asked. "Yeah, I was just thinking." I said, putting a strand of hair behind my ear. "What were you thinking about?" He asked softly. "Campout, how it used to be OUR thing." I said. "Oh, yeah." He said with a nervous laugh. I smirked. "So, let's campout!" I exclaimed, walking in front of everyone. They all looked at each other confused. "Come on, let's go." I said. Honestly, I didn't know if I was mad or not. I mean, these boys have become my best friends so I didn't mind going on a campout with them, but why did Benny share our thing with them? It honestly didn't matter since it had been years. After, we all met up at the treehouse around seven o'clock. Benny had a treehouse in his backyard we would have a sleepover in almost every saturday. I walked into the house to see Lisa and mom in the kitchen cooking, dad and Jack in the living room watching a baseball game, and Wendy and Kimberly on the stairs talking. "Hey mom." I said, setting my glove down on the table. "Hey." She responded. "Hey, get that dirty glove off the table please." Lisa said. I rolled my eyes as I took it into the living room. "Hey guys. Nice, the Dodgers are winning." I said. "Hey, move out of the way." Jack said. I rolled my eyes. I walked over to the stairs. "Hey guys." I said. "Were talking about girly stuff." Kimberly scoffed. "And?" I asked nicely. "All she is saying is you wouldn't really be interested." Wendy said. "Well sorry that I'm female and I like girly stuff too, not just baseball." I said, walking into the bathroom and locking the door. I stared at myself in the mirror. I observed my body and face. No wonder Phillips cheated on me. I thought to myself. I sat on the side of the bathtub, drowning in my insecurities. I'm usually not insecure, but sometimes it really gets to me. 

"Darla! It's for you!" I heard Lisa yelled. I walked out of the bathroom and to the front door. "Benny? Campout isn't until seven, what are you doing here?" I asked. Lisa just rolled her eyes. "I need to talk to you." He said. I led Benny inside the house. "Excuse me girly-girls, but I need to get by." I said sarcastically. They rolled their eyes as they allowed me and Benny to walk by. "Hey are you ok?" He asked me as I closed the door to my room. "Yeah I'm fine, but are you?" I asked, sitting next to him on my bed. "You remember when I told that my parents are fighting?" He asked. "Yeah." I replied. "Well, they are getting a divorce." He said. "Everything will be ok, you'll be ok." I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. "But what if it's not?" He asked. "It will be. But if it's not, I'll be right here." I said with a sympathetic smile. He smiled back. "Thanks Darla." He said. "Anytime." I replied. "Benny?" I asked after a few seconds of silence. "Yeah?" "Do you think Phillips cheated on me because I wasn't as pretty as those other girls, or because I'm not a girly girl." I said. Benny looked at me with worrisome eyes. "Darla, you are the most beautiful girl i've ever seen. Any guy would be lucky to have you. Do you know how many years I had a crush on you when we were little?" He said. I smiled. "You're just saying that cause you're my bestfriend." I said. "I'd say that if I didn't even know you." He said softly. He gave me a hug. We sat there hugging for a while until Lisa just barged into my room. "Am I interrupting something?" She asked in the rudest way possible. "No Lisa." I said. "Well I should get going." Benny said standing up. "Yeah." I replied awkwardly. I waved as he walked out of the room and downstairs. "Dinner is ready." Lisa scoffed as she walked away. 

It was awkward at the dinner table as everyone was stuffing their faces with food and not saying a word. "So, me and the boys decided to have a campout, like the old days with me and Benny. Could I go tonight?" I asked. "Sure, I don't see why-" "I don't think you should." Lisa said, interrupting my mom. "All due respect Lisa, but I was asking MY mom." I scoffed. "You know teen pregnancies have gone up 20% this year. Judging on how close you two were in your room, who knows what could happen." Lisa said taking a bite of casserole. I choked on mine. "Excuse me" I said through a cough. "How close?" My dad asked, skeptical. "We were just hugging dad, he is going through a lot at home right now." I responded. "Yeah, they are like brother and sister Lisa, don't take it the wrong way." My mom said sweetly. "Just watching out for her." Lisa said. "I'm fine thank you very much." I said sarcasticaly. My dad sighed. "May I be excused? I have to be at Benny's at seven." I said. "Sure." My mom said. I glared at Lisa as I left the table. I had tried to be so nice to her but she just wants to be a jerk all the time. I packed a backpack and I carried my sleeping bag. "I'll see you guys later!" I said as I walked out the door. The door quickly opened as I was walking down the porch steps. "Hey, be careful Darla." My dad said. I smiled. At this point it was a little chilly outside and the sun was setting. "I will." I said. "What a beautiful sunset." My dad said. "Yeah, me and Benny will enjoy it. He said he has always liked sunsets more." I said. "Well tell him your old man says hi." He said. "I'll be sure to do that." I said with a small chuckle. "Love you my little red." He said. "I love you more." I said pointing to him as I walked backwards. He smiled and walked back inside. "I'll always love you more." I whispered to myself as I turned around and headed to Benny's house. I watched my dirty, at one point, white Converse skip and dance around against the sidewalk as I hummed my favorite song. Soon, I saw another pair on Converse right next to mine. I looked up to see Josh. "Hey, where ya headed?" He asked. "Oh, camping out with the boys." I said nervously. "Nice." He said. "Where are you headed?" I asked. "Oh just up to the arcade. Me and my friends are gonna hang. You can come by if you want." He said. "Nah I'm good, I promised Benny I'd be there." I replied. "Well try to have fun I guess." He said and jogged away. I felt like there was a hidden meaning behind that and I knew excatly what it was. 

I climbed into the tree house to see all the boys there. "I was beginning to think you were never gonna come." Benny said. "Yeah Josh started to talk to me when I was walking here." I said. "Ooooo someone's got a pretty lover boy!" Yeah yeah said annoyingly. "Shut up yeah yeah." I said. "Make me one of those smores will ya Ham." I said putting my sleeping bag down next to Benny's. I smiled at him as he stared at me blankly. My smile quickly faded. "Here." Ham said, handing me a smore. "Thanks." I said. Benny still stared at me. "Want some?" I asked him will a mouth full of marshmello. He just nodded and layed down in his sleeping bag. "You ok?" I whispered to him. "Yeah, totally." He replied. "Is this about your parents?" I asked laying down next to him. "No" He responded. "Do you like Josh?" He suddenly asked. "No, why?" I asked. "I've heard he is a player and I just don't want to see you get hurt." He said awkwardly. As we were laying there, our faces were only inches aparty. We both rested our heads on our hands. "I'll be fine. But thanks for looking out for me, that's why I love you." I said with a warm smile. He smiled back. "So what do you guys wanna do?" Squints asked. "Truth or dare." Yeah yeah said while giggling. "Bet. Who wants to go first?" I asked. Benny raised his hand. "Truth or dare?" Kenny asked excitedly. "Hey I wanted to ask." I said as I hit Kenny's leg. "Truth." Benny replied. "Who is prettier, Kimberly or Darla?" Kenny asked. "Darla." Benny replied quickly. We smiled at each other. The boys started giggling. "Shut up you idiots." I said. "Truth or dare Darla?" Ham asked. "Dare." I said boldly. The boys started to giggle even more, crap. "I dare you to kiss Benny on the cheek." Ham said with an evil grin. Benny scratched the back of his neck nervously as I played with my fingers. "Well...." Benny started. Suddenly, I just did it, I kissed him. Then there was a bright flash as the boys started cheering. Ham was holding a big, old polaroid camera. The picture quickly printed out of the camera, exposing me kissing Benny. My eyes widened. "You guys are real douchebags you know that." I said, annoyed. They just all kept giggling. 

"Give me that!" I whisper screamed as I snatched it from him. Benny hadn't said a word the whole time, he just smirked. We all hovered over the picture. I stood up and stormed over to the balcony. "Woah woah woah." Benny said, grabing my arm to stop me from dropping the picture. "What?" I asked. He took the picture from my hand and put it in his pocket. "What are you doing?" I asked. "This is proof I've kissed a girl." He said. I just laughed at his comment. The rest of the nigth we just played games and stuffed our faces with food. "I'm gonna need to start going to the gym after all this food." I blurted. They all agreed as they stuffed their faces with even more food. I climbed into my sleeping bag and rolled over, my back facing the boys. I slowly drifted off to a deep sleep. I woke up early that morning, the sun was still rising. I noticed benny sitting on the balcony, watching te sunrise. "Hey." I whispered. He just nodded in acknowledgement. "Wanna get back at the boys?" I blurted. "I a lil bit, I'm thinking about something." He replied. "What are you thinking about?" I asked. "I'm thinking about doing something probably really stupid right now." He replied with a smirk. "How stupid?" I asked. "Really stupid." He responded. He quickly put his hand on mycheek and kissed me. I kissed him back, surprisingly.