camp cherry | hs

twenty two

this chapter is ...

sorry

✩︎

HANA

Harry and I lounge around in his bed after breakfast, sharing easy kisses and giggling at whatever movie we put on. We discuss everything we can think of: aliens, life after death, sex, ghosts, the meaning of life, kids, the future, all of it making me realise that he really is perfect.

He's so beautiful and kind, too kind, I almost can't stand his graciousness, his aversion to confrontation which most likely stems from his father's constant yelling and violence. He tells me that the worst he was ever beaten, he broke his arm and had to have stitches in his head, which he shows me the scar from, hidden underneath his curly hair, and the most painful was when he was 14 and he was shoved down the stairs; "my back hurt so much I didn't move for six hours and he just let me lay there." It all breaks my heart over and over again but I feel as if I understand Harry a bit better after our relaxing, conversational day. Harry never mentions the painful subject of our discussion being 'stupid' or 'pathetic' like he has before, which I'm silently proud of.

I think I fall for him a lot today. This is who he is, and I'm falling so hard. He's cute and awkward and funny and nervous and damaged, not the serious, hot body filled with nothingness that Amy sees, or any of the girls in this camp, and I find myself telling him to shush and just hugging him warmly for an hour, so impossibly grateful that he had chosen me to let in, for some reason he liked me, and I've never been more thankful for anything in my life. Harry suddenly remembers my birthday is in a couple of days, pacing around stressfully for a while before promising me that I'll have the best birthday ever.

The clock is just ticking past 3PM, our stomachs full from a hearty lunch and Harry's arm around me, fingertips lightly brushing my arm and my head rested on his chest as we watched some cheesy romance movie.

"Harry! Your dad's coming! He thinks Hana's in there!" Taylor rushes from outside the door before sprinting away, my heart dropping in fright. If Carl caught me in here, Harry would get beaten so badly and the thought has me practically leaping towards his window.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he asks, his voice shaky.

"I'll climb out of the window and hide behind your cabin, come get me when he's gone and tell him you last saw me by the lake."

Harry nods, processing the plan rapidly and jumping onto his bed and pretending to act casual and I fall onto the ground below his window. Ow. That was further than I thought. I hear deafening footsteps stomping on Harry's porch, his door swinging open and Carl beginning to rip through his room, trying to find me. Please don't hurt him. Please don't hurt him. I don't really know who I'm talking to here but I rest my head back and talk to the sky regardless. Just in case anyone is up there, please don't hurt him.

I don't hear whatever Carl yells during my inner monologue, but Harry's reply is painfully clear, "I don't know her! I don't know what you're talking about, I'm sorry, please. I'm just friends with her - I'm friends with everyone!"

It takes everything in me not to storm into his cabin and beat the fuck out of Carl, listening to Harry's whimper of pain follow a sharp slap absolute torture to me. Carl shoots a barrel of unintelligible, furious words towards Harry, repeated over and over.