Voices on the Mountain

Voices on the Mountain part 7

Thanks to all who read this!!!! I love you all!!!!

"Let's go around this way," Jaron said, gesturing around a clump of trees too close together to pass through. He had been avoiding Sam ever since they'd seen Sarah. That must have been pretty embarrassing for him, She thought. But what if Sarah was telling the truth? She could just as easily have been jealous and told a lie to get them away from each other. Wouldn't Jaron have told her that though? Sam could have screamed at how frustrated she was, but she trudged along staring at the ground, kicking a few rocks when she came to them. Travis and Lauren sensed the awkwardness between them and talked to fill the silence.

"Why did you come to camp?" Travis asked.

"Sam dragged me here," replied Lauren, shooting her a friendly smile, but Sam didn't even look up. 

"What about you?" Lauren asked quickly so that Jaron wouldn't notice, but of course, he did. He looked even more guilty and kept his head down. Jaron really liked Sam, Lauren realized, regardless of any mistake he made with Sarah. Maybe he was a cheater, a lier, and everything Sarah said, even though he just didn't seem like that kind of person. Lauren snuck another look at Jaron, who seemed to be deep in thought.

 "I just came because I knew my mom would want to go to some kiddie park for a vacation and I refuse to submit myself to that kind of embarrassment,"  Travis had replied, even though Lauren wasn't really listening. She really cared about Sam and her feelings, but maybe Sam should give Jaron a try, after all everyone deserves a second chance. She just wondered how many chances he had already been given.

 "We should probably hurry if we want to get back to camp before sunrise," Travis said. Sam looked up from the ground she was staring at, gave a discernible nod and hurried forward past Jaron to follow behind Travis. They finally reached the cove an hour later and said quick goodbyes. Travis walked the trail back to his camp, while Sam followed Lauren staying far back. Sam looked behind her to see Jaron who had stayed put at the edge of the tiny cove and looked across the water. Sam almost turned around to talk to him, but something told her that it was more than just Sarah. He had almost a pained look in his eye as he looked back on his past, or at least, that was what it looked like to Sam. She kept walking even when part of her was screaming to go back. She tried to shake the feeling off, although it was near impossible, and walked a bit faster. The two girls walked back in silence. Sam had caught back up with Lauren, but hardly noticed because she was so deep in thought. She thought about what Jaron could have been thinking about that made him look almost, sad. Sam knew it was stupid to feel bad over a boy she hardly knew, but back at the lake in the canoes, and then the first time they met…

They reached camp and said goodnight to each other, though it was only out of politeness. Sam trudged back to her cabin to find that Sarah was waiting for her.

"So, how did that go?" She whispered to Sam as she walked in.

"You should know how it went you little witch!" Sam whispered harshly back. Then she looked up at her, who was sitting on the top of the bunk. Sam realized that had streaks of glimmer running down the sides of her cheeks. "Are you crying?" Sam asked a little softer.

"No… Okay, yes, but do you want to know why? It's because of your little Jaron over there," she said gesturing in the direction of the boys camp. She paused then added, "We were perfect together, and then he had to ruin it by going on a date with another girl. He said it was his cousin, but they were just so…close. It didn't look like he was going to kiss her, but they were just…" 

"That sounds like you were just jealous," said Sam, "but what in the world would make you throw a rock at him?"

"Well," she sighed, "Okay, here's what happened. I woke up in the middle of the night yesterday and heard you outside talking to that boy. At first I was freaked that you were out talking to a boy in the dark, but then I realized you were talking about chasing some noise in the mountain. To tell you the truth, I have heard the sound, but haven't thought much of it until then. So then I heard Jaron's name and thought, it couldn't possibly be the same guy, right? But of course I was going to find out somehow, so I decided to follow you to…wherever. So I stayed up waiting until you got out of the bed and followed you. You're a fast walker, so I nearly had to run to keep up. Just when I thought I was going to give up, you tripped and fell. That made it a bit easier for me to follow you since you were that much slower. You got to the little cove, but I still couldn't see his face too well, then the other boy used his cell to light his face, and with the light I was able to see everyone else's face including his. I was tempted to throw the rock then, but I decided to wait. So I followed you and then you two started talking and… okay maybe I was a little jealous. He really was a sweet guy, but that doesn't explain the little dinner date he had with some mystery girl. It was my fault that we broke up, because I was the one that left the note on his door, but still, he would never talk about his cousin to anyone. I remember that because I always asked around to see if he was lying, but no one ever even knew he had a cousin. I even asked his aunt and she said he didn't have one."  There was an awkward silence between them, but Sam was just groping around for words. What? He didn't even have a cousin? She thought about what she said for a minute. "So, you're saying that he was a sweet guy, even though he cheated on you?"

"You know, it sounds weird when you put it like that, but yea, that's what I'm saying."

"Did you ever think to talk to him?"

"Uh…"

"That's what I thought." Sam turned and went to her own bed, pulling off the sheets and plopping herself into her hard bed. They both stayed up late thinking about everything that's happened that night.