The Promposal (COMPLETE)

9- Spring Break

Jonah's POV

I've heard a lot of pretty terrible things about second semester Junior year. All the AP classes kind of add up, and you're left with an endless pile of work to do. They're right, mostly. I almost forgot to talk to Edith about prom plans, and even that didn't go too well. Nolan had texted me saying his mom arrived early, and since she's my carpool from school, I couldn't keep her waiting. Other than that, I also forgot a few minor homework assignments that earned a scolding from my parents, as well as a Robotics club meeting. Which would be minor, except that I'm the club president. 

But finally, it's spring break and I get time to destress. I've been looking forward to this since the end of winter break. An escape from studying, the relentless pressure of keeping my 4.0, and forced social interaction. It's not that I dislike school, on the contrary I quite enjoy math and science, but the pressure of all my classes giving out busywork is a lot sometimes. 

It's also not like I do anything exciting during spring break either. Usually, me and Nolan hang out and play video games for most of it. Occasionally my parents will drag me along with their plans. Although, having a 4 year old brother, it never really fits my idea of a perfect vacation. 

This year at least, we're staying in town. I'm working on getting some volunteering hours at a YMCA camp, and dragged Nolan along with me. He doesn't really care as much about padding his college application with community service, but when his parents heard about it, he didn't really have much of a choice.

"They don't even give us a legit lunch break," Nolan complains. His eyes scan the group of children around us as he grudgingly eats a sandwich. 

"I mean the kids don't just disappear halfway through the day," I argue, watching the kids on my side. I see one girl fall out of her chair, hit the carpet, and wait to see if she's going to cry. Instead of throwing a fit, she just gets back up and sits down again. 

 "What was that?" Nolan asks, since the girl is out of his line of eyesight.

"Clumsy Carol again, she's not hurt" I whisper. It would be absolutely terrible if the kids knew the nicknames we gave them, but then again it made the work more bearable. 

"Ah, she's at it again," he exclaims. There's a few moments of silence as we eat our lunches and watch the kids, but then he asks "what are you thinking about?" 

I notice that I've been zoning out a little, and respond "I still can't believe all those rumors going around." I'm of course referring to Cynthia and the cheating scandal, but don't want to mention it too directly. The last thing I need is a little kid overhearing our conversation and pestering me.

It had happened before when Nolan brought up one of his breakups. A little kid was standing right behind us snooping, and soon the whole camp was making fun of Nolan. It blew over after a few hours though, since children tend to have short attention spans.

"They're not just rumors, she got a suspension because of it," Nolan responds. This reminds me of when Cynthia got pulled out of class to talk to the principal. She looked so nervous, and I felt terrible for her.

"I know, but it's scary how one mistake like that could ruin her chances at college," I explain. It's not like I'd never considered cheating either. There were times when someone else's test was within eyesight, and I had to fight the urge to look over. 

"How do you know it only happened once?" Nolan asks, before noticing a couple kids in a fight. He slips away, giving me enough time to think of an answer to the question. When he's back, he reminds me of the question and I am forced to answer.

"When I met her in 10th grade she was nice, she struggled in class but she would never cheat. I saw her test scores sometimes, they weren't good," I say. 

"Man, you really know nothing about girls," Nolan responds. Although I know this statement is true, it still makes me a little heated. 

"It's not like you've been in any long term relationships either," I respond. It's a low blow, but I let my anger get the best of me. 

Nolan seems insulted at my comment as well. "Not cool, I'm just trying to help," he says, before finishing his sandwich and throwing out the paper bag it came in. Soon, we're back to watching the campers and directing activities. There's a bit of tension over my comment, but it blows over quickly as we are forced to work together setting up Gaga Ball.

The campers play a few games of Gaga Ball and Statues before a short break where we serve goldfish and juice boxes. Although it's short, I get another chance to talk to Nolan without a bunch of children overhearing.

"Have you ever even liked a girl that you didn't end up dating?" I ask him out of the blue. It's something I've wondered for awhile, since Nolan never really discussed girls much, at least to me. I always figured that he got every girl he liked, dated them for awhile, and then broke up once things were getting serious. 

"Haha, really? Of course, man" he responds. I'm honestly surprised, given he's not really the shy type (like me).

I'm starting to get curious, so I ask. "Like who?"

"Uh" he seems uncomfortable "there's been plenty, but that's not the point."

"The point?" I ask.

I'm left hanging for a few moments as Nolan leaves to break up a fight between campers. When he returns, he says "You can't just assume Cynthia doesn't like you cause you're too scared to ask." 

This, I don't want to hear. I understand that I'm being stupid, but that doesn't help the fact that our relationship has zero chance with my confidence level. I wish Nolan would understand this, but he seems to think I have some secret social skills I haven't shown off yet. "I know but-" 

Suddenly, one of the two kids from the fight before starts screaming. I suddenly stand, along with Nolan, and rush over to see what happened. Some of the other campers are screaming as well, and I try to shush them while assessing the situation.

It appears that somehow, one of the kids stabbed the other with a fork. There's blood everywhere, the stabber is screaming while the stabee seems to be in shock. It's very cinematic, but I can't really focus with the screams of the other students drowning my eardrums. After a few moments taking in the situation, I gently remove the fork from where it was, only slightly, lodged in the kid's forearm. It doesn't seem to be too painful for her, so I take that as a good sign and put some pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. The individual cuts aren't large enough to require stitches, but I tell Nolan to call our supervisors anyway.

He seems flustered, but calls our boss and they come in quickly. I'm very thankful for my knowledge of first aid given the situation, but the YMCA nurse tells me "I appreciate what you've done here, but it would've been fine to bring injured campers to my office."

I, of course, knew this. But I felt like bringing a child into the nurse while a fork is still lodged in her arm would not have been fun. The image of which is still painted clearly in my mind. The nurse seems to notice how stressed me and Nolan are, and offers to cover for our camp for the remaining hour. 

"Yes, thank you" Nolan says automatically. I nod in agreement and give the camper my good wishes of recovery before heading out of the facility. 

Since it's still an hour before the end of our shift, me and Nolan decide to walk home. It's silent for the first few minutes, but then he mumbles "we need to get a raise."

"Agreed," I answer.