I take one step closer to him.
‘About Joel...’
He sighs.
‘Yes, what about Joel?’
I explain the situation to him, how I do have feelings for Joel and he has feelings for me but how we both need to go very slow about expressing them, especially in a physical way.
‘So when you walked in on us in my bed...’
I tell him about getting my period and him soothing me and helping me fall asleep.
‘Ok... But can you understand why I got so mad? He has a certain reputation and it was hard to believe that he wouldn’t try anything with you... Or that he wouldn’t succeed in getting what he wanted. I’m a guy but even I admit that Joel is very good looking and it was hard to believe that you wouldn’t... Especially since you admitted that you had a crush on him...’
‘Yes, I get it. But do you understand that I felt the same way about you and Hayley? She’s really hot and I know she sleeps around a lot, as much as Lucy if not more. So, when I saw you two together...’
Austin pulls me closer to him, my face coming into contact with his chest, his leather and berries scent tickling my senses.
‘So, where do we go from here, princess?’
He asks, surrounding me with his strong arms and making me sigh, contented to be in his arms and confused about what we should do at the same time.
‘The question is what do you want, Austin? And can you accept the fact that while nothing happened with Joel so far, it might in the future? I honestly don’t know what will happen with him after we leave camp. This is another one amongst the many reasons why I haven’t let things go further than a very affectionate friendship...’
‘Princess...’
He tilts his head towards me, his nose touching mine. My eyes close and I am anxious to feel his lips against mine when we get startled by a blood curling scream coming from the edge of the beach, in the woods.
‘It sounded like a girl screaming...’
I say grabbing his biceps and he nods when a second scream breaks the summer night silence.
‘Stay here, Clary. I am going to check it out...’
‘I want to go with you...’
‘No, princess. It’s too dangerous. Stay here, there’s no one on the beach and I will be back in a moment... Don’t move...’
He runs towards the woods and I look at his agile frame until he disappears in the thick of the trees.
I turn to look at the water, lost in my thoughts, hopeful that when Austin will come back, we will have at least a definite plan to see each other during the winter and most of all that he will kiss me. I have missed him so much...
The wind starts howling louder and picking up speed, making the dark water of the lake choppy and menacing.
My thoughts get interrupted by steps on the pier’s boards.
‘Austin...’
I say turning back but it isn’t one of the boys that make my heart beat faster that is walking towards me: it’s Hayley, still in her sequinned dress, wearing her crown and holding her sceptre in her gold manicured hands.
‘It isn’t Austin, bitch. It’s me. And as I promised, you lost and I won. So, I guess you will ask Xander to come and find me in my room later on, or shall I just go and invite him into the hot tub first? You know better than me if he’s more of a foreplay kind of guy or a wham, bam, thank you ma’am type. Either way he’s hot and I can’t wait to fuck him, like I did Austin...’
She sounds like she had way more than the alcohol free fruit punch served tonight at dinner and her language and the hard look in her otherwise gorgeous blue eyes, really doesn’t match her beauty.
She is a stunning girl, the female equivalent to Joel: blonde, blue eyed perfection. She could be in any movie or catwalk show with her slender body, her long legs. If only her exterior beauty wasn’t mismatched by the ugliest personality one could imagine.
‘Well, our scores were tied, so technically, you haven’t won any bet. Also, Xander is a free man, if you want him, go make a move but don’t tell him I made a bet that he’d sleep with you, which by the way I never accepted. And I know you haven’t slept with Austin, so you lied there too...’
I say with the hardest tone I can muster.
‘You, little bitch! You think you can walk in here and get all the boys to fall at your feet with your little innocent act? Justin is right that you think your pussy is made of gold. But you lost tonight and your boys will see who’s worthy of their attention, you little nerdy slut...’
While she says that, she walks towards me and I step back, closer and closer to the edge of the pier and to the water.
‘What’s your fucking problem? I haven’t done anything to you... I don’t even know you. I just want to hang out with my friends and for you to leave us alone...’
I say, feeling the edge of the plank with my high heeled sandals and stopping with her still advancing towards me.
‘They are not your friends. Those boys are just chasing you because they fell for your hard to get act, you little slutty cocktease. Once they get what they want, they will discard you like the piece of trash loser you are...’
One of her hands extends towards me and she tries to push me down into the lake but I grab her wrist, trying to find my balance again.
She pushes harder and when I won’t let go of her, she hits me in the stomach with her sceptre so hard that the air gets knocked out from my lungs and I plunge into the dark water. I am still struggling when I fall and together with the shock of the cold mid August water, I knock my head, maybe on a rock, maybe on a part of the pier’s stilts.
I will never know, because everything goes dark.
***
Joel
After they announce Miss Emerald and I have my magical dance with Clary, I go find my aunt sitting with the other judges in the club house, enjoying a glass of brandy.
Rob’s father gives me a scrutinising look when I approach them and offers me a glass of the aged beverage.
I look at my aunt and I know she’s under no illusion that I have had way more than one drink in my life before tonight, despite being underage. And I know very well that Mrs Taffar has caught me more than once in her kitchen and has offered me all sorts of food to help me sober up.
But Mr Nichols is a stranger and even though my life so far is testimony that I couldn’t give a fuck about appearances, I don’t wish to embarrass my aunt in front of a business partner, just in case this is some kind of test.
‘Thank you very much for the offer, Mr Nichols but I’m only 18, so I shall join you in a couple more years. I’ll remember when the time comes that you promised me a drink...’
He seems pleased with my answer and offers:
‘Call me Rick, young man. You are Joel, aren’t you? Your aunt told me about your athletic achievements and god knows I wish my own boy would decline a drink because of his age. But he’s got another year before he’s legal, so I turn a blind eye. Rob has also spoken very highly of you, he says you are a great friend...’
He seems old fashioned and quite polite so I exchange a few more pleasantries before I ask my aunt:
‘Angie, could I talk to you for a second?’
She smiles and excuses herself and for a moment I see her: she looks exactly like my mom, the same eyes, the same platinum blonde hair. She would have aged as gracefully as Angie if she had made it out of the hell she was imprisoned in.
We walk outside where the party is still in full swing, everybody dancing and having a good time.
Once we get out of the pool area, I ask:
‘What happened there with the scores? How could Hayley beat Clary? She’s been nothing but horrible to most camp guests, so much so that her yoga lessons are half empty most days...’
She sighs and links her arm with mine:
‘Sweetie, I’m proud of you for sticking up for your girlfriend and you know that I have the highest opinion about Clary, so much so, that I told her that I wholeheartedly approve of you two dati
ng, as long as you are treating her right...’
Her blue eyes bore into mine and for once in the past two years I don’t falter nor I am embarrassed.
‘I am treating her really well, Angie. I love her, I respect her and I am willing to give her everything she deserves. So much so, that I haven’t kissed her yet and I won’t until I know I am the guy she deserves...’
Her eyes fill with tears, which is completely out of character if you had met Angie: the Supreme Court judge, demure, classy, cultured and quite intimidating. Thinking about it, I am not surprised she’s so fond of Clary since they are very much alike.
‘I am so relieved, Joel! I am not going to lie to you, I was so scared that you’d get a nasty disease or the wrong girl pregnant... I kept slipping boxes of condoms in your room...’
I blush, for once in my life: I had no idea that Angie knew so much about my antics, I thought I was doing a pretty good job at hiding my behaviour from her.
‘Well, as I said, with Clary things are different, we are taking it very slow. Before her... I promise I have always, always used protection. And thanks for looking out for me, now I know why I almost never run out of condoms...’
She squeezes my forearm affectionately and explains:
‘I am sorry Clary didn’t win tonight. When there was a tie in the score, Mrs Taffar and I were in her favour but Rick was really adamant that after that song, she would not get the crown. I wonder who has messed with the tracks, because I believe you when you say that it wasn’t Clary’s choice...’
We are walking towards the beach and we stop for a moment when I say:
‘It could have been anyone, including Austin. But I doubt he would do that to Clary. I think the most probable culprits are Hayley, Lucy, Rob or Justin...’
‘Rob? Are you sure? He is always so polite...’
I shake my head.
‘He is polite in front of you but...’
I am embarrassed but I fess up about the group sex, the getting my so called “cast offs” and I tell her that he’s been harassing Clary and other younger girls without descending into too much detail not to betray what I promised Hazel.
‘He’s been trying to get Hayley to date him seriously after I... Hmm... Decided I was not into her after all but Hayley didn’t seem too interested, so he might have gotten her the crown to try and win her over. Hayley has been quite catty and confrontational about it with Clary, so much so that I have regretted putting Clary into the contest in first place...’
Angie seems upset.
‘If what you tell me is true, that Rob has been harassing girls including Clarissa, that he could have pulled something like that song swap... I think next summer isn’t going to be easy...’
‘What do you mean?’
She explains that Rick has mentioned that Rob dropped out of college and seemed uninterested in getting a job, so he invested in the camp with the intention to give Rob something to do that he would like.
‘He’s going to work as chief of admin and in charge of all the instructors including the hiring. I will have a say but it was a condition for Rick to invest that Rob would get a good position under me...’
This is troublesome to say that least and I can’t hide my worry. Especially because I cannot exclude that he had something to do with the notes Clary kept getting.
‘Isn’t there any way to make him pull out of the agreement?’
I ask and she shakes her head.
‘No. We signed a contract and I had been looking for those funds for months without success. The county here is trying to turn all the land around lake Emerald into a high class residential area and because I refused to sell the land to the developer they are backing, they raised the taxes. I need those funds to increase capacity and invest in remodelling so that I can charge the guests more money and also get some tax relief for providing employment to the local communities: in fact next year, some of the service jobs will be filled in by locals. If I don’t do that, I think we won’t stay open beyond next year...’
I love camp Lake Emerald and I know it’s Angie’s dream, so I offer my help from now on.
She hugs me tight but our moment is interrupted by a loud scream.
It comes from near the beach and we both run through the woods to see what the commotion is all about.
There’s no one there apart from Austin who comes running to investigate where that scream came from.
We look around but there seriously isn’t anyone around.
We are now at the edge of the beach and we hear a loud splash coming from the pier.
‘Clary!’
Shouts Austin and when I ask why he’s worried about Clary, he tells me that they were talking on the pier before he went into the woods to investigate that scream.
‘Did you leave her alone? Again? You are a fucking idiot!’
I yell running towards the pier, a terrible sense of foreboding making me run faster than I ever have.
Austin is right behind me and Angie follows a little slower.
When I get to the pier, I find Hayley sitting at the edge, her shoes off and still wearing her sceptre and crown.
‘Hayley, where’s Clary?’
She shrugs, uninterested.
‘I haven’t seen her...’
Austin intervenes:
‘That’s impossible: I left her right where you are and if she had left the beach, she would have bumped into us...’
She narrows her eyes:
‘Are you calling me a liar? I haven’t seen her, she’s probably hiding into some bushes with one of the other guys she always has following her everywhere... Doing god knows what...’
I look at her ready to retort about who does that kind of thing when I notice that one of the straps of her gold dress is ripped off.
‘What happened to your dress?’
She shrugs.
‘Nothing, I stumbled and got stuck into a branch on the way down here...’
I’m about to say something else when Austin shouts:
‘Joel!’
He points towards the water, dark now that the sun has totally set: something is floating in the lake and its silver colour reflects the moonlight.
We both use the flashlight on our phones to get a better look and as soon as I realise what it is, my heart starts beating so fast in my throat that I think it might explode: it’s one of Clary’s sandals.
I tell Austin and we both dive into the dark, stormy waters while Angie runs towards the lifeguard tower to call for more help.
The wind is now almost a gale, the lake’s water crashes on the shore with tall waves, decreasing our visibility and striking us with surprising force while we swim desperately in search of Clary.
One particularly violent wave makes me lose balance and I drink a lungful of freezing lake water.
My clothes weight me down and the cold temperature is starting to make my muscles ache while I try to fight the currents and strain my neck to spot my girl.
The next few minutes seem an eternity: Austin spots something red and it turns out to be her hair.
It takes the both of us to fish her out of the lake because one of her feet is tangled in some kind of aquatic plant.
When I lay her down on the cold sand, she is cold, pale and isn’t breathing.
‘Austin, she needs CPR! Someone call an ambulance!’
Austin and I start working together to bring our Clary back: he starts chest compressions and I give her rescue breaths, trying to infuse all my fear to lose her, or all my willingness to do anything to look into her greygreen eyes again every time my lips seal to hers and I blow air into her.
It won’t even down on me until later, when she gulps for air, spitting out tons of water, that it was the first time my lips touched hers.
When she starts coughing and shaking, her lips and her skin still blue, I cry with relief and worry and I see Austin’s eyes are full of tears too.
In the meantime, the beach is crowded with people: Logan and Xand
er are right by our side, Hazel and Brie are crying quietly nearby.
Two paramedics rush towards us and carry Clary to her cabin, the whole time she drifts in and out of consciousness.
After they check her out, they conclude that we got her out of the water just in time, that she has hypothermia and a concussion.
‘We don’t have a real hospital in town, folks. Just an urgent care centre. The nearest hospital is 3 hours away by car and we are afraid that there have been a couple of really bad car accidents tonight in the area and you are lucky you got even our ambulance responding to your call, we were actually driving through to help from the next town over. You could wait until tomorrow or drive her tonight yourselves but we can leave the oxygen tank here until the morning and as long as you keep her warm and check her pupils and try to wake her every hour, we don’t think she needs to be hospitalised. I would get her checked by a doctor in a couple of days anyway, just to make sure that there’s no other damage. But she seems fine: the only consequence from the nasty fall she had will be a bump on her head where she knocked it but even that will heal...’
When the paramedics leave, we all start arguing about who has to stay with Clary and since none of us want to leave, Xander, Logan, Austin and I take it in turns to lie next to her while Brie and Hazel stay in the other room but come in to check on us every time we have to wake Clary.
She wakes up and recognises whoever is there next to her but falls straight back asleep, which the paramedics say it’s ok as long as she does wake.
At some point during the night, Angie comes in and asks to talk to me.
‘Sweetie, I was just on the phone with Clary’s parents. I... I told them she had a fall but she’s ok and that she got checked as a precaution. I didn’t want to alarm them since the paramedics say that she’ll be fine. Do you think I should have asked them to come here?’
Lake Emerald Chronicles: The First Summer: A Reverse Harem Romance Page 45