Sunnyside Up with Red Ketchup

by Andrews, Ashley

  Rupert stopped talking and looked at her. "You alright?"

  She moved her distracted eyes from the ground to him. "Yeah. I was just wondering if you could stick with me." She looked up. "This is my first time being in such a huge crowd, I’m kind of nervous."

  He looked at her in confusion, about to open his mouth to ask a question. But he stopped himself and smiled at her. "Sure."

  She smiled back at him. "Thanks." They started to walk again.

  As the noise from the gathering crowd got louder, her shoulders began to tense. She didn't know how to react in big, close crowds. For some reason, she always felt like they were dangerous. She sensed Rupert let go of her arm, saying something about getting the twins. Dread filled her mind, panic rising through her. She was alone, in a crowd. Why was that so bad?

  Suddenly, she felt very, very lonely. Rupert had said he'd be back within minutes, but it didn’t take long for paranoia to set in. She looked around at all the unknown faces, beginning to get dizzy from the laughter echoing in her ears, their shouting bounced around in her head. They were too close.

  She felt sick.

  She looked around hurriedly for something to drink. Celebrations always had refreshment tables, right? She spotted a table in the distance and rushed over to it, knocking over a tower of cups as she pulled one from the top, filling it to the brim with punch from the bowl. She downed it without breathing.

  She had to make contact with Dexter and tell him to get her out of the party. Out of the assignment. It was all too much for her to handle. Way too much. She froze. She'd left the pins back at the room after she had changed. She slapped a hand to her forehead with a lot more force than intended, sending her cup onto the ground. When she moved her hand back down from her now—aching forehead, she noticed that she was still dizzy, if not more. Why hadn't the drink helped?

  Suddenly the girls around her started screaming. The noise bombarded her senses and she dropped the cup and covered her ears. She closed her eyes on flashing white dots that seemed to overtake her vision. She felt like she’d been hit in the head with a rock and when the flashing stopped, her eyes snapped open and she found herself hunched over, her hands cupping her ears. What the hell just happened?

  Looking up slowly, she noticed that Zane and Cupid had arrived at the party and by the looks of it, they had fans, lots of screaming fans who were using their cameras with flashing lights. What were they, celebrities? Girls surrounded them and they both smiled gracefully, nodding their hellos and smiling as the feminine mob declared their love en masse.

  Seriously, they were declaring their love. Zane looked like a completely different person when he was dealing with these girls. He was almost…prince—like. Cupid treated them the same way. She half—expected the girls to ask for autographs.

  She snorted to herself, reached behind to get another cup, filling it with more punch. She drank this one down. The dizziness hadn't disappeared and she still felt nauseous.

  She was ill. Great. Camp had barely started and she was already sick.

  "Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." A pair of hands grasped her shoulders as she swayed and she dropped her cup of punch, spilling dribbles of it all down her tee—shirt. This seemed quite hilarious to her and she burst into giggles.

  Someone shook her. When she lifted her eyes up, searching for the person holding her shoulders, the trees and dark field spun around her and she waited for it to steady before looking at the boy in front of her.

  Rupert. He was looking at her worriedly. "Yo? Are you drunk?"

  Drunk? What was that? Some sort of insult?

  "Heh?" she slurred, raising a hand to press it against her spinning head.

  Rupert shook her hard and she heard her teeth chatter together. She found this hysterical too and started to clash her teeth together.

  "Gosh, weren't you listening? The twins always spike the punch. Always. I warned you!" Rupert let go of her and ran a hand through his hair. He looked at her worriedly, and then bent down to her level. "Stay here. Don't. Move." And he was gone.

  She looked around at the people talking, noticing that it no longer sounded like chattering. It sounded more like singing... pretty, sparkling singing. She decided to join in. For some strange, unexplainable reason, she didn't really care that it would be strange to start blurting out words that made no sense. She poured herself another drink, downing it to wet her throat so she was ready to sing. But it was burning like she had swallowed fire. She probably had a throat infection.

  She stumbled on her own feet before she set off for a place that wasn't so full of people. She noticed a large, black area in the distance and she headed toward it, journeying further and further away from the people and music and heading straight into a peaceful silence.

  She didn't hear the Head Camper start his speech. She didn’t notice two pairs of eyes watching her wander away. She just walked, singing quietly to herself.

  She certainly didn't realize that the large, black area that she was headed for as a nice, quiet place to hang—was in fact the lake that haunted her.

  She was in trouble.

  Zane's eyes were immediately drawn to the back of the irritating girls head. Red, her name was? He had planned how everything was supposed to happen that evening. Public humiliation was the best way to get rid of someone, and what better way to do it then trick an innocent girl into thinking that it was cool to streak.

  It was immature of him. He shouldn't have to sink so low. But, there was something about the shrimp that rattled him more than any other person who had dared defy the unstated rules of Sunnyside Summer Camp, governing the division of the classes.

  But the more he watched the girl, who had been really interested in the punch bowl, the more he began to notice. She didn't seem to be smiling much, or talking. Or moving, for that matter. In fact, she appeared to be swaying.

  Cursing, he remembered that the punch was always spiked. Did the kid know?

  He pushed two girls gently out of the way, ignoring their squeals as his hands came into contact with their shoulders. He began to make his way through the crowd, when he noticed that another figure had appeared in front of Red. It looked like it was a friend, as Red didn't seem spooked and the figure looked worried. As Red began to laugh hysterically, Zane turned away.

  He frowned.

  Had he just tried to plough through a crowd to see to a wimp who he had barely known for a week? A wimp that he was trying to get rid of?

  Letting out a quiet laugh of disbelief, he ran a hand through his already—disheveled, windswept hair and made his way back to his blonde friend.

  "Zane, munchkin, you alright?"

  Zane glared at the blonde. "Yes, Casper. And don't call me that in public."

  The blonde boy winked and leaned closer. "Only in private, right?"

  Zane snapped his head round to glare at Casper. The boy cowered and faked a hurt expression. "Hey, keep your scary face away from me," Casper quirked, defiantly jutting his chin out at Zane.

  Zane sighed and moved his head to scan the crowd. He wasn't looking for anyone in particular. He just wanted to see what the turnout was. There were a lot more people at camp than there had been last year.

  "WELCOOOOME, CAMPERS!"

  He winced when their leader—an attractive, man dressed in what appeared to be an adult Scouting uniform—leapt onto the stage. The Head Camper, Leo, was only twenty—one. A little old for a camper, the leader had achieved his position at the camp by buying out his dad. As one of the ten richest twenty—something’s, no one could figure out why Leo kept the summer camp.

  All the girls swooned and cheered as he began to enthusiastically introduce the start of the new term. Zane rolled his eyes.

  Leo was his friend, along with Casper and another boy. The true leaders of the camp were himself, Casper, and Seth, the latecomer. Leo might own the camp, figure out the rules, and schedule the activities, but the other three ran the camp.

  As Leo began to encourage th
e campers to yell at the top of their lungs, Zane scanned the crowd. Then he saw her.

  Red. She was stumbling into the distance, obviously not very clear—headed. Cursing, Zane looked at Leo on the stage and then at Red, who was staggering away. Towards the lake. He hated the girl, of course. But he didn't want her to drown.

  Did he?

  Before he had time to contemplate whether or not to go and save the girls life, someone shoved past him to hurry into the distance. Zane turned around quickly in surprise and noticed that Casper had left him alone. He turned back and stared at the blonde figure chasing after Red. Frowning, he started off at a gentle jog.

  Red giggled to herself and grabbed hold of a tree when she stumbled in the forest. Someone in the back of her head was screaming at her that this was a bad idea. That she was heading straight into danger.

  But for some reason, another side of her was ignoring it and just going with the flow. It certainly didn't help that the flow was getting disrupted with dizziness. In the morning, she was going hate herself for her stupidity. Part of the brain that still managed to function, knew that.

  The large, black, empty area was right in front of her. A few more steps and she'd be there, all alone, in the silence. She stopped walking.

  It would be like back then, when she was little. The only thing she remembered was the darkness, the complete and utter silence. Did she want to go back?

  When she thought about the world and how busy it was, how much life was in it— it seemed like it might be too much for her to take. She’d been away from the world for so long, that it was overwhelming. She liked it, but she needed a break. Just a little time where it would be really quiet and she could be alone. Well then, it was decided.

  Just for a little while, she’d step into the darkness, and just watch…

  Chapter 4: Green

  As she took a step forward, something grasped her arm. She turned around quickly—big mistake—and nearly fell backwards into the darkness. The thing pulled her away from the black space, making her bump hard into what seemed to be a person.

  "Are you stupid?" She looked up drowsily and found herself almost nose—to—nose with Zane Noble. She yelped and took a step backwards, taking her arm out of his grip and almost tumbling to the ground. The blonde boy—Cupid—was standing behind him, grinning like an idiot.

  "Hey Zane, you can't be so rough with a lady? Here, let me show you how it's done," he took one step forward and Zane swirled round, narrowing his eyes.

  "Don't take another step, Casper." The raven—haired angel took hold of her upper arm and started to drag her away from the darkness.

  She looked back at it, wishing that she had tumbled into it before the boy could find her. Her eyes widened and suddenly became distracted as a thought hit her. Zane? Zane Noble? Why had he come after her? And the blonde boy who was currently staring at her with a huge smile had joined him?

  "Who are you doing?" she slurred, not noticing her obvious mess up of the sentence.

  Zane continued to walk, ignoring her question.

  She must have looked very small next to him. He looked like a rich God, with his long legs covered in expensive black denim and his tall, thin chest covered in a white, silk open shirt. Turning around, she noticed Cupid wearing exactly the same. Noticing her staring, the boy obviously took this as an invitation to engage into conversation with her.

  "Hi! The name's Casper. I was going to introduce myself the other day, but—"

  "Shut it, Casper." Zane said harshly without turning around. His eyes were focused on the tunnel of trees in front of him and the bustling party going on to the right. "There's no point in introducing yourself to someone who's probably never going to see you again."

  She turned back to look at Casper's reaction, her eyes half—closed with weariness. The boy appeared to be slightly crestfallen at Zane's comment. She frowned and pulled her arm hard out of Zane's grasp, stumbling backwards when she noticed that he really hadn't been holding all that tightly and her excessive force hadn't been necessary.

  "You're mean." She hiccupped and turned away, walking towards the tunnel of trees on her own.

  Zane's mouth fell open in shock and he let out a quiet scoff of disbelief, folding his arms and watching her walk away. He had saved her from drowning, and this was how she repaid him? He closed his mouth and narrowed his eyes, ignoring Casper's loud laughter from behind him.

  "Yeah, Zane. You're MEAN!" he mimicked, too busy laughing to notice Zane glaring at him instead of Red.

  Their attention was suddenly drawn away from each other when they heard scuffling, a thump, and then a small, ouch. Casper's face dropped and he turned serious, running up the slope to the tunnel. Zane unfolded his arms and watched Casper retreating, and then he slowly began to follow behind.

  When he walked into the dark archway of trees, he saw Casper helping Red up. The girl had obviously fallen and was now holding her head.

  Zane folded his arms. "Casper, what do you think you're doing? What she does is none of our business."

  Casper sent a surprising grin at Zane. "Cut her a little slack. I mean, just look at her! She's so innocent and adorable." He lifted a hand and pinched the girl's cheek. Red frowned and pouted in annoyance and Casper let out a small laugh. "See?"

  Zane's eyes turned to slits and he kept his unwavering gaze on Red. The girl was still pouting and frowning in annoyance, but had also raised a hand to rub at the area Casper pinched.

  Zane snapped his head sideways, biting the inside of his cheek in irritation. He hated to admit to himself, but there was just something about the girl that made her adorable. All the other idiots who had the nerve to try and move into Royal Haven were always so full of themselves, they assumed that they were worthy. But this kid...she didn't care about being worthy of living on the third floor. She had gone straight to the top, and didn’t realize where she was.

  "Leave her, Casper. We should return to the party." Zane turned around and walked off in the opposite direction. Casper smiled after Zane, and then turned to Red, grasping both her shoulders in his hands. He bent down so he was level with her. "Go back to the dorm, okay?" he said slowly, grinning happily.

  The black—haired girl stared back at him with wide, blue eyes, and then nodded in reply, hiccupping.

  Casper lifted a hand and ruffled Red's hair, before turning around and running to catch up with his retreating friend.

  She knew something was wrong the moment she woke up to the sound of a bird twittering right by her forehead. Judging by the slight, occasional tug on her short hair, she gathered that the bird thought her hair was something to eat. She lifted an arm to rub at her eyes and then slowly, she sat up, leaning on her other arm.

  She ran her hand over her face, wincing when she touched a tender part on her forehead. Was this another one of the boy’s pranks? To knock her unconscious and force her to sleep outside?

  She opened her eyes, frowning when the bright light caused them to ache. Looking around her, she realized that she was in the midst of the tunnel of trees. She could see people strolling along through the gaps in the trees and she hurriedly got to her feet, holding a hand to her dizzy head. She looked around her feet and noticed a small puddle of sick right by where her head had been. Her eyes widened and she turned to look out of the gap in the trees.

  What had happened the night before? Had she been poisoned?

  She stumbled out of the trees and fell onto the path, ignoring the surprised expressions on people's faces as she jogged back to the dorm. She hoped she was going the right way—she felt as if she were turned around.

  Sighing in relief, she saw a familiar bend and slowed to a walk as she approached the door. It was already propped open, so she hopped inside and hurried up the long, steep staircase. Everyone seemed to ignore her presence as she walked by, which was a relief. It was a shame she didn't have eyes in the back of her head, because then she would have known that their heads turned right after she walked past.


  When she got to the top level, she found the door to her room already open. Slowing down, she looked around the hallway cautiously for any kind of trap or ambush and then placed her hand on the doorframe to her room, poking her head around the side.

  Zane Noble and Cupid Boy were standing in the center.

  She swallowed. As soon as she entered, their eyes focused on her and she sent them an uneasy smile. She shook herself. Act natural, she thought.

  "What?" she said to Zane, more rudely than she had planned. Her gaze went to the boy next to him and she smiled. "Hello."

  A gasp echoed around the room and her smile dropped. She noticed that the blonde boy seemed to have an upset expression.

  He hurried towards her and she resisted the urge to take a step back. He grasped her shoulders. "You don't remember me?" he asked her quietly, staring into her blue eyes.

  She stared back in confusion and shook her head.

  He kept his hold on her and turned his head to the side, a look of hurt spreading across his face. Then he pulled away and shuffled over to Zane, who hadn't removed his gaze from her since she had entered the room.

  "Zane, munchkin, she doesn't remember me." The boy tugged at Zane's arm, sounding so crestfallen.

  She had to put a hand over her mouth to hide the smile that spread across her face at the name he had called Zane Noble. Munchkin? she mentally said to herself.

  Zane didn't look happy. He jutted his neck out threateningly at Cupid Boy, widening his eyes and sending her a cautious look.

  “I told you not to call me that," he hissed.

  The boy grinned and turned his attention to her, frowning mockingly.

  "So, where did you stay last night? Did you get lucky with a guy?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

  She removed the hand from her mouth and began to cough and splutter in surprise. "N—no. I woke up in the forest." She pulled at her t-shirt and showed them the dirt that was smeared across it. "See?" She looked up at the blonde and smiled sadly. “I have no idea what happened.”