š£š¶LEFT BEHINDš£š¶
Episode 2
Ā© Meenah writes āļø
#Creole_High
Harrietās POV
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There he stood, my handsome and adorable bĀ©yfriĀ£ndwhom I canāt love less.
Luke Herman.
Tall, muscular, blond, and pinkedl-ipped.
He was standing in the midst of some other guys, andā¦. wait a second, was that his hand across Lillian Damienās w@!st?
Lillian Damien was the most popular girl after me. She was also rich, smart and beautiful. But in every thing, she was second best because I was popular without stressing or ma-king a fool out of myself.
But what was Luke doing with her?
I frowned and took determined steps towards their gathering.
āHey Luke,ā I said in a voice that I f0rƧĀ£d to make sweet.
As soon as he heard my voice, his hand sli-pped from Lillian and went to his head. There was a guilty look on his face, and a proud one on Lillianās. The others looked amused.
āHi baby. I thought you werenāt coming,ā he said and leaned in to k!ssmyl-ips,but I turned away, and it landed awkwardly on my cheek. Itās not that I donāt want him to k!ssme, in fact, I have never been k!$$Ā£d by him or by anyone before. And Iām still a v!rg!nat eighteen. Luke doesnāt know.
I k!$$Ā£d his cheeks too.
āWell Iāve decided not to miss it,ā I said with a smile. He didnāt smile, he pu-ll-ed me away from the sniggers and giggles.
āHarriet I still donāt un-derstand why you wonāt let me k!ssyou. Itās getting embarras-sing,ā he began.
I sighed. āLuke a relationsh!pisnāt based on those things.ā
āIt is. Showing affection, thatās what they call it.ā
I placed my hand on his cheek and ru-bbe-d it softly with my thumb. āLuke, I love you. OK? Thatās all that matters,ā I as-sured him with a smile.
He nodded. āMe too, baby.ā
Then we heard a horn blaring, and a whistle blew with the announcement over the speakers that all final year students should board the bus.
Luke took my hand in his, squee-zed it, and led me to the bus.
Iād completely forgotten about him holding Lillian ro-mantically.
Soon we boarded and began to move.
I sat with Kathy.
___
Kathy c@mĀ£ over and snatched me away from Luke, who waved and walked back to the guys.
āHey, saved the seat by the window for you,ā she said and interlocked her hands with mine.
āEven if you didnāt, Iād still have gotten it,ā I said with an air of pride.
āYeah,ā she replied lowly.
Names were called to take note of the number of students going. Soon we boarded the bus and began to move.
I was leaning to and looking at the window, admiring the view as we swished by. It looked as if the trees and electric poles and buildings were running away at great speed.
Duhā¦we were moving at great speed.
I inhaled de-eply.
.
I havenāt told you guys about my self, but you will find out more about me as the story unfolds because I myself donāt un-derstand my personality.
.
This camp is the worse thing my parents could have asked me to do. I mean dirtā¦mudā¦.s
andā¦eww!!!
āHarry, what are you looking at?ā Kathy asked from beside me.
āNothing,ā I said. Sometimes I feel like Iām not treating Kathy right, like a friend. The relationsh!pbetween us was more like maid and mistress. But she didnāt want to be treated like my friend. Her actions shows it.
I turned to glance at her. She was smiling as she scrolled throu-gh her phone. Maybe Iāll change that during camp. Maybe Iāll even give into Luke and let him k!ssme. Maybe this campāll change me, make me focus on who I really am. I know Iām something more than a rich, pampered girl.
I took out my earphones and my MP3 and began to listen to āI Believe by DJ Khalid ft Demi Lovatoā.
Soon, with the wind b!owing on my face and my hair, I fell asleep. The journey took longer than I thought it would. I wonder where we were going.
Arrghā¦I knew I shouldnāt have stayed awake all night re-ading Nora Roberts Montana Sky.
But the book was so superb. Filled with r0m@nƧĀ£ā¦ā¦
.
Kathy tapped me hours later, and I checked if I had drooled saliva on my mouth.
ā Weāve reached,ā she said.
___
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#Camp_Site_Amazon
Harrietās POV
.
This definitely wasnāt what Iād expected. I was thinking of a h0tel, a beach or something! Not some green fields!
I walked angrily to Mrs Jackson, who was organizing students as they began offloading baggage and stuff. There were other teachers like Mr Matthew, and Miss Tina, but Mrs Jackson was my main concern here.
āYo, maāam!ā I called angrily and stood in front of her with my hands on my h!ps.
She lowered her glas-ses (whoaā¦whatās the nee-d of the glas-ses if she takes it off to see me clearly
) and looked around, as if searching for the person addressing her.
āAre you talking to me, Miss Anderson?ā she asked confusingly.
āOf course I am. What, arenāt you Mrs Jackson anymore?ā
āListen hereā-ā
āIām talking, so you listen. How dare you bring us to thāthis disgusting, goddamned place in campās name, huh?ā I questioned. I was really angry. Was this what I left my comfy home for?
She adjusted her glas-ses and frowned at me. āHarriet Anderson, I wonāt tolerate that arrogant and disrespectful attitude of yours, you hear? If you donāt like the venue, you might as well go home,ā she scolded. āIf youāre a spoilt girl with no value for nature, then donāt bother me. This venue was chosĀ£n because of all theāā
āEt.et.et,ā I interrupted rudely.
Waitā¦. I said that Iāll try to change my attitude during this camp session. I sighed.
I might as well start with Mrs Jackson.
āMaāam Iām sorry about that, I lost it.ā
Her mouth hung open.
I continued, āI was just being selfish.ā
She still stood still, as she stared at me in surprise. Well, I myself couldnāt believe that I had just apologized either.
Adnairax
Finally, she stuttered, āErr..y-yes, itās okay. You can go and unpack now.ā
The bewildered look was still on her face.
I smiled and turned around.
āHarriet?ā she called from behind me.
āYes?ā I replied, turning back.
She gave me a smile that made her look much younger and prettier.
āBe good. It suits you.ā
I nodded.
___
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I smiled at Kathy as we set up our tent that evening after unpacking. She returned the smile.
āYou know, I didnāt think you could set up a tent,ā she began as she hit the tent pin with a small mallet.
I rolled my eyes and tied the rope into a knot. āIām sure all of you think Iām some spoilt br@t, right?ā
āGoodness, no, Harry. Youāre a good person,ā Kathy quic-kly put in.
I nodded. āKathy, donāt you think that this friendsh!pof ours is not right?ā she gave me a blank look. I continued, āWell were supposed to be doing things together, and stuff like that. But instead, Iām like bossing you around. I feel bad. I want us to be real friends.ā
She hung her head.
āHarry I donāt deserve friendsh!pfrom you, Iām a terrible person.ā
I giggled. āWhat does that mean?ā
āIā¦.Iā¦.I did something bad andā¦ā
I cut her off with a hvg which took her by surprise. She hesitantly hvgged me back.
āKathy youāre my friend. Nothing can change that.ā
.
Kathy swallowed. I hope so, she thought to herself.
.
Later that night we sat around a campfire after dinner. Miss Tina, our science teacher, was telling us about the kinds of plants common to the native Amazonian soil.
āIn fact, each day or week, one could see different species of plants and strange insects around. They are really strange mind you, that most scientists donāt even know what theyāre made of. Legend has it that they are fromā¦.ā she darted her eyes around as her voice lowered to a whisper, āThe Other Side.ā
The students oohs and awed, and Jean Norman screamed.
I rolled my eyes. Jean was slim and small with wi-de eyes. She was always easily scared, and it annoyed the hell out of us.
āTell us, Miss Tina. Tell us about the legend,ā Jack suggested, and had his support in the form of choruses of āyesesā all over.
āDonāt go listening to her. What relationsh!pdoes science and myth have?ā Mr Matthew asked jokingly.
Well, it was a dry joke because nobĀ©dy listened to him. All eyes were on Miss Tina as she began her tale.
Except mine.
Among the students who had shadows dancing on their features, I didnāt see Luke.
Come to think of it, I hadnāt seen him since we arrived. I wondered where he was. Why didnāt he look for me?
My thought was interrupted by another loud scream from Jean.
āUgh!ā
āQuit it, Jean!ā
āIf you canāt stand the story, then beat it!ā Jack yelled. I laughed inside me. Jack has a hvge crush on Jean, but she doesnāt know. And heās angry that he could crush on someone so kiddish. I mean, Jack was one of Lukeās friends, so his taste was supposed to be as sophisticated as ours.
āIām sorry, itāsā¦. itās just that Iā¦ā
She trailed off in a shaky voice. Jack gro-an ed. āJust get lost!ā he said to her.
Jean began to whimper, that emotional girl, and soon she ran from the gathering.
āYou shouldnāt have done that, Jack,ā Miss Tina cautioned. Jack masked the guilty look with a casual shrugg.
āSheāll come around. plea-se continue with the story.ā
āAnd the gods grew Jealous of the way the Amazonians were thriving. So they cursed them with a plague. Each god of each creatures, the goddess of beauty and the fairies, the god of wisdom and the elves, the god of the hunts and the centaursā¦. so many. Till d@tĀ£ no one in the outside world knows about those plagues, but since then Amazon disappeared. It seems they were wiped off the face of the earthā¦.ā
Nice story, I thought. But where was Luke. I think Iāll go look for him at the tent area.
āKathy Iām going to look for Luke. Havenāt seen him since.ā
She shook her head quic-kly. āI donāt think thatās a good ideaā¦Harry!ā she called as I walked hurriedly away from her. Sheāll have to run to catch up.
Bad idea to search for my bĀ©yfriĀ£nd? Oh pu-lleessee.
I bu-mped into Fred, a friend of Luke. āYo, Fred. You know where Lukeās tent is?ā I asked.
āSureeeeā¦but I wouldnāt go there if I were you. Seriously Harriet, why hold on to that guy, when you can have me for instance?ā
I rolled my eyes at this. āFred, Iām perfectly happy with my bĀ©yfriĀ£nd, thank you. Nowā¦the tentā¦.?ā
He chuckled and directed me. āDonāt say I didnāt warn ya,ā he called out.
What IS going on with everyone and Luke? Was there something I donāt know about? Waitā¦..Lillia
n too was absĀ£nt at the camp fire. Could it be that theyā¦.come on Harriet, donāt think like that!
As I approached the tent, I heard, what seemed to be m0@n s and giggles, and breathless mumblings and whispers.
Oh noā¦ā¦I walked closer to the tent. The light inside was enough to make me see silhouettes. Of coupling.
No no no.
I had to be sure.
I lifted the tent fl@p just a little bit.
I swear Iād have fainted on the spĀ©t when I saw Luke thrĆ»-sting heavily into Lillian, both of them n-ked on the floor, with smiles on their faces.
To be continued