Boot Camp

14: Old Version

"Anyone else?" Cheryl asks, looking around. Her eyes stop at me, and I shake my head a few times in a row. When she finally lets us go, I dash out of the yoga studio like a cheetah on steroids. As I'm about to reach my room, someone taps my arm. I turn around and see Willow, her face bearing a nervous expression. I take a step back.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Whitney, I want to talk to you," she says calmly.

I raise a brow. "Really."

"I wanted to say that—" Before she can finish, someone yells my name from down the hall. It's Martina, and she's jogging towards me.

"Whitney, you forgot your phone in the studio!" she says, handing me my white-cased iPhone. "Good thing I found it."

I smile half-heartedly. "Thanks."

Willow sighs and walks away, running a hand through her soft blonde hair and dropping it to her side in frustration.

"Why were you talking to her?" Martina asks.

I shrug. "She talked to me."

We enter our room, and Martina reaches up to tie her hair; her shirt rides up, showing a sliver of ink on her hip bone and a belly button piercing. She tugs it down and clears her throat.

"You have a tattoo?" I ask. "And a piercing?"

She looks flustered. "I'm sure it was obvious right there."

"Hey, I wasn't insulting you. It's cool."

"And pretty fucking stupid too," she replies, sitting on her bed and rubbing her forehead. "Honestly, can we not get into this?"

"Yeah, whatever, sure." I glance down at the time on my phone, realizing I have to meet with Axel soon. "I have to leave now."

She glances at me through the mirror. "Okay, fine."

I walk outside in the comfortable evening air, devoid of suffocating humidity. Today's we're working out on the beach; Axel had mumbled about it yesterday when we were stuck in his room. I'm not disappointed, since the beach is far from the main camp. But after what happened yesterday, I don't know how to feel about Axel.

First, we nearly kissed.

And then, he blatantly ignored me.

When I'm near the entrance of the beach, I slow my pace. I see him sitting on the sand, phone in hand and his hair blowing across his forehead.

I approach him silently, waiting to see when he'll notice. Sure enough his head jerks up in and he hops to his feet.

"You scared me," he says, holding his chest. It's kind of cute seeing him frightened.

"Sorry," I say. "What do you have in mind for today?"

His lips curl in amusement. "I'm planning on giving you a break today."

I glance up. "Define 'break.'" I use air quotes for emphasis.

"I mean we're not exercising today. I swear this camp is overkill." He mutters the second sentence. "Anyway, don't you remember what today is?"

Today? I search through my memory, but it quickly hits me like a brick. "It's the Fourth of July. How did I forget?"

"Bad memory?" he tries with a smirk. "Come on, follow me," he says, walking to the entrance of the beach to leave. We cross the pavement and a parking lot comes into view. Axel walks over to a sporty silver sedan and unlocks it.

"Nice car," I mumble, admiring the shiny exterior.

"So glad you like it," he answers, giving me a fake smile. He holds open the passenger door for me, and I slide onto the leather seat, which is still warm with the absorbed heat from the sun. He gets in and slams the door shut, starting up the engine and turning the air conditioning on high.