Alicia
The sun rose in the morning sky and I woke up to birds chirping overhead. I was in the tent with Lori and Reena; Tammy wasn’t around, thank goodness. When I’d come back last night, Ryan had talked to me through the fabric of the tent. “Do you want to come out?” he’d asked. Miserable, I’d just replied that I wanted to go to sleep.
It was true, but I wished I’d made more of an effort with him last night. We’d been having so much fun. Now it felt like Tammy had ruined everything. I sat up and stretched, then got up and went outside. The guys were all awake except Justin, who was probably out in the woods with Tammy. The rest of the guys were cleaning up the camp. I started to help, and pretty soon Reena and Lori joined us.
When the majority of the camp was cleaned up, us girls went into our tent to gather our things. I was quiet; I figured I had completely ruined any chance of ever getting in with them. The more I said, the worse it seemed to get for me.
Reena grabbed her bag and stepped out of the tent. Lori picked her bag up, and a ton of pencils and a few books spilled out of an unzipped pocket.
“Shit!” she said and quickly began to gather them up.
I knelt to help her. One of the books had landed so that the cover was open and I saw it was a sketchpad. On the first page was an absolutely gorgeous drawing of a figure dressed in a red cape with fitted jeans and an angled top.
“Wow,” I said, genuinely impressed. “Did you draw this?”
“Yeah,” Lori said, as she nervously rushed to pick up her supplies. She reached for the sketchpad but I held onto it and flipped to the second page. The second drawing was even better than the first.
“Lori,” I said. “These are really good. Like, brilliant good. I didn’t know you could draw.” But it was more than just the drawings, it was the clothes the figures were wearing. They were showier than what I might wear, sure, but they were really stunning, and I could tell all of the outfits were original, coordinated pieces.
Lori looked at me as if she was expecting me to suddenly burst out laughing or something. I remembered Ryan saying that my genuineness and sincerity was what set me apart from the other girls.
I looked into her eyes so she could see I was being sincere. “You are really talented.”
“Thank you,” she said, suddenly acting like a shy child. She looked down and took the book from me. “I like to draw…and design. I like to design clothes.”
We were both kneeling in the tent, the remains of her art supplies scattered between us. “I had no idea you were interested in that,” I said. “Have you made any of your designs?”
“Not yet, but it’s my dream to create my own line of clothes,” she admitted. “I know I come from money, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to earn my own. I kind of admire you for, you know, actually working for your money so it’s really yours.”
She was blushing, and I knew that the only reason I was hearing this was because the other girls were nowhere in sight. I wondered why they all felt the need to be so fake around one another.
“Listen,” I said. “What I said the other day about spending excessively, I didn’t mean any offense to you. It’s just that I have a lot to learn about the sort of life you all live. Or I should say, your attitudes about things. Ryan is great, you’re all great, and I know I come from a different world with different values. But I really do want to be friends.”
Lori smiled and put the rest of her supplies back in her bag. “That’s cool,” she said. “I actually didn’t even think anything about that after you said it.”
We stood up and walked out of the tent. Wanting to quit while I was ahead, I didn’t say anything else. But as we walked to the car, Lori said, “I don’t usually hang out with girls like you, you know—no offense.”
I nodded. “I know you don’t. No offense taken.”
“But it might be cool to get to know you better. I mean, Ryan really seems to like you, so…”
I smiled, feeling warm inside both because I felt like I’d made some headway, finally, with Lori, and also for the unexpected insight into how Ryan felt from someone other than him.
We got to the car and everyone was there, tossing their bags into the trunk. Tammy and Justin had rejoined the rest of the group.
“Listen, since we’re apologizing,” Lori said, turning to me. “I’m sorry I was such a bitch to you yesterday when we were shopping. When we went to lunch, Tammy told us that Ryan is like paying you to be here or something. I don’t know where she got that from, but I’m really glad it’s not true.”
I heard a rushing sound in my ears and I felt dizzy, as if I might fall over. I looked over at Tammy, and her eyes froze me like stone. She was staring at me expectantly, smiling sweetly.
Ryan and I never spoke about our arrangement the entire trip so nobody could have overheard us. And I knew he would never tell the guys. So if I hadn’t said anything, and Ryan hadn’t said anything, then how in the hell did Tammy find out our secret?