Change For Me

31. where's my 30

~~~~

Skating ended early. Everyone's getting ready for a late arts and crafts night.

"It was a joke right?" I ask Eva who's brushing her teeth.

"No," she laughs through the foam.

"What do you mean no?" I furrow my brows. I'm hoping that she's kidding. She can't be serious, right?

"It wasn't a joke Ellie," Eva spits out the toothpaste. My hopes are crushed. "Besides, I don't have to deal with Roman alone."

"But isn't that what a date is? You two alone..."

"Still," she reasons. "A double date would be cuter."

"I thought it wasn't a date. At least for me and Jae."

"I said it doesn't have to," she smirks. If only she can see it on my end. I don't know whether to be flattered or it's an inconvenience.

"You're impossible," I sigh, brushing my hair as I overthink the possibilities.

Once I'm done, I step out the bathroom. "Where did Sofie go?" I look around.

"She went to Maria's dorm," Karly mumbles. "Again."

"Why is she always there? What's wrong with her?" Taron asks. My gut twists at her tone.

"She's been hanging out with the other groups and not with us." Lisa realizes Sophie's behavior recently.

"Yeah and it's starting to get annoying," Taron rolls her eyes. My gut is now ripped out.

"Don't say that," I defend Sofie. Although what they're saying is true, I don't blame Sofie for being with people she's more comfortable with.

"I'm just saying," she raises her hands in defense.

There's a sudden shift in the room. "Just let her be," Lisa changes the subject and good thing she did.

"Girls! Are you ready?" We hear Mrs.Pearce yell for us from the corridor.

I take a deep breath once my cabin mates shrug off the topic. We all grab our jackets, put on our shoes, and drag ourselves into the cold, dark night.

We towards the main cabin. Once inside with the warmth, we head downstairs to the basement where groups 1 and 2 are chilling with their art projects. 

"Ah, there they are!" Gladis greets us from the end of the staircase. "We can begin, come on in."

In the corner of my eye Conrad, Roman, and Jae are sitting in one table already. They stop mid conversation to call the three of us over. Taron and Eva don't waste time rushing over beside Conrad and Roman. They did it on purpose, leaving me across the room and with an empty seat next to my "date."

I scoff, "really?"

As I sit next to him, he smiles, "hey."

"Hi," I shift in my seat to face Gladis. I ignore his presence. Maybe I can forget the bubbling feeling inside me as Gladis explains the art project. Maybe.

~

"Why are you so good at everything?" Eva groans while roughly erasing her mistakes.

"I'm not," I focus more on my project than their frustration. Although I feel bad for them struggling, I'm in my element. It'll be hard to catch my attention away from my art piece.

"I just wrote Youth Ranch," Taron is coloring her blocked letters written across the wood.

The project is to draw a memory on a piece of wood. Gladis gave us the freedom to do whatever we liked. To express whatever we wanted. I decided on a rough sketch of our cabin with 'Youth Ranch' and the year on the bottom of it. Something simple.