Havoc - Piper McLean

25: Cowboy like me

| cowboy like me |

—Piper dreamed she was on the Wilderness School dorm roof.

The desert night was cold, but she'd brought blankets, and with Jason next to her (hopefully), she wouldn't need any more warmth.

The air smelled of sage and burning mesquite. On the horizon, the Spring Mountains loomed like jagged black teeth, the dim glow of Las Vegas behind them.

The stars were so bright, Piper had been afraid they wouldn't be able to see the meteor shower. She didn't want Jason to think she'd dragged him up here on false pretenses. (Even though her pretenses had been totally false.) But the meteors did not disappoint. One streaked across the sky almost every minute—a line of white, yellow, or blue fire. Piper was sure her Grandpa Tom would have some Cherokee myth to explain them, but at the moment she was busy creating her own story.

Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. Thirty minutes came and went. 

No sign of Jason. 

With every passing second, the ball in Piper's stomach wound tighter and tighter. Annoyance flared and she didn't know whom she was angrier at. Jason? or herself? By the end of the hour, she felt like she was going to either throw up or jump off the roof. 

She even looked over the side to see if the fall would kill her. 

"You're really dramatic, has anyone ever told you that?"

In a whole hour, there had been no sounds other than the wind and Piper's own breathing. She had expected Jason to join her, but the voice she heard was her dormmate's. 

"Romani?" Piper raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "What are you doing here?"

The other girl walked out onto the roof and into Piper's view. She was wearing fuzzy purple pjs with some embarrassing cartoon design on them. Piper wanted to giggle, but she didn't have the energy to be happy about something when she'd just been stood up. 

"You sneaked out of our room and let's just say you're really loud" Camilla strode over. She was always bold, Piper knew that, but they weren't exactly friends, so it was surprising to have Camilla sit next to her willingly. 

Piper didn't want to seem rude, so she offered her a blanket.

"No Jason, huh?"

Piper didn't know what it was about Camilla that irked her back then. Maybe she was blinded by jealousy— jealousy that was planted in her head by someone. The Camilla she knew now was so much fun to be around. Piper wondered if they would have been good friends in the Wilderness school too if the fake memories of Jason weren't there to interfere. 

"He stood you up" At this point, Camilla may as well have been trying to talk to a wall. 

Piper didn't respond. Maybe because she was still salty over the whole thing. She was about one minute from snapping at the girl. Why would Camilla invite herself here? But then Piper realized she'd been worried. 

After an hour and Piper still hadn't returned to their dorm so Camilla was worried. 

Oh. 

And even though they weren't friends, at least Camilla cared enough to fill the whole Jason left.

Oh. 

"That sucks" Apparently Camilla took her silence as an answer. "Don't let it get you down though. I saw how excited you were to see the meteor shower"