Our Hill Of Stars

Chapter 20 : Grown Ups

It's been three days.

Three days of sulking.

Three days of trying to convince myself that I am fine.

Three days of successfully avoiding Ace.

I don't know what to say. How to explain myself. I bet Ace doesn't even want to see me anyways.

I pull my knees to my chest, resting my head on them.

The Saplings - our next group of campers - had showed up yesterday. Of course, on their first full day, it had to rain. And so, here we are; movie day in the Dam.

The campers had chosen Grown Ups. Classic. I already like them just purely based on their taste of movies.

I'm currently sitting beside Evie and Charlotte as the boys sit on the opposite side of the room.

The others hadn't said much about their time away. Overall, I think it went well. Archer and Evelyn's parents had sounded extremely excited about their relationship status.

I'm so lost in my tornado of thoughts I don't even hear Evie at first.

"Autumn?" She taps my shoulder.

"What? Sorry." I look over at her.

She gives me a worried look. "Is everything okay? You've been off since we've got back."

"I'm fine." I lie.

"Did something happen between you and Ace?" Charlotte joins in.

Yes.

"No." I say shortly.

"You will barely look at him. Are you still mad about the party?" Evie asks.

"No. I'm over it." I tell the truth for the first time in this conversation. "I swear, I'm fine. Just... tired."

"Autumn Darla Tuffins, you better start telling us the truth." Evelyn says.

Oh shit. She middle named me. She's totally calling me out on my bullshit.

"I don't want to talk about it." I put my head in my hands.

"Hey. C'mon, Auto. Tell us what's wrong. Please." Evelyn whispers.

"Yeah, we are here for you." Charlotte gives me a hug.

I avoid answering by looking across the room. Ace sits with Archer and Dax, laughing quietly at something they said. I stare at him, longingly.

I really wanted to tell him what happened... but... I just don't know how to say it.

I take a deep breath, tearing my eyes away from the boy. I look back at him friends.

"We kissed." I mumble, head still in my hands.

"Holy shit!" Charlotte whisper-screams.

"Oh my God!" Evie pumps her fists.

Then they see my face.

"Oh no. What happened?"

I quickly tell them about the supplies run and the motel. I leave out Ace's nightmare and what I found out about his family. It wasn't my story to tell. I also skip the hill fiasco.

"I don't see the problem?" Charlotte says when I finish.

"Yeah? I think I'm missing the whole "why you guys are avoiding each other" factor." Evie agrees.

"Nothing else happened." I lie again.

If I was too embarrassed about running away to even tell my best friends, how was I supposed to talk to Ace. Commence the collective face palm, please.