Chapter 6: Camp (Part 6)

*The next day*

Nova's POV

"2nd place. Bruce Mantle!"

We all cheer so hard. He laughs and lets the man put the medal around his neck as he stands on the podium.

"And the first-place winner is... Rory Rogers!"

We all cheer once again as he gets his medal. They let the camp managers do the pictures and then get off of the podium.

"And now to surfing!" we hear.

So the point is. Usually in competitions you know what place you got... Cause they shout it while you're competing. But this time half of us got good waves. And many of them. So we have no idea. I could be 3rd or I could be 13th. No one knows.

Nick squeezes my hand and I smile at him. And put my head back onto his shoulder. We're sitting on the sand. Everyone is. In our towels.

"Since we have no girl or boy groups in here. Let's start.... Sixth place. Emmett Hawkins!"

We clap and smile, seeing one guy going to stand next to the podiums.

"5th place. Willson Nightapple!"

I laugh at the name quietly but keep clapping. Please let me get a place.

"4th place. Charles Willson!" he says.

We cheer. He seems disappointed. "4th place dude. You're going down," Jordan teases him and ruffles his hair. He chuckles and goes to stand next to the podiums.

"3rd place. Nicholas Jones!"

I start screaming into his ear, making him laugh and pull away from him. He kisses my hair and gets up.

He goes there and gets a medal around his neck. I like looking at all these guys. They all have abs showing under their towels.

Come on. I have to get 2nd place. There's no way I beat Jor.

"2nd place. Novella Willson!"

They start cheering for me. I chuckle and get up and go there, shaking from cold. He puts the medal around my neck and I smile, stepping on the second-place podium.

"And 1st place. The winner of this competition. Jordan Willson!"

We all cheer. He comes here, gets the medal and gets onto the first place's podium.

*5 minutes later*

"4th place," Chic pouts and looks at Nick, "Tell your girlfriend to back off from my second," he says, making us laugh.

"Nah," Nick says and I kiss his cheek with a smile.

"How have you gotten so good at these things?" Chic asks me.

I shrug, "Or you've gotten weak," I say.

He ruffles my hair. "You were amazing out there, so I get why you got 2nd," he says. I smile.

"Wait, Nove. You guys right now are 16 and 17," he says and my bros nod. "But when you all went surfing for the first time, she was 3 and you were 5 and 6?" he asks.

"Her birthday is in March. Mine is in October and his is in November," Jordan says.

"Yeah and we went surfing in like February," I say and they nod.

"Oh," Nick says, making me chuckle.

"I now realize that there are some questions I should still ask you.. Like. What's your favorite subject?" I ask.

"English," he says.

"Duh, um," I think, "Tell me your grades," I say.

He laughs, "I do not memorize them. I'll send you a picture," he says. I nod with a smile and he kisses my temple.

*The night*

"Yes! Nick. Truth or dare?" Harvey asks.

"Truth," he says.

"Do you love Nova?" he asks.

I blush a little and look down at my crossed ankles.

"Dude. No. Their first 'I love you' has to be romantic. Nick, don't answer," Ari says.

"No, it's okay. Yes," he says and takes the bottle.

I smile. I thought that maybe he doesn't wanna say that stuff in front of the others. The bottle points on me.

"Truth or dare, baby?" he asks.

"Dare," I say.

He smirks, "Tomorrow all day, wear shoes," he says.

The others start laughing. Our game point is to get everyone out of the game so that two people are left in the end and they are the winners.

"I'm out," I say and stand up.

"What? Seriously?" Ari laughs.

"Not wearing shoes," I say and kiss Nick's head before sitting down on his bed.

They laugh, but Nick smiles, respecting my opinion on shoes. They keep playing, though there are only Nick, Harvey, Ari, Bruce and Bella in now.

I climb over Nick's bed to his bag and pull out a pack of popcorn. Then I climb back on the right place to see what they're doing, and start eating.

*3AM*

"Okay guys," Nick whispers and pulls me with him, our hands together. We all run out of the beach hut and towards the end of them.

"Stop right there, you all," we hear. And a flashlight is on our backs. We freeze and I get closer to Nick. It's dark and I don't like situations like this.

"Turn around kids. You're not allowed to be out so late."

No one turns around. He could never know, who we are.

"3. 2. 1." I whisper and we all keep running.

"Hey! Stop!"

We all laugh as we're out of the sight and go over to walking.

"How do we get back in though?" Bella chuckles.

"Where are we even going?" Sadie asks.

I look at Nick and he nods, "We have a place," I say.

"Ooh. That better not be somewhere you've had sex," Seth says.

"Oh shut up," Nick says, making me giggle.

We lead them into the woods. "Wait.. Isn't this part, out of camp territory?" Emerald asks.

"Exactly," I say.

"Woah woah woah, I'm not going out," Harvey says.

"Too bad, Harvey. We've been out for about 3 minutes now," Nick says. He sighs and keeps walking with us.

We reach the treehouse. "Here you go. See ya in the morning," I say.

Nick chuckles at me.

"Where are you guys going?" Josie asks.

"Swimming," we say in unison.

"I'm coming," Ari says.

"Yup," most of them say.

"And you.. All have clothes for this?" Nick asks.

"I always wear my bathing suit. Come on," Bella says to Emerald and she nods.

"Okay, I guess we're all swimming them," Nick chuckles.

I smile and we go on the shore. I'm always wearing my board shorts and a top or a T-shirt on it. Likely oversized. This time it's Nick's. Like it's been for about a week now. I pull the shirt off, so now I'm in a bikini top and my shorts.

He smiles at me, only in swimming trunks now too, and I take his hand. We walk into the warm water.

Both of us know that it's the last night together. We decided to keep on dating secretly, but when school starts and he'll come to our school, we'll be dating in public. If only we would know know, how hard it's gonna be for us.

Both of us want to enjoy this night. But we can't, cause we're thinking about going away and if someone finds out, like my mom, or some of the Hawks, we're dead. I feel a warm tear rolling down my cheek.

We go about into the same amount of water as when we had our first kiss. Then we stop. I close my eyes and tell myself to take deep breaths.

"Nova," he says with a broken voice.

I turn to face him. He sighs and wipes away my tears. "I know it's gonna be hard for us. But we'll get through this. Together," he says.

I nod slowly, "Together," I say and smile sadly.

He wraps his arms around me and I do the same. And we hug. In silence. Listening to the waves. We're totally in our world and can't hear how the others are laughing at something or talking.

When we pull away, we're both crying. We chuckle at each other faces and wipe our tears away.

"I love you," he says, starting to lean in slowly.

"I love you too," I say and move my head, so that our lips would get together already.

He pulls me against him, his hands on my waist. My arms are around his neck and we just make out.

"Khm khm," we hear someone clearing their throat, near to us. So we break apart and see Gage, Jordan and Chic.

"Can you please go away?" Nick asks, annoyed.

"No," they all smirk.

I sigh and pull Nick into my arms and hide my face into the crook of his neck. He wraps his arms back around me and kisses my hair.

"Look," Nick says to the guys, "You all have it easy, okay? You are going back to Hillwood, you can see your girlfriends every single day if you want.. We can't," he says.

"What do you mean, you can't?" Chic asks.

"Well... I'm a Southsider. The pure example of a Southsider. My dad is the Honey Badger King... She is a Northsider. The purest example of a Northsider. Meaning we can't date in public. Meaning that we have to do this in secret-" he says.

"Meaning that this is your last night together some place like this," Jordan finishes.

I feel Nick nod. They all sigh, "Carry on," Chic says and I hear them swimming away.

"Hey," Nick says to me quietly.

I pull my head out of his neck, what is wet now because of me. "Maybe we could just enjoy this night," he says sadly.

I take a deep breath, "Yeah, you're probably right," I say.

He kisses me one more time and then I dive under the water, splashing him wet with my feet.

When I come back on water, he is gone. I chuckle, waiting for him. He comes on the surface right in front of me.

"Oh you're gonna get for that," he says and lifts me up bridal style, making me laugh. He spins me around and then throws into the water, away from him.

I come back on the water and laughs so hard. I start swimming and try to catch him. Soon I do and I wrap my arms and legs around him from the back. He chuckles and turns his head to see me. I smile and kiss his soft lips for a second.

"I'm cold," I say.

"Yeah, I'm taking you out, I can feel you shaking," he says, walking towards the shore.

I chuckle and keep sitting on his back. Once we're out, he places me down and we pull our clothes back on. He gives me his jacket.

"No, Nicky. You're cold too," I say.

"I'll survive," he says and puts it onto my shoulders. I sigh and slide my arms in.

We look back at the beach. They're all in the water.

"Guys, we're gonna head back!" Nick shouts.

They all look at us, "Wow. The jacket looks great on you," I hear Emerald saying.

I chuckle quietly. "Night," I say.

"Good night!" they all yell back.

I sigh and intertwine our fingers as we start walking back to the camp along the beach.

*The next day*

"Sunnyside trailer park!" we hear the bus driver yelling. He stops the bus and the doors open. He gets out to open the baggage thingy.

Gage and Seth get up. "Guys. See you at school, right?" Seth asks.

We all nod sadly. They chuckle and go out of the bus. Nick and Emerald get up. And so do me and Isabella. We're literally all crying.

"Text me. Okay?" Isabella asks Emerald. They start talking about their relationship or something, but I'm not listening. I hand Nick his Honey Badger Jacket from around me. He sighs and throws it on himself.

We hug, my eyes closed.

"I love you," he whispers.

"I love you too," I say quietly.

Once we pull away, we're still hugging, just that we look at each other.

"I'm seeing you in four days in the local surfing competition, right?" he asks, our lips almost touching.

I nod and put my lips against his. We kiss for about a minute and then I pull away.

"You have to go," I say.

He sighs, "Text me." I nod. He slides his hand over my hair and walks away. I fall back into the seat and Bella comes next to me.

"Can I come over?" she asks me.

I smile sadly, "Sure, my mom would be happy to see you," I say while wiping my tears away.

She smiles and rests her head onto my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her and rest my head on hers.

The bus drives away and we both sigh.

"Hey, you two," Chic says, his chin on Isabella's head, since they were sitting behind me.

"What?" I ask and wipe my tear away.

He sighs, "We were thinking that maybe you'd wanna go skating?" Jordan asks.

I smile. I like how they're trying to make us feel better.

"At first let's go home. Then okay," I say.

Jor kisses my head and Chic kisses Isabella's. As I told you, we're cousins.

"Rory, you coming?" Chic asks.

"Sure," he says. I smile a little and wait for the bus to roll in front of our house.