It was Friday morning and the first official day of camp!
A friendly inter-school football game was taking place among the four schools on the beach. It was one of the games they were to compete in.
A coin was flipped and it was fairly decided that B. H. A competes with the third school while M. H. A competes with the fourth school. Each student wore the color of their school and cheered them on.
The game was competitive but B. H. A and M. H. A made it to the finals. The crowd was tensed because the players competed like their lives depended on it! The excited screams and cheers rose and fell repeatedly.
Natalia couldn’t watch properly. The game was both rough and tough! B. H. A’s strikers were GOOD but M. H. A’s defenders were simply insane!!
At the end of the game, B. H. A won by sheer luck and the crowd went wild! For winning the first competition, the school earned a lot of points ahead of the others. When the teachers permitted the students into the water, half the crowd jumped into the cool ocean in a flash!
Natalia didn’t know how to swim so she stayed on the beach with Nicky, pouring sunscreen on her skin. Girls confidently moved around in bikinis but the B. R. A. T. S won the ‘bikini queens’ award.
Like literally!
It was the second, but obscure, competition and B. H. A won again! Despite the cheers, Natalia wondered how daring they felt walking around almost nude??
Even though the princess wore a flimsy white shirt over her matching white bikini, a huge part of her still felt self-conscious.
Natalia didn’t see Arian the whole morning which made her dispirited. Jeffrey and Ricky were in the water and Selena was nowhere to be found. Leonardo sat with Natalia while Nicky went to join Elva in the water, so she didn’t feel lonely.
But deep down, a wanting side of her kept wishing it was Arian instead of Leo by her side…
***
Arian De’ Argent stuck to himself the whole morning, lost in thoughts about the previous night.
~ What’s there to be jealous of? We’re not even dating! So stay in your lane and I’ll stay in mine. Period! ~
A wanting side of him was hurt and his heart had lurched in pain at her words. But every thing she’d said was right!
He was messing with both their heads.
One minute they’re enemies, the next minute they’re closer than friends and the next they behave like lovers. And then the cycle continues.
Arian was freaked out!
Freaked out to accept the truth.
The truth that he was in love!
He was in love with the angel that had flipped his heart in days! He could give the world in an instant just to see her beautiful smile every day. Though she’d been trying, so obvious, to avoid him, Arian had been watching her from his window all day.
At first, her innocence and authenticity attracted him. But then her warm and beautiful heart captured him later on. He couldn’t hide it anymore.
He was in love!
He, Arian De’ Argent, was in love with Natalia Kendell, the girl who’d easily stolen his heart!
Arian stared at Natalia who was sitting on the beach and smiled. As he was about to go save her from the countless number of perverted vultures he’d counted so far, a soft pair of arms wrapped around his waist and intimately leaned on him.
Without looking, the young French knew it was a female and easily guessed who it was.
“Let these go, Selena.” He said and quietly tapped her hands. Selena nodded disagreeably and held on tighter.
Arian breathed out and broke free. He turned to see her clad in a black and white bikini with a white scarf around her waist.
“What do you want?” His voice was cold, despite his father’s orders. Since Selena had failed to convince her father to revoke their engagement, Arian had given up what was left of his patience with her.
Selena nodded and hugged him again.
“Selena?” His impatience deepened. She wriggled in his body and looked up at him with a pout.
“You haven’t come out of your room all morning. Come swim with me.”
“I’m not in the mood so please let go.” He frowned. When she didn’t, Arian forcefully pulled away and walked out to the beach. When he sighted Natalia, his anger instantly dissipated and he sat next to her.
“Why aren’t you with them?” He nodded towards her friends who were playing beach ball in the ocean. Natalia’s eyes bulged seeing how close they were and her face flushed red.
“I… I can’t s.. swim.” She stuttered, nervously biting her lips.
“Oh. Then we’ll just watch them instead.” Arian said and looked ahead. Natalia was shocked.
“A… Aren’t you gonna swim?” He turned to her and smiled. Her concern touched his heart.
“Hmn??” He mumbled thoughtfully and rested his palms behind him like a model.
“You see, I’m not gonna be able to impress you when the girls start clinging. So no, I’m good here.” Natalia laughed which was later replaced with a hot blush.
“I.. I’m sorry about last night. I.. I didn’t…” She paused awkwardly.
“I told you we’re cool, didn’t I? In fact…” He placed his elbows around his knees. “… I should thank you for it because It made me clearer about my emotions.” Arian confessed and looked out into the massive ocean. He could feel her curious gaze on him.
“Emotions?” Natalia’s hopeful eyes clung to him. Arian turned back to her and moved closer, stopping inches from her face.
And in a long time, Natalia noticed that the mischievous glint which was common in both Argent brothers but less conspicous in Arian’s eyes, were absent.
“That you’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever come to f….” He froze as her huge brown eyes widened, waiting to take in the rest.
But Arian De’ Argent smiled and gently pulled her nose instead. “It’s a confession for later.”
Natalia giggled and tried to retaliate but he was quicker to dodge, chuckling at the same time…
***
The third official competition kicked off after lunch. It was a treasure hunt in the forest!
Another trophy was hidden in the woods and the first school to bring it back would win both the trophy and have more points added to their school. The students of their respective schools were grouped in twos each. Everyone was excited because they’ld be going into the main island!
Natalia didn’t know how it happened….. and don’t ask either ….. but Arian De’ Argent ended up being her search partner. She was excited to go with Elva but the game officials said the grouping was a male to female pair.
The Princess sadly looked over and caught Arian smiling like a puppet doll.
Dweeb!
After millions of warnings from Elva to be safe, she went off with some redhead in glasses. Ignoring Arian, Natalia also walked into the forest with a pout holding the treasure map.
At first, the duo could see other enthusiastic searchers but as they got deeper into the woods, the trees and twines became thicker. They couldn’t see clearly at some point but the princess continued hopping merrily.
“Are you sure you know where we’re going?” Arian mused from behind. She turned to see him sashaying elegantly at a slower pace with his hands in the pockets of his sweats, looking like a slay king.
“If you aren’t so lazy and indifferent, you’ld have known the answer to that question.” She mouthed and jumped over a tree trunk.
“But don’t worry, since your life is presently in my hands, we aren’t lost yet.”
Arian scoffed and jumped over too and they continued walking.
“O. M. G!” Natalia suddenly squeaked. “It’s a white butterfly!” She excitedly moved over to where it was feeding on a flower.
“Yay.” The hot French muttered dryly.
Arian didn’t know, but in Astheria white butterflies were the rarest and most significant butterflies in the Empire.
“Take a picture of us!” She ordered and tossed him her digital camera. He reluctantly took a photo and returned it after much fussing.
“What’s that?” Natalia went near a weird shaped plant which looked creepy and tried to touch it.
“Well don’t touch it!” Arian yanked wide eyed and held her hand. Natalia rolled her eyes.
“Why not? What could possibly happen?” She mocked.
A second later, a bug flew by and landed on the plant to feed and immediately, it snapped close trapping the poor bug inside.
.
.
.
They screamed and flew away!!
“THAT could happen!” He yanked. Natalia thanked her guardian ancestors before they continued the hunt.
The duo got to a shallow stream and found a green cloth tied to a tree, signifying they were on the right track! Natalia squealed excitedly.
“Are we there yet?” Arian drawled tiredly. The princess stuck her tongue out before shoving the map into her little waist bag.
“Nope! We’re just getting started. We have to cross that stream.” She pointed. Arian huffed and laid on the smooth grass.
“Hell no! I’m exhausted.”
Natalia ignored him and scrutinized the water. There was no rocks to jump over so they had to walk through directly. It should be knee length. She thought and looked at her clothes.
Natalia was wearing a simple light-blue shirt over the same cotton shorts. She concluded it wouldn’t get wet and pulled off her sneakers. The water was freezing cold and she shivered.
“Where are you going??” She heard Arian yap behind her.
“To find a trophy!” Lazy bones. She swore inwardly and moved on. The water slowly rose until it reached her knees. Natalia froze.
Her hydrophobia kicked in and she began to breathe fast. Her eyes watered and her body shook. Suddenly, her mind went over active. She looked around and saw herself in the ocean, drowning!
It wasn’t real, it wasn’t real. Natalia mentally chanted but her eyes were seeing something different. She took in a shaky breath and tried to take another step. But her legs failed and she slipped, screaming as she fell into the deep water…
Chapter 61