‘Great. Now she knows. Well, at least you get the tent to yourself’.

“Are you gonna help or just stand there?” asked the blonde, looking calm and completely not like the world had just flipped on its side.

“Sure” croaked Ashley.

‘Aw hell’

If Spencer was in any way rattled by the information Madison had so kindly given out, she wasn’t sharing that emotion with Ashley. Once the tent was up, and various air mattresses were inflated, sleeping bags were rolled out and belongings were stowed, Ashley almost felt proud of the accomplishment. Only it had been mostly Spencer’s doing because Ash was a completely useless fool when it came to this kind of stuff. It was getting to dusk when everything was complete. Looking out over the once empty field, Ashley thought it looked like an army camp now. Tents everywhere, separated by a decent strip of ground designated as no man’s land between the ‘boys’ side and the ‘girls’ side. The teachers had made it very clear what the consequences would be for anyone found on the wrong side after dark. Ashley thought they were royally kidding themselves, but,

‘At least it won’t be an issue for you’ her brain kindly added. ‘Why, nothing’s going to happen’ she argued. Then realized she was arguing with herself, which surely had to be somewhere in the list of ‘signs of madness’. Pulling her thoughts into order, she turned to Spencer who was emerging from the tent.

“I’m going to have a shower before dinner. Ugh, bus smell.” With that, the brunette was off.

By the time she returned, clean and better dressed, Spencer was nowhere to be seen. She found her sitting on a fallen log, leaning against a tree and talking to Aiden. Ashley regarded them from a distance, feeling a knot of jealousy grow in her stomach. The blonde was sitting back, hair in a pony tail, easy jeans and a comfortable sweater on. Her face was glowing in the dusk, and her laughter sent tingles of heat up Ashley’s spine. She was beautiful sitting there, and Ashley felt her emotions tighten almost painfully in her throat.

‘She’s laughing for Aiden you chump’ her brain intoned. The rock of jealousy grew inside. ‘She’s straight, and the minute she gets any indication you might be interested in more than friendship, she’s gonna head for the hills’. Ashley tried to calm her racing nerves. ‘Fine.’ She argued with herself. ‘Then she’ll never know. Friends is good. Friends is better than nothing’. She was lying to herself and she knew it. Just then, Spencer looked up and waved, calling Ashley over. Steadying herself and putting on a mask of indifference, she made her way over.