Words: 1860

I woke up to my alarm ringing for 8:00 am. I lifted my head from Zach's bare chest and looked at his sleeping form. I smiled. I reached over to turn my alarm off before he woke up. I looked at him again. I decided to wake him up so we could get ready for breakfast. I gently reached my left hand towards his head and started running my fingers through his soft hair.

"Zach?" I whispered. I rested my hand on the side of his face and cleared my throat then said his name again.

"Zach. Come on. Wake up," his eyes fluttered open. He looked at me and smiled. He reached his right hand up to his face and held my hand.

"Good morning Winter," he said then yawned.

"Good morning," I laughed and looked around. The morning sun lit up our cabin, making me wish that I had brought my camera that my uncle had bought for my 14th birthday. I looked back at Zach and saw him looking at me.

"What?" He just shook his head.

"I'm just glad that I could finally get you to talk," I giggled and looked down, but then looked around the room so I wouldn't be staring at his chest.

"I get the feeling that you don't talk to most people," he said, looking at me. I nodded.

"Do you wanna tell me why?" He asked. I looked up into his eyes. They held sincerity. Something I don't see in anyone but my mom. I looked down and closed my eyes.

"Ever since my dad died when I was six, that's kinda when it started. Then around the age of 15 I had a boyfriend named Cole. We were binge watching Netflix at his place. He had told me to go get something from his car. I got it and went back inside and up to his room. Except I had forgotten to lock the front door. We heard noises in the kitchen around 1 am, which was unusual because his parents were off on holiday in Florida to see his dad's parents. Cole had gone downstairs to see what it was. He came back to his room and told me to hide cause there was an intruder in the house. Cole went back down to tell the man off, but him being 16 didn't stand a chance against the man," I looked down, afraid to say what happened next.

"He never came back. I sat in the closet in silence. The police arrived and told me that they had taken him to the hospital, because he had been severely injured. He died in the hospital just a few days later. I never talked to anyone again. I didn't want to get attached again, because whenever I do, I'm always left behind and broken hearted," I finished, looking at Zach. He looked away.

"I promise, that if you get close to me, I won't break your heart," he looked into my eyes

"I won't leave you," he looked at me as he finished his sentence. I stared at him.

"You promise?" I asked him.

"I promise," I smiled.

~

We'd eaten breakfast after getting ready and since today was Sunday, indicating that it was a free day, we were just walking around the camp just talking. He talked the most, me adding a comment here and there. Walking past the three man swing, I watched as two girls and a boy swung from around 50 feet in the air. They all screamed as they swung back and forth. Zach looked in the same direction as the screaming kids. He looked at me.

"You wanna ride that?" He said with a happy look on his face. I rolled my eyes playfully and shook my head.

"I don't like heights, so no thanks," I started walking away from the swing, when a hand grabbed my wrist and started pulling me towards the giant monstrosity.

"Zach what are you doing!" He just laughed as we got in line for the swing. After a few more people we were up next. We walked up to a tall guy, with short blonde hair.

"Do you have a third person to go on the swing with you?" The person in charge of the swing asked. Zach looked at me and I shook my head as an indication of no. I looked back at the tall staff member. He pointed behind us.

"Are you in line for the swing?" I turned to look behind me. I saw a girl about my age. She had brown hair and brown eyes. She was tall, taller than me. She nodded and walked over to us. The tall female stood next to me. She was about as tall as Zach, although he stood like an inch above her. The staff member, who, once I saw his name tag, went by the name Jeremy, had started buckling us up with this safety thing, then walked us over to the actual swing. Zach sat on the far left, I was in the middle, and the unknown girl sat to the right of me. The swing went higher and higher. I closed my eyes as the swing came to a stop at the top. I quickly gripped Zach's hand as he pulled a string and we went flying down. I heard screams from the girl and laughter from Zach. I was silent. Once I opened my eyes I noticed how I could almost see the tops of the trees. I could see the mountains in the background. I stared in awe at the beauty set before me.

Once we had gotten off the swing after it went a second time, I felt very dizzy, so I had to grab onto Zach's bicep to steady myself.

"Are you ok?" He asked as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder, afraid that I was going to fall. I nodded and continued to walk. The girl was in front of us.

"Hey!" Zach yelled, getting her attention. She turned and looked at us.

"What's your name?" He asked. She smiled.

"Aster," she replied and Zach held out his hand. She laughed and shook his hand.

"I'm Zach and this is Winter," she shook my hand.

"It's so nice to meet you," she said and stepped back.

"Aster!" She turned and I saw a guy, about two inches taller than Zach. He had brown hair and bright blue eyes. He also had a gap in his teeth, which immediately reminded me of Donatello from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

"Daniel!" She hugged him and he spun her around. Zach leaned over to me and whispered into my ear.

"I think I know him," I looked at him, curious.

"Really?" He just nodded. Once I looked back at Aster's 'boyfriend' I presumed, he'd already put her down and placed his hands onto her shoulder.

"I was looking everywhere for you," he told her. She apologized and told 'Daniel' that she had gone on the three man swing with me and Zach. She then introduced us to him and he shook our hands. 'Why are we being so formal'. The two walked away hand in hand as Zach and I stood there. He turned to me.

"Are you sure that you're alright?" I smiled at his caring nature and nodded.

"I was just a little dizzy after the ride. My anxiety and fear of heights doesn't help any," he nodded.

"Remind me to never go on that ride again then," he laughed as we started walking towards the metal building for lunch.

~

The rest of the day was kinda like yesterday. Me and Zach went to the pool and played in the water for a few hours. I was laughing at something he said when someone or something had accidentally pushed me under. Since I was laughing, my mouth was open and my lungs started to fill up with water. I could feel my body shutting down from lack of oxygen. I felt a hand pull me up and out of the water. They laid me out onto the concrete as I coughed up water.

"Winter are you alright!?" I opened my eyes and saw a figure above me.

"God? Is that you? Am I dead?" I asked, looking around. The figure laughed.

"No you're not dead. It's Zach!" I looked at him as my full vision came back.

"Oh. It's just you," I said, faking disappointment. He pretended to be upset, as he knew I was joking. I laughed at him as I stood up. My footing slipped and I almost fell. Strong arms caught me, before my butt hit the ground. I looked at Zach and laughed.

"Thanks," I stood and watched as a guy walked up to me with worry in his eyes.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I almost killed you! Are you ok?" I nodded and smiled as a sign that it was ok, even though I could've died. He told me his name, Alex, and continued apologizing. I laughed at his goofiness. He apologized once more.

"Ok I think that's enough. We need to get going," Zach said as he dragged me away from Alex and towards our stuff. Zach looked mad as he grabbed my towel and handed it to me. He grabbed our bag in one hand and my arm in the other. On our way down from the pool, I looked at Zach. He still looked mad.

"That was rude, you know that right?" He looked at me, as I looked over to him.

"Pulling me away from him, while we were talking," I said as I looked ahead. He looked forward.

"He was flirting with you. I didn't want him to hurt you," I looked at him, a little upset.

"Zach he said it was an accident and he apologized. I said it was fine," I said to him getting upset. He stopped, causing me to stop with him, and looked at me.

"Fine! He almost killed you! How is that fine?!" He yelled and I looked away, annoyed.

"Well I'm not dead last time I checked!" I looked back at him as he rolled his eyes.

"And plus I didn't like the way he was looking at you," I stared at him with an annoyed look.

"Oh my gosh you know what Zach, I'm sick of you being jealous. I'm not into him, ok! Just stop being jealous!" I said walking away.

"I'm not jealous! I just don't want you to get hurt!" he said chasing after me.

"Mmhmm yeah sure. Whatever you say, hot shot," he sighed in annoyance as we arrived at our cabin. We didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day. I knew he was jealous, even though he denied it, you could tell by the way he acted towards Alex. After we had dinner I immediately went to bed, not wanting to talk to Zach. I was still so mad at him for the way he acted. I slowly drifted off to sleep, letting the dark take me over.