CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE.
I prayed for a moment like this.

JUNIPER.

I often enjoyed teasing Lennon whenever she gushed over any of her crushes. I would roll my eyes and playfully tell her to pull her head out of the gutter, that crushes were just some silly love-sick notion we teenagers liked to romanticise as if it were a romance novel. But I felt like after my kiss with Ethan, I had joined the masses. Against my will, of course.

Once upon a time, I had crushed on him when I was a helpless Middle Schooler, but the older I got, the more he began to annoy me. He was always over my shoulder like Coach, trying to influence me into making good decisions and that had really bugged me. But since the plane clash, things had changed.

He had become someone I could rely on, someone I could speak to without overthinking what I was telling him. I found myself leaning towards him when things got rough. He was an extremely nurturing person, something I thought must of stemmed from his mom—even though Coach had been a hard-ass, she'd had a heart of gold and it must of rubbed off on her son.

We were all sitting around the campfire, talking with one another whilst sipping on some hot tea Eden had brewed in a pot with the Earl Grey teabags we found in the catering suite. My eyes would occasionally connect with Ethan's from across the fire and it would make the both of us smile, still on a high after the kiss we'd shared.

Lennon sat down beside me, wearing my Black Sabbath hoodie. It was large on me, so it fit her a little better. She tucked the hoodie over her legs, holding her cup in one hand, "Okay, is it just me or am I sensing some serious vibes from you and Ethan?" She asked me, a large grin on her face as everyone else spoke over one another. They were on the topic of arguing over pickles on a cheeseburger, or no pickles. No pickles seemed to be the winner so far. Though, Ivy was seriously carrying the pickles on a burger argument.

My eyes widened as I turned to her, "Is it that obvious?" I asked her in horror. God, I must have really have come down with the crush flue. Usually, it was a lot easier for me to hide those kind of things. Then again, we were all now spending twenty-four hours a day with each other in an enclosed space. I guess it made things more easy to pick up on.

Lennon's eyes lit up with glee as she turned her whole body to face me, "I was right! I demand you to tell me everything—right now." She ordered, the large smile on her face making her eyes crease and her dimples show.

I chuckled, tucking my hair behind my ear and looking into my mug of tea. I had piled in the sugar, since we didn't have milk to soften the herbal taste. I wasn't much of a tea person in general, I much preferred my coffee. But it was nice to be sipping on something sweet and warm.

"It just kinda happened," I began telling my sister who hung onto every word I said, as though I was telling her the most interesting story in the world. "At first, I wasn't really thinking about him like that—you know, with everything that's been going on here, it seemed kind of childish, I guess. But this last week has been so calm that we've just had time to spend together and I don't know, it just happened." I told her with a hint of a smile on my lips, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. It was almost sickening. I seriously wanted to gag at myself.

Lennon leaned closer, arching an eyebrow, "And by just happened, you mean..." She trailed off, waiting for me to fill in the gaps.

"We kissed," Lennon let out a sequel as she clutched her cup tightly with both hands. I grabbed onto her, trying to shush her. "Len, please try and calm your hysteria. I don't want the whole camp knowing, at least, not yet." Even though I was scolding her, Lennon was grinning her head off, and I couldn't help it; it made me smile too.

Lennon tucked her hair behind both ears, "Sorry, June. It's just, you don't usually show interest in anyone like this and as your big sister—"

"By nine minutes." I interjected.

                 "As your big sister," Lennon repeated, making me roll my eyes playfully. "I'm just really fucking happy for you—like for real. Ethan's a really great guy. You deserve someone as good as him." She said, reaching out to take my hand in hers, giving it a squeeze that I returned, smiling at her.

                   My smile wore off slightly after a moment, "But what if I'm not good enough for him?" I asked in a small voice, making Lennon's brows turn downwards. "I mean, I'm a total fucking burnout and—"

                   "You are not a burnout, okay?" Lennon spoke over me sternly. "I know I might have said that before, at the party. But I don't mean it. You're anything but a burnout, June. You're kind, and you're sweet—even if you don't want anyone to know that. And I think Ethan does, I think he sees that in you." She told me, holding tightly to my hand, her words full of compassion as she spoke.

                  She then gave a light shrug, a playful look on her face, "And you're pretty fucking hot, so that's a plus on his side." I laughed and she joined in with me, the both of us giggling to ourselves.

                    "Got it!" Abby was suddenly yelling as she jumped onto her feet, her holy grail, AKA, the iPod clutched tightly between her fingers. Everyone looked up at her as she grinned, holding up a the middle finger at us. "Fuck you, assholes, for not believing in me. Because I, Abigail Dempsey, just fixed this fucking iPod with my bare hands." She announced, spinning on her feet so that we all equally got a taste of her middle finger.

                   Kitty scoffed, "Alright, Dempsey. Let's hear it then." She prompted, wrapped up in a crochet shawl with different colour stitching all over it. I think it belonged to Eden.

                    "Behold," Abby spoke in a dramatic voice, holding the iPod above her head. "The power of music." She pressed a button. But nothing happened.

                   Brooke looked up through her eyelashes, a bored expression on her face, "Is this music imaginary, or?" She drawled out, gesturing with her hand.

                    "Shut up, Brooklyn. Give it a minute." Abby muttered as we all stared at the iPod, waiting for something to happen.

                     I was just about to tell Abby she was full of shit before a crackling melody began to play from the water damaged speaker of the iPod. My jaw dropped, "Holy shit." I breathed out, a grin beginning to stretch out onto my lips.

                    "Is that..." Lennon trailed off, an awestruck look on her face, the cup of tea going loose between her fingers.

                   "Why yes it is—Queen Lizzo herself," Abby agreed, nodding her head feverishly as the into to Truth Hurts by Lizzo began to play. She settled the iPod down onto the tree stump, making it slightly louder. She gestured with her hands. "Get up, bitches! It's dance party time!" She exclaimed, giving a 'come hither' motion with her hands as she playfully shimmied her shoulders.

                    Imani slowly began to rise to her feet, a shit-eating grin on her lips, "Abby, you are a fucking genius," She gushed, taking Abby's face in her hand before placing an affectionate kiss to her forehead. She then turned to Lennon. "Come on, Lemon. I know you're not sitting on your ass whilst our song is playing." She said, walking towards Lennon and holding her hands out, waiting for my sister to take them.

                     Lennon grinned, taking Imani's hands and allowing her to pull her onto her feet. Everyone was slowly getting out of their respective spots as Coach Stratford sat back, a smile on his lips. When Lizzo's voice began coming through the speakers, we all began to sing along, feeling ecstatic over being able to listen to the song we often played before games. It had been one of our hype songs; and we knew every single fucking word.

                     "I just took a DNA test, turns out I'm a hundred percent that bitch!" Imani exclaimed, jumping up and down on her feet, holding onto Lennon's hands as they danced around the campfire.

                    I sat back, watching the group dancing with each other. It made my heart feel warm and reminded us of times in the locker rooms, dressed in our soccer attire, hyping ourselves up before a game.

                     Ethan was suddenly standing up and making his way over to me, extending his hand once he stopped by my feet. He gave me a cheeky grin, "It's not exactly the most romantic song. But you wanna dance?" I stared at his outstretched hand, pretending to ponder the thought before I latched onto his hand, getting to my feet.

                    We stepped in line beside everyone else, singing the words and dancing terribly. Ethan spun me under his arm, making me laugh into the night air as we spun around on the spot together, holding each other.

                Lennon was suddenly prying me off of him, dragging me into the circle the girls had created, "Sorry, Ethan! This one's for the girls only!" She playfully exclaimed over her shoulder, making him chuckle as he stood back and observed, clapping his hands along to the beat.

                Everyone's had their arms over each others shoulders as they chanted the words like they were gospel, "You tried to break my heart. Oh, that breaks my heart. That you thought you ever had it, no you ain't from the start." Lennon was singing from beside me, jumping up and down along with everyone else, the biggest of smiles on her face.

                   We all threw our arms into the air, "I will never, ever, ever, ever be your side chick!" We all yelled before erupting into laughter before continuing to dance around the fire, splitting up into small groups.

                    Only once I felt like I was overheating from the fire, the tea in my stomach and all my dancing did I sit down. I watched on as Lennon danced with the rest of the girls before Eden sat down beside me, "I prayed for a moment like this," She said, a happy glazed over look in her eyes. I turned my head to her, watching as she clutched her necklace. "I'm happy He answered my prayers." She said, raising the cross to her lips before placing a kiss against the metal.

                    I smiled, "Yeah. Me too."

( authors note )

        finally got my editing acc back so i'm gonna be posting a lot more edits of this boom again bc even though I'm not writing much for it, i still absolutely adore this book🥹!

          — taylor xx