Carlo

    Jacob's constant squealing drove me back to my cabin and I was about to leave for my room when he caught on to my hand and pulled me back before I stepped on the stairs. Smiling, he said, "I'm sorry if I'm being such a girl right now but I put a bet on you and I am so glad I won."

"What was the bet?"

He let go of me and his hands fell to his side, "You'll be with Es before the end of the camp." Jacob must have noticed the pretty annoyed look engraved on my face because he added quickly, "Don't fret. It's just something me and the boys do...sometimes. I mean the moment we saw the both of you we knew something was going on somewhere." His eyes widened further, "And this same look you're giving me was what you had on your face when Es was around Preston."

"Is Alex part of this?" I asked to be sure Alex wasn't playing Es and I when he said things about Preston. It would be annoying to know Preston wasn't actually a bad guy and Alex only did it so Es and I could be together. Not that the idea was dumb... It would just be wrong.

"No. Please, Alex doesn't get into anybody's business unless you were dating Preston." He scratched the back of his head, "I wasn't here when Alex and Preston started the beef but it's been going on for a while. It even cooled down with Es, normally he made sure they break up."

"Did you ask what happened?" I said, curiosity seeping out of my words but who wouldn't be curious.

"He said something about Preston being psycho but it only made us think he was the one crazy. Since then he doesn't talk about it. Only MK believes him and hates Preston the same way he does."

     That must explain why Alex doesn't want to tell me the reason why he hated Preston. He thought I would call him crazy.

     I looked back at Jacob to see him still smiling but typing furiously into his phone. Raising a brow, I asked, "Who are you texting?"

"Your sister and Jacinta. They are going to flip."

"They bet with you?"

"Yeah. Val and Dave were the people we bet against." He laughed and said, "I can practically hear Jacinta screaming through her text." He kept his phone back in his pocket then nodded at me.

"So the only problem now is to get rid of Preston, right?"

My eyes narrowed instantly, "You sound like you want to have him killed."

He shrugged, "Would work too." He smirked in response to my eye roll and added, "You sister said she saw Es heading to the manager's building. Do you know what he's doing there?"

"We haven't talked since my stupid confession." I sighed, turning towards the sitting room. There were only a few people in the cabin and out of the few I knew Alex was one of them. He never left the cabin unless we had cabin meeting or he had something important to do. His boyfriend, on the other hand, always left for basketball practice then came back to him right after lunch.

"Anyway," I continued, throwing myself on the couch and looking up at Jacob who had followed me to the living room, "Whenever we meet, we are just going to go back to being friends. That seems right."

"Just because it seems right to you doesn't mean it's right. It's how you feel that matters. If you love him, you won't be able to handle being friends, trust me."

"Been in the situation?" Jacob sat beside me as I said that.

He shrugged then tapped my knee in a comforting way and I smiled.

    Coming to the camp, I had a goal. I wanted to be more confident in myself. I didn't know if I'd changed much but I knew there was a difference in me because right now Jacob was being a friend to me. Something I depended on only Es to be.

     Slowly, my hand reached up to bury itself in Jacob's black hair and he grinned when my fingers played with it. "Thanks." I definitely needed a friend right now.

    Suddenly, the front door flew open, slamming the wall behind it. Birdie stood there like she had just finished running a marathon. As she breathed sharply and walked up to us, her eyes widened with shock and it made me pull my hand from Jacob's hair.

Her brows creased in a frown and she said, "Ohh, don't let my presence stop you homos from doing whatever you were doing." Her bright blue eyes darkened when she looked me. Something flashed in it but it was gone before I ever got a chance to figure it out.

     Birdie crossed her arms over her chest and I suddenly felt small under her blank gaze. I hated when girls did that to me.

     My cheeks burned and I heard her sigh, making me look back up at her. She smiled and started to say something but Jacob interrupted her, "As much as I would love to see you heteros argue or give each other weird looks," he frowned when he looked between me and her but his gaze landed on Birdie and he added, "I would like to know why you are here."

The initial panicked face I saw when she was at the door surfaced and she said, "I think Es is in trouble."

****

    "What do you mean Alex didn't tell you anything?" Birdie glared at Jacob as if he was a thorn in her presence. "I might not be friends with Es but my brother is involved and the way he acted around Es was the same way he acted around Alex before he fell into this shell he's in."

    I wasn't even on the couch the minute she said Es was in trouble. I was knocking hastily on Alex door but he wasn't opening up and I knew he was in there.

     Jacob glanced at me and came to help me kick Alex door down. We knew we would get a strike but Birdie wasn't even giving us a chance to chill. Jacob and I rammed out backs to the door just when we heard Alex's coarse voice and Birdie pushed us aside to get to him.

     He opened the door, revealing his sleepy and tired face. He looked down at Birdie and frowned. He had this look on his face like he would rather have a goat in front of his door than her.

     But Alex, being the nice guy he was, managed a smile for her and said as he came out fully from his room, "To what do I owe this visit?"

"Preston might have kidnapped Es. They were supposed to be out on a date." She stressed the 'supposed' and stared at Alex.

     When Alex's hands finally left his face after rubbing it to get the sleep out, his cloudy grey eyes widened and I saw him pale.

    That was when I officially believed Es was in trouble. Alex was trying to find the right word to say but instead his eyes watered and he slammed Birdie to the wall, earning a gasp from Jacob and me.

     No one had to tell us twice before we ran up to them and pulled them away from each other. Birdie wasn't making effort to strike at Alex but I couldn't say the same for him.

     His face was flushed with anger and he was thrashing out at Birdie saying, "I told you not to make him come here. I told you he'll just do it again."

"I'm just his sister. If he wants to come, he'll just come. I told you to keep your boys away from him."

"Can someone just tell me what is going on?" Jacob shouted over their bickering, just as irritated as I am. They were fighting here while my best friend might be dying.

Birdie answered, "My brother is into bondage play that he is obsessed. I don't know what happened on the second year of camp but that was when it started."

"When what started?" I said as I let go of her. I was tired of the half ass information Alex and Birdie were feeding me with. My best friend was in trouble and I needed answers now! "Start talking. Both of you."

     Jacob let Alex go and he made no move to hit Birdie. Instead, he ran a hand through his hair, scratching it in annoyance and frustration. He frowned at me but I didn't care if he was pissed or whatever. I just wanted answers.

"I was gang raped."

     The moment he said it, my heart almost stopped. Not just for Es but for him too. He was probably 14 when this happened and he had been living with the memory since then.

"They raped you?" Birdie's eyes widened and she pulled him into a hug before he could answer.

     Jacob hadn't moved but I was already reaching for my phone when MK strolled in. He stopped when he saw everyone standing in front of his room and was nearly about to tease like he normally does, but then he heard Alex sob and his eyes went wide with horror and fear.

"What happened?" He said slowly as he rushed to Alex who immediately let go Birdie and buried his head in MK's chest.

I was already dialing my sister when Birdie started to explain everything as she rubbed her neck. Starting from when she saw Preston to Alex telling us about his secret.

     MK didn't look that shocked which meant he already knew. He only hugged Alex tighter and said to Birdie, "Call my father."

"What?"

"The camp manager. Hurry."

She hesitated and MK glared at her, showing her how pissed off he was. She reluctantly got out her phone and hesitated again. "Do we really have to call your dad? We could kindly tell Ariesa something bad is happening so she could lend us a car. I can drive to wherever he might be and we can bust him."

"Are you-" Alex was starting to say, pulling himself away from MK but his boyfriend pushed his head against his chest, muffling his words.

I could see how angry MK was but I could understand Birdie. Preston was still her brother and she still cared about him. Ratting him to the manager would make this situation a much bigger deal. But the thing was... that was exactly what this was. A much bigger deal.

     Moving to a corner, I exhaled deeply when Camila picked up and I could hear her giggling then she said into the phone, "Hola."

"Camila! Cam, Es has been kidnapped."

There was a loud thud then something shattering and her voice came back up, "Carlo, I swear to god if I find out Es is fine, Voy a alimentar a sus intestinos a mi cabra."

She was threating to feed my intestines to a goat but I had no time to be wondering where she was going to get a goat from. I frowned into my phone and said in Spanish, "I'm serious. Birdie just told me and Alex said they gang rapped him. They might do it Es too. Camila, I am scared."

My sister cursed and said something to someone. There was a lot more shuffling noise and soon, I was hearing her voice. "I am coming over. You are in your cabin right?"

"Yes but text Es TTFA first. He knows what it is. Tell Jacinta too."

"Already did. We are on our way. Soy hermano lo siento."

     She hung up and when I was about to text Es, my phone went off. Frantically, I turned back to see Alex and Birdie in a full grown argument but MK was already making a call. I ran to Jacob, who looked to be screaming from the inside and said, "Do you have a charger?"

"What does a charger do in this situation?"

"Charge my phone." I said looking around because I wasn't calm enough to have a simple chat. My eyes caught one laying around the Play station and I ran to it and quickly plugged in my phone. I frowned when I saw that my phone was still blank; if there was anything that I hate, it was waiting for my iPhone to restart. It's just so annoying.

"Ariesa said we should come to her office right now." MK didn't even spare Birdie a glance, taking Alex's hand in his and pulling him towards the door. "Because of you, Alex never got to report the incident the last time. It's about to happen again and this time, I'll make sure it gets reported." He said to Birdie before disappearing out the door with Alex.

    Birdie turned back to us and looked from me to Jacob. She rose her brows at him and said, "Aren't you going to go after him?"

"Why should I?" He glared at her, "Your brother is a disgusting human being and he should rot." He picked something up and then pointed his hand at her, "I didn't believe Alex at first but now that I know what really happened..." He casted a disgusted glare at her before walking out.

     Jacob's word didn't have much effect on her because she was begging me next. I only put up with her until my phone came to life. I let it charge a bit then said to her, "I don't know why you want me to stay quiet about this. This is Es here. My best friend."

"But don't you love me?"

"Don't even go there missy." I frowned at her, "If there's anyone I love, it's Es and will always be Es."

"So you're gay?" Her brows furrowed together in confusion but I had no time to be bothered about that.

I picked up my phone and brushed past her, saying, "I might as well be for Es."

     I was out the door in a minute, not even giving her a second glance. Camila, Jacinta and Patrick caught up with me and I really wanted him– sorry –her to back the fuck up but I stayed quite and led them to Ariesa's office.

Es, please be okay.