Chapter 3-P1

"Can I ask why you guys are studying?"

Marley and Gabby were sitting next to each other at a crowded table at their second rest stop. They had empty bowls of their frozen yogurt discarded in front of them. They were between their peers at the only seats that were left in the room, or anywhere, as the busses were off limits while they were being refuelled. Marley would've taken the floor gladly, but Gabby refused to stoop to 'Greg Heffley' level. Whatever that means.

A giant brown haired guy in a varsity jacket with a handful of fries in his mouth pointed a greasy finger at the girls, who he was sitting across from. He'd been annoying the both of them with his booming voice the constant banging of his fist on the table, rattling everything and making them jump in fright.

Gabby wrapped her arms around herself nervously. Marley sighed, "Flashcards. From the textbook."

"Why you gotta do school shit on the trip?"

Trip?

Unfortunately, Marley and Gabby had found themselves sitting in the middle of a bunch of meathead jocks who came here for fun. A few seats down from the guy in front of them, Aiden and Leo were sitting and chatting with some girls across the table.

Marley curled her fingers around the pile of flashcards in her hands, looking down at the scratched wooden surface beneath her, "It-it's from the textbook, um, Practical Theories and Studies on Bacteria and Virus'?"

Everyone going on the trip was given a textbook on the material they needed to study and learn for the labs they were doing at camp. It wouldn't be entirely a teaching kind of thing. They'd be exploring the marshes and natural habitats around their camp, making observations and doing projects with their findings.

So about a month ago they were all given the book. The majority of people, who made it here because of their grade on the Biology test and not god knows what else, could be seen reading the textbook on the buses and looking at key terms themselves. Marley hadn't spent a day since without that thing in her hands. She could recite the definitions in her sleep.

She pities the people who thought this camp was a way to relax and earn free credits. Which were the people surrounding her, because somehow she and Gabby ended up in the popular crowd?

"Dammit, Alex! I told you to study that!"

The brown haired guy stood from his seat, causing the whole table to rumble like there was an earthquake, "Yo! You didn't tell me shit!"

"Can I see those?" someone snatched the cards from Marley's hands and soon there was a flood of people surrounding her and Gabby like moths to a flame.

"-book Mrs. Asher gave us! But you didn't fucking listen when I told you-"

"-the virus shit we're going to be looking at in the marsh-"

"-glad I know some of these at least, thank god-"

Gabby grabbed onto Marley's arm as they were forced to curl in on themselves, the air around them becoming hot and smelly.

"Those are my only flashcards!" she said into Marley's ear in a frantic tone, "I can't lose them!"

Marley touched Gabby's hand in reassurance, trying to stand but it was too crowded to move.

"Can I-can I please-" her voice was drowned out by the sounds of the students around her, "please can I-"

She watched Gabby quickly snatch a few cards which were falling into their laps like rain.

"Please can I-" Marley tried to stand again only to have an elbow jab into her shoulder.

"-can explain what this means, but I have no fucking clue from here on. No-"

"Donaldson! Come check out this fucking shit!"

"Hey, look it's what your mom gave me!" Marley craned her head to see a guy with a coloured mow-hawk holding up a flash card that said 'HIV.'

"I'm practically your stepfather with how familiar I am with your mom's asshole! Show some respect!"

Marley cringed in disgust, trying to squirm and wiggle as the voices only got louder, and her claustrophobia only worsened.

"Hey! Everybody back the fuck off!"

A loud holler, so frightening and cold echoed around the cafeteria, caused everyone to go silent. Marley shivered at the familiarity of the voice. She turned to see the crowd of students start to disappear and fall away as Aiden came into view, his body tense and his blue eyes hard. When he finally saw Marley, she noticed he seemed to relax.

Marley forced her eyes away from the tousled head of silky hair on his head, not wanting to be caught staring at anything other than his eyes. When he reached her side, his gaze flitted between Marley and Gabby.

"You alright?"

Marley felt like the wind was knocked out of her by his cologne and could see Gabby's mouth opening and closing in shock.

"Cards," is all she said, and that was impressive to Marley that her best friend managed to get the one word out.

Progress. This was progress.

Aiden's eyebrows furrowed, but Marley helped Gabby out by holding up the two flashcards in her hands — they were assisting each other in their social handicaps.

How cute.

Best friend goals!

Aiden seemed to understand then, turning around to face the crowd, "Hand over the cards!" he shouted.

Aiden Matthews apparently carried a lot of weight everywhere. Marley was utterly shocked to see everyone doing his bidding and not at all arguing with him. The small pile of Gabby's cue cards seemed to double and triple after a few minutes. There were a few grumbles but nothing above near whispers.

"Aiden? Where did you go?" Marley turned her head to see a redhead girl shoving through the crowd, "I thought we were going to..." her voice died out when she looked from him to Marley.

Marley shrunk in her seat at the girl's almost animalistic scowl. She also felt a twinge of...something at what the girl was probably going to say before she cut herself off. Marley couldn't tell what it was.

But she was pretty. With big blue eyes, a nice thin figure, and blood red nails which she...was curling into fists. Oh no.

"I'm not interested Kelsey," he stated dismissively.

Marley watched the girl gasp, her cheeks burning in rage. She almost stood from her seat when the girl took two large steps to approach Aiden, and slapped him right across the face, "It's Maya, you asshole!"

Aiden didn't seem fazed but Marley was anxious, staring at the side of his head and hoping he wasn't hurting too bad. Slaps can have a nasty sting for a few minutes after the hit.

"Damn Maya. You should know by now that Aiden doesn't remember names," Leo slipped through the crowd which was now watching and even filming the scene in front of them.

Maya turned to glare at Aiden's best friend, "He should remember mine."

"The only girls' names he knows are his relatives. Since you, well hopefully, don't fall into that category, you're out of luck."

He knows my name, Marley pondered, remembering he had used it on the bus a couple of times. Leo must be exaggerating.

Marley turned to look at Aiden, see his reaction to everything. His arms were crossed, and he shrugged at Maya with no remorse. Her eyes snapped to Marley's, and the sudden movement made her jump.

"What are you looking at?" she snapped, and Marley quickly lowered her head.

Aiden's body moved in front of her, "Leave, Macy."

"MAYA. M. A. Y. A! Leo just freaking said it!"

Marley couldn't help it, she snorted. A snort turned into a giggle when she heard Gabby start to laugh beside her. They were both contagious when it came to their laughter, so Marley was stuck laughing with a hand over her mouth. Leo's warmth fell into the empty seat on the other side of Marley, and he was laughing too.

"Oh god, man. You're smart, but you're such a fucking idiot holy shit."

Gabby wrapped her hands around her stomach, and though they found this entertaining the crowd didn't, slowly starting to fade away. Marley's laughter turned into wheezing — she hadn't laughed this hard in a very long time.

This whole thing was so, teen fiction novel that it's too hilarious. Too...unreal.

Aiden's laugh could finally be heard, "Okay, so it's kind of funny."

Marley's gaze locked on his, "You forget every girl's name?"

She wasn't sure where her bravado came from in asking him, but she ran with it anyway. Maybe the delirium that came with laughing. Maybe the absurdity of it all brought out something in her.

Aiden's look turned intense and penetrating. He had slight redness on his left cheek.

"You'd be surprised how many times he's been slapped because of that," Leo's voice piped in, but it was background noise at this point.

Marley was waiting for him to answer. He didn't.

"Back on the bus! Now!" the bus driver's voice made Marley pull her eyes away. She gulped, gathering her things robotically and standing on shaky legs.

He didn't say a word. Not when they walked to the bus. Not when they took their seats. He didn't even look at Marley, even though she did glance his way a few times. Mostly in curiosity. He had bought something from the gift shop, and for about ten minutes it sat in his lap as he typed away on his phone.

The crinkling of the bag captured her attention as he leaned back in his seat, his headphones in his ears. He didn't try to hide his purchase, the purchase that would make Marley's head swim at the thought of it even days later.

In his hand was a brand new copy of Wuthering Heights.

The next hour was the longest one, Marley realized. Not only was Gabby annihilating her in Words with Friends, but Leo, who was sitting in front of Gabby, demanded to join in on the fun.

Marley figured out quickly that Leo was 'thegreatandpowerfulpenis' alias requesting to play a game. After a while, Aiden was curious as to why his best friend was hollering "that's not a word, Marley!" Or "What the fuck is a cyclone (or other various words that were beyond his comprehension)"

Marley had a giant smile on her face as she beat Leo in yet another game. Aiden dropped the book, "What are you guys doing?"

Marley shot him a glance, feeling a bit of giddiness at the fact that he finally acknowledged her after an hour of radio silence.

"Words with-dammit!" Marley cursed when Gabby used all her letters and got a million points in the process.

Aiden leaned over her shoulder to stare at her phone.

"The-thegreatandpowerfulpenis?" He questioned, and it took Marley a second to answer because of his warm exhale across her collarbone.

Aiden had noticed the notification that requested another game. Marley accepted it, knowing Leo would spam her if she didn't.

"That's-thats Leo's username. He downloaded the app and had been playing the game with Gabby and I."

"Whose that?"

Marley frowned but didn't tear her eyes away from her letters. She circulated her deck, trying to put together any word to gain some points and try to close the gap between her and Gabby's impossibly high score.

Whose that?

Marley looked away from her phone for the first time, her lips parting in shock. She understood why Maya wanted to slap him so much that she did it. It is annoying and offensive that he's seen her friend multiple times and didn't even remember her name.

"Gabby? My best friend?" Marley met his eyes, and to his credit, he looked sheepish as he scratched the back of his neck.

"I'll try to remember that one," he murmured to himself.

Marley rolled her eyes and returned her focus to her phone. Leo was getting impatient by the messages he was sending her to hurry up and play his game. She quickly slid: dinosaur, into a double letter slot and smiled in satisfaction as her points heightened considerably.

Maybe she did like playing with Leo after all, his constant losses were good for her ego. Especially since Gabby was always crushing it into smithereens.

Marley groaned out loud when Gabby won yet another game with the word 'altercation.' She accepted another game with her and was shocked to see a request pop up on her screen.

'matthewsisking' requesting a game with 'heathcliff101.'

Matthews.

Marley's head shot up. Aiden was waggling his phone at her, "Accept it."

She was surprised, "That was fast. How did you-"

"I saw your username on your screen, and I already had the game. My cousin is obsessed, and played it at our grandparents last summer," he shrugged, "I don't know if I'm any good, but at least I'll try..."

Marley felt her cheeks warm. She accepted the request before a shouting got her attention.

"Marley! Yo, I got a four letter word! Take that!" Marley choked on air when she opened his game after putting a starting word into her match with Aiden.

Leo's awesome four letter word was 'anal.'

Marley face-palmed, sighing quietly and quickly skimming the letters for her options. It was easy to beat Leo; he usually couldn't come up with words, and by the time he thought of something Marley already had a few different ideas. She finally settled for, 'aneurysm' with a satisfied huff.

Gabby was the next game she tackled, even though it was always hopeless. The girl was a genius at this game.

Aiden was next, and she was surprised at the number of points he had. He'd strategically placed 'causality' on a triple letter space, and with its length his points were impressive. Marley's eyes narrowed. She didn't want to lose to him too.

But he was good. After about ten minutes, she realized how good. He was beating her by about 15 points, and she wasn't happy about it.

"You said you weren't good at this game," she nearly hissed when she stared at his latest word, 'arsenal,' which didn't get him as many points but it was still enough to keep him ahead of her.

Aiden's deep chuckle surprised and exhilarated her. Marley's thumbs froze over the keyboard.

"I didn't say I wasn't good. I said I didn't know if I was any good. Besides, if it's making you feel any better your...um, your friend, is killing me. I am beating Leo by a landslide though."

"That's not a compliment," Marley retorted, rather glum that she was being beaten by two people now.

But then...

"You still don't know her name!" Marley turned to glare at him.

Aiden raised his hands in surrender, "It's my fatal flaw, I'll admit."

"It's Gabby. GABBY, Aiden. It's offensive that you can't remember any girls names when you know them and see them. You're playing a game with her, and you don't even know her name!" Marley ranted, "You're sitting right beside me! And you're talking to me! It's infuriating."

Aiden's head cocked sideways. His blue eyes lit up in amusement, "I never said that I don't know your name."

Marley froze. His eyes locked on hers. Her phone chimed with a Words with Friends notification, but she ignored it.

"It's your turn, Marley," he stated simply, watching her reaction.

She looked away from him, twiddling her fingers.

Marley. Marley. He remembered. He doesn't remember names, but he remembered hers.

Marley had grown familiar with the back of lines; her toes balanced on the edge of the cliff. The air was cold and unforgiving against her back. Gabby is her best friend, Gabby puts her first, but it only amounted to the friction of rubbing her hands together and keeping the frostbite from her fingers. She knows Gabby deserves more appreciation than that, but she couldn't change how she felt inside. Aiden remembering her name when he forgets others' all the time felt like a temporary heat had spread up her arms.

She bit the inside of her cheek to hide her smile. But any cheerful mood faded away when she stared at the word he used on their game. 'Plethora' and it was perfect. Two triple letter spaces and a massive amount of points and bonuses.

"Aiden!" She scowled.

He was going to win by a lot.

"I considered letting you win. But figured you'd be mad if I did."

Marley scoffed at the absurdity of that statement. Let her win.

"Of course I would be. I will win, and I don't need your charity to do so," she puffed out, more determined than she was a minute ago. She moved onto the next game after doing her best to make a word on a double letter. It did lift her points a bit at least. Leo still hadn't responded, but Gabby put in a weak word that she probably had no choice in. Marley tried to use that as an edge to put them at a tie, but she was still about ten points away at her best word choice.

Rubbing her temples against a building headache, Marley took a brief break to lean her head against the window and stare out at the still dull scenery blurring by them as the bus continued to speed along the highway. She let out a sigh, nervous at the prospect of being stuck on a campground in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of wild teenagers.

She'd heard the rumours. The scandals. The sneak outs and crazy parties. Most kids apparently didn't take it seriously, scraping by to get their credits and have fun spending a semester outside of school. But these months were important to Marley, and oh so valuable. She wouldn't dare ruin any of it. She'd focus on the work and the fact that her father wouldn't have to be in her life if she moved away for school.

That which was only possible with a full ride scholarship. That which was only possible with a successful academic score on this trip. So much stress. So much relying on all of this. Marley resented all the kids who could kick back and didn't have to worry. Perfect lives while she was dealt a crappy hand and given a crappy life.

Moping never did anything productive for her sanity, so Marley forced the negative thoughts away.

"Look, I don't mean to, I don't know, pry or anything, but are you okay?"

Marley looked away from the window to see Aiden's torso was turned to look at her. His hair was tousled and sticking up everywhere, his lashes fluttered against his cheeks when he blinked, and his lower lip was pulled into his mouth as he stared at her apprehensively. Gods, he looked good.

Marley!

She swallowed, peeling her eyes away to stare at her lap. If anyone else were in her place, they'd ask him why he cared. They'd wonder why Aiden Matthews bothered at all with Marley Hoover. If there were a less shy, more confident girl under this skin, she would've asked the critical questions. But she couldn't. She didn't want to sound clingy or stupid or like she was taking it too seriously. She didn't want him to make fun of her if she said things like that.

So instead, "I'm okay," she lied, "it's nothing. I'm great."

She heard Aiden's loud sigh. When movement caught her attention, she realized he had moved his things off his lap and was rising to get out of his seat, "No you're not," he muttered under his breath, "You're really not."

The cold air hit Marley hard. Her eyes stung as he left his seat. Even if it was to go to the bathroom, she knew he had been gone too long after about five minutes. She curled her legs to her chest and rested her chin on her knees, wishing everything was different.

Wishing that there weren't so many holes in her from the disappointing fact that despite all of her best efforts, she wasn't the slightest bit bulletproof. Is there such a thing?

In a few more minutes she ended up leaned against the window. In a few after that, her eyes were falling closed.

A warmth appeared beside her again. A match had ended up where she was standing at the back, always last. But before she could think about anything morbid any more, Marley succumbed to the darkness.

When Marley woke up, it was slow. Soft. She was listening to calm, even breathing right near her. It was deep and relaxing. She was curled up against something warm, and she only snuggled into it further, her eyes squeezing shut. She felt something, a shift of the warmth beneath her, but it otherwise didn't move again. She could feel the soft fabric of her quilt protecting her body from the fresh air around her. Marley let out a content sigh.

Her eyes fluttered, her body starting to twitch and tingle as she focused on her limbs and coming to alertness. Marley let out a small yawn, her eyes fluttering open.

Something's wrong. Something is very wrong, she had realized at that moment.

The world had a weird tilt to it, the blue seats in front of her were veering to the left. She had her head leaned against something soft, warm. And when it lifted with a breath, horribly alive.

Who-Aiden.

Marley quickly shot away from where she was laying against his shoulder, scrambling back into the corner of her seat. Her eyes were wide as they met his own, which were staring at her with alarm.

"I'm-um-im-" Marley was at a loss for words.

Aiden looked over her frazzled state, and softened when he understood, "No worries," he said, "it didn't bother me," already knowing what she was thinking.

Marley's heart was racing. She hated that she'd been so vulnerable around him. She didn't know him, and she was sleeping against his shoulder for god knows how long. It was so unlike her to do something like that. Typically, falling asleep even when she was in the safety of her own bed — was a battle. But it had been too easy. Marley coined it to exhaustion from today's events. She blinked the blurriness from her eyes, fumbling for her phone and clicking the unlock button.

A few abandoned notifications from words with friends was what she noticed first. Secondly, the time. 3:00pm.

"Are we there yet?" She asked, her eyes moving to look out the window and analyze the scene around them. They were surrounded by dense forest, and the chatter around them was louder than it had been.

"About twenty minutes away," Aiden replied helpfully.

Marley nodded at him, her cheeks turning pink as she calculated that she slept on his shoulder for two hours.

"You could've um...woken me up," she stammered, fiddling with the fabric of her blanket, how had that ended up over her?

"I told you, Marley. I didn't mind," she didn't look at him, not wanting to get lost in intense blue eyes for what felt like the trillionth time today.

To busy herself from overthinking too much, Marley made sure she had everything she brought with her. She checked and double checked her bag's contents before zipping it up. She even built up the courage to ask Aiden to use the washroom. When she had made her way out, the bus' brakes were echoing a screech across the atmosphere. There were excited voices as the students climbed over each other to get a glimpse out the windows of the bus.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Make sure you have all of your belongings, nothing stays on the bus, and if it does it's getting thrown away! Step out, as always, in an orderly fashion! The trunks will be opened, do not rush or stampede for your bags! Welcome to Camp-"

"Where-The-Hell-Are-We!" everyone cheered, hooting and laughing as they chatted excitedly.

Marley strode across the alley quickly before too many people could crowd it and she'd lose her chance to get back to her seat. Aiden had shuffled over to her window, but she didn't mind. She slid in beside him, trying to catch a glimpse herself. They were parked in a large, circular gravel space, and to the far left she could see the beginnings of cars parked in a type of parking lot. In front of them, there were paths, a whole lot of trees, and a cabin in the distance.

The sun was shining, and even over the loud voices, she could hear the sounds of nature. The cabin she could see was short and wide with a green roof and faded red paint, so she assumed it was a mess hall when the door swung open to about five young adults wearing matching green shirts. They were carrying handfuls of fabric in their hands as they waited for the students to file from their busses.

The bus driver lumbered off first. Marley grabbed her bag to stumble upwards and wait for her cue to walk off. Once the seats in front of them were empty, Marley, closely followed by Aiden, stepped from the bus. The air was humid and warm, much to her relief. She shook out her limbs and was even more relaxed when Gabby appeared beside her.

"Holy moly," she breathed. Marley turned to look at what she was so entranced by.

A — she was assuming he was a councillor — very young, attractive Asian man was walking through the crowd and handing out something, getting closer and closer to them. Marley did enjoy looking at him; his dark hair gleamed brown in the sunlight. She could tell a few other girls around her noticed, smiling at him as he walked by them. When he finally looked at Marley and Gabby, it was with light brown eyes. Friendly and genuine.

"Hey ladies! Welcome to camp! Here are your complimentary t-shirts! You'll be led to a cabin to change and get refreshed before we ask you to meet back at the mess hall for today's primary activities."

Marley took a green shirt with a white logo on the left breast area from him, after he took a second to choose an appropriate size. She was half dazed when he smiled, and it was rather dazzling. Gabby let out a quiet sigh from beside her.

"Um, thanks," Marley managed to say.

His eyes crinkled at the corners. For the first time, he really looked at her. His eyes moved down her body, but that was short lived when Aiden appeared out of nowhere and right in front of her, his back inches away from her face.

"Thanks for the warm welcome," his deep voice was tight as he snatched a shirt from the councillor's grip.

The man's smile faded briefly before he was nodding quickly with a bigger smile than before, "No worries! My name's Conner! If you need anything, don't hesitate!"

"We will," Aiden responded curtly which made Marley's eyes bug from her sockets as she watched Conner walk away.

"What was-"

"Come on," Aiden interrupted her quickly, "your suitcase is over there."

Wait, what?