His Special Girl

Chapter Three

Lily watched David leave. After he shut the door, she slowly turned around to see all the girls looking at her. �Hi.� She said shyly.

�Hi.� They all chimed in unison.

One girl waved, a beautiful olive-skinned girl with long black hair. �Hi. It�s takes a while to get used to everyone, and to remember their names. I�m the newest one in the group. I came two months ago, but don�t worry, you catch on quickly. I�m Nadia.�

�Hi, Nadia.� Lily said quietly. �Thanks for letting me know.�

Nadia smiled, �No problem. You�ll be staying with Jordan and I.� She turned around to look at the rest of the group. �Why don�t we all tell Lily what to expect.�

The girls all nodded their heads smiling. Nadia got out of the chair she was sitting in, �You can sit here Lily.�

Lily shook her head, �No, you don�t have to get up for me.� She protested.

�No, you sit here.� Nadia said.

Lily sighed, walking forward she sat in the chair. Nadia perched on the arm beside her.

�Well, why don�t we just tell you a little about what to expect at Rocky Pines.� Nadia suggested.

�Okay.� Lily said.

�Well, Ally�s really cool. She loves to have fun, just listen to what she says and she has no problem. She�s like an older sister to us really.� Jana said.

�Yeah,� Maia agreed. �But my favorite counselor here is David. He�s so nice. And, he�s really cute.�

Lily began smiling when Maia first started talking about her uncle. Her smile faltered for a moment when Maia began gushing about his looks, and some other girls joined in. Ew, Lily thought, that�s Uncle Dave they�re talking about.

They continued talking about how much fun it was at Rocky Pines. Finally, an hour later they all got ready for bed.

Lily was still awake twenty minutes after they had all settled into bed. She stared up at the ceiling listening to Nadia and Jordan�s slow breathing. Finally, it lulled her into a dreamless sleep.

~~**~~

David was in the cafeteria at six that morning. He hadn�t slept at all last night. He had cried though. Cried for his sister. Cried for his brother-in-law. And cried for Lily.
He found it ironic, that he worked to help teenagers that were at-risk. And now, his own niece, a girl he helped raise when she was young, was one of the teenagers he had to help.

He knew Lily wouldn�t tell anyone that she was his niece, and he didn�t want anyone to know. It would be best, he thought, that way the other campers wouldn�t feel left out.

He lifted the coffee mug to his lips and finished the glass. �Marie! Another cup please!�

The bells rang, announcing someone had entered the cafeteria as Marie came over and picked up the cup. �Would you like a decaf this time Mr. Walters?�

�No. Regular please.� He answered. �And call David. Everyone else does.�

Marie blushed. �No can do, I feel more comfortable with Mr. Walters.�

�All right.� David shrugged tiredly.

�Are you sure you don�t want decaf? This�ll be your eighth cup of regular, that�s a lot a caffeine!� she asked.

�I�m sure. I didn�t sleep last night.� David told her.

�All right. One regular coming right up.� Marie said turning around with the glass to get him some more coffee.

David turned around to see who had come in. He smiled, surprised. �Hi! I didn�t expect to see you up so early!�

~~**~~

Lily had stayed in the dorm, if you could really call it that, as long as it had taken her to get dressed. But she was going crazy in there this morning, all those girls with hairsprays, and body sprays and lotions. Too many scents mixed together at once had given Lily a headache.

�Where are you going?� Nadia had asked when she had seen Lily at the door.

�I don�t know. Do you know where I can get some orange juice? I have a headache and for some reason, orange juice always helps me get rid of them in the morning.� Lily had explained.

Nadia had smiled and said, �Go to the cafeteria. You can go in there at any time. It�s always open and you don�t need money with you.�

�Thanks.� Lily had said and after getting directions there she had set out. She played with elastic ponytail holder she had around her wrist. The cool air was already taking the headache away, but she needed something to drink. Through a window she saw the back of a blonde-haired girls head. She had some toast and a cup of coffee between herself and the newspaper she was holding up.

She had walked in to see her uncle at the counter talking to one of the cooks. The cook Marie, Lily�s uncle had called her, was nervously wiping her hands on her apron and blushing nonstop.

Great, Lily thought rolling her eyes. Don�t tell me all the girls in this camp are in love with Uncle Dave.

She saw her uncle turn around and smile. �Hi! I didn�t expect to see you up so early!�

�All the girls were getting ready and I got a headache from all the hairspray and perfume.� Lily explained.

�Oh. And you wanted some orange juice I bet.� David said.

Lily smiled slightly, �Yeah.�

�Come here, sit down.� David said, patting the stool next to him. Lily sat down just as Marie turned around and gave David the coffee.

�And what can I get for you young lady?� she asked. Lily smiled, David wasn�t going to let on to anybody that they knew each other. He had almost been whispering when he had said what drink she wanted.

�Orange juice.� Lily said.

Marie smiled, �That�s an easy one.� Grabbing a glass she turned around and filled it up. She gave it to Lily and said, �Are you new here? I don�t remember seeing you before.�

David erased the smile on his face and said, �Yeah, she�s in my group. She came here last night.�

From the side of the cafeteria, Ally lowered the newspaper enough so she could peer over the top. David looked less than welcoming. She saw Lily raise her arms and put her hair up in a ponytail.

With her hair up in a low ponytail, the side part still in place, she reminded Ally of someone.

Where have I seen her before? Ally wondered.

~~**~~

Lily was sitting on one of the chairs in the lounge-like room. It was supposed to be a classroom, but there were no desks. She held a throw pillow in her lap, playing with some of the corner fringes.

David was sitting in another chair across the room. Ally was sitting next to him in her own chair. Lily looked up from the pillow to see both counselors looking at her.
Ally smiled. �Hi Lily. I�m Ally, in case you forgot. We didn�t get to talk at all yesterday.�

Lily smiled quickly. �Yeah, I remember who you are.�

They were waiting for the other group members to come. David looked at his watch.

Ally looked at him strangely, �They still have ten minutes. They�ll probably be arriving later, they normally do after they�ve been out,� then facing Lily she explained. �They were out on a camping trip and just got back before you came in yesterday.�

Lily smiled, pretending to look interested, �Oh.�

They sat in silence for five more minutes before the door burst open and Lily�s new dormmates and a bunch of guys came in, all talking excitedly. Once they were all seated they quieted down and looked at David.

�Hi guys,� he said and then stood up. �Okay, first things first. As you all see, we have a new member. The girls already know her, of course, so I�d like to introduce her to you guys. This is Lily and she arrived shortly after we got back yesterday.�

Turning to Lily David said, �Lily, these are the guys in your group. Philip, Madison, Dustin, Dylan, Eddie, Rocco, Tim, Wesley, Jackson and Benton.

�Hi.� Lily said quietly.

The guys all smiled at her and then they got down to business, reflecting on their camping trip. Lily sighed as she sat back, staring up at the ceiling. This was going to be a boring meeting.

~~**~~

When the meeting was thankfully over she was the first to jump out of her seat. They had an hour of downtime and Lily wanted to get a letter sent out to Peter and Naomi right away. But especially Peter. She couldn�t believe that she wasn�t going to see her boyfriend every day anymore.

She was out the door and walking to the dorm in a second.

~~**~~

Everyone was talking and laughing when Lily slipped out. Three people noticed though. David, Ally and Jackson.

�Okay, I�m gonna go. See you guys later.� Jackson said, and that�s when everyone noticed that Lily had left.

Felicity raised an eyebrow, �Going after Lily huh?�

�No.� Jackson lied, smiling.

Everyone started laughing, everyone except for David and Maia.
�She obviously doesn�t want to make any friends here. Why push her?� Maia asked.

Jackson turned around and smiled, �Hey! Give her a break! It�s her first day and we were all talking about the camping trip. You can�t blame her for feeling left out!�

He turned back around to leave. As he pushed open the door David wanted to shout out, �Be careful! If you do one thing to her or to hurt her you�ll have to answer to me.� But he realized that he had to stay out of it. Let the group members welcome her in, even if the first to go out of their way was the womanizer of the group. Forget she�s your niece for just a moment. Forget how much you feel you should protect her from every little thing, because obviously, you hadn�t been doing a good job.