Chapter 802 - V3 ch37 (Gabby) (1/2)

”She seems just as friendly as Kaylee.” Kyle scoffed from behind me.

I glanced back at him.

His eyes were still on the girl. ”She looks a bit familiar.” He realized in an instant who she was. ”Wasn't she sitting with your cousin? So she might be one of your other cousins?”

I gave a small nod. I glanced across the table and saw the girl picking up a few more desserts and left the line with her plate.

”Well isn't she just a ball of sunshine.” He muttered. He gave me a small pat on the shoulder. ”If any of them start to give you a hard time or make you uncomfortable, don't be afraid to just turn around and leave. You don't owe them anything.”

I nodded, happy that Kyle cared enough to watch out for me. We may have had a small rough patch at one point, but it's really blown by now. Whether that's sticking up for me in the summer camp or having my back right now.

I moved along the table and grabbed a few more desserts before following Noah and the twins to a small corner of the room.

”Why didn't we just go back to our seats?” I asked them.

Dave looked at me like I was dumb. ”And let Mom see how many sweets we grabbed? I think not.”

Noah nodded along. ”Right?! Plus, Zeke is there too. I don't want to die during thanksgiving break.”

What they said makes sense. I started to try all the snacks I grabbed. Bitting one, then a different one. I guess I was going too slow, because Noah started to help himself to my half-eaten desserts, giving a serious review of each one.

Getting a dry throat, I told them I was going to go to the beverage table. The three of them all asked me to come back with an extra water for them. I agreed and moved through the crowd towards the table. I grabbed four waters, tucking them in my left arm and pressing it against my body so I wouldn't drop them.

Turning back to go the way I came, I knocked into someone and dropped the water bottles. ”Sorry!” I hurried to pick up the waters that were trying to roll away from me. One. Two. Three. Where's the fourth?

”Here.” A girl's voice said clearly, with a small edge to it.

I looked up and saw my cousin from earlier. She was a bit taller than me, holding out one of the bottles. She gave it a small shake. ”Are you going to take it or not?”

I swallowed and took it from her, adding it to my arms.

Her lips twisted as she looked down at me. She turned away.

”Um, thanks.” I hurried to say before she walked away. Though she didn't come off as 'nice', I thought about how Kyle compared her to Kaylee. Kaylee was a different kind of 'nice' too.

She stopped and glanced back at me. ”You don't hate me?”

I blinked, a little confused. ”Why...would I hate you?”

She took a step towards me and squinted. ”You recognize me, right?”

I blushed, a little embarrassed. ”Yea...” But I don't remember your name so please don't ask me.

The gloominess around her lightened up a little. ”I think what my dad did was wrong. My mom too.” Her shoulders sagged and an air of depression quickly took over.

I didn't know what to say. It's not like I could tell her 'it's fine' or 'it's okay', because it really wasn't. I shifted from foot to foot.

”Jake!” Jeremy made a timely appearance, with Rose by his side. He was immediately caught by surprise seeing that I was with our cousin. ”Oh, hey Gabby.” He looked a little stiff.

Gabby. A name for the face.

Jeremy looked between each of us before asking me, ”Is everything okay?”

Gabby had a look of hurt flash across her face, before snorting. ”We aren't all bad.” She turned around and briskly walked away.