Sandcastles

The story before the real proposing, Taeyeon busyness kill Jessica inside. She mad, so she brought I mean she dragged Taeyeon to the camp as counsellor. 


"Ms. Jessica!"

I quickly spun on my heel at the sound of the small squeaking voice. My eyes were met with the dazzled appearance of a disheveled looking seven-year-old sprinting in my direction. Tiffany had tears welling up in her eyes and a thick layer of dirt coated her bright purple shorts.

Honestly, how much trouble could seven year olds get into?

"Ms. Jessica!" She cried again.

I bent down, my knees giving a loud crack in protest, and opened my arms. Tiffany immediately wrapped her short chubby arms around my neck and buried her head into my shoulder. I managed to straighten myself out, still holding a sobbing Tiffany in my arms.

"What happened, Tiffany?" I asked, running my fingers through her tangled red hair. "Why are you crying?"

Tiffany looked up at me, her big brown eyes b with tears. I quickly swiped them away and gave her my warmest smile. I rubbed soothing circles on her back and whispered reassuring words into her ear.

"She was being mean, Ms. Jessica!" Tiffany hiccupped, rubbing her eyes. "I was just trying to build a sandcastle by the river and s—she jumped on it! I hate Yuri! She’s—he's just a big fluffy bugger monster!"

I couldn't help but giggle at her chose of swear words. Tiffany was definitely one of the most creative children in my group of camp kids. She also had one of the biggest potty mouths I had heard in a while. She came up with new "child swears" everyday and was quickly becoming my biggest source of amusement.

"Well, you know what?" I whispered towards her.

"What?" Tiffany asked.

"We are going to march down to the river and force Yuri to apologize to you, okay?"

"We can't do that!"

"And why not?" I asked.

Tiffany looked at me like I was crazy. "Because she is a bully! I don't want her to bully you too, Ms. Jessica!"

These were the times that I was glad I became a camp counselor. The job had some serious ups and downs. The relationships I formed with my campers were definitely some of the better outcomes and it definitely helped that most of them were adorable little troublemakers…like Tiffany.

"I'll be with you the whole time." I placed her back on the ground and took her tiny freckled hand in mine. "I'll even walk with you down there. You won't be alone."

Tiffany thought about it for a moment and then perked up. She wiped the dried mud off of her purple shorts and began tugging my hand as we made or way back down to the river. A smile broke out onto her face and I knew nothing good could possibly come out of it.

I kept walking with her anyways.

"I'm going to make Yuri wish she never jumped on my princess castle!" Tiffany shouted, triumphantly. "I am going to lock her in the dungeon! No! I am going to lock she fluffy bugger monster in the tower! The tower is so much worse than the dungeon!"

"Let's not go crazy, Tiffany." I laughed.

Tiffany smiled toothlessly at me and continued skipping down the pathway. Kids could be so bipolar sometimes. I didn't get how she could be bawling her eyes out one minute and be skipping the next.

They were always so carefree.

It didn't take us long to find Yuri when we finally made it to the river. She was obviously the little boy trying to fix up what looked like a destroyed princess castle. I watched as her small hands dug into the sand, building up the walls until they were as tall as her knees.

I felt Tiffany’s hand slip from mine. Her red curls bounced in the wind as she sprinted over to the boyish rebuilding her princess castle. "Yuri!" She yelled at Yuri. "What are you doing?"

"Tiffany." I said, coming to stand in front of the two of them. Yuri stood still in her spot, her hands covered in sand, while Tiffany glared in her direction. It took all of my might not to break out into a full smile. "Did you bother to ask Yuri why she ruined your castle?"

"No, I was too upset!" She pouted.

"I think we should hear Yuri’s side of the story before you decide to lock her in the dungeon." I decided.

Yuri’s face visibly paled at my last comment. She frowned at Tiffany. "You were going to lock me in the dungeon?"

"No!" Tiffany squealed. "I was going to lock you in the tower! You stomped all over my castle!"

"I didn't mean to." Yuri said, her gaze locking with the ground. "I tripped running back from the water and landed in your castle. It was an accident! I saw you run away crying so I tried to fix it for you. See?"

Tiffany finally decided to look at the mounds of sand that Yuri recreated for her. Her features lit up as she took in the large castle-like structure Yuri had managed to build in the ten minutes she was gone. All thoughts of the dungeon must have disappeared from her seven-year-old mind because she grabbed Yuri’s hand in hers and sprinted towards the water.

I watched the two of them splash around in the safe zone—the shallow area for children under the age of ten—and a smile made its way onto my face. It was just too cute for words. I wouldn't be surprised if the two of them decided to start dating the minute they hit puberty.

"Remember when I used to stomp on all of your princess sandcastles?" A deep voice whispered in my ear.

I didn't bother replying. I still mad at her.

"I probably should have rebuilt them." A laugh escaped . I tried not to drool. "I have to hand it to Yuri, though. She really knows how to wiggle her way into a girl's heart."

I turned around and was surprised to see how close her face was to mine. Her dark brown eyes were so close that I could see the flecks of gold in them. This was dangerous. I didn't like being this close to her. It made me feel all kinds of funny inside. It made feel things that I didn't want to feel. It made me want to like her.

She really needed to back up a few steps…or feet.

"What do you want Taeyeon?"

"That's not a very nice way to greet your husband."

I couldn't believe she was bringing this up again. Why couldn't she just forget about it and move on? I had. It wasn't even a real marriage. I was seventeen and she offered me a grape Ringpop. How on earth was I supposed to know she was proposing? I just wanted the candy!

"We are not married, Taeyeon." I tried to clarify the situation. "We were seventeen years old. It didn't count."

"I proposed to you!"

"With a Ringpop, and truth and dare game!”

"What can I say?" Taeyeon smirked, running a hand through her disheveled black hair. "I was your everyday Romeo."

"Yeah, okay." I snorted. "There are two problems with your reasoning, Romeo."

"And they are?"

"One: Romeo and Juliet were seventeen. Not twentieth. Two: Romeo still dumb till now, Juliet still young and now still pretty. Three: I'm pretty sure Romeo would have proposed to Juliet with an expensive diamond. Not of a piece of grape flavored candy that's worth less than a dollar.

Taeyeon nodded her head but I knew she didn't agree with me. I could see the wheels turning inside of her idiotic head as she thought of an appropriate response. A small crease formed in between her eyebrows as she thought. It was kind of cute. A smirk graced her handsome features when she noticed I was staring at her. I wanted to slap that smirk right off of her pretty little—

"Just keep telling yourself that, Jessica Jung." She finally said. "That purpose was real and the marriage too. Sica, you know it."

Taeyeon reached forward and ran her cold fingers against my cheek. I couldn't help but shutter slightly at the touch. She quickly pushed a stray piece of blonde hair behind my ear and let her hand drop by her side. I rubbed my temples. She was really starting to give me a headache. I made a mistake brought her, okay I dragged her. Taeyeon had a tendency to have this affect on me. She made me happy and confused and frustrated—all at the same time.

"Taeyeon... Um…"

Whatever pathetic response I was about to give her was saved by the sound of the lunch bell ringing. The noise echoed down the beach and Tiffany immediately ran out of the water. Tiffany wobbled towards me and I tried convincing myself that she was running so fast because she was a good camper and wanted to be on time to lunch.

It was more likely that Tiffany was just hungry.

I grabbed Tiffany’s hand and looked Taeyeon in the eyes. I couldn't figure out what she must have been thinking. She was staring at me like she didn't want me to leave but at the same time like she wanted me far away.

I couldn't stay.

It was too confusing.

"I guess I'll be seeing you."

I was already walking away with Tiffany in tow when I heard Taeyeon voice say softly, "Bye, SooYeon."

~…~…~…~

"I just don't understand why you won't jump her bones already!"

"Her eyes. They are so killing!"

"Have you seen her arm muscles?"

"And those lips! Dimples cuteness!"

“If you don’t want her, I will!’

I rolled my eyes at my fellow camp counselors and looked around the room to make sure all of my campers were still snoring softly in their beds. Every night after the kids went to sleep, most of the counselors met up and had our own equivalent of a sleep over. Gossip girls maybe or busybody team. It was my night to host so were all lounging around in my cabin and the last thing I needed was for one of the munchkins to wake up.

"Will you all quiet down?" I asked. "You are going to wake up the kids and it took forever to get them to fall asleep."

"Okay, Mrs. Ice Princess Fun Killer." Krystal said, nudging my tanned arm with her bony elbow.

It reminded me of the day I first met Krystal during our freshman year. She tried to cut me in the lunch line on one of my bad days and I screamed at her "for being the cherry on top of my super astic day." She called me a Fun Killer and proceeded to buy me three chocolate brownies to cheer me up. And she another one of the girls tried to caught Taeyeon heart. Whatever that the seventeen life.

We had been best friends ever since.

"I am not a fun killer or ice princess." I rolled my eyes at Krystal. "I just don't get along with Taeyeon. She not proposing me yet. I guess she didn’t do. You know now we can barely stand next to each other for more than five minutes without trying to rip one another's heads off."

Krystal disagreed, flipping a strand of black hair behind her shoulder. "I know that she tries to undress you with those gorgeous brown eyes of her whenever you are in a five foot radius of her. Your like his own personal show. Just with, you know, clothes on."

All of the other counselors nodded their heads in agreement. I knew they would side with Krystal. It was like they had nothing better to do with their summers than to meddle with my non-existent love life. There was no way I could hear about his "gorgeous brown eyes" one more time without bursting into full on hysterics.

"Please, Krystal." I pleaded. "Just let it go—"

"CODE PINK UNICORN! CODE PINK UNICORN!"

My head snapped towards the front door of the cabin where an out of breathe brunette stood. Her breathing came out in pants as she ran a pale hand through her curly tresses. Seohyun had her cell-phone in her hand and was waving it around like it was on fire.

"I'm serious!" She yelled. "This is a Code Pink Unicorn. It's like an eleven on the one-through-ten scale! An eleven!"

"Be quiet, Crazy!" I whisper yelled at Krystal. "You are going to wake up my campers!"

Krystal laughed softly and walked over to our frantic friend. She placed her hand on Seohyun shoulder and guided her farther into the already crowded room until they were standing next to me.

"Calm down, Seo." Krystal spoke, shooting a what-the-hell- is-going-on look at me.

I shot back an I-have-no-idea look. "Yeah, take deep breath."

Seohyun took our advice and steadied her breathing. She quickly took the seat to my right and closed her eyes, breathing thro