70- The chapter with the race in the snow

CHRISTIAN

I pressed my goggles to my face as I prepared myself for yet another experiment, next to me, the bench previously occupied by Harry was filled with all of Cam's belongings, since my roommate had taken a week's leave of absence to deal with his recent personal problems, and I made sure to get the girl out of the corner where she always hid.

After separating all the glassware that would be used in the experiment, I took Cam's notebook, writing down the weights of each reagent needed for the solutions, finding it amusing when the girl startled beside me, alarmed by my presence.

" Stay calm Cam, I just need to write this down," I reassured her, "So, I didn't see you over the weekend, what did you do?”

" I was studying, I didn't leave my room " she murmured " And you? What did you do?”

" I didn't leave Rose's room either," I returned nonchalantly.

Camille's eyes widened at that answer before her face reached a shade of red that I didn't think possible, making me realize what I had said and what the girl probably interpreted.

" Go easy on that imagination of yours, Camille. Rose was sick all weekend and I was taking care of her," I laughed as I saw her face turn even redder.

" No, I'm not…”

" I'm getting on your nerves, Cam. You better get used to it, in our group, if they see how easily you turn red, you're screwed," I warned, starting the experiment.

A small smile started to appear on her lips, only to die when she saw the usual girls whispering while looking at her.

" Are they still bothering you? " I asked.

" I avoided running into them today at the dorm," she admitted, "but it seems that everyone knows that I went out with you on Friday. How is that possible? I spent five minutes at most at that party, I didn't talk to anyone!”

"Camille, you weren't at a party for just five minutes. You spent five minutes at a party you went to with our group, where Van Derr Wall kicked some guy's ass for Skyller," I corrected her, pouring the deionized water into the beaker containing the concentrated phosphoric acid to make a solution of 1 mol per liter.

" But I'm still just... I..." She returned, putting her own beaker into the bowl with ice and water to cool the acid solution that had become quite warm during dissolution.

" Cam, you are one of us now. And they're just watching to make sure. They're not going to mess with you anymore," I approached the girl, giving her a nudge on her goggles before winking at her.

Camille rubbed the affected spot before turning her attention back to her experiment, hiding a small smile.

We spent the next few hours concentrating on our task of recrystallizing our product, until close to quitting time, just as we put our product in the oven to dry until the next class, Jenny, the redheaded girl who always picked on Cam, approached with a smile on her face.

" Cam, hi! " she called as we picked up our notebooks after finishing washing the glassware.

My friend's eyes widened, then she lowered her head as a startled expression took over her face.

" I'm coming," she murmured in an almost inaudible tone as she tried to walk away, but I held her in place, slung my arm around her shoulder, and glanced across at the group of girls.

" We're going together," I warned her in front of her surprised look.

" Cam, Davis, wait"Jenny insisted when we were already at the door.

She hurried out, putting herself in our way in the hallway, smiling broadly.

" There you are. We're going dancing tonight, and we were wondering if you'd like to come with us," Camille widened her eyes at the proposal, "You can come too, Davis, it would be a pleasure…”

" Ahh no, I'll come…”

" I'm sorry girls, but we have other plans today," I answered for her, receiving a surprised look in return.

" You mean you have some plans with her? " one of the redhead's friends asked.

" Not only with her, we've already arranged to get into Brigitte's and go dancing at Waterfall tonight.” I heard Rose's voice behind me “We have to introduce the good things in life to this little beauty here.”

Cam's face has turned red and she seems to have lost the ability to speak, to the girls' surprise.

" Little Beauty? " Jenny scoffed, dropping her good girl pose for a second.

" Ahhh yes, I chose that nickname myself, isn't it perfect?As soon as I saw her, I couldn't choose another” If before Camille had looked like a bell pepper, the color faded from her face when she heard Liam's voice approaching.

He had both hands in his pants pockets and his usual lazy expression on his face, making the girls arrange themselves as best he could. Theo and Sky were right behind him, and we knew that we were attracting a little attention from our colleagues who were still in the lab, but it was good that this was the case.

" Did you choose a nickname for her?”

" Yes, when I first saw her I thought, Wow, look at those eyes." He leaned towards her, taking a lock of hair from in front of her face and tucking it behind her ear, causing the poor girl to lose her breath. “If my heart were not already compromised, I would surely be in trouble.”

Sky hid a small smile at this sentence. Over the weekend the two of them had a frank talk about their feelings, they were not officially together yet, since Sky had warned that he needed some time to recover from everything that had happened, but we knew that this would soon happen.

" You know, my heart isn't committed yet, maybe I'll get in trouble," Theo sneered, causing Cam to stare at him dumbfounded.

The girls exchanged a haughty look with each other before walking away, our group watching for a few seconds before starting to laugh at the situation.

We walked over to the lockers, putting away our lab coats and notebooks before putting on our sweaters, preparing to go outside to the freshly snow covered area when Rose climbed on my back unceremoniously, as if expecting me to carry her the whole way.

" Rose, seriously, you need a diet," I complained.

" You know, Christian, I doubt very much that you complain about her weight when you're alone," Theodore teased.

I gave him a cross look, since we had assumed our involvement to our friends they never missed a chance to pick on us. I felt Rose's fingernails on my scalp before her hand closed in on my hair.  I loved her nails, even after she had cut them last Saturday.

"He just wants to keep the bad guy pose” Sky incited “When they're alone, I bet he does whatever she wants without complaining.”

" When they are alone? He already does whatever she wants " Liam laughed.

I just remained silent as I carried the girl on my back, who seemed quite pleased with the general situation.

" You know what, Sky, come on up. I'll carry you today too," Liam proposed.

" What? No way " the girl laughed.

" Sky, are you going to miss your chance? Let's go," Rose encouraged her friend.

We stopped walking while Skyller considered the proposal, climbing on the boy's back. We turned to Cam, who then widened his eyes, understanding the suggestion implicit in our silence.

" No!”

" Come on, Beauty " Liam encouraged " We can race.”

" No!”

" Cam, either you get on Theo's back, or he's going to carry you. Which would you prefer? " Rose teased her.

The girl alternated her gaze between us, before giving in, sighing before climbing on the boy's back.

" A race to the dorm? " I asked, standing by the building's exit.

" Come on," Skyller slipped her arms around Liam's neck, hugging him tightly with an excited smile on her face.

" Please don't knock me down," Cam pleaded to Theo.

" Two things, Chris. I want to win, and if you knock me down I'll kill you," Rose whispered in my ear, making me laugh before starting to run.

It didn't take long before all eyes were on our group running across campus, dodging students returning from their classes, taking shortcuts across the now snow covered lawns at times.

Liam was the first to give up, dropping Sky onto a bench, bending down and resting both hands on his knees to catch his breath.

" Let's finish them off, Davis," Rose encouraged me, noticing that we were tied with Theo and Cam, who seemed about to die on the boy's back.

" Hey Rose, I find a lot of things about you very sexy, but this competitive demon of yours is not one of them, so keep it under control or I'll throw you into the snow," I warned.

" You wouldn't have co....”

She didn't finish her sentence, as I swerved to where a pile of snow was piled up, probably from when the path was cleared earlier, throwing me on my back there.

We were both well wrapped, but still, Rose screamed as the cold enveloped us, in quick motion she rolled over, getting on top of me, slapping my chest as I laughed at her reaction.

" You lunatic asshole, do you want to freeze me to death?”

" If you get sick again I'll take care of you," I teased her.

Rose, still standing over me, picked up some snow, throwing it in my face, looking furious at my reaction. She reached for the snow again, but I held her wrist, pulling her body toward mine, my smile widening as I had her lying completely on top of me, her face inches from mine.

The desire to kiss her overwhelmed me, even more so seeing the way her forehead was wrinkled, showing all the anger she felt toward me at that moment.

But before I could do anything, Liam and Sky approached. Standing next to us, watching us with their arms crossed.

" What now, Liam? Are they making out or is he trying to stop her from strangling him to death? " Sky whispered to Van Derr Wall .

" The image is compromising, but given the overall situation and the fact that she lost the race, I vote for the second option.” He returned it.

" Rose, get up, you've been sick all weekend," Theodore scolded, moving closer.

I let go of her, and she stood up, grumpily, not before throwing another snowball in my direction, stomping off as Cam stared at us dumbfounded. I stood up, brushing the excess snow off my clothes and watched her walk away unable to wipe the smile off her face.