“Cave”

"I'm not afraid of ghosts or anything. I just hate... spiders," Carolina shuddered at the mere thought of creepy crawlies.

"I'm not afraid of ghosts OR spiders. I'm just afraid of something happening and us getting stuck inside forever," Tim replied. 

"You guys are both idiots," Cameron shook his head. "First off, there's no such thing as ghosts. Second of all, you these are cave spiders, not the cute ones you find in the corners of your shed, so don't act so tough because I know you'll be squealing like a baby when you see one."

"Shut up, Cam," Tim sheepishly chided his loudmouth friend. 

"And, lastly, there's only one thing you SHOULD be afraid of... and that's crackheads," Cameron concluded before pulling his hood up over his head. 

"What?!" Carolina exclaimed as she arched an eyebrow. 

"Yeah, dude, homeless junkies don't just live under bridges, they hide out in caves, too," Cameron responded with a laugh. 

Carolina realized in that moment something she had known, even if only subconsciously, all along: she really, truly, genuinely hated Cameron. She looked over to Tim to see if he was feeling the same way, but it was clearly the only thing on his mind was worry. She reached over and gently touched his elbow.

"Hey," she whispered to Tim. "We don't have to do this. We have nothing to prove to him." 

"I'm not trying to prove anything," Tim replied. "I WANT to do this." 

Carolina knew that there would be no reasoning. Tim was constantly searching for approval from people he deemed cooler than them, and Cameron was the coolest person to ever give Tim and Carolina the time of day. This only made her despise Cameron even more. Tim was her best friend in the whole wide world and the thought of losing him to this chud made her skin crawl. She knew it might not be that serious, but it was odd for Tim to brush her off so flippantly, even if it was for cool points. 

"Come on, losers. Unless you're too chickenshit," Cameron yelled at them, standing at the opening of the cave. 

"I'm going to stay back. I can be on lookout duty," Carolina remained in place as Tim walked closely by Cameron. 

"Seriously, Car?" Tim said, surprised. 

"Lookout? No one else is here no one cares if we go in," Cameron laughed. 

"I'd just rather not," Carolina wasn't going to change her mind. 

"Your loss, wuss," Cameron said as he turned and started into the cave. 

"Come on, Car," Tim walked over to Carolina. "He was probably just being a jerk about the crackheads, I'm sure it won't be that bad." 

Carolina felt comforted that, despite Cameron's douchebaggery, Tim still seemed to care about her. 

"Go on without me," Carolina replied. "I'll be right here when you come out." 

Disappointed, Tim followed Cameron's lead, looking back at Carolina the entire time. 

As much as part of Carolina wanted to run after Tim and be with him, something about that cave gave her bad vibes. She didn't want to see Tim hurt, but she also knew how much more it would wound him to hurt his pride. Sure it was going to be a blow to her ego to hear him and Cameron laugh it off and talk about how much fun it was and mock her for being just a scared little girl, but she could take it. Even if it hurt. Even if she hated the thought of Tim ever thinking less of her. Even if she knew this might be the start of the great divide, it was all a part of the process. One day he'd understand she did this for him, and maybe that would the day he realized that he felt the same way about her as she did for him. 

Carolina grew bored with playing Candy Crush on her phone while she waited for the boys to make their triumphant return. With shitty service, she couldn't check her Snapchat or take tons of scenic shots with specialized filters on Instagram. She looked at the time: 3:47. It occurred to her that the guys had been in there for fifteen minutes already. That seemed like a reasonable amount of time for them to get in and get out--it wasn't that big of a cave to explore. Should she try giving Tim a call? No, that would definitely ruin the mood. She decided she'd give them another ten minutes before she tried to see what was up. 

Carolina got up from the large, loose rock right outside the cave entrance that and stretched her legs. She lifted her phone up to check herself out in the front-facing camera. Realizing the cave served as a very cool backdrop, she decided to take a selfie she'd post to Instagram much later when they were far from the cave and therefore wouldn't risk being caught. Positioning the phone just right to frame her face and capture the cave behind her, she placed her thumb over the button... and that's when she saw him. 

From her camera, she watched as the frazzled barefoot man sprinted into the cave. 

"Oh no... no no no no no," Carolina said to herself as she ran over and peered in. 

"This can't be happening," she thought to herself as she shone her camera's flashlight into the mouth of the cave. Nothing except for the scurrying of many-legged creatures. She desperately dialed Tim's number but it went straight to voicemail. She thought about calling out their names but worried that it might startle the unwanted visitor and lead to something even worse. 

Carolina closed her eyes and made the sign of the cross. She was going in. 

Recalling the haunted house tours of her youth, Carolina applied the same tactics, making her way through the cave as quickly as she could, avoiding hugging any of the walls and keeping her head down to avoid eye contact with anyone or anything she might encounter. She prayed that the man hadn't already found them first--and that he wasn't aware of her presence either. She slowed her pace when she heard some voices a few feet away. 

"So what's the deal with you and Carolina?" Cameron asked. 

"What do you mean, 'what's the deal'?" Tim replied.

"Everyone in school thinks you're like, a thing. It's weird for a dude and a girl to be that tight if they're not boning," Carolina winced as she listened to Cameron speak. 

"Gross, dude, no way," Tim explained. "We've been best friends for years, that's all." 

"She's kind of a loser, though," Cameron continued. "Why would you stick with her unless you were... you know... getting something out of it." 

"Hell no," Tim made a gagging sound. "Never in a million years. But you're right, she is kind of a loser. I guess she's just been around so long I found it hard to get rid of her. Like a leech, you know?" 

Carolina held back tears as the two boys laughed. She turned and moved quickly back towards the entrance. She'd keep moving and keep going until she was far from the cave. She didn't care if Cameron was their ride, she'd make her way into town and take the bus home if she had to, she just knew she had to get far away from there. 

"HOLY SHIT!!!" 

Instinctively, Carolina turned around at the sound of Tim in distress. Tim and Cameron came running toward the entrance of the cave with the haggard man on their heels. 

"Tim! I'm right here, just keep running!" Carolina screamed from just outside the entrance, extending her hand toward him as if she was rescuing him up from a ditch. Tim reached for her just before tripping over his shoelaces and hitting the ground. 

Cameron and the man halted in their tracks. Looking down at Tim, the two of them laughed hysterically. 

"What the--?" Tim said, coughing up dirt.

"Oh my God that was the best thing EVER," Cameron said between laughs. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty. He handed it to the man and shook his hand. 

"This was the best prank I've EVER pulled," Cameron slapped the man on the back. "Get the hell out of here, man, you did your job well." On his command, the man skipped away, waving to Carolina as he past her. 

"What the Hell just happened?" Tim asked as he rose to his feet and dusted off his chest. 

"Oh, that's Dune. He hangs out outside the 7-11 in Orange. Dude's burned out of his mind but he'll do pretty much anything for a couple of bucks. You should have seen the look on your face--holy shit, did you piss your pants?" 

Carolina could sense Tim's anger and embarrassment. She wanted to tell Cameron off on his behalf when Tim laughed. 

"Ok, you got me good, dude, I'll admit that," Tim said. 

"Hey, at least you were brave enough to even go in," Cameron replied, shooting a look at Carolina. 

Carolina turned her backs on them and walked around the large rock she had perched herself upon before. 

"Want to get some beers? That 7-11 never cards," Cameron asked. 

"Hell yeah!" Tim replied as the two of them heard the creaking sound coming from outside the cave. 

"Carolina?" Tim asked. 

"What the Hell are you doing?" Cameron yelped as the two lunged forward, but it was to no avail. 

Carolina had already used enough momentum to shove the rock right in front of the entrance, blocking them inside. It landed with a heavy thud that kicked up a cloud of dust. The way she positioned it, the only way to move it was from the outside. The side facing the entrance of the cave was much too heavy for one, or even two people to move. 

"MOVE THIS DAMN THING YOU PSYCHO," she could hear Cameron's muffled screams but she kept walking. 

She was pretty sure she could hear Tim crying, too. But it didn't matter.

She had a bus to catch.