Chapter Four

Out of habit, I woke up an hour before practice started, right as the sun was coming up. I rolled out of bed and tip toed out of the cabin wearing an oversized sweatshirt and shorts, catching the sky as the sun came up. The sky was a shade of soft pink as the bright orange sky began rising for the morning. I walk toward the auditorium, but unlike yesterday's practice, I wasn't eager to play any music. Rather, I wanted to sit on the steps and watch the sky, preferring the sound of my thoughts to the sound of the piano.

Surprisingly, my head didn't hurt from a hangover, and I felt awake instead of wiped. As I leaned back against the steps and looked toward the rising sun, I felt a memory hit me like a ton of bricks, knocking me in the stomach and injuring my heart. Memories of Jake and I watching the sunrise countless times played in my mind until I was seeing the sunrises from last winter with him instead of the one right in front of me.

"I know I'm good looking, but that's no excuse to be following me around," A deep voice muses from above.

I snap out of my momentary daze and come face to face with none other than Carter Miller, who is smirking down at me. I'm shocked for a moment that he's even awake at this hour, but then I remember his presence at my practice yesterday, and shake the weirdness away to replace it with annoyance. My eyes narrow back at him as my attitude grows out of thin air.

"I think you need to get your eyes checked," I reply fiercely, a coldness behind my words that I don't usually speak with.

He, however, is unfazed. "How about a full body check? I'll let you do the honors, princess, and then I can return the favor."

Although some might think his arrogance is charming or flirtatious, I found it downright obnoxious. Infuriating, even. I stand up from my seat on the steps so I could come eye to eye with him- or as close as I could get, being a few inches shorter- and glare at him.

"It's cute that you think you'll ever see me naked," I drawl sarcastically.

Boyish excitement lights up his eyes when I say the word naked, like his imbecile male brain was hot wired to perk up at the thought of a naked girl. I wanted to roll my eyes, but instead maintained my poker face. However, the moment he took a step closer to me, putting us toe to toe, leaving very minimal space between our bodies, my poker face wavered. A small, almost victorious smirk was on his lips, and he leaned closer to lessen our proximity.

"Is that a challenge?" Carter asks lowly, his voice husky and daring.

His arrogance refuels my determination to win our little banter, and I laugh humorlessly. "You'd have to have a chance at winning for it to be a challenge, Miller, and you have none."

Again, his eyes twinkle with mischief, and he almost whispers, "We'll see about that, princess."

More aware of exactly how close we were standing, I nonchalantly took a step back, but he noticed it and widened his smirk. I, however, decided to narrow my eyes at him, a newfound wave of annoyance washing through me.

"I told you not to call me princess," I snap, in lack of a better comeback.

Carter raises his brow, a cocky smirk forever planted on his lips. "Would you prefer baby doll? Or maybe sweetheart?" He pretends to think about this, and then shakes his head. "No, princess just has a certain ring to it. It fits you."

"It does not," I scoff, immediately denying his claim.

"But it does," Carter says slowly, his eyes piercing mine, his expression becoming more somber. "Let me guess; you're the perfect daughter. Smart, talented, and all that shit. You have a perfect little family, too, don't you?" When I don't answer right away, he smirks a little, but it's colder than before. Not as playful, but more resentful. "That's what I thought. You're a little princess."

My blood was pumping from the way he was describing my so-called 'life' to me. Carter Miller didn't know a thing about me, yet he was making assumptions and judging me for them.

He didn't know about the way my parents fought all the time, and I could hear them screaming at each other through the thin walls at home.

He didn't know my parents treated me like a student more than a child, and that the typical parent-child relationship had long since disappeared into a strictly formal business type of relationship.

He didn't know about the way I was in constant inner turmoil with myself because I was too busy trying to be someone I wasn't to satisfy the insatiable expectations of my family.

He didn't know about the way my heart had torn into two when I found out Jake had cheated on me, or the way that I felt for months after when I had to see him at school with the girl he cheated with, as if nothing happened.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," I mean to hiss, but my voice comes out in a mumble. I shake my head as if to rid myself of my lack of confidence, and lift my chin up when I speak next, with more conviction. "You don't know anything about me, Miller, so stop pretending like you do."

Exhausted from the turn our conversation had taken, I turn around and march through the auditorium doors, more dead set than ever on ignoring Carter Miller.

* * *

After piano practice, I went back to the cabin with the intentions of falling back asleep, but Poppy was wide awake and waiting for me the moment I stepped foot inside. She smiled brightly at me and hopped off her top bunk, creating a block between me and my precious bed. I gave her a blank look, not in the mood to return her smile or positivity, and her smile shifted to a frown.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" Poppy muttered, her brow furrowing as she pursed her lips at me.

The second I thought of Carter, I scowled. "Carter Miller."

This, however, was returned with an amused expression. "Carter Miller crawled up your ass and died? That's cute. Maybe we should throw him a funeral while he's stuck in there."

Despite the fact I spent the entire piano practice in a horrible mood, which made me mess up countless times, and my mind had been elsewhere for the past hour and a half, I actually smiled. Poppy was an expert at cheering me up when I was down, if nothing else. With her joke, some of my annoyance faded, but I was still wound up from earlier.

"He's just such an arrogant prick," I groan, moving around Poppy to fall back on my bed. "He pisses me off to no end. I hate him."

Poppy sits on the edge of my bed, a small smirk on her lips. "Mhm."

I raise my brow at her. "What?"

"You know," She says casually. "They say there's a thin line between love and hate."

I stare at her blankly for a moment before laughing as if she had told a hilarious joke. "I don't think it's genetically possible for me to love someone like Carter Miller, so I would say that the line is pretty damn thick."

Poppy laughs at my bitterness before concluding, "Well, don't let him ruin your day. Come on, I waited to go to breakfast with you."

It's only then that I choose to glance around the cabin and realize the majority of the girls were gone. The only other camper in here was platinum-blonde Katie, who interrupted her texting to narrow her eyes at me. I raised my eyebrows at her, confused as to why she seemed to annoyed.

"You better stay away from Carter," She hisses dramatically. "He's mine."

I want to roll my eyes, but hold myself back. "Did you hear anything that I just said? Staying away is exactly what I plan to do."

"That's what I thought," Katie huffs, looking back at her phone.

This time, I do roll my eyes. "You're perfect for him anyway. You deserve each other."

Although sarcasm dripped off my voice, Katie took this as a compliment, glancing up at me to smirk victoriously. God, this girl is vapid. Poppy stifles a laugh at her idiocy before grabbing my hand and pulling me out of bed, decided on going to breakfast. I oblige this time, but mostly because I'm afraid that if I breathe the same air as Katie for too long, I'll lose brain cells.

We meet up with Rachel, Sarah, and Julie in the dining hall and eat with them during breakfast. Even though they help cheer me up, I still couldn't help but feel like I was in a funk. At first I thought it was because of Carter, but I soon realized that it had more to do with the memories that had flooded my brain thins morning. Jake was invading my brain from each corner until he was all I could think about.

So after breakfast, while everyone else decided to go on the group hike up Mount Philo, I stayed back to let myself be consumed whole by my thoughts. Usually I would let myself unravel in front of Poppy and follow her advice, but today I didn't feel like burdening her with my problems, and decided to deal with them myself.

That is, if bottling it all up until I was a moping mess was considered "dealing with my problems". Almost half of the campers went on the hike, and the others were preoccupied with the other activities today. Luck seemed to be on my side when I entered the auditorium, because instead of the usual music lesson being held in the afternoons, I was greeted by an empty stage.

So I took my emotions out on the white and black keys of the piano, striking them harshly yet with extreme precision until they strung together into a melody. My eyes shut as the piano produced a depressing song, one that used the left half of the keys, where the sound was deep and dull and sad. Eventually, the sound became too much for me, and in one hasty motion, I opened my eyes and withdrew my hands.

"That was depressing," A familiar voice commented from the edge of the stage.

Startled, I jumped a little on the bench, my gaze darting to the source of the voice. Teddy leaned against the stage with a frown etched on his lips, a knowing look in his eyes as he studied my reaction. I give him a small smile, but I can tell it doesn't meet my eyes, nor is it even close to looking genuine.

"You scared me half to death," I say instead of responding to his comment. "When did you come in?"

"A few minutes ago. So, what's wrong?" He asks immediately, his voice strictly business.

I give him another fake smile. "Nothing. Why do you think something would be wrong? Are you feeling alright?"

Teddy rolls his big brown eyes at me, and then jumps up on the stage to join me on the bench. "Bullshit. I know you, Mina, and even if I didn't, I can recognize that was one depressing song. So, what's wrong?"

My fake smile drops almost immediately, and I feel myself submit when I sigh. I didn't want to burden him with my problems, but if there was one thing I knew about Teddy, it was that he always got his way in the end. He may be the nicest guy you'll ever meet, but one things for sure: he's also the most stubborn person on the planet. He even beat me in that specific category, and that's saying something.

My hands trace the keys and I look down at them, unable to meet Teddy's demanding gaze. "Jake cheated on me this year and we broke up, but for some reason I keep thinking about him. And I hate myself for it, but... I kind of miss him."

I can practically feel Teddy's gaze burning a hole through me, but I still don't look up.

"I'm sorry Mina, you don't deserve that," Teddy says softly, and I finally look up to meet his warm gaze. He offers me a small smile. "But you can't help what you feel, no matter what happened, so don't hate yourself for that. That being said, Jake is a major jackass if he couldn't see how amazing you are, then he isn't worth missing."

I sigh again heavily, dropping my head onto his shoulder. "I know he isn't worth it. It's just... I don't know. I can't help it."

He wraps an arm loosely around my shoulders. "It gets easier with time, trust me."

Although I take his words to heart, I see an opportunity to lighten the mood and take it. A small smile plays on my lips and I cock my head upward to get a good look at him and tease, "Are you the love doctor? Here to give all the lonely, broken hearted people out there advice?"

Teddy's lips quirk into a small smile. "You can call me Doctor Teddy, a specialist in love."

I actually laugh because of how cheesy this sounds, and when I do, I find myself feeling much better. It seems like taking my emotions out on the piano didn't work quite as well as a little talk with Teddy. I'd have to remember that next time.

"Does that laugh mean you're done moping around, making sad music?" Teddy asks hopefully.

I shake my head, but meet his frown with a smile. "I really messed up practice earlier. I need to spend some more time perfecting some stuff. But I promise I'm at least in a better mood, thanks to Doctor Teddy."

This seems to have convinced him, and he sighs dramatically before getting up. "Fine, I'll leave you to it."

As he's walking off the stage, I call, "Thank you, Teddy. You're the best."

He turns around to grin back at me, but doesn't say anything else. Without any more words, he hops of the stage and strides out of the auditorium, leaving me alone. Silence suddenly consumed the building, wrapping itself around me, and I let out a sigh. Really, I felt a bit better, but I knew I had to handle my frustrations and wariness into something productive.

I produce the songbook I had grabbed from my room earlier out of my bag and set it in front of me on the piano, flipping through the pages. Once I reached the last page I had been working on, I grab a pencil as well and set it beside the book. Ever since Jake and I had broken up, I had been a bit more inspired than usual to add to my song book, and I planned on taking this opportunity to do just that.

Unfortunately, every time I sat down with the intentions to add to a song, I could never bring myself to do it. For some reason, after the initial notes I had composed, it was like I lost the ability to continue the song. Like it was meant to end there. But still, whenever I got the chance, I found myself trying to work at it, attempting at keeping the song going.

With more lightness in my movements than before, I began to play the song I started months ago, the only notes being the ones I wrote the day I started. My fingers follow the movements without even having to glance at the page of notes in front of me, and once I get to the end of what I had previously composed, for the first time in a long time, I keep going.