Stuck With My Archenemy

5 | WARNING SIGNALS

CHAPTER FIVE

"Can you hear it?" I said enthusiastically.

"Obviously," he replied dryly. "Since of course, it's right in front of me."

I rolled my eyes and sighed, admiring the beautiful sight. The water spring was so lovely that I almost felt bad about washing my germs in it. Almost.

I skipped to the edge and smiled at my reflection. Kneeling, I placed my hand in the water and sighed as the cold liquid chilled my fingers.

The water spring fell from a source and my eyes followed the movement of the water. It came down like a waterfall but was smaller, way smaller, like a mini-waterfall. It would lie vertically for a long moment before going down again, repeating the process.

I turned back and grinned at Jack who stood behind watching me intently. His gaze shifted when he saw me looking at him and I couldn't help but frown.

"The water's cool," I commented, getting up and walking towards him. He turned to face me.

"Then we better hurry," he muttered and brushed past me, bumping into my shoulder as he did.

I let out a surprised yelp but didn't retaliate. Instead, I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Just ignore that pompous jerk.

I huffed. I was also angry at him for what he did to me but then I managed to put a smile on my face and acted like it didn't matter at all. When it did so much.

At least I was being reasonable!

I watched him saunter to the spring's edge and tug at his shirt. I diverted my attention to the spring quickly, not wanting to be caught gawking at him again.

I gazed at the spring and sighed. It was just so alluring and tempting. A rainbow sparkled at where the water plundered down and my gaze drifted to the tall, fat green trees surrounding the spring. Some large rocks with algae spread on their surfaces laid idle at the two sides of the spring as other rocks could be seen in the spring.

The branches of the trees surrounding the spring extended over the water source and the leaves that stuck on those branches hovered over the spring like a canopy, giving the place a darkish appearance.

I averted my gaze from the beautiful scenery and towards Jack, eyeing him one last time before searching for a place to remove my clothes. I was certainly not going to stand where I was and strip. I'd rather do it somewhere where I would be sure that no one, meaning Jack, was watching. Though it'd be no use since he'd already seen me before, I still wanted to maintain the distance between us.

I caught sight of a thin tree beside the edge of the spring and walked towards it. 

Standing beside it and dropping my backpack to the ground, I took off my skirt and shirt. I hung the removed clothes on the tree's branch, picked up my bathing soap and shampoo from my backpack and turned to face the water.

With only my undies on and leaving my things just by the edge, I plunged into the chilling water and it immediately engulfed me in its cool shivery arms.

I surfaced and stared at the water falling and splashing down. I swam towards the plunge pool and stared at the small beautiful rainbow it reflected. Little drops of water splashed on my face from where they connected and not bothering to block it, I relaxed to enjoy the view.

"Brenda!" Jack called from behind, startling me. Having no idea when he had entered, I turned to see him looking at me with a frustrated expression.

"What?" I groaned. Couldn't he see that I was in my no-man zone?

"Hurry and wash up. We don't have time."

"But we have plenty of time," I retorted, turned away, and arched my back to let my head fall back in order for the falling water to splash on my body.

I looked back to see if he had gone, but was instead baffled to see his eyes sparkling with something I had only noticed before the incident. What was that...lust?

My, oh my. Such a sin.

He caught my eye and the weird glint his displayed disappeared before he hastily cleared his throat and swam away.

I felt the edges of my lips tug upwards. Under all that façade, he actually still felt something.

I washed myself carefully, that stupid grin still on my face. I knew I shouldn't be enjoying any of it, but I couldn't help myself. That daring spirit that just pops up when you know someone is watching you, that was what was trying to break free in me. 

But of course, I couldn't let it. Not again. I refused to embarrass myself in front of that moron. 

"Brenda, you're wasting time," Jack called from the side. He was fully dressed in different clothing and was standing at the edge, folding his arms and frowning at me.

"I'm coming," I replied, intentionally swimming slowly towards where my things were on the ground. "I just need to a little get dirt off me."

"Well, be quick about it," he snapped.

Okay, Hitler.

I reached the edge, pulled myself up on the land and grabbed my soap from where I left it. 

"Brenda, what are you doing?"

Doesn't he get tired of irritating me?

"Can't you see that I'm about to soap myself?" I retorted, getting more annoyed by the second. "Will you give me privacy?"

"No."

I turned to face him, an irritated look on my face. "No?"

"Brenda, I'm not going to let you pollute the water any more than you have already! For now, just forget about soap and shampoo and whatever else you've got." He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at me, exasperation written all over his face. 

"It took me less than a minute to clean myself. Literally. Why are you making this difficult? We don't have time!"

For a second, I contemplated whether to pay attention to him or not. He was sort of right. I was going to mess up the water if I did add chemicals along with my body's filth to it. But then again I felt so dirty! If I didn't bathe right, my body would reek with odour and it would kill me if Jack realised it too. Urgh! It was so not fair that he had to-

"Brenda!"

"Okay, okay! Calm down." Surrendering, I fully climbed out and squeezed the water out of my hair with a deep frown still plastered on my face. The grin I had on before completely disappeared.

What a monster, I thought after I brushed past him with my chin in the air, ignoring his presence.

But then the frown deepened even further when I discovered that my backpack was not where I had left it. Damn, my fresh clothes were in that thing!

My eyes searched frantically for the bag and I tried as much as possible to ignore the warning signals sounding in my brain. My body felt suddenly cold and I shivered. I reached out to the branch where I hung my old clothes and groaned when I noticed that they too were not there.

This can't be a coincidence.

I heard someone's footsteps rustle in the dirt behind the tree and froze.

Of course... A glare marred my facial features.

I wrapped my arms around my chest in an attempt to induce warmth before marching away from the tree. I stopped in front of a smug-looking Jack and narrowed my eyes.

"Problem?" he asked, feigning innocence when he knew exactly why I was standing there glaring at him.

"Where are my clothes and my backpack?" I went straight to the point. "What happened to we're in a hurry?"

"I just wanted to see you suffer a while." He shrugged as if it was nothing. "And besides, it's payback for that stunt you did in there."

"What stunt?!" I said, quickly getting more frustrated. "I was just trying to wash myself."

He snorted. "I don't care, you're still going to pay for it."

Oh, I despise you Jack Nicoles.

"Pay how?" I gritted my teeth. What could be worse than standing semi-naked and freezing?

He shrugged again. "I just want to know how you feel." He lifted his hand and traced his fingers on my left arm. Heat naturally flared at the sudden contact.

Whoa!

My freezing state and irritation forgotten, I tried to brush him away from me. I really did. But as you could imagine, I was so weak.

"Wh-What are you doing?" 

He didn't answer but continued to trace his fingers lightly on my arm. He raised his other hand and did the same to my right arm. "Your skin is so beautiful," he murmured and stepped closer. A bit too close.

I blew out a breath and chuckled nervously. "Th-Thank you?" I uttered, unsure.

He stepped closer again, towering over me. My arms loosened around my middle and I could feel the urine in my bladder piling up gradually. If he doesn't stop what he's doing I'll pee on myself for sure.

My skin began to heat up when he started lowering his head, slowly stealing the air from my lungs. I stood still, not able to move for some inexplicable reason, which wasn’t helping my situation.

Oh my goodness, he’s getting closer! Warning… Warning!

The weight in my bladder was too heavy and I was losing my cool. I couldn't take it anymore! So, hastily, I did the only thing that I knew would surely free me from my misery.

The one thing that never failed to humiliate me.

I was, indeed, a lost cause.