"Dig harder," Ethan urges.
"Faster!" David screams when I feel a fingernail break and stop digging for a fraction of a second to check it.
The problem is, were not digging in the sand. Were digging up rocks that may have been here for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Maybe our holy forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob walked on these rocks were digging. Its not an easy task, and now the sun has come up and hits me in the face. I wish I had my sunglasses, because now Im squinting. Ill be able to blame my premature wrinkles on this rock-digging experience.
I feel a tickle on the back of my hand. I need to scratch it, but dont want to stop digging because I want to show Avi that I can be a good ditch-diggin soldier and
I dont want to small-yamean-small back to the base. I really want a ride.
When the itching bugs me so much I cant ignore it, I hesitate and look down at my hand.
Oh! My! God!
There is a HUGE creepy black spider crawling on me. I throw down the shovel and shake my hand vigorously.
"AAAHHHHHH!" I scream and run, not able to stop the heebie jeebies. I keep shaking my hand just in case the creepy crawler is still on me.
What if it bites me?
What if its poisonous?
What if it crawls up my sleeve?
What if it already laid creepy spider babies on me!
"Whats wrong?" Jess cries out.
"Are you hurt?" Miranda yells over my screams in a concerned voice.
"Did something bite you?" Nathan calls.
I cant stop to explain, because Im still jumping around and shaking like a madwoman.
Im barely aware of Avi attempting to subdue me. I flail my arms and slap his hands away because Im still worried the spider is on me.
But then Avi twirls me around so my back is against his and he wraps his arms around me so tight I cant move.
Im breathing hard and Im sweaty and smelly and totally freaked out from spiders and embarrassment because everyone is watching me.
Now Im in Avis arms, which are like a vice holding me still.
"Wasitacrav?"
"No, not a crab," I gasp. Do crabs even live in the desert?
"I didnt say crab. Ahcrav. . . a, uh. . . " Hes searching his brain for the English word so he can translate. "Scorpion?" he finally says.
"No. "
"Are you hurt?" he asks. Hes so calm I stop struggling against him.
"I dont know. It was. . . " I choke out the word. "A spider. "
"A spider!"
Everyone else laughs hysterically.
"I. . . I think it was a black widow. It was really big! And hairy! And it was crawling on my SKIN!"
"Black widows arent hairy," he says, but instead of making fun of me like everyone else, my boyfriend turns me around, takes my hands in his, and inspects them. "Its gone. "
"What if it crawled up my shirt?" I say, squirming. I swear I feel little prickly legs on my back. It could be my imagination, like when youre talking about lice and you start scratching. But it really feels like spiders are crawling all over me.
"Dont panic. "
I keep squirming. "Im afraid its still on me. Avi, help me. Please," I beg.
Without hesitation, he picks me up like I weigh close to nothing and calls out for Liron to follow us.
He hurries behind a large boulder. "Take your shirt off. Nobody can see you. " He turns around, giving me privacy.
I unbutton the shirt as fast as I can while Liron stands next to Avi. Her back is to me, too. I think he called her over because he didnt want to have our entire unit see him take me somewhere alone. He doesnt want us to get in trouble again.
Liron is our chaperone.
I cant believe I need a chaperone when Im with my boyfriend.
"Okay, its off. Im not going back out there in my bra. " I mean, Avis seen me with just a bra on, but not in public.
Avi holds out his hand, his back still to me. "Give it to me. "
"My bra?"
He glances back at me, even though we both know one word from Liron to Sergeant B-S about him seeing me with no shirt will probably have him doing pushups again. "No. The shirt. "
After I hand it to him, I watch him carefully inspect it from top to bottom. He turns it inside out, making sure its free of creepy crawlers. He even opens the pockets and inspects those.
He tosses the shirt back to me. "Theres nothing on it, or in it. Trust me. "
"Thanks," I say. If theres anyone at the top of my trust list, its Avi. Now that Im calm, I cant confirm that the spider was hairy. And maybe it wasnt as big as I made it out to be.
Liron shakes her head. "If I didnt see it with my own two eyes, I wouldnt believe it. "
"What cant you believe?" I ask her.
"Avi Gefen inspecting a shirt for a spider. "
"Why?" My boyfriend is my hero; why shouldnt he help me?
Liron chuckles. "Avi tells everyone else in SayeretTzefa to suck it up, whether theyre tired, bleeding, or throwing up from exhaustion. But with you. . . and a little spider. . . " She shakes her head. "I dont get it. "
After I have the shirt back on, they both turn around to face me. Avi points to me as he talks to Liron. "You saw her--she was freaking out. "
"And you came to her rescue. Shes ruining your reputation. "
"Shes my girlfriend," Avi says defensively. "What would you want me to do?"
"Treat her like a soldier, like you treat the rest of us. She didnt sign up to be rescued, she signed up to be a trainee. "
"This isnt about Amy. Its about us. "
Wait. One. Second. Did he just say "us" as in Avi and Liron "us". . . not Amy and Avi "us"?
"Oh, shit. " Avi rubs his temples as he squeezes his eyes shut. "I didnt mean to say that in English. "
Fear, deep and strong, slices through my body. Im afraid to ask, but cant stop myself more than I can stop myself from breathing.
""What are you saying, Avi? Are you two, like, a couple or something?"
Chapter 11
milk + meat = not kosher my boyfriend + kissing another girl= not kosher
I turn to Liron for answers.
"Avi, tell her," Liron says.
""Yeah. Tell me. " When he hesitates, my entire body goes numb. "It doesnt matter, anyway, because Nathan and I have been dating since February, after you left. I wanted to tell you, but I didnt want to upset you. "
Phew. I cant believe I got the lie out without choking.
Crunching stones alerts us that someone is about to join us. Its Nimrod. He looks at Liron, then Avi, then me. "Hakol Beseder --everything okay? No more spiders?"
"No spiders," I say. "And everything is just hunky-dory. Right, Avi?"
I lied to Liron and Avi because I didnt know what else to do. Im in total shock. "Was everything Avi told me back in Chicago about how much he loves me a complete lie? "Were all those letters he wrote me lies, too? He knows I have trust issues because my parents never married and I didnt even have a relationship with my father until last year.
No wonder Avi doesnt want me here. He wants to be free to have his relationship with Liron on base and then have me, his American girlfriend, on the side.
Ugh, the thought of it makes me sick.
I storm back to my group, leaving Nimrod with the lovebirds. Okay, Avi and Liron dont look or act like lovebirds, but hes obviously dating her behind my back. And Im obviously the idiot girlfriend thinking it was worth it to spend time at a military boot camp to see my boyfriend.
Now Im stuck. I would quit, but I begged my dad to sign me up and theres no turning back now. If I leave with my tail between my legs, I can just imagine what my dad will say. "I told you youre too young to have a serious relationship with Avi. I told you the program wouldnt be easy, and you couldnt handle military life. Next time listen to your father. "
I glare at anyone laughing at me. Every comment, every snicker, is like nails dragging down a chalkboa
rd, making me cringe.
Jess runs up to me. "Amy, are you okay?"
"Im fine," I snap back, which earns me a weird look from my best friend.
"Did you get bitten?" Miranda asks me.
"No. I dont want to talk about it. "
Our team hasnt finished digging the hole yet, although all the other teams have. Nimrods team is giving themselves high fives, so I assume theyre the winners of the challenge.
Liron orders her team into formation without looking my way.
Avi peers down into our pathetic, three-inch-deep hole.
"We lost," Nathan tells him. "Which isnt a big surprise considering we had one less person and no team leader after you guys disappeared. "
"Were not going back until our ditch is finished," Avi informs us. "No giving up. "
Like he did with our relationship?
Since Avi left Chicago, I havent thought of anyone else. I havent been remotely interested in another guy because I know hes The One. He said we were going to be together forever, that he wanted to marry me one day. I believed him, which makes me the dummy.
Listen, I know I have to finish high school, go to college, and get a job. But I also thought my future included Avi, too.
A big army truck comes into sight, kicking up desert dust in its wake. Nimrod and his team hop on and, within a minute, are out of sight.
My team members are still shoveling, per Avis orders. Im purposely ignoring anyone with a name that starts with an A, has an /at the end, and a Vin the middle. I can feel his eyes boring into my back like Supermans X-ray vision. But my boyfriend isnt Superman, at least not anymore.
And now, to save face, I have to pretend Nathan and I are in love. Im not sure Nathan will go for the charade. Dare I tell him? Hes afraid enough of Avi as it is.
Avi tells the rest of the teams to file out and head back to base while we finish digging. Tori is shoveling, although shes not going fast and I think we might be here for a few days. Were all so hot and sweaty I wonder if skin can actually melt off of our bones.
"Amy. . . " I hear Avis voice from behind me.
"Is someone talking to me?" I ask Jess. "Because all I hear is hot air. " I tap on my ears with my palms, pretending to clear my ear canals.
Miranda taps me on the shoulder and nudges me to turn around. "Avis right behind you, Amy. Maybe you really did get bit by that spider and it affected your hearing. "
Thanks, Miranda. Not. The girl is not too quick on social cues, thats for sure. I love Miranda to death (okay, not to death . . . thats a bit over the top), but she can definitely use lessons in how to not take everything so literally.
I turn to Avi with a cool smile on my face. "Did you want something, O Unfaithful One?"
"Dont say that. "
"Why not? Its true, isnt it?"
"You walked away before I could explain, Amy. "
"So explain now. "
"Not with an audience. "
"We have no choice, Avi, do we?" I focus on kicking a large rock. "Did you sleep with her?"
All conversations immediately stop. Everyone waits for Avi to answer. I think the air even stops moving (although I cant say thats a big feat because there wasnt a breeze to begin with).
"No, I didnt sleep with her--"
"Did you kiss her?"