Occasionally they would sit next to each other in class, and always at lunch, but I just thought those were their social obligations, since they were the cool kids and all. Now, every time I looked up they seemed to be side by side…. Laughing…. Touching…. Was I so consumed with myself I couldn’t see what was going on around me?
On top of everything I could not figure out why this bothered me so much. Or why I felt like Kiran lied to me. It’s not like I had asked him if he had a girlfriend and he said no. And he never really pursued me, or said that he liked me. Most of the time, he made me angry.
I doodled on my paper, resting my head on my arm. The electricity was at a medium hum, but my energy level was much lower. I recognized my depression and it depressed me even more. I shouldn’t let this get to me as much as it was.
Suddenly, I snapped out of my funk and saw everything clearly. I was a game to him, just a game. Nothing was real, not even last night. It was just like Talbott said, I was only entertainment.
I bought into the whole good-looking, charming accent, playfully-mischievous persona and allowed myself to get emotionally involved. I was sure that if he didn’t have that damn accent I would have seen through him immediately. Oh, those Brits could be so charming and manipulative with their proper way of talking.
I tried to sort through my feelings further. I never really felt anything more than physical attraction…. did I? I mean sure, the whole kiss thing last night left an impression, but I was sure any girl would have had the same reaction. He was the one who was practically stalking me; he showed up at my house uninvited. I never wanted anything to do with him; he forced himself on me.
What may have been construed as jealousy or resentment for Seraphina was really just pity. I felt bad for her; she had no idea what kind of person she was dating. He was probably just using her too. He seemed like that type of guy.…
I was no longer depressed; there was no more reason to feel sorry for myself; because I was livid, absolutely livid. I saw Kiran for who he was now, a disgusting, narcissistic pig. Albeit a completely gorgeous, perfect pig; but definitely a pig. And I certainly didn’t want anything more to do with him.
I was interrupted from my epiphany by someone knocking on the classroom door. Mr. Hayman looked up from the chalk board at the front of the class and walked across the room to open it. A tall, athletic man in a black track suit entered, carrying a clip board and wearing a whistle.
“This couldn’t have waited until the end of class?” Mr. Hayman asked the man.
“Who is that?” I whispered to Lilly.
“That’s Mr. Lawly, our P.E. teacher,” she whispered back.
“We have P.E.?” I said shocked. I didn’t realize I had signed up for P.E., and I was sure I would have found a different elective if given the choice.
“Upper classman have a special kind of P.E.,” she replied, but didn’t get a chance to explain. The two men had stopped talking to each other and Mr. Lawly called for the attention of the class.
“As you know our camping trip was scheduled for later in the quarter. But due to unforeseen problems in scheduling and the fact that I am worried about weather if we wait any longer, we are going to take it this weekend. The arrangements have been made and your parents notified. I am happy to say I spoke to all of them personally and not one of you has a legitimate excuse to miss,” audible groans were heard throughout the classroom. “You can pick up permission slips and a list of what to bring on your way out of class. And may I remind you, all of you are required to attend,” when he said this last bit, he looked directly at Kiran. I found that amusing.
“What camping trip? I don’t remember signing up for a camping trip,” I looked, panicked and wild eyed to Lilly, hoping she would have some answers.
“It’s on your class schedule as Special Elective,” she rolled her eyes. “The camping trip is our P.E. class. The school board wants us to get ‘real life’ experience.”
“So the whole class is over in one weekend?” I asked hopefully.
“Hardly…. Kingsley believes itself too important to fill our day with a menial class like P.E. So to fulfill the requirement they send us on one of these god-awful trips every quarter. I think next time we go rock climbing or something as equally terrible as camping. Everybody hates them, but there is seriously no way to get out of it. They think of everything, trust me.”
“I have never been camping in my life,” I was terrified. The only thing I knew about camping, was that every camper in any scary movie I had ever seen was always hacked to pieces.
“That’s the idea,” she rolled her eyes again. “The trips are meant to get us out of our comfort zone, make us do something we would never choose to do.”
“Oh. Fantastic,” It was my turn to roll my eyes.
A weekend trapped in the woods with this group of people sounded exactly like a horror movie to me. Could I request specifically that they check everyone’s bags for chainsaws and hockey masks? Because surely, I would be the first one to die.
Chapter Twelve
“We’re here,” Lilly sighed despondently and I opened my eyes. I hadn’t really been asleep, but there was nothing else to do on the four hour journey to the middle of nowhere.
“This is it? Please tell me we don’t have to hike for hours into that jungle,” I whined. Our bus was parked in the middle of a gravel parking lot surrounded completely by trees. There was literally nothing else but trees. I searched frantically for a gas station, or convenience store nearby, but all I could see were trees. I was not even sure if this was a legal camping area.
I yawned widely and had a feeling that my breath smelled awful. I glanced down at my wrinkled sweats and t-shirt and realized I looked as bad as I felt. I was pretty sure this was what the rest of the weekend was going to be like: sloppy clothes and bad breath. Our 4:00 AM. departure time didn’t help the fact that I had been perpetually grumpy since I set foot on the bus. Mr. Lawly seemed like such a nice man at first until I realized he was a drill sergeant with the intention of fully entrenching us in the wilderness. My idea of camping entailed an RV and heated swimming pool; it was obvious I was about to be sorely disappointed.
“I think it’s a forest, and yes, there will be some hiking involved,” Lilly gave me a dejected look. “Your shoes are cute though,” she offered me a bleak smile.
“Not for long….. Is it too late to go home?” I rubbed my bleary eyes, trying to focus on my brand new hiking boots.
“Afraid so. Come on,” we grabbed our things and followed the rest of the students out of the bus.
Someone started pulling backpacks from the luggage compartment and Lilly and I found ours and strapped them on. Aunt Syl and I had to go on an emergency shopping trip since I owned none of the essentials. Normal people don’t keep things like sleeping bags, hiking backpacks, portable stoves, canteens and two-person tents lying around. Ok, well some normal people did, but not me.
I looked around at the other thirty students and doubted any of them did either. Everything looked brand new and high tech; I even saw a random price tag still attached. We might as well have been a commercial for Coleman.
Lilly looked so tiny underneath her gigantic backpack I was convinced she was going to tip over. Her bright red hair covered by an army green hat, she peered out from underneath it barely able to see. But she bore the burden surprisingly well as we made our trek into the wild unknown.
Mr. Lawly appeared to know where he was going, and he was constantly consulting a compass, but after an hour of ruining my brand new hiking boots, I was skeptical. That a group of thirty or so students were following this man blindly into the wilderness did not seem like the brightest idea to me, but I guessed he was trustworthy. And if something were to happen to our only chaperone, I was sure the thirty of us would know exactly how to rough it in the wild until someone came to find us….. yeah, right.