Chapter 22

I hardly slept at all last night. Turns out that Leonard was a snorer, and a loud one at that. Loud enough that I almost smothered myself with my pillow to put me out of my misery.

Thankfully there was caffeine, otherwise I would have rethought death by suffocation. It was nearing six in the morning, which I admit is a psychotic time to be up and about in the morning, and we were all seated in the dining hall having our breakfast. Porridge was today’s choice, which normally I would not mind, but today, my body decided it could only stomach coffee.

When breakfast was done and dusted, we readied ourselves to go on a hike up the nearest mountain, which in my opinion was hardly that much of a mountain. It was more of a massive hill, but it was still strenuous in effort.

“I should have just stayed home.” I complained through exhausted pants.

“Whoever decided that we should go hiking first thing after breakfast has a special place in hell.” Hannah says, taking a large gulp from her water bottle.

I nodded in agreement.

After we reached the mountain/large hill’s apex, we headed back down after a twenty minute break. The descent was far easier, but my feet were already beginning to ache.

The next thing on today’s agenda was a kayak race to the other side of the lake. Due to my weak arm strength, I was no help in racing across a lake via kayak, but I did my best to contribute, especially since we were neck and neck with Grayson and Mitchell’s kayak, and I wanted nothing more to beat them. And with Brock in our kayak, we actually ended up winning.

“In your faces!” I cheered.

“Calm down little Cooper, you only won because you had Brock on your team.” Grayson says.

“Yeah, without him you would’ve lost.” Mitchell chimed in.

I laughed. “But we didn’t lose, so eat shit.”

“Dallas Cooper, watch your language.” Warned Mister Whelan with his arms crossed in an authoritative manner.

I rolled my eyes while both Mitchell and Grayson laughed at me.

I opted out of the rest of the camping activities that were in store for today. Instead, I stood on the sidelines and listened to music on my phone. I found it to be far more interesting than capture the flag.

After dinner that night, we were all seated around a campfire making s’mores and telling boring stories. Just now, Olive was in the middle of telling the story about how her cat that looks like Garfield once ate one of her AirPods. I bit into my s’more and tried my best to listen to Olive’s story.

“I had to take him to the vet to make sure that he wouldn’t die.” Olive says.

“I once went to the vet…” Hannah says. “But it was to put a cat down after my mom accidentally ran it over.”

I spat my s’more out as I stifled a laugh. I know it’s a depressing thing to find humor in, but I couldn’t help it.

“Oh my god.” Olive cried.

“Damn, Hannah, that shit was deep.” Phillip stated.

“I know right.” Hannah says with slight amusement. That’s what I would call sociopathic behavior.

As I began making another s’more, Leonard decided to tell a story about his own experience to the veterinary. Something about his pet hamster getting caught in a wire? I am all for the health and safety of pet animals, but hearing about them was making me sleepy.

I had expected this camping trip to be somewhat fun, but so far it has been worse than that time I had spent a week at my grandparents place without any access to the internet, which wouldn’t have been so bad if it meant that I couldn’t watch Netflix. I had to spend the entire week watching old dvds that my grandparents deemed classics.

Speaking of internet access, I had the sudden urge to find a place that had good enough cellphone service so that I could check my text messages and social media, and maybe post an update on my story explaining how boring camping is.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and began the quest for cell service. Maybe I could order an Uber and get the hell out of here. I cannot go another night stuck in a cabin with Leonard and his thunderous snoring, no offence to him, it’s not like he can choose how he breathes when he’s asleep.

After walking for what felt like forever, I finally found a place where I got bars, so I stood still and rushed to check my notifications.

There was a text from my mother, who said that she loves me and hopes that I have a good time.

Me:
Love you too.

Was what I responded with. There was also a notification from my Instagram account, informing me that @dejahernandez started following me.

I was hesitating wether or not I should follow her back. On one hand I didn’t want to be rude, on the other hand, I really didn’t want to have to confront another person saying they have a crush on me. Especially when I was still dealing with the fact that my best friend said he had a crush on me.

“I told you that I was going on a camping trip.” I heard a familiar voice from nearby.

Grayson?

I followed the sound of his voice and found him seated on a large log that overlooked the lake, smoke emanating from his lips.

Of course he’s smoking a joint on a camping trip.

“Fine, see you when I get back.” He sighed, hanging up the phone and taking a drag from his joint.

Who was he on the phone with? I wondered in thought.

This was my chance to pay him back for the hot sauce in my scrambled eggs by scaring the shit out of him.

Slowly and discreetly, I approached him from behind. I held my hands out, and when I reached him, I shoved him by the shoulders.

“Holy shit!” He gasped, flicking his joint whilst jumping from the place where he had just been sitting.

I burst into laughter, so much that my ribs were hurting.

“That’s not fucking funny Little Cooper.” He seethed, putting out the joint with his right shoe.

“That’s payback for the hot sauce in my breakfast. And for also reading my texts!”

He took deep breaths as he shook his head at me. “You’re such a loser.” He groaned.

“Well you’re a douchebag.” Was my comeback.

He sat back down on the log and sighed again. I’m not too good at picking up cues, I’m fact, I would say that I suck at them, but it seems like he’s upset?

“You okay?” I asked him.

“I’m fine.” He responded.

“Oh, okay…” I shifted uncomfortably. “I’ll just get out of your hair.”

“My mom has a new boyfriend.” He informed me, keeping me in place.

“Oh?”

“Her last boyfriend was a fucking prick, just like all of her other boyfriends. They’re all fucking pricks.” He spat, clenching his fists.

I didn’t know what to say.

“That’s why I punched the shit out of most of them.” He says.

My mouth fell agape. “Damn… sounds rough.”

I take a seat next to him on the log as a cool breeze of the night air brushed against my cheek.

An awkward silence appeared between us. All that could be heard was the sound of crickets and the distant noise of laughter coming from the camping site.

A text from Cody came through my phone.

Cody:
When do you get back?

Me:
Tomorrow, I think?

I wasn’t actually sure wether it was tomorrow or the day after. But I hope that it’s tomorrow. I miss my bed.

“Is that your friend who has a crush on you?” Grayson wondered.

My facial expression turned sour. “I still can’t believe you read my texts!”

“I’m sorry.” He says.

I rolled my eyes at him.

“Have you ever had a friend say they like you before?” I asked him.

“Sixth grade, her name was Emma.” He replied. “We weren’t best friends, but we were pretty close.”

“What happened?” I asked him, hoping that his experience in a similar matter to my predicament could lend me some insight.

“I didn’t like her like that. So she said we couldn’t be friends anymore.”

I did not want that to happen with Cody and I.

“Are you worried he won’t want to be friends with you anymore?”

“Yeah.” I say.

“I’m sure he won’t dump you as a friend. He might need a little time and space, but after that he’ll go right back to being your best friend.” He says.

I hope he’s right.

“We should head back.” He says, standing up.

“Okay.” I stand.

We turn around and start walking when Grayson stops. “Wait, I think it’s this way.” He says, pointing towards the right.

“No,” I paused. “It’s that way.” I pointed to the left. I wasn’t entirely sure which was it was, but I was more than positive that I came from the left.

“Trust me, it’s this way.” He insisted that it was to the right.

“Fine.” I followed him to the right.

He’d better be right, or I will murder him.