bad influence 》h.g.

Seven || Blankets & Hot Chocolate

Saturday, May 7th, 2017

"What?! I said no!" I hissed.

"So when do you plan on doing it? Tomorrow, the night after that, next Friday night? Either way, you gotta do it at some point so why not do it now?" He shrugged.

"Why are you so desperate for me to complete the list all at once? Why can't you just give me some time?" I asked.

"It's all entertainment for me, seeing a goody-two-shoes doing badass stuff." He smirked. I gritted my teeth and resisted the urge to throw my wardrobe at his head. I didn't want to satisfy him, but since I was already up and I had the chance, I might as well just do it and get it over with. I sighed.

"Give me two minutes." I told him.

"We've got all night, take your time." He said casually. I rolled my eyes before turning around and rushing to the wardrobe. I picked out my favourite oversized, grey hoodie and some dark blue skinny jeans, throwing them on over my PJ vest and shorts. Then I grabbed my once-white-now-grey Converse and slipped them on. Just as I reached the door I remembered one small problem.

"I can't get out!" I whispered out the window to him.

"What, she locked you in your room or something?" He sniggered.

"No, actually! We have seriously creaky floorboards and she's a light sleeper. If I try getting out, the noise will wake her up." I sighed.

"Climb out the window." He shrugged.

"How do I do that, Einstein?" I asked sarcastically.

"Well you do this thing where you lift one leg over the window ledge, then you do the same with the oth-"

"Very funny, asshole." I groaned.

"That's me, funniest guy in the whole of America." He said casually. I didn't know what his kind of funny was, but it didn't match mine.

"Seriously, how do I get out?" I asked. He paused for a moment, biting his top lip and stroking his chin in thought. He had the weirdest thinking face ever. He did it in maths and history and art and science, and I assume he did it in all the lessons we didn't share too.

"You could climb down the honeysuckle?" He suggested.

"Wouldn't it break?" I asked unsurely.

"It's never broken when I've climbed ours, and considering you're a titch, I highly doubt it will even bend under your weight." He shrugged. I gritted my teeth when he called me a titch. He knows I hate it, everyone knows I hate it, yet they still call me it. I wasn't that small, I was 5ft4"! Okay, so it's a little small for a 16 year old but I wasn't tiny! I was only a few inches shorter than Hayes... about 4 or 5 inches, actually, but still.

"Fine." I growled.

"Oooh, you're terrifying." he laughed, pissing me off even more. I swung my leg over the window ledge before bringing the other one over too. Then I turned around and grabbed onto the edge of the ledge before shakily lowering my foot and waving it around, trying to find the honeysuckle. Then my heel caught it so I cautiously lowered myself before managing to climb down it without dying. As I jumped down and wiped my hands on my jeans, he clapped sarcastically.

"Shut up." I muttered, "So what do we do now?"

"Well, there's no point sneaking out to do nothing, so we'll get on with part three." He smirked.

My eyes widened. "What?! I don't have anything packed, or a sleeping bag, or a freaking tent! And my mother will be up at six-thirty for work and she'll realise I'm gone if she comes and checks on me and there's no way I'm camping out with just you an-"

"Ava Rose, shut up. We have everything, blankets, food-"

"We?" I interrupted.

"Me, Logan, Riley, Heidi and Kyle." He said.

"Heidi and Kyle are coming?" I asked, feeling a little better.

"Duh, you didn't think I'd honestly put up with you for a whole night by ourselves did you?" He asked. I stayed silent and stared at my shoes. "Aww, well I'm flattered you'd want us to spend some quality time together but I'm afraid the feeling isn't mutual." He sighed, pretending to be disappointed.

"I was actually hoping it wouldn't be just the two of us, for your information, so don't flatter yourself." I said smugly. Asshole.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." He said, turning and walking away, gesturing for me to follow.

"Well, it isn't this." I said, referring to the fact that we were sneaking out at midnight.

"When are you gonna stop complaining and just enjoy it?!" He snapped, whipping around to face me. He startled me a little.

"I probably would if it didn't involve you." I shot back.

"Well, unfortunately it does, so either accept it or give in and admit you're wrong. It's not like I'm getting you to come camp out because I like you, in fact, it's the exact opposite. I don't like you, you don't like me, this is simply for the purpose of proving you're not as amazing as you think you are, and I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, you'll realise that you can't just judge people unless you're a hundred percent perfect yourself." He growled, before storming off.

I felt that familiar ache in my throat, the feeling where I just wanted to cry. Not because he yelled at me, I couldn't care less about that. But what he said, it hurt. I didn't know how to respond, mentally or verbally. I just hung my head and followed him to wherever we were gonna be camping. After about 10 minutes of silent walking, we reached the woods. I opened my mouth to refuse to sleep here, but remembering Hayes' outburst, I decided against it and swallowed my nerves. There was nothing dangerous in the woods, I'd be okay, everything was fine. God, I hated that freaking forest. As we approached a little opening in the bushes, I saw an orange glow illuminating the darkness, and relief flooded through my body.

We walked through the bushes and I smiled a little at the sight in front of me. Heidi and Riley were laid beside each other on deck chairs, wrapped in blankets and flirting, whilst Kyle and Logan talked as they sat near the flames, watching the embers float in the darkness. There were 3 tents behind them, all open slightly, and I could see the blankets and sleeping bags inside lit up by the light emitted by the golden flames. There were a couple picnic baskets crammed with food and three thermal flasks filled with what I suspected to be hot chocolate. It looked pretty much perfect, like in a movie. I was expecting them to start stabbing marshmallows with twigs and toasting them over the fire. As they all saw us, they smiled and greeted us. Heidi threw a blanket at me and as I wrapped it around my shoulders, I realised how cold I actually was. Hayes, grabbed a blanket from one of the tents, which I assumed was his and threw it over himself. He sat on one of the deck chairs near Kyle and Logan and started talking to them. I sat with Heidi and Riley.

"Hey, Ava." She smiled.

"Hey! Where were you and Kyle yesterday?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, uh, we have a homework assignment for history and we're working together on it so we went to the library to do some research." She shrugged. I nodded. How come my history class didn't have a homework assignment? I guess Kyle and Heidi's class were the unlucky ones.

"Oh, shit! What should I do about my mom? She'll be up at six-thirty for work and she'll probably check up me." I asked her, panicking.

"Ava, chill! Just tell her you went for your morning run an hour early with me." She said casually.

"Yeah, okay. I'll text her in the morning." I sighed in relief.

"Want a drink?" Riley offered sweetly.

"Oh, sure! Thanks." I smiled. He stood up and wandered over to where the flasks were before pulling 3 mugs out of one of the baskets and pouring steaming hot chocolate into them and carrying them back over to Heidi and I.

"Thanks." I grinned.

"S'okay." He shrugged, sitting back down to enjoy his own drink after handing Heidi hers. She kissed him on the cheek gratefully. After taking a sip of my hot chocolate, I watched the steam rise from my drink in little white wisps before disappearing into the cold air, as a small smile crept onto my face.