Sephiroth Love Story aka SLS

What Camp?!

It's about 11 or so when Tifa, Angeal and Aerith escort me home on their own way back from Cloud's house, where his dad dropped us off once more from Reno's place. The party itself was mostly a blur after that notable encounter with Matt. I remember dancing, mostly, with some other nice guys and even Zack, who entertained me with his naturally funny personality. The taste of punch still lingers in my mouth. I'm still 17, not legally able to drink alcohol yet, but I'm already feeling buzzed just from the general atmosphere of the party that continues to stay with me for a while even after leaving.

Tifa's busy re-telling what happened with Matt and myself, which sends the other two into fits of laughter . "My god, Tifa, seriously?" wheezes Angeal, slightly doubled over from guffawing. Aerith wipes her eyes and chokes out, "You, are absolutely something, I declare. Pulling that off right in his face..."

I smile, then giggle, then start laughing again as well, I really can't help it, their laughter is just too contagious not to join in. Genesis and Zack aren't here, because they stayed at the party just a bit longer than we did. Oh well. My house comes in sight , so I wave goodbye to my companions and stand on the porch, watching them go. Smiling, I unlock the door and step inside quietly. My mother is probably asleep, and I don't want to wake her. Not even bothering to change, I kick off my shoes and clamber upstairs to my room, flopping onto the bed and falling into a deep slumber almost immediately.

I'm pretty much dead to the world for the next 10 hours or so, not waking up to my mom's calls and shakes. My subconscious is there, though, and I'm dimly aware of someone huffing loudly. I ignore it, only to jolt awake as freezing cold ice cubes land on my face and neck, and feel my ankles being tugged downwards. I yelp from the cold and sit up, only to get dragged off the bed, literally, by none other than my mom.

I glare blearily at her and rub my eyes as she leaves, then popping her head back in to say, "By the way, Zack called earlier, said something about a camp today. You better call him back and find out the details, otherwise you might end up late for it." Camp? What camp? Nobody mentioned anything about a camp today, I wonder. Well, I have to call him back. After taking a cold shower to thoroughly wake me up, I grab my phone and speed-dial Zack.

"Zack speaking."

"Hey, Zack? It's me Lilly, uh, you called earlier?"

"Oh! Yeah, so uh, I kinda forgot to tell you last night that last Friday, after you and Aerith went back home, the teachers told us there was going to be a 5-day camp, starting today, in some forest. I think it was Blackthorn Forest. We're supposed to report at school at 12 noon, then we take a bus to the edge of the forest. We'll be hiking to the camp, which is in the heart of the forest, so better bring insect repellent and water. Lots of it."

"......You've got to be kidding me."

"No, seriously, dude, I really forgot to tell you