It was a beautiful Autumn day. The birds were chirping and the skies were blue. You could see the sun shining through the big jumble of leaves on the trees. Lacey and her best friend Amy's families decided that they wanted to go camping in a remote area. As Lacey stepped out of the trailer she asked, " Don't you just love the smell of forest air?"
"Ya, I do. It smells so fresh." Amy said back to her
Little did Lacey know that her crush was sharing the same campsite as them. Her crush's name was Matt and he had a crush on her too. Matt was 5'6 and had floppy brown hair like a dogs and amazing blue eyes. Lacey and Matt always had these deep conversations and to her, it was almost like she could see right through to his heart when she looked in his eyes. It felt like he was her protector but she couldn't quite figure out why. Her family had just pitched their tents when she told them, " I'm going for a horseback ride. I'll be back in an hour or two. See you later."
Lacey started to trot on Misty her horse in the forest. As long as Lacey was on a horse, she felt like she could be herself. Soon, she started to gallop which was her favorite because the wind blew in her hair and it felt refreshing against the sweat that was pouring down her forehead because of the heat. After about an hour, Misty got scared and jumped and left Lacey on the ground.
Rushing up to her and helping her up Matt said in concern, " Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." she said holding her head.
"Are you sure? Is your head alright?" he asked.
" I'm sure. I'm alright. It's just a little bump." she said back
" Good. Come on. I really want to show you something," he said grabbing her hand and running.
"Okay," she said, running alongside him
They ran a little while and the whole time Lacey thought to herself "Man he is sooo cute," Finally they stopped and both were out of breath.
"This is what I wanted to show you," he said holding his arms out to a hill covered in wildflowers.
" It's gorgeous. How'd you find this place?" she asked
" I was taking a walk and I knew you and I were going to share a campsite but I saw you on the ground so I thought I would show you now," he said looking in her eyes.
" Well, I think it's beautiful," she said with a little laugh.
The sun was coming down and it was starting to get dark. In the forest, animals were starting to come out and you could see eyes in the forest.
" I think we better be getting back to camp," he said trying to head for camp.
"Ya, we should but which way is home?" she asked
"I don't know. Do you?" he asked.
"No, I don't. That's why I asked you," she said starting to panic.
"It's going to be alright. Let's just stay together. We'll just build a fire to keep us warm and spend the night outside," he said trying to soothe her.
"Alright," she said.
They built a fire and luckily Matt had brought blankets in the backpack he was carrying. He set them on the ground and laid down.
"Come here and lay down baby," he said patting right in front of him.
" Baby?" she asked.
" You want to be my girlfriend. I really like you and I want to be more than friends," he said romantically.
" Yes, I'd like that. I like you too and I want to be more than friends. I'll be your girlfriend," she said a little quiet.
"Okay then. Come here and lay down with me baby," he said
Lacey laid down and the whole night she swore she heard voices in the woods calling her name. Maybe they were ghosts but she didn't know. Instead she tried to focus on the fact that Matt was her boyfriend but mainly the twinkling stars and the chirps of crickets in the night.
The next morning, Matt and Lacey got up and searched the whole forest up and down, east and west, north and south until they found their campsite. The new couple never left each other's sight and always held hands. Once they got back noone was there so they set their stuff down and walked around other campsites until they didn't find their families. "Weird," Lacey thought to herself. They went back into the forest unsure if their families went looking for them.
"This time let's not get lost and bring a map this time," Lacey said
"Okay," Matt laughed.
They wandered into the forest and carefully took each step one at a time. They were so precise and careful that nothing would mess them up at all. Every time they took a step, they looked at the map. Eventually they wandered out onto the other side of campsites, so they asked someone for help.
"Can you tell us where this campsite is?" they asked pointing toward their campsite,
"Yes, go straight about a quarter of a mile then turn left for a few blocks and then you'll get there," he said
"Okay, thank you," Lacey said politely
They wandered back into the forest and realized that there was a dusty path leading them back to their campsite. Half way back to their campsite, they heard a rustle in the bushes.
"Stand back, I'll protect you," Matt said jokingly.
"You don't have to," she said.
The rustle in the bushes was actually their family! They looked scared at first but when they realized who they were they became super happy.
"Where were you? We were looking everywhere for you guys," both of their moms asked.
"We were in the forest mom, and it was all my fault. We got lost. I'm sorry," Matt said.
"Mom, it was my fault. The horse saw a snake and got scared and I didn't try to get it. I'm sorry," Lacey said.
" No matter who's fault it is, we are just glad you're safe," their moms said in unison.
"Wait, why are you guys holding hands?" Amy asked butting in people's business like she always does.
"You tell them," he said
"Okay, we are together," Lacey said
"Awesome," Amy said,
After that everyone followed Lacey and Matt back to their campsite and when they got there, they had fun and never got lost again.
