The Dumped Club

20-If Feelings Ruled Worlds, We'd Be Dead

***

The sun rolled around the sky and I found myself walking to an area of cliffs, following my group. It was the final activity of the trip and I could feel the exhaustion flowing in my blood as we started ascending a path that would lead us to a bunch of rocks we would scramble over. I had been keeping a close eye on Amethyst and Kaydence the whole day and how they treated Prudence. She more quiet than she usually was and only muttered a quick strategy to us when we started the second activity of the day. It required intelligence and planning so we had turned to her but she only gave us a quick explanation before she completely shut off and stayed silent.

"Alright," Finn clapped his hands. "Your trip has nearly come to an end, but not quite. We're going to climb a few rocks, give you a quick tour of the area and get back to the tents to collect your things."

He led us further and we ended up in front of rocks that looked like they had been bathed in chalk paste. An instructor I didn't know the name of began giving us a brief history of how the rocks were formed and told us to not vandalise them while we looked around. There were small characters drawn all over the rocks, some were the classic ones where two lovers had put the first two letters of their names to mark their eternal love while others had drawn funny stick figures.

I leaned in an attempt to decipher a scribbled over quote written with chalk when I felt my foot slipping in the mud and grass, and seconds later, I was on the ground with a priceless expression on my face. I tried getting up but once again, I lost my footing and this time, I landed in a bunch of nettles that stung my bare arms. Hissing from the sting, I crawled to a clean patch of grass and stood up.

"You've got a grassy ass," I heard Fred comment behind me and I scowled, turning to face him.

"No, really?" I remarked sarcastically. "Thanks for the observation Captain Obvious."

"Come on, Faith's waiting for you. The others have already moved on to the other rocks," Fred started walking to where Faith was positioned and currently waiting, arms crossed over her chest. I hissed again as I joined her and we continued walking to another set of rocks.

"As you can see, there is a gap between the two rocks. Finn will help you cross them and then you need to go to the landing behind where we will continue on," the instructor motioned to Finn who had one foot rooted on one rock and the other foot on the second rock. People began climbing the smaller rock steps and I blew on my arms to soothe the stinging.

"Hope, you're next," Faith motioned from the second rock.

I let my arms drop to my sides and willed my feet to cautiously step from one rock to the other while also avoiding the spiky ivy waiting to leave a scratch on my skin. I bounced from the second rock to the landing behind to see Prudence surrounded by the girls. I went over to see that she was breathing heavily and her eyes were glazed over. All of the colour had grained from her face and she held onto her sister like an exhausted, limp doll.

"Come on P, I'll take you to Miss Bennett and you'll stay out the rest of the activity," Love stroked the stray pieces from Prudence's messy braid. Prudence shivered and Love untied the sweater wrapped around her hips and swung it over Prudence's shoulders. Prudence trudged to where our form tutor was and they walked off to somewhere else after checking in with Finn.

Faith, Grace and I exchanged concerned glances as we walked to the last part of the rock scrambling activity.

"What happened to her?" Faith whispered in a hushed tone. We were at the back of the group and making a gigantic attempt to ignore Amethyst's obnoxious conversation about Prudence.

"I think she had a panic attack," Grace mumbled. "Prudence was first to cross the two rocks and then it was Amethyst and Kaydence. A few people crossed, then it was me and I could see her breathing heavily and tears streaming down her face."