The Fewer

Chapter 1: Flight QA394

"Nope. Can't do this anymore. Too...damn...painful." I said between hot panting breaths. My face was flushed a crimson mixture of unfit and embarrassment. My legs ached and were trembling behind my overly-athletic friends Chloe and Ambrielle.

"Get a grip Eliza, we've only been doing this for four minutes," said Chloe, who was clearly enjoying the hike more than I was. It had actually been five minutes of walking up this hell-track that was better known as the Kokoda track. Stretching over 3km, the Kokoda track was a long ladder covered in green marsh and eroding wooden planks and was apparently a good place to start a Saturday – how very wrong Chloe was. It was a cold June morning in Sydney, I didn't know what time it was, but I knew it couldn't have been any later than 6a.m. The sky was still dark and there were only a few early-bird commuters on the highway. It had been Chloe's idea to drag Ambrielle and I along to, what she likes to call, 'Kokoda-Track-Crack'. I wasn't sure if she had named it that because the steps cracked every time you walked on them, or because climbing it with her made you want to crack your head against the concrete. "Only fifty-six more minutes to go, chumps", she said. Chloe moved to Sydney four years ago after her parents got divorced. She wasn't the type to get mushy and talk about it, and I wasn't the type to pry. We hadn't actually started off as friends - Back in year nine, Chloe hooked up with James Dwyer, a year ten at the time, who coincidentally was my primary school crush. Without thinking, I scooped a cup of goon from the goon bowl and threw it at her and James. It was pretty embarrassing for both parties, especially because James didn't know who I was. It wasn't until I saw Chloe crying in the girls' locker room, that we actually bonded over something we had in common – not understanding boys.

"Think about it Eliza, if this is bad, imagine Mount Meru." Ambrielle's voice had suddenly annoyed me because there weren't any deep breaths taken in between her sentence. I only came along for the hike because I knew she'd be here, struggling alongside me - I had never felt more let down. I glared at her, her face was hardly red and I could barely see any sign of sweat. Ambrielle was tall with ash blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, she was a typical Sydney girl – the only thing missing was an iPhone and a handbag that costed more than her school tuition. But she wasn't like that – you were more likely to find her playing on the soccer field with the boys than playing with the boys behind the bleachers. "In fact", she continued, "don't even imagine Mount Meru – imagine the rest of your life. Kokoda doesn't compare to the hills God will build in our paths. Luckily, he only does that because he loves us." Oh, did I mention Ambrielle was more religious than the Pope himself?

"Yep, I don't think I'm gonna make it. Screw God and his paths. Take me to Tanzania, that's fine, I'll be on the beach soaking up the sun while you guys go hike to your death." Hiking Kokoda track was our way of training for the Ainsley College trip to Tanzania. Our geography teacher, Mr. Asherby, started the trip four years ago. Since then, every year he has taken his Year-eleven class to a different location around the world – our class got the capital of Malaria. It was unusual for the girls at Ainsley College to mix with the boys from McCauley College, but this year, they were joining us on the trip.

"Are you excited to turn sixteen next week?" Ambrielle asked.

"I guess so, but there's nothing really special about turning sixteen, if you think about it. It's just hype", I said. Chloe immediately changed the subject, "hey, do you reckon any of the guys coming on the trip are decent?"

"Decent? As in good people?" asked Ambrielle. She was more innocent than my sister Kayla, who was twelve.

"No you wannabe Mother Teresa, decent as in smut-able!" Chloe said. In Chloe's world, for a guy to be smut-able, he had to have his own car (or at least be able to use his mum's on the weekend), sport a six-pack and most definitely be over his braces stage.