In every pranksters life, there is always at least one prank that has an unexpected wrench thrown in it. Ours came as a surprise on Saturday morning when Mr Wilson announced that our school would be split in half to go to the high ropes course; one group would be in the morning, the other in the afternoon. It turned out that Ruben and I were in group one while Noah and June were in the second much to their annoyance and complaints.
Before we'd left, June had made us promise to take a photo of Griffin's face during the prank. Ruben and I had given her our solemn word that we'd capture his disgust and now we were currently standing around with Holly and other students at the high ropes course putting on our gear.
Holly lifted up a clip with a blue dot on. "Where does this go?"
I looked at her harness and spotted the matching dot at her other hip. "It goes there."
"Ah, thanks." She clipped it in place. "Now we are ready to become monkeys." She started leaping around and making ape sounds.
Ruben laughed. "And this my friends is a prime example of de-evolution."
I grinned. "Welcome to the jungle."
"It looks as though everybody is just about ready to move on." One of the instructors called out, standing on a tree stump. I held my hand above my eyes to block out the sun that had finally returned. "Now that we've covered all the safety details we can move on to the fun stuff."
Another instructor continued. "While I hear that you're all competing against one another, your camp is also to connect the schools together which is why I'm now going to ask you all to get into groups of four, one person from each school."
Without thinking I looked towards Griffin who I'd been acutely aware of this entire time. He was standing a few metres away and still hadn't looked at me once today.
I turned to Holly. "Want to join forces?"
She grinned. "Of course."
We wished good luck to Ruben who got enveloped by other students trying to find people.
"Now we just need people from Hillcrest and Beckfall," I said. "Know anyone?"
We scanned the crowd but it seemed as if most people now already had groups.
"Holly!" A screeching voice said excitedly. "You're from Arrowhead right?"
The two of us turned to see none other than Brittney dragging Griffin by the hand towards us. Holly's expression turned into a slight grimace.
"We should team up!" Brittney said, coming to a stop and putting a hand on Griffin's chest. Suddenly Brittney's trip down the chemistry aisle in the library made more sense. My stomach turned. Maybe these two weren't actually over.
"Sure," Holly said.
"Griffin is from Beckfall and I'm from Hillcrest." Brittney looked around. "We only need someone from Dartington now."
I raised my eyebrows. Can she not see me?
"Brittney, meet Rory," Holly introduced. "She's from Dartington."
"Nice to meet you!" Brittney finally turned to look at me, a large smile plastered on her face. "You look so tanned, I'm jealous. Have you been on holiday recently?"
"It's fake." I frowned at Griffin who was still avoiding my gaze.
"Well, you look gorgeous. You must tell me what brand it is."
"You'll have to ask Griffin, he's the one who gave it to me," I replied. "I must warn you, it does come out rather orange."
Her smile faltered for a second but before she could reply the instructor began speaking. "Here are the rules. This is a team exercise. You must get your entire team across the course to gain maximum points for your individual school. Any player lost will result in points going down."
Holly and I shared a glance. Teamwork with the rest of our team might be a challenge.
"If a player does fall they are immediately out and will not gain any points at all."
Maybe I should accidentally knock Griffin off.
"Our high ropes courses all interlink with one another like a spider's web. Each group will have a colour and must follow only the route shown by that colour of ribbons which will be tied to the trees."
Simple enough.
"To achieve maximum points you must also collect all of your ribbons. There may be a few little detours to collect the harder ones that stray off your main route so keep your eyes peeled. My colleagues will now come round and take each group to their start. Goodluck."
I turned to look at the rest of my group. Brittney was looking at Griffin who was looking anywhere but at me, and Holly looked excited. I too was excited, the small scars littering my legs were proof of my childhood spent climbing trees and boulders, getting mud and leaves stuck in my hair.
"Have any of you guys been here before?" Brittney asked.
I shook my head. "No, have you?"
"Quite a few times," she replied.
An instructure approached us and took us through the trees to the beginning of our course.
"Follow the red ribbons to the end, and remember to collect them all," she told us before giving us a wave. "Good luck."
A/N:
Anybody afraid of heights? I love the thrill they give me!
Vote and comment if you enjoyed :)
SouthernAlps over and out...