Chapter Eight
“Where are we going?” Dylan asked curiously.
I brushed a branch away from my face. “You be patient,” I said sternly. “There’s still a long way to go, but trust me it’ll be fun.”
Last night, after everyone tidied up, I was left alone in the main room and I got to thinking. Everybody did such an amazing job helping me and I wanted to do something for them too. As a kid, and even now, I always loved hiking. So as soon as I got the idea, I went to Raina’s computer and printed out a map of the area. The forest near us was pretty big and if you went too deep, you might get lost. Good thing I have a good sense of direction and a map. On the other side of the forest was this camp, but it was like one of those reserved areas for families to go to. There’s a small lake that leads into a pretty big river right beside it so I decided that we should hike there, go for a swim or a canoe ride, then come back. It would probably take all day – more than 12 hours at the least – so we might have to stay over night. The weather’s really nice though, and camping outside seems like fun.
“Can we eat our sandwiches now?” a little girl, called Sandy, said.
“We’re not even half way there yet. If we eat them now, you’ll go hungry later,” I told her.
We had only been walking for about 2 hours, and it would take another 2 to get to the end of the forest. It was lucky that Camp Fun was located right on the edge, so we didn’t have to walk through the middle. That would take days.
"What are we gonna be doing?" Alison asked.
"We're going somewhere wet for sure, or else she wouldn't have asked us to put on our swim suits," Ariane answered, while trying to get a kid to let go of her shirt.
"You're the only one wearing it. We don't even have swim suits," Jackson mumbled.
"Well it's not my fault you don't come prepared. It is camp after all," Ariane sniffed.
"I just kinda assumed we weren't going to be doing anything since we haven't been doing anything for the past 3 years," Jackson said, looking miffed.
Ariane stalked past Jackson and flicked the back of his head with her fingers. "That's just too bad for you."
I turned around. "Guys, relax. Hopefully, no one will get wet but we're still going to be doing something with water."
"Argh Calvin! What are you doing?" James shouted.
We all looked at James who was rolling around on the floor with Calvin sitting ontop of him. In Calvin's hand was a plastic horse, the one from Toy Story, and he was using it to hit James.
"Guys, help me," James begged.
"Hey man, you volunteered to take him," Jackson laughed.
Before we left for our expedition, we had to split the kids into 5 groups, one for James, Alison, Ariane, Jackson and Dylan. I didn't get a group because they decided that I needed to focus on not getting lost instead. It turns out that there were 21 kids in total (I never knew that. Everyone agreed to lead groups of 4 but that would leave 1 extra—Calvin. Everyone already saw what a trouble maker Calvin was so no one wanted to be in charge of him. Apparently, since James loves kids, he volunteered to take care of 5 kids instead of 4.
"You could at least help me," James said, still wrestling Calvin.
Rolling my eyes, I pulled out a mini bag of M&Ms and threw it at Calvin. "Get the chocolate Calvin."
He immediately stopped harassing James and grabbed the bag, tearing it open enthusiatically.
"Thanks," James muttered, getting up off the ground.
"No problem," I laughed and started walking again.
"Wait," Jame said.
Dylan groaned. "What now?"
James looked around cautiously. "Did you guys hear that?"
"Hear what?" I asked.
There was a snap of a twig and a rustle of leaves.
"That," James said.
"I think there's just someone else in the forest," Alison said.
"Yeah," Ariane smirked. "Stop being such a –"
Three figures stepped out of the shadows of the forest. "Well, well, well, look who it is."
Calvin was the first one to pick out who it was. "Nate!"
"Hey there little buddy," Nate laughed, ruffling Calvin's hair.
"Want some chocolate?" Calvin asked. "Sarah gave it to me."
Nate looked at me deviously. "Did she now?"
Calvin nodded. "Mhm."
A dark haired boy beside Nate eyed me up and down. "So this is the famous Sarah," he scoffed.
"You never told me she was a looker,” the other boy said, smiling at me. He had light blonde hair and grey eyes, with freckles scattered across his cheeks.
Nate's face hardened. "Hey," he glared at the blonde.
"Sorry man. Didn't know you liked her," the blonde replied, raising his hands in the air.
"I don't like her," Nate said shrewdly.
I rolled my eyes and cut into their conversation. "What are you doing here?"
"Saw that you were going on a trip. Decided to join you," Nate shrugged.
"How did you even know we were going on a trip?"
"You left a note on in the main room," he said.
"Oh,” I said.
The dark haired boy looked around at us and smiled. “Well let’s get going.”
The others looked at me and when I didn’t say anything, they followed him through the forest. I waited until Nate caught up. We walked side by side, trailing behind everyone else.
“So what exactly are you doing here?” I hissed.
“I can’t join my camp group on their hike?” he asked innocently.
“You and I both know that’s not the case,” I said.
He laughed. “You’re right. That isn’t the case.”
“Then why are you here? Why did you come back?”
Nate looked at me with an amused expression. “To have some fun.”
Without letting me respond, he quickened his pace and walked ahead. I made no move to catch up.
“This is dangerous!” Alison announced, shrinking into the single seat of her kayak.
We finally reached the end of the forest at around 2:30. After eating our sandwiches, we decided to go canoeing/kayaking. Ariane and Dylan didn’t want to come (I suspect a possible romance there) and neither did any of the kids because, surprisingly, they all didn’t know how to swim and were afraid of water. It was too late today to teach them, but I’ve got my heart set on at least having all of them learn how to swim before the summer was over.
Me, Jackson, James, Alison, Nate and his 2 friends who were named Drew (dark haired) and Damien (blonde haired) walked to the dock to get our boats. When the manager heard that we were from Camp Fun, he gave us a free ride and told us to say hi to Marvin. I didn’t tell him Marvin ran away. We got 2 canoes, one for James and Jackson and another for Drew, Damien and Nate, and 2 kayaks, one for me and Alison each.
“Man up,” Jackson said, laughing at Alison.
Alison threw him a cold glare. “I don’t know how to swim.”
“It’s okay,” Jackson said, paddling closer to her. “I’ll save you if you drown.”
A smile crept to my cheeks. They were so cute.
“Stop flirting you guys and focus,” I teased, racing past them.
Glancing over my shoulder, I laughed as I watched a deep red blush creep into both their cheeks.
“Hey, Sarah!” Drew called from behind.
“Yeah?” I yelled, not bothering to turn around.
“Can you come back and help us? We’re kinda of…stuck.”
I sighed and turned my kayak around. Since James and Jackson were already so far ahead, I only told Alison where I was going. After that, I pushed my paddle and rowed to where I heard them from. It took me a while to find them; they were so far back, almost like they didn’t even move much.
When they came into my sight, I stopped moving. “What do you guys need help with?”
Damien waved me over. “There this seaweed thing caught onto one of the bolts under the canoe. We can’t reach it, but if you stick your paddle down, maybe you can loosen it.”
Looking at them sceptically, I rowed to their boat. Nate watched me glumly.
“What’s his problem?” I said, nodding to Nate.
“Seasick,” Drew said easily.
I snorted. “Loser.”
Reaching over, I swiped my paddle at the water underneath their canoe, feeling nothing. “Are you guys sure that –”
Before I could finish my question, something hard bumped into my kayak and it shook violently.
“Damn it, what the heck?” I said, gripping onto the sides. In the process, I let go of my paddle and it floated away from my slowly.
Another hard thump hit the side, flipping my kayak over. I submerged in cold water. Flailing my arms around, I rose out of the water, bobbling with the support of my life jacket. When the water dripped away from my eyes, I opened them, expecting Drew, Damien or Nate trying to help me. No such thing happened. Instead, they were pushing my kayak further down the river while laughing at me. Nate sat awkwardly on the end of the canoe, making no effort to help. At least he wasn’t laughing.
“Dude, what the frig is wrong with you? Help me up,” I screamed.
“Sorry girl, no can do,” Damien laughed. He raised his paddle and hit me across the head.
Stars flashed around in my head before I sank into darkness, their taunting laughs fading with the light.
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OH SNAP!
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