Chapter 27: Games and Bears
(a/n) BOOM!! Another plot twist! I bet almost none of you saw that coming! Some of you ship Reeke, so I couldn't resist. Who knows where this story is going to go now? Is Reese going to end up with Michael, Calum, or Luke? Maybe even Ashton? Please tell me your predictions! It might lead to an interesting chapter later.... ;)
Anyway, since there are a fair amount of Reeke shippers out there, I decided to throw something in here for all of you. Enjoy this little Reeke chapter! :)
P.S. Shoutout to @sweaterpawsclifxord for making this happen. :)
P.P.S. To anyone who's interested in becoming Internet friends with me, I'll PM you my Twitter username. Just comment here so I know. :D
P.P.P.S. Made in the A.M. is such a work of art, omg. I'm crying that it's the end for two years, but I'll never forget the first band I fell in love with. I'm with them to the very end. :) <3
I kept my new shirt hidden from everyone, even the boys who had given it to me. I only wore it at night, and even that was a stretch. I was so confused. It was Luke's shirt, but wasn't he dating Allison? Why would the guys decide to give me that shirt of all things? Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but I was downright puzzled.
Luke and Allison were closer than ever, and it was kind of annoying, gross, and endearing all at the same time. They treated each other kindly, and Allison acted like a normal girl around him. She only hung out with the other guys whenever he wasn't around, probably to prevent him from getting jealous or something. But Allison hadn't kissed or hugged any of the other boys ever since getting together with Luke, which was both amazing and a little disappointing. How were they going to break up now?
While the rest of June was relatively uneventful, something revolutionary happened. I didn't resent the boys anymore. I never actually told them that, but they seemed to get the message. I didn't criticize them as much as I used to, and I didn't go out of my way to snap at them or insult them. Ever since they gave me that shirt when all I had done was be a witch to them, I saw them in a new light. We weren't exactly friendly with each other, but at least we weren't trying to bite each other's heads off.
Since we were nearing July, this was the eighth week of wearing my cast. I didn't have to wear it anymore, and I was ecstatic. I couldn't wait to get it off, mostly because it meant that we could finally leave this dumpy place and get on the road again. I had an entire route drawn out on the map to get us to southeast Oregon. I was both relieved and a little suspicious that no police had stormed us yet. Where were they? They couldn't be this dumb, could they?
"Are you ready?" Michael asked me, snipping the air with his scissors.
I took a deep breath and nodded. "Yep. Let's do this."
He eased the scissors into my cast, and the cold metal made me flinch a bit. I trusted him enough not to cut me, so I kept my mouth shut and sat as still as possible. He began to cut my cast off, and the sound nearly made me squeal. It took him about a minute, but he was finally able to crack it open and take it off my foot.
"How does it feel?" Ashton asked, sitting down beside me.
"Let me check," I replied.
I wiggled my toes, and they felt fine. The real challenge was rolling my ankle, which was what had broken, and I reluctantly complied. Other than feeling a little sore and stiff, it was all healed. I grinned widely and looked at the other guys. They saw the look on my face, and they smiled as well.
"Yes!" Ashton whooped, throwing his hands up excitedly. "We can finally leave this place!"
"Freedom!" Calum yelled. He paused. "Sort of."
"Pack up your things, everybody," I instructed, biting down on my smile. "We're going to Oregon!"
Everyone celebrated by high-fiving and cheering and stuff like that, and they filed out of my room enthusiastically. Michael helped me to my feet, and I wobbled a bit. This was going to take some getting used to. Sure, I had walked a little when I no longer needed to use my crutches, but I still had a limp in my step, and I couldn't walk very far without sitting down from the pain. This was different, and even though I loved it, it was a little disconcerting.
"What's the plan?" Michael asked as we packed our things.
"We're going to southeast Oregon," I said simply. "I'll probably take some detours and lots of stops just to make the trip longer. During that time, we'll need Luke and Allison to split. The real problem is making that happen. But once it does, we'll come up with a plan to take down Allison and set you free."
"Seems legit," he said with a hint of sarcasm, and I threw my sandal at his head. He ducked and laughed. "I'm just kidding! Okay, that makes sense. But Luke and Allison are all buddy-buddy now. There's no way that they're going to break up with each other."
"Well, of course they're not if you have that kind of attitude," I scolded him. "You need to think positively. Luke and Allison will break up eventually."
"It just seems wrong to hope for my best friend's heartbreak," Michael mumbled.
I hesitated for a second before facing him. "It's worse to hope that he and Allison will stay together forever. She isn't good for him. Think of it this way: you wouldn't want your friend to date a total witch, right? You know that he could do better."
The guitarist only hummed in response. He never looked at me once. "I guess...."
I rolled my eyes. "Forget it. I know that I wouldn't want my best friend to date a total witch, so I would do everything in my power to show them the truth. That's what we're doing, and that isn't wrong. So you don't have to feel bad."
"Tell that to my guilty conscience," Michael retorted. "Okay, I think I'm ready. Are you?"
"Not yet. I still have to pack all of my toiletries."
"Ew."
"You're such a kid."
I limped over to the bathroom, gingerly adding more and more weight to my weak foot. I gathered up my makeup, toothpaste and toothbrush, and other things before leaving. I shoved them in a single pocket on my suitcase and zipped it all up. Now I was ready to go.
"Alright," I said, gently placing my heavy bag on my shoulder. "Let's go."
"Where are we going first?" Michael asked as we headed over to the inn's main building.
"We're driving the rest of the way through Oklahoma, to that little tiny part," I said. "Then we'll cross into Colorado, then Idaho, then Wyoming, and then Oregon. It's a straight shoot once we're out of Oklahoma."
"What's a 'straight shoot'?" he echoed curiously.
"Straight line," I explained.
"Oh. Then why didn't you just say that?"
I rolled my eyes but smiled in amusement. I did that a lot whenever I hung out with Michael. Our relationship was as strange as ever. It didn't feel like we were friends quite yet, but we definitely weren't enemies. We weren't living up to our claim of being twins, but that was fine with me. I preferred to think of Michael as a hot wannabe punk rocker rather than my twin, anyway.
The others were waiting for us at the inn, as usual, and we waved at them enthusiastically. Michael tossed the keys to the bus at me, and I caught them in one hand. We all boarded and breathed a collective sigh of relief. I felt strangely safe now that we were back on the bus.
"I missed living on the road," Ashton moaned. He literally got down on his hands and knees and almost kissed the floor, but Calum pulled up on his shirt collar.
"Me too," I agreed, sitting down in the driver's seat. Ugh, it was so comfortable. "Alright, everyone, are we ready?"
"Yep!" they chorused.
"Then here we go!" I proclaimed. I turned the keys in the ignition, put the bus in drive, and zoomed out of the parking lot.
I pulled out my map and smoothed it down on the cushion. I knew exactly where to go, but I was still a little nervous. I should've felt more confident now that I had the boys on my side, but I could never stop stressing. I had to get this done. I couldn't go on like this for much longer.
Michael sat down beside me on the cushion, placing the map in his lap. "I'm thinking about re-dying my hair," he said. "What color should I do this time?"
I glanced at him curiously. "Why do you always dye your hair?"
"I don't know, it's fun. I just want to find my color."
"You're going to go bald."
"At least I'll still have my personality."
I shook my head and smiled to myself. I looked at him again. "Um, I think that you should dye your hair... puke-green."
He nodded like he was seriously considering it. "With yellow spots?"
"And black ones."
"You suck," he said, tapping my head with a binder. I hadn't realized that he had it.
"What's that for?" I asked, nodding at it.
"It has all of the hair colors I've already tried in it."
"Cover me," I told him, and I abandoned the wheel.
"Reese!" Michael yelped, and he grabbed it in his hands.
While he turned the wheel and I stepped on the pedals, I skimmed through the binder. Wow, he had dyed his hair numerous times. My favorite colors had to be red, galaxy, and pinkish-purple. Only Michael could pull that off. I saw a picture of him with fluorescent pink hair, and I swallowed down a laugh. He looked utterly ridiculous but adorable at the same time.
"Brake, Reese," he said, but I didn't hear. "Brake! BRAKE, BRAKE, BRAKE!!"
I jumped and snapped out of it. I slammed on the brake, and we jerked to a stop. I heard someone cry out behind me as they fell to the floor. When I glanced over my shoulder, I saw that it was Calum. But he was holding up his spotless iPad triumphantly.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Stop sign," Michael gasped out, pointing at the red octagon.
"Oh. Well, I'm done looking now, so you're relieved from your duties."
"Are you firing me? I should fire you since you nearly got us killed!"
"Hey, I'm normally a safe driver," I said defensively. "You just distracted me with all of your bright hair colors."
"It's always my fault," he grumbled. "It's always 'No, Michael!' this and 'No, Michael!' that. 'Why did you eat all of the pizza rolls, Michael?'. 'Why did you dye Luke's hair pink, Michael?'. 'Why does Calum's bass have a picture of a ding-dong on it, Michael?'."
I laughed over him. "You're a regular old troublemaker, aren't you?"
"No, I just get bored."
"Then you and I both agree that your friends are easy targets."
"That's different," he scowled, no longer amused. I decided to drop the subject.
"If I'm being honest, I like the black hair," I said. "You should keep it."
"But I don't want it anymore!" he whined. "I want a different hair color!"
"Well, how do you expect it to get dyed? We can't go to a professional hair place."
"I've dyed my hair by myself before. It's not that hard."
"Don't distract the driver," I said, pushing his face away from me. "Go bug someone else for a while."
Michael huffed. "You're no fun. Luke!" he yelled.
"What!" the blonde boy shouted back.
"We're going to play a game."
"No! I hate your games! They always end up with me either stuck somewhere, upside down, or covered in burned food."
"You know you love it!" Michael shot back, and he made that statement sound like a threat.
He left me behind to go mess with his friend, and I rolled my eyes and smiled to myself once again. I decided to play some music, and I skimmed through the stations. I didn't find anything good, and I sighed in disappointment. I began to play a song in my head, and it didn't take very long for "The Love Club" by Lorde to get stuck on replay.
This was going far too smoothly. Something should've happened by now. Why wasn't anything going wrong? Was something going wrong and I just wasn't aware of it? Should I be concerned? Or was I just being paranoid? No, that couldn't be it. Good, normal days were never given to us, so this definitely wasn't right. There had to be something going on.
"Look out!" a voice yelped.
I jerked the wheel to one side in panic just as a soft ball hit the side of my head. I flicked my hair out of my face and straightened the bus, my heart pounding in my chest. What was that about?
"Sorry, Reese," Ashton said, picking up the ball.
"What are you doing?" I demanded. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Calum and I are playing indoor tennis."
"With frying pans and chew toys," the bassist chirped.
I wasn't sure if I heard them right. "Well, cut that out! I'm trying to drive here, and you nearly made me go off the road!"
"We did tell you to look out," Ashton said pointedly.
I snatched their chew toy from him and chucked it behind me. It crashed into something, and I sighed. Now what?
"I'll get it!" Calum declared. "Okay, it's my serve now."
"What? No way!" Ashton argued. "It's my serve!"
"Is not! It's mine!"
"No, it isn't. Your serve is what hit Reese in the head!"
"This is a do-over!"
"That's cheating!"
"It is not!" Calum snapped. "Reese got in the way, so that's an intervention penalty!"
"She's not even playing!" Ashton exclaimed. "This is why I don't like to play with you!"
"Well, I don't like to play with you, either!"
"Fine!"
"Fine!"
"If you guys don't shut up, I'll beat you over the head with your own tennis rackets!" I hollered in annoyance.
"Actually, these are frying pans," Ashton reminded me. He paused. "Oh, wait."
"See, you're stupid!" Calum sneered.
The drummer glared at him. "You're stupider!"
"You're stupidest!"
"Shut up!" I yelled.
"Don't touch me!" Luke screamed as he ran into the lounge. "Get away from me, Michael!"
"I just want to play a game!" the guitarist called as he chased after him. For some reason, he had a bucket of black stuff in his hand.
"No! I hate your games!"
"Wait! I want to love you!" Allison cried as she entered in on the action.
"Watch it!" Ashton yelped when Luke flew past him.
Michael wasn't as graceful. He slammed into his friend, and they both went down. Michael's big bucket of black stuff rained down on them, covering them in it. Luke began to cackle triumphantly, but then he smashed into Calum. Allison tripped over someone's legs, and soon everyone was a groaning pile of limbs and bodies on the ground.
"Now look at what you've done!" Michael snapped at Luke.
"Me? How is this my fault?" the lead singer retorted.
"Get off of me!" Ashton grunted, pushing the guitarist off of him. "What is this mess?"
"Thanks a lot, Luke!" Calum whined, rubbing his temples. "Now I have a headache!"
"My clothes are ruined!" Allison wailed. "This outfit cost a lot of your money!"
They all began to argue again, and I sighed/groaned in exasperation. I had just about enough of this. I couldn't take their screaming and fighting anymore! This was just too much!
"HEY!!" I practically bellowed, and they all fell silent. I pulled over to the side of the road, put the bus in park, and stomped over to them. "Get over it, okay? Ashton, Calum had the right to redo his serve since I accidentally intervened. Calum, it's not nice to insult your friend. Luke, don't bother Michael so much. Michael, don't bother Luke so much. Ashton, stop being such a freak. Calum, Luke didn't mean to give you a headache, it was an accident. And Allison, keep your boyfriends away from each other and forget about your clothes!"
They all just stared at me for a second.
"It was his fault," Luke said, pointing at Michael.
"That's it!" the guitarist growled, and he pounced on his friend.
"This is the police! Your bus is surrounded! Come out with your hands on your head!"
"That's not funny, Reese," Allison warned me.
I blanched. "That wasn't me! The police are really...."
I raced to the nearest window and pulled back the curtain a tiny bit. Several police cruisers surrounded the bus, and many police officers stalked around it. They had trapped us! But how? How did they find us again? And how did they get here so fast?
"The police are really here!" I gasped.
"What's your brilliant plan now, Reese?" Calum demanded, getting to his feet. His friends hurried after him.
I began to gnaw on my fingernails, something that I hadn't done in years. "I don't know."
"Escape, of course!" Allison shrilled. "You can't let them catch us!"
I glanced at Michael anxiously. What was I supposed to do? I didn't want to get arrested, but I didn't want the boys to hate me again. I had just started to get along with them, I couldn't let that go. It meant more to me than I thought.
Michael nodded at Luke and Allison, who were embracing each other tightly. They were still together. Neither of us wanted to hurt Luke's feelings. But what about Ashton and Calum? What would they think?
"We have to go," Michael said, shocking me. "Come on, Reese, step on it!"
"Wait, are you serious?!" Calum demanded in a high-pitched voice.
"Just trust me," his friend insisted. "I know what I'm doing. If Reese says that she has a plan, then I believe her. I guess... I guess that I trust her."
My heart both skipped and exploded when he said that. "You guess?" I echoed incredulously.
Michael sighed. "Alright, I do trust you."
"That's more than what I was hoping for, so cool," I said with a wide smile.
Ashton shrugged. "I'm in."
"Wha--You know what, just forget it," Calum said, holding his hands up in surrender. "If you guys have a plan, fine, whatever. I'm done with thinking because it only confuses me more!"
"Then let's go!" I cried, running over to my seat.
Several police flashlights shone in my face, and I squinted my eyes. I put the bus in drive. I hoped that the police officers would move out of the way so I didn't have to run over them. I slammed my foot down on the pedal, and the bus catapulted forward. The others yelped as they fell to the floor, but I didn't have time to worry about that. We were in yet another police chase!
This one wasn't much different from the first. We were on a lonely highway, so not a lot of cars were driving by. At least I didn't have to worry about hitting anybody. The police still surrounded me, just like those annoying bees, but they never attacked. And sure enough, the chase ended in under five minutes.
"What's going on?" Allison asked, peering out the window. "Where did they go?"
"I don't know," I replied. "All I know is that police chases don't last very long."
"Stop the bus!" Ashton yelled, and I slammed on the brake.
"What!" I shouted. "What's wrong?"
"Haven't you seen any crime shows?" he demanded, sitting on the cushion beside me. "They're waiting for you up ahead! They're going to ambush you!"
"What? No way," I scoffed.
"I'm serious! I've seen it before!"
"Only on TV. This is real life, Ashton, that isn't going to happen."
"Yeah, it is," Calum spoke up. "I just looked it up. If a police force drops the chase, it means that they have a setup waiting for the criminal ahead. Game over."
I groaned. "Ugh, now what? We're trapped!"
"How did they even find us?" Michael asked. "Aren't we in a pretty secluded place?"
"Let's think back," Ashton said. "Has anyone done anything that would lead the police right to us?"
We were all silent for a second. Then I noticed a little slip of paper sticking out of the cupholder. I picked it up, and I realized that it was the receipt for renting the bus. I skimmed over it, and my eyes widened. Oh no, this was all my fault! I had paid with Michael's credit card, and the police had managed to track us down! How could I be so stupid?
"What's that?" Luke asked, reaching for it.
"None of your business!" I retorted, crumpling it up. "Look, it doesn't matter how they found us, we just have to get out of here!"
"How?" Ashton pointed out. "We're in the middle of nowhere, they're going to ambush us soon, and we can't go back the way we came. We have to give up."
But I couldn't give up, not when we'd come this far. I sighed and glanced out the window. I noticed that the right side of the highway had a thick forest, and it was pretty dark in there. I put two-and-two together, and I came up with the dumbest plan known to mankind.
"We're going camping," I said, standing.
They all gave me strange looks.
"What?" Calum said. "Why?"
"They can't track us out there!" I exclaimed, pointing at the forest. "We'll be safe, and we can figure out a new plan from there."
"Oh no," Allison said, shaking her head rapidly. "No, no, no, no, no. The outdoors and I don't mix very well."
"Amen," Michael agreed. "I told you that I wasn't going camping anymore, Reese! That was it!"
"What choice do we have?" I asked weakly.
"Here's an idea," Calum offered. "How about you just turn yourselves in and let us go?"
"No!" Allison shrieked, clinging to Luke. "I can't let my baby go!"
"I'm older than you!" he reminded her, but he snaked an arm around her waist anyway. "I don't want to leave Allison."
Calum gave him a death glare. "I hate you."
"What did I do?"
"I can't turn you in," I sighed. "I can't go on like this for much longer!"
"Well, neither can we," Ashton reminded me. "This is exhausting, not to mention twisted, weird, and super confusing. I'm not going camping out there."
Michael exhaled loudly. "Just listen to Reese, guys. I agree, what choice do we have?"
"We have literally a billion choices!" Calum burst out. "I don't care what you guys say. I'm not doing it, and you can't make me."
......
"I hate you," Calum scowled as he dragged his suitcase behind him. "I don't understand how I could ever like you in the first place."
"Tell me something that I don't know," I said, even though my heart still throbbed a bit. "I'm glad that you were persuaded into this."
"I hate everyone and everything."
"Welcome to my world."
The last one to leave the bus was Ashton. He grunted as he dragged a garbage bag full of food behind him, along with two suitcases. We had brought as much as we could off the bus with us. We weren't exactly roughing it, since the guys still had their iPads, all the food that we needed, and Michael's game stations, but that was never the goal in the first place. We abandoned the empty bus behind us as we trekked forward.
"What's the plan?" Ashton groaned, pulling with all his might.
"We have to stay hidden, but we're going to follow the road," I replied. "Make sure it stays in sight. We'll follow the highway past the police officers and hopefully into town. There, we'll rent a new bus and continue on our way."
"'Hopefully'?" he echoed. "That doesn't sound promising."
I sighed nervously. "Hopefully we won't stay out here for too long. Hopefully it'll only take a couple days at most."
"A couple--" he began to exclaim, but I smacked a hand over his mouth. I didn't want to cause an uproar over this. What choice did we have?
"I'm bored," Luke declared after five minutes of hiking.
"So?" I said shortly. I wasn't in the mood for his crap.
"Can we do something fun?"
"I wanted to do something fun with you, but you refused," Michael grumbled.
"That's because your games aren't fun."
"Don't get us started on that again!" I moaned in exasperation.
"When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city to see a marching band," Calum began to sing. "He said, 'Son, when you grow up, would you be the savior of the broken, the beaten, and the damned?' He said, 'Will you defeat them, your demons, and all the non-believers, the plans that they have made? Because one day I'll leave you, a phantom to lead you in the summer, to join the Black Parade!'"
My heart soared at the song selection. I didn't think that these guys listened to My Chemical Romance. But it only tempted me to like them more.
"Sometimes I get the feeling she's watching over me," Michael continued. "And other times I feel like I should go. And through it all, the rise and fall, the bodies in the streets! And when you're gone we want you all to know."
"We'll carry on! We'll carry on!" all of the boys sang, Luke's voice rising above the others. I joined in timidly, keeping my voice small. "And though you're dead and gone, believe me, your memory will carry on! We'll carry on! And in my heart I can't contain it! The anthem won't explain it!"
We sang the entire song--well, except for Allison. She didn't know what it was, so she just gazed at us with a confused expression on her face. When we finished, nothing happened. We didn't look at each other or smile or anything like that. We just sang for the heck of it.
"That's a weird song," Allison finally said. "Sing something else."
"You'll take my life, but I'll take yours, too!" I sang. "You'll fire your musket, but I'll run you through! So when you're waiting for the next attack, you'd better stand, there's no turning back!"
Michael grinned and joined in. "The bugle sounds and the charge begins! But on this battlefield no one wins! The smell of acrid smoke and horses' breath, as I plunge on into certain death!"
"Ooh!" we sang together to the others' laughter.
"No, no!" Allison cried over us. "Something light and happy!"
"These kinds of places make it seem like it's been ages," I sang. "Tomorrow some new building will scrape the sky. I love this country dearly, I can feel the ladder clearly. But I never thought I'd be alone to try."
"Once I was outside Penn station, selling red and white carnations," Ashton took over. "We were still alone, my wife and I. Before we marry, save my money, brought my dear wife over. Now I want to bring my family state side."
"Take a walk!" Luke belted out.
"No, no, too early!" Calum berated him. "There were still a few more lines left before the chorus!"
"Oh. My bad."
The rest of us just laughed and sang more songs that came to mind. It was a lot of fun, and this time we did smile and look at each other. But it didn't last long as the sun got lower and lower in the sky, and our throats grew dry, and our hiking made us pant. Soon we were just dragging our feet dully in exhaustion. We never encountered the police ambush.
"Can we take a break?" Calum moaned.
"No," I shot over my shoulder.
"Why not?"
"You don't want to stay out here after dark, do you?"
"But there's nowhere to go!" he exclaimed. "We haven't seen anyone ever since we left our bus! We should just turn back."
"It's too late for that now," Ashton said. "The police have probably confiscated it by now. We have to keep moving forward."
"Can't we just stop and make camp for the night?" Michael groaned. "I'm cold, wet, and hungry, and my feet feel like they're about to fall off."
"Quit complaining," I told him sharply. "There are bears out here. You don't want to get attacked and eaten by a bear, do you? We should keep moving."
"Oh, please," Calum snorted. "Next thing you'll tell us is that there are lions and tigers out here as well!"
"Oh, my!" Michael gasped dramatically before snickering.
There was a low rumbling noise, and they both stiffened and paled. They glanced at each other fearfully before running to me for protection. I rolled my eyes in mock disdain, but my breath came out in nervous bursts. Were there really bears out here? I had only said that to keep them moving, but now....
Allison flinched when it happened again. "What was that?" she whimpered.
"Sorry," Luke said sheepishly. "I'm really hungry."
I sighed in both relief and annoyance. "Alright, fine. I guess that we can stay here for the night."
"Yay!" Ashton cheered before dumping his things on the ground loudly. "Finally!"
"You were scared!" Michael taunted Calum as they began to unload their things.
"I was not!" the bassist retorted. "You were scared! You were the one who ran to Reese!"
"I only did that because you did! I didn't want you to feel all cowardly alone."
"Thanks a lot, Mikey."
"My pleasure."
"How are we going to build a shelter?" Ashton asked me.
"We don't," I said a little uncertainly. "We'll just put some stuff up to scare the big animals away, like a fire, and we'll sleep under the stars."
"You're joking, right?"
"Does anyone know how to start a fire?" Allison asked loudly.
"Kind of," Luke said. "My brothers taught me when I was younger."
"I think that I know how to start a fire," I said. "It shouldn't be too difficult. Somebody find some flint and/or steel wool. Luke and I will pick up some firewood."
"You mean, in there?" Michael asked a little shakily, pointing at the black woods.
"Yeah," I said nonchalantly. "Is that a problem?"
"No, not at all. Just don't get eaten by bears or anything."
I rolled my eyes. "There are no bears out here. I just made that up so you guys would keep walking."
"I knew it!" Calum proclaimed.
"Let's go," I told Luke, and he followed me into the forest.
It was really dark and creepy in there. The air smelled a little musty, and the ground was spongey beneath my shoes. The tall trees reached up into the sky, their black branches entangled so close together that the stars were nearly invisible. I swallowed nervously, but I tried to ignore my fears. There was nothing out here for me to be afraid of. What was wrong with me?
"It was you, wasn't it?" a voice said in my ear.
I shrieked and jumped fifty feet in the air. I almost fell as I spun around, and I placed a hand over my thumping heart. I saw that it was only Luke, and he was biting down on a huge grin. I glared at him and smacked his chest.
"What'd you do that for?" I shouted. "I thought that you were a murderer or something!"
"Yeah, but it was funny!" he snickered. "Seriously, though, was it you?"
"What was me?" I asked gruffly, still disgruntled.
"The police. They found you, didn't they?"
My heart sank. "How'd you know?"
"I saw the receipt," Luke said, bending down to pick up some wood scraps. They were too wet, so he threw them back. "You paid with Michael's credit card, so they could track us down."
I sighed. "Yeah, I know, I was stupid. But please don't tell the others!"
"I won't," he promised. "It wouldn't do us any good, anyway."
I smiled slightly. "Thank you."
He only hummed in response, and we walked deeper into the woods. I tore a little branch off a tree, and it was dry. I made Luke my official branch-holder, so I gave it to him. We continued on like that for about two minutes before he spoke again.
"I saw you," he said.
"I would hope so," I replied carelessly.
He rolled his eyes. "No, I mean, I saw you with Michael."
"Again, nothing new."
"Ugh, I saw you and Michael leave the inn that one night."
I stumbled over a tree root, and Luke grabbed my arm. He pulled me upright, but I was too stunned to thank him. He saw us? How? Why was he awake at two in the morning?
"What?" I finally rasped. "What do you mean?"
"I don't sleep much. I decided to get up and walk around for a little while, and I saw you two leave."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?" I asked. "Weren't you afraid of us abandoning you or something?"
"I knew that you guys would come back," Luke said with a shrug. "It wasn't that big of a deal."
"You did?" I said incredulously. "You trust us?"
"I trust Michael with my life. I knew that he wouldn't leave us behind. I wasn't so sure about you, but when I saw you two come back together, I just... knew. I knew that I could trust you, so I do."
"Really?" I said with a bright smile. "Thanks, Luke. That means a lot."
He smirked. "I should think so, because I know one more thing about you: you don't hate us as much as you claim."
"What?" I exclaimed, taking a step back. "No! I resent you! I despise you! I hate all of you!"
"You do not!" he crowed, poking my shoulder with a stick. "You like us! You think that we're cool or nice or good or whatever! You actually like us!"
My face burned. "No, I don't!"
"Reese likes 5SOS, Reese likes 5SOS!" Luke sang. He laughed and pranced out of the way whenever I launched myself at him. "Reese likes 5SOS!"
"Shut up!" I cried, but soon I was giggling as well. "I hate you!"
"Love you, too," he said cheekily.
He slowed just enough for me to attack him, and we both fell down to the forest floor. We lost our sticks, but we didn't really care. He merely laughed at me again and pushed me off of him. I swatted his chest playfully, and he helped me up.
"So, friends?" he asked as I brushed myself off.
My heart leaped in my chest, and I blushed again. "Friends," I agreed, and we shook hands.
"We should probably find our sticks again," Luke suggested. "I dropped them when you jumped on me."
"Come on, you were asking for it," I teased him.
"I didn't actually say, 'Hey, Reese, could you jump on me, please?'."
"You're a moron," I muttered, shaking my head.
"But you love me, anyways."
I bit down on a smile and shot him a silly glare. He was acting like we'd never been enemies, like we'd been friends since forever. But I was okay with that. I liked feeling like I had a blank slate.
We got down on our hands and knees and rescued most of our sticks. We stood up and began to head back to camp. Sort of.
"Do you know where we are?" Luke asked as we wandered around.
"No, I thought you did," I said. "Didn't we just walk in a straight line from camp into the woods?"
"I don't know, I wasn't paying attention!"
"Well, neither was I!"
I opened my mouth to rationalize the situation, but I was cut off by a loud growl. My blood turned cold.
"Please tell me that was your stomach again," I said stiffly.
"Nope," he said. "Not this time."
We glanced at each other and screamed, "BEARS!!"
We raced away through the woods, branches snapping and leaves crackling. The bear followed us, roaring and raging furiously. I gasped for air as my legs turned to jelly, but I forced myself ahead. I couldn't get eaten now!
"Dead end!" Luke cried.
I nearly smashed into him, but I hopped to one side. A large stone was blocking our path, almost like a cliff. There was no way to go over it or around it. We were trapped.
"Please don't eat me!" I wailed. "Take the blonde one, I'm too important to die!"
"What!" Luke yelped indignantly, and he pushed me in front of him. "Take the girl, she's much tastier than me! I'm all muscle, way too tough!"
"You are not!" I retorted. "You're about as muscular as a marshmallow!"
"Eat her!"
"Eat him!"
"Eat her!"
"Eat him!"
The bushes shook as the bear approached us, and we backed up into the rock wall. Luke held me in front of him like a shield, and I shut my eyes tightly. This was the end!
The leaves shook one more time as the bear leaped out of the bushes and... didn't attack us.
I peeled my eyes open slowly in confusion, my heart thumping loudly in my chest. I frowned curiously. There was no bear in the clearing. I heard a small growl, and I looked down. My jaw dropped when I realized that it was a small, fluffy, white dog. He seemed to be deformed in some way as his tongue was permanently stuck out of his mouth, which explained the growling noises. He didn't seem to be angry with us, just wary and fearful.
"Are we dead yet?" Luke asked, his face scrunched up.
"No," I told him. "Hey there, wittle guy!" I said in my baby voice as I crouched down. I may have been a cat person, but I did have a love for puppies. Who didn't? "You're so cute!"
I extended my hand outwards, and the dog sniffed it curiously. He reluctantly allowed me to pet him before trotting over and sniffing me all around.
"Reese, what are you--Hey, a puppy!" Luke cut himself off with a cry of excitement. He dropped down next to me, and the dog scrambled back a few paces.
"Oh no, it's okay," I said soothingly. "It's okay, puppy. We won't hurt you."
He stalked up to me again and butted his head against my hand. I scratched his back while he sniffed Luke's hand, growled a little, and rolled over.
I giggled. "He wants you to rub his tummy."
"Aw, I like that, too," Luke said, petting the dog's soft underside. I smacked his arm. "What?"
"We should probably head back," I sighed, standing.
"We can't just leave him here!" he argued, pulling the puppy towards him.
"We can't take him with us! We have enough problems as it is! We can't buy dog food or a doggy bed or toys or--"
"Please?" Luke whined, pouting up at me.
"No," I said firmly. "Now let's go."
The blonde boy picked up the dog and played with his paws. "Please take me with you, Reese," Luke said in a weird voice. He was pretending to be the puppy. "I promise that I'll be good. Besides, I love Luke too much to let him go."
I rolled my eyes, but he was tugging at my heartstrings. "Stop messing around. I will leave you here with the bears, you know."
"Fine," Luke grumbled in his normal voice, setting the puppy down. "You're so heartless."
"No, I'm just logical," I corrected him. "Bye, puppy! It was nice meeting you!"
We left the clearing and started heading back towards camp. I had an inkling of an idea of where it was, but I wasn't overly confident. Luke wasn't much help since he kept mumbling about the puppy. I felt bad about leaving him behind, but what else was I supposed to do? The last thing I needed was another brainless, needy creature to look after.
"Reese," Luke murmured, tugging on my shirt sleeve.
"What now?" I sighed impatiently, turning around. I raised my eyebrows.
The puppy was following us. He was only a couple feet behind us, and he gazed at us with innocent chocolate-brown eyes that resembled Calum's. He growled playfully and hopped up to us, his head lolling slightly.
"Can we keep him now?" Luke asked pleadingly, clasping his hands together.
"No," I stated flatly.
He huffed and walked with me into the woods. He glanced over his shoulder and smirked. "How about now?"
"How about no?"
"Now?"
"No."
"Now?"
"No."
"Now?"
"For the love of Pete, Luke, just give it up!" I burst out, throwing my hands up in the air. "We can't keep him!"
The lead singer scooped up the dog and played with his paws again. My heart softened. He was so cute, and I really did want to keep him....
The little puppy licked my cheek, and even though it was super adorable, I quickly wiped it off. This dog was a stray! Who knew where his tongue had been? He still needed shots and medicine and his cherries to be taken off! We couldn't do all of that!
"For the last time, Luke," I sighed. "We can't keep him."
"Can't keep who?" a new voice asked, and we looked up.
Calum and Ashton emerged from behind two trees and walked up to us. The drummer had a walking stick, and he looked very proud of himself.
"Where were you guys?" he asked. "You've been gone for ages."
"Yeah," Calum agreed. "We were starting to think--OH MY GOSH, IS THAT A PUPPY?!"
I jumped at his sudden exclamation, and the dog struggled in Luke's arms. Calum snatched him away and grinned excitedly. He cooed and giggled at him, even though the dog himself didn't seem to like the bassist very much. He squirmed more violently than ever, and Luke had to take him back.
"Can we keep him?" Calum asked me eagerly.
I groaned. "No, we can't! He's a stray! It would be too much work to look after him! Ashton, back me up on this."
"What's his name?" the drummer asked, allowing the dog to sniff his hand. I smacked my forehead with the palm of my hand. Some help he was.
"RJ," Luke replied.
"When did you come up with that?" I demanded.
"About five seconds ago. It stands for Real Joy."
"That's cheesier than three-cheese pizza with stuffed crust."
Luke stuck his tongue out at me, and the rest of the boys coddled the puppy. I sighed in exasperation, ran my hands through my hair, and shook my head all at the same time. There was no way that I would be able to change their minds, no matter how much I warned, begged, or threatened.
"Fine," I muttered. "We can keep him."
"Yay!" the three boys shrieked and attacked me in a hug. The poor puppy was squished between us, and he whined in protest. "Thanks, Reese!"
"Careful!" I said anxiously. "He's still little!"
"I want him!" Calum cried, making grabby hands for the puppy, but Luke turned away.
"No, he likes me more," he said, sticking his nose in the air. "Come on, RJ, let's go see if there's any dinner ready."
"I wish that puppy the best of luck," I murmured to myself. "He's going to need it."