"When you hold me
In your arms so tight,
You let me know
Everything's all right.
I, I'm hooked on a feeling."
❁❁❁
AFTER THE THREE girls left, Marla returned with Greyson, who swiftly bandaged my foot up and advised me not to do anything too physically strenuous for the next couple of days. Robin remained by my side the entire time, allowing me to use his hand as my personal stress-ball whenever Greyson put a little too much pressure on my swollen ankle. He didn't complain, but I felt a little guilty afterwards when I saw the deep crescent-moon indentations my nails left on his skin.
We waited anxiously for news of our missing friends, but it wouldn't be until it was nearly six in the morning— six hours since they disappeared, that a bright blue smoke would float out of the trees and into the sky, signalling to everyone that Asher and Emily had been found.
By the time they arrived back in camp, everyone was awake and aware about what had transpired in the night when they were all asleep. Rumours about how they ended up getting lost already started to circulate around the small campsite.
Robin helped me walk to the edge of the dense thicket, where Emily emerged with the ranger who had found her, a thick blanket wrapped around her tiny frame, but Asher was still nowhere to be found. Robin and I shared a look of concern as we approached Emily. I tried my best to walk as quickly as I could with my injured foot, and threw my arms around her once she was within my reach, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug.
"Le-xi, can't— breathe!" Emily choked out. I let her go, grabbing her face with both hands and examining her for any obvious injuries.
"Are you alright? Did you get hurt? What happened?" I asked hurriedly.
"I'm alright, Lexi," she said, letting out a weak laugh as she tried to reassure us that she was alright. "It wasn't so bad."
"Where's Asher?" Robin asked, his eyebrows scrunching together. Emily blinked, looking at the both of us in confusion.
"What do you mean?" Emily asked.
"He wasn't with you when you were found?" I asked, tilting my head to one side. That means...Asher was still lost in the woods, right?
"N-No," Emily replied, her confused expression morphing into one of worry. "Did something happen to him? I went into the woods to try to find him but I got lost before I could..."
As soon as she replied, another puff of blue smoke appeared from deep inside the woods, and the three of us let out a collective sigh of relief. Asher had been found, too. Emily turned to look at the trail of coloured smoke rising into the sky, a worried look plastered across her face.
"Asher was lost, too?" Emily asked anxiously. Before either of us could answer, Greyson walked up to the three of us and helped Emily to her feet.
"Miss Park, let's go into the medical aid tent for a check-up," Greyson instructed. Emily blinked, looking at me and then back at Greyson.
"I'm fine," she said quickly. "I'll wait for Asher to return."
"Miss Park," Greyson said, shooting her a look. Emily sent us a pleading look, but I sighed and shook my head, beckoning her to follow our camp instructor.
"Go," I said, pushing her arm gently. "You need the check-up to make sure everything is alright. We'll talk later."
"But Asher—"
Greyson didn't give her a chance to finish her sentence as he directed her towards the tent. Emily kept looking over her shoulder at me, her worried expression deepening.
❁❁❁
It took another fifteen minutes before Asher emerged from the forest with a ranger beside him. While Emily looked exhausted from spending the night in the forest, it was Asher who looked absolutely terrible. He was awfully pallid (and he was already pretty pallid in the first place), and his hair and clothes were completely dishevelled— a clear sign that he spent the night in the outdoors. But more disturbingly, his face was not pulled into his signature moody frown. For once, instead of his permanently angry expression, his face was a blank canvas. Asher looked as if he had seen a ghost.
I heard Robin sigh next to me before he walked towards his friend and quietly told the ranger that he could help support Asher instead. Robin helped Asher to the nearby bench, sitting his friend down gently before asking someone for some water.
"Are you alright?" I asked as Robin passed a bottle of water to Asher. A flash of worry passing through his deep blue eyes as he stared at his friend, and in a rare display of emotion, Robin rubbed Asher's back as the latter took small sips of water.
"Did Emily make it back safely?" Asher asked, ignoring my question.
"She just came back," Robin informed. "She's in the medical aid tent, if you want to see her—"
"There's no need," Asher muttered, cutting him off before he could finish his sentence. Robin stared at his friend for a few moments before pursing his lips and nodding.
"Greyson said you'll need to head into the medical aid tent for a check-up," I said to Asher, who stared silently at his feet. I was starting to feel a little uncomfortable in his brooding silence, and shockingly, was beginning to miss the snarky, rude Asher Dane.
"I'm fine," Asher said, and started to stand up. Robin stood up with him, frowning. "I'm going to head back to my tent."
Before I could protest or coax him to get a check-up, Asher turned around and shuffled off towards the direction of our tent, leaving Robin and I behind feeling utterly confused.
When Asher was out of sight, I snapped out of my reverie and shot Robin an anxious look. I never would've thought I would feel concerned about Asher Dane, but his uncharacteristic behaviour really threw me off. What was up with him?
"Is Asher okay?" I asked curiously, my eyebrows flitting into a frown.
"It must've been hard for him," Robin sighed, shaking his head. "Let's go see Emily."
"Shouldn't we check up on Asher?" I asked, again surprisingly myself with my new-found concern over the certain white-haired boy.
Robin shook his head.
"Asher hates being around people when he's upset. Just let him be," Robin said softly before he slung his arm around my shoulders and helped me as we walked to the medical aid tent.
The minute we entered the tent, Emily perked up from her seat. Her expression fell when she noticed that Asher was nowhere to be seen, and worry flitted through her big blue eyes.
"Where's Asher? Is he okay? I thought he had been found," Emily said quickly, trying to peek behind Robin and I as if Asher would suddenly appear from behind us. I bit my lip, afraid that she would be upset if she had found out that Asher had in fact returned back to camp but for whatever reason, was avoiding her. Robin seemed to feel the same way, because he offered Emily a reassuring look and patted her on the back.
"Asher's fine. He's really tired so they sent him off to his tent to rest for now," Robin lied. Emily pouted, looking at the entrance of the tent and sighing.
"He must be exhausted," she murmured quietly, hanging her head low. "I was so stupid to run into the woods and get lost like that. I'm sorry for troubling all of you."
"Don't be," I said, pulling her into a quick embrace. Emily buried her face into my shoulder.
"I was really scared," Emily sniffed. "I kept thinking that no one was going to be able to find me."
"I know," I cooed, patting her back. "It's over now. There's no need to be scared anymore."
"What happened to your foot?" Emily gasped, catching sight of my bandaged ankle. Laughing awkwardly, I scratched the back of my neck and avoided looking at her.
Robin rolled his eyes, bumping my head with his knuckles.
"This idiot tripped," Robin explained, and Emily's eyes widened with guilt.
"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! If only I didn't get lost...Did you get hurt anywhere else? Oh no, what are we going to do?" Emily cried in panic, her eyes darting back and forth the length of my body, searching for any injuries.
"I'm alright, Em! Truly," I laughed, holding her by the shoulders. Emily seemed to calm down slightly, but the worried expression remained on her face. Just then, the entrance to the tent rustled and two boys tumbled in. Logan and Yuko heaved a sigh of relief when they caught sight of Emily, and Logan's lips curved into a big grin.
"Emily!" Logan exclaimed gleefully, patting her on the back and offering her a warm smile.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" Yuko asked softly, his dark eyebrows scrunching together in concern as he offered her a concerned look. Emily smiled and shook her head, extending her arms widely.
"As good as new!" she replied, and Yuko nodded. Logan pouted, pulling her into a quick hug.
"We were so worried about you," Logan said after he let her go, scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry we couldn't get to you as quickly as the rangers. It would've been great if we found you first."
"It's alright," Emily replied. "It wasn't too bad, I had my phone to pass time. I ran out of battery after a couple of hours but luckily I didn't have to wait long till the rangers found me."
"That's good to hear," Robin nodded, crossing his arms.
"But still, I can't believe you guys would help to find me," Emily said, her big eyes widening as tears began to form. She sniffled, wiped her eyes quickly and shot us a big, grateful smile. "Thank you so much. You guys really are great friends."
❁❁❁
The rest of the day went by without incident. After the initial frenzy over Emily and Asher, everyone settled down and began to pack up their belongings. By the late afternoon, everyone was bidding farewell to Greyson and Marla and climbing onto the school buses that would charter us back to the Academy.
Asher still haven't snapped out of his strange behaviour, spending most of his time staring at his big black boots in silence while the rest of us chattered away. I knew Emily was dying to talk to him from the way she kept stealing glances at him, but it seemed like she lacked the courage to start the conversation first.
As we lined up to board the buses, Asher and Robin stood in front of us quietly. Asher had his duffel bag slung over his shoulder as he clutched a small piece of charcoal in one hand and a sketchbook in the other, drawing in moody silence. Robin, on the other hand, typed busily away on his phone, probably engaged in something related to work. Emily and I shot each other a look of exasperation at their silence.
When Emily seemed to finally gather up the courage to talk to him, she reached her arm out to tap him on the shoulder, but before she could, the line began to move and so did Asher. A look of disappointment flitted across her features as she watched Asher climb onto the bus without looking back.
"Go and sit next to him," I suggested, causing Emily's eyes to widen. She quickly shook her head, clutching my arm tightly as if she wasn't going to let me go.
"It's okay, Lexi. If I sit with Asher, who're you going to sit with?" Emily answered quickly.
"Me, of course," a cheerful voice sounded from behind us, and we turned around only to come face to face with a grinning Logan. Logan shot me a wink, giving me a mock salute.
"Marshall, at your service, sunshine!" he said in a sing-song voice. "Guess that leaves you with Asher, Emily."
"What about Yuko?" Emily asked, turning her attention to the Japanese boy, who was surprisingly listening to our conversation instead of having his nose tucked into another one of his books.
"I can sit with Robin," Yuko replied with a shrug. Emily shut her eyes, taking in a deep breath before nodding her head.
"It's alright, it's just going to be a three-hour long bus ride with my fiancé. Nothing to be nervous about," Emily muttered under her breath, giving herself a pep-talk as the rest of us stared at her in amusement.
"You don't have to worry," Logan reassured with a kind smile. "Asher's bark is worse than his bite. Besides, he's just upset because he didn't find you. He's worried about you but doesn't know how to express any other emotion aside from anger. He cares a whole lot about you, you know. He just hates to show it."
Emily blinked, a slow spread of pink appearing on her cheeks and ears. She bit her lip and nodded before scrambling onto the bus. The rest of us followed suit, climbing onto the bus and trying to find empty seats. I spotted two empty seats near the back of the bus and began to approach it before I was ungracefully yanked into a seat in the middle of the bus.
"Ow!" I yelped, rubbing my head and turned to scold whoever tried to manhandle me. My voice died in my throat when I realised it was Robin who had pulled me into the empty seat next to him. He had his laptop open and he typed busily away, not offering a single glance at me.
"Hey! That hurt," I snapped at him, and he shrugged.
"I thought you didn't see me," he replied absentmindedly.
"Yeah, I didn't. I was going to sit with Logan," I muttered, shooting him an annoyed look.
"I told you not to be confusing," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. Under his sharp gaze, I swallowed and looked down at my lap.
"There's nothing wrong with sitting with Logan," I replied, frowning slightly. "I'm allowed to have friends, you know?"
His fingers paused on top of his keyboard before he silently closed his laptop.
"Why do you always avoid me whenever we're around people, Alexandra?" Robin asked quietly, and I glanced up in time to catch a glimpse of hurt flash through his eyes. I blinked, my expression softening.
"I don't," I replied, swallowing. Robin was silent for a few moments, before he nodded.
"Alright," he muttered. "You can go and sit with Logan if you want. Ask Yuko to take your place instead."
"Robin." I didn't know how to tell him that I wanted to sit next to him, more than I wanted to sit next to Logan. But it seemed as if every time things between us were going in the right direction, one of us would say something that would set us back to square one.
"What?" Robin replied, his voice sounding colder than usual.
"Let me sit with you," I said gently after a moment of silence. When he raised an eyebrow at my words, I slipped my fingers through his and tightening my hand around his. Robin blinked, and in an instant, I could see the defence walls that he had put up start to crumble slowly into dust.
When the engine of the bus rumbled to life, I settled more comfortably into my seat, leaning my head on Robin's shoulder and placing our entangled hands on my lap. When the bus started to drive off, I felt Robin's muscles slowly begin to relax. By the time we reached the highway, his fingers finally curled around mine and his head drooped and rested on top of mine, and that was where we stayed for the rest of the ride back to the Academy.
❁❁❁
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Apologies for the late upload, since I was in Vietnam for the charity trip and didn't bring my laptop along with me. For those of you who follow me on Instagram and watch my stories, you probably saw what I've been up to during my trip! The money we raised was donated to a soup kitchen that I volunteered at on the third day, and contributed to feeding around 600+ people! A chapter on Radish costs around 50 cents, which might not seem very much, but when combined with donations from everyone else, it's definitely enough to make a difference in someone else's life! I am one of the privileged few that can make a little money through my hobby, and I hope that I am able to continue to contribute back to society with the money I earn through writing, and I am hoping that every one of you will be able to do the same! I know that many of you are still teenagers (like me) and most of you probably don't have a stable income, but remember that you can still help out in your local communities! Sign up for volunteering opportunities and always lend a helping hand to others in need. Start from somewhere.
Song of the Chapter: Hooked on a Feeling // Blue Suede