As if an answering to a prayer, the day of our field trip was finally here. I sat next to Dani in the middle of the bus, while everyone else was filing in. We had gotten their even earlier than we had to, to ensure some seats near a few of our other friends.
"This trip is going to be amazing." I said relaxing back in my seat.
"I know, I can't wait for the ocean." Dani followed and relaxed as well.
"I cannot wait for the beach!" I tensed up in my seat, feeling my entire mood drop. I looked up to see the crew of boys entering the bus. There was Evan, William, James, Julian, and of course Clyde.
Why did I have so much confidence in the belief that not one of their classes would be one offered on this trip? My hopes of this being a Junior only trip, were broken in two, stomped on, chewed and spit into a bottomless pit.
"Hey why do you look like you just saw a ghost?" Dani noticed my mood and sat up in her seat. "The bus hasn't even started, are you sick?"
"Nothing." I looked at her, well, I turned my whole body and crouched down a bit, not trying to even be spotted by any of them. "So yeah, I think the first thing we should do when we get there is go into the beach. Well of course, after unpacking our stuff and finiding out what beds to get, and maybe eating stuff." I ranted on as they walked past, giving me no reason to even turn back straight in my seat.
Dani gave me a confused look and I felt someone pat my head. I turned around and saw Julian as he kept walking towards the back. He turned his head slightly and winked at me before facing completely forward again. I slightly blushed.
I could tell they were all finally settled when I heard laughter coming from the back and the chatter of those loud mouth seniors. "Okay what's the deal girly?" Apparently Dani noticed as well. "Aren't you and Julian dating and stuff?"
"It's not him it's Clyde." I whispered, giving her the hint to not be so loud also. The thing about growing up in her house is you learn to be a loud mouth. I really didn't want to draw attention from the huge amount of girls that were going on this trip. She leaned in now, catching my hint. "We aren't really on speaking terms."
She threw her head back in laughter, leaving me to be the confused one. Thanks for the support, Dani. "You two are even worse than a married couple." I completely frowned now.
"How the hell are we even in the slightest a married couple?" I asked her, my voice a lot higher.
"Ever since you met the boy, you two have been on and off and on and off. Not like a relationship, but with being mad at each other. It's ridiculous." She chuckled away. "How funny love is, when the people in it don't even know it." She said more to herself, but I definitely caught that.
"What in the actual f#ck are you talking about?" I was completely baffled by the claim she made, and even more pissed that she made it! I was definitely not in motherf#cking love with motherf#cking Clyde, nor would I be oblivious to who I was in motherf#cking love with! Excuse the language, but what the f#ck?
"Defensive are we?" She full on smirked, showing all of her teeth like a Chesire cat.
"Yes! How can you even say that? After everything I've told you. After how many times he's made me cry! What even gives you that idea? You're crazy." I ranted. Dani was my best friend, she should know better about me than anybody, yet here she was believing that I was in love with Clyde. IN LOVE WITH CLYDE!
She just continued her smirk before relaxing back into her seat and closing her eyes. Oh no. I am not having that.
"Dani! Answer me." I pushed her arm. She ignored me. "Dani! I will punch you in the face if I have to. What even gives you the idea that I like him? I only ever tried being his friend. I was just trying to be nice. I don't even like him most of the time let alone love." I ranted quietly, trying to clear her rotten thoughts up.
"Sure. You're right and I'm wrong." She kept her eyes closed, still smirking slightly. What a dirty liar. I wasn't done here.
I let it alone for the time being and I tried to rest as she was doing. It was only around 4:40 in the morning. They wanted us there before rush hour and hopefully before noon.
How could she ever even believe that? Could I love Clyde? Of course not! How can I even ponder that! As a brother, possibly, by only a slim chance. UGH! Thanks Dani. Now how would I ever get some rest?
I guess after some time I did manage to sleep because, when I woke up there was way more light out, Dani was still sleeping beside me. The bus was rather quiet, most of the kids were sleeping, only some chit-chat here and there.
I grabbed my waterbottle and took a drink before going back to sleep. I would hope to stay asleep for most of the time, only getting up at the rest stop. I wanted to have more than enough energy for the rest of the day.
We finally arrived and got settled into our cabin type resort thing, which was right across form the boardwalk and beach. It was one huge cabin looking thing with two sides and a middle. Each side were bedrooms, one side for boys the other for girls. The middle is where the living room and kitchen were, making it accessible to everyone. It was pretty cool how this place had this set up for school trips and other vacations that people could reserve in advance. Our school usually had this place reserved for this weekend during each school year for its select classes. How those boys made it, I would never know.
"Alright let's go!" Dani threw a pillow at me. I was still pretty upset with her, but the sleep had worked wonders for my mood. I was just grabbing a few necessities and placing them in my beach bag. I already had my blue bathing suit on under my clothes.
"Okay, I'm ready." I grabbed my bag and followed her, who was already almost out the bedroom door.
When we made it I saw some people we knew setting up towels and such. "Dani! Alex!" Jessica, a long time friend, called us over under her umbrella. We followed and placed out stuff down. I got out of my clothes and we put on some sunblock.
"Can you help me with my back?" Dani asked, turning for me. I smoothed in the sunblock on her back and she did the same for me.
"You girls ready?" Johnny asked, who was also Jessica's boyfriend. I could tell he really wanted to get into the water, and wasn't liking how long "we girls" took. But him and Jessica did many things together so it didn't shock me that he had waited instead of going in already.
"Yup." Jessica replied putting down the sunblock. We all ran in and started splashing around. The water was cold at first, but it felt really nice.
Julian and his crew were in the deep end, almost to the marker that you can't pass. There weren't really many girls around them, but there were some other guys who I didn't know. However who I didn't see was Clyde. I looked over to the sand and saw him sitting under an umbrella. He looked up at me but I quickly looked away. When I looked back his head was down also, while he was drawing in his sketchbook.
"I'm going to the bathroom." I said to Dani and all my other friends.
"Squirrel bladder." Keah had said, and splashed me. I laughed but continued out.
Where the bathrooms were located I sort of had to walk towards the side where Clyde was at. How could I ever even love him? He looked up and saw me, then quickly turned a page in his sketchbook. That got me slightly curious, but I just continued on my path. I couldn't ever love him was the answer.
After my trip to the bathroom, coming back I noticed Clyde no longer sititng on his towel. I looked out to the sea to see him swimming around some girls and his buddies. I guess they didn't want to be all the way in the deep end.
I looked at his bare chest, even from the distance I was able to see some of the scars he had gotten and also his amazing muscles. I looked away at my group of goofball friends. I smiled, they were all so great.
Later that night we were all so tired out. Some people were still swimming around a bit, in the shallow end. I was resting under the umbrella. I had long since changed out of my bathing suit and was relaxing with Jessica. Dani had decided to make some sand castles with other people. The waves were such a work out.
"I better have some toned abs after this trip." I said to Jessica. She was sort of reading a book while we chatted.
"Three days will not make you toned honey." She gave me a sassy tone before bursting out into laughter.
"Guuurrrll, wait till you see me." I joked back, laughing myself. I touched my nonexistent packs. I was skinny sure, just not toned.
"Hey." One of our teachers called to us. "We'll be having the bonfire in about 10 minutes so be there to get some seats where you want." That was all she had to say to get me to stand on my feet.
"Dani!" I called her over and she pouted but came. "Come on the bonfire is gonna start." I started to walk away with her following.
"So much for my beautiful sand mansion." I could tell she was sad about it not being finished even though she said it sarcastically. She wiped her butt which was full of sand.
We got some good seats, with all of out friends. Despite how there were about 4 classes invited on this trip, there were only about 35 students to actually come. Some didn't have the money, and others didn't go because there friends didn't have money. It was always like this, and we only needed two buses for this trip. Some kids sat on the logs, and others sat slightly closer to the fire on the sand. I chose to sit on the logs.
Julian had sort of brought his group around to where my group was sitting and he sat right next to me. "Hey." I said to him. Evan was sitting right beside him, and Clyde beside Evan. Then there were just about 2 girls sitting besides Clyde, talking to him, while this log ended and another started.
He wrapped his arm around my waist, resting his hand on the log beside me. I smiled over at him although it kind of made me feel uncomfortable.
"Johnny Bravo is not a bad person, he's just misunderstood." Evan was telling me, having Julian nod his head in agreement.
We were eating smores and some people were talking amongst themselves. However mostly everyone was tuned into the conversation that Evan and I were having and debating it also.
"Misunderstood? He makes it quite clear what he wants, and he's a jerk that is finally getting a taste of justice!" It's not really shocking that I had started this conversation, mostly having said something about the show to Julian. But then Evan's self decided to join in talking about what a good person Johnny Bravo was.
And seeing how this show was old, everyone knew about it and had an opinion. Mostly the guys were saying Johnny Bravo was the victim, while the majority of girls were saying he was at fault and deserved the hate he got.
I just hadn't known that I wasn't the only one who had such a strong opinion on the show while the girls were now on the stage to start speaking to the guys about why Johnny Bravo was a terrible person.
"I'm just saying. If he was the one beating women, he would be in jail." Evan put his hands up in defense after the vocal assault.
"Exactly." Julian agreed. "So many girls talk about this equal crap when they just actually want to reign over guys. They beat up poor Johnny Bravo, and it's supposed to be alright since they are girls."
"It's called self defense from perverted creeps like you people. If the girls on that show were as weak as people try to say girls are, they would have already been raped or something from Johnny Bravo." Jessica chimed in. I nodded my head now.
"He's never even gotten to first base with a girl! He would never rape anybody." William had said from the sand. Ironic, since he probably would.
"Well you guys are bringing in the realistic argument, so we are too. Johnny Bravo is a pervert, and if he was real, he would definitely be a rapist." Some girl who's name I do not know said.
That continued for some time before the guys backed out. It was a massive victory, although the guys didn't really seem to give up their opinions, just obviously bored with arguing a case. It was really just a battle of who could be stubborn longer. And looking at the determination on some girl's faces, we would have went all night.
Or until a teacher would have stopped us. But they seemed to actually be enjoying it too. One of the female teachers even joined us. It felt good. It was like I lead an army into victory.
We were now in our bedrooms, getting ready to go to sleep. It was 10:30, but we were all so tired from the long bus ride and the beach. I went to sleep in almost seconds, ready for the day ahead.
I woke up to a knock on the door. "Breakfast is ready girls." Our teacher popped her head in, making sure we woke up before going to another room.
I went to get Dani off of her bed, after she went right back to sleep when the teacher left. She groaned but followed me up and out to the dining hall. There were two very long tables set up next to each other, and we sat with the one with fewer people.
Clyde was drawing while this girl peered over at his work watching him. He was at the other table, his group of guys already there. We immediately dug in, grabbing small amounts of the different foods. There were eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles, fruit, hashbrowns, breakfast burritos, cereal, and more, oh my. I felt like I was eating at Hogwarts.
"Oh my gawd, dis is sho good!" Dani said with her mouth full. I almost spit out my orange juice laughing at how she sounded. It was as if she never ate before.
"I know right." I actually waited till I swallowed to talk, wiping some orange juice from my chin.
"Let's go to the boardwalk today." Keah had said. "And then maybe when it gets darker out we can go to the beach. I'm not trying to get too much darker." Her skin tone was deeper than mine, and in fact she looked like a goddess with how perfect her skin was. She made me envy her skin tone from time to time, and I could see she liked to keep it its best.
"Sure. I'm already tired of all the salt water going into my mouth." Dani responded. After eating we went to go take some showers, since we hadn't gotten the chance to yesterday. My hair was immensly dry, and I washed it with conditioner as to not dry it any further with shampoo. After some hair product I put it into a low braid and wore my huge summer straw hat. I was also wearing my solid teal maxi dress and some white flip flops.
Dani in all her spanish beauty, wore a shorter yellow dress, that was ruffled at the end, which made it a lot more frilly. She had bought a huge black straw hat to oppose mine for the trip and her white flip flops.
"You peoples ready?" Keah came in, wearing a white romper, no hat, and some black flip flops. We looked ready to attack some guys actually.
I smiled at that thought, "Yeah." I said, after grabbing my bag. "You coming Tania?" I asked, this other girl who was in our room, just reading a magazine.
"No, I'm going swimming again." She smiled up at us and we left.
We had traveled around for a while and saw some cool stuff. We were currently eating lunch in a local diner, and the food was very amazing. I had gotten their Chicken Alfredo, since I was familiar with the dish, and it was 50 times better than what my mom could make.
"I want to buy the chef who made my meal." Dani had already finished, eating faster than a walrus, and was currently drinking her fancy strawberry drink.
"Word to that." I said and took a drink of mine.
We left soon after that and continued exploring, sort of leaving the boardwalk heading downtown. "Hey guys check this out." Keah pointed at a building. After closer inspection I saw it was a theater that hosted plays. "There's one tomorrow." She said reading a sign on the door.
"We should come to it." Dani said and I nodded my head in agreement. The play's title didn't ring a bell, but it seemed fitting for our last day. Plus it wasn't too long. Only 2 hours. "Oh Em Gee. Look at this store!" Dani exclaimed ready to bolt to it. One of her favorite stores to go to was thrift stores because she had magical luck and always found something super amazing, or something she could tweak to make super amazing. Sometimes it being some high designer stuff. And since she already raided the thrift stores from home, this one was probably like finding a gem.
I looked around and saw an arts store about 2 stores down from the thrift shop. "Hey I'll meet you guys there, I wanna check out another store real quick, it'll only take a minute."
"Okay, but after a minute I'm going to assume you got kidnapped and call the cops." Dani said already leaving. I chuckled, and Keah rolled her eyes and then followed Dani.
I walked into the art store and saw so many supplies, from paints, to pencils, to paintbrushes, to canvases, to wood blocks, and even clay. "Can I help you find anything?" A salesman approached me. He was probably in his 50s and looked really nice with his genuine smile.
"Yeah, actually you can." I smiled back.
"Thank you." I walked out after purchasing my item. I stuck it in my bag and headed to the thrift store.
I will probably never know what compelled me to buy the medium sized black sketchbook, but it felt so right after thinking about Clyde for way longer than I should have. Not that I love him, I don't.
How could I?
Could I?
Author's Note: OH MY GOODNESS! We are 2/3 done with this entire story. Which means only 10 more chapters!! :D .. :(
More importantly Alex is starting to question the possibility of liking, or well loving, Clyde. Thoughts can really be strong in realizing what is true to oneself.
I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope you can tell by the detial I tried to put in this. I'm glad they finally got to go on their trip. Been waiting for this one. I also tried adding in more people in this chapter. Friends and what not. I've tried to make it clear throughout this book that Alex doesn't just have two friends. She has mutliple friends and she is good at making friends. i'm not too into stories where the heroine has only one friend. She has a best friend who she hangs out with way more outside of school, but she is easy to get along with others and I showed it here especially but tried to show it in past chapters.
Anyways, I hope you liked this one and now for the final 10 I'm hoping things get pretty interesting (although I can't say too much for the next one since it's really short and should be up soon). Anyways comment and vote! and Fan and whatnot. Haha, ta ta for now. ;D