"Man, I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it." Chris groaned.
"Oh yeah? Feels the same to me." Josh shrugged, popping up out of nowhere. Kara put her hand on her chest, gasping a little. He chuckled, pulling her in for a kiss, and then putting his arm around her waist.
"Oh come on, you grew up here. It probably feels like it's shrinking." Chris responded. Josh chuckled.
"I guess that's true."
"When are you gonna install some cell towers up here? I'm getting withdrawals already." Chris complained, holding his phone up. Kara used her phone a lot, too. She kept wanting to check her notifications, but she had no signal.
"You got a spare million lying around, and I'll fix you right up." Josh joked.
"Funny you should say that, ah, I think I left that in my other jacket." Chris remarked.
"I have like, ten dollars if that helps." Kara told them, and Josh chuckled.
"Your charity is appreciated, my love. Now we just need nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety dollars." Josh said as they started walking towards the group.
"Hey, guys, get up here okay?" Josh asked.
"Yeah...well more or less, but it is so good to see you!" Ashley said, sitting on the porch stairs.
"I'm gonna go unlock the door." Josh told Kara. She nodded, looking at Matt. He didn't look happy.
"Hey, Matt, you okay?" She asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. It was completely innocent, but she was sure Emily would see it as a plan to steal her man. Kara didn't hate Emily; she didn't hate Jess either, they were just hard to put up with sometimes. At the end of the day, she would do anything for them.
"It's nothing. I'm okay. Thanks for asking, though, Kara." Matt said, smiling.
"No problem." She smiled. She looked up towards Chris and Josh, seeing that they were having trouble getting the door unlocked.
"So...how's Josh? How are you? I mean, Beth was your best friend..." Matt rambled.
"Josh is as good as he can be. He really loved them. And it's been hard. I always want to message Beth when I'm upset or have exciting news...and then I remember that she's gone." She told Matt, smiling sadly.
Kara had met Beth when she was nine, and Beth was eight. She had invited her to a sleepover, and they pretty much instantly became best friends. She remembered the first time she'd met Josh; he had come home late, and Kara was in the living room with Beth, doing her homework. They had stared at each other for a minute before Josh had gotten flustered and ran to his room. They started dating when they were sixteen, and they were now nineteen.
"Well, I'm here if you need to talk. Same goes out to Sam; I know she was close to Hannah." Matt said, pulling her into a hug.
"I don't remember the door being so hard to open!" Kara shouted towards the two boys.
"It's iced over! We can't get it open." Josh replied. Kara excused herself from Matt, climbing up the stairs.
"Is there another way in?" She asked.
"There's a million other ways in, but they're all locked." Josh told her.
"There's gotta be, like, a window round the corner we can get, like, 'get open' or something." Chris suggested.
"Wait a second, are you saying we should break in?" Josh asked, standing up from his crouching position.
"Is it breaking in if you own the place? I mean, don't take my word for it..." Kara mumbled.
"Not if I don't report you." Josh winked at Kara. "Naughty girl." Kara blushed, looking at Chris with wide eyes.
"Lead the way, Cochise!" Josh motioned to Chris. They went down the stairs, watching as Chris awkwardly talked to Ashley. It was obvious to everyone besides them that they liked each other.
"I bet you twenty bucks they're together by the time we leave the place." Kara whispered in Josh's ear. "You're on. Chris is too much of a wimp to ask her out." He said, shaking her hand.
"Chris and I will be right back. Keep the others entertained." Josh said, kissing her cheek.
Kara walked back to the rest of them, standing next to Sam.
"So, Kara, how have sports been?" Matt asked. Kara played soccer and volleyball, and she ran track. Her, Mike, Matt, and Sam were the jocks, Chris and Ashley were the nerds, Emily and Jess were the bitchy ones, and Josh didn't quite fit in to anything.
"Our team's been winning a bunch in soccer, but we've kinda had a losing streak in volleyball." She told Matt.
Beth had been good at volleyball. They used to practice in the backyard; sometimes Josh would watch. Kara didn't let herself break down for a long time, because she wanted to be strong for Josh. Inevitably, the day had come where she couldn't get out of bed. She'd cried all day, looking at old pictures of herself and Beth. Her dads didn't know what to say to make her feel better. They had suggested inviting Josh over; he was always good at calming her, but she had quickly refused. She hadn't wanted him to see her like that. Instead, Sam came over, and they spent the whole night looking at old pictures, and watching sad movies.
Still, if she thought about Beth, she couldn't help but to tear up. She had never been that close to Hannah, but she still missed her.
"We're freezing our buns off out here!" Ashley exclaimed, seeing Chris in the door window. Chris pulled out a lighter, and Kara noticed a spray can of something. Her eyes widened as she saw flames. Chris opened the door, smirking.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week." Chris said, bowing. Chris shrieked as an animal ran out of the lodge. Kara laughed, seeing how frightened he was.
"Crap, that thing freaked me out." Chris groaned.
"What was it? Are you okay?" Ashley asked. Sam and Kara made eye contact, smirking at the two of them.
"It was like, a bear, or tiger or something." Chris exaggerated
"Aww, it was just a cute little baby wolverine!" Sam said. Sam loved animals. It didn't matter what kind; she bonded with them all. Josh jogged up the stairs, laughing at Chris.
"Don't worry, buddy, you're gonna be a big boy soon." He joked. As they walked in, Josh opened his arms, turning around.
"Ah, home sweet home!"
"Sweet is not the word I'd use." Matt muttered. Kara had been to the lodge multiple times; she was used to the cold weather and the long walk.
"Oh my gosh, it is so good to be inside. Even if it's still kinda freezing in here." Ashley said.
"Why don't we get a fire going, babe?" Kara suggested, and Josh nodded.
"Good idea." He said, walking towards the fireplace.
"This place barely looks any different." Matt noticed. Kara was pretty sure no one had gone up there since Beth and Hannah had disappeared. It brought back to many painful memories to the Washingtons.
"Nobody's been up here." Josh confirmed.
"Even with all the police coming in and out?" Ashley asked, and Chris shook his head.
"Not a lot of action up here lately." He told them. Their attention turned to Mike and Jess entering the house.
"What's up party people?" Mike asked, and Jess strutted in, smirking. "Hey!" She waved. Kara noticed Matt tense. Obviously, something had happened, but she wasn't sure what it was.
Kara and Mike were on good terms again. She had apologized for being so harsh, and he had insisted that she was right. Before everything had happened, they had been like siblings. She gave Mike a big hug, and giving an awkward high-five to Jess.
"Man, if you weren't so in love with Josh that it would make Cupid explode, I'd be worried about you stealing my man." Jess said. "Make yourself at home, bro." Josh said from the fireplace.
"Will do." Mike laughed.
"Yeah, come on in. Take a load off. Have whatever you want. You just take whatever you want anyways, right?" Matt asked, standing up from the couch.
"Woah, easy there cowboy." Mike said, putting his hands up in defense. Matt questioned him about seeing him and Emily on the trail, feeling jealous. Kara was anticipating a fight to break out, but Mike explained himself, and Matt apologized.
"Oh my God, that is so gross." Emily said, walking in and crossing her arms. "Are you trying to swallow his face whole?" Emily asked Jess.
"Em, please. Can we have one calm night where we're all together?" Kara questioned, but Emily ignored her.
"I mean, seriously, can she be anymore obvious?" Emily pushed further.
"No one wants in on your territory, honey." She continued.
"Excuse me, did you say something?" Jess asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Oh, did you not hear me? Was your sluttiness too loud?" Emily asked. Sam and Kara looked ay each other, rolling their eyes at the petty drama.
"Sounds like someone's bitter she didn't make the cut." Jess remarked.
"Yeah. It's all a big cattle with that dreamboat. Congrats, you're top cow." Emily said, and Kara put her hand over her mouth; wanting to laugh, but knowing they'd rip her head off if she did.
"Cuts real deep calling Miss Homecoming a cow." Jess said, walking towards Emily. Matt tried to get Emily to lay off, but she told him to shut up.
"Stay out of this, you dumb oaf!" Jess snapped.
"Hey, watch it!" Emily exclaimed.
"Oh, so you're the only one who can put him down? No one else can play with your toys?" Jess asked, and Kara moved closer to Chris, watching with wide eyes.
"You're such a bitch!" Emily shouted.
"Whatever. I don't give a crap what you think." Jess said, walking back over to Mike.
"At least I can think. 4.0 bitch, honor roll." Emily clapped back. She wasn't wrong...Jess couldn't count to twenty with her shoes on. "Suck on that when you're trying to sleep your way into a job."
"Who needs grades when you've got all the natural advantages you can handle?"
"Oh, please."
"You couldn't buy a moldy loaf of bread with your skanky ass."
"Jess, Emily, I'm begging you, please stop. You are giving everyone a collective migraine." Kara pleaded.
"Are you serious, Jess? You think that's insulting?" Emily laughed.
"That bitch is on crack or something!" Jess pointed at her.
"Emily, stop." Matt pleaded.
"This is out of hand. There's no reason to fight like this." He tried to reason.
"Yeah, Em! Why you pickin' fights over your ex boyfriend? Huh?"
"Stop it!" Josh finally yelled. Kara flashed a sympathetic look at her boyfriend.
"This is not why we came up here. This is...not helping. It's not what I wanted." Josh told them.
"Josh is right. We're here to remember Hannah and Beth; not start a petty fight because you drama queens can't stand to be in the same room together. Have a little respect." Kara told the two girls.
"If we can't get along for ten minutes then maybe we need a little bit of a break, right?" He asked.
"Mike, why don't you check out the guest cabin? The one I told you about." Josh suggested.
"Yeah...yeah. Alright." Mike said, standing up. "Want to go do that?" He asked Jess.
"Any place without that whore." She said, gesturing to Emily.
"It's right up the trail." Josh told them, and they left, finally calming down the room. Matt let out a sigh, and Kara rubbed her hand up and down Josh's back to comfort him. Matt suggested to get the fire going, but Emily started to complain...again.
"Where's my bag? The little bag with the pink pattern! The one I got on Rodeo! Matt, are you listening?" Emily asked.
"Oh my God, don't you remember? Next to the Italian shoe place where I got the stilettos and you knocked over the rack while you were drooling all over that girl at the counter?"
"Well...I mean, she was asking about my letter jacket." Matt defended himself.
"Right. Because she gave a shit about your 'designer' letter jacket." They continued to bicker before agreeing to go find her pink bag. Sam stood up from the stairs, scrunching her nose.
"Okay, I'm gonna go take a bath." She muttered. Josh turned to Kara.
"I have a whole plan figured out-" Josh whispered into her ear, but she cut him off.
"About getting Ashley and Chris together? Yeah, I'm working on it, too." She giggled.
"Yeah...that's the plan." He muttered.
***
Sam soon found out that the hot water wasn't on, so her and Josh went downstairs, along with Chris to turn it on. Chris was trying to find a game. It left just Kara and Ashley.
'So, are you hoping Chris will ask you out this weekend?" She smirked, causing Ashley to blush.
"W-what? No! He's just my friend." Ashley stuttered.
"Right, because 'just friends' look at each other like they're the only people left in the world." Kara chuckled. Ashley sighed.
"I want what you and Josh have. You two love each other so much; but I'm too scared to admit my feelings. Is it really that obvious that I like him?"
"Honey, the only two people who don't know you like each other are you and Chris. I think even Beth could tell before she..." Kara trailed off, and was thankful when the three returned from downstairs. Kara tilted her head when she saw what Chris was wearing.
"What in God's name are you wearing?" Ashley asked, and Chris mimicked a catholic prayer.
"I...have found my true calling." He said, and Kara chuckled.
"You should take a vow of silence with that." Kara joked.
"Did you get it?" Ashley asked.
"Boi-ioi-ioing!" Chris exclaimed, holding up a Ouija board.
"Oh hell no, I'm out of here." Kara said, shaking her head, and heading towards a different room.
"Come on, babe, it'll be fun!" Josh laughed.
"Nope!" She yelled back.
This weekend was already off to an odd start.