Alex
When I decided to join the rest of my classmates for the final campfire, I was surprised to see that only Tyler had made it back to the site. The rest of my friends were nowhere to be seen, not even Zach who had returned back with me.
Winston was looking at me hopefully, but I just ignored him and decided to chat with my only friend here.
I went and stood beside Tyler, who gave me an unsure glance.
Right, the last time we talked I had snapped at him.
"Hey, Ty," I said and he looked at me. "I'm sorry about earlier. I wasn't exactly feeling like talking so..."
"No, it's okay." He assured, giving me a small smile. "I should've understood that you weren't in the mood to talk, and I was just bothering you... I get that."
We looked around in silence as more and more confused people were coming back from the stupid hunt. But none of our friends were still here, and neither was my father.
"Have you seen my Dad?" I asked, spotting Mrs. Jensen talking to some just-arrived students. "I thought he would be here."
After the heart-to-heart talk that we had in the tent earlier, he had left to check on everyone while I just spent more time in the tent alone.
Which I'm doing a lot since yesterday and still not complaining.
"He was just here five minutes ago," Tyler informed, then shrugged. "I think he followed Tony after Diego pointed him somewhere."
What?
"I wanted to follow them too, but... I then realized it would be better for everyone if I stayed here. Today's day was already weird and the trip has already messed up the team."
He motioned behind me, where I noticed the senior teammates listening to Luke and Beecher while Diego sat lost in his own thoughts.
Did someone mess with the team? This is serious.
But I still didn't know where the others were, and what were they exactly doing. And then one recent thing crossed my mind.
What if Zach was telling them about Winston?
I know they deserved the truth about him too, that's why maybe all of them are having an emergency meeting. As Tyler and I were the ones Winston was getting information from, they excluded us from it to not hurt our feelings.
Suddenly, my Dad walked in through the trees, and following him were mostly everyone that was missing. Jessica and Zach looked worried, while Justin and Tony were deep in their own thoughts. Charlie was looking around at first, but when he saw Tyler and I standing together, he started making his way over to us.
Before he could say anything though, a loud horn sounded and everyone grew quiet. Someone was clearly blowing a conch shell, and when all of us turned to see the culprit everyone was shocked.
What the actual fuck?
Clay was standing there, slightly panting as he had all the bags full of treasure draped on his shoulders. Everyone stood in silence and he stopped blowing the conch. His face was covered in dirt, and he looked quite angry.
"I won." He said, dropping all the bags at his side. Diego stood up from where he was seating on a bench and made his way to Clay.
"Where'd you get all that?" Diego asked him, which grew my confusion even more.
"You left me for dead." Clay stated angrily, as he walked closer to Diego.
"Oh, no way, dude. We went back for you and you weren't there."
So my guess was correct. Diego and his friends did messed up with Clay.
"I was unconscious." Clay snapped back at him.
"No. You were gone." Diego shook his head. "I don't know what you think you're up to,
but we know shit now."
His words kind of made me worried, but Clay didn't seem fazed by them. Instead, he decided to target someone else.
"You." Clay said, coming to stand in front of Winston. "Was it you? Are you working with them now?"
"I..." Winston stuttered in a confused tone. "Seriously, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Clay." Jessica interrupted them in hopes of calming Clay, but he started glaring at her then.
"But what about you?" He snapped at her too. "You knew Diego was gonna fuck with me. You said so."
"Hey." My Dad interrupted this time. "Campfire's ready. Let's go."
Thankfully, all the drama was over and I'm sure each one of us was relieved by the fact that Clay didn't spilled anything.
Like the previous night, we all found ourselves sitting around the burning campfire once again. I decided to sit by Tyler tonight, and on contrary to last night many more worried glances were passed among us.
"The traditional question for the final campfire." Mrs. Jensen was saying, standing beside me. She was reading from that old journal again, while also holding the conch. "Um... The traditional question: 'How has this weekend changed you, and what memory will you take with you forever?'"
"I'll start." Winston volunteered and held his hand out for the shell. Mrs. Jensen passed it to him, as he sighed loudly while turning the conch in his hands.
"It's great to finally be a part of the Liberty community, to see how folks really are. I didn't know before, so... that's really great."
I could sense the sarcasm dripping from what he said, and he didn't really shy away from looking at me and my friends. But Mrs. Jensen obviously didn't, as she smiled at him in appreciation.
"Wonderful, Winston."
"Yeah...Welcome to Liberty fucking High School." Zach said which made Mrs. Jensen awkwardly laugh.
"Yeah. Welcome. Okay." She nodded along. "Who's next?"
She looked around for a second, and then her eyes landed on her own son.
"Clay Jensen, help me out here."
Every one of my friends got flustered as Mrs. Jensen handed the conch to Clay.
We were all worried about what Clay will say. It was his email who had put us all in panic mode.
Clay stayed silent for a while and looked down at the shell in his hand.
"How has this weekend changed me?" He asked. "How has this weekend changed us? It hasn't."
He paused for a second, then continued speaking.
"'Cause I know that my friends and I... we'll be friends for life. There will always be a... a bond between us... that we can never break... even if we wanted to."
He had a point. We were always going to be bonded by Hannah's tapes, Bryce's murder, and Monty's framing too.
"Can I go next?"
Everyone looked at me in surprise, as I stood up and the white conch was passed to me.
"Buddy. Hey, buddy." My Dad was worried about me, and he tried to stop me too.
"I just wanted to say..." I began. "Or to confess..."
For a second, it felt really easy to just blurt the truth out. My life was already fucked with all the things I've done. But then I remember something my Dad told me earlier in the tent.
I wasn't alone.
I have friends that had risked everything for me. And even if I couldn't live up to their expectations, the least I can do was to make them feel safe. To tell them that I was thankful.
"...that I fucking hate camping." I finished after a long pause, and everyone started laughing.
At least everyone would relate to this.
Then I threw the conch behind me in the bushes. Everyone started cheering when they heard it break, and I was just glad that this fucking camping trip was finally ending.
Just one more night to go.
After that everyone started chatting with each other for sometime, as I unrolled the sandwich given by Mrs. Jensen.
"Oh, Alex," I heard Zach say, where he was sitting on the other side of Tyler. "You seriously scared us for a second there. Not gonna lie."
Both Tyler and I chuckled at him, as I took a bite of my sandwich.
"Hey man, you are sharing the tent with your father, right?" He asked, and I nodded after turning towards him. "Dude, this is a high school trip and you aren't enjoying a bit if you are bunking with your father."
"Yeah," Tyler agreed, nodding at him. "I mean, we get he is trying to keep you safe, but don't you feel like to actually enjoy this trip?"
"As you both know already, I didn't had any other option." I reminded them. "And I actually wanted to enjoy the trip, but then..."
I glanced at Winston, who was busy chatting with Diego.
"Well, you clearly had an option if you've asked." Zach replied as I looked at him in confusion. "You never asked me if you could bunk with me."
"For starters, Zach, you already had Charlie as your bunking partner." I stated. "And moreover, you are tipsy most of the time. I wasn't gonna spend my morning waking up your hungover ass."
"Hey!" He exclaimed. "Leave my handsome ass out of it!"
"This just sounded too weird." Tyler stated and I nodded in agreement too.
"The point is," Zach said. "I want you to have a carefree night away from your father. So... count yourself lucky because I'm inviting you to bunk with me!"
He said it as if he was proud of himself, and I rolled my eyes at him.
"Reminder: You already have a tent partner. His name is Charlie St. George, and he is sitting right there."
"Look, Alex," Zach started again. "All three of us can manage in the tent together. It's big enough for us to comfortably sleep tonight. Believe me."
The offer was good, no doubt. I could try sleeping with them besides me, they would be tired enough to not get awake by my sudden movements in sleep.
"What about Charlie?" I asked him, and motioned towards where the said friend was sitting. "Is he okay if I did join you guys?"
"I don't think he would mind..." Zach said, scratching his chin in wonder. "Besides, I'm pretty sure Charlie is fed up by me alone. So, at least he would get some company."
"To do what? See you get drunk?" When I said that, Zach gave me an annoyed look. "Okay, okay. I'll get my things from my Dad's tent and move in with you."
When my Dad heard this after we returned to our tent, he obviously got worried.
"But son, I thought..." Dad started saying, so I had to remind him again that I was just bunking with my friends.
"It's just Charlie and Zach," I said, rolling my sleeping bag. "The two people we can always trust. So there's no need to worry, Dad."
Dad knew it too, that's why he agreed.
After that, I finally made my way towards where I've seen Zach and Charlie set up their tent yesterday. People were getting ready to sleep, and the team too looked like they were done for today as their tents had gone quiet.
I recognized my friends' tent just by glancing at some cookie-filled-tiffin kept on the table outside. They were probably made by Charlie, as I've heard Zach talk about the said Quarterback's baking talent many times in the past.
I decided to just wait outside their tent seeing no one was around.
"Hey!"
Turning around to see who shouted, I realized it was Charlie. He was busy brushing his teeth at the side and was surprised to see me.
"Hey." I greeted him back and motioned towards the tent. "Zach said I could bunk with you guys, but is there room?"
"Yeah." He nodded, as he started coming my way and then stopped. "Of course there's room."
"Thanks."
I put down the rolled-up sleeping bag I was holding, then I heard Charlie making his way towards me.
"So, uh..." He started saying, as I turned towards him in confusion. "I'm sorry about everything with Winston. That's not fair."
As I had already guessed it, Zach had told everyone about me and Winston. It wasn't a shock, and neither I was disappointed because as previously said, they deserved the truth.
"Oh, well, I mean," I replied, slowly putting down my bag too. "It wasn't anything, really."
Who are you kidding, Alex? You are still weeping over the heartbreak.
"Seems like..." Charlie unsurely said. "Maybe it was."
I was shocked by his words because they were actually true.
"What do you know?" I asked, at which he shrugged.
"I know that... you're a good person, and I'm sorry if you feel like shit or whatever. That's all I know."
His words kind-of made me speechless. I never expected Charlie to appreciate me even after the things I've done.
Whenever we would hang around with Tyler during the winter break, we always avoided talking about Bryce and Monty. So this must be the very first time he had said some kind words to me after everything that has happened.
"Oh. Um..." I awkwardly said. "Thanks."
He gave me a small smile, then noticed something on the table.
"Uh..." Charlie held up the tiffin containing his cookies. "Granola camp cookie?"
I chuckled at his genuineness and took the tiffin from his hand.
"So, uh... thank you."
It's still hard to believe that a person like Charlie is in the football team. A sincere guy who just wants to help people and has a genuine and kind soul.
So why the fuck did I even doubt him? Just because he was being kind to Monty's sister who is already experiencing backslash by what her brother did?
I need to start trusting my friends more, and not some random strangers that I met and crush over.
This camping trip was totally an eye-opener for me. No doubt about that.
××××××××××××××××××××
I'm so excited to say that after 25 chapters of this book, Chalex is officially starting! You can't see how excited I am to be at this stage after 4 months.
I wanna share all my thoughts and what I've planned for them as fast as I can, but unfortunately my exams are starting next week :/ So yeah,I really don't know if I would get the time to write and update till next Sunday.
But till then, you can share your thoughts, and tell me how you are liking the book so far, and also I'm open for more suggestions and ideas.
Don't forget to Vote & Comment :)