Chapter 20: : Chapter 20

‘Be down at the lake in ten minutes, everyone!’ Mr. Hank yells for the third time. Meanwhile, I’m contemplating just hiding in the woods to get away from all the noise and light.

‘Remind me not to drink again. Ever,’ I tell the guys at the table.

‘How are you feeling this bad after only having had two beers? As long as you don’t drink on an empty stomach you should be fine,’ Liam tells me. We know why I’m not feeling well, then don’t we?

‘Did you drink water before going to sleep like I told you?’ Marcus asks me.

‘I did.’ Then I had to get up a few hours later to pee. That wasn’t fun, let me tell you as much.

‘Either way, we need to go to the docks. The first challenge will start soon and I’m not trying to get behind already,’ Marcus says.

Right, the first challenge. Dear Mr. Hank has decided that the trip would be unbearably boring without any activities. What was his solution to that? A sports tournament. That means there’ll be a challenge each day. The bright side is that you get disqualified and don’t have to go through with the others as soon as you did badly enough at one.

I’ll be in the audience soon enough.

I feel the change of atmosphere as soon as we reach the docks. The air’s more charged and people are running around and yelling at their partners. I guess some students take this more seriously than I do.

Then I realize I don’t even have a partner. When I intend to tell the guys as much I realize they no longer surround me. Orion and Jamie are bickering as they tie two of their legs together. It’s adorable. Further ahead in the mass of people are Marcus and Elija. I only manage to see them because their heads tower over the people around them. I guess they’re ready to take off already. Liam’s standing next to Benji who looks about ready to go back to sleep. That leaves me to fend for myself. Damn.

I scan my surroundings a bit more thoroughly until my eyes settle on a lost-looking girl. I make my way over.

‘Hey there. Do you have a partner already?’ I ask politely. As I do so I realize how much I’ve missed making friends casually. The guys are great and it’s nice to be part of an actual friend group but this is what I’m used to. Getting to know and getting along with strangers is my thing.

‘I don’t. You?’ she seems nervous but genuinely sweet.

‘Same. I’m Florence but you can call me Flo. You want to be my partner?’ I’d like to chat a little more but the race is about to start which means we need to get ready.

‘Nice to meet you, Flo. I’m Sarah and I’ll gladly be your partner.’ She laughs a bit in relief, making me like her a bit more already. It’s the kind of awkward sound I’d make.

The two of us grab an elastic rope and tie one ankle each together. Then we try to take a first step and nearly faceplant. Sarah’s taller than me and I’m pretty sure she’s used to making longer steps. She’s only barely able to hold me up by the shoulder before I fall.

‘Good safe. Thanks,’ I tell her before we both burst out laughing.

‘Start in five seconds!’ Mr. Hank announces.

‘We’re not going to make it, are we?’ Sarah asks dramatically. I eye the distance between us and the crowd.

‘Listen to me, I’m not letting you give up. We need to keep fighting!’ I tell her, trying to match her energy.

‘But there’s no time!’ she protests.

‘It’s not over until it is,’ I say. The girl bound to me blinks a few times, then bursts out laughing. ‘That made no sense, did it?’ I ask her. She simply shakes her head, unable to catch her breath. Meanwhile, a shrill sound cuts through the air, announcing the start of the race.

‘You want to try it, don’t you?’ my new friend asks.

‘Not a sore loser but definitely not a quitter,’ I tell her. She smiles, nods, puts an arm around my shoulders, and starts counting steps with me.

By the time we reach the start line I can barely see the other students in the distance.

‘You really want to walk around that whole lake?’ Sarah asks one last time.

‘Sure. Looks barely bigger than a water whole, does it?’ I ask her playfully.

‘It really does.’

–

‘Please, Flo. Let’s just take that stupid elastic rope off. I can’t stand being this close to you any longer. The heat is killing me!’ Sarah whines about thirty minutes later. It’s definitely a lake. Not a waterhole.

‘Are you calling me hot?’ I tease her.

‘Flo!’

‘We’re almost done. Look, I can see the finish line.’ Truth is, it feels like I’m dying. I haven’t sweat this much in years, if ever and neither of us has brought water. That means I’ve spent the last half an hour motivating a stranger while losing a lot of body fluids. It’s been delightful.

At least I got to know Sarah a bit better. I know she has a younger sibling who always steals her clothes. Their name is Micky and they’ve just started their first year at the academy. We’ve already sent them a selfie of the two of us since Sarah told me her sibling demands to know everything about this trip. The first years’ trip is a month after ours.

‘Look who’s finally coming! We thought you got lost. Go, go, Flower girl!’ Jamie starts cheering from where he’s sitting next to the finish line.

‘Friend of yours?’ Sarah asks.

‘Yep.’

‘What about the one staring at you without blinking?’ she asks with a smile playing on her lips.

‘I don’t know who you’re talking about,’ I tell her. It’s a lie. I know it’s Elija staring at me but he is blinking, soooo…

‘Is that so?’ Sarah asks me. Before I can reply, she raises her voice and yells towards the guys. ‘Hey, you! Black shirt, black hair guy. Take a picture, it’ll last longer!’

Oh god.

Kill me.

‘Sarah!’ I hiss. I can hear the guys laughing from where they are while Elija tries to tell them something. ‘You know what, you’re right. Let’s just give up.’ I make a move to bend down to untie us but my friend keeps me from doing so.

‘Don’t you even think about it, sunshine. We are finishing this race!’ Sarah insists. Then, seemingly getting distracted by something else she lowers her voice. ‘Who’s that?’ she asks, nudging her head in the general direction of the guys.

‘How, dear friend, am I supposed to know who you’re talking about?’

‘Brown hair,’ she tells me.

‘Marcus? Blue shirt?’

‘No, the other one. White shirt.’ It takes me a second to realize she’s actually talking about Liam.

‘Oh, eww. That’s Liam but he’s not really nice. He kind of has the idea he’s better than the rest, you know? Besides, with the way he talks about women, I’d stay away.’

I chew on my bottom lip, worried I came across as mean. Liam is all those things, in my opinion, but I should probably let her make her own impression. On the other hand, I feel like warning her is appropriate.

‘If you want, I’ll introduce you,’ I add halfheartedly.

‘Nah, I’m good. If something’s supposed to happen, it will. I’ll sit back and see where things go in the meantime.’

Now that’s an attitude I could get behind.