Chapter 32: The Bet *Into the Wild

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There are two songs for this chapter: Shakespeare in Love by Layla Kaylif and Forever and a Day by Jem :)

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Chapter 29 *Into the Wild*

~Sophia

I hate crying, especially beside a person I dislike. I don’t want to be weak. I can’t let anyone see I’m hurting.

There’s a fire burning in my chest, suffocating me, making it hard to breathe.

What kind of parents are they, for just leaving me on my own? Where are they now?! Are they together? What are they doing? Why did they leave me? So many questions are left unanswered, making my head want to explode.

I should stop thinking about them. In the first place they didn’t think of what will happen to me. They are so selfish! Since Matt died, all they think about is their selves. It’s like they don’t have a child anymore.

I put my fist in my mouth to stop the scream starting to build in my throat. The sob and hiccup are waiting for me to breakdown so that I can let them out. Tears are brimming at the back of my eyes but I do the best I can to hold them. How come I have a lot of liquid in my body? I want to be numb this moment to not experience this pain inside me. It’s too much to bear.

I shake my head to clear my mind off these thoughts. I have to think of just where I am now.

We’ve been driving for what feel like hours. I don’t know where in the world he’s taking me. This guy I despise, asked me to trust him. How can I when I know that he’s just doing this because of a bet? I’m just a pawn in his sick twisted game.

And that stupid thought makes a tear from my eye escapes. I wipe it away with a shaking hand. I don’t know what to do with my life. The world is crashing down around me.

In the corner of my eye, I see Draky glancing at me every now and then. Maybe he’s waiting for the time I’ll freak out again. I won’t give him that satisfaction. I don’t want him to see me like that again-- vulnerable.

I force myself to be brave, but in this kind of situation it’s hard. But still, I try. There’s no harm in trying. I look at the window of the car but I don’t see anything. My eyes are blurry.

I let the guy beside me to take me wherever he wants. And then I remember something. Even though it doesn’t count as a goal, it makes my life worth living. I’ll graduate in high school, and then go to college. Before that, my abstract goal is to make Drake Swift fall in love with me. It’s not a good thing; revenge, but I need it to look forward to the future. Besides, I have a feeling that he’s just doing this for the bet. What more is there, right?

He doesn’t know what’s happening in my life. He doesn’t have a right to mess it! Didn’t he listen to the discussion earlier? When will he stop this game of his? If ever he stops, will I forgive him? Maybe. Maybe not. Only time will tell. Perhaps when all the wounds in my heart starts to heal.

I’m not going to hurt him. I’m just going to make him fall in love with me. As they say, you have to play in order to win. Besides, I’m still going to tutor him. He should be thankful because despite what he’s doing, I’m helping him. Anyway, I need the time of tutoring to make him fall in love with me.

Will we continue this until we destroy the true meaning of love? Will we stop until one of us is broken? I guess I’ll just stick to the main point instead of thinking about what will happen between us.

Who knows what my parents are doing? Wait! Aunt V probably have an idea. She’s my mom’s best friend. If she doesn’t know everything, I’m sure she knows something. I have to talk to her later when I get home. I’m so paranoid. I even think I hate my parents for leaving me. I didn’t even think rationally—that they just went somewhere important. The dreading question is: Why didn’t they tell me?

I glance at the clock in the dashboard and see that it’s 4:30 pm. Just a few minutes of driving. We don’t start a conversation because we don’t have anything to say. He’s probably burning with curiosity why I cried earlier.

My thoughts are jumbled. It’s like I’m not the one thinking them. I feel like a shadow of my own self.

Before I know it, we’re passing the outskirts of the town.

“Where are we going?” I ask. And then I’m startle because I decide not to talk to him while in the car. My voice is rough because of crying so I clear my throat.

Draky looks at me with a surprised expression on his face; maybe he doesn’t expect me to speak. “You’ll see,” he says.

“What will I see?” I ask.

“A little impatient, are we?” he asks teasingly.

Give it to Draky to joke in this kind of situation. I swallow the hiccups that are starting to get out of my mouth.

After that, we don’t speak again. We settle ourselves with our own preoccupied thoughts.

I busy myself on thinking where we are going. In the park? In a restaurant? I imagine different kinds of scenarios in my head.

Draky suddenly parks his car on the side of the road and shuts off the engine. There are no other cars here. This place is like, secluded.

“Where are we?” I ask, sliding out of the car.

In front of me is a trail. Surrounding it are tall trees and trees and trees. It’s like a green planet. I don’t think I know this place.

“What are we doing here?” I ask.

Draky walks to where I’m standing. “I want you to see something,” he says.

“Where?” I ask.

“In this forest,” he says.

Goodness! There are a lot of places in my mind where I guess where we will go but I never imagined the woods!

“We’re going to hike,” I state.

“Yes,” he says enthusiastically.

I even thought we’ll go to a carnival! In the ocean! In a park! But why in a forest? I thought he wants me to fall in love with him? The forest is not a romantic place. And then I remember that I'm wearing heels. Ugh! I shouldn’t have joined him!

“I’m not wearing the appropriate attire for hiking,” I say obviously.

Draky tears his gaze away from the trees and looks at me up and down. By the look on his face, he forgot that I’m wearing a dress and heels. After a few seconds, he sighs.

“What now?” I ask. I have the urge to stomp my feet on the ground and walk away.

"Where do you want to go?” he asks.

“I think we should stick to the plan.”

“What do you mean?” he asks, confused.

“Take me to the place where you want to go,” I say obviously, fighting the urge to roll my eyes.

His mouth pulls upward but then turns quickly into a frown. “You’re wearing heels,” he says, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I can manage,” I mutter.

I don’t know why, but I want to go to his magical place in the forest. It may not be magical but maybe I’ll forget all the problems I am experiencing.

“Are you sure?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say wryly, “Lead the way.”

He starts walking towards the trail and I follow after him, leaving the old Sophia Taylor behind.

After a few yards, Draky takes the direction away from the trail.

“Where are you going?” I ask incredulously.

“To the right path,” he says.

“What about the trail?” It’s already hard walking on it, and now he wants to change direction?!

His mouth twitches upward. “Are you afraid?”

“Of course not,” I snap, and walk ahead of him.

He grabs my arm and says, “That’s not the right direction.”

I puff out a breath and walks to the other side. I hear his soft chuckle behind me. That’s the only time I’m ahead of him because the way is trickier than I’ve thought.

There are a lot of obstacles everywhere. Fallen trees, twigs, anything you can imagine in a forest. We avoid those as much as we can.

One time, there’s a tree on the way. Draky holds my hand as I jump to its other side. After that, he lets go and continue to wherever we’re going.

We’ve been walking around for what feels like hours now. My feet are in pain. I don’t want to complain because I don’t want him to think that I’m weak. These heels are so getting in the way! I trip and slide; fortunately, Draky’s here to help me.

He takes off his black leather jacket and puts it on his shoulder. He’s wearing a gray shirt underneath. His muscles are—

Stop thinking about him that way! I chastise myself.

When there are branches on the way, he raises them so that I can go on. He makes the path bearable for me. I almost pause and take off my heels but when I glance down at the ground, I can see insects moving around. There are even broken twigs and sharp roots. I might hurt my feet a little more so I dismiss the idea. I just continue to walk with my heels, trying to move as carefully as I can. If only I’m wearing my sneakers, he doesn’t have to help me!

I have a few scratches on my arms and legs. Mosquitoes are sucking my blood. There are different kinds of insects lurking everywhere.

One time, I almost fall to the ground because of an unseen root; thankfully, Draky grabs my hand on time before I ruin the dress Parker brought me. It’s just a shame I’m wearing this dress and heels in this place.

The trees are so tall; I can barely see the clouds above. It looks dark but it’s just five in the afternoon.

Where will he take me? A waterfall? A historic cave? A high cliff?

There are more times when I almost slide because the path we’re taking becomes slippery. It’s a good thing I grab a hold of something before I fall down.

“Almost there,” Draky says, looking back at me. He’s a few feet ahead, clearing the path.

“Whatever,” I mutter.

I’m running out of breath. I want to rest but I have to continue. Sweat pours down my face and I wipe it away with the back of my hand. I’ve always wanted to hike. If I’m wearing appropriate clothing, I’ll appreciate this even more.

He pushes a branch of a tree, and then walks into some kind of a magical place in the forest.

“What is this place?” I ask, looking around me in amazement.

There are trees blooming here, unlike the trees I first saw earlier. They look like cherry blossoms, with green leaves. It’s the first time I see this kind of tree. The grass here is greener and there are some wild flowers scatter everywhere.

“I don’t know what it’s called,” he says thoughtfully.

I breathe in the fresh air. It’s cold, but it feels good. The wind dries the tears in my cheeks. I feel relieve, like the wind takes all my problems away. Before I know what I’m doing, I’m sitting on the grass. It’s so comfortable and relaxing.

Draky sits beside me, but not too close. There are a few feet of space between us. I’m glad he’s not invading my personal space. To my amazement, he lies on the grass. He puts his hands at the back of his head, and stares at the sky above us.

There are tall trees obscuring the sun from the view. I can just make out the outline of the sun. I want to lie on my back too, but unfortunately, I can’t because I’m wearing a dress. A short dress. So I just stretch my legs in front of me and take off my heels letting the grass tickle my feet.

There are different kinds of birds flying above us. Some are singing a melody or two.

I close my eyes and let my other senses take action. I want to be a bird—

“Why?”

I open my eyes and see Draky staring straight at me. “What?” I ask.

“You said you want to be a bird,” he says, tilting his head to the side. His hair falls to his eyes and he brushes it off with his hand.

I can’t believe I said that aloud. Heaving a sigh, I say, “I want to be a bird. What about you?”

“Why do you want to be a bird?” he asks, ignoring my question.

I guess he became tired of me asking the same question that he does, and now he’s making a strategy for it to be fair.

“Because they can fly,” I answer. “They’re free. They can go to wherever they want. I want to fly and soar the sky.”

He nods thoughtfully and looks at a tree with a bird perch on its trunk.

“What about you?” I repeat. “What do you want to become in your second life?”

“If I can choose what to become,” he says, “I’d like to be a star.”

Star? I expected him to say bird so that we can be together you know—for the bet. But star? Who would have thought Draky wants to be a star?

“Why?” I ask.

He smiles slyly. “It’s a secret.”

“A secret?” I ask incredulously.

“Yes,” he says, nodding.

“I told you my reason!”

He shakes his head, not wanting to budge. “Maybe I’ll tell you someday,” he says teasingly.

“Whatever,” I mutter.

We are silent after that but it’s comfortable. We’re both mesmerized by this enchanted place. It feels like all my problems are long long gone now. If this is—

“What you’re doing is illegal you know,” Draky says amusedly, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“What am I doing?” I ask, turning my head to look at him.

He’s props on his elbow, and he’s staring at my hands. “You’re pulling off the grass.

“Oh,” I mouth, and stop whatever my hands are doing. I don’t know why I’m pulling off the grass. I open my hands and there are bits of grasses on them. I get a tissue from my bag and wipe the grass away.

“Draky,” I say.

“What, Pie?” he says, raising his eyebrow.

“How did you find this place?” I ask curiously.

“When I was a kid, a Boy Scout member, we had a camping,” he says, lying on his back. “It was an overnight. Here in the forest.”

“Here?” I say, looking around for emphasis.

“Not really here,” he says.

“If not here. . .” I trail off.

“I got lost,” he says. “We had a leader to follow but I wander on my own.”

I’m not surprised with that. Nothing unusual.

“Unfortunately,” he continues, “I didn’t find them right away. I scream and scream but they didn’t hear me.”

And then I realize why Draky wants to take me here. Because he knows that I want to scream all my frustrations away. Now I know. Now I understand.

Taking a deep breath, I scream as loud as I can. And then I scream again. And again. Until I feel my throat protesting. It feels good to scream. I’ve always wanted to do this but I’m afraid people will hear me.

Before I know it, I’m on my feet, screaming at the top of my lungs. There are tears flowing at the corner of my eyes but I ignore them. When I don’t have energy to scream, I flop down on the grass and laugh. I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy. But it feels good to laugh after screaming so loud.

Somehow, birds fly away because of my scream. No doubt I startle them. Draky smiles because he knows that I know.

“How?” I ask, as soon as I stop laughing.

“What how?” he asks, still smiling.

“How did you know that I want to scream?”

“It’s written on your face,” he says.

Is it true? Well, I feel good now.

“By the way,” I say, “How did you find your way to your camp?”

“I saw the smoke they build,” he says, “And then I followed it.”

“I guess they searched for you? I mean, you were lost, right? So they had to find you.” I don’t know why I’m blabbering.

“They did,” Dray says amusedly. “They were worried about me. And then they scolded me for wandering alone.”

I’m grinning from ear to ear. “You go here whenever you want to scream?”

“Something like that,” he says, “because I know no one will hear me.”

“What if someone comes?”

“No one knows this place besides me,” he says, and then adds, “And you.”

I can feel the heat flooding my face, creeping into my cheeks. Stupid blush! I clear my throat awkwardly and look away. What else is there to say?

“No,” Draky mutters after a few minutes.

“What?” I ask, at the same time I hear the thunder.

I look at the sky to see that the blue earlier is gray now. How can we be oblivious?

“Come on,” he says urgently. He stands up quickly and offers his hand to me.

I grab it and he helps me to get up. “What now?” I ask, while I quickly put on my heels.

If we run as fast as we can, we can’t still go to the car without being drenched in the rain. Besides, we both know that I can’t run. As Draky thinks of what to do, the clock is ticking faster and faster. The gray clouds become darker. In a matter of seconds, the heavy drops of rain will fall on us.

“Let’s go,” Draky says.

“Where?” I ask.

He grabs my hand and we walk as fast as we can. I don’t let go because he helps me when I trip. It’s cold, but the only warm thing is the hand of Draky. Suddenly, little drops of rain start to fall.

Draky looks up and scowls at the sky as if he can stop it by just glaring at it. We stop and then he takes off his jacket and puts it around me. He pulls the hoodie so that I won’t get soak.

The jacket smells like him. It feels warm too. The good thing is that rain is only dripping slowly. I’m sure it will fall on heavy drops later. I can’t see where we are going so I just let him guide me.

Finally, we stop in front of a small cabin. Draky opens the door and then we enter the threshold. Right on cue, there’s a loud thunder coming from outside. He closes the door and walks to the corner.

I can’t see how much big this is because it’s dark. There’s a broken window on the right corner a few feet beside the door. The only light emanates from the lightning.

Suddenly, there’s a flicker of light behind me. I whip around to see that it comes from a candle. That’s when I see the inside of the cabin. It’s the same size as my room in Aunt V’s house. There are blankets and pillows on the floor. Draky’s sitting with a bag of groceries beside him.

“What is this place?” I ask.

“I found this when I came back to the forest a few years ago,” he says, “And then I decided to put some things in it so in case of emergency, I have a place to go to.”

“A haven,” I blurt out.

His mouth pulls at the corner. “Yes.”

There’s more to Drake Swift than meets the eye. I’m starting to unravel the real him.

“Are you hungry?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say.

He gives me the bags of groceries so that I can choose whatever I want. There are junk foods, mineral water bottles, Twinkies, and cookies. I get a mineral water, and chocolate chip cookies.

Draky organizes the blankets so that we can sit on them while eating. I take off my heels and sit across from him. The soles of my feet are throbbing. I'm so tired.

“I’m sorry,” he says after we’re done eating. “It’s my fault you’re stuck here with me.”

“It’s okay,” I say with a shrug.

“Sorry,” he says again.

“When’s the last time you come here?” I ask.

“A few days ago,” he says.

“Aren’t you going to ask me what happened earlier?” I ask curiously.

“Believe me,” he says,” I want to know everything that happened but I don’t want to interfere. It’s better if you want to tell me without me asking about it.”

I think my mouth is hanging open so I snap it shut. I can’t believe this is Drake Swift talking to me. Before, he used to ask me questions even though he thought I wouldn’t answer them. Now, he’s willing to wait for me to open up. What’s happening here?

“When I went to our house,” I say, “My parents aren’t there.” And then I tell him that some of my parents’ clothes are gone, and that I don’t have any idea on where they are now.

He listens to me without interruption. I don’t know but why I’m telling him this, but when I finished talking, it feels like something lifts off my shoulders.

He leans in close to me and pushes the hair out of my eyes. After that, his hand lingers on my cheek, brushing the tear that escapes from my eyes. My heart is drumming painfully in my chest. I think it even skips a beat. My mind tells me to look away from him to break away from his spell but my eyes are captured in his piercing gaze.

I know he’s waiting for me to stop him but I can’t find the right words. I can’t even open my mouth.

What is this guy doing to me? I want to swallow but it’s hard when you’re nervous. Our face is just a few inches away from each other. Slowly, he closes the distance between us and—

It’s a love story baby just yes.

Cell phone. Ringing.

I know I should be embarrassed about what might happen but to my surprise, I laugh. Who would have thought Drake Swift likes Taylor Swift? If not for her Love Story—

I can’t finish that line of thought. Thank God his cell phone rings!

“Hello?” Draky says, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Who is that?” I murmur.

“Driana,” he mouths. His face is flushed.

I know that he knows what could have happen if his cell phone didn’t ring. He clicks something on his phone—loud speaker because I can now hear Driana’s voice.

“Where are you?” she asks.

“In the woods,” Draky answers.

“What are you doing there?” Driana demands.

“Long story.”

“Who’s with you?” asks Driana.

Draky looks at me and raises his eye brow.

“Me,” I say slowly.

“Sophia?!” she exclaims.

“Yes,” I say.

“What are you doing there with my brother?”

I can imagine her with wide eyes, mouth hanging open. Draky turns away from me but not before I see the smile forming on his mouth.

Taking a deep breath, I say, “Long story.”

I wonder why she’s silent. I hear murmurs on the other line.

“Where are you?” I ask.

“Andre’s,” she says.

On cue, Andre says, “Hi guys!”

“What are you doing there, Driana?” Draky asks.

I can imagine her rolling her eyes as she says, “I want to talk to Sophia but she’s not answering her phone so I decided to come here.”

“My phone doesn’t have a battery,” I say.

“When are you going home?” Andre asks. “Mom’s worried.”

“I don’t know,” I say.

“It’s raining cats and dogs,” Draky chimes in. “We’re going as soon as the rain stops.”

“Are you safe there?” Driana asks. There’s concern on her voice.

“We’re fine,” Draky reassures her. “Tell mom not to worry.”

“Okay,” she says.

“Go home,” Draky says, “It’s already late.”

“Whatever,” Driana mutters.

“Take care, you two,” Andre says seriously.

Draky’s phone is flashing, signaling it will shut down because of a low battery.

“Don’t worry about us,” I say, “We’re coming home as soon as we can.”

“Goodbye,” Draky says.

“See you!” Driana and Andre say simultaneously.

After the phone shuts down, there’s an uncomfortable silence between Draky and me.

“Goodnight?” he says.

“Night,” I murmur. I get a pillow and lie down, putting the blanket up to my neck.

“You’re going to sleep now?” he asks, lying down as well, a few inches away from me. I can hear the beat of his heart.

“Yes,” I say. I wait for him to say something but he doesn’t, so I ask, “What is it?”

“Nothing,” he says.

It’s still raining and even if it’s not, we can’t go home because it’s dark. Maybe we’ll get lost in this forest. The floor is hard, but it’s better than being drenched in the rain. It's cold, but Draky's jacket makes me feel warm.

“Sweet dreams Pie,” he says.

“You too Draky,” I murmur.

My mind is already shutting down. I think he says something but I don’t know what it is because my mind is fuzzy. Maybe I’ll remember it when I wake up in the morning. Maybe.

***********

I had the idea on where will Sophia and Drake go when we hiked in a forest trail last February and I was not wearing appropriate clothes XD