We all came to a stop near an overhanging rock, sort of resembling a little cave not far from where we took off and left our enemy. Brock sighed and said,

"This should be good for a quick meal break, but we're leaving as soon as we're done."

Dakota and I nodded, ducking under the hide-out. Once we were all as comfortable as you can get on a rock, I lay out our "meal", a trout and a large branch, full of berries as well as leaves. 

"We have a problem," I hesitated.

Dakota nodded, "The fish isn't cooked," she finished my sentence.

I glanced at Brock, "Don't tell me you want me to eat a raw fish too," I teased.

"Hey, I never said that. You're making me seem like an idiot or something!" Brock argued in defence.

"Oh no, I never said that either. You're the boy scout here! Is the fish safe to eat raw your honour?" I laughed.

Brock made an annoyed noise and rolled his eyes.

Dakota was watching the entire argument and laughing, 

"You guys are so cute!" she said, smiling at us.

Now, both I and Brock turned towards her and made displeased faces. She simply ignored our childish behaviour and left the cave for something. After a few minutes, she came back with an enormous pile of dry branches in her small arms. She dropped them on the floor in front of us, then began to arrange them in a pyramid, leaving a small pile to the side. She then reached into her small purse and pulled out a pack of matches, lighting one and then proceeding to light some small branches at the base of the fire, blowing to make it larger.

Once finished this process, she sighed and finally looked at us.

"What?" she questioned at our surprised faces.

"Do you have a house in there by chance?" I asked, pointing to her small purse.

"Don't be an idiot," Brock said shaking his head.

"No, I just come prepared," Dakota answered simply.

"Prepared for what? You didn't know this would happen," questioned Brock.

"I have the essentials," she justified.

That's when we began cooking. We held the fish over the fire to cook it thoroughly. It took a while but, we were done eventually and were ready to eat. We broke apart the soft, flavourful meat of the trout, which turned out to be wonderful. Once we were finished with the fish, we moved on to the berries, they were raspberries, juicy and sweet. Soon enough, everything was eaten, the leaves on the branch and fish bones left lying all over the ground. 

We were ready to leave, Brock looked around and decided upon a direction, Dakota and I following. We began walking again, moving toward our distant goal.

After walking for around an hour, I checked my phone, which still had 60% charging, I know, incredible. The digital clock read 12:00 pm, which surprised me quite a bit since that meant we still had a long way to go, walking.

"What are you doing, texting your girlfriend? Hurry up!" Brock shouted in my direction.

"What are you talking about? I'm checking the time!" I yelled back, speeding up my pace to catch up with Brock and Dakota.

"Wait a second, you have a girlfriend?" Dakota questioned smiling, "Is she pretty?"

"No, I don't have a girlfriend," I responded, rolling my eyes.

"Awwwww, " she complained, "I wanted to meet her."

"You don't have a girlfriend? I thought you did," Brock asked, confused.

"And who would that be?" I questioned

"I don't know. Who's Sidney?" Brock said.

I sighed, thinking back to the time I talked about the pets in my neighbourhood to Brock, he clearly didn't pay close attention.

"The neighbour's dog, Brock!" I laughed.

"Ohhhhh," he smiled.

Dakota laughed too, "Well do you like anyone? Girls, boys?"

I thought, I really didn't. No one made me feel that way that they described in the books and movies. That's when my mind ventured to Brock, whenever he laughed, I felt warm and fuzzy inside. Sometimes I caught him looking at me from the corner of his eye, sometimes we locked eyes, it made me blush. I shook off the thought, I was probably just making things up. Why would he look at me anyway? 

When we watched the stars at night...

No, I was crazy, I just met him!

"Hello?" Dakota laughed, waving her hand in front of my face.

"Oh yeah, her name is um Cassie."

"Ooo, is she pretty?" Dakota questioned excitedly.

"Um yeah," I nodded.

"What colour is her hair?" Dakota continued.

"Um black."

"Ooo, how about her eyes?"

At this point, I was wondering why Dakota wanted to know so much about Cassie. You may have assumed, Cassie is not actually my crush, she is my really good friend though. She lives three houses down from me and we hang out all the time. I wanted to get Dakota out of my hair though so, there I was, making up lies. She won't ever meet har anyway so, why bother, I thought. 

"Um hazel," I answered.

Dakota gasped, "just like me!"

"Yeah, " I laughed.

I looked over at Brock, who walked beside Dakota. He looked amused at her but, once meeting my gaze, his smile seemed to fade and he looked away momentarily. I brushed it off and continued my conversation about this fake crush of mine.

"Do you have any pictures?" Dakota asked, pointing at my phone in my hand.

"Sure!" I said, unlocking my phone, which contained endless photos of Cassie.

I looked through my gallery for a while. I finally came across a photo of Cassie kneeling down next to her dog, a big German Shepard. I handed my phone to Dakota, she took it to observe the photo.

"She's so cute! Awww and her dog!" Dakota exclaimed

"Yeah, his name is Benny," I smiled.

Dakota nodded, "I love dogs, my nana has a Great Dane and I love her, her name is Petunia."

We continued on our way, talking about everything. I learned quite a bit about Dakota, she seemed like a nice girl, genuine and friendly. Brock joined into our conversation at times and we all laughed together, making time pass at an unexpected speed. Before I knew it, we had spent 3 whole hours walking, moving along quickly. Brock told us that we only had a bit to go, but I wasn't sure how much a little was, considering he's been saying that for the past 2 days.

We were in the middle of a heated argument about whether we liked Micheal Clifford's blue or blonde hair better when my phone started ringing obnoxiously. We stopped walking and everyone instantly looked at me.

I took my phone out and looked at the caller ID. It was my grandma. Why hadn't I guessed? She's the only one that can reach me this far into the woods.

"Who is it?" Dakota questioned.

"My grandma," I replied, sighing as I answered.

"RIDER HOOD!!!!!" My grandma instantly screamed into the phone.

Dakota and Brock both made surprised faces as I held the phone away from my ear, you know, not to go deaf. I could tell they both heard her well.

"Yes grandma," I replied, cautiously bringing the phone back up to my ear.

"WHERE ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH ARE YOU?!!!! YOUR MOTHER HAS BEEN WORRIED SICK AND SHE CAN'T GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU!!!!"

"I-" 

"I CALL BECAUSE I'M THE ONLY ON THAT COULD REACH YOU AND YOU REPLY WITH "YES GRANDMA" EXPLAIN YOURSELF!!!!!!!"

I looked at Brock and Dakota, both petrified. Dakota held out her hand, gesturing me to hand her the phone. I shook my head, wide-eyed. She simply smiled and grabbed my phone and put it on speaker.

"Hello!" she exclaimed in a friendly manner, "you must be Rider's grandma!"

"Who are you?" my grandma asked, confused.

"My name's Dakota, I'm Rider's friend from school!" she explained, smiling at Brock and I as we gave each other terrified glances. 

A/N

Wassup everyone

really sorry for taking so long if you care

umm I was kind of uninspired and lazy

yeah tell me what you think about this chapter

and do you like Michael Clifford's blue or blonde hair better?

personally, galaxy is my favourite but I really like blonde too

stay positive bye<3<3<3