I woke up to find myself back in the tent, my eyes incredibly painful and puffy. My throat was raw, which made it very hard to ask Aislynn, who was cooking eggs on the camping stove, if she put the fire out correctly. As much as I loved fire, the last thing I wanted was to start a massive one.

"I just sat out until it burnt out after I got you in bed." She responded, shrugging. "I didn't know if water was a good or bad idea.

"No that's perfect. Water would make it wet for tonights fire." I responded, smiling proudly at my girlfriend, who looked very concerned. "Did I tell you anything last night?"

"Some stuff. It wasn't very coherent, though." She confirmed, keeping thst same sympathetic smile. "Would you like to tell me more?"

I felt myself nodding before I had processed the question. I guess my body needed this more than I thought I did.

We sat down on the same log as last night and began to eat our eggs on toast, me picking around the bits that I didn't want.

"I was just thinking a lot. That song brought up some really mixed feelings for me." I confessed, avoiding eye-contact at all costs because I knew I'd stop if I felt perceived. "It made me miss my mum a lot."

"Of course you miss her, Mase. I'd never hold that against you, you know that right?" she comforted, putting her plate on the dew-covered grass.

"No I- I know that it's just-"

She reached out a hand and forced my chin up. "It's not your fault."

"Aislynn that- how did you know? I never even mentioned that I was blaming..." I trail off, not wanting to say it.

"Just had a hunch." She brushed off, shrugging her shoulders as she slouched over.

"A weird hunch, but okay." I started to tell her about my past. All of the things that I remembered about my parents fighting, my dad being scary sometimes... anything that I could put into words I did. I told her about why my mum was cycling that day, and how it was both my fault and my dads, expecting her to also blame me. But the whole time, she was there to hold me up. Her comfort never wavered.

"Go harder!" I squealed, determined to make it back to the other side of the loch before our kayak rent ran out and we had to pay a fine. This was my grand idea from the day before after seeing the group of kayakers. I'd never tell Aislynn this, but she was absolutely horrible at paddling, making us constantly spin in circles which I had to counteract with my own rowing. We would have went a lot faster had it not been for her but I couldn't tell her that, I was proud of her for trying.

"Not all of us are good at water sports!" She defended, trying to speed up but just splashing us both more in the end.

"Honestly. My girlfriend, everybody." I teased, speeding up for both of us to mock her further.

We made it back to the dock, and when we were getting out, I tipped the boat, making Aislynn fall in with a squeal.

"You little-" She stood up, shoving me over and dragging me into the water with her. From the dock, we heard the shouting of the business owner.

"Girls!"

I tried to ignore the discomfort I felt at being referred to as a girl, and focused on his warning.

"There's a whole bunch of geese shite in there, it's manky. Get out and give us back your kayak before we charge you." His tone was serious, but also clearly had a bit of humourous intent.

We took his word for it, and raced for the shore, Aislynn getting there just before me as I slipped on a rock and fell back into the water.

"Honestly. My partner, everyone." She teased me, repeating my earlier words as I stood out of the water. She gasped quietly as she saw me knee, and I looked down to see a graze from another rock in the loch. It stung a bit, but it was a dull ache compared to what you would expect from something that was bleeding as much as it was. I expect it was diluted from the water, making it look worse, because when we got back to the tent and got out the first aid kit, it only just qualified for a plaster.

"I'm fine, Aislynn." I giggled as she tried to check me for signs of concussion or too much blood loss. "It's not camping without getting a new injury, plus my knees already have the most badass scars from decking it."

I pointed to these three lines across my knee, that looked like I had been clawed by something. "Guess what that is from."

She grimaced before guessing, "A cat?"

"Nope! My leg gave up and I slowly fell down on a pavement. My mum and I still have no idea how it got there." She giggled at that, rolling her eyes at my amusement.

It was then that I realised I hadn't used my phone in a whole week, and I quickly grabbed it from the car and turned it on.

35 missed calls and 120 new messages from Dad.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, panic chilling my bones as I saw all of the times he'd tried to contact me. Against my better judgement, I quickly called him back.

He answered straight away, sounding very stressed, but otherwise normal. "May? Are you alright? Where are you?"

"Hi, Dad. I'm okay. Just camping with a friend. I told you about it before I left, remember?" I hadn't. I lied. Not that he would remember.

"Oh right, yes! But you're safe?" He responded, still not sounding calm.

"Yep! Are you alright?" The question stung to ask, but he was being his usual self, so I thought it would be okay.

"Missing you, is all. When will you be home?"

His words filled me with hope. I was instantly relieved, and felt the love of my fathers good side once again. It clouded my better judgement of his bad side. I told him that I'd be home later in the month, and me and Aislynn made plans to pack away and leave to the next camping spot on our tour so that we could speed things up slightly. The next one wasn't an official campsite, which thrilled me. I'd always fancied the idea of wild camping and I was finally going to do it with my girlfriend.

After wrestling the tent into it's bag, we headed off to our next pitch

------------

I sent Aislynn to her window to wait, and took a bracing breath before slotting my key in the door and unlocking it. Stepping back in was the hardest thing I'd had to do so far. My entire body instantly tensed up as I inhaled the familiar scent, and I started to panic. The room closed in on me.

The tidy room.

I glanced around, noticing the sparkling floors and spotless counters. No mouldy dishes, no beer cans, no more weird stains. It was home again. It hadn't been this tidy since before mum became depressed. It was genuinely the cleanest environment I had set foot in in my entire life.

I relaxed, still skeptical, but a lot calmer than I had been. Moving further in, I called out timidly, "Dad?"

He suddenly sprang out from behind the doorframe, making me squeak in fear.

"Happy birthday, May!" He started to sing to me, not noticing my confusion. I thought we had only been camping for 2 weeks there was no way it was already-

"Oh my God, it's the 6th of August."

I spoke, checking my phone calendar.

"I'm 18..." I spoke, my eyes widening as I also remembered about the letter that was waiting for me. "Dad has the postie been?"

He nodded, pulling out a letter from behind his back and handing me it.

"Open it, May. Your last ever exam certificate! I'm so proud of you, my grown up girl."

I tried to ignore the last part, barely reacting to the slight tinge I felt at the name. I tore apart the letter, pulling out the certificate and looking down at it impatiently.

"Okay, okay." I sighed with relief, before reading out my grades in order of the pride I had in them. "That's an A in Advanced Higher graphics... A in Higher Modern Studies, A in Higher Engineering science... A in my Advanced Higher Maths and... drum roll, please?"

My dad started to tap on the wall, as I got ready to read out my favourite grade.

"B in my Higher English resit!"

He instantly pulled me into a hug, telling me how proud he was of me. I let myself relax in his arms, though the thought that the last time I was in his arms was when they were around my neck plagued the back of my mind.

Clearly, though, he was better now.