Chapter One

End of the year trips are the best trips, am I right?

Julia and I had it all planned out. We would both be paired with David and make him fall hopelessly in love with both us throughout the week and we'd all live "Happily Ever After" (whatever that means). Cheers to teenage hormones and pathetic dreams.

But the thing about happily ever afters, is that sometimes that's not what you get. But your not-so-happily-ever-after can be what makes you happy after all, and all you need to get there is a little push in the right direction... or in my case, being dragged down a cliff to my ultimate doom...

Here's how it started.

Julia and I were silently fighting about who got to sit beside David on the bus as we watched him take a seat near the back. I suppose we took a bit too long standing in the isle, as my classmates started to push the both of us, ending with Julia seated beside our crush.

I held back my disappointment as my friend sent me a frantic wave, motioning to David. I nodded in encouragement, trying not to let any of my jealousy show.

I spent my ride staring out the window, trying to ignore the laughs coming from the group of students on my other side. I should have known Julia would find more comfort with David's friends than I would have - being on the cheerleading team has its perks. She held the ability to simply fit in with that specific clique.

Not me - on the contrary. Although we were both athletes, my abilities and skills revolved around more than flexibility, precision, and gymnastics. My lifestyle consisted of weightlifting, protein, and high intensity interval training. Despite my hard efforts and dedication, I was not viewed the same as a cheerleader. Don't get me wrong - cheerleading is a difficult activity to master. It just seemed to be that my peers saw cheerleading as a one-way ticket to catching an athletic boyfriend.

As I watched Julia laugh and engage in deep conversation with her other cheerleading friends, I wondered how either of us expected to catch David's attention. The three of us had always been best friends, but this year seemed to spark an unspoken competition between Julia and I. Her views on David completely shifted from friend to potential lover within weeks, and I slowly noticed the two of them starting to drift away from me.

My moment of disappointment had long passed when we arrived at the conservation area, Mr. Finlay had us step off the bus to be paired into our groups. I quickly caught up with Julia, gently grabbing hold of her arm.

"Trinity! Do you think we'll be paired together?" She asked me excitedly, her eyes sparkling as they narrowed at the boy a few feet away. "Do you think we'll be paired with David?"

I shrugged, letting a smile reach my cheeks."I hope. It would suck not being with either one of you."

She nodded. "I feel like this trip is going to bring us all closer."

"Okay, my grade elevens!" Mr Finlay called, and Julia's head perked up at the sound.

"Once I tell you your group, please find your partners and gather together in one spot!" Mr. Finlay cleared his throat.

"Emelie, Joseph, Hudson, and Josephine are the first group," he told us. "The next group is Alexa, Julia, Brandyn, and David."

I frowned. Luck seemed to favour my best friend. I watched in disappointment as my friend cheered and gathered together with her posse.

Mr. Finlay continued, going down his list of groups aloud. I clenched my fists, hoping to be paired with people who were going to make my end of the year trip worthwhile. I watched Mr. Finlay, waiting eagerly for my name to be called.

"Next group is Lucas, Zeke, Nevaeh, and Trinity."

Whoop, there it was. My name had to be called amongst some of the most difficult people I've met.

I shut my eyes and took in a deep breath. All will be alright. I shall enjoy myself. I am one with nature. Everything will fall into place.

I opened my eyes to see that my group members hadn't moved an inch. Lucas looked afraid to do so, Zeke couldn't have cared less, and I think Nevaeh was too preoccupied with her phone to even notice her name had been called.

I pursed my lips and reminded myself it was four nights. Just four nights out in the wilderness with three other people who clearly didn't want to be here. I shook away my negativity.

I sighed and gently clapped my palms together, trying to gather the attention of my groupies. The two boys turned their heads, but Nevaeh's eyes stayed glued to her phone screen. I approached the two boys, and snapped my fingers in front of Nevaeh's nose. The cheerleader made a face and blinked, before turning her attention to her group.

"We're all in a group," I told her. She rolled her eyes at me and returned to taping away at her phone. I made a mental note to not bother her unless necessary.

"Okay, students!" Mr. Finlay called out, grabbing the attention of his students. "As a class, we're now going to head down to the amphitheatre. Please, stay with your assigned groups!"

I pivoted on my toes, facing my group members once again. "Shall we?" I motioned in the direction the rest of our classmates were headed.

Lucas stuttered, nodding hesitantly. "Uh, w-we shall?" He answered a rhetorical question, bless him.

We continued in the footsteps of the others around us. Unlike I had thought, Nevaeh seemed to be paying the slightest amount of attention as she followed behind us without being asked, all while keeping her eyes stuck to her mobile device.

The amphitheater was outside, with several rows of black and worn benches facing a small stage. It was dreadfully hot out today, but thankfully the trees were tall enough that most of the area was shaded, blocking out the sunlight. It was quite a pretty sight, though. Although all the trees were coming from the sides of the amphitheater, the branches and the leaves seemed to cave in, filling in the empty spaces above us.

Underneath us was dirt and rocks of all sizes. I looked up and tried to imagine how many leaves would pile up during the fall. I felt bad for whoever was in charge of clearing all the leaves, or maybe they simply left the leaves because the theatre wasn't very needed for winter camping.

The seats seemed to be filling up quite fast as our grade flooded in. I caught sight of my two best friends. Julia's cheeks were flushed, and I could see the dimples in her cheeks which only came out when she smiled really wide. I already knew she was having a good time, and I tried not to let jealousy get the best of me. She would most likely have a better time than I, get closer to David than I, and have a lot of things better than me but that's okay. I could still enjoy myself with people I barely knew and had nothing in common with.

I lead my group members to a bench where we sat down together and I pulled my bag into my lap, deciding to go over the very few things I brought.

I worked silently and independently. I sighed as I watched from my peripheral vision as Zeke got up to stride over to a group of teenage girls, who immediately started fawning over the boy once he came into sight. As I went through my toiletries, I could see poor Lucas trying his best to strike a conversation with Nevaeh, who who gave him one worded responses.

"Everyone take a seat!" Our teacher shouted out, and quickly students started taking their spots and gathering in their groups.

Beside him a shorter lady stood, dressed in hiking attire and her brown hair tied back. She waved a hand at us all. "Greetings, students! Welcome to our conservation centre. My name is Holly, and I will be accompanying you all as your guide for these four nights."

Half of the students seemed interested in what Holly had to say about our trip, but the other half didn't seemed to care at all and they made it very clear as they chatted away with their elbow partners.

"So," Our guide continued. "Before we get into anything, I'd like us all to warm up and get to know each other with a small friendship activity. Within your group, please divide yourselves into pairs. I'd like everyone to tell their partner three positive things, or three things you admire about your partner."

Lucas jumped to face Nevaeh, who had yet to take her nose out of her screen. "W-would you like to b-be my partner, N-Nevaeh?"

The girls merely shrugged, leaving Lucas to jump around in joy.

My eyes travel to the other side of the crowd where my two best friends sat. They had chosen each other as partners, and neither of them could stop smiling. I sighed, watching Julia playfully push against David's shoulder.

"So, are we partners?"

I snapped out of my gaze and shifted my attention back to Zeke, who had his eyebrows raised. I nodded yes, and shifted my body to face him.

"Um, so three nice things about each other?" I asked and he nodded in confirmation, "Okay the, you first."

"Alright," He sighed. "You, erm, like to... try hard?" He said it as if it were a question opposed to a statement.

My brows pushed together. "Did you just call me a try hard?" I asked him. "How is that nice?"

He let out an exasperated sigh and shook his head no. "I didn't mean it in a bad way-"

"How is everything going on with you two?" Our guide, Holly, approached the two of us. "Are you two having some difficulties?"

I grimaced. "He called me a try hard."

He rolled his eyes. "I didn't know what else to say."

Holly frowned. "I don't want to hear anything negative, because that's not the point of this exercise. Try saying something that the other is good at."

Zeke shook his head. "Fine, alright. Trinity, you are... strong, smart, at least I think you're smart, and..." He started at the sky, as if he were looking for the right word to use. "Independent."

I tried not to flatter myself, because he had to say something, but I couldn't help but feel a tiny bit confident.

Holly nodded. "That's very kind." She looked to me. "Now you should try."

I searched my vocabulary for kind words to use for this unique being. "Um, you can be kind," I said but quickly added, "Only went you want to be though, that is." I tilted my head. "You are also confident, maybe a little too confident, and charismatic."

He nodded and looked away, like he was embarrassed to take a compliment.

"That was great!" Holly exclaimed. "See, you two? That wasn't too hard."

I nodded. "Yeah, not too hard."

***

hello! i hope you enjoyed this chapter, and welcome to my story! i am publishing this chapter earlier than i thought i would be. i am also posting this chapter while running on four hours of sleep and i am on the edge of passing out, so i will review this chapter tomorrow, but i'm so glad you took the chance to read it this far!

hope you'll stick around for more, because it gets better!

with love,
via