On the way

We all were in the school parking lot, talking And ready to head home.

"hey look at this" Arthur said, dragging his fingers across the screen to focus on the map

"see?"

"oh! A lake" Anne exclaimed,

"where'd you find this? And how did I miss this?" I asked.

"hun I can see things you all can't" he dramatically said while flipping his imaginary long hair.

"oh I'll add more stuff to my shopping list," Anne said smiling, excited.

"we gotta go now" I announced. We said our goodbyes and head to the mall.

"ok guys I have a surprise" Lena told as we enter the parking lot of the mall looking for a spot.

"we don't have to use the schools small and awful tents because I got a huge tent that has room for ten people and it's freaking huge and has cute little compartments for each of us" she let out enthusiastically.

"what! Wow, that's amazing!" I told her.

"thank youuuuu! Lenaaaaa" Anne shrilled.

"guys! No thank yous!" Lena said grinning.

We entered the Mall and started getting different stuff. I stopped in front of the swimming equipment, and looked around and grabbed six pairs of swimming goggles.

"hmm why are we getting these?" Anne questioned.

"because we'll swim." I smiled.

"but I don't wanna swim in some random lake without protecting my eyes" I further explained and started throwing earplugs in the trolley

"and my ears too of course" I finished.

"ok but why so many?" Lena asked this time.

"you guys always lose these, so I might as well get a bunch and these are the bomb, they're like play dough so they'll fit in your ear perfectly, they protect your ears with their life." I dramatically explained, making the two girls chuckle.

*:･*:･ﾟ✧

"okay byeee! See you guys next Monday!"

I waved my friends goodbye as their car slowly faded out of view. I rang the doorbell and my mom answered the door

"hey sweetie" she smiled.

"hi" I said and without another word I quickly made my way to my room.

"honey do you wanna have dinner? Or did you have it with Anne?" mom asked from downstairs.

"I had it with Anne!" I yelled back.

"okay but if you feel hungry it's in the fridge!" I heard her tell, followed by the voice of her bedroom door closing.

I changed into my PJs and laid on my bed. I let out a sigh "let's wait now" I gleamed. But of course, the same feeling crept its way to my mind.

"what if it's not as you expected?" my anxiety questioned.

"what if something goes wrong?"

I groaned, here we go again as my mind kept coming up with thoughts that had zero probability of actually happening but yet still somehow it made me uncomfortable.

—stop! nothings bad gonna happen, everything will be alrigh!—

Grabbing the duvet and pulling it over myself, I dozed off.

*:･*:･ﾟ✧

Soon Monday was here and I was so ready for my trip.

"ok, I have everything, let's just double-check" I looked through my stuff making sure I don't leave anything behind.

"Okay clothes? check.
Extra pair of shoes? Check.
Swimming suits and gear? Check.
First aid kit? Check.
Battery bank and charger? Check. Snacks? Check.
Mosquito repellent? Check. Alright I everything seems to be in place"

—umm...but it still feels like I'm missing something—

I checked everything one last time.

—nope , I got everything, I'm just getting anxious—

I packed my bag and started getting ready.

I was wearing a dark blue V-neck with the sleeves rolled up just below my elbows along with black tights because staying comfortable was more important than wearinb skin jeans to a forest.

I shoved my phone into my pocket, and headed downstairs.

"Mom hurry up! I don't wanna be late!!!" I panicked it's currently "6:18" A.M.

"Jade! I'm trying, there's something wrong with the car, it won't start!" mom yelled from the garage.

"Ugh! this can't be happening! No, no, no, no!!!" I gabbrd my hair in frustration.

I was busy whining when my phone vibrated in my pocket, it was a text from Haden.

╭─━━━━━─╮
> where are you?
╰─━━━━━─╯
╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮
> You're getting late and so is
Arthur :(
╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯

I rolled my eyes at the last text "of course he's late like always. I tapped my fingers across the screen aggressively typing.

╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮
> dads car won't start and we don't
know what's wrong with it );
╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯

just as I press send, Anne's name appeared on my screen and my phone started blaring music at me, ringing.

"hey An-"

I was cut off by a yelling Anne.

"you're not here yettt! I just got here!"

"Anne my cars broken!" I yelled back checking the time "6:23" A.M.

"shit! Jade, you'll miss the bus and that dumbass would too, Arthur isn't here either, we're not going without you guys!"

I was hyperventilating when a light bulb lit over my head.

"Anne shut up for a sec...Arthur! I'll call him. I'm coming! Don't worry. I gotta go now!"

I explained and cut the call before she could respond. I opened my contacts as my eyes furiously searched for the name "King Arthur".

"ah! here!" I almost yelled in relief, hitting on his name, I anxiously waited as the bell kept ringing. I once again peeked at the clock.

—shit! it's "6:27" A.M.—

"Hello!" I heard Arthurs scrambled voice.

"where are you?!" I cried out in the phone.

"I'm sorry I'm just leaving!" he said, sounding like he's running.

"pick me up!"

"what?!"

"Arthur you idiot pick me up, I'm late too!"

"oh! ok ok! I'm on my way!"

"ok hurry up! bye!"

"MOM! Arthur's coming to pick me up!"

"Okay hun"

I yelled a quick "BYE!" as I run out.

"bye! Make sure to ring me when you reach there-" mom yelled.

I checked the time and it was "6;30" A.M

--Shit!, we missed the bus--

Arthur's car took an abrupt stop in front of me without wasting another second I jumped in

"DRIVE!" I screeched.

Arthurs foot hit the accelerator and we both sped to the school.

"oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! we're late!"  Arthur spoke frustrated.

"I know! They probably took off without us! I can't believe this is happening!" I cried out.

"no! Don't worry they won't, t-they can't" he assured but he sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

The car came to a stop, we both jumped out and ran inside.

People!... I see familiar people, with ease I could see the top Hayden's luscious brown hair styled perfectly in a quiff, his tall height making it easier to spot him.

I almost cried out in relief and garbed Arthur, who's blue eyes were intensely scanning the area yet he didn't find any of  his friends.

"Hayden's over there!"

"what?! Where?! Ohh!? Lena's there too!" he shrieked.

we both got to Hayden and saw an argument breaking between miss Trina, Lena, and Anne.

Shawn stood next to them and it looked like he was trying to calm them down but he wasn't doing a good job because he now, had his eyebrows narrowed at the three ladies arguing but as soon as his eyes met mine.

He loudly said "they're here! Can you please calm down now?!"

"What?! Where are-" Anne asked before she saw Arthur then me.

"omg! You're here finally!"

"very well now that your friends-"
miss Trina said eyeing me and Arthur with annoyance.

"...We should get going now" she announced.

We all quickly made our way on the bus and took a seat at the most back. To my right was sitting Anne and to my left was Hayden.

"so what was that all about? How come you guys didn't leave?"

I questioned to which Hayden simply smirked and threw a look at Anne.

"explain now would ya?"

"ugh! I couldn't let miss Trina leave without you but she didn't care and was gonna leave but then me and Lena threw a tantrum and we wouldn't get on the bus and"

she was explaining with an irritated facial expression as she spoke of the teacher she despised the most, she was cut off when Shawn from her side laughed.

"and they wouldn't let us get on the bus either".

"wow, Le Le....not bad"

Artur looked at his childhood best friend, the red-haired girl had a Proud smile on her face.

*:･*:･ﾟ✧

After a long five hour drive We finally arrived at our desired destination. The ride wasn't too bad except for feeling queasy because of my motion sickness.

We all talked and talked, excited for our camping me and Anne wanted to have some snacks but Lena didn't let us have any because she was saving them for later.

We got off the bus and took in the beautiful sight that stood in front of us. Greenery surrounded every inch around us we stood there in awe.

"oh my God! this is beautiful," Lena exclaimed

"it sure is" Hayden commented,
admiring the place.

"wow guys! I can't believe we're finally here!" I said getting excited than ever.

—This place is literally so huge—

"come on come on and gather around"

Miss Trina said standing along with other teachers including Mr. Jones Who pulled out a list and started saying our names.

"your names will be called out and you will start making your groups"

He called out different names but we were relaxed because we knew we were going to be together, me and my best friend.

After every name was called and all the students made their group. we started ambling in the woods.

"wow it's surprisingly a really good weather here" Anne stated who held Shawn's hand excitedly.

"ugh! how much further do we have to walk!" Julia wailed.

"I seriously hate the woods, why are we even here!"

One of her friends complained but no one seemed to give them any attention but of course, her...more like a pet dog, boyfriend Brian spoke.

"don't worry babe we're going to have lots of fun okay, it will be worth our while. As long as you know your friends are with you especially me" he wiggled his eyebrows.

Looking at them irked I gave her an irritated look to which she returned the favor by making her already pug looking lika face in a scowl, I couldn't help but laugh at her pathetic expression.

After walking for a few minutes we were finally at a nice spot inside the forest.

"so now kids let me tell you no one is leaving campsite without my permission, by the way just to make it clear one more time, drinking and smoking is not allowed and if any substances such as drugs or alcohol are found with you. You will be immediately be dropped back home at the spot.

All of you will have to give your attendance before going to bed and after waking up to make sure no one is gone off for a casual stroll. Now, start setting up your tents"

Mrs. Dalia explained to everyone and made it clear that no one was going to mess around.

"okay I need some people to volunteer to get some sticks for the campfire" said Mrs. Abby.

"Oh well go!"

Me and Anne said in unison and looked at each other with huge grins.

"Okay great, I already know your names,  Jade and Anne" she smiled at us.

"yep that's us"

"here you go, find some sticks and put em in the bag, you guys already know what kind of sticks are practical start a fire" she handed us a bag.

With that, we took off in the woods. Hand in hand, huge smiles plastered on our faces. We didn't need to go much far obviously we were literally surrounded by "woods".

After gathering a nice amount of sticks we shoved them in the bag and headed back to the campsite.

"Here ya go," I said handing the bag to Mr. Jones.

Looking at our tent, it was all ready set up and yes it was huge. Shawn already in there. I could see through the sheer curtain. He had his nose shoved in some sort of book, eyebrows knitted together as he attentively read whatever was written in the unknown book.

Soon Anne was next to him, on her phone probably texting someone, her sister maybe....hmm sister

—OH! Shit!!!—

I was supposed to call mom. I whipped my phone out to call her.

—awh yes good reception—

I mentally gave myself a pat on the back.

*:･*:･ﾟ✧

"yea I love you too bye"

I ended the call I made my way to the tent where now all of my friends we're settled.

By the time we reached there, set our camp and tents. It was already around 2 pm.

"okay kids now you can go off have some fun on your own, but remember the time limit be back to campsite by 7" Mrs. Trina notified.

And with that, me and my best friends started walking to a random path.

"let's find a nice comfy spot that no one else can discover, that's where we'd hang out during our alone time" announced, Arthur.

"yea sounds cool" Hayden agreed.

"where exactly are we suppose to find a spot like that?" asked Lena.

"don't worry this is a huge forest well find it," Arthur said with confidence.

All of us, excited, wandered around the beautiful forest that was covered in beautiful plants, flowers, and very very huge tall trees...around 40 or 50 feet tall, they shadowed the ground from the hot beams of the sun that made a pleasant atmosphere.

—if only any of us knew how much this place was gonna change—

━━━━━━☆━━━━━━

Don't forget to vote and comment~

IMPORTANT:

Also, I'm actually editing the chapters right now so the chapter "numbers" will all be messed up but don't worry sequence is just right.

So yea enjoy (:

-Lots of love Ebee♥️