All my life, I had felt like an outsider.

No one ever had my back.

Which is why you could imagine my surprise when Cole told me how he went against his best friend of 16 years...for me.

My mouth hung wide open the entire time. I couldn't fathom what he was telling me.

He didn't have to do it.

But he did.

He risked his high school status for a girl he barely knew - he was just that nice of a guy. I really misjudged him.

I didn't deserve this.

Feeling wanted, was a foreign emotion to me, and I wasn't quite sure how to express my gratitude to Cole.

He needed to know how much this meant to me.

I tried to speak, I wanted to be poetic, but the right words wouldn't come out.

We sat in silence for a while.

But it wasn't awkward, it was peaceful.

I may not have had a way with words, but I knew two words that would express some of my emotions.

"Cole?"

"Yes, Scout?"

"Thank you."

I rested my head on his shoulder as we watched the sunrise.

***

Olivia was the next one to emerge from her tent, looking as perfect as usual.

How did she do it?

"Hey guys, what's up?" she beamed, brushing her smooth curls out.

"Why are you so perky this morning?" I laughed.

"I just had a really good night's sleep you know?" she replied, sitting next to us.

Cole yawned, "Well I'm glad you did, some of us weren't so lucky."

I rolled my eyes, "Don't be so dramatic, we'll go and get you a tent today."

Olivia laughed at that, "Did Scout Martin just tell someone to 'not be so dramatic'? Girl have you seen yourself?!"

She wasn't wrong, but I could never admit it out loud.

"Pfft don't know what you're on about," I replied, attempting to sound cool and unbothered, as I walked into my tent to get changed.

I saw that Noah and Daisy had finally got out of their tents, as I came out of mine, ready to go to the market.

"Aren't you guys coming with us?" Cole asked.

"We'd love to but we have work today. Duty calls." Daisy saluted, looking tired.

"Speaking of which, I need to go and wake that lazy kid up," Noah remembered, shaking his head as he headed inside his tent.

"Guess it's just us then," Olivia shrugged as we headed off to Allerton.

***

After miles of walking, I caught a glimpse of the 'Welcome to Allerton' sign.

I smiled, "We're here."

"Finally, we've been walking for ages." Cole huffed.

"Didn't know you couldn't handle a couple of miles of walking, Mr Star Athlete." I teased, punching his arm lightly.

"Of course I can - I was just tired from not sleeping, that's all." He retorted confidently.

"Sure you were." I laughed.

"Come on, you two!" Olivia shouted from at least twenty paces ahead of us.

We both hurried to catch up with her, and then we stopped.

"Cole," Olivia began, holding her hands up to gesture at the sight in front of us."Welcome to Allerton Market."

The market crowd had a life of its own, the vibrant clothes shining in the morning light as people moved from stall to stall. There was chatter between sellers and buyers, old friends catching up, others making new friends.

Nearly everyone knew each other by name.

Lovers strolled hand in hand, casually browsing, whilst housewives hustled and bustled, trying to find the perfect ingredients for their cooking.

This market had everything; food, clothes, supplies – the whole lot.

It was like being in heaven.

"Um, it's a lot...busier than I thought," Cole stated, shifting awkwardly.

"Yeah, isn't it great?" I stared in awe of the sight.

"Yeah," he agreed, although I wasn't so convinced he thought so.

I shrugged it off, thinking he was just not good in crowded spaces.

The three of us strolled past the stalls searching for Peter, who usually supplied all of the outdoor gear.

Olivia got distracted at an electronics stall since she was into technology.

She had left her six-figure, high-stress tech job to live in the forest with us and get away from everything for a while.

She often told us how it was the best decision she ever made, but I knew part of her missed it a little.

Cole and I stopped by a hat stall and tried on some funky hats together.

We laughed at how hideous some of them looked, especially on Cole.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Cole looking at a group of people, who had been staring at him weirdly for the past couple of minutes.

"Do you know them?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows.

"No, of course not," he replied, putting his hood up and turning away from them.

That was it.

I turned to face him, "Cole, are you okay? You've been acting really weird today,"

"Yeah of course, why wouldn't I be?" he laughed.

I was about to reply, unconvinced of his response when Olivia came over.

"Guys, what are you doing over here? Peter's on the other side of the market." she dragged us over to his stall.

"Oliva, Scout, so good to see you again. Who's your friend?" Peter shook our hands.

"Peter, this is Cole. Cole, Peter." Olivia introduced them, smiling.

"Hi Cole, what can I interest you in today?" Peter pointed at the array of outdoor gear in his stall.

"I was looking to get a tent today, Peter," Cole replied, eyeing up the camping supplies.

"Well my friend, you've come to the right place!" Peter exclaimed, showing Cole the tents he had in stock.

After a while, Cole finally decided on a tent to buy and made the purchase.

Carrying the tent in his hands, he caught up with us and we headed back home.

***

When we returned, the others weren't back yet. They must've still been at their shift.

The three of us set up Cole's tent, which was a lot harder than I thought.

It took us ages to finish putting it together, but we finally managed it.

I sighed, "Finally."

We all took a step back, admiring the tent, and high-fived each other.

"Hey Olivia, what time is it?" Cole asked as we sat down.

Olivia looked down at her watch, "Almost 5."

I practically shot out of my seat, "5?!"

I was supposed to meet Trent at 4 for our date.

Shoot.

Scrambling to put myself together I called out to Olivia, "Liv, why didn't you remind me?"

I could've sworn I told her.

She stifled a laugh as she attempted to calm me down.

Cole didn't even try to hold his laughter in, that jerk.

But I couldn't think about that now.

"Alright, I'm going now," I informed the other two.

I didn't wait for a response because I was already incredibly late.

I hurried out of our home and headed to meet Trent in the city centre.

My brain was flooded with thoughts.

He was going to be livid.

Especially if he found out I was late because I spent the day with...

Cole.

▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭▭

Thanks for reading this chapter! If you enjoyed this one make sure to give me a vote and a comment to let me know x

Cole acting a lil bit sketchy sketchy - Scout's finally catching on, what are your thoughts? Will she figure it out? Or will Cole hide his secret well enough?

Scout's also late for her date with Trent - what do you think will happen?

Next update: can't lie I haven't written it yet, been crazy busy, but I'll try and have it out asap (if it's out tomorrow someone give me a damn medal lmao)

Teaser: it's a surprise! (mainly because I haven't figured it all out yet but oh wellllll hehe)