Abbie’s POV

“Abbie, you can’t realise someone’s an asshole if they’re acting like a prince… You just need to realise they’re acting! I can go and beat him up if it makes you feel any better? He’s just one of those who’d use you for sex and walk away with no emotional connection. You’re lucky you got away from him before then…”

I looked at the floor, tears still streaming down my face. How can I tell him? How can I explain to him that it’s not that simple? I have been with him, and I thought it was good… The memory of it flashes back in my mind. We told the others we were going to get some air, walked into some office thing he knew about from being a team leader and we stayed in there, things getting heated between us. I don’t know if it was the heat of the moment or what but it felt right, despite me only knowing him for days…

“Well…” I hesitated, practically sweating over how to say this response. “Heh. Maybe not before…” His face dropped and so did my stomach.

“You- He-” he stammered. I just wanted to go over and hug this guy who up until now was a strong minded, confident man. He now stood before me looking broken.

“Luke, it just happened… I mean, it seemed so right at the time and I-” I tried to explain but he held his hand up to silence me.

“Don’t even try to explain. You don’t need to.” He shook his head and turned round to go back to the camp.

“But I don’t want you to think I’m some sort of slut or something…” I knew he wasn’t going to catch on to what I was saying; I didn’t want to lose the only friend I had in this place. Faye was there, but we just existed next to each other, it was easier to get along than to continue to hate each other.

“It’s got nothing to do with me, Abbie. If you wanna go around getting off with every guy who smiles at you, that’s got nothing to do with me. I won’t judge… Much…” He walked back to the camp site, me shuffling behind him wondering what I could say.

“I see your conversation went well…” Jonny smirked. I’ll smack him soon, if Luke doesn’t get their first.

“I’m back aren’t I?” I shouted at him. “That took a lot of convincing bearing in mind I’d actually have to look at your face…” I looked away from Jonny, feeling disgusted.

“Just ignore him…” Faye said, patting the space on the log next to her. I hurried over and sat with her. “Welcome to the world of finding out guys are pricks!” She laughed.

“Excuse me!” Luke said as he threw more wood on the fire. “I’ll have you know I am one of the exceptions to that!” He laughed, his face glowing on one side from the light of the fire.

“Yeah yeah… That’s what they all say!” Faye winked at him, but he looked down at the ground. Does Faye like Luke? It felt like a small fire ignite in my stomach and I stared daggers at Faye. She can’t steal my friend from me. I need him…

“Look, I’m just going to get some more wood. How much you think we’ll need?” I gazed up and saw the sky was red. The sun was setting and it was almost night time. It was going to get cold…

“I think we’ll need quite a lot.” I shrugged. “It’s getting dark. You need me to go with you?”

“Yeah if you want!” Luke said, quite upbeat. At least one of us has the manners to help him out! We walked into the forest and demolished a few branches of trees.

“So, you and Faye eh?” I said, trying to find out information.

“What about us?” He shouted from half way up a tree, breaking branches and chucking them down to me.

“Oh come off it! It’s obvious!” I laughed, although it was killing me inside.

“There isn’t an ‘us’, Abbie, what are you on about?” He smiled down to me.

“Well, the way Faye was looking at you and talking to you?” I shrugged. Branches continued to fall around me.

“Oh! Oh no, she likes me but I said no.” He laughed, but I couldn’t even muster a smile. Faye actually wants him? That has to be a joke! He’s all cute and geeky. She’s a Barbie. I shrugged it off as he climbed down the tree and grabbed a load of wood, as I did, and we walked back to the camp in silence. I threw the wood on the fire and it hissed as it burnt some of the sap and leaves on the branches.

“I think we got enough wood…” Jonny said in a tone that said ‘getting wood was a cover up for you two to get together’.

“Well if all else fails, I’ll throw you on the fire.” I said sarcastically and walked back over to Faye, who puts her arm round me. What is she doing? Trying to sweeten me up to take the only person I like in this camp away from me?

“We should carry on with the games!” Luke said. “Maybe not that one, but I’m sure we could come up with something!” He searched around the camp.

“I got a bottle?” Jonny said. “Truth or Dare?” He spun the bottle but it rolled off. The four of us watched as it rolled past us and hit a pair of polished black boots. We all slowly looked up, finally realising it was the Officer.

“Truth or Dare?” He mimicked Jonny. “How about I dare you to get into the coach now, with all your things or I will truthfully hurt you all…” he smiled evilly. We all exchanged worried glances. “I’m being serious…” He had to add before we got up and began packing. I ran and practically dived into my tent, ripping my bag open and shoving the small amount of things I owned into it before flinging it over my shoulder as I exited the tent. I followed the officer and the rest of the group to the coach, which was sizably smaller than the one we arrived in – and wasn’t actually a coach. It was a camouflage coloured jeep.

“Umm… Sir? Where’s the coach?” Faye questioned as I stared at the jeep. These are the ones you see actually driving people around in actual wars… Why would we have one here?

“This is your coach, now get a move on!” HE shouted, clapping his hands together like a seal.  We leapt into the back of the jeep and the doors slammed. The driver turned round.

“Nice to meet you guys, I’m Lt. Pearce. I hope your training has been worth it, but it’s a lot different when you’re out there in the real world; Practicing with paintballs are nothing when you actually get shot. You will feel like you can’t breathe when you’re shot in the chest and it hits your bulletproof vest. You’ll meet people and they’ll die five minutes after.” He gestured for the guy beside him to begin driving.

“Sorry, Lt. Pearce, but where are we going? Why are we leaving?” Faye asked. She was always the one who asked things I thought, but was too nervous to say.

“We’re going to Polet Hill.” He replied simply. I looked over and Jonny had his head in his hands. I knew that meant something bad was coming.

“Why?” Luke questioned.

“We’re going to war…”