"Rise and shine, sleepy heads!" I hear Sabrina yell.

I hear a groan from Kayla and I look over and see Allie put her pillow over her head. Sabrina sighs and grabs the pillow out of her hands and wacks her over the head.

"Hey! What was that for?" Allie grumbles while pulling a blanket over her

"I told you guys to get up. Now get up!" Sabrina claps and starts ripping the blankets off of our bodies.

Feeling the sudden cold air, I jump up and go to the bathroom. After doing my business and waking up a bit more, I go back to Kayla's room to find the rest of my friends sitting up, barely awake.

"What time even is it?" Kayla yawns.

Sabrina checks her phone. "Seven in the morning."

"Ugh. That is way too early on a Saturday morning 'Brina," Allie groans.

"Oh calm down. If you really need to, you can take a nap on the drive," Sabrina says.

"The drive? Where are we going?" I ask.

"You'll see," Sabrina says with a twinkle in her eye.

We all start getting dressed and I decide on a comfortable outfit today, nothing like what I had on yesterday. I put on black leggings and a hoodie on over a t-shirt. Now I am feeling much more like myself.

All of the other girls wear similar outfits as me, nice and comfortable. After hearing that we would be driving for who knows how long, comfort is definitely the priority for today.

"Have you called the boys yet to let them know that we are coming soon? Because I know for a fact that they are not awake yet unless you woke them up," Kayla asks Sabrina.

Sabrina's eyes widen. "Shit. I knew I was forgetting something."

"It's fine. I can call Conner," I offer.

The other girls look at me with small grins on their faces.

"Oh, you're going to call Connor? Not any of the other boys?" Kayla asks, faking innocence.

I roll my eyes. "Yes, I am going to call Connor because he is probably the most likely to pick up. If that doesn't work, then I'll call Tony."

The other girls just nod their heads and then go back to getting ready.

In all honesty, I had no idea if Connor would actually pick up. I just wanted to talk to him on the phone first before I actually had to talk to him in person today.

Of course Connor won't think that anything is different between the two of us, but I will. Admitting that I might have a small crush on him just might make me awkward enough that I will not be able to have a solid conversation with him. It also won't help that all of the girls also know about my feelings towards him and I am sure that I won't live it down.

I call up Connor and it rings a couple of times before he picks it up.

"Good morning Superstar. To what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your voice this early?" he asks sleepily.

"Sabrina wants all of you guys to be awake and ready in twenty minutes. She apparently has big plans for today."

I hear Connor yell for everyone to wake up, but the only response he gets is a grunt from someone.

"Well, I am going to have to hang up so that I can get all of these dickheads ready. See you in twenty minutes," Connor says.

"See you soon Sunshine."

I hang up and look up at my friends who are all watching me.

"Well Connor is going to wake all of them up so we have nothing to worry about," I say quickly.

"You mean Sunshine is going to wake them up?" Sabrina taunts with a grin on her face.

"Shut up, it's just a nickname I have for him. He came up with a nickname first so I just went along with him," I explain.

"Sure," Kayla says slowly, "Just nicknames. And you guys are just friends. Tell that to the smile that hasn't left your face since you heard his voice."

I immediately pull the corners of my mouth down to a neutral expression.

"I told you guys last night that I do have feelings for him, but that doesn't mean that he shares those same feelings. So please, do not make a big deal out of it when we see him today. I don't want him to know yet," I plead.

"Your secret is safe with us," Allie replies.

I relax and bring the smile back to my face.

We all go downstairs and raid Kayla's kitchen for any snacks that we can find. We pack them all up and load them into Becky.

Once everything that we need is in Becky we all climb in and head on our way to Jasper's house.

When we arrive I can tell that it is absolute chaos inside, by the many people I can see running around through the windows.

We walk up to the door and it opens up to reveal a very tired looking Paisley.

"Please take them so that I can go back to sleep."

I laugh. "Don't worry sleepyhead. We will be taking them out of your hands for the rest of the day."

We walk inside and sure enough, there is a whirlwind of teenage boys scrambling around to get ready. Jasper is brushing his teeth while eating his cereal, which I find to be a little counterproductive. Adam is running around looking for his shirt, which catches the eye of Kayla. While Connor is all ready and yelling at Tony who is in the bathroom.

"You have to hurry up man, other people need to use the bathroom," Connor calls.

The bathroom door swings open and Tony steps out with a grumpy expression and a messy head of hair. Connor shoves past him and shuts the door while Tony makes his way towards us.

"Hello ladies. I would say that I am happy to see you all, but I am mad at you Sabrina for making us wake up early," Tony says pointedly.

Sabrina raises her hands in defense. "Hey, it's my day to pick our activity so you just have to deal with it."

Tony sighs and walks away from us to find his sketchbook. Kayla finds Adam's shirt and hands it to him while Jasper finally finishes eating.

Connor comes out of the bathroom and walks over to me with a smile on his face and I feel my stomach start to churn. Pull yourself together Nova.

"Good morning again Superstar. It's nice to see your face, although I did like waking up to your voice," he says.

"Don't get used to it. I am not too fond of the mornings," I reply.

"Ah we have ourselves a night owl. I like to think of myself as an early bird," he sighs.

"Of course you do Sunshine," I smile and roll my eyes.

Everyone seems to have everything together so we all pile into Becky. I find myself sitting in the back next to Connor, who is sitting between Adam and I. Tony, Allie, and Jasper sit in front of us and Kayla sits in the passenger seat while Sabrina drives.

"Everyone buckle up, we're going on a road trip."

***

The beginning of the road trip is fun. We laugh and sing along to music while actually enjoying each others company.

After a while however, some people start to get annoyed with each other just by their presence.

"Jasper if you keep moving around and distracting me while I'm driving I will drop you off on the side of the highway and let you hitch hike home," Sabrina yells.

Jasper stills in his seat with a grand sigh. Allie offers him a piece of gum and he gratefully accepts it, but makes sure to not chew it loudly as that could very well result in him on the side of the road.

Throughout the drive I try to occupy my time by observing what is around me to see if I get any inspiration for a poem. I can see that Tony is doing the same thing, but his inspiration is resulting in beautiful sketches that make my random thoughts seem unimportant.

"Your drawings look amazing Tony," I say while peaking over his shoulder.

Connor leans over as well to take a look. "Yeah Nova's right. Those are beautiful man."

Tony immediately closes his sketchbook and turns around to give us both a dirty look.

He doesn't say anything but his message is very clear. Back off.

Connor and I lean back into our seats and try to stay off of Tony's bad side.

I notice Adam looking over at us and I make eye contact with him. He gives a small smile and shakes his head with amusement. He then looks up towards the front of the car and clears his throat.

"Am I allowed to ask if we are almost there?"

Kayla turns around with a wicked grin. "Sure you can ask, but that doesn't mean that you're going to get an answer."

Sabrina reaches her hand over to Kayla and receives a high five. Adam just sighs and collapses into his seat.

Jasper turns around to Adam and looks at him with wide eyes. "I can't believe you had the guts to ask. I was trying to bring up the courage, but damn, those girls scare me."

"We can hear you," Sabrina sings.

"Good. We've been driving for almost three hours and I just want to know if we are actually going to arrive somewhere," Adam says.

Sabrina glares at him through the rear-view mirror and then softens her expression. "Yeah, we are almost there don't worry."

That seems to brighten everyone's mood because soon the car becomes loud with the chatter of excitement.

Sabrina takes an exit and we start driving through a small town. We pass small houses and a church and then take a turn towards a forest. Sabrina drives along a trail that is going through the woods.

"Please tell me you did not drive us out here to kill us," Jasper says, worried.

"Relax, I'm not going to kill you. At least not today," Sabrina grins.

Sabrina continues driving through the woods and finally parks the car right next to a small lake. There is a place for a campfire with logs of wood to sit on around it.

Sabrina gets out of the car and takes a deep breath, staring sadly at the lake.

The rest of us all topple out of the car and stretch out our legs after the long drive.

"So are you going to tell us what we are doing her 'Brina?" Tony asks.

"Just give me a minute," Sabrina sighs.

Sabrina takes some camping chairs out of the back of the car and sets them up around the unlit campfire. We all walk over with her and take our own seats.

I sit next to Connor on a log and everyone kind of sits in an awkward silence.

"Alright. I guess I owe you guys an explanation," Sabrina starts.

"That would be nice," Jasper laughs nervously.

"So, this week when Connor confessed some things about his life, I thought that was very important and courageous of him. I was able to tell Adam a little bit about me as well and it made me realize some things. We are great friends but we tend to keep the hard things to ourselves. So I wanted to change that today," Sabrina explains.

I glance over at Connor nervously and look around the group and can see that some other people are feeling a little nervous too.

"So, I want each of us to share something about ourselves that we don't usually talk about. It does not have to be crazy deep if you don't want it to be. I still want you guys to be comfortable. I'll start," Sabrina says.

We all nod and agree to her terms. I start to think about what I'm going to share. I do have one secret right now, but I don't think that today is really the right day.

"Alright, the reason I brought all of you guys out here to talk is because this place has a lot of memories. I used to live in the town that we drove passed on our way here and my dad used to take me and my sister here all the time. We would camp out here and have some really good times," Sabrina explains.

"Little did I know, my dad was cheating on my mom at the time and he was finding new children and a new wife. When we found out it was awful, I never wanted to see my dad again. I hated him so much, and I still do. He has new children now, new children who he chose to love more than me, children that aren't even his own," Sabrina cries.

"So I want to say thank you, because I know that you guys will be there for me and that you truly love me. And Connor, I am sorry that I was so harsh to you in the beginning. Turns out we aren't that different."

Connor gives a small smile. We all sit in silence, not really sure what to say.

Kayla reaches out her hand and gently holds Sabrina's hand. Sabrina gives her a grateful smile and then pulls her into a hug.

"Alright, let me wipe away my tears and then someone else can share something. And it doesn't have to be sad, it can be a happy confession," Sabrina says.

My stomach starts to churn. Do I really want to confess my feelings today? I just figured out that I like Connor and I have no idea if he feels the same way.

Adam stands up and clears his throat. "I guess  I'll go."

We all turn our attentions towards him and wait for him to speak.

"Alright so my confession isn't as deep as Sabrina's was, but mine still needs to be said. You guys have really become my best friends. Yes, I was friends with Connor before he moved here, but he was really the only friend I had. I'm really thankful for all of you and I am so glad that you guys have accepted me."

"Aww we love you man. I'm glad you joined our group. You too Connor," Jasper adds.

Connor laughs and we all say kind things to Adam as he sits back down.

"Who would like to go next?" Sabrina asks as she takes out some snacks.

After passing around a different assortment of food to each other, we all stay quiet and wait to see who will have the guts to talk next.

After what seems like a while, Allie stands up to make her confession.

"Adam and Connor, you might not know this because you are new to this friendship, but everyone else knows that my dad passed away a while ago," Allie starts.

I watch as Connor focuses his attention onto her with a sad look in his eyes.

"He died when I was five years old due to some medical issues. I guess the confession I have to make is that I think I'm forgetting him. It's been so long and there are certain things that are fading from my memory. It's been hard for me to come to terms with this and I just thought that you guys should know as well."

Tony reaches over and wraps his arm around her shoulders, hugging her. He pulls away after a moment but continues to look at her and make sure she is okay.

"Thank you for telling us that Allie. And know that we are always here for you," Sabrina says softly.

Tony looks at Allie with worry in his eyes, but I can't tell if he is worried for her or himself. He then takes a deep breath and then stands up to talk.

"Okay, I'm not going to get into too much of the details because there are still things in my life that I would like to keep private. I'll just make my confession short and sweet," Tony says.

We all wait in anticipation for what he's going to say.

"I like a girl."

Kayla shrieks and grabs onto Sabrina for support.

"Calm down. I've liked this girl for a while but I'm not ready to act on it quite yet, I have to see where her headspace is. And no, I will not be telling you guys who she is," Tony says as he sits down.

"Ugh, Tony you are no fun. But I completely understand why you don't want to tell us who it is," Sabrina says.

Maybe I can just pull a Tony and not name any names. Or maybe I should just think of something else to admit.

Connor stands up and I decide to wait and see what he says before I start confessing my feelings.

"Hearing Tony admit that he has feelings for a girl, made me start to think of some things and I realized what I have to confess," Connor starts.

I feel butterflies in my stomach when he says that but I make sure to keep myself together. I look over at Kayla and Sabrina and they are both looking over at me with small grins.

"So as you all now know, my mom recently left my family and it has been pretty hard for me. I've realized that it is going to be very hard for me to truly trust people when it comes to love. I thought that my mom loved my dad, but I was wrong. So I'm not sure if I'm really ready for a relationship or love in my life," Connor admits.

Okay, I guess I'm not going to be admitting my feelings today, that's alright.

I make sure to not look disappointed when I hear what Connor has to say. I understand what he's saying though, it is hard to trust someone when important people in your life become untrustworthy.

Everyone comforts and Connor and we all understand what he is saying.

Now that I'm going with a different confession, I have no fear of coming forward.

I stand up to deliver my confession.

"I really want to travel. I know this isn't that big of a secret to confess but I don't care. I want to travel but I'm also terrified to do so. I think I want to be a journalist and travel the world, but there is something about it that scares me," I share.

"Well, I think you would be a great journalist, Superstar. I mean, we have all read your articles and they are amazing," Connor says.

I sit back down and smile at him. He can always seem to make me smile.

"Well, I know what I can share with y'all. I have no clue what I'm going to do after we graduate. I don't even know what colleges I'm going to apply to. Just as long as we can all stay at least within a states distance, I'll be fine," Kayla admits.

Jasper quickly looks up at her with a nervous expression. He carefully stands up.

"I guess this is as good a time as ever to tell you guys. I applied to MIT and I really really want to go there. It's like my dream school," Jasper shares.

"I'm sure you'll get in Jasper. You are a genius and they would be stupid to not accept you," Allie says.

"But MIT is not a state away," Kayla says softly.

"I know, that's why I didn't want to tell you guys," Jasper confesses.

"I mean, the likelihood of all of us staying here was really unlikely. You had to have known that Kayla," Tony says.

Kayla looks down at her hands. "I know, but I wish it wasn't true."

Sabrina grabs Kayla's hand. "Just because we might not be with each other forever doesn't mean that we will stop being friends."

Kayla nods and wipes away a tear that was rolling down her cheek.

I don't like thinking about the future too much.

The possibility that these people might just slip away from my life, hurts to think about. It is the harsh reality that we have to face.

But for now, while we are still in high school and with each other, I can ignore that reality for a while.

And be thankful that I have them all in my life right now.

***

Thank you so much for reading!

I really liked this chapter. It was fun to dive deep into each of the characters. I hope you all enjoyed it as well. Please vote and comment, I would really appreciate it.

Love you all!❤️