“Listen, this doesn’t sound like myproblem. If Kiran is unhappy with his relationship then let them work it out.As far as I’m concerned, none of this has anything to do with me,” I was finishedwith this, so I pushed passed Talbott into the classroom. I was late again andI could hear Mr. Lambert lecturing me as I headed straight for my seat. Wasn’tit just last night that I was looking forward to coming to school?
–-
The rest of the day wentsurprisingly quick. I was very prepared to ignore Kiran completely, but as itturned out, he was the one to give me the cold shoulder. This irritated me morethan anything.
All day I began plotting what Iwould say to him if we happened to bump into each other. But I soon realizedall of our previous run-ins must have actually been on purpose, becausesuddenly he was nowhere to be seen. By the time I was sitting in eighth hourChemistry, I felt terribly mopey.
The most irritating thing of allwas that I had never noticed Kiran and Seraphina were a couple. Seraphina wasloud and obnoxious, always drawing attention to herself; never once had Ilooked up to see Kiran at her side, worshiping her like the rest of thesheep.
Occasionally they would sit next toeach other in class, and always at lunch, but I just thought those were theirsocial obligations, since they were the cool kids and all. Now, every time Ilooked up they seemed to be side by side…. Laughing…. Touching…. Was I soconsumed with myself I couldn’t see what was going on around me?
On top of everything I could notfigure out why this bothered me so much. Or why I felt like Kiran lied to me.It’s not like I had asked him if he had a girlfriend and he said no. And henever really pursued me, or said that he liked me. Most of the time, he made meangry.
I doodled on my paper, resting myhead on my arm. The electricity was at a medium hum, but my energy level wasmuch lower. I recognized my depression and it depressed me even more. Ishouldn’t let this get to me as much as it was.
Suddenly, I snapped out of my funkand saw everything clearly. I was a game to him, just a game. Nothing was real,not even last night. It was just like Talbott said, I was onlyentertainment.
I bought into the wholegood-looking, charming accent, playfully-mischievous persona and allowed myselfto get emotionally involved. I was sure that if he didn’t have that damn accentI would have seen through him immediately. Oh, those Brits could be so charmingand manipulative with their proper way of talking.
I tried to sort through my feelingsfurther. I never really felt anything more than physical attraction…. did I? Imean sure, the whole kiss thing last night left an impression, but I was sureany girl would have had the same reaction. He was the one who was practicallystalking me; he showed up at my house uninvited. I never wanted anything to dowith him; he forced himself on me.
What may have been construed asjealousy or resentment for Seraphina was really just pity. I felt bad for her;she had no idea what kind of person she was dating. He was probably just usingher too. He seemed like that type of guy.…
I was no longer depressed; therewas no more reason to feel sorry for myself; because I was livid, absolutelylivid. I saw Kiran for who he was now, a disgusting, narcissistic pig. Albeit acompletely gorgeous, perfect pig; but definitely a pig. And I certainly didn’twant anything more to do with him.
I was interrupted from my epiphanyby someone knocking on the classroom door. Mr. Hayman looked up from the chalkboard at the front of the class and walked across the room to open it. A tall,athletic man in a black track suit entered, carrying a clip board and wearing awhistle.
“This couldn’t have waited untilthe end of class?” Mr. Hayman asked the man.
“Who is that?” I whispered toLilly.
“That’s Mr. Lawly, our P.E.teacher,” she whispered back.
“We have P.E.?” I said shocked. Ididn’t realize I had signed up for P.E., and I was sure I would have found adifferent elective if given the choice.
“Upper classman have a special kindof P.E.,” she replied, but didn’t get a chance to explain. The two men hadstopped talking to each other and Mr. Lawly called for the attention of theclass.
“As you know our camping trip wasscheduled for later in the quarter. But due to unforeseen problems inscheduling and the fact that I am worried about weather if we wait any longer,we are going to take it this weekend. The arrangements have been made and yourparents notified. I am happy to say I spoke to all of them personally and notone of you has a legitimate excuse to miss,” audible groans were heardthroughout the classroom. “You can pick up permission slips and a list of whatto bring on your way out of class. And may I remind you, all of you arerequired to attend,” when he said this last bit, he looked directly at Kiran. Ifound that amusing.
“What camping trip? I don’t remembersigning up for a camping trip,” I looked, panicked and wild eyed to Lilly,hoping she would have some answers.
“It’s on your class schedule asSpecial Elective,” she rolled her eyes. “The camping trip is our P.E. class.The school board wants us to get ‘real life’ experience.”
“So the whole class is over in oneweekend?” I asked hopefully.
“Hardly…. Kingsley believes itselftoo important to fill our day with a menial class like P.E. So to fulfill therequirement they send us on one of these god-awful trips every quarter. I thinknext time we go rock climbing or something as equally terrible as camping.Everybody hates them, but there is seriously no way to get out of it. Theythink of everything, trust me.”
“I have never been camping in mylife,” I was terrified. The only thing I knew about camping, was that everycamper in any scary movie I had ever seen was always hacked to pieces.
“That’s the idea,” she rolled hereyes again. “The trips are meant to get us out of our comfort zone, make us dosomething we would never choose to do.”
“Oh. Fantastic,” It was my turn toroll my eyes.
A weekend trapped in the woods withthis group of people sounded exactly like a horror movie to me. Could I requestspecifically that they check everyone’s bags for chainsaws and hockey masks?Because surely, I would be the first one to die.
Chapter Twelve
“We’re here,” Lilly sigheddespondently and I opened my eyes. I hadn’t really been asleep, but there wasnothing else to do on the four hour journey to the middle of nowhere.
“This is it? Please tell me wedon’t have to hike for hours into that jungle,” I whined. Our bus was parked inthe middle of a gravel parking lot surrounded completely by trees. There wasliterally nothing else but trees. I searched frantically for a gas station, orconvenience store nearby, but all I could see were trees. I was not even sureif this was a legal camping area.
I yawned widely and had a feelingthat my breath smelled awful. I glanced down at my wrinkled sweats and t-shirtand realized I looked as bad as I felt. I was pretty sure this was what therest of the weekend was going to be like: sloppy clothes and bad breath. Our 4:00 AM. departure time didn’t help thefact that I had been perpetually grumpy since I set foot on the bus. Mr. Lawlyseemed like such a nice man at first until I realized he was a drill sergeantwith the intention of fully entrenching us in the wilderness. My idea ofcamping entailed an RV and heated swimming pool; it was obvious I was about tobe sorely disappointed.
“I think it’s a forest, and yes,there will be some hiking involved,” Lilly gave me a dejected look. “Your shoesare cute though,” she offered me a bleak smile.
“Not for long….. Is it too late togo home?” I rubbed my bleary eyes, trying to focus on my brand new hikingboots.