"oh shit!"

jay perked up, turning in the direction he heard the loud shout which was followed by a resounding splash.

"i told you not to stand up," sunghoon scolded when jake had reached the surface, peering over the side of the canoe.

"whatever, just pull me up," jake said, teeth slightly chattering. the boy had one hand on the edge of the boat, the other reached out for subghoon to take. unfortunately for sunghoon he didn't notice the faint smirk that painted jake's lips.

the park boy let out a loud scream as jake mercilessly pulled him into the water, creating small waves. sunghoon quickly swam to the surface, brushing his hair away from his eyes before he splashed water at jake, a barely visible smile that was masked by fake anger was on his face.

"it's freezing you idiot," sunghoon yelled, rolling his eyes as he reached out for jake who was now visibly shivering so that he could bring the boy closer to the boat. "could you help us up, sunoo?"

the younger boy who had been put in a canoe with them pursed his lips, "yeah i'm not falling for that. i also don't want to get wet."

sunghoon let a breath, a hand set firmly on the edge of the boat, "pull us up before we get fucking hypothermia!"

as the two boys started arguing jay turned to heeseung who was peacefully sitting behind him, hair falling into his eyes as he paddled the canoe forward.

"we should go get them towels," the brunette said, glancing over at the group of boys.

sunoo was standing- though a bit wobbly, on the canoe holding onto one end of the paddle as sunghoon held onto the other. the younger tried pulling the lanky boy up the side of the canoe, but it seemed that he was having trouble. jake who was beside sunghoon, chin barely above the water, was struggling to hold in a laugh as the two boys continued to argue.

heeseung and jay quickly made it to edge of the lake, carefully stepping out of the canoe as they walked to the nearby shack that held the life vests and towels. the older swiftly grabbed two of the towels that were stored on a shelf, not wanting to stay a minute longer in the stuffy shed.

"i can't believe he fell in," jay chuckled, a small grin on his face as he remembered how worried sunghoon looked when jake slipped.

heeseung just shook his head, closing his eyes as he let out a loud sigh, "i can't believe he pulled sunghoon in with him."

jay's grin widened, he did feel a bit bad for sunghoon, but come on, that has to be one of the oldest tricks in the book. at least sunoo didn't fall for it.

"we should hurry up and go inside after this," heeseung turned to jay, taking note of the quiet sniffles and the faint pink hue that dusted his cheeks and nose.

without a second thought, the older wordlessly reached over, pulling the hood over jay's head, dropping his arm to rest around the boy's shoulder. it would be a lie to say that jay's cheeks were only flushed because of the cold now.

the younger set his eyes on the distant canoe that was making its way to the edge of the lake. it seems that sunoo successfully got them out of the water.

when the canoe had reached the dock, sunoo stood up as fast as lighting, being the first to get off. the boy grimaced in disgust as he watched the soaked boys stand up.

"next time, try not falling in the lake," heeseung said, the corner of his lips tugging up in a smirk as he threw the towels at jake who had just gotten off the canoe.

"i'll try not to," jake wrapped the towel around his shivering frame, sending heeseung a mocking smile as he passed the the other towel to sunghoon.

it was silent as the three boys waited for sunghoon and jake to dry up. though it was a bit of a struggle since their clothes clung to their body.

having enough of the quiet sunoo spoke up, a tight lipped smile on his face, "i'm hungry," the boy said, turning to heeseung and jay, "while they clean up wanna go to the dining hall?"

jay paused looking up at heeseung before diverting his gaze to sunoo, "sure," he replied, sparing a small glance to sunghoon and jake who seemed to be in their own world. they really need to get a move on it.

"have you talked to jungwon or niki recently?" jay asked, turning to sunoo who walking beside him, the weight of heeseung's arm only mildly prohibiting him from moving.

"yeah," sunoo smiled, a bounce to his step as he spoke, "they were mad at first but i convinced them that it wasn't fun here."

jay chuckled in response, bringing his hand to where heeseung's rested on his shoulder, playing with the older's fingers, "there's always next year."

next year, the boy's words hung in the air as he thought about it. next year heeseung wouldn't be here. it felt weird to think about. not seeing the older at lunch or roaming in the hallway. it just didn't feel right.

as if he knew what he was thinking, heeseung lightly squeezed jay's shoulder, sending the younger a small smile, but jay would be dumb if he didn't see the sadness that was behind it. 

~

jay turned in his seat, lightly nudging heeseung with his elbow as he moved to get up. almost immediately, heeseung reached for jay's hand, causing the younger to glance back at him.

"everything all right?" heeseung furrowed his brow, scanning jay's face.

"yeah," jay almost laughed at the concerned face heeseung had on, "i'm just going to the restroom."

"okay," heeseung paused for a second, he still looked worried but at least he dialed it down a bit, "are you going to the cabin or the public restroom?"

jay hated how far the walk to the restrooms were, it was truly unreasonable so he replied with, "cabin."

"okay, be careful, love. it's getting dark," heeseung uttered, letting go of jay's hand.

in all honesty, the older boy wanted to go with jay and make sure he was okay, but he didn't want to be overbearing. plus, the cabin wasn't too far, jay would be fine.

before heeseung could think about it any further, jake and sunghoon had reached their table. the older found it weird that they arrived together.

jay shoved his hands into the pocket of heeseung's hoodie, eyeing the scenery around him. this trip wasn't how he expected it to be. instead of being jam packed with all these activities, they had a more relaxing schedule. one that they could fill with things they wanted to do and not what their teachers said they had to.

it was a good change of pace, it really felt like a fun school trip.

the brunette sighed, watching how his breath fogged in the cold air, the faint smell of heeseung's cologne providing comfort to the boy. the walk to the cabin was short, so jay quickly did his business, not realizing he had left his phone on the sink as he made his way back to the dining hall.

jay's eyes were on the dirt trail, his fingers fiddling with the cabin key as the crunch of the dirt under his feet echoed through the dark path. the brunette tucked his chin, nose brushing the hoodie as he shivered when another breeze rushed by.

the brunette eyed dark walkway ahead of him, wishing they at least had the decency to put lights so that he could see where he was going. nonetheless, jay continued his walk, spinning the key around his finger pointer finger.

a noise, it was faint, but loud enough for jay to stop in his trek. the boy pivoted to the side, staring at where the noise came from, his eyes piercing through the darkness. after a couple of minutes jay just brushed it off, telling himself it was just a figment of his imagination.

the young boy took in a deep breath, clenching his fist around the key in his hand, telling himself it was nothing as he turned back to the front. but before jay could take another step a hand clamped over his mouth, muffling his screams as he was dragged beyond the tree line.