14. lions and tigers, and bears, oh my!

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I place my water bottle between my thighs as I tighten the grip of the elastic holding up my hair.

"Why did we agree to do this again?"

Devin groans as she steps on top of a large boulder. She sits down with her legs dangling off the edge of it, leaning back on her palms.

"Because Estella convinced me who convinced Aaron and then also convinced you," Asher explains as he dramatically rolls his eyes. "Keep up, Dev."

"I'd rather spend the remainder of our last day here swimming or playing foosball... or doing anything else besides going on a hike."

I knew Devin wouldn't want to go on the optional hike. That's why I didn't ask her. I managed to convince Asher to come with me during dinner last night. Then he decided to ask if Aaron wanted to go. Then the two of them convinced Devin to tag along.

There are only about twenty other students who wanted to go on the hike. I've known since before we arrived at the camp that I would be going on it, whether any of my friends would go with me or not.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to," I mumble, kicking around a dirt rock.

Devin ignores me, of course. She likes to pretend as though I didn't exist, which really bothered me at first. But I've finally came to terms with it after a few weeks of knowing her.

"You look like such a professional little hiker," Aaron says with a smile.

We haven't spoken a single word since last night. I didn't know what to say, and neither did he. It's not like I was going to bring it up. I won't lie, breakfast this morning was a little awkward, but since we were sat with Asher, it wasn't really that bad.

So I found him making out with a mysterious girl behind the mess hall. When it comes down to it, it's really none of my business who he chooses to spend time with. Or more specifically, who he chooses to make out with.

I glance down at my outfit. I sport a pair of black yoga leggings, a grey zip-up sweater, and my pair of black Nike running shoes.

"I've never been hiking," I reply. "But like the adventurous soul I am, I like trying new things."

Sure you do.

He smiles in amusement. Before he can reply, a couple of counselors join the group of us waiting to go on the hike.

"Alright group!"

Counselor Mike and Counselor Juliet clap their hands to gain everyone's attention. Fortunately, the people who want to hike definitely aren't the loudest of the class, making it easy for them to explain the rules— or rule— of the hike.

Stick with the group the whole time. No wandering.

Easy enough, right?

Finally, the group heads out of the campsite to explore the wilderness beyond. I'm beyond excited, more than I let on because I don't feel like giving Devin any reason to rain on my parade.

Aaron and I converse throughout the walk. Once the path starts getting rockier and more difficult to get through, I begin to semi-regret my decision of going on the hike.

"Grab onto my hands," Aaron says as he holds out both hands for me to take. The path requires us to leap over a wide stream of water, which Aaron and Asher crossed over without issue.

"No, I got it."

I jump over the stream, not having a much balance as the others did when the landed. But at least I still landed on my feet.

We continue behind the rest of the group. I noticed we were starting to fall behind a bit after crossing the stream.

"Guys, let's go that way," Asher suggests as he points in the opposite direction the rest of the group is headed. "I'm pretty sure they forgot about us, anyway."

"No!" I shake my head immediately after hearing his suggestion. "We'll get lost, Asher."

"I agree with her," Devin adds. "You're stupid. Come on, let's go."

She walks in the direction of the group and I follow suit. I notice neither Aaron or Asher are walking beside us as we try to catch up with the group.

"What the fuck?" Devin sighs as she turns around, watching the two boys walk in the direction Asher had pointed to.

"What do we do?" I ask, finding myself wishing Aaron and Asher were goody-two shoes like me so they wouldn't pull stunts like this.

"I don't know about you, but I'm just gonna..." She walks in the direction of the boys, who are getting further and further away.

"Devin, you guys are going to get lost!"

She doesn't turn around to face me as she shrugs and waves me off in a dismissing manner. "Don't worry about us. Go back to the group."

Rolling my eyes, I sigh. I look from the group back to Devin, who's about half way to the boys. Annoyed with Devin's stand-offish attitude toward me, I join them instead.

One rule. Just one rule.

I make my way over to the three of them, ignoring the voice in my head telling me that I've made the wrong decision. Oh, well.

"Look who decided to join us!" Asher says with a grin plastered on his face.

I shake my head, crossing my arms in annoyance. Aaron wraps an arm around my shoulder, leaning down close to my face.

"Come on, turn that frown upside down."

I look up to him, realizing a frown is apparent on my face when his expression changes from amused to concerned in a quick second.

"Estella, come on. Live at little," Asher says from beside Aaron.

I halfheartedly glare at him. "I'm fine. I just— What made you guys think this was a good idea?"

Aaron purses his lips in thought. I unwrap his arm from my shoulder and continue walking through the unclear path. The little angel standing on my shoulder shakes her head, disappointed by my impulsive decision to stray away from the large group.

"This is by far the stupidest thing we've ever done," Devin says. "And I wasn't prepared to walk through all of this pokey shit."

I look over to her. She's dressed in light blue mom jeans and a black low-cut tank top with the same Air Force 1s she always wears.

"Guys, this is real advenure," Asher begins. "Alright? What we were doing with the group, that was planned, boring. This is what I like to call, hardcore exploration."

"No, this is actually just really fucking dumb," Aaron replies. "We're lost."

"We aren't lost, Aaron—" Asher takes a look around the woods. "Well, maybe just a little."

I crack my fingers nervously as I spin around. There's no way to tell where we are. Everywhere I look, tall trees block any view of beyond twenty feet.

"What if we get eaten by a tiger or a lion or something?" Devin asks. As much as she tries to hide it, I can tell she's equally as nervous as I am.

"I don't know— we'll sue."

"There aren't any tigers or lions here."

"We'll use Asher as bait."

Devin rolls her eyes at the three very different responses she received from Asher, me, and Aaron.

"There are bears, though," I state slowly, recalling a warning sign I saw on the bus ride as we entered the campsite.

"Alright, whose fucking idea was this?"

Asher throws his hands up dramatically, shaking his head. Devin shoves his chest violently, causing him to stumble backwards.

"What the hell was that for?"

"For being a dumbass!"

"You didn't have to follow after us if you didn't want to!"

Aaron shakes his head. "Shut the hell up. Both of you. We could stand here and argue all day. It's pointless cause we're all lost anyways. So let's keep going."

He continues walking, the rest of the group and I following after him. Silently agreeing that arguing is a waste of time, we walk about fifty feet, none of us talking to one another. We all stop once we hear loud rustling coming from our right side, about twenty feet from where we're standing.

"Do you guys think—"

"Shut up, Aaron." Devin deadpans.

Another rustling sound is heard, this time much closer than the last. I take a step back out of caution. I bump into Asher, who grabs ahold of my sleeve. My heart races in my chest at the possible danger only feet away from me.

"Estella, what do we do if we encounter a bear?" Devin asks in a low voice as she slowly backs away from where the noise is coming from.

"And she knows my name." I gasp.

"Not really the time," she replies.

I know that, but I couldn't pass on the opportunity to remind Devin that she acknowledged me, even used my name in a sentence.

"Guys, it's the fucking group," Asher says as he steps forward, heading toward the noise. "They found us."

My body relaxes when I realize that he's probably right. The chance of encountering a bear in these woods is slim. The counselors have done this plenty of times before; I'm sure they know where exactly the bears inhabit. Plus, bears probably don't like to be anywhere near humans, considering we're more of a threat to them than they are to us. Unless we're incredibly unlucky,—

"Nope, that's a fucking bear."

Aaron pushes me behind him in a swift motion as a giant dark brown bear emerges from the mess of trees it was hiding in. It's about three times my size. The thumping of my heart increases in volume as I stand behind him, frozen in my tracks.

You're not going to die.

You're going to be fine.

We slowly back away with fear as the brown bear makes eye contact with us. Crawling on all fours, it walks toward us at a slow pace, making it seem even more menacing than it already is.

"So what the hell do we do, Estella?" Devin asks again with a shaky voice.

"I don't know! I'm not a— a zoologist, or something, Devin!" I whisper-scream in between heavy, uneven breaths.

Maybe you are going to die.

"You're so damn loud, Devin," Asher whispers. "Shut up."

"I'm going to run like hell."

"Don't run," Aaron replies. "It'll chase you, Dev."

We continue to steadily back away from the bear, taking very small steps to elongate the distance between ourselves and the gigantic animal. I've only seen bears in pictures and on tv shows or movies. I never would have guessed one would be this size in real life.

Another rustling noise is audible beyond the trees. Moments later, a small cub reveals itself from the trees. The large bear finally decides to pay us no mind, instead focusing on the small brown cub making its way toward it. Both bears turn away, wanting no trouble with our incredibly stupid group.

"Should we run? Let's fucking run," Asher says once both bears are much further away from us.

The four of us all run as fast we possibly can the opposite direction. The boys make sure they're a few steps behind Devin and I as we sprint far, far away from the bears. Until we're a safe distance from the creatures, we keep on running.

"I'm never forgiving you guys for this."

Devin pants, placing her hands on her knees as she tries to catch her breath.

"At least we can say we survived a bear attack," Asher replies with a shrug. "Not many people can."

"But it didn't even—"

"Can I have some water?" Devin asks me, cutting me off from speaking.

"You didn't bring your own bottle?"

"If I had brought my own, I wouldn't ask if I could have some of yours."

Under any other circumstance, I wouldn't give her any of my water. But since she looks like she might pass out, I hand it over to her. As she gulps down my water, I turn to Aaron, who's looking around the woods in search of something.

"You see that over there?" He asks, pointing ahead of us.

We look in the direction he has his index finger pointed in, none of us seeing what Aaron is trying to show us. I turn back to him, my eyebrows pulled together in confusion.

"All I see is a bunch of trees," Devin says.

Great observation.

"Yeah, but there's a blue tag on one of them," he replies. "We just have to follow the ones with the tags. That's the path the group is taking."

"You're so smart." Asher smiles as he gives Aaron a pat on the back. "This is why you're my best friend."

We make our way over to the tree that has the blue tag wrapped around the trunk.

"We're gonna be in some deep shit when we find them," Asher says as the four of us continue following the path of trees with blue tags.

I smile, knowing that we surely will be getting in trouble for straying away from the rest of the group. But Asher was right, we have gotten an experience that no other student in our class can say they have. If it weren't for him suggesting we separate from the group, there's little to no chance that I would have ever gotten to see a bear— and its cub— in their natural habitat, right before my eyes.

That's why in this moment, I don't care if my teachers reprimand me. Heck, they can suspend me if they want and I would still be smiling on the inside. Probably not on the outside, though.

-

I sigh as I pick lint off of Aaron's jeans. He has his right leg draped across my lap again on the bus ride back to the school.

"You liked it, didn't you?" He asks me as he sets his phone on his lap.

I furrow my eyebrows. "Liked what?"

"You liked that we separated from the group," he clarifies. "The adrenaline when we ran away from the bear."

I shrug, even though I know that I didn't like it, I loved it. Being in the middle of nowhere with no technology and no guide brought me a feeling I wouldn't be able to describe in words.

"Did you like it?" I ask him curiously.

"I'm not gonna lie," he begins. "I was fucking scared but now thinking back, I'm glad Asher made us separate from the group. The Saturday detention is worth it."

I laugh, nodding my head in agreement. Luckily, the four of us aren't suspended nor were we given any other punishment besides serving a Saturday detention. Considering we broke the one and only rule given to us by the counselors, I would say it's a fair form of discipline. I'd even go as far as to say they let us off easy.

I notice the bus slowing down as Aaron and I continue our conversation. Just as I thought, our bus is entering the school parking lot where I can already see loads of cars, parents waiting for their children to arrive back on campus.

A couple of minutes later, the students are being allowed off of the bus and into the parking lot. I follow after Aaron as we walk down the steps at the front of the bus and go to grab our duffel bags.

"Thank you," I tell Aaron after he hands me my duffel bag from the storage compartment.

He nods. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Estella."

"See you tomorrow."

I turn around, walking away with a smile as I search for Brooke's black Range Rover. I take a spin, looking throughout the entire parking lot. It's nowhere to be seen.

I pull out my phone from the back pocket of my jeans, ready to call Brooke when a familiar white BMW stops right in front of me. The window rolls down, revealing the elusive tight bun and hazel eyes I hardly ever see.

"Mom?"

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