"There are 20 tents. 11 for girls and 9 for boys. In each tent, there will be three students of same genders. You can select your own partners and submit your names to any of the faculty members." Miss. Celine announced and all of us nodded our head.

I wrote my name alongwith Sophia and Emily's and submitted it to Mrs. Dale. After entering our names in the list, she handed us over one tent and also gave us instructions about how to set it up.

Almost an hour later, all the tents were set. We three settled inside and sat down on the ground. Miss. Celine had instructed us to gather in the ground by 2pm so we had the next two hours for ourselves.

The tent was enough for three person. There was a water jug and a small standing fan for each tent which eased up the humidity inside.

After taking a small refreshing nap for half an hour, we three woke up with the sound of alarm and took turns for changing our dirty clothes. The weather was not particularly pleasant today so we decided to go for shorts.

I opted for a plum top with shorts and paired them with brown sandals. Sophia and Emily were dressed in same style, the only difference was the color.

We walked towards the ground where everyone else was assembled. All the boys were busy playing basketball and football while girls were gathered around, gossiping. Not wanting to join Chloe and her minions, we reached a corner and started playing basketball with few boys.

When I was jumping high in excitement, I felt someone's eyes on me. I looked around myself and stopped when my eyes met with Adam. He was sitting in one corner, his eyes zoomed in on me. I blushed profusely, realizing that I was jumping up and down in such small shorts.

I felt bad for him. He didn't have any friend in the school, nor did he talk much. Because of the rumors, everybody at the school ignored him like a plague. That explains why he was sitting in one corner, alone. I wanted to go to him and ask him to join us but couldn't. My ego didn't allow me to.

"Attention students." Mrs. Dale's voice erupted from a distance and all the students rushed towards her.

"For the first activity, we are going to divide you in thirty pairs. All of you will be provided with a jungle map and then you'll distribute in pairs in the jungle to find a treasure chest." she announced and cheers erupted from the crowd.

"The pairs will be selected randomly. Each of you will be assigned a number from 1 to 30 and students with a similar number will be paired up. You are supposed to come back to this same point by 8pm otherwise a search team of four faculty members will be dispatched to find you." she added.

We all excitedly picked up a piece of paper from the jar and checked our respective number.

"5." Emily spoke loudly and Sophia and I checked our number too.

"7." Sophia added.

"17." I claimed. I held my paper up and waited for my partner to find me.

After a moment, Justin ran towards Emily, saying that he was her partner. Sophia grunted when she found out that she was paired up with Chloe. Chloe had same expressions on her face. Even Noah looked troubled because his partner was a guy.

I looked around to find my partner and scrunched my nose when I found a number 17 paper in Adam's hand. He sighed when he realized that we were partners.

"Seems like you are stuck with me." he said in his deep voice.

"Unfortunately." I commented, earning a frown from him.

...

Both of us were slowly heading forwards in the jungle. The dim voices of other pairs could be heard from afar, especially the fighting ones. I looked at Adam who was silently trudging forwards without even appreciating me. With every passing second, it was becoming difficult to keep in pace with him but I tried at least.

"It's so hot in here." I said, pulling the water bottle from my bag. He stopped to look at me and I almost choked on the water when I felt his focused gaze on me.

"Need some." I pulled my hand out and asked.

He took the bottle for me and started drinking its content. I licked my lips as I watched his Adam's apple move with every gulp and the water slowly trickled down his tanned neck.

Damn it. Why does he have to be so hot?

We started moving further. We had been walking for the last half an hour but we didn't see anything extraordinary. Even the view of Adam's ass in front of me was more appealing than the boring surrounding. He was wearing black fitted jeans and a blue-shirt, looking handsome as ever.

I was busy admiring his behind when he stopped suddenly, making me halt in my tracks. I gasped when he started pulling his shirt over his head, revealing his body clad in a thin wife-beater.

God bless my eyes!

"Why in hell are you stripping?" I asked, suddenly feeling more warm than I already was.

"It's hot in here." he said and pulled his shirt back in his bag.

I took another sip of water to wet my dried mouth and started walking forwards. This time, he shifted behind me so that I was the one leading from now on. I could feel his eyes raking over my appearance but I acted like I didn't care and continue moving forwards.

At one point, I bent down to pick up something and I swear I heard him groan.

So he is a human being too. 

When it had been two hours of walking aimlessly, I pulled the map once again to check the direction. We were still many miles away from the treasure and it was getting difficult to find our way. The sweat drops were blinding my eyes, making it hard for me to see clearly.

"Look, there is a lake there." I said excitedly when I looked at it.

"So?" Adam asked, looking more frustrated than he usually looked.

"Let's sit beside it for few minutes. I'm exhausted." I pouted like a child.

"No. It's already getting late." he said and continued walking.

"Fine. You go ahead. I am stopping for few minutes." I grumbled and ran towards the lake.

Pulling off my sandals, I sat down at its brim and dangled my legs in its cold water. After few seconds, I heard footsteps behind me. It was Adam who had followed me anyways.

He sat down beside me and muttered something under his breath. He looked quite masculine in his attire, his muscles were out there for my hungry eyes.

Damn. This jungle is making me horny.

I shook my head to clear these vile thoughts and started speaking, "Are you enjoying this trip?"

He bobbed his head up and down and threw a pebble in the lake. "Are you?" he asked, looking at me.

"It's fine." I said. "I mean I'd prefer if you were a little more talkative and a little less grumpy." Saying this, I chuckled.

"Well, if we are talking about preferences, I'd prefer if you weren't walking in front of me in these really short shorts." he whispered, leaning towards me and my eyes widened.

He stood up to leave but before he could walk forwards, I gripped his wrists. He looked surprised by my move so he did one thing he could do the best, glared.

"Are you sure you aren't gay?" I raised my eyebrows and asked. "Or at least bi?"

Instead of replying, he stepped closer to me so that our chests were almost touching. "Do you really want to ask such things when we are alone in this whole area with nobody to disturb us?"

I gulped when I understood the meaning behind his words.

"Wh.. What do you mean?" I said, stepping back.

He took one step forwards, his eyes still zeroed in on me. The grey in them were holding me captive while his nearness was making butterflies appear in my stomach. I had to make full use of my chest muscles in order to inhale.

With his each step towards me, I took one backwards until...

"Son of a bitch." I cursed when my foot slipped and I ended up in the cold water of lake. After one dive, I resurfaced and coughed to catch my breath. From the far, I heard chuckles coming from Adam. I growled in anger, ready to lunge at him.

With harsh breaths, I swam out of water and Adam pulled out his hand for me. Holding my wrists, he lifted me to the ground and helped me sit on the shore. He bent down in front of me and wiped the dirt off my face with a handkerchief. Throughout the time, he had a teasing smile on his lips.

"Why are you smiling?" I almost shouted.

His smile deepened as he spoke, "It was funny."

"Idiot." I grumbled and brushed the dirt off my shorts. The shirt had become see through because of the water and now, my black bra was peeking out of it. I only realized this when I saw crimson color appearing on Adam's cheeks.

"D.. Do you need my shirt?" he asked, looking anywhere but at me.

I nodded in yes. He pulled his shirt out of his bag and guided me behind a sturdy tree. I slipped out of my wet clothes, leaving only my undergarments behind. After wearing Adam's shirt, I buttoned the front and ran fingers along my wet hair to remove the tangles.

When I appeared from behind the tree, Adam was already searching around. He turned to look at me when he heard the noise of my footsteps. His grey eyes darkened as he stared at me for more than a minute. The temperature of my own body was rising despite my swim in the cold water.

"Follow me." his voice sounded hoarse. I followed him silently without any further interrogation.

Everything was fine until I put my hands in my pocket to find the map but met with my bare legs instead.

"No." I screamed when I realized that the map was in my shorts.

Hurriedly, I pulled the dirty, wet shorts from my dirty, wet bag and searched its pocket. But the only thing I found were small unreadable pieces of paper.

"What will we do now?" I asked, looking at Adam who already looked worried. There were four different paths in front of us and one wrong path meant that we would be lost in this scary jungle.

"Wait for someone to find us." he sighed in a defeated voice and sat down against a tree. I followed him and sat behind him.

"I am sorry." I said in an apologetic voice which he chose to ignore.

We kept seated on the same spot. The sun was starting to set and chilly air was replacing the humid one. I hugged my knees to my chest and rubbed my hands together to create some heat.

Noticing my discomfort, Adam stood up and excused himself. He returned after almost five minutes with few wooden sticks. I watched as he gathered the sticks in the middle and lightened them, letting them produce some heat.

"Thanks." I whispered when he sat down beside me once again. We were sitting so close, my bare legs were almost resting on his and his hand was resting on my thigh. He himself was unaware of his hold on me but I knew very well, so did my fragile heart.

"Adam." I said breathlessly when it became too difficult to stay this close to him without gripping his neck and kissing him passionately. The  atmosphere and the silence, both were making my body hyper aware of his presence.

He looked towards me as a response but his body stiffened when he realized our proximity. My eyes involuntarily moved to his lips and I bit mine without thinking about the consequences.

"I.. I need to... Go." I whispered against his lips, watching as his pupil dilated and his hold on my thigh tightened.

After much hesitation, we both stood up. But the minute I took my first step to leave, Adam stopped me with his hand. His other arm snaked around my waist and he pulled me back to his hard chest. In a torturing pace, he turned me around and before I could speak anything, he leaned down and attached his lips with mine.

_____________________

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