After what I had witnessed a few days before, sharing a tent with Hunter on the field trip was the last thing I wanted to do. Still, the trip was obligatory for all students, which was why I found myself dragging my suitcase across the camping site along with the rest of the class.

"Here we are," Hunter announced and ripped open the zipper that kept the tent shut.

We had arrived at the camping site about ten minutes ago and had been sent to move into our tents after a brief assembly.

The tent was red, so the dim light inside was tinted the same color. The tent itself wasn't very big; there was only room for our two sleeping mats and sleeping bags, and a little bit of space on both sides where we could put our backpacks.

"The last time I was in a place with this kind of red lighting there were more girls and they had considerably less clothes on. While I'm okay with guys too, I think it'd only be appropriate if you'd at least take off your shirt," Hunter said, flashing me a smirk while he sprawled lazily on his sleeping bag.

I slumped down on my sleeping mat next to his. There really wasn't much space separating them, no way to escape his lingering gaze. "Are you ever going to stop saying things like that?" I groaned and closed my eyes. "You do realize that I'm straight, right?"

Next to me Hunter chuckled lightly. "That's what I said too, until I kissed a boy and liked it."

"Well, I kissed a girl and I liked it."

"Okay, I get it," he laughed. "We can talk about something you're more comfortable with."

Was he actually being considerate? I opened my eyes in surprise to steal a quick look at him. He was laying next to me, propped up on one elbow while he watched me with an unreadable expression.

"About how much I hate insects for example," Hunter quickly proceeded as the silence dragged on for too long and pointed at the tent opening. "This door stays closed. I do not want to get eaten by bugs tonight."

"Are you serious?" I asked. "You're scared of bugs?"

"Yes," he replied impatiently. "Just don't open that unless you have to."

I nodded and tried not to laugh at the look of actual worry on his face.

Hunter rolled his eyes at me. "Oh, come on. There's nothing funny about that."

"Yeah, there is," I replied and struggled to keep a straight face.

"Cheeky, are we?" Hunter narrowed his eyes at me.

"Never."

"Sarcastic dumbass."

"That'd be me," I grinned.

Before he could answer, the sound of a whistle rang from across the camping site, along with Mr. Smith yelling for everybody to meet at the fireplace.

Hunter and I crawled out of the tent and headed for the fireplace. While he went to sit with his friends, I took my place next to Nate. Emily was sitting with her friends and greeted me with a smile and a short wave.

"Hey, man. How's it going with Hunter?" Nate asked.

"Well, I only had the urge to punch his incredibly straight teeth out around five times in the last few minutes, so that's good, I guess."

"His teeth are the only thing straight about him," Nate commented, grinning from ear to ear.

"Tell me about it."

In the next few minutes the area around the fireplace began to fill with students, until there was no more space on the benches and they had to sit on the grass. On the opposite side of the fireplace I could see Alexis sitting on Hunter's lap, her head resting comfortably against his shoulder. Sean was sitting on the ground in front of him with a grumpy expression.

"Do you think there's something going on between Hunter and Alexis?" Nate asked, intently looking at them.

"I'm not sure," I thoughtfully said. "Sometimes they seem like they're a couple but that'd be weird seeing as he's still sleeping around with half of our school... Maybe they're friends with benefits?"

Nate frowned. "I don't believe that. Alexis doesn't seem like the kind of girl to agree to something like that."

I couldn't hold back an amused grin. "You think? I didn't realize you knew her that well."

"I don't," he admitted. "I'd like to, though. She seems nice."

"Nice," I echoed with a chuckle. "Why don't you just ask her out then?"

Nate shifted around uncomfortably. "I don't think that'd be a good idea. I mean, have you seen her? She could have everyone! Why would she be interested in me?"

I looked over at him, surprised by the distressed tone in his voice. "But you're-"

"Just leave it be," he interrupted me sternly. "I would just make a fool of myself. I don't do relationships anyway."

The teachers spared me an answer to that as they now stepped into the middle of the circle and started talking.

"Silence!" a blond, slim teacher shouted, eyeing every single one of us with her hands on her hips until it was finally quiet.

"Wow," Nate whispered. "I didn't know this was a boot camp."

"I'm Mrs. Hennig," she said. "I'll be the female go-to person for you, girls. If you have a problem, you can come to me." She paused for a moment, waiting for some murmurs to die down. "So, the plan for tonight will be as following: At first you'll have time to explore this camping site. But, and this is the most important rule for the next few days: do not leave the camping site without the permission of a teacher. Do you understand?"

Everyone muttered in agreement until she continued: "Afterwards we'll have dinner...that'll be in thirty minutes, and when that's over we will have a night hike. We don't care when you'll go to sleep, but you aren't allowed to leave your tents after 12 pm. Unless you want to use the bathroom, of course. Are we clear?"

Again everyone nodded. "Good. You're dismissed then."

Nate and I got up along with all the others, but didn't come very far, as Mrs. Hennig suddenly pointed a finger at us. "You and you!" she shouted after Nate and me and beckoned us over to her.

I exchanged a puzzled look with him. Had we done something wrong?

"Yes?" I nervously asked.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not punishing you guys for anything," she said and, to both our surprise, laughed lightly. "I just want to talk about the night hike. It's a tradition that every year, a few students follow the group and scare them when they walk past the old cemetery. Would you guys like to take care of that this year?"

"Uhm, sure," I said after exchanging a quick look with Nate. That actually sounded quite fun. "Will anyone else be with us?"

"Yes. Mr. Smith will be there too, just follow him as soon as the group leaves the camping site." She looked at us, waiting for any more questions. When neither of us said anything, she nodded briefly. "Alright. See you around. And don't go too far with the prank, got that?"

"She really has kind of a sergeant-thing going on," Nate stated with narrowed eyes as soon as she was out of earshot. "Dude, do you know how we can scare them?"

"Jump out of the bushes and scream?"

Nate sent me a blank stare. "The only thing scary about that is your lack of imagination. I have a better plan: How about we lure some people away from the group? They'll be terrified to suddenly find themselves alone."

"Sure, whatever," I laughed.

Nate had always had a thing for scary stuff; he already started putting up the Halloween decoration in the middle of July, so this was clearly his thing. Freaking weirdo.

+++

About two hours and a dinner that consisted of overcooked noodles with tomato sauce later, everyone left the camping site for the night hike. Some of them were carrying flashlights with them. Nate and I had two of them, too, seeing as the sun was about to go down.

"Are you ready, boys?" Mr. Smith asked. His eyes were gleaming with glee for the poor students he'd be scaring tonight.

"Yep," I said. "Where do we have to go?"

Mr. Smith motioned for us to follow him. "I know a shortcut we can take, so we can wait for them at the cemetery."

The walk there took about ten minutes, then we reached the huge gates of the cemetery. Behind it I could see some tombstones, protruding from the graves like fingers reaching for the dark sky.

"What are you waiting for, cowards? Spread out!" Mr. Smith said and laughed a bit as he saw our worried faces. Then he walked past us and disappeared in the dark behind the gates. "Don't let the zombies eat your brains!"

I nudged Nate with my shoulder. "Dude, you're lucky. They won't chase you if they know there's nothing to take from you."

Nate scowled at me. "Very funny, Jules. May the zombies eat you whole."

With that, he followed after Mr. Smith, leaving me to my own devices.

"Rude," I shouted after him. Then I followed them through the gates of the graveyard.

I wasn't particularly scared of cemeteries; I actually didn't mind visiting them, since I was there often. Still, I couldn't deny that being here, alone and in the dark, was giving me chills.

Hurrying past some graves, I looked for a good hiding spot. Eventually, I decided to wait by the small chapel. The others would walk right past it, but if I ducked into an alcove, they probably wouldn't be able to see me and I could choose a victim to scare.

So there I was, waiting with my back pressed against the wall of the chapel, which was still warm from the fading daylight. I glanced at my watch, realizing that if Mr. Smith's calculations were right, the group would be here in only about two minutes.

And it was true: shortly after, I could hear voices coming closer, the excited chattering of the students. I pressed even harder against the wall and hoped they wouldn't shine their flashlights into my direction. I didn't even dare to breathe, not wanting anyone to spot me before I could set the plan into action.

Luckily, the majority of them walked past me without even one of them noticing me lurking around in the shadows. After them followed only small groups of people, others were walking all on their own. These were the ones I was looking out for, easy targets that I could attack without anyone else noticing.

I actually really started to get into this, I realized, as I was watching my unknowing classmates nearing me. Just three more people were to come by and I would have to decide who of them I should pick.

Shortly before they reached my spot, one of them stopped and bent down to tie their shoe laces. The others didn't wait but kept on walking.

This was my opportunity. Whoever the person was, they were alone and unaware of my presence. In the dark I couldn't tell who it was, but from their build I suspected it was a boy, barely taller than me.

I waited patiently, until he was done tying his shoelaces and stood upright again. He advanced quickly, walking in long strides, until he was right next to my hiding spot.

Taking a deep breath, I reached for him, pressing one hand over his mouth to muffle his surprised outcry, and pulled him into the chapel.

The darkness inside was pitch-black and all-consuming, so it was impossible for me to recognize my victim as I pushed him up against the wall.

That was until it suddenly hit me: his smell. I knew this aftershave.

I blinked into the darkness until my eyes adjusted, only to see that I was right. It was Hunter, blinking back at me in surprise.

"Jules?" he asked. His voice echoed loudly through the chapel, bouncing off the walls around us. By now my eyes had adjusted well enough to the darkness to be able to distinguish the confused look on his face.

A red hot wave of embarrassment suddenly took a hold of me. "What?" I asked, my voice oddly high-pitched. "No. I'm... the cemetery gardener."

"Okay, as much as I appreciate that you want to make out with me in this cozy little chapel, I'd like to know the reason," he snickered.

"I don't want to make out with you!"

Hunter's eyes travelled to where my hands were still resting on his shoulders, pushing him against the brick wall behind him. I pulled them back immediately, as if I had burnt my fingers on him.

"Are you sure?" he whispered in my ear, his voice dark and throaty.

Where his breath fanned against my skin, flames seemed to linger. I felt my face heating up and was suddenly glad about the darkness as it hopefully concealed the blushing of my cheeks.

"Yes," I said, but it came out sounding weak, shaky.

"You don't seem so sure," Hunter purred. His body pressed even harder against mine.

My brain seemed to have a meltdown, the only thought was the question what was happening to me, repeating over and over again, like a broken record.

"In all my career as a cemetery gardener I've never been molested like this," I heard myself saying. I wished for the ground to open up and swallow me whole the second the words left my mouth.

Hunter burst into laughter immediately. I awkwardly stepped back, giving him enough space to walk past me.

"God, Jules, you really are kinda cute," he said before making his way to the door, stepping outside into the chilly night.

I expected him to just leave and head back to camp, but was surprised as the door suddenly swung open again.

"Jules," he said, in a strangely alarmed sounding voice. "I think we might have a problem."

"What are you talking about?"

Hunter gestured for me to follow him. I did, until we were standing outside on the graveyard again. Everything was quiet, completely abandoned.

"Everyone has left," I realized. "I have no idea how to get back to the camping site... Do you?"

Hunter's only reply was a quiet groan and a shakingof his head before he stomped off into the general direction of the cemeterygates, not looking to see if I was following.