Page 23

By the time we break for dinner, my calves are screaming foul obscenities at me for being so out of shape.

I’m used to walking, but not this much and not this long.

And certainly not while lugging enough supplies to last a week.

Not to mention the backpack straps that I’m convinced have permanently disfigured my shoulders and the fear that when I attempt to peel my socks off, they’ll have crusted to my heels with blood.

At least I’m not the only one patting down my pockets—I’ve caught Tayla once and Kiara twice and, combined, Radhika and Keiffer make nine. The only one who seems unbothered by being totally cut off from civilization—and, frankly, toilets—is Evan.

So instead, I go analog and tell my thoughts to the forest.

Hey, creepy tree that looks like it has a face. Squatting to pee is an indignity that makes me so tense that I swear the urine traveled back up my urethra. Also, if you do, in fact, have a face, don’t look, ’kay?

Random bag of potato chips stuck on that swinging tree branch, you might find this funny since Pringles are basically a cousin of yours.

Keiffer had pizza-flavored Pringles and asked to swap me for my sour cream and onion, which is obviously the superior flavor.

Can you believe he polished off my entire can? Ugh, boys.

Decayed remnants of a bird, you’re dead so you don’t care, but which one of her exes do you think Kiara wants to get back with?

And should she really be thinking about romance at a time like this?

I mean, her life hangs in the balance, as everyone keeps telling me.

Maybe Tayla should tell her ‘no distractions.’

“I’m so hungry I could even go for that horrible fiber granola bar Evan was eating earlier!” Keiffer exclaims as we find a good place to stop for the night, lowering his backpack on the grass. “I’m ravenous.”

“Even after all those Pringles?”

My pack joins his far less gracefully, since I stagger with the sudden change in my center of gravity. Sensation rushes to my shoulders with the backpack straps’ removal, a specific misery that people who wear bras would know but ten times worse. I almost want to check my shoulders for indents.

Keiffer blushes. “Sorry about that. I don’t eat a lot of junk food usually. Gotta stay in shape.”

I eye his lean physique. Defined, sturdy muscles.

Powerful legs capable of tackling and running across fields.

Except for the baby stache, which is very much not my thing, he’s still the same boy I was into in ninth grade: hot, kind, funny, unashamed to be vulnerable.

And unlike me, he doesn’t seem tired at all, which I envy, but he also willingly denies himself chips, so now I’m less envious.

“I can pitch the tents,” says Kiara, “since I can’t cook to save my life.

” She either ignores or doesn’t see Tayla’s visible flinch at the reminder that her life is, in fact, in need of saving.

“Bee Outdoors’s customers sometimes want us to show them how to use the equipment, so I can do it in my sleep,” she explains.

Tayla takes the last swig of her water and shakes a couple of drops into her mouth. “I’ll take the bottles and see if I can find a water source.”

In addition to everything else we needed, we all have pricey water bottles from Bee Outdoors that will purify our drinking water. They work much like a French press, flushing out sediments and contaminants from fresh water, and the activated carbon cartridges neutralize flavor and odor.

“Radhika and I will collect firewood,” says Keiffer. “I can slap together a sandwich at home, but I haven’t spent a lot of time cooking, so I’ll contribute in other ways. I do have powdered eggs and six cans of baked beans in my pack, though, if anyone wants to whip something up?”

“You were carrying cans on your back all day?” I’m horrified. Or impressed. It’s hard to tell.

He shrugs. “I had to bring enough for everyone. Besides, we need the protein.”

“And beans were on the list you sent, Nova,” says Tayla, a tad snidely.

“When I thought it was just me and Kiara carrying one can each,” I bite out. “If I’d known you were coming, I would have added antacid to the list.”

“Ouch.” Her tone is mocking. “Do you always have to be in control, Nova?”

“Do you always act like a jealous girlfriend, Tayla ?”

“Stop flirting,” says Radhika, once again showing a surprising amount of fearlessness. Tayla and I both recoil. “Kiara, put a thirty-minute timer on your watch? I will, too. If we’re not back by then—”

“Start a search party and possibly get lost ourselves?” Evan smiles beatifically. “Of course we would. Leave no member of the Fellowship behind. Good idea on the name, Nova. Every quest needs a name.”

Oh, this is a sweet moment. I’m tired and cranky but now oddly touched, too.

“I mean, preferably don’t get lost,” says Radhika. “Actually, maybe don’t come looking for us. I don’t think I trust any of you to mount a rescue.”

Not such a sweet moment after all. Sadly, this makes more sense.

“Finally someone says something sensible.” Tayla laughs, sounding genuinely amused. She and Radhika grin like they’re sharing the joke. The camaraderie is such a foreign look on Tayla that I blink, once again wishing for my phone so I can commit it to my camera roll for posterity.

“And I’ve already got my best chance for protection and rescue with me.” Radhika clings to Keiffer’s arm, looking up at him with heart eyes.

“Aw, babe.” He beams. “Back at ya. No one else I’d rather be stranded with.”

Blink, blink, blink. “You’re aware he’s a giant scaredy-cat, right?” I ask.

I’m not even trying to be rude, it’s just…come on. It’s Keiffer. The boy jumped in the literal air when we heard the piercing shriek of a peregrine falcon a mile back, and don’t even get me started on his petrified expression when Tayla asked him how he felt about wolves and bears and foxes.

He shoots me a dejected look.

I flash my palms at him in pseudo apology. “Sorry, dude, just calling it like I see it.”

“We might encounter a black bear, but I know what to do,” says Radhika.

“Look nonthreatening, hold our ground, and make a lot of noise to scare them off. I’ll probably, like, hop on Keif’s shoulders since I’m a shrimp compared to this stud.

” She flutters her lashes at him. Blech.

Then she raises her arms over her head and waves, showing us how she’ll scare off the bear.

It looks a little like the cheerleading routine she led in the pep rally last week.

“A-plus plus!” says Kiara. “And don’t forget the bear spray.”

Tayla makes a face. “ Must you fawn over him, Radhika?”

“What should Evan and I do?” I hurriedly ask before they can continue talking about bear protocol.

“You can help Kiara with the tents?” suggests Evan. “I’ll start dinner prep.”

“Great, everyone has their job,” says Tayla, and then she officiously claps her hands together. “Get a move on, people!”

It sets my teeth on edge. Instinctively I want to rebel against her leadership but don’t have a good reason to. It doesn’t help that everyone jumps to do what she says.

As half our group scatters, Kiara tilts her head, beckoning me to follow.

Part of the reason we chose this place to stop is the ground is level enough to set up all our tents, and Kiara and I get to work clearing away rock and twig debris.

After a day of walking, the bending hurts our backs, but then we’re upright again, checking the trees for damaged branches so nothing falls on our unsuspecting tents during the night.

The clearing is a little ways off the path, but we can find our way back easily enough.

Not for the first time, my fingers roll over the smooth green aventurine bracelet Petra gave me. So far, the four-leaf clover has done its job. Nothing awful befell Kiara today. It’s a win.

“Your exes are all kind of shitheads, aren’t they?” I ask conversationally as she drops to her knees to unzip our packs. “Like, it’s just mean to tease poor Keiffer.”

“Pot, meet kettle.” She looks up at me through her lashes. “You totally got a kick out of it just now.”

“I didn’t!”

A knowing look.

“Okay, fine,” I relent. “I did, but not that much.”

“I mean, if you think about it, it’s no wonder we sometimes have friction,” Kiara says, ripping things out of plastic with a pink pocket knife she’s taken off a keychain. It’s been swinging off her backpack all day, cute and lethal, the exact shade of cotton candy.

I’m content to watch her. “Because they all dated you?”

The knife stops. “What? No. Because their personalities are so different. You must have noticed.”

“Hard not to,” I quip. “If we were in a teen movie, a voiceover by probably, like, Kristen Bell, would spend the first five minutes explaining how you, Tayla, and Radhika are the preppy cool girls who rule our high school with benevolent but iron fists, Keiffer’s the hottest athlete to ever athlete, and Evan is the floater who gets along with everyone because they’re artistic and have that indeterminate je ne sais quoi. ”

She scrunches her face. “Uh, Nova. Aren’t the queen bees in those movies always really mean?”

I flush. Or I would if my face wasn’t already undoubtedly red. I sit cross-legged next to her, accepting some bendy plastic rods she hands me and hoping she doesn’t expect me to know what to do with them. “I don’t see you as a stereotypical mean girl, though. For what it’s worth.”

“Oh, so I am a mean girl, just not a stereotypical one.” Her eyes crinkle with mirth. “Got it.”

I huff. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it.”

She taps her chin. “Hmm, do I, though? You’re not exactly easy to read, Nova.”

“Hey, I’m practically an open book compared to some people.”

“So if I ask you a question, you’d answer honestly?”

“Y-yes?” I clear my throat.

“What’s your problem with me?”

She sounds genuinely curious, but I’m automatically defensive. “I don’t have one,” I tell her.