Possibility

Chapter 10 - Uphill

Harry and Zayn were working on setting up their tent when we reached them. All the tents were evenly spread around the campsite, and the closest to mine and Niall's was theirs, so that was our first stop. Sure, the tent wasn't up yet, but it was close.

"How's it going slowpokes?" Niall teased, earning himself a sighting of Harry's tongue along with chuckles from each of them.

"It's going great." Zayn replied as he bent down to pick up the bag of tent pegs. Niall joined them and together they finished setting the tent up.

I was just stood there, watching them; observing Niall with his friends. He wasn't really as different as I'd imagined. The only notably difference was that he seemed to be a bit more relaxed around them than he was around me, which was fully understandable.

"We were thinking about exploring the forest afterwards." Harry informed us, and then raised his finger to point in my direction. At first I thought he was pointing at me, though I clearly had no clue as to why he would've done that, but his next few words made it clear that he had, in fact, been pointing past me. "There's a small trail into the forest down there."

I followed his finger with my eyes and noticed the start of the trail. It was halfway hidden by bushes and various plants, so it looked quite overgrown. It didn't appear to have been used in a while, and it probably hadn't been either. There were some other trails as well, most of which seemed sparser, but for some reason they had settled for that one.

"A walk in the woods, that sounds nice." Niall replied.

The continuation of the conversation caused me to return my attention to them, only to discover their eyes were already on me; watching me expectantly. I stared back at them dumbfounded for a few seconds until I realized their intentions. "I agree with Niall; that sounds nice."

"Then it'll be the four of us and probably some of the others." Zayn remarked and threw a glance at some of the others. "I'll go ask the others if you take care of the bags." He then suggested and gestured to the bags that belonged to the tent and its pieces.

"It's a deal." Harry agreed and gave Zayn the thumbs up.

Zayn immediately set off towards the others whilst Harry and Niall got back to work. I couldn't bear just standing there being useless anymore and made some use of myself by picking up the two small bags that carried the tent pegs; after having asked them if it was okay for me to help them, of course, to which they only chuckled and told me I didn't have to ask.

"So Payson, how did your exams go?" Harry asked all of a sudden, causing me to tense up immediately; unconsciously. I'm sure his intentions were good, but the question still got me a bit agitated. The mention of the word alone got me thinking about the results, or rather the possible results, and that again easily lead to overthinking. I knew he only asked to be polite though, so I tried my best to push the thoughts away.

My first reaction was to look at Niall, who I assumed must have been the informant. But just as quickly as that was done, I looked away from him again. I wasn't sure if he even noticed.

"Okay, I guess. I won't know for sure until I get my results back."

I received a nod in return from Harry, who seemed satisfied with the answer.

I felt like I had to say something else, especially since he had made an effort to talk to me, so I racked my brain for something else to say. It was to no avail; I didn't come up with anything I found passable enough, so I stayed quiet as we finished up.

I caught Niall looking at me once, a glance that almost seemed worried. For what reason, I wasn't sure, and I didn't ask him either. I assumed, sure, but of the possible options that came to my mind, there weren't really any I particularly enjoyed the thought of.