dear heart

the camp

When Pete had gotten off the bus, his neck was surprisingly not as sore as he thought it would be. He'd figured he would wake up with an ache in his neck given how bumpy the bus ride was, but oh wells, he is relieved that he's feeling better than ever after a short nap.

The group was led to the campsite where they will be staying for the next few days. The tents had already been pitched with name tents hung on the front. Pete quickly found his' and Vegas trailed behind. Their tent was not too far away from Arm & Pol's which was such a relief to Pete.

Pete went into the tent to put his bags, bumping Vegas on the way out who was about to do the same.

"O-ow." Pete groaned in pain as his head came colliding with Vegas'.

"You okay?" Vegas instinctively reached out to rub Pete's forehead where he had bumped into, before muttering a 'sorry' apologetically.

"No worries." Pete was quick to brush it off, trying to suppress the red blush on his cheeks as he pushed past Vegas to get out of the tent.

Unknowing to Pete, his best friends had witnessed the entire incident and were excited seeing a flustered Pete hurrying out of the tent.

"Is it just me or does it seem like you two know each other?" Pol questioned Pete, who'd eagerly shook his head in response.

"Why would we? I barely speak to him." A lie. Don't get Pete wrong, it wasn't that he's ashamed to be friends with Vegas. He just wanted to save himself from his best friends' questioning and the entire school's judgment.

Pol looked at Arm, and Arm stared right back at Pol - clearly unconvinced and positively certain Pete was hiding something. They just didn't know what, yet.

"Come on and gather everyone." The camp leader, Porsche, hollered for the entire faculty to gather right at the front for a quick briefing.

"Our first activity for the day is high element." Porsche explained. "You will complete this task in groups of 4 and the winning team will get an attractive prize." Porsche made sure to emphasize on the prize, and the crowd instantly grew excited hearing about the reward.

"Grouping is entirely up to you." Porsche continued. "But if I were you, I'd choose wisely. This is, after all, a competition."

With that, Porsche allowed the students to choose their team members freely and it wasn't a surprise to Pete that many came running up to him asking to be in the same team. But, it really wasn't because he was good at high elements. If anything, he was terrible at it. Did he ever mention he was afraid of heights?

Oh but his tent mate, Vegas was the star of the show. The girls literally went past him like he was invisible and straight to Vegas where the true "prize" is. Vegas shot them his charismatic smile as usual, while Pete could only watch in disgust.

Surprisingly, Vegas seemed to have noticed him.

"Pete, do you have a teammate in mind?" Vegas asked like he was genuinely concerned about his opinion and for some reason, it made Pete feel just a tad happier knowing he wasn't transparent.

The truth is, Pete really wanted Pol and Arm on their team but before he could say so, it seems like his best friends had already found another pair so Pete replied Vegas with a reluctant 'no'.

"What about me?" Achara smiled sweetly at Vegas but it made Pete feel sick in the stomach seeing how pretentious she was. He was quite sure she was just scowling at him a few moments back.

Vegas didn't refuse nor did he accept, like he was waiting for Pete to say something. Pete didn't like Achara, not like he liked anybody really, but a glare from her was a warning that he had to say 'yes' regardless even if he was so unwilling.