Lost Hope

Chapter Five

"Everyone collect a fishing rod and net each. We'll all walk together to the lake. Is that understood?" Rebecca asks the eight of us.

We all groan and mutter in response, all seemingly in the same mood after being forced by our guardians to attend.

I stand in the corner, isolated from everyone and with my arms folded against my chest. I scan around the people in the room and think to myself: What am I doing here? How will this help?

I look to the car park and contemplate driving home, but then I remember what I said to my dad. I can't handle the thought of letting them all down again.

After picking up the equipment from the front desk, we all stroll to the lake where we set up in different positions and refuse to communicate.

"Right, time to put you all into pairs," Rebecca announces, causing us to moan even more. "You only have yourselves to blame. I gave you plenty of opportunity to speak to one another. Finn, pair up with Benny. Isla, you go with Natasha."

While she pairs the others in the group, I make my way over to the girl with dark ginger hair that's been thrown up into a messy bun. She glances up at me with emotionless eyes, but doesn't speak a word as I take a seat beside her.

I'm glad she doesn't speak. It means less opening up and less chance of being hurt again.

"How are you getting on?" Rebecca asks from behind us, making both me and Natasha gasp.

"Fine," I respond.

"Nat?"

"Yeah, fine," she mumbles.

Accepting defeat, Rebecca sighs and walks off to bother the next pair who look as though they're about to plummet themselves into the water.

"I think something's nibbling on your bait," I inform Natasha, pointing to her line.

She shrugs her shoulders and refuses to express any form of interest. "I'll let it eat in peace."

I nod my head in approval. "Who forced you to come here then?"

"My boyfriend," she scoffs. "Said it would be good for me to get out the flat. What about you?"

"My parents. They think it'll be a good idea to meet people who are like me."

Natasha expresses a knowing grin as a chuckle escapes her lips. "So glad I don't talk to my parents anymore."

"Don't get along with them?"

"Nope. Never have. As soon as I turned seventeen, I was out of there. I sofa surfed for a year or so until I met my boyfriend. My parents didn't care in the slightest." Pain radiates in her face as she opens up about her past. "If it weren't for them, I wouldn't be here right now."

"So your boyfriend took you in?"

She nods.

"He seems like a good person," I assume.

And then she laughs slightly, but it's not a real laugh, it's filled with pain and sorrow. She turns to look at me with slightly narrowed eyes. "Haven't you figured it out yet? There's no good people in my life."

"Why are you with him if he's not good?"

Natasha shrugs again before she pulls out a cigarette and lights it. "I need somewhere to live. He needs a sense of control."

"And you're that sense of control?" I ask, only growing more and more concerned for this woman I hardly know.

Natasha lifts half a smile. "I'm good at pretending."