𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗗. a true story

⁀➷ 8- CAPE CORAL

FRIDAY — 5 / 4 / 23

"Morning, Mel."

"Gmornmnm," I mumbled back sleepily.

"You sure you're awake?"

"Mhm," I sighed. "Why are they making us go so early... it's literally only 5 am."

I had gotten up at 4 just to shower, change, and put on some sunscreen and blush. Reese's dad  dropped both of us off at the school, where we went straight into the gym to meet up with our friends.

"Go first Reese, I'll be there in a second," I said to him, noticing Lucas. I headed over to where he was and grabbed his arm gently.

"Hey," he said, smiling the second he saw me.

His friends started making noises and teasing us. "Damn Lu, you better gimme some of that rizz."

"Oh, shut up, Max." Lucas turned to me. "You know what bus you're on yet?"

I nodded. "Jenna texted me this morning. We're on Bus 2."

Lucas groaned sadly. "Dang it, I'm on Bus 1."

The sudden sound of a whistle made me jump. "Alright, y'all get with your groups and chaperones if you haven't already! We'll be loading buses in a bit," Mrs. Gilbert, the head teacher for our trip, called.

I said goodbye to Lucas and went over to my friends, who were having a competition on who could do a better impression of Mrs. Gilbert's thick southern accent.

---

Reese and I spent the 3 hours until the first stop watching TikToks and rating the contestants on Love Island while snacking on all the junk food we'd packed.

It was almost 9 am when we stopped and met up with the chaperones- for us, Jenna's mom and Oliver's dad- for breakfast. The groups had to be three students of the same gender per chaperone, girls with moms and boys with dads, which was perfect since we were an even number without Jake. It was more chaotic than imaginable inside the small McDonald's- especially with over a hundred people.

Eventually we loaded back onto the buses and before we knew it, another 3 hours had gone by and we were pulling up in front of the hotel.

"Drop the room number in the group chat!" Jen called to Oliver as we got separated in the crowd.

"You girls ready? How was the bus ride?" Mrs. Thomas asked. "The elevators are getting crowded, so let's hurry over there."

We got onto the fancy ass glass elevator up to our 2 bed hotel room that had a perfect view of the pier.

"Oliver, Reese, and Evan are in 614," I said, reading Oliver's text. "Also, we're supposed to be down at the lobby by 6 for the riverboat cruise."

"That gives us like, what, 4 hours to eat and look around the town?" Maddie said whilst rummaging through her suitcase. 

"Wow, Mads, your math is improving!" Jenna joked, earning a pillow smack from Madelyn.

---

Since Jenna's mom and Oliver's dad knew each other, our groups went around together. The town had a really cute, old-timey kind of charm to it, and strolling down the boardwalk and pier was really nice. Though for me, it definitely brought back memories from California, and I could tell it was going through Reese's mind too.

Before it was time to head back, we stopped at a little shop to get ice cream. Inside, there were already people from our school- I wasn't surprised, since we'd been seeing them all over the place.

"Yo Jack, what's good," Evan chuckled, dabbing up with one of the guys. Evan and Jack and the other guys started yabbering on about God knows what.

"Hey Melody," a sudden voice said, making me look up.

There stood a guy with curly blond hair and brown eyes- 5'7, maybe?

"Um, hi, do I know you?" I asked, trying to figure out if I knew him or not.

He smiled. "I'm Cooper Thorne. We had Bio together last year?"

"Oh!" I mumbled awkwardly. "That's where I've seen you."

An alarm started to ring, and Mrs. Thomas took out her phone. "We'd better get going."

Cooper's group tagged along with us, and I couldn't help but feel kind of uncomfortable in his presence. Maybe it was because I was dating Lucas, or maybe it was because he kept complimenting me- I didn't know.

Thankfully though, Lucas called at just the right time.

"Hey Lu."

"Hey, are you on the way back?"

I nodded. "Mhm. Why?"

"I just really want to see you in that dress you showed me," he said giddily, which made me laugh.

"Okay, meet at the lobby near the duck-shaped chair?"

"Bet."

I smiled at his cuteness.

"You're dating Lucas Jones?" Cooper asked the second I hung up.

I jumped a little, forgetting he was there. "Uh, yeah."

"Oh." He was silent for a second. "Don't you know, though?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"He's a player, you know. Probably doesn't even care about you at all."

Um. Wow, straightforward much?

I rolled my eyes. "I honestly don't give a shit. It's not even true. And- maybe mind your own business?"

Cooper shrugged. "Just tryna help you out. You'll find out he's nothing but a prick."

"Whatever you say," I muttered, speeding up so I could catch up with Evan and Reese.

erm actually cooper youre the only prick i see-

also sorry for the extremely late update, i kinda forgot this existed LMAO