I'm Just A Kid

Chapter 5: Cat Fight

After a while, I decided to leave the dropship and find a place to stay. It was starting to get late, and the sun was sinking lower behind the trees, painting the sky in streaks of orange and gold before slowly disappearing beyond the horizon. The last traces of daylight filtered through the branches, casting long shadows across the camp and making everything look unfamiliar again. It was strange how quickly the place had changed. When we'd first landed, everything had been chaos. People had been stumbling out of the dropship, shouting, laughing, crying, and staring around at the trees as though none of us could quite believe that the ground beneath our feet was real. Now, only hours later, the camp was beginning to take shape.

While I'd been gone, most people had managed to make tents out of whatever materials they could find from the ship. Pieces of parachute fabric had been stretched between trees, sheets had been tied around branches, and anything remotely useful had been turned into shelter. Some of the tents looked surprisingly sturdy, while others seemed as though the slightest gust of wind would send them collapsing into a heap. Others had simply claimed different levels of the dropship and settled there for the night. I'd hoped I wouldn't have to sleep on the ground again, but now that Jasper was inside the dropship, I didn't think it would be a good idea anyway. He was hurt, and I knew it wasn't his fault, but the thought of listening to him groan all night didn't exactly sound like my idea of rest. I felt guilty for thinking it, especially after everything that had happened, but exhaustion had a way of making even kindness feel like work.

I wandered around the edge of the camp, searching for an empty tent. The ground was uneven beneath my boots, scattered with broken branches, leaves, scraps of fabric, and pieces of equipment that had been dragged away from the dropship. Smoke from the bonfire drifted through the air, carrying the smell of burning wood and whatever food people had managed to find. Every time I spotted one that looked promising, somebody appeared from inside or I noticed someone's belongings scattered around the entrance. Apparently, everyone had the same idea I'd had. Nobody wanted to spend the night exposed to the cold, especially after the chaos of the day.

Eventually, though, I spotted one that looked practically empty. There was barely anything inside, and for once I didn't see anyone guarding it, so I figured I'd gotten lucky. I glanced around one more time, just to make sure I wasn't accidentally about to make the same mistake again, but nobody seemed interested in it. With a tired sigh, I stepped toward the entrance.

I stepped through the flap.

The second I did, I heard footsteps behind me.

"What are you doing in our tent?"

I turned around and found three older girls standing there, each wearing the same smug expression. They were watching me like they'd caught me doing something far worse than simply walking into the wrong tent. I immediately realized my mistake. I hadn't exactly stolen their tent; I'd just walked into it without checking first. That was my fault. I could already feel the embarrassment crawling up my neck, made worse by the fact that I was exhausted and covered in dirt from the day.

"I didn't know it was yours sorry," I said, already moving toward the entrance.

I didn't even make it out.

One of the girls stuck her foot out at exactly the right moment.

My boot caught against it.

I went down hard, my palms smacking against the ground as I stumbled through the tent flap. The impact knocked the breath out of me for a second, and I sat there stunned, staring at the dirt beneath me while the world seemed to pause around me. My palms burned from the rough ground. My face felt hot.

Then I heard them laughing.

The sound cut deeper than it should have.

My cheeks burned. I could hear the girls laughing behind me, and something hot and furious twisted in my stomach. It wasn't just the fact that they'd tripped me. It was the way they were looking at me, as though I was nothing more than a little kid they'd found wandering into the wrong place.