Sam & Penny Short-Stories *English*

CALL OF THE WILD - Half-time Summary

Sam slept restlessly that night and woke up several times. Every time Penny's face was the first thing he saw and every time he carefully placed his hand on her forehead to check that she hadn't caught a fever after all.

So he did it again when dusk fell and placed his hand gently on her forehead. His fingertips brushed against her hair, which had come loose from its braid and was now falling over her face. He gently stroked it back. As carefully as he could, he slid his hand over her cheek, unable to stop himself and wishing he could do this every morning.

Then she opened her eyes, so suddenly that he froze and looked into her eyes, frantically searching for a sign that she was uncomfortable with his touch, his closeness. But to his surprise, only a gentle smile appeared on her face.

"What are you doing?" she whispered to him so as not to wake anyone. It was still quiet in the camp.

"I just wanted to make sure you didn't get a fever overnight," he told her quietly, his heart skipping with joy for a moment because she was still smiling at him instead of turning away in embarrassment or pushing his hand away.

The next moment they were startled by a loud clatter and they saw Moose banging the pots together on the way to the lake and singing with Tom their new 'Wild Men' song that they had created yesterday. Sam groaned in annoyance as he fell back again and Penny followed suit. She turned her face to him a moment later when she thought she felt his gaze on her and realized that she hadn't been wrong. "Sorry. I... And your hair was just... I couldn't resist. I mean, I wanted to..." Sam then stammered embarrassedly.

"It's okay, Sam," she interrupted with a smile and turned to him, placing a hand on his that was resting on his chest. "It was nice to be woken up like that... by you," she replied, smiling sheepishly and felt her cheeks begin to burn again. She couldn't say where she got the courage from, all she knew was that she had dreamed about him all night and his behavior towards her convinced her that her friends might be right after all.

Sam smiled happily and wanted nothing more in that moment than to turn to her and kiss her. There wasn't much left to do anyway. She was so close to him. But then Moose and Tom came back and took them away from the moment, loudly wishing everyone good morning.

The breakfast was bland, as always. Yesterday they hadn't been able to find a berry bush in the swampy area, so they had nothing to spice up, but they all grumbled and resigned themselves to their fate. The anticipation of finally getting back home only grew.

As soon as they had packed up their things and set off again, groups quickly formed again, as was always the case. One group was still wondering what kind of animal had made the noises last night. The other group shared the torment they had endured on this hike in the form of sore muscles and itchy mosquito bites. Sam led the way with Malcolm as they wondered if everything was okay in Pontypandy and what they might have missed. Penny would occasionally meet one group or the other and briefly join in their conversations, but she paid more attention to Elvis and Ellie, who seemed to have changed today. They were in such good spirits that it almost made you feel sick, considering they were on a 150 mile hike that didn't really make sense to anyone. But they joked and flirted with each other so openly that it often made them smile. She wondered why no one else noticed that the two of them had something going on and whether she would have checked if she hadn't been able to identify the unmistakable noises last night. Nevertheless, she was happy for her friends. This trip was really more than interesting, she thought more than once and wondered what else this trip would reveal to her.

"Oh my God, I must have a thousand blisters on my feet," Ellie complained that evening as she sat down on a stone to immediately take off her shoes and massage her feet.