Synonyms For Better

Chapter X - Fish Emulsion Fertilizers and Other Splendors

"WHAT IS THAT awful stank?" 

A girl my age with curly blond highlights in her otherwise straight dark hair and purple contacts in her eyes―she'd said her name was Priscilla or something―wrinkled her nose at me as she looked at me up-and-down. 

The train ride had been three hours long, and once we got off the train, we'd grouped together with the other people (total of nine; ten including Yumi) going on the trek. Once we had gotten off from the train, we started walking along the town and through a forest until we could reach the taxi hubs, after which a taxi would take us to the first site we'd be staying at. But until then, we had to walk through the forest, and there were strange things everywhere. Like, everywhere.

I'd had to dodge: an overly friendly chipmunk demanding snacks; squirrels dropping acorns from above; pinecones scattered like a minefield, and even rope swings left by previous visitors that kept hitting me. Could a girl catch a break?

I thought I had escaped everything, but the forest seemed to have turned into a clown house with random things jump-scaring me. And apparently only for me because everyone else was very much not flinching every five seconds because flowered branches kept whacking them upside the head. Sigh. 

And this time, the jump-scare in question was not as pleasant as a flower branch, unfortunately; I looked down and saw that I was standing right beside a pile of manure (of which animal, who knew). It was the most disgusting pile of dung I'd ever seen, and the smell was unbearable. It was as if a thousand rotten cheeses had decided to have a party in my nostrils. I quickly jumped away from it, then jerked my thumb at it, informing the girl, "That's the awful 'stank'." Priscilla just rolled her eyes, and then carefully walked on, holding on to Finn's arm.

About that. 

As soon as we had gotten off the train, after introducing herself, Miss Priss had latched onto Finn's arm like she was an old piece of sticky tack, or like he would float away if she didn't. The worst part was watching Finn just catch her and flash her a charming smile. I had to watch all this as I pulled my bags with me off the train. It was a wonder I didn't just whack myself in the head with my bag so I could escape this horror in the name of an accidentally-on-purpose self-inflicted concussion. 

Miss Priss was all giggles and hair flips, batting her eyelashes so rapidly I thought she might take off like a helicopter. And Finn, being the guy he was, didn't seem to mind one bit. In fact, he seemed to be enjoying the attention. 

Not that I cared. Duh. 

As we began our long hike, Priscilla turned the trail into her personal drama stage. She kept 'tripping' over the tiniest pebbles and twigs, clutching Finn for support as if the forest floor was some sort of treacherous vegetable grater or something. I swear I saw her stumble on perfectly flat ground and then dramatically fall into Finn's arms like she was in her own k-drama or something. 

And normally I wouldn't have really cared, or even noticed, for that matter. But I was stuck behind them, trudging along, dead last because I'd been busy gaping at a beautiful flower tree until Finn had looked back and tugged me along. Yumi was at the very front, and I absolutely would have loved to walk along with her so that I could hear all the facts about this place. Alas, I was stuck getting scratched by random branches and getting random looks from random girls about random stenches that I didn't have anything to do with. 

Ugh. 

At least Renzo was up there with Yumi, having the time of his life. Jolene had initially started walking with me, and it was fun, but she didn't notice me stop to look at that flower tree and had kept on walking and talking. I mean, I could just ask the two ahead of me to move so that I could make my way back to her because she was turning around and waving at me to join her...