The White Lie

Chapter 6

An hour later and we all had our tents set up to surround our makeshift camp kitchen with a space left for a large bonfire. Austin, Blake, Sienna and Scarlet had wandered off to find some sticks and wood to get our fire going. While they did that, Indie began to unpack some food that we could eat for dinner, while Alexander, Nate, Kai and Alice had begun to drag out some old deck chairs to set up around the campfire for everyone to sit on. Before going to help them, I stood back and admired our handy work. In an hour we had set up four tents. Indie and I were in the smallest, a quaint and cozy two man tent, set up alongside the large three man tent that was going to be shared by Alice, Sienna and Scarlet. Next to them a four man tent had been set up to inhabit Kai, Blake and Austin. I chucked softly to myself as I eyed it, while the tent was spacious enough to accommodate four average sized people, I wasn't sure it was spacious enough to accommodate three overly tall young men. That is going to be a tight squeeze. The last tent set up a few metres from the four man tent was a three man tent in which Nate and Alexander were going to be staying in. I knew Indie would prefer to be sleeping in the same tent as Nate, but because she had sprung the new additions to our trip on us very last minute, I had guilted her into staying in the same tent as me. This was our trip in the first place, I wasn't about to let her ditch me for her boyfriend. Besides, where would I sleep if they shared a tent? My butterflies went wild at the thought of having to share a tent with Alexander. Yeah, I'm definitely glad Indie is sharing with me. It's not that I wasn't confident with boys, I could be, but I definitely wasn't a sleep-in-a-tent-together-on-the-first-day kind of girl.

I turned away from the tents, going to help set out the deck chairs just as the wood gathering group returned. Once all the chairs were out and the wood piled in the middle of the clearing, everyone dropped into a seat around the pile of logs that Blake was trying to light. Once the fire was lit, it was as though the mood changed. It finally felt relaxing. This is what this trip is meant to feel like.

I settled back in my pale blue, rickety deck chair and felt the tension in my shoulders slowly drain away. Breathing in the mountain air made me feel as though no matter what was thrown at me, I would be okay. I would always have the mountains to return to. I glanced around the campfire taking in the sight of our first night of the celebratory road trip. Indie and Nate were off in the makeshift kitchen cooking some sort of tinned food for all of us for dinner, my stomach grumbled at the sight. Just to my right Sienna and Alice were deep in conversation and through the flickering flames I spied Alexander and Austin also in the middle of a discussion. Next to them, Scarlet was settled down with Kai and Blake and I could see the boys laughing heartily as Scarlet told them an animated story. I snapped out of my observations and turned to the girls next to me.
"I know, I just can't wait, I've applied to live on campus, but apparently it's really hard to get a place there because there are so many students."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. For art school I'm hoping to get a share apartment."
My stomach dropped, and my good mood was sucked away almost instantly. University. All the stress I felt draining from my shoulders earlier, was suddenly stacked back on. Here my friends were discussing university and I wasn't even accepted into one.
Sienna and Alice turned to me.
"So Reece, have you and Indie researched apartments in the city?"
I laughed nervously, my eyes flickering between my friends. Say something!
"Um, not yet but I'm sure we will soon! I mean, we only just found out that we got in. We've got plenty of time." I blurted out.

Alice and Sienna nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah good point." Sienna mused. "You're so lucky you and Indie are going to universities so close. I'm not going to be near anyone!" she moaned. Out of the group, Sienna was the only one moving interstate. She'd worked harder than any of us during our final year and had just been accepted into the best medical school in Australia.