Down In The Forest

Chapter 12

Josh's P.O.V.

Wow, Debbie really does talk a lot. She's talked almost non stop for the whole of lunch. Not that I particularly mind, it's just that I haven't said a word to Tyler since we sat down and he's looking kinda down about it, but she keeps talking and I'm not very good at saying 'no' or 'stop' to people since I think it'll make me look rude. I know that wanting to talk to your best friend isn't rude but hey, that's just the way I am, always obsessing over what people think of me. At the end of lunch one of the staff escorts us to the main hall where we started.  Even on the way there Debbie keeps talking. I look over again at Tyler, who's walking by himself a few metres back from us. I desperately want to talk to him, but I can't; well I could but... I can't. He could at least try and join in the conversation and talk to me. Wow, I'm blaming this in Tyler now am I? It's not at all his fault, it's completely mine because I'm not strong enough to break away from the conversation I'm trapped in. The conversation which I haven't been listening to for a while. 

"Don't you agree?" Debbie says, bringing me back into the real world. 

"Oh...uh...yeah." I don't know what I'm agreeing with. Hopefully nothing too important. When we arrive at the hall we're instructed to sit down. Tyler sits between Brendon and Melanie, so there's no room for me to sit next to him. I sit next to Jenna and Debbie instead for some reason. The same member of staff tells us we have half an hour to let our food go down and relax before resuming our activities. Finally I get some time to talk to Tyler and make things less awkward. 

"Bye Josh," Debbie says as she walks off with Jenna.

"Bye." I walk over towards Tyler but as soon as he sees me he starts a conversation with the rest of the guys; not including me. He's doing it on purpose and I don't blame him. It feels horrible. When we finally split up we both walk in silence up to our room. So much for making it less awkward. If anything it was even more awkward than before. As I walk past one of the windows just outside our room I notice another coach outside in the parking lot.

"Hey Tyler look," I say.

"Oh, so you do still acknowledge my existence," he replies. He said it as a joke but I could tell it had upset him. He sounded a bit annoyed as well. I feel guilty.

"Yeah... sorry about that. Debbie talks a lot and..."

"Whatever," he interrupts quietly.

"OK," I say almost whispering. I unlock the door to our room. I have no idea what we're going to do for half an hour, probably just watch TV in awkward silence. 

"So... what should we do for half an hour then?" I ask, trying to ease the tension. He shrugs.

"Don't know." He replies. I go over to the window next to my bed to see if I can see what's going on outside. The coach is filled with kids from another form in our year. I don't remember them telling us other people were coming. Also, if there's only 20 rooms, where are they going to stay? All the rooms have been taken up by students, staff and teachers. Unless there was anther building which there probably was as thirty more students plus three teachers still need to be accommodated. 

"Do you remember the teacher's saying something about other kids coming here as well?" I ask.

"No. Maybe I wasn't listening." He replies. His sentences are getting longer which is good.

"Do you know what we're doing next?"

"No." Back to awkward silence again. Great, only 25 minutes left. We spend that extra time watching TV in quiet, only breaking the silence 2 or three times; mainly by me. At least he knows I'm making an effort. Finally the time is up.