18. BEFORE
"Honestly, I don't even know why they bother."
Grumbling some more incoherent words to himself, Matt stuffed the last of the few books he'd decided to take on the family camping trip into his grey duffel bag. Adam smiled. By 'few' he knew that Matt had forcefully tried to stuff a large portion of his book collection into his bag. He wondered if it was worth asking the other boy if he'd remembered to pack any clothes.
"Oh, quit bitching." Adam grabbed a stray red t-shirt lying next to him and tossed it to Matt, who had only just begun to reach out for it when the t-shirt hit him squarely on the chest and fell flat on the floor. He rolled his eyes as Adam laughed. "Honestly," Adam continued, "it's not going to be that bad."
"You don't know what my parents are like." Matt sighed loudly in frustration as he zipped the bag up with a lot more force than was needed. "Mum's going to wreak havoc trying to stuff as many jam sandwiches as she can into any bag that has space and dad – oh god, he'll drive us both mad in the car singing the Beatles. You know how much I hate the Beatles. Terrible. Horrible. Mediocre." He groaned as he lifted the duffel bag off his bed and slammed it down on the floor, startling Adam, who let out a small shriek.
"Always so dramatic." Adam shook his head, his lips curling upwards into an amused smile. "It's a wonder why you didn't pick Drama for GCSEs. You'd have nailed it."
"Drama's so gay, man." Matt didn't notice Adam flinch.
"I just don't understand," he continued. "Why can't you come? Your mum's always let you come camping with us before."
"Er, yeah, well." Adam shrugged quickly, hoping it seemed nonchalant. "I – I dunno. We've just been, erm, busy, I guess. With stuff."
"Church stuff?" Matt raised an eyebrow. Adam didn't look up.
The other boy flopped down on his bed and breathed out tiredly as he ran a hand through his messy mop of hair. "You know," Matt said, "it's going to be hell without you there with me for three days. Three whole days without Adam Fernandes. I don't think I could stand it."
Adam's head bobbed up quite suddenly and he beamed at Matt in a way he hadn't really seen him do for weeks now.
"Really?" he asked, his voice so hopeful it almost made Matt want to grab his friend by the shoulders and ask him if there was something he needed to tell him. Instead, he shook his head and let out an awkward laugh.
"Well, yeah," Matt responded, as though it was supposed to be obvious. "Who else would've taken my place to go fishing with dad?"
The light in Adam's eyes was put out instantly. His shoulders sagged.
"Fishing's fun," he mumbled.
"Yeah, if you're into watching fish writhe in pain in their last moments." Matt shuddered. "It almost makes me want to go vegan. Almost."
Adam gave him a weak smile.
"Well." Matt shoved his hands into his pockets and motioned for Adam to get up with a slight cock of his head. "It's getting dark and knowing your mum, she'll be calling the police on us for kidnapping you if you're home five minutes later than your curfew." He paused. "She does know you're over at mine, yeah?"
Adam nodded hastily as he got up. "'Course," he said. "Why wouldn't she?"
"I dunno." Matt frowned as he opened the bedroom door. "She's been acting all sorts of odd around me lately. Is she alright?"
