Breathtaker

Chapter 2

It is the next morning and the four of us are walking down a narrow road, the sun basking on our backs. The camp leader decided that we are going for a walk on the mountains today, since the weather turned out so lovely. Apparently there is a river near the peak, close to a clearing covered in green and filled with lots of rocks to climb.

Of course we are very excited, anything is better than the stupid activities we are kept busy with back at the campsite and we don’t know things like mountains where we come from. So I guess the boys like the idea of acting like baboons and climbing rocks and stuff, since they all cheered loudly when the camp leader discussed the change of plans with us. It actually sounds like a lie to refer to them as fourteen year olds, because most of the time they acted like they are five.

We are walking behind the others, captured in our own conversation, the teachers kept a close eye on us ever since last night. Miss Dandelion herself didn’t join us; apparently she has a headache and is going to stay at the camp. Personally, I think she’s too unfit to walk these mountains and too proud to admit it. Jeez, I can’t describe to you how much that teacher irritates me.

The camp leader introduces us to all the different types of plants and flowers as we walk, but I don’t think anybody listens to him. After two hours in the sun, we are all tired, hungry and sun burnt.

“Did you guys bring any sweets with?” Marilyn whispers to us as we continue to follow the children in front of us.

If any of the teachers hear Marilyn asking for sweets, they will immediately take it away from her. They will basically do anything to make sure she doesn’t eat any of it, since everybody knows what happens when Marilyn gets a sugar rush. She gets hyper, really hyper. The last time she hyperventilated, was in Miss Finch’s classroom during a science lesson. Break time just passed and Marilyn was literally jumping up and down as she entered the classroom and was basically bouncing around on her chair the whole period through. Then, at the end of the lesson, we had to pair up and do the experiment Miss Finch discussed with us and I ended up being Marilyn’s partner. I saw Miss Finch’s wary expression as she handed Marilyn the powder we needed, scared of what might happen.

She had every right to be, because barely five minutes later Marilyn accidentally threw in too much of one chemical. Her hands were shaking too much, from laughing too hard and our experiment ended up exploding into my face.  There was white liquid all over my face and dripping down my chin, I never felt so humiliated in my life. If it wasn’t for Miss Finch that took Marilyn out of the classroom, I would’ve personally strangled her that day.

And strange enough, Miss Finch is one of the teachers walking right behind us now, so I guess Marilyn has all the reasons in the world to whisper that question.

“Yeah, I’ve got four packets in my backpack.” I assure her, smiling a smile that would send shivers down any teacher’s back.

“Do you guys think we’re almost there? My legs are killing me!” Rosetta complains. I look over to where she is walking between Marilyn and Leigh. She’s a tall girl, with big Bambi brown eyes and a long reddish brown ponytail. Ask her to give you an honest opinion and she’ll be able to do it without beating around the bush, but don’t ask her to walk thirty miles in the sun. She’ll rather die before running or even walking a marathon.

“I don’t know, he didn’t tell us how far we are going. But believe me, but I didn’t expect this!” Leigh says, taking a sip from her water bottle, which is now almost empty.

After another few minutes of walking, I see a big building appear in front of us. It’s actually more a ruin than an actual building, since half of it was gone, but you can still recognize the frame work.