Into The Wild

E I G H T

When I open my eyes, I feel a presence beside me. Turning over, I realize that it's just Madison sleeping next to me, Carly, and then Aria.

I suddenly feel the urge to use the bathroom, remembering there are some stalls in the cafeteria.

I look at the time. 4:47 AM.

We're supposed to go ziplining today, all the way down the mountain that took us hours to climb, even though it was a lot less than the very first mountain we hiked.

I take my time and quietly move myself to open the zipper of our tent, careful not to wake anyone else up.

When I step outside and slip on my flippers, I close my eyes to breathe in the fresh air.

It looks like it's still nighttime as I begin stalking towards the cafeteria building. I look through the glass windows, unable to see a thing due to the darkness.

As soon as I touch the handle of the doors, I hear someone trudging up to me with loud snaps of branches breaking under their feet. "Hey, you!" they call.

I freeze.

When they sound a lot closer, I slowly turn around.

And of course, it has to be Luke.

"It looks like you're from Amber's cabins. Please return to your tent, it's way too early for you to be awake at this time," he says, pointing to the tents around us.

I place a hand on my hip. "Okay, listen. I don't know why I woke up at this time, but I really need to use the bathroom. Now, if you could please just let me-" Luke steps forward, but his face is very unclear- what with everything being really dark. I doubt he can even see me.

"Olivia?" he asks, his voice sounding a lot like he's in shock. "Olivia Midnight?"

I roll my eyes. "What? How did you even come up with the fact that I must be in one of Amber's cabins?"

He comes closer, backing me against the doors of the cafeteria. I try my best to hold my breath in, or I might accidentally spit in his face or do something stupid. I've been doing a lot of stupid things lately, and I don't trust myself with him, especially.

He slams a hand against the wall, very close to my head, and leans in even closer. Our lips are now mere inches apart. He reaches a hand up and pulls on a strand of my hair, moving it close to his eyes.

Realizing that I don't have my wig on me, I instinctively run my hand through my hair, hoping to cover it up. But I know that there's no way out of this. What should I do?

He'll probably feel disgusted because of me. He's going to think I'm weird like everyone else does once I tell them I wear a wig. The only people who quickly accepted it was Madison, Carly... and I wouldn't say Aria, because she still wonders to this day why I hide my hair.

Well, Aria, not everyone is blessed with your beauty.

"Did you cut your hair and dye it?" Luke suddenly asks, reaching towards my hair again. I take several steps back as soon as he takes one step forward. My heart thumps with the beat of my footsteps. I finally look down at Luke's shoes, not daring to look up at him.

"What's wrong?" he asks in a hushed voice, bending down to get a good look at my face. I try not to meet his eyes and wonder if I should run away.

From the corner of my eye, I locate exactly where my tent is and take a step forward, only to be stopped right at the second of my unplanned escape.

Luke grabs on to my wrist, making me spin around. "Where are you going? The bathroom is this way," he says, pointing at the building behind him. My face flushes in embarrassment. Because of my anxiety, I totally forgot my emergency to use the bathroom.

I nod a thank you and rush inside. When I get out, I see Luke leaning against the wall.

Was he waiting for me? Am I going to get in trouble? Is he going to tell everyone? But it's not like he knows. He thinks I cut and dyed my hair.

As soon as he sees me try to walk back to my tent, he pushes himself off the wall and walks towards me. "Do you, by any chance, wear a wig?" Luke asks without hesitation.

I start stuttering, my specialty. "Umm I... I... wi-I..." I stop speaking, unsure how to reply and no idea what the hell I was saying.

"I will take that as a yes," he says, giving me a gentle smile. Luke makes me go with him to the edge of the cliff that's guarded by fences, towards the same place we all saw the sunset. The full moon shines brightly on our faces as Luke sits down and then pats the grass, to make me sit next to him.

As I sit next to him, with the noticeably large gap between us, I finally manage to speak up, "How did you know?"

"Just a hunch. You'd always touch your hair protectively and I kind of overheard one of your friends talking about it," he explains.

Oh. We stay in a painfully awkward silence before Luke breaks it.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you wearing a wig?" Luke asks gently.

I stare at him with an open mouth, unsure what to say. I know the reason, but it's hard to open up so quickly. Everyone's sleeping, no one's awake but us two, and I've never actually told the reason to anyone. "It just makes me feel brave," I tell him softly. I lift my head up to stare into his brown eyes, my lips parting. "I never liked the way I was."

There, I said it. I never liked the way I was, so I decided to start wearing a wig. Who knew a wig could change a person's mind and body?

"In my opinion," he says, looking at me straight in the eye, "you look cuter without the wig. Short hair suits you." He pats my hair while giving me a killer smile, his eyes warm at the sight of me with my real hair.

I've never been told something so sweet as that. Not with my friends, not with any boys, but then there's Luke. Luke, my summer camp counselor.

It hasn't even been a month of the camp, and I'm already opening up to people? Mom would love to hear this.

Everything around me starts to blur, the tips of my ears start burning and my body begins to heat up. I can hear the sound of my heart beat increase, the sound is so loud. It's as if Luke can hear it too when he stares at me with that look in his eyes. That same look he had when we were on the bus and I forgot to clap the second time to the introduction that I stood up again and did the second clap.

Maybe for the first time, I actually begin liking the way I am. My plump pink lips, the small scar near my left eyebrow, my short height, my shoulder-length dark brown hair, who I am as a person.

I have fallen in love with Luke.

And now I want to be greedy. 

I look back at the sky, declaring inside of my head that I won't let Aria take me down now that I've found out my true feelings. I feel Luke's eyes on me as I close my own and make my wish to that beautiful white moon in the sky.