Frank gasped, pressing his forehead against the tree, encircling his arms around it while moaning slightly. "This is too difficult," he said in a breathless voice, adding to the drama of the moment. He groaned, eyes closing. Suddenly, Ray's hand gripped the back of Frank's head, thrusting it into the tree. Frank's eyes snapped open as his arms jutted out, waving wildly, trying to back up but unable to do so from Ray's grasp. He tried to kick Ray, but failed: Ray was off to the side; having already anticipated Frank would do that. With a quick sweep of his eyes, Ray saw that Gerard and Bob were halfway up the trail. He let go of Frank, who spluttered madly as he toppled over and fell on his butt, onto the hard rock.
Glaring up at Ray, he hissed, "I hate you, Toro."
Ray snorted. "Why?"
"Because you did that to me!" Frank said in an exasperated voice, pushing himself up and trying to steady himself to no avail. "Bastard."
Rolling his eyes, Ray reached over and flipped Frank's hair from his face, knowing it would annoy him further. "It wasn't me who suggested we go on this goddamn hike up to the goddamn summit of this goddamn mountain."
"That was a lot of 'goddamns,' Ray. I think you need to go into anger management. There's no point in having that much anger towards something that doesn't even move, that you want God to damn it."
He sneered at Frank, who stuck his tongue out, just as Gerard and Bob rounded on them. Gerard looked exhausted already. They had only traveled about a quarter of a mile, give or take two hundred feet. Bob had been tired from the first one hundred feet, and he made a point to glare at Frank vehemently. Frank shied away from the glare, knowing that he probably shouldn't have suggested they hike up the mountain.
Reaching up and picking a twig out of his hair, Ray stretched his arms over his head and grabbed a water bottle from his pack. Gulping down water, he watched as the other three boys followed his actions. Gerard ran his fingers through his shaggy hair, staring up to the steep trail with a weary eye.
"Where's Mikey?" he asked, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He slipped out of his sweat jacket and tied it around his waist, leaning his hand against the tree that Frank had just embraced.
Frank shrugged. "Dunno. He ran off when Ray and I hit the trail, and we haven't seen him since."
Grinning, Gerard put his water bottle back onto the side of his backpack. "He's probably at the summit already. I wouldn't put it past him."
Turning around, Ray shrugged, already moving his legs forward. His foot twitched upward, trying to find purchase on the rock but almost failing. He leaned to he side, gripping one of the plentiful trees, trying to pass off his slip off as if he had been aiming to do that. "Well, it's four miles up. Steep hills. Last quarter mile is supposed to be hands-and-knees. So, I'd assume he was probably only at a mile or something."
Bob groaned. "Four miles, up hill!?" he asked in an aghast voice. Gerard looked over at his friend, nudging him in the side and winking mischievously. He took off after Ray, taking huge steps as he did so, already at the place where Ray had slipped. Frank's shoulder hitched up as he gripped one of the trees, hoisting himself up the trail. Bob's eyes shot daggers at the back of Frank's head. But, the message did not get to him: either Frank was too tired to receive them, or his head was just too thick. Bob was leaning on the latter.
Taking a deep breath, Frank tried not to let his breath hitch too much as they stopped, once again. The area was flat, much to his relief. It was a flat trail for as far as their eyes could see, which was, admittedly, not that much. His hands were dragging as his body stooped forward, hands pressed against his knees. Gerard, up ahead, had plopped down onto the trail. His head was titled back, green eyes locked behind his eyelids, head pressed against his backpack. Ray, who seemed to be the Mr. Incredible of hiking just stood there. Bob, however, was sprawled across the path with his eyes closed and bugs visibly crawling through his short blond hair.
