Born Wild

New friends

The next morning he woke and walked past the living room to the kitchen. He tried to be quiet but dropped the bag of coffee. She groggily opened her eyes and took a minute to wake up completely. She pushed the blanket off of her and slouched into the kitchen in her fuzzy white socks. 

"What is today?"

He grabbed two mugs out of the almost empty cabinet. "Saturday. September 3rd, no work today."

She rubbed her eyes. "A week until my birthday."

"How old will you be?"

"19."

He nodded and handed her a cup of coffee. "I was wondering if you wanted to go on a scenic walk today since we have no work, and maybe we can stop by the town to get some food for the house?"

 Somehow he instantly made her feel so welcomed like she had been living there the same amount of time as him. Like it was her house too.

They started walking on a trail near the coast, enjoying the cool salty breeze and the crashing of the waves. They stopped to look at the dark blue ocean. 

"Koda...Thanks for letting me stay at your place. It means a lot. I'll try to find somewhere soon so I don't burden you."

He switched his glance from the sea to her. "It's really no problem. Don't feel like you have to find somewhere else. Please stay as long as you want." 

She knew what he said was completely genuine. Her stomach fluttered with nervousness and she tried to hide the grin she had. 

"What are you grinning for?" he asked, hoping that she would say it's because she liked him.

"Cause you're so nice." she smiled.

He grinned and blushed. He ran through his thoughts for a moment before deciding what to say. 

He opened to mouth to speak, but suddenly heard a distant cry for help. They both froze and looked in the direction it came from. They came to their senses and ran.

They ran until they discovered two girls and a guy. One girl was barely clinging to a tree branch several feet down on the trail cliff. Rocks and twigs kept falling past her as she dangled.

"HELP!" she screamed. 

The others in her group looked for branches or vines that were long enough. They couldn't find anything to pull her up with. They were running around on the trail frantically, not knowing what to do.

Koda quickly set his bag down and pulled a paracord chain out of his bag to throw down to her. He tossed it over the side and she clung to the branch, too scared to let go and grab the rope. They encouraged her as much as they could and finally, she let go of one hand and reached out. She grasped the rope and felt that it was secure. She used her feet to steady herself on the cliff and kept one hand on the branch. They all struggled and pulled her up.

 As she reached the top with one hand they grabbed her and pulled her back from the edge. They hugged her and sighed in relief. She didn't say much for a while because she was so shaken up, but she did thank Tala and Koda.

She had curled brown hair that went past her shoulders. She was pale and had a gentle, pretty face. She had on a watch, pink rain jacket, dark jeans, and polka dot rain boots. Her clothes were covered in mud. They saw the guy whisper something in her ear and she nodded her head. 

They figured he asked her if she was alright.

He had short dirty blonde hair and facial hair. He was thin with a defined jaw and a noticeable Adam's apple. He was taller than all of them, but not much taller than Koda. He was wearing a hoodie, watch, jeans, and nice hiking boots.

"What are your names?" he asked.

"I'm Hugo, that's Astrid, and this is Cambria."

He reassured her with a side hug. "Let me buy you two a coffee for helping Cambria out." 

She didn't say much as she was still shaken up. The fall may not have killed her but she would have been left with a few broken bones. They could sense that she wasn't usually like this and that she just wanted his comfort at the moment.

They headed to the coffee shop and managed to get inside before it poured rain outside. Hugo insisted on paying for their drinks. Astrid was in line behind them, she pulled out several quarters and counted them out to buy a small drip coffee. 

They all sat down and Cambria seemed to slowly get better after a while.

"You've uh... got a few twigs in your hair." Astrid pulled them out, her thin nose flaring as she snickered.

Cambria blushed with embarrassment. She looked down and also noticed the mud on her clothes. 

"Excuse me for a moment." she said to the group as she slid her chair back and walked to the restroom.

Astrid fiddled with one of the twigs. Astrid was skinny and average height. She had straight blonde hair with purple tips and a thin nose. She wore a t-shirt, a beanie, an unzipped rain jacket, ripped jeans, and converse.

Cambria came back to the table. She had removed most of the mud from her rain jacket and pants but there were still a few smudges. She sat down, drank her coffee, and seemed to be feeling more relaxed.

"Thank you two again for helping me out." She half smiled and drank a few more sips. "I want to know about you two. Tell me about yourselves."

 They talked about how they worked at the Howe's farm and that they lived together in a small house. Then they asked the others to talk about themselves to avoid talking about the details of their past.

As Cambria relaxed, she started to smile and talk quite a bit more. She talked about how she was attending college in the town over to study Biology and that she possibly wanted to work with marine animals. She was excited about the start of the semester. She wanted to work really hard and do well in school. She also mentioned that she liked hiking and going to the beach, but wasn't into tent camping as much as everyone else.

Astrid talked about how she loved the outdoors, exploring, and rock climbing. She was studying business while working at a coffee shop in the town over. She wanted to open her own coffee shop someday. She wanted to have a business that would make her money while she could go do other things. She didn't want to be stuck at a typical job. She seemed intelligent, ambitious, and slightly sarcastic at times.

Hugo said that he worked on cars. He also mentioned that he had a little sister and lived with his parents. He didn't say much else about himself. He seemed to be pretty laid back.

"We should all hike Thursday afternoon if you guys are free, I heard it's supposed to be sunny and warm all day." Astrid said. Cambria's eyebrows furrowed and she looked out the window with worry.

"Hopefully this time SOMEbody won't fall off the cliff." Hugo joked. He noticed that she was actually worried and reassured her by putting his hand on her shoulder. 

"It's not gonna happen again... I promise...we don't have to if you don't want to. Okay?"

She shook her head as if to brush it off and looked at him. "No, it's fine let's hike again."

Tala enjoyed their company and was excited to make new friends. She never made friends easily because she was introverted, but she really liked having them. Thursday they all met again and started to get to know each other very well. They were all about the same age, and all just graduated high school in the spring. All was well as they were walking and talking until Tala started to feel unwell. She stopped walking and sat down on a log. She held her hands over her eyes. 

"Tala, are you okay?" Koda asked. She shook her head.

"My head just suddenly hurts. My body is shaky. My hands and gums hurt too."

They all looked in confusion as what to do until Cambria grabbed her water and took it to her. "Sit for a few minutes and drink this.