I Don't Deserve Love: Alternate Ending

Chapter 29: We Might Have a Problem...

"Oh, there's the first fork in the path. Which way do we go?"

Glancing back and forth both paths looked the same to me. I turned to Nathaniel and almost burst out laughing. He was frantically checking the pockets in his jacket and sweatpants; he even unzipped his jacket and checked if there was an inner pocket. I watched him with amusement and he finally looked up at me sheepishly.

"Ummm, I may have misplaced the map..." he admitted and I couldn't hold back my laughter. "What?" he asked while rubbing his neck.

"I'm sorry; you just looked so funny when you were looking for it. Don't worry about it; the principal said that only one of the paths will continue so even if we choose the wrong path, we'll eventually find it. Now it's more of an adventure! We could pretend we're explorers like Lewis and Clark!"

"Yah... but Lewis and Clark had Sacajawea to guide them," Nathaniel muttered.

"Not for the whole trip. Come on, which way do you think we should go?" I asked and he shook his head, smiling indulgently.

"I'm the one who lost the map so why don't you lead us, Clark."

"Let's go.... right," I decided, heading down the path. "And why am I Clark? Clark was second in command and he was horrible to his slave."

As we walked we debated about Lewis and Clark and the controversy about Sacajawea and her role in the expedition. Before I knew it we came to another fork in the path.

"Hey! We picked the right path; it wasn't a dead-end!" I said in excitement and Nathaniel laughed.

"That was all you, partner. Which way now?"

"Well, going right worked last time, should we try it again?"

Nathaniel shrugged and we turned down the right path. As we walked I looked at all the trees surrounding me and smiled while listening to the tweets of birds and the whisper of the breeze through the leaves.

"This is really, really neat. I love it out here," I said with a sigh, twirling around.

"Yah, being cooped up with paperwork and homework all the time, sometimes I forget how much I enjoy being out in nature," Nathaniel said. "How far behind do you think we are from everyone?"

"I don't know, probably pretty far. Are you disappointed that we're probably going to lose because of me?" I asked, worried that he had changed his mind about not caring about winning.

"Not at all; this has been really fun. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." I sighed in relief then stopped in my tracks.

"Awe no," I pouted, looking at the three path heads in front of me. "Why'd they have to make the choice harder?"

"Should we go right again? It's been working so far," Nathaniel suggested.

I turned to reply when out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of something. Slowly I turned back to face the middle path in wonder.

"Opal?"

I quickly held a finger to my lips with my eyes wide. He blinked in confusion but I turned back to the path, slowly taking a few silent steps forward and then crouching down on the balls of my feet while wrapping my arms around my legs and staring at the furry little creature in front of me.

The squirrel was nibbling on a seed of some kind with its bushy brown tail erect, stretching nearly the full length of the animal. It had a white tummy and white patches on its hands with the most adorable button nose I had ever seen. I watched in fascination as it nibbled on the nut while twirling it around and around in its paws. Nathaniel moved to come closer and the squirrel straightened, turning to look at us. I got a glimpse of its huge black eyes before it shoved the nut in its mouth and dashed back into the forest.