Forest

Chapter 8|-/

"So what do you want to work on first?" Quinn asks as we walk back down the path from grabbing my stuff from the cabin.

I look at him funnily. "Can you choreograph a dance to no music?" I laugh.

"I guess not," He laughs back. 

"I have a sample you can listen to, and if thats good with you then you can start choreographing while I finish it up. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect!" He smiles.

"Do you have a place in mind where we could go?" I ask.

"I do, actually! Follow me!" he seems to gain a spring in his step as he leads me to this spot. It honestly gets a little sketchy where he leads me, but nevertheless I follow. He walks further and further through the forest, on a path that can barely be called so. Twigs and tree roots lie haphazardly across the way, rocks and plants standing in the way. I'm surprised I haven't broken my ankle already.

"Are you sure we're supposed to be back here?" I start to get nervous. No one knows where we are, and I have no idea where we're going. This isn't even a path!

"It's fine, my councilor brought us back here the first night." He looks back over his shoulder at me, a smile on his face. "We're almost there. You good?"

"As long as you aren't gonna murder me!" I joke, but underneath I'm actually worried.

"Don't worry about that!" He laughs. "We're here!" He pushes back one last tree branch, revealing crystal blue water. A beautiful lake sits surrounded by many trees. The water ripples gently as ducks take flight, the wind lightly rustling the trees. The entire scene looks so picturesque, I can barely believe that it's real.

"Wow." I marvel, looking around. Everywhere I turn, I notice something else.

"Yeah, its a beauty." He stands with his hands on his hips for a moment, before skipping over towards a big log and sitting down. "Let me hear what you've got!" He smiles.

I make my way over and sit next to him, pulling my laptop out of my bag and hurriedly turning it on. I hand him my headphones and wait anxiously as he listens, trying to read his facial expressions. The sweltering heat seems to hit me all at once, making me want to roll up my sleeves. I resist the urge, remembering the whole reason they're there in the first place. I can't let him see.

"So?" I ask once it's over.

"It's amazing! I can definitely work with that!" He hops up, hitting a few buttons on the laptop before unplugging the headphones and letting my composition into the air. The melody seems to be caught in the wind, drifting around the lake while Quinn works out a dance to accompany.

Quicker than expected, we've finished the project.

"How on earth did we finish that fast?" He asks, glancing at his watch. "We've still got two and a half hours until we have to report back."

"Really?! I didn't think we were that fast!"

"Yeah," he chuckles. "Wanna head back to camp and find something to do?"

"Sounds good!"

Walking back down the sketchy "path" comes a bit easier this time around. Certainly with a lot less anxiety, thats for sure. Though, I'm still a bit jumpy because we are in the woods, and anything could jump out at us.

Nevertheless, we make it back to the camp without harm, and luckily there's no one around to see us emerge from the trees. I don't need anyone, especially my cabin mates, to see me doing anything suspicious. I'm already known as a "slut" and it's only the first full day!