Three days later, we gathered at the station at 5AM as promised. It will take 2 hours for us to reach the Nyrfan Station and from there will be another hour of travel by bus before we could reach Spring Valley, a camp with few log houses on the hills overlooking Spring Valley Lake.
I put on comfortable clothes to prepare myself to sleep during the long ride. And my fashion earned a distasteful frown from Katherine.
She shook her head with her hand on her temple. "I'm not telling you to wear a gown like what you did for that magazine, but can you at least try dressing up a little? Try putting just a quarter of thought in your choice of wardrobe and it would make a huge difference, I swear."
I looked down at my favorite pants. "What's wrong with my cargo pants? It has a bunch of pockets which makes it both comfortable and convenient."
Putting her hands on her waist, she circled around me. "What do you need all those pockets for? I feel heavy by just looking at that thing and it's giving me the urge to shred it to pieces."
My eyes alarmingly shot at her. "Don't you dare lay a finger on this baby. I always reserve this for special occasions."
Katherine raised her fist with a smirk. "Challenge accepted. It's better for you not to wear anything on special occasions than put on that sack."
"Now now, ladies. Let's not fight this early in the morning." Arthur studied me from head to toe even though he already saw what I was wearing before we left the house. Then he turned to Katherine and did the same to her. "I see nothing wrong with my little puppy's outfit, Kitty. On the contrary, aren't you showing too much skin? Aren't you cold?"
I looked at Katherine's fitting gray crop top paired with black skinny jeans that really accentuated her curves. She raised the denim jacket that she was carrying to show it to Arthur. "Winter's finished and I have my jacket with me in case it gets cold."
Arthur took her jacket from her and flapped it open before putting it over her shoulder. "Kitty, jackets were made to be worn. Not dangled."
Katherine pouted but didn't remove the jacket which made me smile inwardly. 'Seriously, these two...'
"Besides…" Arthur unwrapped a candy and stuffed the wrapper in one of my pockets.
"Ya!" I screamed in protest.
He just winked at me then turned back to Katherine. "This thing is indeed very practical to wear."
I hate to admit it but he's right about that. It was one of the reasons why I loved these pants. But I didn't plan for it to be Arthur's personal garbage bin.
I took out the wrapper from my pocket and went to the nearest bin to throw it. I got back to our large and noisy group just in time and the train arrived. Katherine was trying to find a seat for us and I followed behind her. She was able to get one at the end row and I was about to sit beside her when I got shoved away by Arthur and fell on the opposite side. I glared at him but he just grinned at me. "I know you love sitting by the window."
I grudgingly took the window seat but I understood that he wanted to sit beside Katherine during the ride. "Learn to use words, you Neanderthal."
"Why are you sitting here? Mia and Trixie--" Katherine started to protest but she got cut off by Arthur.
"Are already sitting with Jake and Joshua." He happily pointed at their direction with his lips.
We turned to them and for sure, they seemed really happy with their sitting arrangement. I watched as Trixie laughed heartily when Jake cracked an uncle joke about radishes. They've been talking to each other since earlier but I really didn't expect them to naturally sit together like that. 'Are they unofficial again? Did she manage to get over Craige in just a week?'
I didn't know that I was still staring at Trixie until someone blocked my view with an awfully familiar-looking backpack. I looked up and my breath got caught in my throat because of his 'fresh-from-the-shower' look.
"Fafa Craige! You made it!" Arthur enthusiastically made a fist bump with Craige.
"Yeah." Craige then shoved his bag on the top compartment and sat down beside me. "I actually almost missed the train."
I looked at him in bewilderment and in my head I was screaming. 'What are you doing sitting here?! Didn't you say that you hate crowded places? Use your damn coupon at times like these! And why sit beside me?!'
Katherine looked at me then at Craige suspiciously before pointing out. "You look like you just got out of the bath. Kinda reminds me of a wet chick."
Craige looked at her then touched his damp hair. "Yeah. I woke up late so I rushed here without drying my hair."
Arthur waved his hand dismissively and held his thumbs up at Craige. "Don't mind Kitty. You look hot. I approve."
"Will you stop calling me Kitty?" Katherine said through gritted teeth.
"Sure, babe." He answered and failed to block Katherine's fist that hit his arm. "Ow!"
"Call me that again and this time, I'll make this land on your face." Katherine warned with her fist up on Arthur's face.
"Not my face." Arthur put both his hands on his cheeks and turned to me. "This is all your fault!"
"My fault?!" That seriously shocked me.
"Kit---Kath started becoming violent since she made friends with you." Arthur pointed an accusing finger at my face.
I attempted to bite it but he swiftly pulled back. "And who do you think was the reason why I had to become this violent?"
Arthur's mouth dropped open and Katherine answered on his behalf. "Arthur. He kept on bullying you, so you had no choice but to fight back."
Arthur turned to her, feeling betrayed, and Katherine just shrugged her shoulders. He then looked at Craige who was just watching us with a curious gaze. "Help me out, buddy. Can't you see that they're ganging up on me?"
"I didn't know that you were a bully. I hate bullies." Craige said it with a tone that made it hard to distinguish whether he was being serious or he's just teasing Arthur.
Arthur dramatically grabbed a handful of his shirt, put a hand on Craige's shoulder then made a face that looked like he's hurting. "How can you trust their words over mine?"
"Pfft." I couldn' help but let out a laugh at the familiar words. It was his line during the play for English day. And his acting was exactly the same; very cringey.
Craige also chuckled before he nonchalantly opened the paper bag that he was holding and handed us a sandwich each.
"Wah!" Katherine was surprised by it. "Thanks."
Arthur hesitated before he took the sandwich from Craige. "First you bring me down with your words then you pull me up with food. You're really good at this push and pull, buddy. My sister should learn from you."
"Just eat." I ordered Arthur and bowed my thanks to Craige without looking at him. "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
I heard the smile in his voice and that had a funny effect in my tummy. 'Maybe I'm just hungry.'
I was about to take a bite when I noticed that Katherine was looking at me oddly.
'What?' I mouthed at her.
She just narrowed her eyes at me as if silently warning me to be ready for when we're alone. I nervously took a large gulp to clear my throat.
The first thirty minutes of the ride was really tiring because Arthur was talking nonstop about this new MMORPG that he and Craige were playing. He was trying to convince me and Katherine to try playing it with them. Craige also tried to help him talk us into it by appealing that there were a lot of classes to choose from and the character customization of the game was top-notch.
Katherine rolled her eyes. "Will wasting your time on that make you rich?"
My jaw dropped. 'That's really harsh. She really must have been fed up with, Art.'
But Arthur didn't back down and raised his chin. "It won't. But it helps me release stress which lessens my susceptibility to anxiety. That will save me a lot of money for not needing a doctor to take care of my mental health."
That made me laugh with incredulity. "What a load of crap. I can hear you screaming with anger like a lunatic every night."
Katherine smirked. "No anxiety but you developed anger management issues? I'll say 'no thanks' to your game."
"That's not because of the game! Don't blame the game!" Arthur reasoned with his eyes wide, looking completely taken aback. "It's because of those amateur players! You know right, Craige? Newbies have this tendency to just go for the kill without thinking about strategy! They always ruin the hunt!"
Katherine and I turned to Craige to see how he'll help Arthur out of this, but to my surprise he was looking at me with a frown. "You can hear him screaming every night?"
"Eh?" I asked in confusion. 'You're still stuck there?'
Katherine's eyes grew big, looking flabbergasted, and she hit my leg. "You haven't told him?"
"Ah!" I scowled at her while rubbing my stinging leg. "Told him what?"
Katherine raised her eyebrows at me then motioned towards Arthur with a slight swing of her head.
Arthur pointed to himself, looking foolish. "Me? Tell Craige what about me?"
Then it dawned on me and my mouth opened in slow motion. "Ah...that."
"That? What's that?" Arthur's gaze kept switching back and forth between Katherine and me. "What are you guys talking about? What is it about me?"
I bit my lower lip guiltily as I turned to Craige. "I guess I haven't told you about that."
Craige peered at me. "What's that?"
Arthur nodded nervously. "Yeah. What's that?"
I pointed at Arthur with my thumb. "This thing and I are step-siblings. We live under the same roof. That's why I could hear him screaming every night from my room."
Arthur's shoulders dropped and he leaned back on his seat. "Oh that. And here I thought it was something intriguing."
Craige frowned while processing the information that I gave him and caught me completely off-guard when he asked Arthur. "Then why did you kiss her in the garden?"
"EH?!" I exclaimed in surprise. Good thing that the entire cabin was buzzing with our class's endless noisy chatter which drowned out my voice.
Katherine put a finger on her lips to tell me to quiet down then she hissed at Arthur. "You two kissed?"
"We didn't!" Arthur waved his hands in panic then he pointed at Craige. "But they did!"