They were walking for a while now. Close to the principal the four were and everyone else was behind them. They slowly made their way deep into the forest past many different trees, small and bushy or tall and thin. As the time passed their surroundings changed, slowly the trees became more thick and taller. The ground was mushy and full of grass growing from every angle. The bare branches spiked into the sky, no sign of life to be found anywhere. It was so dark you were barely able to see where you were going. There were only small sounds of rustling bushes and the howl of the wind. You didn't know what laid in the dark forest and since the sun had not yet risen, several wands provided light. They went on. Gwen looked up from the ground and saw something resembling a small red flame on a bush some metres away from them. What was it that had caught her attention? She tried walking towards the flame but her foot got caught on some roots and she felt herself fall. She braced herself for the impact with the ground but it never came. Instead two arms held her strongly and then she heard someone speak in her ear.
"That's the second time I save you from falling, I should get some reward don't you think?" Seb's voice said teasing her. She blushed ardently but composed herself, turned to look at him and said:
"Oh my brave knight thank you for saving me once again, tell me what you want and I shall give it to you." she curtsied and looked up at him smiling flirtatiously. He laughed and shook his head at her.
"Don't you worry, beautiful maiden, I will catch you many more times. As for the reward I shall think about it." he reached out his hand, grabbed Gwen's one and kissed it. Then they both started laughing and Gwendolyn was happy for the darkness surrounding them, because Seb wouldn't see her cheeks redden.
"Jokes aside, I thought I saw something in front of us, it looked like a flame, but maybe I am too tired and I am just imagining it." she laughed once more.
"Oh, you probably saw a gnome. They live in forests, like this one. They are small creatures, bit bigger than your hand. Their skin is bluish and their hair all sorts of colours, that emit light. From far away they look like flames. They are really shy and are generally scared of people so it's a great honor if someone shows itself to you. They are very cute to look at but to be honest I have never seen one myself." Seb explained.
"Thanks for explaining it to me, I have never ventured this far from the Institute and this is all so new to me. I will ask tons of questions and I hope you won't get bored of answering them." she said truthfully. Seb turned towards her and hugged her shoulders with his arm.
"Oh I could never be bored of talking to you, my beautiful maiden. You shall make this journey a lot more interesting." Gwen laughed and punched him playfully on his chest, Seb feigned pain and grabbed his chest as if it hurt.
"How cruel you are my lady! You shouldn't treat your saviour this way." he laughed afterwards.
"I am terribly sorry my knight. From now on, I will look after you and mend all of your wounds. Please forgive me." she said and put her hand on his chest. He looked at her and under the faint light from a nearby wand she looked even more beautiful. His breath hitched on his throat. He would forgive her everytime.
"Okay." he smiled down at her and out the blue she poked his nose with her finger.
"How can she be so cute?" He thought. He suddenly caught himself slipping over his promise of keeping things professional and cleared his throat.
"We should probably catch up to the others, I think we are about to reach our campsite." he said seriously. Gwen nodded a bit disappointed he ended that cute moment they had shared. She knew he was right though so she started walking again.
____
They were walking for three hours, it was probably 7AM when principal Greenwood stopped abruptly. It was so sudden that Isabel who was walking behind him, bumped into him.
"What is it professor?" Bella said from behind him.
"This is a good place to set up camp. We shall stay here for the day." he turned to everyone else
"We will continue our journey when the sun sets, so as to not attract unwanted attention, for now set up your tents, rest, sleep. Whoever wants to help build fires go with professor Wood. We shall meet later for Breakfast. The sun hadn't gone up yet but the sky was slowly clearing up.
"Okay so the tents are big only for two of us. Who is sleeping with who?" Alex said looking at his 3 friends.
"Let's leave a tent to Gwen and Seb and me and you will share the other one. What do you say?" Bella said quickly.
"Its okay with me." the two boys said in unison. Gwen nodded, blushing slightly at the prospect of sharing a tent with Seb.
"Good then. Let's get to work." Izzy said. She opened her enchanted bag, tapped the inside with her wand and whispered:
"Peto tents" meaning (I request a tent). At once everything they needed to build the tents flew from the inside of Isabel's bag and tumbled to the ground. Sticks to hold the tent up, a black stretchy fabric and wooden stakes to hold the fabric down.
"I have already enchanted them, you should find everything you need inside, they are pretty spacious too." Izzy added as soon as everything was on the ground. Seb and Alex started assembling them and the girls tried to help them out and after some time they had two durable tents to sleep in. Gwendolyn could feel that her energy was once again diminishing and excused herself from the group saying she was tired. She entered inside the tent and was impressed at the job Bella had done to them.
There was a desk with a chair on one side, a table with some more chairs, a big drawer for some storage and a single big bed in the middle of the room. the ground wasn't made of grass but it had been replaced by wooden planks and here and there some candles provided some light. She scolded Izzy internally for putting only one bed in the tent but decided to leave it be. She put her stuff on top of the drawer, took off her boots and cloak and plopped on the bed. She instantly fell asleep.
___
When Gwendolyn left, Seb told Alex that he was going to help out with the fires and started walking away. Alex and Izzy entered their own tent which matched Seb's and Gwen's and put their stuff on a corner. They put their wands on the table and Isabel started taking off her cloak. Alex took his off and left it on a chair.
"I want to go help professor Wood with the fire, can you stay here on your own?" he said to her.
"Wait, can we talk?" she said, determined to talk to him about last night and what it had meant. He nodded.
"Sure, what about?"
"About last night.." her eyes looked to the ground instead of his eyes, suddenly shy.
"What is there to say? It was just a moment's weakness, nothing more, right?" he said looking at her playing with her hair. He took a step closer to her.
"I know, I..just liked it.. a lot, and I wanted to know if you liked it too." she was now positively regretting ever starting the conversation. She was starting to sweat, anxiously waiting for his answer.
"It wasn't bad if that's what you want to know." he said trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing. Alex could feel his pulse quicken as his thoughts started fantasizing about that moment once again. Her lips, his hands on her body, the sound of her moans.
"Is that all you have to say about it?" she questioned him disappointed that he had been so unaffected by it all.
"Oh if she only knew." he thought. Alex close the distance that divided them, grabbed her waist and pressed her body close to his. Her hands went on his chest.
"Even though I wouldn't mind it, I think it's best if we don't let it happen again." he whispered in her ear, as he drew back his lips grazed the skin of her neck and a quiet moan left Bella's body. Her breathing sounded uneven due to the added closeness. He turned and stormed off, knowing he wouldnt be able to resist much more. Just outside the tent he found Olivia. He knew he was about to make a big mistake but right now Olivia was a good distraction from what was about to happen in that tent. He walked up to her.
"Olivia, do you want to walk with me? I have to get some wood for the fire." he smiled and winked at her.
____
It took a while for Isabel to stop her rugged breathing and calm down her hormones. She had to find him, he had to know how she felt about it all, how she wanted yesterday to repeat itself. She knew he was probably right, with all that was going on they had to be focused, not lose their goal and their concentration because of something so trivial and ephemeral. She left the tent in search of him. She started walking but suddenly some weird sounds caught her attention. What she found chilled her blood and freezed her bones. Alex with his back pressed on a tree, Olivia's legs straddling Alex's waist, his hands supporting her ass, while he was kissing her lips and neck. Bella was glued to the ground, she couldn't look away from that scene. She could feel her heart shatter. A pained whimper left her lips, but before she could run away, Alex turned abruptly towards her.
"Why did you stop?" Olivia's shrill voice asked and noticed Alex looking away. She turned her face towards what or who had caught his attention.
"Oh, who do we have here? Little Izzy. Don't you have a book to put your nose in, seeing as it doesn't really belong in other people's businesses. Leave dork." she said and laughed.
Alex kept looking at Izzy, frozen and noticed a single tear falling. He understood in that moment what a mistake he had made and pushed Olivia off of him. Isabel started running away from that scene, Alex chased after her. Bella stopped in her tracks, they were now far from everyone else, in a small clearing.
"I am so sorry. I know that I-" Alex tried apologising but she stopped him mid sentence with a slap. His cheek already started getting redder. The imprint of her hand clearly visible on it.
"So what happened between us was a one time thing but you and her isn't a big deal huh? You were kissing me just a few hours ago and now I find you like that.. And here I was trying to find you, to tell you how I- it doesn't matter anymore." the disappointment she felt was too big. Tears fell freely from her eyes now but she didn't care nor did she try to cover them up.
"It was a mistake, you weren't supposed to see that. I don't know why I did that."
"Oh well that's the understatement of the year.. Of course you wanted to be undisturbed. Be free to do whatever and whoever you want. Forget about last night, as you said, it will never happen again. I dont want to talk to you anymore, in fact we only have to be civil around Gwen for her own sake but that's it."
"No wait, don't leave, please." Alex tried reaching out to her but she was already running away, away from him. He hated himself for what he did. He had made her cry and it was something he would never forget nor forgive himself of having done.
"If it was over before it could even start, then why does it hurt so much." he thought.