Sorry for the late chapter! I was struggling to figure out how I wanted to start this chapter. But I'm satisfied with the outcome now!
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Everyone sees a different you. Some think you're mean, and others nice. All you can do is focus on the positive and figure out who you really are.
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As I step out of the bus and into the sun I close my eyes partially. I shield my eyes from the glaring sun and give them a moment to adjust to the view. Beautiful white mountains cover the horizon, the sun peeks out with an almost ethereal glow as if saying "yo, welcome to my favorite mountain peaks." I can't help but marvel at how amazing this view is.
Luna steps out from a sliding door in the inn and walks towards me. "Skye… w-why didn't you say anything about your… classmates?" Luna stumbles and pauses before labeling my class. I guess she assumed I had friends other than her.
I can't tell her that my classmates are part of the "bully the orphan" stereotype.
"Wow this view is amazing isn't it!" I shout nervously to distract Luna from my obvious embarrassment. Thankfully she takes the bait and shifts her focus from me to the more beautiful sky—no pun intended. I watch as she gazes over the horizon. It's quiet here and I feel so relaxed.
"Okay class, gather around!" The substitute shouts while the other students pour out of the sliding doors. Since we've gotten all set up at the inn we took a vote to decide if we're going camping.
"Since the majority voted to camp instead of sleep at the inn, we're going to split into two groups." The teacher announces. "Ms. Little and I are going to draw two names from a hat and whoever gets picked will be one of the class leaders." The substitute and Luna reach into the bag and pull out two names each. I see Luna's face flash a look of worry, just to be replaced with a relieved smile.
"Quinn Kismet and Jackson Kyle are with me." Declares the substitute. "And Zoey Morten and Skye Storme are my helpers." Luna says as her eyes flicker over the crowd, holding my gaze briefly.
"Quinn, Jackson, Zoey, and Skye please come to the front." She calls out as she looks around for the four chosen students. Quinn jogs up to the front and drops down to do push ups. I guess they wanna show off. Why am I surprised? Jackson, not wanting to be shown up, tosses his water bottle up and dunks it over Quinn. They both laugh and stand still.
Zoey suddenly appears behind Luna and yells BOO, causing her to jump and laugh nervously. I can't help but glare at her as I take my chance to walk up and stand between the two of them.
I can hear cheering surge throughout the crowd of students. I already know they are talking about the grand entrances of the other students with admiration. This is embarrassing to watch.
"Alright!" The teacher claps her hands together. "The first group will help set up the camping stuff while being led by Quinn, Jackson, and myself. The second one has Ms. Little, Skye, and Zoey leading them on a hike!" She sounds way too excited for my liking and continues talking about the safety concerns, but I tune her volume down out of habit.
After the two groups are separated, we start to hand out lunch boxes and water bottles. I notice Zoey sneaking up behind another student and scaring them before she moves on to another one.
Zoey is a small girl with a petite frame and eyes that seem like they could pierce through you. She has an unusual skill of being able to practically blend into her surroundings. It's kinda weird.
As I lose sight of Zoey I stop worrying about it. She isn't harming anyone so I figure I'll leave her. Luna stops and turns as we get closer to the starting point for the hike. The area around us is littered with trees. And to our left is a small waterfall.
I decided to take the lead and step out in front. "Luna is shy so I'm gonna be the class speaker." I declare as I step up beside Luna. She doesn't say much but just looks at me with a puzzled look.
"What gives you the right to be class leader?" One student yells at me. "Maybe the orphan wanted to get some practice being a dad." Another student laughs. I clench my fists tightly and just before I can yell back at them Luna speaks up.
"It's okay Skye… I can do this." She says softly before taking a deep breath and putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Even if Skye is an orphan, that doesn't give you the right to say those things." She starts with a confident voice that catches me off guard.
Then she continues. "The hike for today has the potential to be very dangerous. Everyone has to listen closely to Skye, Zoey, and I. We are here to help lead you through a safe journey." Luna says
"If you can't follow our instructions then we will go back to the inn." Luna shouts and the students' loud laughing turns to quiet whispers. Everyone seems to be on the same page about what we plan to do. Safety is our priority but we can still have fun.
Then Zoey jumps out from my left side, screaming BOO as I visibly jump inches off of the ground. "Stop trying to scare me! You're not gonna get the chance!" I shout at her as my anger takes control of me. I storm off into the woods and I can hear Luna shouting for me to come back but I've had it with this. Zoey has scared just about everyone now and I hate to admit that she got the best of me.
As I stomp my way through the bushes my feet start to crunch on something. Looking down I realize that something isn't right. The ground has been tainted in a covering of fluffy white snow.
"What… It's the middle of summer, why is it snowing?" My voice shakes with the anger that's still surging through my body. Something definitely isn't right. My senses all perk up and I can hear a faint sound coming from a couple steps ahead.
The snow is coming down even harder now.
"It's practically a blizzard out here!" I shout as I push my way into a cave for cover. Almost a minute later I hear a strange noise behind me. I swing my head around, bracing for the worst.
"Skye! Are you there?" I hear Luna shout from outside the cave. The snow outside seems to have gotten worse. Not wanting to leave Luna out there and alone I decide to yell and step out to greet her.
"Yeah! I'm here in this cave! Why is there snow all of a sudden?" I shout as I see Luna's shivering figure come into view. She has a rip in her jeans and snow covers her once purple hair. I wrap my arm around her and we walk inside the cave.
"I… I don't know… It just started pouring snow!" Luna shouts to me as the wind picks up in a blazing howl of terror. I brush the snow off of lunas back and take off the black hoodie that I had on.
"Here use this. It's too cold to be dressed in short sleeves." I say as I feel the wind chill surge over my skin. I wrap her with my jacket and we walk deeper into the cave. "We're gonna have to camp out here until the snow dies down. Maybe we can call for help afterwards." I coolly say as my survival instincts kick in. I've been homeless since I was a little kid so I've thankfully learned a thing or two.
I look around and see a pile of sticks and some rocks. Glancing outside I notice the snow is still falling. The wind has slowed down slightly but it's still pretty bad.
"I'll start a fire. You should rest for now." I declare with a tone that says don't challenge me, just trust.
"O-Okay…" Luna says as she sits down on the cave floor. Not wanting to waste any time, I started cracking the rocks together. This is something that even professional campers and hikers struggle to do but I've been doing this since I was 8.
I never thought I'd be thankful for being homeless, but I guess there's a good side to everything. I just have to think positive.