Sherlock Forest; it wasn t perfect. Sure the canteen was smelly, and then tents were dingy, and the climbing wall was shaky, and the instructors training was questionable, but the atmosphere was nice. Besides, facilities didn t matter, what mattered was three friends were on a school camping trip together and they were going to have the time of their lives. Well, three friends and a co-worker.
Carly, Sam and Freddie sat in the canteen at a table together, along with Wendy, Gibby and Dave (a friend of Freddie s). Carly, Sam and Wendy would be sharing a tent together, as would Gibby, Freddie and Dave. They all hoped to be in an activities group together, and they waited patiently for the groups lists to be given out. Finally, a piece of paper reached their table. Carly grabbed it and read out the groups.
Group One:
Eidola Ojo, Markus Trout, Laura Hill, James Bush, George Lane and Libby McLean.
Least none of us are with Libby , muttered Sam. This earned a laugh.
Group Two:
Charlie McDonnell, Alex Day, Nathaniel Palmer, Carly Shay, Lily Doyle and Alicia Holmes.
Oh no, Sam, Carly sighed, Alicia is nice, and Charlie. I should be okay. Sam mumbled in agreement, but was upset. A lot of people didn t like Sam, and only tolerated her because of Carly. She was worried now.
Group Three:
Wendy Cooper, Ruby Harrison, Theo Clarke, David Church, Haley Alain and Florence Cannons.
Wendy and Dave looked extremely happy, hugging each other and smiling. Sam and Freddie however, were not so happy, frowning. They both knew what was coming up next.
Group Four:
Gibby Gibson, Kiera James, Jack Daniels, Samantha Puckett, Joshua Kite and Fredward Benson.
Sam glared at Freddie and he groaned. A week of pain, he was sure. Sam could be kept under wraps with Carly there, but without her she was even more unpredictable. Gibby however seemed quite content with his group, especially Kiera, who was the prettiest girl in the year. Sure he had a girlfriend, but a little flirting did no harm.
The matter worsened when Group Four, assembled by the pond, discovered their first activity would be orienteering.
Orienteering? Who the hell picked that? There s no way I m walking around-
What even is orienteering? said Kiera, although she seemed to be concentrating more on her mirror and lipgloss. Sam rolled her eyes.
Well, my Kiera-kin..., said Gibby, but Josh cut him off.
It is basically a treasure hunt using bearing and such. Gibby glared. It was hard to take him seriously though, him not wearing a shirt and all.
Yes, and it ll be easier if we split off into twos, explained Freddie.
I shotgun Kiera! yelled Gibby.
Jack got annoyed at this and tried to explain to Gibby that you could not actually shotgun a person. But Gibby thought otherwise and Kiera didn t seem to care either way, so those two were officially a pair, and Josh quickly paired with Jack, leaving just two; Sam and Freddie. The two both protested, and Freddie begged Gibby to pair with him, but Gibby just gestured towards Kiera and said no, sorry man .
So Sam and Freddie were together. Freddie sighed and they both set out into the forest to find their first point. Sam insisted on holding the map and turned it around in all directions, pointing towards different places and claiming they needed to go that way . Eventually, they found themselves far from the path and evidently, lost.
Ugh, this bites. This jank map dosen t work!
Yeah, that s the problem, mumbled Freddie.
Why don t you try saying that a little louder, tech boy!
All I know is we re lost because someone dosen t know how to use a map.
Sam whacked Freddie round the head with the map. It hurt a lot, and Freddie yelled and stumbled, but then got back up angrier than ever.
Look, just give me the map. he tried to snatch it off Sam, but she tugged at it hard and ended up hitting him in the face and ripping it in half.
Now look what you ve done! You re just an awkward little klutz aren t you? she laughed.
Freddie was fuming now. He hit back with, All you ever do is follow Carly around!
That hit a nerve, I follow Carly around? I follow Carly around! I ll tell you a little something about following Carly around, Benson. You re just a stalker, she s never going to properly love you back, no one will, why would they? So you can stop following Carly around and stay out of my life!
Oh, believe me I wish I could, I wish I could just erase you from my memory, but I can t. I wish I d never have to see you again!
Well why don t you start now and get lost then?
Maybe I will! he shouted, and with that he left, fuming, wanting to kick something. He would just move onto his next activity. He wasn t in the mood for orienteering.