I groaned as I woke up to the sound of my alarm. The bright sun peaking through my windows, make my head feel like it's going to explode. Looking for my phone, I found it on the nightstand. I picked it up and muttered, "Dammit" as when I saw it was 9:30 and 3 missed calls from Caroline and I knew why.
I call Caroline back on speaker phone and the first thing I hear is "Elena Gilbert you had better have a good reason for being late!" today is the second to last week of school and all us seniors are going on our "Last Hurrah" Retreat into the wilderness.
I have no idea why Caroline would agree to going on this trip, but I'm actually excited. Alaric, my aunt Jenna's husband, is taking us and this means I'll definitely get the best cabin or tent or whatever were sleeping in. I need to get out of here for a while anyways. Jeremy is going through his druggie phase and Matt and I are still barely sharing glances after I broke up with him. This trip is well deserved on my part.
"I'm sorry Care, but we were out late last night and not everyone can recover from a hangover as easily as you." I said putting emphasis on the word hangover. I was already getting dressed, putting my hair up in a high ponytail and putting on a purple tank top, jean shorts, and flip-flops.
"Well Elena" she said mimicking my sarcastic tone, "Like you said I'm hung-over too and so is Bonnie, but she was able to get her perky ass here on time, so I expect you here in 10 because were leaving in half and hour." And she hung up.
I groaned loudly muttering to myself about how there better not be any bugs as I left the house with all my luggage and an apple in my purse.
"Wait Elena!" I heard my mom yell at me from inside right before I got in the car. I turned around and I saw my dad, my brother Jeremy, and her running out.
"You weren't going to leave without saying goodbye were you?" she asked half-jokingly.
"Of course not mom" I replied giving my sweetest smile in their direction only to be met by my dad's "I have something to say" look.
"Ok Elena. Here are the ground rules. No boys, no drugs, no drinking unless there's a designated driver and what was my last one again?" he says faking confusion "oh that's it. No boys."
"Well dad I'm just offended you think I would ever break any of these rules. " I said earning a hearty chuckle from my parents.
"Just be safe ok sweetie." My mom said as she kissed my head.
After a few "I love you"s and "be careful"s and a reluctant hug from Jeremy I was on my way to school. This was going to be a life changing trip and a great kick-off to the summer because I simply wouldn't accept anything less.
I turned into the parking lot at exactly 10:00 and saw the big yellow school busses. Not far from the busses was the blonde hair of Caroline Forbes as she directed everyone into their vehicles and ordered the football team to carry all the luggage.
I parked and got out of my car. I had just opened the trunk to get my things when someone came up to me and tapped my shoulder.
"H… Hey Elena. " – I heard a soft male voice behind me.
I turned and raised my head and saw Matt standing there all timid with his head down, not making eye contact with me.
"Do you need any help with your stuff?" he asked, still not looking at anything but the ground. I turned back to my trunk and mindlessly shuffled with some of the papers in my car.
"No thanks Matt I got it." I replied. His awkwardness was making me awkward. I could barely get the words out of my mouth loud enough.
When the silence took over I turned around to see him walking back to the busses without giving me another word. I guess this is how it's going to be the whole trip.
I trudged over to Caroline who was yelling at Tyler. Something about how "That bag is worth more than your life".
"Elena!" she yelled as she scooped me into her embrace and hugged me harder than I've ever been hugged before.
"Its good to see you too Care!" I said chucking at the blonde's enthusiasm of life.
"I mean it's only been around 12 hours since we last saw each other"
"Elena so much can happen in 12 hours! Now get on the bus. You're sitting next to Bonnie and I! Go go go." She practically yelled as she pushed me into one of the yellow school busses. Yep, with Caroline in charge of this trip, what could go wrong?
Once I got on, Ric was sitting in the bus driver's seat waiting for Caroline and me to get on the bus. "Now that we have our last passengers, were off to the Wilderness at the Salvatore site for wilderness retreats. We're going to have a lot of fun and experience a lot of things about nature that we usually take for granted. And I know the workers from the house so I even got us a bit of a discount. Lets go," he said. We all cheered as the bus started and we were finally starting the greatest adventure and Kickoff to the summer.
The ride to the Wilderness Retreat Site only took about an hour because it was just outside Virginia. The place was beautiful. I could only imagine what sleeping under the stars out here would be like. And it's so quiet. I feel like I can hear everything.
When we came to a stop I could definitely hear the banging on the bus door and someone saying, "Ric, open up its hot as-"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!"
When the door swung open my eyes met forest green ones. I looked him up and down and up and down. He had sandy brown hair and sculpted pink lips. And if we're going to talk about sculpted, I could already see through his tight black V-neck shirt that his body was sculpted as well. Needless to say, he looked like he was in amazing shape. But he couldn't be much older than us. He could've been in high school a few years ago .I kept gawking until I finally realized he was talking.
"Hi everyone, I'm Stefan Salvatore. I'll be your head Retreat and camping leader for the next 12 days. If you have any questions please just ask me." He said with his voice silk and smooth. He was simple and beautiful. Perfect.
One girl in our class raised her hand immediately. "Yes. You?" he said
"Ya...um, I was just wondering, how old are you?" she asked giggling with her friends.
He smiled and said, "I just turned 20 about a month ago." He was only 2 years older than us, no wonder he looked so young.
"Any other questions?" he asked, when someone inside the bus yelled, "are you single?" which got quite the wolf-whistles and cheers from the girls.
He just laughed and said, "Yes, I am single. And I'm afraid that's all the time we have for questions." I could see his face turning pink from blushing at these questions.
"We'll meet in the lunch hall in about 40 minutes and that should be enough time to pick your beds. Girls wing to the right and boys to the left. Enjoy." I heard Matt and his best friend Tyler already complaining about the girls and boys being separated.
When he left I looked to my right at Caroline who was still in shock from our gorgeous counselor's appearance.
"Care, Bonnie, Did you see him?" I asked suddenly feeling like a 13-year-old girl all over again.
Bonnie was still staring at him when she replied, "Elena, I think we just saw an angel. An angel with a hot back." I laughed when I turned to Caroline.
I thought Caroline was still in shock until she said, "Elena. He's single, you're single. He's gorgeous; you're pretty hot yourself. It's fate that were on this trip. "
I laughed at the thought. But it is a pretty good start to what is going to be the best summer of my life. And if I'm here, I might as well enjoy myself, and what better way than to learn more about this mystery guy.