Disclaimer: As much as I wish I did, I didn't make up the majority of the characters or the show, they all belong to WB and whoever else is involved. Only Jane and the guides are my own. No infringement intended, so don't sue me.

Colorado

Chapter 3

It was stunning. After so many hours sitting in a bus, the group now stood before a scene right out of a painting. They were surrounded by a sea of white desert sand, dotted here and there with dark, gnarly trees and low, sprawling bushes. Behind them, a small hill gave way to a denser clump of trees, intertwined with whole stretches of wildflowers. Farther down, a wide path led to the banks of the river that flowed by calmly. Lined up a safe distance from the river's edge were twelve long, metal canoes and a pile of paddles.

By now, the bus driver had deposited all twenty duffle bags into a jumbled heap on the sand and was preparing to take off. Mr. Medina moved to the front of the crowd before anyone had a chance to stray. "Alright, everyone, before we do anything, there's going to be a mandatory…orientation, so to speak, right over there," he said, motioning to a cluster of trees on top of the hill that formed a canopy with enough shade to accommodate a small crowd. A distant figure leaned against one of the trees, most likely the guide. "So move it people. We have a lot to do today." On that note, the entire group began the trek to the top of the hill.

In her mind, Rory had pictured their guide as some thirty-year-old man who looked closer to fifty, having spent his whole life on the river. This might explain why, upon reaching the top of the hill, she, along with practically every other girl present, paused, mouths gaping. In front of them stood a man, no older then twenty, with dark brown hair, and eyes a girl could be lost for days in. He was tall and lean, and gave the impression of complete self-assurance. In a deep, intelligent voice, accompanied by an easy smile, he called down to the group, "Ok, lets get everyone up here so we can get started."

"Yes sir." Louise said, pushing her way to the front of the crowd. She was practically drooling.

When everyone had reached the plateau, and found somewhere to be, either sitting in one of the trees, on the ground, or simply standing, the man started talking again.

"Alright everyone. My name's Eric, and as most of you have probably guessed, I'm going to be your guide for the next five days. Your teacher informed me that you already got into groups, is that right?" Eric paused a moment, while everyone nodded. "Great, so if no one is an odd man out, we can-"

"Actually, I'm not in a boat group." said Asia. Rory glared at Tristan, who shrugged innocently and went back to talking with his friends.

"That's fine, you can be Pocahontas." Eric said quickly, wanting to move on. However, when he noticed that everyone, at least everyone who was listening, looked extremely confused, he decided to clarify. "That just means that each day you ride in one of the boats where supplies would normally go." Asia pouted at the idea of being equated to boxes of food, but was satisfied when she learned that it got her out of rowing.

"Moving on-" Eric started once again, but it was not to be.

"Uh, one more problem." This time it was Jon. "Ya see there are five of us guys, so the groups for tents came out a little…uneven." continued Mike.

"And none of us wanted to room with him, no offense Mr. Medina." Sam finished, looking over at his teacher sheepishly.

"Well, if you guys think you can fit, you can just all squeeze into one tent. I would offer a single, but unfortunately, our extra got messed up on our last trip, so…" Eric stopped talking. After they had gotten the gist of it, the three boys had gone back to their discussion.

"Okay then, anyone else before I continue?" When no one spoke, Eric finally moved on.

"First of all, I know you all got the speech and the hand outs, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to go over the rules once more. Then I'll give you the basic plan for the week, you guys will set up tents, and we'll finish with a crash course in canoeing. Sound good?"

There were a few mumble "Greats", which Eric took as a sign to move on.

"First of all, lets remember, we're in the great outdoors, there's no cleaning crew coming after we leave, so we have to keep it nice. That means no candy wrappers on the ground, no bubble gum stuck to the trees, no shampoo in the water…" he said the last at the group of girls off to the side, sitting in a line and putting their hair up. "Also, we are going to be on a river, so any cell phones, CD players, basically anything running on batteries is at risk. It is not unheard of for boats to tip, so either leave it in the truck or pack it well and pray."

At the last comment, all heads turned to the sound of a car getting closer and closer. Within a few minutes, a white moving truck had pulled up to the campsite. The door popped open, and out jumped a girl, about the same age as Eric. She had shoulder length blond hair and dazzling green eyes. As she ran toward the group, an older man climbed out the other side of the truck, and opened the back, where a third person emerged carrying a large plastic bin filled with packages. He had a strange likeness to Johnny Knoxville.

By now, the blond had almost reached their group. "Hey Eric!" She yelled, launching herself at him. After a quick hug and a peck on the check, she turned to the group.

"Hi, I'm Summer."

At the sound of his long time ex's name, Tristan instinctively turned around. "It couldn't be her, could it?" Summer had left Chilton before junior year started. Her parents had split up (quite the scandal, as his mother would say) and she'd decided to live with her father in New York. Her sudden disappearance had left Tristan feeling more pained then he did after practically any other breakup. Not because he had particularly liked her, of course, but because of the fact that she had dumped him, quite unceremoniously, in front of virtually everyone he knew.

That stunt had kept the gossip mills turning for far too long, in Tristan's' opinion. Of course, if anyone had found out what had had happened only ten minutes later…but no one ever would. That was one moment he had vowed to keep off his oh-so-public list of conquests. Not even his closest friends knew, save for Henry, who had only found out through his girlfriend, who just happened to be best friends with the girl in question. Come to think of it, that was how they had come to be friends in the first place.

After hearing the interesting tidbit, Henry had called to confirm it, and over that summer, their conversations developed from bribes and threats insuring Henry's silence to advice on how to win her over. The next year, Henry had seemed, to the masses of students at Chilton, to have miraculously become part of the "in" crowd. Of course, Tristan's friends, being more the follower type, had made little objection to the addition to their group, hardly realizing that they were being replaced.

A hand moving slowly back and forth in front of Tristan's eyes brought him back from his thoughts. He realized that he must have completely zoned out as he had been reliving all that had happened the last year.

"Hey man, I know she's hot, but you keep that up and I think you might get classified as a stalker." Jon said, grinning, as his friend finally turned back around. "Some weird coincidence, her being named Summer too. Don't find too many of those around." He continued.

So it wasn't her. Tristan wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed. Now that he thought about it, however, he wasn't sure why he even considered it was her in the first place. She had never liked the outdoors. Something about the bugs.