May 21. 10:06am.
DollyLlama: I AM AWAKE
UndeadFox: WE ALL ARE AWAKE
DollyLlama: wOOOooOOOOO
DollyLlama: oooh my bus is moving
UndeadFox: mine isn't :/
UndeadFox: We're on different buses ig
DollyLlama: lol here's to hoping i dont get carsick
UndeadFox: don't throw up :)
DollyLlama: thank you. like saying that works
DollyLlama: wOOO CAMPING TRIP!
UndeadFox: YEAHHHH!
UndeadFox: it's SOOOO hot tho
UndeadFox: it's sweltering outside
DollyLlama: good thing the buses have air con or ill pass out
UndeadFox: lol
"Good thing it's not gonna rain today," Danielle said to Bree as they stared at the scenery zooming past them outside the bus. "That's gonna ruin the bonfire."
Bree fiddled with the bracelets on her wrist. "Yeah, definitely. Would be a bummer."
They stared at Fred and Alex who were sitting in front of them. Of course they would, they were best friends (and the other member of the trio, Conner, was in another bus). Fred had a lollipop sticking out of his mouth, and he casually passed another to Alex. Alex grinned and stuck it inside her mouth.
Bree put on her earphones and contemplated leaning against the bus window like she was one of those "not like other girls" with "mousy hair" and "plain brown eyes" in a cringey Wattpad story, but she knew in real life, the bus windows vibrated like crazy and her head would just hurt.
But after ten minutes of listening to music through her earphones, Bree realized somebody had brought a speaker and was blasting music in the bus. Great.
May 21. 10:30am.
UndeadFox: The ppl in my bus are loudly singing to driver's license
DollyLlama: mine are singing call me by your name
UndeadFox: HAHHAHA
UndeadFox: flashbacks to when some of my friends t-posed over me and sung wap to assert dominance
DollyLlama: cALL ME WHEN YOU WANT CALL ME WHEN YOU NEED
DollyLlama: this song is damn catchy
UndeadFox: TIME TO SCARE THE KARENS
DollyLlama: YOOOOO
If Alex was here, she would probably shoot Conner disapproving looks because he was loudly (and badly) singing. But she wasn't, so Conner was free to do whatever he wanted.
What's Alex doing? Probably cozying up with the future-brother-in-law. Thanks for ditching me, dudes.
Conner was a little bummed most of his close friends were on the other bus, but oh well. It was just a bus trip. They would be reunited at the campsite anyway.
And he could meet up with Foxie...
Conner's heart leapt. Meeting Fox was actually the part he was most excited for, which was funny because he thought he would be more excited about seeing Bree. Well. It wasn't everyday you could meet your "Internet bestie" in real life.
May 21. 11:19am.
DollyLlama: uh
DollyLlama: someone is making out in the back of the bus?
DollyLlama: omg it's juniper and theo
DollyLlama: EWWW BYE
UndeadFox: Typical teenagers
UndeadFox: it's not been 2 hours and we are already unhinged
DollyLlama: this is the life
UndeadFox: it certainly is! :DD
DollyLlama: :D
Bree was feeling a little exhausted and nothing had even happened. Her bus ride had just turned into a karaoke session. She sung a few songs with her classmates, but the rest of the songs weren't really to her taste. (Hey, at least there were meme songs like All Star and Never Gonna Give You Up.)
Her friend Danielle, being one of the theatre kids, remained enthusiastic over time. "WELL, GOOD FOR YOU! YOU LOOK HAPPY AND HEALTHY, NOT ME IF YOU CARED TO ASK!" she belted, singing "good 4 u" by Olivia Rodrigo which was released just a week earlier.
"Geez, Rowland!" Fred called out to her. "Did somebody break your heart or something?"
Alex nudged Fred. "Stop being insensitive!" she chortled.
"Well, Hayford," Danielle dramatically boomed, leaning over him. Fred gulped, genuinely intimated. "Wouldn't YOU like to know who broke MY heart-"
("Ahh, middle school memories. Here we go," Bree droned to Alex, who just laughed.)
You have 2 new messages from Llama ;O.
"i did not throw up yay"
"lunchtime woo"
Sent: 1:01pm
Received: 1:11pm
You have a new message from Foxie ;P
"Next challenge: building tents"
Sent: 1:11pm
Received: 1:12pm
You have 2 new messages from Llama ;O.
"Thankfully we're allowed to bring our phones (i feel like this isnt supposed to happen)"
"thank the forces beyond the fourth wall ig"
Sent: 1:12pm
Received: 1:23pm
You have a new message from Foxie ;P.
"That's because someone has forgotten how to write beyond text messages ;P"
Sent: 1:24pm
Received: 1:30pm
"... I don't think tents are supposed to look like this."
"Conner, I have eyes."
Conner gestured to the pathetically sloppy tent in front of him. "Well, you do it then, Freddie!" he burst out.
Fred rolled his eyes. "Touchy, aren't you." But facing his best friend, he obliged and started fiddling with the tent rods.
"Fred, you ditched me on the bus-"
"Listen, I didn't ask to be in the other bus!" Fred flung his arms up in exasperation, and the tent rod he was holding clattered to the ground. Then as if he had just realized something, he raised a blond eyebrow. "Wait- you really are touchy today. I bet it's because you're meeting that Forging Friendships person!"
Conner huffed, cheeks flushed. "Yeah! And I have anxiety about it!"
Fred clapped Conner's back. "Relax, dude! It'll be fineee!"
"Yeah, right."
"No, seriously!" Fred grabbed both of Conner's shoulders and started shaking him vigorously like he could shake some sense into him. "You've known this person for like, a year? It'll be easy to spend time with them in real life! Especially when you're both in the same school and year! Don't ya worry!"
"Off to the woods!" Danielle sung as she and Bree walked to the woodlands surrounding the campsite. Eugene, Danielle's friend, tagged along for "no good reason" (or so he claimed). After setting up the tents, the students were allowed to explore, provided they didn't wander too far.
They passed by two students dramatically reenacting scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958), which was conveniently a required film for Literature. "Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere," they drawled moodily, exaggerating their tone. Bree, a Literature student, shot them a thumbs up.
They carefully stepped past branches and roots, sneakers crunching on the gravel and fallen leaves. Cheerfully humming, Danielle took the lead and-
"AH!"
Eugene grabbed Danielle's arm and yanked her away from the spiderweb right in front of her face. The two peered intensely at the large spider perched on the spiderweb.
"Okay. That was scary," Danielle peeped, clinging onto Eugene's arm.
"At least we're not in Australia," Bree lightly commented. She was also staring at the spider, but with fascination instead of fear. She noted the patterns on the spider's body. "Aww, you're a pretty girl, aren't you?" she cooed.
"H-how do you always manage to stay calm?" Danielle spluttered out.
Bree turned. "Just because you think I look calm," she said, "doesn't mean I really am."
You have 2 new messages from Llama ;O.
"...so we can explore now huh"
"i BET you're gonna do something dangerous"
Sent: 4:02pm
Recieved: 4:22pm
May 21. 4:34pm.
UndeadFox is online.
UndeadFox: Ooooh, what a tantalizing cliff
UndeadFox: [image]
DollyLlama is online.
DollyLlama: whAT
DollyLlama: FOXIE
DollyLlama is typing...
DollyLlama: YOU WONT DAREEEE
UndeadFox is typing...
UndeadFox: chillchill
UndeadFox: THERE'S A BARRIER THERE ITS JUST NOT IN THE PIC
UndeadFox: NO ONE CAN FALL OFF
DollyLlama: yEAH but you're oh-so-good at TRESPASSINg and CLIMBING OVER BARRIERS
UndeadFox: im the qween of overstepping boundaries
UndeadFox: (That sentence will get me cancelled on stan twitter)
DollyLlama: lmao
UndeadFox: that cliff be looking good tho
DollyLlama is typing...
DollyLlama: it's gorge-ous
UndeadFox: HA
DollyLlama: (i dont even rmb whats a gorge. geog teacher is gonna kill me)
UndeadFox: Well I guess this camping trip is to let us know more abt nature lmao
DollyLlama: boomer voice: woe! these CHILDREN spend too much time playing VidEO gAMES in their HOMES-
UndeadFox: hey at least we aren't permanently stuck in our homes
DollyLlama: that would suck so much
UndeadFox: totally
DollyLlama: can't imagine that
UndeadFox: so true
A/N: This is making me feel really bad for having the twins abandon Fred in False Obsession Turned Real. Also if you're reading from the future, Call Me By Your Name and drivers license are indeed hits in the first half of 2021. Wonder if these songs will be nostalgic some time later.
(PS: Yes. I did study Vertigo. A consequence of writing fic during your final year of high school: you can't get the required texts out of your head. Vertigo bored me to tears when I first watched it due to the 1.5 hours of driving scenes, but after intense analysis I admit it's rather captivating. The music is genuinely so good though. Instead of weird American pop references that no one outside of the States get, you get weird Literature references from my syllabus (that no one gets, but anyway).)
Thanks for being excited in the reviews! Would like to hear your thoughts :DD