A small smile danced on my lips for the rest of the day. I was going camping with Lucas, my new friend. I know it seems kind of childish and naive of me, but it's kind of lonely being on your own. We both knew what it was like to be on our own and it's not pleasant. Teased, tormented, punished… not being able to justify for anything you do. I guess I trust him because we connect on such a personal level, why would we give each other the same treatment we were given? Vinny was never treated like me, so his betrayal makes sense. If Lucas betrayed me, then he would be a hypocrite.

The permission is slip in my backpack as we drove back home. Sophie giggled at my behavior. I felt like I was on top of the world. I usually felt like this when I was with… But now, Lucas has my back. Shay chooses to ignore both of us and drives to Ardor Elementary. Ella and Evan came scampering back. Evan was more excited to go home while Ella started pestering me about my "boyfriend."

"Did you see your boyfriend today?" she asked.

"He's not my boyfriend and yes I did see him today," I respond.

"Ooh, what's his favorite color?"

"Blue."

"Favorite food."

"Ramen."

On and on she went. Evan groaned as he made gagging noises.

"Well isn't someone a bit squeamish." I lean back and tickle his leg.

"Ew, what? No! It's disgusting!" He makes a face.

I chuckle as Ella says, "You're just afraid of cooties!" And blew a raspberry at him.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Stop it you two!" Shay shushed them both.

"So, more about your boyfriend," Sophie said coyly.

"He's not my boyfriend!" I growled at her.

She let out a laugh. "If you say so."

"And besides, don't you have a boyfriend?" I mumble quietly.

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"Oh, no. I heard you perfectly clear. 'Do you have a boyfriend,'" she mocked me, "Of course I do."

I smirk. "Oh really? What's his name?"

"Nonya."

"Last name?"

"Nonya business."

Everybody burst out laughing.

"Good one." I snort. "But seriously."

"Nope. I'm single and ready for a man."

"More like a servant." Shay snickered.

Sophie smacked the back of his head. "Quiet you single pringle!"

When we got home, I was surprised to see Mom and Dad greet us with a hug.

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing home so early?" I asked.

"Oh, sweetheart. We realized we haven't been home a lot lately and wanted to spend more time with you." Mom said.

"That's great Mom!" Sophie squealed.

"I know. I married such a smart lady." Dad said and kissed Mom.

"Gross," Evan gagged.

"So, what should we do?" Mom clasped her hands together.

"Oh, I have a permission slip from Mr. Sting for an overnight field trip," I say and start unzipping my backpack.

"An overnight field trip?"

"Yeah," I shuffle some of the things around until I find the permission slip, "to "improve our health as well as learn about nature.""

"Are you sure? You really don't go on many of these "overnight field trips."" She narrows her eyes until she smirks. "Did you meet a new boy?"

"What is with all the boy talk recently?!" I moan. "Yes, but we're just friends."

She sighs. "Well, alright." She takes the permission slip.

"Now come on. We have a lot of homework to do." Sophie sighed and tugged my hand.

"Sophie!" I cried.

She literally dragged me up the stairs and threw me onto her bed. She swiftly closed the door and threw her bag to the side, a mischievous look in her eyes. This is going to be a while.

The next day, Mr. Stings entire class loaded onto the bus which pulled a trailer containing some of our camping gear inside. Lucas and I sat next to each other and chatted throughout the entire ride. It took four hours to reach our destination. We had already eaten our lunch because some of us had gotten hungry. We soon arrived at our destination: the forest. Pine trees towered above us and pine needles crunched under our shoes. I spied a fire pit and small grills for those who want to grill along with four picnic tables. I practically shouted out in joy because I. Love. Camping! A couple of my classmates groaned.

Once we were all out of the bus my teacher clapped his hands together. "Alright class, we will set up camp here. In the permission slip, it said we won't be back until tomorrow." Mr. Sting said. "So we all get a taste of mother nature. Any questions?"

A girl raised her hand. "Are there any outlets?"

"We're trying to unplug Sarah. No, there aren't any outlets."

She let out a gasp of horror along with a couple others.

That's why we bring battery packs, I think to myself. I bought 4 of them, fully charged and can recharge any device twice. When I say I like camping, I don't spend my time on the phone. I just make sure I can contact a person in case of emergencies as well as over prepare for an overnight trip.

"Any other questions?" His question was met with silence. "Good, no go get your packs and we will unload the trailer and set up camp. Break!"

We all headed toward the trailer and back of the bus. The guys who thought were macho started unloading the tents in the trailer while Lucas and I grabbed our stuff.

"Do you know how to camp?" Lucas asks quietly.

I nod. "I love camping. I go camping with my family twice a year!" I reply. "And you didn't stutter that time."

"I-I u-uh…" he stammers and looks away.

I bump him with my shoulder lightly. "Hey, be confident. We're not alone anymore. We have each other."

Lucas blushes. I think it was because a girl shorter (and younger) than him was giving him advice. When I turned back toward the buses, I noticed the boys were struggling with the tents. I rolled my eyes and went over to help them. Grabbing two single person tents, Lucas and I set up camp away from each other. Because of boy and girl rules.

"If you need any help, I'll be over there." I point to the spot where the girls will be camping.

He nods and gives me a thumbs up. I start setting up the tent. By the time I was finished, I noticed the other girls had started setting up the tents. The only problem was, they only set up the base: a tarp. They didn't put the sides up or even the wires or stakes! Most of them were tapping away on their phones or trying to look for a wi-fi signal.

"You know you're goanna have to sleep in those, right?" I call out to them. Their heads snapped up at me and sent me dirty looks. I roll my eyes and mutter, "Just saying."

I walk to one of the picnic tables and sit down, enjoying nature and basking in the afternoon sun. It was perfect. The autumn breeze blowing through my locks, the sun shining down on my beige skin and the sounds of nature...and struggling students. It was relaxing, to say at the least. I am glad I decided to join this field trip.

My mind then starts wondering to things that have happened as of recently. I frown slightly at the image of Vinny's face downcast and, dare I say...ashamed? I felt anger rising up inside me. Ashamed. Ashamed! Why the hell was he ashamed? He should be damn right humiliated! We've been friends since we were in diapers. We've been together during Elementary and Middle, why is High school different?

I touch my hair and sigh. Right, a freak. A freak to have white hair. A freak to have golden eyes. A freak to have all these supernatural "powers." Heightened senses? Pffft. They must be blasting their earbuds too loud and daring the sun to a staring contest. And a sixth sense of "ESP." They must also be watching too many sci-fi movies.

"Laila!"

My eyes snapped open when I heard my voice. I looked over to see Lucas waving me over. I swiftly walked over to him and asked, "What's up?"

"I need your help." He looks at me and bites his lip as he holds a part of the spine.

I chuckle. "No need to feel ashamed. You've gotten farther than some people." For emphasis, I looked over to the girls who were stumbling over each other, trying to put the spine together.

Lucas snickers. "Yeah, I've never been camping before."

I gasp in horror. "Never been camping! What life have you been living?"

"A nerdy one?"

"Nerds are just the dumb peoples' version of saying 'intellectual badasses.'"

I lift the tent part and motion for him to put the first poles through.

"Intellectual badass huh?"

I click my end of the pole in place as Lucas does his.

"It's better than 'nerd.'" I shift over and start working on the other support.

"I like it too." We snap the last pole into place, tie the tent down and dust our hands off. "There," Lucas says, gesturing with his hands toward the erected tent. "A stable tent."

I giggle. "Yeah, I wonder how the others are doing." I glance around and find some of the boys yelling at their tents while others were actually competent. When I turned to the girls' side, some of them managed to get their tents up while others were fussing over something. I highly doubt it was about the tent though.

"Should we help them?" Lucas asks.

I tap my chin in thought. "I guess."

Lucas goes over to the boys while I go over to a couple of girls shouting curses at a tent.

"You have to put the poles into the sockets and lock it into a stake," I say, picking up one of the poles.

The girls turn over to me with narrowed eyes.

"We, like, already knew that." One with brown hair, Zoey I think, said.

"So why are you fumbling with the poles then?" I ask. They stayed silent as I started taking control of their project. "That's what I thought." In no time at all, I had the tent set up. "You guys need some lessons." I caught a glimpse of their faces, pinched in distaste, as I walk over to the fire pit where Mr. Sting sat.

"So what are we going to be doing for the rest of the day?" I ask.

"Once we're finished here, we're going on a hike." Mr. Sting replied with a grin.

"What?!" a boy shrieked. I giggled a little bit.

"What's wrong with hiking?" I say innocently.

"The fact that I'm a twig and can barely traverse the halls!"

"What about me?" a girl whined. "I'm wearing high heels!"

"Didn't you read the permission slip? It said, "bring comfortable camping gear." So, suck it up."

She narrowed her eyes and flipped me the bird. I took a seat and waited for the rest to arrive. Slowly, one by one, they flocked toward us, some with sour expressions others with mild or, even, pleased ones.

"Alright," Mr. Sting clapped his hands. "Let's get hiking."

The hike was pleasant, hearing the bird songs and the occasional animal scurrying by, the pine needles crunching under my combat boots, and the soft breeze blowing through my white locks. I would occasionally hear the small whines of the girls who brought stilettos instead of sneakers. Lucas and I walked side by side in comfortable silence, a small snort escaping him from time to time as a girl falls. Soon, the sounds of rushing water fills my ears. I make a mad dash toward the sound and see a small stream going by. I kneel down by the water and place my hands in, sighing in delight as the cold water runs through my fingers.

Lucas comes and joins me, running his hand through the stream. I take off my shoes and roll up the ends of pants and wade into the water. The rest of the group joins us, giving me weird looks while others whisper about something. I shrug at them and continue just walking in the water. Lucas joins me a minute later.

"Having fun?" I ask.

"Yeah!" He says as he clutches my arm for balance.

"I'd suggest you get out before you get sick." Mr. Sting says.

"Ew, cooties!" One of the boy's snickers.

"Aren't cooties a bit childish for you? Especially since I saw you playing tonsil hockey with Alison a couple of weeks ago," I reply. He turned bright red and the others laughed at him while Lucas and I waded back to our shoes. We head back to camp just as the sun's last rays cast its glow on us. Mr. Sting starts the fire as a couple of students bring out hot dogs to eat. We were told we had to find our own roasting sticks, so Lucas and I start searching the surrounding area for one.

"Do you think this one's good enough?" I say as I pick one up.

Lucas takes the stick and runs his fingers over the surface. "Yeah, should be." I start searching for another one when he says, "Laila?"

He sounded hurt. I turn to him with a surprised look. In what little light was left, I saw his hair was covering his eyes, shoulders hunched. "Yeah? Is something wrong?"

"I just wanna know...is it true?"

I blink. "Is what true?"

"Well, Ethan told me that you were a bitch to other people and would often times call them names and beat them up. N-nerds and weaklings were y-your target."

My eyes widen in shock. "What? I've never hit anybody…" I pause. I have hit people before. But they deserved it. I hit a guy back in middle school when he harassed Sophie for wearing a skirt. "I've never hit an innocent." I correct myself.

"R-really?"

"Yeah. I believe in justice and karma. Unless I want karma to come with a vengeance at me, I wouldn't dare do what you said."

"I-I just thought I'd a-ask." Lucas's hand rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm such a bad friend."

I walk over to him and wrap my arms around him. "No, your not. We just met. It's okay to be suspicious. But don't ever think I'd do that, okay?" I playfully give him a noogie.

"Ah, okay. Okay!" he laughs as he pushes me away.

"And I think I've found another stick." I pick one up and hold it out to him.

He nods. "Very nice. Let's head back to camp."