Scarlett wasn't sure who had the bright idea of going camping. She knew that it was being discussed and she made it clear that she didn't think they'd like it. Something about the royals in her life volunteering to sleep on the ground and roast weenies just… didn't match up. However in the end it was decided they'd all go camping and… now she was kind of excited. Scarlett had always loved the outdoors and had been nervous about going outside because of Ezekiel. She'd of course gone, several times but she'd been so wound up she hadn't been able to really enjoy it, until now.

Scarlett had convinced herself that Ben had gotten the man out of the kingdom. That Ezekiel was at home pouting because he hadn't gotten what he wanted. Yeah he had no problem beating up a teenage boy to get what he wanted but Ben wasn't just a teenage boy, he was the king.

"Audrey… you really don't need all of this." Scarlett pointed out to her roommate, seeing everything that was laying out on the bed. "A hair dryer?"

"How will I dry my hair after my shower?"

"How do you plan on showering?" Scarlett countered. Audrey paused, thinking on that.

"Wait, there aren't showers?"

"We are going to be in tents, in the woods, Princess Audrey. There will be no showers." Scarlett confirmed. Audrey took a moment to process that, looking horrified.

"But my hair!"

"Dry shampoo will become your friend." Scarlett grabbed her can and pressed it into Audrey's hand. "And we'll only be out there for two nights. You'll be fine." She insisted. "Take a hair tie, some dry shampoo and the knowledge that after two days in the woods, all of us are going to smell a little rank." She smiled at Audrey's pout.

"Fine." She sighed, tossing the hair dryer to the side. "What else don't I need?" She asked. Scarlett picked through the items, discarding two dresses, some jewelry, three bottles of perfume-

"No perfume, or body spray, no scented lotion. Trust me Audrey, you will not want any of this stuff on you." Scarlett explained as she replaced Audrey's shimmery strawberry scented lotion with a bottle of plain lotion. After a few minutes Scarlett had Audrey's stuff contained to a single backpack. "This, is how you camp." She grabbed her own backpack, hefting it onto her back.

They went down to the courtyard to meet everyone else. It wasn't just a thing with their friends. Ben had talked to the teachers and they turned it into an educational experience, it was going to be a bunch of them going together, basically their entire class was going to be out there. That made Scarlett feel even better, there were safety in numbers after all. They dropped their bags on the ground and waited, soon enough Chad appeared.

"Oh boy." Scarlett's eyes widened. The prince had obviously never gone camping before. He wore freshly pressed jeans, a plaid button down tucked into those jeans and never before been worn hiking boots.

"Hey." He grinned brightly, wrapping an arm around Scarlett's waist.

"Hey." Scarlett replied. "You look… spiffy."

"You like it?" He asked, stepping back and doing a little turn.

"Love it." She nodded. Ben arrived with Mal, Carlos and Jay.

"Where's Evie?"

"Trying to find someone who help her carry all of her bags. Doug was trying to help but… the poor boy wasn't made for the heavy lifting that comes with Evie." Mal shook her head.

"Hopefully they get here soon, I want to get out there quickly. The tents are already pitched, I figured it would be better and save us all a lot of time." Ben looked to Scarlett. He'd kind of gone to her several times about this trip, assuming the was an expert on the outdoors.

He wasn't wrong, she was pretty good at this.

Finally everyone got down to the courtyard and they headed into the woods.

"Okay so you do know where the tents are being set up right?" Scarlett asked Ben as they started down the trail.

"Yeah… this way." Ben answered, he didn't look completely convinced but he was trying. Scarlett looked back at Chad, who shrugged, and they all followed after him.

"So… how far out is it suppose to be?" Audrey asked, Jay was carrying her bag for her, even though it wasn't really that heavy anymore.

"It's about… fifteen minutes away." Ben replied.

"Oh boy." Scarlett repeated, shaking her head and following after their fearless leader.

Forty five minutes later they still hadn't reached their tents.

"It's just… around here somewhere." Ben insisted.

"Ben, I'm tired, my feet hurt, where are we?" Mal asked, half whining.

"I… We are in the forest outside the school."

"Thanks, your highness, that's so helpful." Mal replied, looking up at him. Ben looked to Scarlett, half pleading. Scarlett nodded and turned on her heel, moving east. Everyone followed after her and about ten minutes later they were at the camp site.

"How did you-"

"Magic." Scarlett interrupted the king. "How are we doing the tents?" She asked, dropping her bag and massaging her shoulder.

"My feet are killing me." Chad whined, flopping to the ground.

"Never wear brand new boots on a long hike." Scarlett advised. Chad looked up to her with puppy dog eyes and she reached down, ruffling his hair.

"There are enough tents that you should be able to just share with your normal dormmate." Ben answered the question. Audrey ran to find a tent for the two of them, wanting one close to the fire.

"So what do we do first? Smores?" Carlos asked excitedly, Jay was getting a tent for the two of them, pushing one of the seven dwarves kids away from a prime tent, the one on the left of Audrey and Scarlett. Chad scrambled up, despite his feet to get the one on the other side of the girls.

"Are we rooming together, Ben?" He asked. Neither of them had roommates. Ben was the king and didn't need one and Chad just got lucky. Also he'd annoyed his past several roommates until they begged for a room change.

"Yeah." Ben nodded, taking his bag to the tent. Scarlett picked up her own bag and ducked into the tent where Audrey was fluffing the pillow that came with the sleeping bag.

"They put out sleeping bags too? Man you royals really know how to rough it." Scarlett teased. Audrey stuck out her tongue.

"We carried all our own stuff." She pointed out.

"No, Jay carried yours." Scarlett corrected. Audrey couldn't stop the little smile from playing across her lips.

"Yeah, he did." She nodded.

"Oh my god, ask him out." Scarlett demanded.

"I couldn't do that!" Audrey gasped. "He has to ask me out. It's proper-"

"Proper my ass. I asked my ex-boyfriend out on our first date."

"And that ended so well."

"If not for a crazed jerk, I'd probably be making plans to marry that ex-boyfriend." Scarlett pointed out.

"Wait seriously? You're like… seventeen."

"People marry young in the country, mostly because we don't have anything else to do." Audrey stared at Scarlett as if she could decide if she was joking or not.

"Hey, you guys settled in?" Chad stuck his head into the tent.

"I am." Scarlett confirmed.

"Me too." Audrey nodded, they all climbed out of the tent, Scarlett used it as a chance to get an idea of where they were staying. It was a large clearing, surrounded by trees. In the middle there was a small fire pit, She didn't know if it was new or if people had camped here before. She stepped closer, but there was really no way of telling.

"So are we going to build a fire?" Carlos popped up behind them.

"I want to set the fire." Jay spoke up.

"What? No, I said fire first." Carlos argued.

"But I said set the fire first." Jay countered. The two of them went back and forth about it for a while before Ben stopped them.

"Go get the firewood and then you can both set the fire." He offered. Jay and Carlos looked at each other then ran into the line of trees looking for dry wood to put in the pit.

"They're going to set themselves on fire." Scarlett predicted.

"Or someone else." Chad agreed. "Want to go for a walk?" He asked, looking to Scarlett.

"Yeah, let's go." She nodded, taking his hand and slipping between the trees.

The two of them walked in silence for a while.

"So you like nature?"

"Yeah, I grew up around nature, it's just what I'm use to. I mean… I love the school, I love the town but I'm use to the sounds of animals and seeing the stars." Scarlett looked up at the sky, It wasn't dark yet, wasn't anywhere near dark, but she knew that tonight she'd be able to see them.

They eventually looped around, heading back to the camp site,

"Wait… Do you hear that?" Scarlett stopped.

"I don't hear-"

"Shh." Scarlett held her finger to her lips. She crept north, carefully stepping over tree roots. She peeked out between a couple of trees and gasped, clapping her hand over her mouth.

"What- Oh my god!" Chad exclaimed. Jay and Audrey broke apart, jumping about a foot away from each other.

"Chad!" Scarlett smacked his arm.

"Oh my god!" Chad repeated, this time clutching his arm. "You're strong, stop."

Scarlett stuck out her tongue and stepped into the clearing where Jay and Audrey had been kissing.

"Sorry… you kids carry on, we're just going to… go." She grabbed for Chad's hand, leading him away from the two of them. They went back to the campsite where Carlos had happily built the fire and went to sit down.

"Who would have thought the woods could be so… romantic?" Chad grinned.

"Oh I knew it." Scarlett replied with a smile. "There is just something so… hot about knowing a dozen animals are staring at you from between the trees." She teased.

"Wait are they really?" Chad paused, looking to the tree line.

"Oh, definitely."