Chapter 23
After a never ending, although quite pleasant hike we returned to where we'd camped, some of us more worn out than others. Jake and Emmett, the new best of buds in our party, made up a fire when we got back and we had a nice barbecue with the stuff we'd picked up before heading into the wild. The tent that the Cullens had brought along was indeed very big and it contained two big "rooms". It was decided that I'd bunk with Rosalie and the boys would bunk together. Even though I suppose Rosalie would have rather spooned with Emmett rather than being stuck with me I would have been a bit weirded out having to share rooms with Jake and Edward. I figured Rosalie too had caught notion of this, since she just went in and dropped our stuff in one of the rooms and claimed it as ours once they'd put the tent together. After the meal everyone was pretty beat and even though Jake and Emmett managed to keep conversation going with their endless banter we all succumbed to fatigue soon enough. Rosalie and I went to bed before the others and I could hear Edward saying goodnight shortly afterwards. Emmett and Jake kept going for another hour and so but then they also went to bed. It was nice to see Emmett and Jake getting along so well and I could tell Jake really appreciated getting the older boys attention. Even though Jake got on just fine with his older sisters I imagined it must be something else having an older brother. But what did I know, I'd never had either.
But even though I was beat physically my mind just wouldn't give me a rest and I couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard I tried. The noise from the forest didn't help much and even though I wasn't exactly scared of the sounds outside of the tent I wasn't exactly comfortable either. I could hear twigs snapping and sounds that I supposed belonged to all the animals living in these parts of the wilderness. Next to me Rosalie was sound asleep, and with her hair spilling out of the sleeping bag she looked just like Sleeping beauty. It must be nice having looks like that, I thought to myself. Not that I was an ogre or anything, but I was no Rosalie. I didn't make guys gawk and turn around when in public nor did my mere existence spur any wild romantic feelings in most guys. I reckoned Rosalie's presence ensured both.
Suddenly I heard movement outside the tent and I froze in my sleeping bag. So this was how I was supposed to die? In a tent in the middle of nowhere, dressed in my pajamas? As I listened carefully I could hear further movement outside the tent and I ransacked my brain for all the animal knowledge I'd obtained in my life. Was there a possibility that our barbecue had attracted a bear to our camp? Were there bears in this part of the woods? I imagined the answer to both questions was yes. I hesitated at waking Rosalie up, but then decided not to. What if it was nothing but a raccoon out there and I'd woken up everyone for nothing? No, I'd played my part as the clown for most part of the day, stumbling around all over the place in the forest. I wasn't about to be the girl who cried wolf just because of a raccoon. Quietly I unzipped my sleeping bag and slid out of it. I put on my shoes and my jacket and then inaudibly, so as to not wake up Rosalie, made my way over to the exit of the tent. Here goes nothing, I thought to myself as I pulled the zipper up…
