[This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.]
A pile of woods is stock in front of us. My group together with Dae this time is standing in a circle waiting for our adviser to give us a signal to start the bonfire challenge.
The challenge is about whichever group makes fire first will be the winner and will be awarded before the camp ends. No lighters or matches were provided. You need to make a way to make the woods blaze using other means and that is up to you.
"Are you ready?" she starts and we respond with a big yes. I look at my watch and it's exactly 5:35 p.m. and it's getting dark too.
"When you hear the whistle you can start with the challenge," she instructs and everyone gets ready.
"I'm excited to light these woods and feel warm," Namida expresses her excitement. It's getting cold already so we need to make a fire. We have prepared mallows on sticks. We will make toasted mallows later.
"Ready, set..." and she whistles. We start forming the woods in triangular form leaving a small space below to give way for the fire.
"What should we do now?" Dae asks when we finished forming the woods.
"You guys look for stones. Medium size will do," I tell them and they collect stones.
"Here," Chocho drops the stones on the white ground and I pick two from them and start rubbing them against each other. Good thing I told them to get some tinder near the forest.
"Friction creates heat. You rub stones together and put a piece of tinder on top of it until smoke appears," I tell them and they follow my instructions.
"Rub! Rub! Rub!" Chocho utters and a moment later, smoke appears. Her force is incredible.
"Good job Chocho!" my teammates rejoice when smoke slightly appears. The tinder lights up and fire appears.
"Move it to the woods and put more tinder so the fire will expand," I command and they hurry to put the remaining tinder to the woods.
"I think we are the first," Wasabi exclaims in joy.
"All right, the woods are burning!" I yell and we hug each other in pleasure. We are the first! Thanks to the tinder we got from earlier.
"All right, we have a winner!" our adviser announces and we give each other a high-five. The others light up their woods and are still happy despite not winning the challenge.
"This is what you get when you have a genius in the group," Dae compliments me I guess and I slightly blush.
"No way, we worked together you know?" I say and they smile at me.
"Let's toast these marshmallows already," Chocho says and we sit down facing the fire and we start toasting the marshmallows. I try to cool it first by blowing off air from my mouth before taking one inside my mouth.
"How sweet!" I yelp after I tasted the caramel flavor-like of the toasted marshmallow.
"It's truly yummy," Wasabi agrees with me and we enjoy the taste of burnt marshmallows. I look around and most of the students toasted marshmallows too and some just keep themselves warm.
I love how the heat gets into my flesh in a place covered with ice. It feels like home with a burning chimney.
Namida takes out her mobile phone and she aims to get us a group photo.
"Say cheese..." she says and we repeat what she said then it clicks. She stares at it for a second and then shows it to us. It is cute.
"Let's take more photos together as we will never make one after our graduation," Namida murmurs while almost crying.
"Don't cry, Namida. We must enjoy this camp and make memories that we will look back after how many years," Wasabi tries to light up her mood and she nods at her.
"Wasabi got a point. We are here to make our bond even stronger. Even though we may not see each other again after our graduation, we still have memories to recall that will make us smile and laugh like an idiot," Chocho adds and we laugh.
"I think there is no need to be sad right now. You guys are wonderful. Let's be friends forever," she sobs and it startles us.
"Hey, Namida! We told you not to cry," Dae squeals and Namida starts to sob more.
"No way..." I mutter. Wasabi and Chocho rub her back and she stops crying. She wipes her face and puts her hands together.
"I'm sorry. I can't help but be sad knowing our time being together is coming to an end real soon," she says and her lips curve downward. It's quite far from now, to be honest, but time sure flies quickly.
"Let's not be sad but happy. Let's toast more marshmallows," Wasabi suggests and we put them on fire.
"Alright, our time is over. All of you get inside the hotel and we will have our dinner together," the adviser from 12-C calls out to us, and we stand up from sitting on the thick cloth and proceed to the hotel.
After dinner, we head straight to our room to rest and prepare for the upcoming activities starting tomorrow.
"All right, are you guys ready for today's activity?" Chocho shouts while she raises her hand in the air.
"Yeah!" Wasabi and Namida answer in chorus. I just gently scratch my face with my index finger looking awkwardly at Chocho's actions.
"It's essay writing, you know?" I say and she suddenly feels weak and drops her shoulders.
"Yeah, Shikadai is right though. It's a drag," she says in an apathetic way. We laugh at her reaction.
"Let's do our best, Chocho," Namida tells her and her energy is somehow restored. She nods and smiles at us. We leave the room still wearing thick clothes.
We just had breakfast and proceed to the convention room of the hotel. Yes, it has a convention room. Sounds great, right?
Constant clapping of hands interferes with us from talking with our friends. It's the class adviser of 12-D. She gestures to assemble in front of her and her co-advisers move closer to her side.
"Did you bring your notebook and pen?" she asks while smiling and we raise our notes in the air.
"Great," she mutters cheerfully.
"I don't know what to write, to be honest," Chocho whispers in my ear. And I move my head to face her.
"Hey, Mitsuki is the one who will lead this activity. Don't humiliate yourself in front of him," I tell her in a low voice so our teachers won't hear us.
"I know that. Will I include him as someone I dreamed of too?" she whispers, oh my...
"Don't tell me you are going to write in your essay that you want to be his bride in the future? Seriously?" I whisper back.
"Is not it okay to include that part? You don't want to be Boruto's bride, eh? We are talking about our dream and what will we become after our graduation. Not that I want to marry him right away, I mean it's my dream too," she explains still whispering.
She is not serious about it, right? It's embarrassing to include that silly thing and tell the whole class about marrying Boruto. It's ludicrous.
"Of course, I won't include it, don't be ridiculous. I want to become an actress before anything else," I tell her and she creases her lips.
I think I raise my voice a bit and our adviser hisses after she heard a loud noise. I cup my mouth and we stop talking.
"Mitsuki please come over here," the 12-D's class adviser calls out to him and Mitsuki walks in their direction. I secretly glanced at Chocho and I witness how her eyes follow Mitsuki's movements. I nudge her on her side and she smirks at me and I can't help but laugh faintly at her reaction. I bet she knows I am teasing her.
"Mitsuki, please explain to them what to do. You have finished your essay, right?" our adviser asks him and he answers with a nod.
"Alright then, the stage is yours," the class B's adviser tells him and he steps forward.
"Good morning everyone. I am tasked to explain to you the mechanics of today's activity which is essay writing and entitled "Who are you ten years from now," he starts and the crowd starts to buzz like bees.
"The outline of this activity is your essay must have an introduction, body, and conclusion. The deadline is today at exactly 11 a.m. You still have three hours to finish the task," he says and we prepare our notebooks. I think three hours is too much for an essay.
"Why not share your work with the class, Mitsuki?" our adviser suggests, and Mitsuki smiles at her.
"It's my pleasure to do such," he replies and takes out his notebook and opens it.
"Do you think he wants to marry me too?" Chocho utters out of nowhere.
"Are you serious?!" I almost yell at her.
"Just thinking maybe he will," she shrugs and smiles faintly. I know she is waiting for him, for her feelings to be reciprocated. Now I start to think about mine too. My feelings for Boruto knowing that there is someone who just broke Sumire's heart. I'm afraid I will end up the way she was.
I shake my head while clutching my chest. I don't know what exactly are my feelings for him anymore.
"Projecting who will you become in the future is not that hard to make. If we can still recall, our parents used to ask us who will we become when we were still little. Well, my parent did it in the past as I can recount and answer them, 'I will become a doctor like mom' andshe would laugh at it," Mitsuki starts to read his essay in front of us.
The crowd silences as we are occupied by Mitsuki's pretty writing. He is very talented.
"As the days passed by, we discover something about ourselves and we start to rethink our forenamed dream and gauge the situation. Our hobbies changed, our tastes and preferences changed, and our level of knowledge and expertise expanded that we realized we don't want to be someone we dreamed of when we were still young. I excel at something not in the field of medicine in line with my mom's profession but I have a passion for writing and I have the guts to say I want to be a poet or a novelist,"
I don't know but Mitsuki brings fire in my chest that urges me to do this. I want to express my thoughts and feelings too. I have decided long ago that I want to be someone like Mr. Martin who inspires and serves as a voice to be good and do good with others especially with children.
I want to use that influence to teach the youth the lessons they struggle to learn because of the changing world.
"Ten years from now, I see myself as someone who writes to tell stories and send messages with moral lessons to be learned by everyone," Mitsuki ends his essay with a blast. It was great. Everyone puts their hands together for him. He bows and smiles at us upon lifting his head. Chocho is almost crying. She was never mentioned in his essay. But I think it's not the reason behind it. Mitsuki's words were an inspiration to all. We need to strive hard to get to the peak of success.
11 a.m., Convention Room
The bell rings and everyone is startled when we hear it.
"Your time is up. I bet you are finished with your activity," our adviser reminds and an inaudible sound appears.
"I think it's okay," I hear Tsubaki say to Yodo and Yodo flips her long hair and tells Tsubaki that she did pretty well with her essay.
"Clean your area because we will resume with the presentation after lunch," she adds and we all respond "Yes" to her.
"Are you ready, Sarada?" my best friend asks me as she is feeling nervous at the moment.
"Yeah, but are you okay?" I am more worried about her.
"Yeah, kind of," she responds but I can feel the tension in her voice.
"Just relax. As long as you did not write about marrying Mitsuki in your essay, you'll be fine," I rub her back and she is quite pissed off of my statement.
"Sarada?!" she cries. I pat her shoulders trying to calm her down.
"I'm just joking, you know? You feel so tensed," I smile at her. Well, to be honest, I never heard Chocho tell me about her dream. It was always me who keeps blabbering about becoming an actress.
I am about to ask her when she is called out by Class B's adviser to present her work. She is slightly nervous and I cheer her up. Chocho is a confident girl. Her fighting spirit is admirable.
She clears her throat before speaking. It is a long introduction about food as eating is her hobby. In the middle, she mentions that she wants to be a cook or the greatest chef so she won't be struggling to cook for herself. And everyone laughs at it as it was just for fun. Being a chef is not easy and it's quite costly too but it is a great profession. I would be very happy if Chocho becomes one.
Next is Namida and she wants to be a singer. She has a great voice, by the way. Denki wants to be a scientist. Wasabi and Lee want to be in the field of athletics and become Olympic medalists. Tsubaki wants to be a businesswoman. Yodo wants to be an international model. Inojin wants to be a professional painter. My classmates are incredible.
Boruto wants to be a police officer. He always wanted to be one ever since. I doubt if he still wants to be a police officer until now.
It's his turn and girls start to giggle at his presence. He remains as Mr. Popular of the campus. A dreamy one.
"Ten years from now, I see myself as a Police Officer serving the nation and my fellow men. I always wanted to protect those who are dear to me and those who are in need," girls shrieked after he mentioned his dream. It makes me happy that his dream has never changed.
"I hope it's me he is going to protect and that sounds very romantic," one of the girls from Class C says. Tsubaki let out a smirk on her face that shows annoyance and I glimpse at Sumire who is just silent and not looking at Boruto at all.
Sumire is called out next and the girls start to buzz again. They whisper to their friends. I think it's about the breakup rumor spreading on the campus.
I can see how she ignores the crowd and starts to read her essay.
"Ten years from now, I see myself doing the things I truly love and not what others want me to be just to fit in their expectation. Recently, I just realized that forcing yourself on things not meant for you is like killing yourself slowly," I don't know but her words are like a knife, they cut you into pieces.
I know she has been through a lot lately and it's hard to bear the pain in her chest all alone. She is conveying something in her statements and the atmosphere is feeling it.
"A realization came to my mind. I want to be someone who teaches, inspires, and captures everyone's heart. I see myself as a proud teacher ten years from now," she reveals about her dream. I don't know what happened but everyone claps their hands together. Boruto is shocked based on his reaction. His face becomes gloomy and he suddenly looks down.
Sumire smiles after reading her essay. The first time since we got here but, I can't forget how she ignored us yesterday. I know there's something wrong.
"Sarada, it's your turn," our adviser calls out to me and I stand up from my seat and walk in front of everyone holding a notebook in my hands.
I clear my throat before speaking. I don't feel nervous at all. I am used to speaking in front of everyone.
First, I read my introduction, and when I am in the body part of my essay, I declare what my dream is all about and it's becoming an actor like Mr. Martin. I didn't hear someone chuckle from the crowd. What I am trying to say is, I am expecting the jerk to laugh at me because he did that to me before.
Silence prevails as I pause to calculate their mood. They look so attentive to me even our teachers are paying attention too. They are astounded when I spoke of Mr. Martin's name.
I continue reading until the end and I never heard the jerk or anyone reacts to my essay but they applaud instead. I sigh in relief realizing that I have delivered my piece properly.
"Last but not least, Kawaki," our adviser speaks and everyone looks at the jerk. He doesn't have any reaction on his face, the annoying monkey face.
"I did not make anything," he says and everyone is literally like, "huh?"
"What do you mean?" our adviser asks in confusion.
"Nothing came to my mind, so I did not write anything," he responds and looks away. Is he for real? I thought to myself.
"But, it's part of the activity," our adviser insists but the jerk is persistent.
"So, you are going to force your student to do something he could not? If you insist, I will make one later," he says in a calm voice. He stands up from his seat and walks off. How rude.
"Kawaki, wait," she tries to stop him but he is stubborn as usual. He completely leaves the convention room without looking back. She could not do anything to him and the activity proceeds.
If he remains as stupid as he is until the end of this camp, he is hopeless.
December 29th, Convention Room
"Today we are going to write a letter," Chocho mutters as she is planning to send Mitsuki one.
"What letter will you give him, by the way?" I ask her as she is sure about it already.
"About what I honestly feel about him. I only told him on text messages but as you can see, the significance of a letter is vital in this activity and I guess Mitsuki would like it too," she smiles at me. I am also considering making a new one for Boruto. I will just put how I admire him for so long now.
"Will you give Boruto a new one?" she asks and I startle. She furrows her brows and presses me on my side.
"I want to tell him what I feel for him but..." I pause and I am not sure about it either.
"Do your feelings for him change now?" she asks and I am slightly surprised. I didn't see it coming. Do they change?
"I'm not sure about it. It's just that I also consider what Sumire would feel. She hasn't moved on from him yet the same goes with Boruto. I think I will make one for him but I'm not going to send it to him right now," I think it's safe to say it that way. Chocho stares at me for seconds and then looks away. She chuckles and speaks again.
"You are not the fangirl Sarada I know anymore," it sounds vague. Did I ever change though?
"What do you mean?" I ask with wrinkling brows.
"A lot of things happened in the past months and you sure did change a bit," she remarks. I don't know what does she mean by that.
"Stop telling me odd things, will you?" I say to her and she laughs awkwardly at me.
"You'll figure it out soon," she winks and stands up, and drags me to the convention room for our next activity.
I got a clean white paper, a pen, and an envelope. I take a deep breath before writing down the words I want to tell him. Yes, I have decided to write Boruto a letter. This time I will straightforwardly confess my feelings to him. It's more transparent than the previous one. And I will make sure I won't sound like he is compelled to recompense my feelings to him. Whatever he will reply to me then I will accept it wholeheartedly.
I won't hesitate anymore. I must be brave and conquer this fear that is burdening me this whole time. There is no such thing as too late as long as the hurdles to all the things that make us hold back disappear.