The High Life
Hello guys. So, I know I said I want at least 5 reviews before I post the next chapter but the truth is I couldn't wait any longer.
So here it is. Please review.
I don't own Higher Ground. I own the characters you don't recognize.
Chapter 4: Build a Bridge...Then Run
It was morning at Mt Horizon and Charlie had only just woken up to find the dorm empty. She got out of her bed groggily and walked to her wardrobe. Sorting through a load of clothes at the bottom she picked up a cigarette and a lighter that she had cleverly hidden under the broken base of the cupboard.
"Thank you, god", she smiled, relieved.
She hid the cigarette and lighter in her jean pocket and took off down to the path into the bush. When she got to a safe spot behind a tall tree, she slouched down reaching for the contents of her pocket. After taking a few draws she relaxed a bit.
"Michael, stop", Charlie panicked at the sound of the familiar voice. "Michael, we can't", the voice giggled.
Quietly she peeked behind the tree and was surprised to see Cristina with the boy she recognized as the messenger. She'd only seen him a few times delivering all there mail from home, but she was certain this was the guy.
"Come on, how's he going to find out", she heard Michael say.
Charlie took another drag of her cigarette before butting it out and sneaking off.
It was around 12:30 in the afternoon and since Charlie had missed breakfast she was starving. She walked in to the cafeteria, passed the other Cliffhangers and took her normal seat in the corner.
Kat had seen her come in. With a sigh, she left her table and walked over to Charlie. She was sick of trying to include Charlie but she was also not one to give up.
"So, I know what you're going to say, but do you wanna come sit with us", Kat asked cutting to the chase.
"Thanks, but I don't associate with skanks", Charlie remarked.
"Excuse me", Kat was surprised. Now the newbie was calling her a skank.
"Not you", Charlie recovered.
"Hey Kat", Cristina yelled from the other side, "Why are you even bothering..."
"Cristina", Kat told her to be quiet.
"The newbie's been here for like a week now and all she does is mope around and..."
"Shut up, Skank", Charlie snapped.
"What did you call me", Cristina tried to sound threatening.
"I called you a skank", Charlie replied not phased at all by Cristina's sudden need to be intimidating. "It's what you are, right?"
"All right, all right", a loud voice spoke over them. Peter. "Everyone, quiet", he said proving he could be scarier than either of them. "Shane, in my office, now".
"Do you really think that you're going to benefit from all this attitude", Peter asked questionably.
"I was only telling the truth", Charlie defended herself the best she could.
"Truth or not, some things, you just don't say", Peter said intelligently.
"Oh, so you agree", Charlie perked up.
"I never said that", Peter told her.
"So what are you gonna do now, tie me to a tree for a week", she joked as he looked at her, "What?"
"Tell the group to meet me in the mess hall in an hour", he said cheerfully, "We're going on a buddy hike back".
"Great", she said with fake enthusiasm. "And what the hell is that?"
"They'll tell ya", he remained a little too happy. "Until then..."
"So what is a buddy hike back?" Charlie asked her female group mates.
"Well, Peter takes us on a long journey to a secluded setting, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, ties us together in pairs and drops us off to find our own way back", Shane replied.
"Sounds fun", Charlie returned the sarcasm.
"So, what was with you and Cristina before", Mac asked curiously.
"I don't like her", Charlie said simply. She didn't want to give too much away. If she talked too much, these girls might think that she was actually capable of holding a conversation. She didn't want that.
"Look, Charlie", Kat spoke up, "I know this is hard for you, believe me, it was hard for everyone when they first got here. But this is small place. I don't like Cristina much either but you've just got to learn to get along with her".
"I don't have to do anything", Charlie told her, "And as for Cristina, she deserves everything she gets".
"Did she do something to you to make you hate her so much", Kat asked.
"Just being near me is enough".
It was particularly hot on this Tuesday afternoon and the Cliffhangers were struggling to hike through the rugged mountains. Peter had already dumped all the Cliffhangers in there random places. Ezra and Mac were the first ones to be left alone. They'd been hiking back all day and knew that the others would be hot on there trail.
"You think we're going the right way", Ezra asked Mac.
"We better be", she replied. "I'm so tired".
"Well let's rest a bit", Ezra suggested. With that said Mac fell to the ground without any warning.
"I feel dead", Mac complained
"My legs are like Jell-O", Ezra said.
"How far do you think we've come", Mac asked.
"We've been walking for hours".
A couple of miles from the two, a ravenous Kat and Binna, were sitting down to eat.
"So what do you think of the new girl", Kat asked curiously.
"Charlie?" Binna said, "I don't know, I haven't really talked to her. She seems tough".
"Yeah, she's pretty complicated but I think it's all an act, you know, I mean I think she's really scared".
"Well if anyone should find out, it'd be you", Binna said
"This is so retarded", Cristina complained.
"Speaking of..."Charlie remarked.
"You were the one that got us into this", Cristina told her.
"Really?" Charlie asked sarcastically, "I hadn't realized".
"Sarcasm again", Cristina hated this. "You know sometimes I think you talk just to make sounds".
"Hmm", Charlie pretends to think, "You know I think I do". She smiles sarcastically.
"You are so annoying", she continues.
"Yeah, and your pathetic, you can guess which one I would rather be", Charlie is enjoying every minute of this.
"Your jealous of me, aren't you", Cristina asks as if she thinks it's true.
"Oh, you caught me, all I've ever wanted to be was a skank", Charlie said.
"I am not a skank, all right", Cristina defends herself, "If anybody is, you are. Damien is the only one for me".
"Hmm, I guess now all you gotta do is tell Michael". With that Cristina stops in her tracks, staring straight at Charlie who smirks.
"Ladies, ladies, please, ok, nobody is a skank", Patrick finally cut in, "I've been listening to you girls bicker for hours, you could talk the head of a monkey, but your annoying the Shiite out of me, so just, leave it out, alright."
Charlie smiles at Cristina and walks on.
Not far away from them were Damien and Shane.
"I can't believe Peter's making us do this. All because the newbie has an attitude problem", Damien said
"Oh come on, don't your remember when your first came here", Charlie said
"I was not as bad as her", he told her.
"Some people might say you were worse".
"You weren't even here when I showed up", he said
"I hear stuff", she said simply.
"Yeah, I know", he smiled.
It was the end of the day and all the Cliffhangers were together walking back to Horizon.
"So, Damien, Charlie, the lucky last", Peter remarked.
"What do you want from us", Charlie asked lousily.
"I don't want anything from you", Peter said a little two nicely, "It wasn't your fault you're slow".
"Well, thank you", Charlie expressed.
"Hey, what's that over there?" Binna pointed to an old bridge that from the looks of it needed to be taken down.
"Oh, that's a bridge", Peter said simply.
Ezra smiled at Peter's lameness. "That's historic. In my opinion it should be knocked down but Hannah felt it was a part of Horizon".
"Who's Hannah?"
"Oh, she was a supervisor here" Ezra told him.
"Well, come on, lets go test it out", Binna said excitedly running over to the old bridge.
"It's a bridge, not a new ride at Disneyland", Charlie remarked.
"Uh, Binna, its condemned, trust me, I fell off it once", Ezra pointed out.
"Its fine", Binna argued, "I'll be careful". The group ran over to the bridge, Binna had already stepped on the planks.
"Please, Binna, listen to Ezra, you could be seriously injured", Peter grew concerned. "If you don't come back right now, I'll have you on kitchens for a month".
"Ok, ok, spoil my fun", Binna said.
"Fun?" Charlie said, "Man, I think you've been out here too long. It's not fun, it's a bridge". Binna was back on to safe ground and walking with the group.
"I told you I'd be fine", he remarked.
"Maybe I should have let you stay there", Ezra laughed, "Maybe the fall would knock some sense into you". He gave Binna, what he thought was a little shove. But Binna fell backwards into the stream.
"Oh shit," Patrick exclaimed.
"I didn't think I..." Ezra was shocked. He didn't think he was that strong.
"Can he swim", Charlie asked as she was generally worried for Binna.
"Binna, Binna, Peter, what do we do", Kat screamed hysterically.
"We'll try to get him out by rope", Peter said, "The currents to strong to go in there as well".
Without a second thought Charlie was in the water. She was a good swimmer and she didn't want to leave all the work to the rope.
"Charlie", Kat screamed, "Oh, Peter hurry".
Charlie caught up with Binna pretty quickly, just as he was sliding under the water. She pulled him up from the waist and made sure his mouth wasn't under water.
"She's got him, she's got him, its ok", Shane was trying to calm Kat down. She knew Kat and Binna were very close.
Peter acted quickly with the rope. He swung it out into the river a few meters in front of the two forcefully coming toward it.
It seemed as if Binna was unconscious. Charlie was carrying all of his weight on her and you could tell it was weighing her down.
The rope was coming up. She reached for it as fast as she could.
"Got ya", she thought thankfully as she had it in her hand.
It's ok, its gonna be ok", Shane kept on.
"Ok, Charlie, I'm going to slide the rope up to the bank alright, I need you to help me", Peter yelled, "You need to swim across otherwise the currents going to be too strong".
As he pulled, Charlie swam and eventually they got to the side of the bank. She let go of the rope and dragged Binna up to land. She let go of him, losing all her energy and falling to the ground with him. The group run to Binna as Charlie looks on huffing.
"God, is he alright, Peter", Kat asked crying.
Peter acted quickly and pumped his stomach. Within a few minutes Binna was coughing, almost choking on all the water coming out of his mouth. He sat up, breathing heavily. Kat hugged him. Charlie looked at the group all surrounding Binna. They really would have missed him if anything had happened. She kept staring in disbelief. This was the first time she felt she wanted to be a part of them. It was the first time she wanted to feel needed. She'd never had that before in her life. She was always a burden in her dad's life. Her mom loved her, she knew that, but she could barely remember her. She died when she was so young. Then when she ran away to her best friend's house, she knew they didn't want her there. They were only trying to be nice. And that's when everything happened. She shuddered at the thought of it all. She looked at Damien. She could never tell anyone here about her past. Especially him. Feeling alone and unnoticed, she stood up and walked off. She knew all of it was her fault. The Cliffhangers were very accepting but she'd screwed that up by not accepting them. She felt a tear slide from her eye. She wiped her eye quickly making sure no more would come. She hated crying.
Later that night Charlie was in the mess hall. She hated being in her dorm right now. Everyone was out doing chores or something and she felt so alone. In the mess hall there was lots of noise. Even if no one was talking to her she still liked the sound of chatter.
"Hi", a voice said. It was Patrick.
"Hi", she replied. Now she didn't know what to do. She wanted so much to be friends with these guys but she knew that if she let her guard down they'd want to get to know her. They'd want to know everything about her past.
"Good book?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah, it's ok". There. She was answering his questions so she wasn't being mean, but then she wasn't being exactly nice either.
"Come on, lighten up", Patrick pushed, "Your gonna be here for a while, so you might as well talk to somebody, even if it is little old me". He was right. She couldn't do this forever.
"How long have you been over from Ireland", she asked thinking it was a safe subject.
"Oh, about 4 years now", he said simply then waited a minute before he started a new sentence. "How about you, have you always lived in Canada?"
"No", she said, "Well, I mean it kind of varied, where I lived; um I was actually born in Ireland myself".
"Really?" he was shocked. "I would've never guessed".
"Guess the accents changed a bit", Charlie said, "I moved over to the states when I was 5 and from there on I kind of lived everywhere. California to Saskatchewan, I've lived everywhere." She repeated. She was nervous. He was one of the first people she's ever told about her life, even if it was just a snippet.
"So, I guess you don't really remember it then. Ireland, I mean?"
"I remember bits. I mean I was young but, it was the only place I ever really felt safe. It was the only place I ever really fit in", she said. She could have kicked herself for saying that. She was giving too much away.
"You don't fit in anywhere", Patrick said with sudden knowledge. "It's in your head". Charlie hadn't seen this side of Patrick yet. It was like she could talk to him about almost anything.
"Yeah", Charlie stared down at the floor. "yeah".
Kitchen duty. Like group it was another thing that the Cliffhangers hated. And tonight, it just so happened to be Charlie and Binna's turn. Charlie washed as Binna dried.
"Hey, uh thanks for what you did today", Binna said.
"Anybody would have done it", she said modestly.
"Nobody else did. You know you gotta give yourself more credit".
"You guys are so summer camp", she shook her head. Her defenses were obviously up again.
"When are you gonna accept it?" he asked suddenly getting agitated.
"I did the second I got in here", she remarked.
"I meant when are you gonna accept the fact that you're here and there's nothing you can do about it?" Binna repeated.
"Oh, there is something I can do about it", she said dryly.
"What's that? Run? What get so high that Peter will send you to juvie? I bet you'll love it there", he knew this had to be said.
"You know what? Maybe I will. At least they wont be a bunch of pretentious morons that are so caught up in this Mt Horizon thing that they cant see what's really there", she said in a sudden outburst. She was now trying to make herself believe what she had just said.
"Maybe you can't see what's really there", Binna said. "You know, aside from a few, Peter has helped every one of these students and if you would just stop being so defensive, maybe he could help you too".
"Yeah, and who paid you to say that?" she said.
"Let's just get the dishes done alright", he said finally giving up.
Charlie knew he was right, about everything. She just couldn't let her defenses down. She was afraid it would turn out worse.
Finally it was dinner time and in just a couple of hours, this exhausting day would be over. As usual Charlie sat in her usual seat in the corner of the room. What she didn't expect was Ezra and Damien to walk over in her direction.
"Hail to the heroine", Ezra said smiling like his true geeky self.
"No seriously, we really should thank you", Damien said a little more toned down than Ezra.
Charlie could not believe this place. She stares at them for at least a minute almost in disgust. She'd never taken compliments well and she wasn't going to start now. It was almost as if Peter had come to every single one of them and asked them to thank her. In a way she hoped he had. She thought they couldn't be bigger suck ups.
"I can't believe this place", she said finally getting up and leaving the hall. Ezra and Damien just look at each other and shrug walking back to the table.
"You try to be nice", Damien said simply.