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Bonding Trip
Story By StormDancer
Chapter 1
It was a class trip, all 100 some of us out camping in the woods. Bonding, the administration calls it. Torture’s my name for it, and most of my classmates. Who can bond in the middle of nowhere? Rhetorical question there.
That day it had been raining, just to add insult to injury. It wasn’t a hard rain, enough to get the teachers to keep us indoors; just enough to get us all wet and make us miserable. We had been on a nature hike, to get us city kids to learn a bit more about the ‘wonders of nature’. Bah. Parks are good enough for me. As we hiked, I noticed Kevin glancing at me, nearly constantly. After the first few times, when I checked to see what I had on my nose after I caught him, I was getting fed up. I marched over to where he was standing, alone.
“Do I have something on my face?” I demanded. I thought I could see a blush stain his tanned cheeks. But that was impossible. Why would he be blushing?
“Yes,” he informed me.
“Oh,” I flushed slightly, “Thanks. But you could have told me, instead of just staring at it!”
He laughed as I attempted to use a pond to figure out what was on my face.
“Here, let me get it,” he offered. I accepted readily. He dipped his hand in the pond water, wincing at its chill, and wiped a spot just on my right temple, rubbing it slightly. I blushed at his touch, which could have been so innocent, something my mom would do. And yet with him, I could still feel the warmth of his hand in my face ling after he had walked away and left me standing by the pond, deep in uncomfortable thoughts, unconsciously rubbing the spot where his hand had been a moment before.
‘I can’t like him,’ I told myself firmly, ‘Even if he is smart, and handsome, and everything I could ever want in a guy, I just can’t! It’s not allowed!’
After dinner, the teachers finally dismissed us to do whatever we wanted until the next day, thank the lord. Bored with my friends gushing about the new guy and how hot he is, I followed some kids down to the docks. I leant on the railing, silently watching the water ripple and trying to get him out of my mind.
I felt a person lean on the railing next to me, but I didn’t look over. If they didn’t interrupt my musing, I didn’t care who they were. I stared into the lake, almost seeing to the depths of its murky bottom. I shivered. My baggy t-shirt wasn’t enough to keep me warm on this fall night. I lost myself in my thoughts, until I felt a warm touch on my waist.
Startled, I forced myself not to move. I glanced subtly over to the person next to me, and nearly fell off the docks in my shock, if I hadn’t been gripping the railing so hard. Kevin stood beside me, staring into the stars over the lake. He gave no evidence his hand had just been around my waist. I took my cue from him, and ignored him, trying to keep even more uncomfortable thoughts away.
A hand snaked its way around my shoulders. Instinctively, I rested my head on Kevin’s shoulder, and I felt his head on mine as he sighed. We sat that way for a few minutes, me studiously ignoring him as much as possible. Finally, I pulled my head away and looked at him. His hand slid off my shoulders, but he shifted his hold to my waist.
“What are you doing?” I asked urgently.
“I opened my eyes,” he murmured softly into my ear. I blushed.
“What?” I asked, both hoping for and dreading the answer he might give.
“I finally saw you for who you are, Jenn, a beautiful girl who was meant for me,” he said as he gently smoothed my hair back from my face. I laughed bitterly.
“You can’t. Stop playing a joke, Kevin, I’m not falling for it.”
He began to protest, but I silenced him with a glare.
“I’m ugly,” I told him, “and guys like you don’t like ugly girls.”
I pulled out of his hold and walked away, leaving him staring after me with longing in his eyes.