The crunching sound of dry leaves and twigs being crushed underneath my boots were all I could hear as I strived to bring myself as far away from my pursuer as possible. My hand remained clenched on my right shoulder as I panted heavily, each breath inciting a sharper pain than the last. When I finally couldn't take it any longer, I hid behind a bundle of hay and caught my breath. I took a look at my right shoulder to notice that the entirety of my shirt had been nearly dyed with a dark shade of red. It almost appeared as if I had been bathed in a sea of red wine.

I looked behind me for a short moment, praying that I had lost the hunter that was dead-set on catching me. However, I could hardly move, and I was nearly set on remaining in the same spot for whatever drop of life I still clung to. I took a look in front of me and noticed that the exit doors had been opened. If I hadn't been hit, I could have had a clear shot in escaping, but my state of health was currently slowing me down. If I pushed myself to my limit, I could end up bringing myself closer to my demise.

Behind me, I could hear the revving of a chainsaw in the distance.

Please don't come this way. Please don't come this way.

In the next moment, I heard footsteps stomping on the grass nearby, frightening me. I was afraid that this was the end of the road for me.

"Chase!" I heard a whisper shout out.

I gasped shortly when I noticed the person approaching me.

"Faith! I'm hurt bad. I just barely managed to escape. The other two. They didn't make it. I tried to save one of them, but I was too late, and I started getting chased." I told her.

"We can still make it." She answered as she worriedly brought out a red tin box that she was able to find. She began patching me up as quickly as she could. "I've got you. I managed to open the exit right near us. We can still make it out alive!"

We heard the revving of a chainsaw once more in the distance, but this time, the sound grew louder.

"You don't have to stay behind for me." I told her. "You can go on without me. I can distract him long enough for you to escape."

"Are you kidding?" She asked. "There's no way I'd leave you behind."

My heart began racing and my hands began sweating when our hunter was only seconds away from us. I didn't believe he knew exactly where we had been, but he was sure to find us soon.

"Faith…!" I worriedly whispered.

"There!" She returned back. "Let's go! Come on!"

The hay bale we had been hiding behind had suddenly been ripped into pieces by a chainsaw that was dangerously close to the both of us.

"Aah!" Faith screamed, falling backward onto the ground.

I quickly dug my hand into my pocket and found a set of firecrackers I had managed to scavenge earlier. I immediately lit them up and threw them towards the hunter. He became blinded and deafened as a result, allowing me to grab a hold of Faith's hand and pull her up.

"Move!" I ordered, allowing her to run up ahead while I stayed behind her.

We were within about a hundred feet away from the exit when we heard the sound of a chainsaw starting up yet again. I took a glance behind me to notice the hunter closing in ridiculously fast.

"We need to get behind a tree or something!" Faith fearfully suggested.

I noticed that we had been passing a short barrier with an upright pallet between two empty barrels. "I've got this!" The hunter was practically on my tail, but as swiftly as I could, I knocked the pallet down and caused our chaser to stumble about and groan with a heavy muffle to his voice.

"We're right there!" I heard Faith cry out.

The hunter had just finished shredding the pallet into pieces and began to rev up his chainsaw once more in an attempt to catch us just before we could escape. Staying behind Faith, I concentrated solely on the front. I could now feel myself sweating all over. Without even having to look behind me, I could just tell he was inching closer and closer to me. I had been expecting to be hit at the very last second, but just before his chainsaw could come swinging down, we had made it just past the barrier. We were now running endlessly to safety.

However, it was only a matter of time before we'd be trapped with another hunter with a hungering thirst for blood.

"Haah." I sighed heavily as I leaned back in my chair and away from my computer. "That was way too close."

"I know, right?" I heard in my headset. "Geez, what were those guys doing? It's like they were noobs or something."

"Might have been." I acknowledged. "We were noobs at one point too, you know?"

"Yeah, you're right… Hey. You up to play some Overlook? I need to reach a certain rank before the season ends and the teammates I've been getting have been more than unhelpful."

"Yeah, sure." I closed the game down and prepared to load the next one up. "Afterwards, maybe we can—"

I suddenly paused in the middle of my response as I had unexpectedly heard a faint call coming from outside my headphones. It wasn't clear, but based on previous experiences, I had a good idea of what it had been. "Hang on. I think my parents are calling me."

"Okay." I heard back before I removed my headphones and placed them down on the desk. I sighed lightly as I opened my door and walked out and down the stairs to the living room. There, I saw them seeming to sort through mail. "Did you call me?"

"Your school's having a field trip next week." My dad responded a little sternly. "You're going, right?"

"Uhh…" I immediately began feeling a little awkward. I already sensed that this conversation was going to go downhill from here. "I didn't plan to…?"

"Chase, don't you think you should go out sometime instead of spending your entire break in your room?" My mom threw into the discussion.

"I literally just started on my break, mom." I mentioned, feeling an injection of irritation flood my attitude. "For the first time in years, I've been just sort of letting my brain shut down and unwind. I never got to do this when I was still at Crystal Prep."

"Speaking of Crystal Prep," My dad interjected, causing me to heavily sigh inside my mind. "You're not attending that school anymore, remember?" He reminded a bit bitterly. I suppose they were still a bit salty about me leaving the academy. "So, since you're not preparing yourself for university anymore, I don't see why you need to spend the whole break doing nothing but playing video games."

Ugghhhhhhhh. I LITERALLY just started on my break! What's so hard to understand about that?!

"Dad, I told you." I repeated. "I don't remember the last time I've just stayed in my room and let myself think about anything else besides keeping my grades up. It's not like I've been doing this every day of my life. I just want to destress without worrying about some little thing in the back of my mind. Can I have that? Please?"

Despite my plea, my father didn't look too convinced. "I'm not going to force you to keep studying for a school you no longer attend, but I don't want you staying in your room the whole break on your computer. Your mother and I want you to go on the field trip and at least learn a few things and be productive for once."

You guys are seriously hypocrites. So, I wasn't being productive at Crystal Prep? WTF?

"Come on. I said I didn't want to go to that camp." I was on verge of getting on my knees in order to ask for just some peace and quiet around here. "You know I'm still doing my chores around here. I just cut the yard yesterday!"

"The workload you'll be getting from school is going to be much less than when you were in Crystal Prep." My dad continued to constantly remind me of that dreaded school. "I told you that I don't want you to be in your room to only come out to do your chores. Otherwise, you'll start forgetting every little thing you learned from Crystal Prep if you don't work your brain like you used to. I know you're not going to be in there reading books, so you're going to this camp, Chase. Learn something useful for once."

The dam holding back the boiling fury of the sea was at its breaking point. There was no point in arguing. In fact, besides moving to Canterlot High School, I couldn't remember ever winning an argument against them when it came to something like this. I was done, and I knew to try to fight it would only make things worse.

"Fine! I'll go!" I exclaimed in frustration and began storming up the stairs to my room.

I honestly felt like a child lashing out like that, but how else was I suppose to react?! Whenever they just decided things for me like this, I couldn't help but just want to make a hole in the wall!

I almost slammed my door shut, but I managed to quickly slow down the momentum to a firm close. I didn't want to get any more flak like I usually did the last few times I slammed my door in the same way my sister would always get away with doing.

I carelessly dropped myself in front of my seat and sighed heavily before I extended out my arms and placed on my headphones.

"…are you okay?" I heard before I could announce my return.

"H-huh?!" I responded in surprise.

"You left your mic on…" She informed.

I slapped my face with my hand and slowly slid it towards my chin. "I'm so done… You know that camping trip we were invited to?"

"You mean the one in a few days?" She asked.

"Yeah. Well, it looks like I'm going to be spending an entire week of our break there. Apparently, my parents think I'm losing brain cells staying here. You know, since I'm not working my butt off studying for some stupid thing for Crystal Prep."

"Ooh…" Faith dejectedly returned. "Sorry, Chase…"

I shrugged even though she couldn't see it. "Whatever. I guess if I think about it, it still beats being at Crystal Prep. I mean, seriously! If they would have just talked to me about it and maybe encouraged me to go, I probably would've been mutually convinced. I hate when they just decide things for me like that."

"To be honest, I actually wanted to talk to you about going, but I guess I was a little too late..." She mentioned.

"Huh?" I cocked my eyebrow in response.

"Well, with the information we were given, it sounded like a lot of fun, you know? We've roasted marshmallows outside the beach house a few times, but I don't think we've actually ever really camped out before. I don't know what to say. Doesn't it sound super fun? Besides, it'll be kind of like our little getaway."

"When you say it like that, it does sound pretty nice." I acknowledged as I averted my eyes away from my computer screen. "See, if they encouraged me like that, I probably wouldn't have minded going." I paused to sigh once more. "Well, since I'm pretty much going for sure, I'll guess we'll be going together?"

"Don't worry, Chase!" Faith cheerfully invigorated through the microphone. "I promise you, with me around, everything is going to be a butt-load of fun!"

I couldn't help but smile warmly at the sound of her whole-hearted voice. "Yeah, yeah." I listened to her hum for a bit as she seemed to mess with something on her end, allowing me to think for a bit. "Hey. You want to go out?" I asked.

"Huh?!" It sounded like something dropped from her side.

"Well, my parents kind of killed the mood for video games, so I thought it'd be nice to get out of the house like they apparently want me to do." I clarified. "Are you hungry? Or, do you want to go get some ice cream or something?"

"O-Oh!" She returned. "Y-Yeah! Sure! Ice cream sounds good right about now, actually! You want me to meet you outside of your house?"

"Sure." I decided. "I just need to do a few things around here and I'll meet you outside.

"Kay. I'll see you in a few."

We disconnected from our party chat, giving me the chance to change my wardrobe and slip my socked feet into some shoes. After I spruced myself up a bit and aligned my hair as closely as I wanted it to, I began walking down the stairs towards the front door as I patted my pockets to make sure I had my phone, wallet, and keys for the bike.

Just as I made my way down the last step, I felt a sudden vibration from my pocket and dug my hand inside. After pulling up my phone, I checked the screen to find that I had received a text from Faith.

I'm outside. ヾ(*´∀*)ﾉ

"I'm going out for a bit." I called out towards the living room with no intention of actually stepping foot inside. "Figured I'd get a head start in not 'being in my room all the time'." I mentioned that last part a bit bitterly before I went ahead and walked out the front door. Feeling a little frustrated, I sighed lightly as I stared at the ground for some time while heading for the sidewalk by the neighborhood street. However, I unexpectedly heard a few hurried footsteps before something suddenly bumped against me.

"Hey!"

I looked up after being slightly pushed back and found her eyes practically staring into mine. She held her hands together and stretched her arms out behind her back, giving me a full view of her wardrobe. She wore what appeared to be a bluish thin and light hoodie that was zipped up ever only slightly. Beneath that seemed to be one of her flexible loose-fitting shirts. Not an oversized shirt, but one of those "fashionable" tops for girls. Moving towards her legs, I could tell that she was wearing short shorts, but her hoodie nearly made it look as if she was wearing a short dress. Aside from that, she was wearing dark blue knee-length socks to complement her pink high-top canvas sneakers.

"W-What are you looking at?" She asked.

I had been paying too much attention to her wardrobe that I didn't notice her face grow noticeably embarrassed because of it.

"Oh, nothing. Sorry." I apologized, fidgeting the front strand of my hair a bit while slightly averting my gaze away from her. "You just look really pretty today."

"Here we go again." She mentioned, turning her flushed cheeks away from me. "Geez, if we weren't as close as we were now, I'd definitely think you were some kind of creep."

"Are you serious?" I nearly felt offended by her words that were accompanied with a set of puffed cheeks and pursed lips. "Isn't telling a girl she's pretty supposed to be a good thing for their self-esteem? You and I know the kind of drama that goes between all the girls. I mean, they insult each other by calling each other fat or ugly, for crying out loud."

"I'm just messing with you." Faith returned to her jubilant smile, a smudge of redness remaining above her cheeks. "Yes. Girls love being told that they're pretty. So long as it's not from some creepy-looking dude or stalker."

"There you go." I told her before I started heading for my bike. "Let's go. I'm starting to feel like my parents are watching me right now."

"Maybe I should say hi?" She mentioned both half-jokingly and half-serious.

"Don't bother." I answered with a slightly exhausted tone. "I don't need them asking me stupid questions about us again."

"…right." Faith replied with before following me on my bike.

"So, where are we going?" I asked as I swung my leg around the seat of my bike.

"You're the driver. I thought you already knew." Faith hopped onto the back and held her legs over the left side of the back wheel.

I shrugged. "Do you want to go to the place we usually go, or maybe someplace different this time?"

"Hm…" Faith thought to herself as she momentarily stared at her swinging legs. "Oh! Actually, this new restaurant opened up not too long ago! They serve food there, but I hear they've got totes amazing ice cream too!"

"Oh, really?" I exchanged as I turned my head over to what was in front of me. "I guess we'll check it out then. What's it called?"

"Uh…" She tapped her cheek a bit with her index finger. "C-oinky Dink something? It's like this super old-fashioned diner. I know where it is. Just get to pedaling and I'll give you the directions as we go." She certified with a firm wink of her left eye.

When I first saw the building, I didn't know what to think. At face value, it didn't necessarily look like a diner until you saw the diner portion of the building. I'm not sure if it was intended when this place was designed, but anyone walking by would first notice the giant "hot rod" car stacked on top of the building before realizing this place was a diner. Was that even safe?

"This is the place." Faith mentioned as if she was able to read what was on my mind and began walking towards the double doors on the side. I caught myself staring at the giant car on top for too long before I shook my head and jogged over to Faith, who was already more than ready to walk right on in.

The sound of "oldies" music filled the building for the most part, but it was mostly overshadowed by the sound of chatter from each direction where we stood. I dug my hands into my pockets as I looked around, searching for an open spot at the same time.

Faith glanced over at me with a small smile before she walked on ahead, leading me towards a spot she found suitable. It was a booth over at the corner, and as we sat down, we noticed waitresses whiz by on roller skates.

"Ooh." Faith noticed as she rested her chin on top of her hand. "That's so cool. I wish I could do that."

"You've never tried to learn?" I asked.

"I did, but being the 'klutz' I am, all I did was hurt myself. Hehe." She giggled.

"Hi, welcome!" We heard a high-pitched and cheerful voice greet us. "What can I get for you?" She asked as she placed a couple of menus in front of us.

"Uh, I think we'll need a—" Before I could finish my sentence, I turned to take a look at our waitress to find something surprisingly familiar with her. She wore her hair in a ponytail this time, and she obviously wore the work's uniform to boot. However, I didn't think any of us could mistake the ready-to-pounce-at-any-second eyes that were glued to her face for someone else's, not to mention the pink bouncy curls of her hair. "Pinkie?"

"Oh, hey!" She noticed the both of us and leaned in closer to take a better look. "It's you two! I didn't see you come in!"

"You work here, Pinkie?" Faith turned her body to the right in order to face our waitress directly. "That's so cool! I didn't know that!"

"I come and help out here every now and then." She balanced the corner of one of the menus she held and spun it around perfectly. "I've only been here since the opening, but everybody seems to know my name already!"

"Who wouldn't?" I mentioned, given her friendly and strangely unique outgoing nature.

"In that case!" Pinkie suddenly lurched forward with eyes wide open. "How about I recommend you two something? Anything, in particular, you're looking for?" She raised up a notepad and somehow managed to use the tip of her hair to grab a pencil that was hidden underneath.

"We were looking to get some ice cream." Faith answered. "I heard it's really good here."

"You're totally right about that!" Pinkie ecstatically confirmed. "With that in mind, we've actually got a special going on right now!" She opened up her menu and turned it around to point something out towards us. "Couples are always coming in and getting this one! It comes with two bananas and three scoops of your choosing! Not to mention it comes with an incredible drizzle of caramel all over." She licked her lips and rolled her eyes upwards as if she was imagining the thought of partaking this ice cream for herself. "Plus, if you take a picture together, you get a nice discount!"

"Sounds great! What do you say, Chase?" Faith asked me.

I lightly twisted the tip of my hair as I found myself possibly too obsessed with the way Pinkie had worded her recommendation.

"Yeah, I don't mind, but we aren't—"

"I'll put it in right away! What d'ya want for your three flavors?"

"Strawberry." Faith responded first.

"…chocolate." I hesitantly answered after being cut off earlier.

"And the last one?"

Faith and I turned towards each other for a short moment before we blurted it out together.

"Vanilla."

"Got it!" Pinkie made note of it and prepared to skate on over behind the counter to deliver the order. "Be right back!"

I felt unnecessarily troubled when she left. I caught myself roaming my eyes around the diner, sometimes unintentionally staring at something in particular before Faith's voice snapped me out of whatever moment I had to myself.

"You alright?" She asked.

"Yeah…" The words coming out of my mouth weren't as confident as before, and I especially noticed that myself. Although, I didn't know how to bring myself back to the way I was just a few moments ago. I was surprised to see that Faith wasn't as bothered as I was. In fact, I wasn't sure if she hadn't caught what Pinkie Pie had mentioned a few seconds earlier, or if I was just overreacting for once. "Hey, um, I meant to ask you about something." I reached for a certain topic after having spent some time in an attempt to change the subject. "That video you and Sunset Shimmer did. How's that been going?"

"It's been going great, Chase!" Faith excitedly answered, placing her hands on the table. "Sunset was able to delete that old video from the Freshman Fair. I almost still can't believe that she apologized and told everyone who watched her old video the truth. She really is a completely different person compared to who she was back freshman year."

"Yeah. I guess I'm finding it hard to believe a little myself. You don't think she's secretly still evil and planning to ruin every one of us when the moment's right, do you?" I joked.

"After the show she gave us at the Friendship Games? Definitely not." Faith replied confidently. "In fact, she might have you on the run for your money."

"What do you mean…?" I asked, especially noticing Faith's odd smirk.

"I used to consider Sunset Shimmer my best friend back during freshman year. Maybe she'll snatch that place back from right under your feet soon?" She slowly leaned in towards me, looking at me with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, yeah." I allowed her to have her fun. It would be dumb of me to think that she was actually serious.

She lightly giggled back before returning to her original posture. "…what about you?" She now questioned me. "Anything new happen ever since your phone contact list blew up?"

I turned towards my phone and took a glance at the list she referred to. It was still unreal to this point. Before the Friendship Games, I didn't have many contacts in my phone. Now, I was staring at an entire list of girls. Not only had I exchanged information with Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, and…ugh…Sugarcoat, I had received more numbers from Sunset Shimmer and her circle of friends. Granted, I hardly talked to any of them besides the occasional group message. At most, I've texted Sunset Shimmer a few times, but that was about it. I've yet to mention something to Sunny Flare or the others from Crystal Prep, and I couldn't help but get the feeling that Sunny Flare was going to end up reaching me to complain about it. Despite the acquired group of new friends, I still mostly stuck around Faith like I always did, and considering I was just so used to being with her, I guess it wasn't such a surprise.

"Nah. Not really." I pushed away my phone.

"You better behave yourself." She felt the need to tell me with a mixture of seriousness and jest. "Just because Sunset Shimmer introduced you to a whole bunch of cute girls, that doesn't mean you can get your flirt on."

"Are you kidding?" I seriously debated if any part of her suggestion held any water. "You know that's like the last thing on my mind right now."

Faith shrugged. "Just saying. Especially since you haven't been all gooey with Twilight lately."

It was true that I hadn't been making such a big deal about Twilight after the Friendship Games, but that didn't mean that I still didn't have feelings for her. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I began to question them. I didn't like the fact that I was questioning the feelings I've practically had since I met her, so most of the time, I just ignored it all together. Maybe that was why it seemed that way to Faith.

At either point, she seemed to grow unusually quiet after her last remark. She turned her head towards the window and rested her chin on the palm of her hand. I didn't realize it at first, but it was almost like she was holding up a mirror. For once, I was able to understand how I looked at times when I just spaced out like she seemed to be doing. However, the weirdest part was that she somehow captured my gaze. I continued observing her, paying particular attention to her face. I couldn't figure out why, but I could only assume that it was because this side of her was somewhat rare. I was expecting her to find me looking at her and slightly freak out, but she didn't. She just kept looking out the window.

"Sometimes I wonder about you…" Those words parted from her lips.

This tugged at my heartstring, and I couldn't tell if she meant that in a good or bad way. Before I could bother asking her about it, something clanked between us in the middle of the table. "Here you go! Enjoy the treat, you two lovebirds!"

"Ugh…" I sunk down into my seat as she skated away. However, I was particularly surprised when Faith didn't react like I expected her to. "Hey. You okay?" I finally asked.

"Hm?" She lifted up her head and turned to me as if she had literally been deaf for a few minutes.

"You got quiet all of a sudden." I mentioned.

"Oh, sorry." She apologized, lifting up a questionable smile before she turned and noticed the ice cream that Pinkie Pie had just dropped off. "Oh, is that our order? Looks amazing!" She picked up the included spoon and buried it underneath the strawberry-flavored section of her ice cream. Afterwards, she lifted up the spoon, tearing away a piece before sticking it in her mouth. "Mmm! You should try some of this! Here, let me try some of yours!"

I didn't object as she went on ahead and dug her spoon into the chocolate scoop that sat on my side. Instead, I continued observing her behavior for a little while longer. For some reason, it felt a little forced, but I wasn't sure if it was reasonable enough to worry about it. Anytime something bothered her, she was usually so open to telling me about it, so if she really was in trouble, she'd tell me, right?

It wasn't until the vanilla scoop began melting over both of our scoops when I finally decided to pick up my own spoon and join Faith as she fed her sweet tooth. I didn't want to stretch the possibility that she'd finish it all on her own.

We ended up doing that picture thing Pinkie mentioned to us about and shared it for our discount. As I began pulling my wallet out to cover the costs, Faith called out to me and stopped me.

"I've got it." She surprised me and pulled out a small purse of her own. She slipped out a few bills and planted them on the table.

"Huh? What?" I was caught off guard for a moment. "Why? You don't have to."

"How many times have you treated me?" She asked with a soft yet glowing smile. "If that keeps up, you're really going to spoil me. Besides, I'm practically the only one who gets an allowance. I'd feel bad if you kept doing things like this."

"I don't mind…" I dug my hands into my pockets and returned a somewhat guilty frown. "I mean…the guy is the one who usually pays, right? After all, you do more than enough when you share the stuff on your gaming account with me."

Faith blushed silently for a moment as she averted her eyes away. "Let me do this, pretty please? It's not that much in the first place."

"Mm." I softly groaned, finding the look on her face irresistible to say no to. I took a quick glance around to see if anyone else was staring at us and finally returned a nod with a sigh. "Alright."

Even though Faith obviously wanted to pay, I still felt a little guilty and ashamed. It was almost like I was embarrassed to be a guy, but I guess it was just the way I was raised. It wasn't the first time she technically payed for something for us, but this time was different. I didn't know how to explain it, but I had invited her out, yet she was the one paying in the end. Something about that didn't click right with me, but she thought otherwise.

Faith surprised me yet again when she wanted to walk to her house together instead of me just dropping her off on my bike. So, when I stationed my bike back at home, that's when we seemed to slowly head our way towards the end of the road across a setting sun.

Taking a short glance at her, I noticed her keep her head down as she stretched her hands backwards. Her walking steps seemed rather eccentric. It was almost as if she was hopping yet walking at the same time. Nevertheless, it wasn't anything uncommon coming from her. Moreover, I was interested in her slightly strange behavior. It wasn't like anything she did today was completely out of the ordinary, but the pattern of her actions was kind of off, so to speak. I wanted to know what was on her mind, but as I reminded myself of before, she'd usually tell me anything that bothered her if I didn't already know about it.

Was I looking too much into this? As far as I'm concerned, there was nothing nowhere near that would cause her to be so distressed. After all, just like she told me back at the diner, things have been going pretty great, especially since the mess with the video of her online had been sorted out. So why did she seem so conflicted?

"So, is it decided then?" She suddenly asked, catching me off my guard.

"Huh?" I somewhat merged a short gasp with my response.

"The school camping trip. Are you going?"

I scratched my head and turned away for a short moment. "I thought I already told you. Because of my parents, I'm pretty much going for sure." I chuckled lightly at her apparent clumsiness. "It's only for a week. I guess it won't be that bad. I just won't know what to expect."

She stopped at the front of her house and turned towards me. After, she lit up a beam on her face. "Then, it's settled. We'll make this a trip of our very own." She clenched a fist in front of her chest, but she kept her gaze directly on me.

With the way she worded that, I could only assume she meant that it'd be another "adventure" for us. It was just some school camping trip for me, but Faith always liked to look at the bright side of things, even if that meant working her imagination into the process.

"Yeah. Sure." I answered rather lightly as I returned a smile of my own towards her.

"You'll stay over the night before the morning of the trip, right?" She asked as she crossed her arms and tilted her head ever so slightly in my direction.

"Huh? Stay over?" I asked, the idea just crossing my mind as soon as she mentioned it.

"Yeah." She confirmed with a hefty nod. "I don't trust you to get up so early on your own for the trip, you know? We're going to have to get up even earlier than we did for school. I can't imagine how much trouble you'd get with your parents if they found out that you missed the bus for the trip."

Coming from the girl who is known to forget to charge her phone the night before school? I thought to myself while avoiding her gaze.

"Uh, sure." I answered, finding no issue with that suggestion. I believed it would mutually benefit the both of us either way. She could wake me up, and I can make sure her klutziness doesn't keep her from forgetting anything important. "I'll crash the night before then."

For a brief moment, she closed her eyes and giggled jubilantly. I wasn't sure if I had never noticed it before, but the face she had on at that exact moment was incredibly cute. I found myself being taken aback by the sight of it, and I had to quickly turn my head away so she wouldn't notice the vulnerable expression on my face.

"Just you wait, Chase." She startled me when she pointed a sharp finger straight at me. "Just put your faith in me, and this'll be your favorite camping trip yet!"