I sat next to Beverly towards the back of the bus, my head pounding from the previous night. I had awoken that morning barely remembering any of the events that occurred, only recalling brief snippets of Henry and Patrick fighting.

"Thanks for doing my hair." I smiled at Beverly, and ran my hand through the two loose dutch-braids that travelled down my back.

"No worries at all." Beverly said and smiled. "I've always wanted to do somebody else's hair besides mine."

"Well, I'm grateful. I can't do anything besides ponytails." I said, wincing when I felt a hammering in my skull from trying to laugh. Beverly noticed and looked at me worriedly.

"Are you okay? You're looking a little off today." she asked.

I shook my head and plastered a small smile on my face. "I'm fine, just a little tired that's all. Had a restless sleep last night."

"That sucks." Beverly said, screwing up her face in sympathy.

I saw something rolling down the floor of the bus towards me so I leaned down off my seat and picked it up.

"Hey, it's Eddie's inhaler." I exclaimed, turning to Beverly. She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

I stood up and looked around the bus, spying the losers sitting a few rows down.

"Hey Eddie!" I called out. The boys turned around to look at me. "Is this yours?" I waved the inhaler. He looked bent down briefly before his head popped back up into view.

"Yeah, how did you get that?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"It rolled down the bus." I replied, laughing.

"Chuck it here!" Eddie said, his hands outstretched. I pulled my arm behind my shoulder and threw it across the bus, narrowly missing the students' heads in front of me. Unfortunately, my aim was off and it hit Richie right in the back of the head.

"Argh!" he yelled. Everyone who had seen the incident burst into laughter.

"Thanks Lara!" Eddie called, picking up the inhaler and waving it at me.

The bus rolled to a stop and students started getting off.

"Okay, everyone! You all need to help with unloading the canoes and taking them to the shore over there. At least three people carrying each canoe, please!" the teacher called, and everyone stood around awkwardly as canoes were unloaded one by one. Me, Billy and Richie were passed one and we slowly carried it towards the lake.

"Gee, this is heavier than it looks." Richie puffed, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

"Hey, you've got the easiest job! You're in the middle, Bill and I are the ones doing all the work here." I said, wiping my forehead.

"No, the middle is obviously the hardest job. I have to support both sides rather than just one like you guys are." Richie huffed.

"No, it doesn't really work like that. I bet if you let go right now, there'd be no difference." I said.

"Okay, then. How's this?" Richie let go of the canoe and immediately Billy and I wavered under the increased weight, almost toppling over.

"R-Richie!" Bill shouted.

"I think my point has been proven." Richie said smugly as he returned to his position. We managed to get to the shore without anymore fuss and dropped the canoe next to the others.

"Alright everyone, only two people per canoe. To make things easier, I'd suggest pairing with your tent partner. Also, make sure to put these on." the teacher said, pointing towards a pile of life jackets. After putting one on, I looked around for Beverly and finally spotted her standing to the side talking to Bill.

"Hey..." I said as I approached them slowly. They jumped apart quickly when they saw me looking at them. "Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting something?"

"No, not at all." Beverly blushed, brushing her hair behind her ears. Bill looked around awkwardly, avoiding my gaze.

"Okay.. Well, I think we're supposed to be sharing a canoe. Do you want to get one before all the good ones are gone?" I asked, playing with my braids. My stomach felt uneasy as I looked from Beverly to Bill. Was there something going on between them?

"Yeah, of course." Beverly replied, walking towards me. "Um, I guess I'll see you later Bill."

Bill gave a small smile and went off towards Stan who was examining a dark green canoe. Beverly and I walked towards a bright yellow one at the very end, next to Richie and Eddie who had sat themselves in a red one.

"No, I'm sitting in the front." Eddie crossed his arms defiantly while Richie stared at him with an amused expression.

"You're right, Eds. I forgot you had sticks for arms." Richie replied and picked up a paddle, tossing it from one hand to the other.

"Do you want to sit in the front, or should I?" I asked Beverly.

"I haven't had much experience with canoeing, so I guess I'll sit in the front. The back is the harder job, isn't it?" she asked.

"I think so." I replied, picking up the paddles and handing one to her.

"Okay everybody, start pushing your canoes into the water! Carefully now, Eddie. Let Richie help you, you're too small to do it on your own." the teacher said. I heard the Bowers gang snicker.

Beverly and I slowly pushed the canoe into the water, our legs shivering from the cold up to our knees..

"Okay, now carefully get in the canoe, one at a time. No Eddie, not like that!" we heard a splash to our left and saw one of the canoes had been overturned. "Now you've done it. Girls, could you please help those boys flip their canoe back over."

Beverly and I quickly pushed our canoe back to shore and gave Richie a hand with pushing the boat back over. Eddie stood to the side, drenched from head to do with a disgruntled look on his face.

Finally, after the boat was flipped back over, Beverly and I pushed our canoe into the water and hopped in, paddling out into the lake. Most of the students were already a good way ahead of us, so we struggled to catch up.

"So." I said to Beverly, who turned to look at me while paddling. "What's with you and Bill?"

She bit her lip and turned back to the front of the canoe, her red hair gleaming like flames in the sun. "Nothing, we're just friends. Why do you ask?"

I could tell she was lying by the way her voice increased in pitch.

"Oh, no reason. It just looked like there was something going on between you two." I replied. I felt jealousy churning in my stomach. I knew I was being selfish. I had just about rejected Bill and had no right to feel this way.

Suddenly, something knocked our boat hard and tipped us over into the lake. The cold water knocked the breath out of my lungs as I was submerged. I resurfaced to find myself underneath the overturned canoe, momentarily disoriented from the bright yellow colour surrounding me. I swam back under and out, struggling to go because of the buoyancy of the life jacket.

Laughter was heard coming from my right and I turned to see Patrick and Victor grinning at us. Richie and Eddie had also been flipped over and were both now flailing in the water, although I doubt anybody had anything to do with it considering there was nobody near them.

"You think you're funny, do you?" I shouted, grabbing Patrick's paddle.

"I know I am." Patrick smirked, trying to pull his paddle back but I wouldn't let go. I managed to position my legs so they were placed on his canoe and I kicked off forcefully, pulling Patrick and the paddle into the water with me. He hit the water hard, splashing water all over Victor.

"Argh!" Patrick yelled as he spat water out of his mouth, his drenched hair covering his eyes.

I cracked up, unable to breathe from laughing so hard. Patrick looked at me in mock annoyance and swam towards me, grabbing my life jacket and pulling me towards him.

"Payback's a bitch." I laughed, grinning up at him.

"Not as much as you are." he replied.

"Hey!" I smacked him on the arm before attempting to swim away from him. "You're off it, Patrick. Let me go."

"No." he grinned, pressing his body against mine. I felt numerous eyes on us and struggled more forcefully to get away. His hands were locked tightly around the straps of my lifejacket.

"Patrick, let me go." I huffed, looking around warily. I saw Beverly upturning our canoe and the Losers watching Patrick and I from a distance. This made me nervous.

"Patrick, let me go." I gave him a hard shove but he either didn't feel it or didn't care.

"You're cute when your scared." he smiled, pulling me so close our noses were almost touching. I craned my neck away, not wanted my friends to get the wrong idea.

"Patrick, stop. People are watching." I hissed.

"What's it to you? We both know they're nothing." he replied. I heard the teacher calling out to us, but Patrick was unfazed.

"They're nothing?" I asked incredulously.

"They're nothing." he breathed, his eyes staring at my lips. A dark feeling bloomed in the pit of my stomach and I didn't register what he was doing quick enough for me to pull away. His face clashed with mine it was as if a kaleidoscope of emotions had exploded in my mind. I didn't know what to do.

My instincts told me to knee him in the groin and book it, but his presence was too strong. I felt him everywhere and I was suffocating. My eyes were closed; all I could feel were his lips on mine and the raging fire in my chest. I was numb all over and had no idea whether I was responding to him.

The fire spread to my fingers, my toes, and creeped its way up to my throat. That was when my survival instincts came in and I resurfaced for a breath.