The next few days went by fast and blurry. Students who were participating for the camping trip grew more enthralled as the days went by. Even the teachers were dropping hints as to what they were going to do, even though some of them sounded adequately ludicrous, like when their Chemistry teacher said that they were going to spend a night under the sea. Not that anyone believed it, except for a boy who asked whether they were going to be provided with a week's supply of oxygen tanks.

Pelham was quite glade that he'd packed early. Roshon, who had noted that boys wouldn't take as much time packing as girls would, was still packing and stomping around the house the day before the trip, calling out his mother every now and then to ask where she'd stored his raincoat. "Don't say 'I told you so' Pelham - I'll kick you out of the house if you do!" He had spitted at Pelham when he came over to help him pack. Pelham could only laugh and say nothing.

"Then you wouldn't have anyone to help you pack. I'm a good friend, you know," Pelham had told him afterwards.

"Why is there so much to pack, anyway? It's not like we're evacuating the damned country!"

So Pelham spent the entire afternoon of his Sunday afternoon helping his best friend pack. Roshon had three older brothers, and seeing as their heights were nearly the same, their clothes were always swapped or mixed in each other's wardrobes - which also came as a plausible hint to Pelham that none of them did the laundry, let alone iron their clothes. That being so, Roshon kept barging into his brothers' rooms, shouting whether they had seen any of his clothes. Pelham was reasonably amused by this; he had, for some reason, always liked the drama within siblings. It entertained him, since he only had Oris, who was only three.

And before Pelham knew it, the day of the trip arrived on a chilly Monday morning.

At least twelve buses were parked at the school's parking lot around seven in the morning, the air cold and biting. Luggages and other sorts of bags could be seen everywhere; hauled by their owners, being loaded into the buses, or simply just lying on the benches while their owners went to talk to their friends. The school compound - droning with excited students - looked more like a busy airport before Christmas - except, of course, without the aeroplanes. A lot of the students who had participated the camping trip arrived early that day. They were having a few conversations with the students who were not participating before the buses left. The others, on the contrary, simply roamed around the compound, probably regretting why they didn't sign up in the first place now that they knew they were going to be stuck at school without anything exciting happening.

Pelham could feel excitement bubbling up inside him as his father entered the gates of the school. A handful number of students could be seen carrying larger bags around the school's compound, and Pelham mused on whether he'd checked the list properly. It seemed that everyone preferred to stand in the misty and bitter morning air of January rather than walk inside the building's warm corridors. He had never seen the students looking so lively. One week, he thought to himself.

"Call me up when you've arrived, yeah?" his father said, breaking Pelham from his reverie. He had stopped just outside the concourse area, where a number of students stood watching as though Pelham really was the queen of England.

"Yeah, I will," Pelham answered. "Look after Oris for me, will you?"

His father huffed. "I am a parent," he stated. "Well, have fun. Your mother told me to remind you to behave!"

"We'll see about that,"

"Pelham Trevor Nix-"

"All right, jeez, I'll behave!" Pelham put up his hands before his chest with his palms out as if in surrender, clearly not in the mood to hear the rest of his name leaving his father's mouth. "It's not like I've ever done anything against the rules. Well, not terribly anyway. I'm a good boy."

"'Not terribly', did you-"

"Bye, Dad!"

With that, Pelham got out of the car, grinning at his father through the window as he did so. His father tried to get out of the car to help him carry his bags, but Pelham merely said, "I'm nearly eighteen." and went to pick them all up by himself - not until he tumbled over his own foot did he nearly collapse to death that his father let out a bark of laughter, drawing nearly the entire school's attention. Pelham cursed at himself; that wasn't the first time that he fell down at school. But it was definitely his first time falling in front of everyone.

"Behave." his father repeated, the corners of his lips twitching as he suppressed his smile.

His father got back into the car and gave another short wave before driving off. As though on time, April was making her way towards Pelham. She, like his father just now, was suppressing a smile whilst trying to look adequately concerned.

"Falling down is one of human's nature," Pelham stated before she could start.

"So is being an adult and still not knowing how to walk,"

"I'm not an adult; I'm still seventeen,"

"Just last night you said being seventeen is like being eighteen, which you've claimed to make you an adult - which is also absurd, by the way," she pointed out. "You're not a twelve-year-old girl about to turn thirteen and assuming you're sixteen. Besides, you won't turn eighteen until June. You're basically a minor."

"Age does not define how graceless I am,"

"You mean how graceless you are doesn't define your age,"

Pelham gaped at her. "Basically, I'm not mature, is that what you're trying to imply?"

"And basically, you're still a virgin."

"Oi!"

She laughed. "Let's see if we can survive a week without each other," she said, impersonating a Posh accent. Pelham could only snort. They were never a cheesy couple. April had once claimed that she experienced a sudden "cringing spasm" ("Like a heart attack, but with the 'heart' replaced with 'cringe'," she'd explained) whenever she saw a couple making out at the school - mostly behind the bleachers. Pelham, being the gentleman, avoided public make-out. Not that he had any sort of desire to do it, owing to the fact that he was not attracted to people of the opposite gender whatsoever.

Pelham and April talked for a while, bickering over whether or not big foot existed. Pelham thought it was all codswallop. April, being quite of a nerd herself, thought that legends and myths were all real ("Narnia exists." she had once said, surprising not Pelham, for she still believed that Hogwarts actually existed). They didn't get to finish their little debate, however, because as eight o'clock struck, the participants were called to gather up at the courtyard so the teachers could check their attendance. Then they were instructed to make a neat line before entering the buses - just like elementary school children.

Roshon came just in time for attendance after rushing his way from the school gates. Pelham had been downright concerned then, having had assumed that his best mate in the world was going to leave him alone during the one-week camping trip. So it was only justifiable that he ended up scolding Roshon for turning up late, only to get an "I love you too, mate." from Roshon.

The journey for the trip took about five to six hours - without traffic, of course. Occasionally, the buses would make a brief stop to refill their gases, or simply because some of the students and teachers had to use the toilet. And it wasn't that simple to find public toilets. Twice, two of the buses had gotten flat tyres, and that delayed their trip for over half of an hour. At the start of the journey, the whole bus was full of laughter and both students and teachers were singing songs at the top of their lungs. Of course, some even pulled pranks, especially to those who had dozed off.

It was as though they were back to being excited ten-year-olds about to be brought to Disneyland. Later on, as afternoon rolled around, there were those moments where everyone was asleep, giving one or two still-hyperactive students the chance to record them or take pictures of them. "For yearbook, you know," a girl explained to Pelham when he frowned at her as she took a picture of Roshon with his cheek pressed against the window, mouth agape.

Roshon was still sleeping when they arrived at their destination at nearly three in the evening later on; his head bent at an awkward angle against the window now, with his mouth still hanging open, the warmth of his breath condensing on the glass of the window. It was Pelham who shook him awake. He had seen mountains and lakes just before they entered their camping destination. He had been very captivated by the unrefined views that he didn't realise his mouth had dropped open during the process. It was well past afternoon then, and everyone was just waking up. He and a couple of other students had been the only ones awake during the last two hours of the journey, and they got to see the glorious scenery of nature.

He considered telling Roshon that he should have had stayed awake, because the wholesome panorama had been beyond overwhelming - not to mention entirely magnificient. But then he thought that they could all enjoy the views later on. So he dropped it.

The buses stopped at a clearing in front of a cottage. They were later instructed to make sure that they had grabbed all of their personal belongings before exiting the bus. When all of them got out, heads were insantly turned towards the forget-me-not blue sky, to the towering mountains with clouds obscuring the summit from view, along with their green valleys looking adequately dense with forest, as well as the lakes that stretched beyond the horizon over some other terrain. They were all watching in awe with their jaws on the forest floor. Roshon kept muttering "Holy mother of nature," under his breath as he took the surrounding around him, completely ignoring his phone which was gripped in his hand.

Pelham smiled to himself; he was going to make sure this trip was something he could never forget. Something that could actually clear his head.

He also made sure that this trip could at least distract him from his distress. He, after all, had always admired everything that had to do with nature.

"Gather up, gather up, you lot!" a high-pitched male voice called, drawing the students' attention.

Pelham frowned, trying to look for the source of voice. He was not the only one; a handful of other students were turning their heads here and there, looking for the man who had called them.

"Come on, gather up, now! We have a tight schedule - not you, us," the voice continued. It was loud. But Pelham and Roshon had to stand on their toes to look for the man. "Gather up, you lot - I'm right here!"

He seemed to cause the students to make a clearing around himself. Now Pelham understood why couldn't see the man; he was only four feet tall.

"Yes, stare all you want, my height is more popular than Kim Kardashian with her leaked photos - or whatever trends you modern kids are on about these days," the man continued. Some of them sniggered, even he smiled. "Where are your teachers?"

As if on cue, a van arrived, and out poured twelve of the school teachers, all looking relatively worn out even though all they had been doing was sit. "We had a flat tyre!" one of them called before he even got out of the van.

"Well, your students handled themselves all right," said the little man. He then faced the students. "Right, my name is Franco Lolan. I will be your supervisor throughout your camping trip. Now, if you could follow me - you teachers as well, I'm not wasting any more time here, see, it's gonna rain soon - I will lead you to our main hall where you get your keys to your cabins and your schedules. Don't worry, as I'm sure you are all fatigued, we will not be doing any activities tonight."

Some of the students sighed in relief, while the others looked slightly disappointed that there wouldn't be anything exciting happening that night. Pelham was honestly looking forwards to a warm shower and bed.

"Hey, Rosh," he muttered to Roshon as they all followed Franco to the main hall.

"What?"

"I'll take the bigger bedroom,"

"What if there is only one room? It's a cabin,"

"Then I'll take the bigger bed,"

"What if they're the same size?" Roshon challenged.

"Then I'll take the cooler one,"

"What if there is only one bed?"

"Then you sleep on the floor."

Roshon punched him in the arm. Pelham grinned.