"Make sure you turn in your permission slips." Mr. Smith said.

For some reason, the school decided to send everyone on a camping trip. I guess they thought it would help us all get our minds off of everything that happened. After all that violence, everyone definitely needs a break. I guess hardly any of us have actually felt like doing our school work since coming back.

"This could be dangerous." complained Sheldon, after class.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Sleeping outside…" he said, "we could run into trouble."

"I think you're worrying too much." I replied.

"We could bring our weapons," suggested Frederica, jumping into the conversation.

"I-I don't wanna do that." responded Vera.

"But if something does happen," said Justin, scribbling away in his notebook, "I'll have a good story."

"You and your stories." I said, "Can you shut up about them for one second."

"I could," he said, "but I don't really want to."

"Of course you don't." I responded.

We had a few days until the camping trip, so when I went home I went through my stuff and grabbed what I thought I would need. I could be like Ken and wait until the last minute, but I'd probably forget if I waited that long. So for me, it's much better to do stuff earlier. The next day at school, we were told which groups we would be in. I ended up with Vera, Justin, Frederica, Sheldon, and Chloe. For the most part, I'm fine with that but I'm not really sure if we can trust Chloe. Something just feels off about her to me.

"Something better happen." said Justin."

"I'd prefer if nothing happened," I replied, "I've had enough excitement in my life."

"I agree with Mona." responded Vera.

"You're not fun." replied Justin.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked.

"I'm a journalist." he said.

"You say that like it's a problem." said Shelodn, joining the conversation.

"What exactly is the problem?" asked Chloe, walking up behind him.

"It's nothing." he said, shaking his head.

"Why do I get the feeling you're hiding something from me?" she asked.

"You're probably just imagining it." I said.

"Well, whatever." she said, "But we're in the same group… isn't that cool?"

"I don't know." I said.

The day of the camping trip eventually arrived and I went through my things, making sure I had everything. There didn't seem to be anything I forgot, so I left. By the afternoon, my classmates and I were at the camping spot. There was plenty of grass around, some flowers, some trees, and the sky was a bright blue.

"This'll probably be boring." complained Matt, whose class had also come on the trip.

"Oh, you're here?" I responded.

"Everyone is." he replied.

"So… um, did you learn anything from those books?" I asked.

"What books?" he said.

"The ones from the library." I replied.

"Oh!" he said, "Um… no."

"Nothing?" I said.

"Yeah," he replied, "they were good stories but… they're not gonna help us find Ken."

"Oh." I said.

"What are you two talking about?" asked Theodore, who suddenly appeared next to them.

"Ah, nothing." I said.

"Um, do you either of you get the feeling there's something wrong with Chloe?" asked Theodore.

"What do you mean?" asked Matt.

"Well, nobody can find her right now." answered Theodore.

"She always felt a bit… off to me," I said, "but… I'm probably imagining it."

"Well, we better go get with our groups." said Matt, "Talk to you later."

"Yeah." I said.

We spent a good chunk of the day setting up. My group set up a couple of tents: one for the girls and the other for the boys. Oddly, Chloe wasn't present at all when we were setting up.

"What do you think Chloe's doing?" asked Frederica.

"This could be a good story," said Justin, who was drooling and writing in his notebook.

"Oh, will you quit with that!" I complained.

"No." he said.

"Well, at least you asked nicely." said Frederica.

"Is she going to be okay?" asked Vera.

"Who knows?" said Sheldon, "We don't need to worry about her right now."

The sun was setting, so it was a little weird that Chloe wasn't back with us yet. 

"Well," I said, "now that we're done setting up, what should we do?"

"We can go to bed." suggested Sheldon.

"Don't make too much noise in the tent." I said.

"I won't." replied Sheldon.

"I was talking to Justin." I said.

"W-What do you mean!?" he exclaimed.

"I don't know what kind of things you'll get up to in there." I said.

"What makes you think I'd do something inappropriate there?" said Justin, "Besides, I never said I was going to go to bed yet."

"Yeah, yeah." I said, "Whatever."

 

***

I was having trouble sleeping, so I got myself up. I moved really quiet since I didn't want to wake Mona and Frederica up. Even though it was the middle of the night, Chloe hadn't come back yet. I started to worry. When I left our tent, I went for a little walk. After a bit, I saw someone behind a tree.

"So, it's going like I expected it to." the girl behind the tree said.

I recognized the voice. It belonged to Chloe.

"This story has just begun," she said.

"Um, excuse me?" I said, approaching the tree.

"Ah, where'd you come from!?" she exclaimed, quickly closing the book in her hand.

"I just got here." I said, "W-Where have you been?"

"Oh, is it that late already?" she said, "I'll get to the tent in a few minutes."

"O-Okay." I replied.

I didn't really know what any of that was about, but it was pretty obvious to me that Chloe was hiding something.