Eden and Bea (LGBT+)

🌳 x 11

At first, Eden eyed the patch of grass with some suspicion. 

Then, for a couple of moments, her eyes scanned the field as though she was looking for someone else to eat with. 

Alright, so I was a little offended, but I couldn't say that I was surprised. It didn't really look as though she was going to have much of a choice as to where she sat, though, given that everyone else was sitting with their partner. 

"Alright, fine, 'partner'," she said the last part with air quotations and I just raised an eyebrow at her. 

That was what we were, wasn't it? At least, we would be until this trip was over...It had only just begun, however, so I wasn't thinking too much about that. Besides, I was happy. The burger was delicious. 

Eden ignored my raised eyebrow and came to sit down beside me. She looked at her burger with some curiosity for a few moments, but eventually dug in. I had a feeling that she was probably as hungry as I was, given that I hadn't had much time to get food from the cafeteria during the day and neither had she, I expected. 

"Aren't you glad that we evolved past eating the meat right off the cow?" I asked her, knowing that it would get her attention. 

She turned to me and something flickered in her eyes. For a moment, I thought it was amusement, but I supposed that I could simply be imagining it. 

"Did we ever do that?" she asked, "I can't imagine it." 

"I'm messing with you, Edie," I said, as I popped the final burger bite into my mouth. 

She smirked for a moment, then realised what she was doing and quickly gave me one of her infamous eye rolls. 

Eden finished off her burger and then looked a little guiltily at the piece of paper it had come wrapped in. "I'll never be a vegan," she said. "Poor animals." 

I was surprised she even had enough sympathy within her heart to say something like that, but it was a pleasant surprise all the same. 

Her gaze returned to me then and she stood up and dusted some burger bun crumbs off her pyjama bottoms. She then brushed off some grass, too. She seemed to consider something for a few moments, and then spoke again

"Out of all of the people in our year, I'm not sure why I had to be paired with you," she said. I could hear the spite in her tone and tried not to wince. "Though I suppose that there are worse people to be paired with," she continued, as her eyes glanced over some of the typical 'nerdy' looking students nearby. "Let's go, Beatrice." 

"Now, I forgot to let you all know something," Mr. King said. Now, there wasn't a surprise. "You need to be up bright and early tomorrow morning because we're going to go on a trip through the forest! I'll expect you all sorted and eager to get some learning done, team. Don't let me down," he said. 

The other students grumbled at the fact that they would have to get up so early. 

Some of them didn't seem quite so bothered by it. 

They soon began to make their ways back to their tents and Eden spoke again, with a little more urgency behind her voice this time around. 

"Are you coming back with me or not?" she asked me. 

"Wait a second girls," Mr. King chimed in, "I don't want the disagreements of any of the students to ruin this trip. You hear me?" he asked, with some anger in his gaze. 

"Well, I don't know, I do have ears," Eden mumbled. 

I turned to her and felt my mouth come slightly agape with some surprise. Now that I had not expected from her. 

"What did you say?" he demanded. 

Eden turned back to him and spoke in a sweet voice. 

"I said: understood sir, no problem here," she said and forced a smile to really try to drive the point across. 

"Alright. Fine. Good, go ahead," Mr. King replied, allowing us to return to our tent. 

When we returned, I released a short laugh. 

Eden sat down on top of her sleeping bag and then turned to me with an expression of curiosity. "What is it now?" she asked me. 

"I can't believe you, of all people, spoke to Mr. King like that," I said. 

The corner of her lip twitched up for a second, before her expression became perfectly neutral again. 

"Well, believe it. I don't like him," she said. 

"But you're always top of English class-" I went to say. 

"I happen to like English and reading. On the other hand, I do not like him," she said. 

I felt some confusion spark in my mind.

"Why not?" I asked her. 

She looked down towards her filed nails and exhaled with, what I imagined was, some impatience. 

"I don't have to like everyone. I don't have to explain my choices to you, either, Beatrice. God, I can't believe I forgot my headphones. How careless. Now, I have to listen to all of your stupid questions." 

"I don't get it," I said, then, taking the both of us by some surprise. "It's impractical for you to dislike people for no reason, especially when they haven't done anything to you. That's not going to win you friends in this world, Eden, whether you want to hear it or not." 

A muscle in her jaw twitched, in response to that statement. 

"Think about it. Night," I said and then fell upon my sleeping bag, with hopes that sleep would take me soon. 

At least the ground was scented with flowers. The sweet scent distracted me, if only a little, from my current ordeal with Eden. 

I tried to stay calm and not let her get to me. I had been letting her get to me for far too long and it was time for that to stop. She didn't need to like me, I decided, but I was going to find out why.