You Are the Shell to My Tortoise | ✓

77

Summer break was approaching.

That was the main reason why we were all here now, Nolan, Ashley, Melissa, Derek, Cody, and I, hiking through the forest outside of school on a warm weekend evening.

Come next semester, we would finally be high school seniors. I still almost couldn't believe that we were already finishing this year as juniors. It felt like it was just yesterday when I was a sophomore and started hanging out with Nolan.

At Derek and Melissa's insistence that we had to do something to commemorate our last summer as juniors—namely, to hike through the forest as a last adventure of sorts—before we returned as seniors, Ashley finally agreed after twenty minutes of failed counterarguments on her part.

"We already did that two years ago," Ashley had protested earlier this morning, looking wary at Derek's suggestion.

We were sitting at our usual table in the dining hall for breakfast, crowded with fellow students. Surrounding chatter filled my ears even as I tried to pay attention to what my friends were saying.

It was the last weekend before summer break.

Somehow, Nolan had managed to crawl out of bed to join us for breakfast.

I suspected it was probably because we wouldn't be seeing each other until the next semester. When he got to the dining hall, he parked himself right beside me, rested his head on my shoulder, and proceeded to doze off.

"Exactly!" Melissa was exclaiming. "It was two years ago! And we didn't even spend that long in there, since an insect landed on Chelsea's leg, and she wouldn't stop freaking out until we left."

I scowled at her. "It was a large insect!"

I had a sneaking suspicion that Nolan was smiling at my indignation. I pulled back from him to see that I was right.

"Hey!"

"What?" he said, his eyes still half-closed as he grinned at me.

"What do you mean by 'what'? You're laughing at me!"

"I'm not laughing. I'm just smiling."

"It's the same thing!"

"No, it's—"

Clearing her throat, Ashley raised an eyebrow at Melissa. "Their flirting aside, I was freaking out about the insect too, you know. What makes you think this time will be any better?"

Aghast, I gaped at her. "We weren't flirting!"

Nolan took the opportunity to lie his head down on the table, bolstered by his forearms.

"Come on! We can get fresh air and get surrounded by nature!" Melissa waved her hands around in large gestures, nearly hitting Derek who was sitting beside her. "Today's our last day as juniors, you know. Don't you want to do something before we officially come back as seniors?"

Derek said, nodding at Melissa, "Tell us if you see any insects. We'll try to stand on the frontlines for you."

Ashley turned to me. "Chelsea, do you want to go?"

"I don't mind," I said, shrugging. "It'd probably be pretty fun if we all went, right?"

Going to the forest was basically the equivalent of going to the library for me now, considering how familiar I was with some parts of it. Not that I did the latter all that often, but still.

Ashley's jaw dropped as she brought a hand up to her chest. "Who are you, and what have you done with my best friend?"

I laughed. "Way to exaggerate. It's not like we haven't been there before. We'll all stick together, right?"