Falling Hard // Nowhere Boys

1: The School Excursion

What doesn't kill you
Makes you wish you were dead
Got a hole in my soul growing deeper and deeper
And I can't take
One more moment of this silence
The loneliness is haunting me
And the weight of the world's getting harder to hold up...

"Taylor! Your gonna be late!" I groan at the sound of Dad's voice, pulling the covers over my head.

"Taylor!"

I slowly and reluctantly pull the headphones from my ears and crawl out of bed. Today's the day I've been dreading- the school excursion.

"Okay, Dad!" I sigh.

My outfit for today, already laid out at the end of my bed- black ripped jeans, gray Vans shirt and checked flannel. I pull on my trainers and stuff my phone, headphones and Eclipse into my canvas bag before heading downstairs.

/ / /

"Do I have to go?" I whined as Dad handed me the excursion permission slip. "Can't I just stay here with you, and Beau?" 

Beau was my boxer puppy. I'd gotten her after Mom died two years ago, and Calypso, my older sister, left for Uni.

"It's compulsory." Dad reminded me. I pull him into a hug, breathing in his woodsy scent, before I left.

Welcome to hell,  I thought as I walked through the Bremin High gates. The other Year 10's mill around the school grounds waiting as Mr. Bates pulls up in the school bus. I stuff my headphones in my ears and make my way towards Bates, pulling my permission slip out of my bag in doing so, when a soccer ball flies over my head, narrowly missing me and instead hitting Felix Ferne, a goth boy in my class.

"And Riles scores gold for Bremin!"

 I turn around and scowl as Jake Riles and his fellow idiot friends, Trent and Dylan laugh at their target.

"Leave him alone," I murmur, though none of them would care to listen anyway.

/ / /

"Okay, listen up!" As the last few students find seats, Mr. Bates addresses us. "Welcome to the Year 10 science excursion, which is quite literally a walk in the park, the Bremin Ranges National Park. In groups of five, you will orienteer a 7km walk to a pick-up point marked on your map. You are identify flora, and with any luck, fauna. Now, in the interests of breaking down social barriers and as a little treat for me, I have pre-selected the groups, so don't expect to be with any of your friends." 

With a prominent array of sighs from the rest of the class, I shifted further down in my seat, opening Eclipse and adjusting the volume of my playlist.

I didn't bother to watch as trees rushed past us and we left Bremin High behind.

/ / /

When we finally pulled up, Mr. Bates was first off the bus carrying a box filled with maps and compasses. I slipped the buds out of my ears and tucked my book safely into my canvas bag before trailing behind the rest of the students out of the bus. 

"She freaks me out," I turned towards Sam Conte pointing at a grove of trees.

"Who?" Mia, his girlfriend, wraps her arms around his waist.

"The witch lady." Jake steps out of the bus flanked by Dylan and Trent.

A woman stands between the trees glaring at the group. Her long dark hair hangs loose and cascades down her shoulders, masking most of her face.

"Do you reckon she'll turn us into zombies?" Jake smirks and his idiot friends laugh at the dumb joke.

"A zombie would starve on your brains." Ellen, Felix's friend pushed through the group.