The Thoughts Between Us // CHALEX

Twenty-Six

Alex

When I decided to join the rest of my classmates for the final campfire, I was surprised to see that only Tyler had made it back to the site. The rest of my friends were nowhere to be seen, not even Zach who had returned back with me.

Winston was looking at me hopefully, but I just ignored him and decided to chat with my only friend here.

I went and stood beside Tyler, who gave me an unsure glance.

Right, the last time we talked I had snapped at him.

"Hey, Ty," I said and he looked at me. "I'm sorry about earlier. I wasn't exactly feeling like talking so..."

"No, it's okay." He assured, giving me a small smile. "I should've understood that you weren't in the mood to talk, and I was just bothering you... I get that."

We looked around in silence as more and more confused people were coming back from the stupid hunt. But none of our friends were still here, and neither was my father.

"Have you seen my Dad?" I asked, spotting Mrs. Jensen talking to some just-arrived students. "I thought he would be here."

After the heart-to-heart talk that we had in the tent earlier, he had left to check on everyone while I just spent more time in the tent alone.

Which I'm doing a lot since yesterday and still not complaining.

"He was just here five minutes ago," Tyler informed, then shrugged. "I think he followed Tony after Diego pointed him somewhere."

What?

"I wanted to follow them too, but... I then realized it would be better for everyone if I stayed here. Today's day was already weird and the trip has already messed up the team."

He motioned behind me, where I noticed the senior teammates listening to Luke and Beecher while Diego sat lost in his own thoughts.

Did someone mess with the team? This is serious.

But I still didn't know where the others were, and what were they exactly doing. And then one recent thing crossed my mind.

What if Zach was telling them about Winston?

I know they deserved the truth about him too, that's why maybe all of them are having an emergency meeting. As Tyler and I were the ones Winston was getting information from, they excluded us from it to not hurt our feelings.

Suddenly, my Dad walked in through the trees, and following him were mostly everyone that was missing. Jessica and Zach looked worried, while Justin and Tony were deep in their own thoughts. Charlie was looking around at first, but when he saw Tyler and I standing together, he started making his way over to us.

Before he could say anything though, a loud horn sounded and everyone grew quiet. Someone was clearly blowing a conch shell, and when all of us turned to see the culprit everyone was shocked.

What the actual fuck?

Clay was standing there, slightly panting as he had all the bags full of treasure draped on his shoulders. Everyone stood in silence and he stopped blowing the conch. His face was covered in dirt, and he looked quite angry.

"I won." He said, dropping all the bags at his side. Diego stood up from where he was seating on a bench and made his way to Clay.

"Where'd you get all that?" Diego asked him, which grew my confusion even more.

"You left me for dead." Clay stated angrily, as he walked closer to Diego.

"Oh, no way, dude. We went back for you and you weren't there."