His Second Chance Mate

Chapter 11

The six of us huddled together trying to stave off the chill. The cold had done what even the noise hadn't been able to and even Shreya was fully awake. Not that she looked happy about the fact in the least.

I shivered, trying to warm my fingers. Why was it that my fingers were the ones that suffered the most?I couldn't feel the tips of my fingers so I tucked them under my armpits. I'd seen that on some TV show somewhere. It was moderately better. 

Wasn’t it supposed to be spring right now? We were on our Summer Holidays! The sun had fully risen by now, but the weak sunlight was doing absolutely nothing to warm us.

I checked my watch. It was 7:15 already! We’d been standing here for almost two hours!

What were we even waiting for? A red carpet?

I stomped my feet several times, trying to warm up. Not that it was of much use. I was still shivering.

The buses had taken off as soon as the sun had risen sufficiently high enough, depositing all our luggage on the ground in a gigantic pile.

Dani and Katie had wanted to rush in to rescue their precious bags, but the rest of us overruled them. We waited patiently until most people had retrieved their luggage and the rush had died down before leisurely extracting ours.

It was a bit harder than I expected it to be, with a lot of the luggage still piled up dangerously. I stared enviously at a girl who simply pointed out her luggage and a guy desperately waded through the suitcase swamp to retrieve it for her.

I mean, I was all for the feminist movement and all, but it would be really nice to have someone do the heavy lifting right about. Someone with nice muscles. Maybe my werewolf boyfriend/ soul mate who would be seriously allergic to shirts- the same way Jacob was in Twilight- could help to with all the luggage on my trip home.

I giggled at the thought.

Yeah, right.

What was more unlikely?

The werewolf boyfriend?

Or the super strong, muscly dude who had mysteriously fallen in love with me in the space of a day, and now was weirdly desperate to handle all my suitcases?

I figured I was basically betraying the feminist movement right now, but if I couldn’t be that way in the privacy of my head, where else could I do that?

Besides, even if someones did offer to help with my suitcases, I’d probably refuse. Mostly because I was an independent sort of i***t, but that was a problem for another day.

Finally, all six of us retreated to a safe distance, surrounded by suitcases of varying sizes. I’d thought my suitcase was fairly big, but I couldn’t even compete with Dani’s, Mackenzie’s and Katie’s several suitcases and bags. We were going to be camping. Sleeping in a tent! Where exactly did these geniuses plan to store all these?

I figured at least one of them was going to lose at least one of those pieces of luggage. I suppose they'd only learn a lesson then.

Shreya and Shriya both carried a simple compact suitcase and a backpack each. The three of us watched in amusement as Katie, Mackenzie and Dani attempted to lug all their bags across the uneven ground.

Taking pity on Katie’s pleading expression, I grabbed one of her bags, groaning at the weight. It hadn’t looked this heavy. I glared at Katie, who only gave me a huge grin of gratefulness.

Finally the twins gave in as well and stepped forward to relieve the other two of some of their burden, grumbling all the way.

We headed the same way most people seemed to be headed, though we weren’t really sure where we were supposed to go. I figured no one was, seeing as it was everyone’s first time.

Still, people were moving in the opposite direction from where we'd come, which made the most sense. We entered the denser part of the forest, the grass of the clearing turning into the dirt path of a well-trodden path.

The six of us walked leisurely, somewhere in the middle of the group, chattering comfortably. With a group as huge as this, everyone was strolling slowly and there was no hurry. Katie even opened up her junk food stash and we had a thoroughly unhealthy snack in place of breakfast.

Suddenly, the progression of people stopped. There was a loud cheer at the front that had all of us straining our necks, trying to see the cause of the commotion. I gave up pretty quickly, seeing as I could barely see over Katie’s shoulders, much less than the few dozen other students.

Mackenzie shook her head at me in sympathy. She clearly hadn’t even bothered to try. 

The rest of them gave up soon after, grumbling. All of us were curious, but there wasn’t much we could do this far back.

Still, having been given such a perfect chance, I couldn’t resist making a dig.

“So much for being tall, huh.”

I was faced with four identical glares and one grin- from Mackenzie. We both started giggling at the faces our friends had made. Geez, I guess tall people were more sensitive about their height than short people were.

The people in front of us slowly started moving again, so we hurriedly gathered the luggage we’d set down and started walking. The pace seemed to be a bit faster than before and I was starting to breathe a bit faster, though I tried not to make the fact obvious as the others barely looked like they were breaking a sweat.

I was starting to regret taking the extra weight from Katie. I mean, helping a friend was great in the beginning and all, but not so much part way through a hike that was looking to be a lot longer than I’d expected it to would be.

As if I didn’t have enough on my hands- literally- my stomach decided to announce its presence at this point, making my five companions burst into gales of laughter. I was too tired to even feel fully embarrassed at this point.

It wasn’t even that funny! I huffed. There really was no need to laugh for that long.

As if on cue, the other’s stomach’s began to rumble in a bad excuse for a symphony. 

I realized how wrong I was. This was hilarious. I burst out gigging. I realized that though I was too tired to feel embarrassed, I wasn’t too tired to laugh. The others burst into laughter again.

Katie hadn’t been wrong when she said these people could laugh at anything, but I was coming to realize that that was my favorite thing about them.

A brown haired boy stumbled into our path, bringing our laughter and our steps to an abrupt start. His ears flushed bright red, but his face stayed perfectly pale. It was an interesting visual combination. I wanted to ask who he was and why he was here, but I found I didn’t really have to. The reason was clear as day.

“Heyy...um hi, Mackenzie!”

His voice broke in the middle, and rose into an embarrassing squeak at the end. I winced in second hand embarrassment.

His neck flushed red this time, though his face was still astonishingly pale.

Clearing his throat, he tried again.

People slowly started to stream around us, many glaring and grumbling in our direction, but no one paid them any attention, so I tried to do the same.

Mackenzie put her luggage down with a groan, setting her hands on her hips.

“What took you so long?”

She flipped her hair and the boy looked absolutely mesmerized. It was crazily cute too look at.

I c****d my head. And was it just me, or had Mackenzie just grown several inches taller? Her voice sudden a bit different too.

I turned to look at the others with a questioning look on my faec. Katie also looked like she didn’t recognize the boy, which was unusual in itself, because I thought Katie knew everybody. The other three had wicked smirks on there faces, so I figured this boy was a bit of a regular.

Shriya was the one to speak up first.

“Heyy Olly. Fancy seeing you here. Not that you actually looked at us for even half a second. But nice to see you again.”

Olly looked genuinely startled to see the rest of us watching him. Mackenzie gave us a slight glare. She bent over to pick up her bags and began marching away. I think she was blushing a little, though I couldn’t be sure.

Finally, his cheeks grew slightly red.

“Oh hey, guys. It’s been a while, huh.”

His eyes passed over the five of us. I don’t think he even realized that two new people were here!

He turned back to look at Mackenzie, looking alarmed to see that she wasn’t still next to him. Without even a goodbye, he hurried after her, jogging slightly in order to reach her side. He pulled her bags off her, despite her protests. Finally, it looked like she had given in to him, handing over most of her bags to him. She flipped her hair once again and pulled at the straps of her backpack, and picked up her pace.           Olly matched her strides easily, seeing as he was a fair bit taller than her. He bent close to her, clearly saying something to her, though we were too far out of hearing range to eavesdrop.

Shreya was the one who nudged us all back into motion. The five of us sped up, hurriedly slipping past several people, until we almost caught up to Mackenzie. We slowed down several people behind the couple- close enough to keep an eye on her, but far enough away to give them some privacy.

Katie broke first, asking what I was desperate to know.

Honestly, it was only because I was terribly out of breath that she beat me to the punch.

Shreya grinned a Chesire Cat grin.

“That’s Oliver. He’s on the swim team and he’s absolutely in love with Mackenzie. Like, since forever.”

The three of them broke into giggles.

Shriya cut in, almost squealing. “It’s insane. He like only has eyes for her. He honestly can’t see anybody else when she’s around. It’s sooo adorable!”

Katie and I nodded like a pair of bobbleheads. It really had been.

“So are they like a couple? She seemed to like him too.”

Maybe not as much as he liked her, but from what I’d seen, she seemed to at least have a tiny crush on him.

Dani groaned. “You see it too, don’t you? None of us know why she’s holding out. It’s so clear that she likes him too, but she won’t take a step forward. It’s driving the three of us crazy!”

“Huh.”

Shreya nodded. “Exactly. Huh is exactly right.”

The three of them shook their heads in united exasperation. Katie and I grinned at each other.

The five of us hobbled along as best as we could, hindered by all the extra luggage. The hike was definitely getting a little steeper

Dani grumbled aloud.

“Typical Oliver. He’s only cares about Mackenzie’s bags. Shouldn’t he have at least brought some helpful friends?”

Shriya glared. “You should get your own Oliver then.”

“Or packed less stuff!” That was Shreya. She still had one of Mackenzie’s bags slung over a shoulder and was glaring daggers at the back of Mackenzie’s red ponytail.

Dani refused to say anything, though she looked marginally sorry.

I glanced at Katie, who quickly turned away from me, attempting to look absorbed in something else.

Well, at least she knew she’d done something wrong.

I was too out of breath to say anything anymore so I simply shook my head, hitched my bag higher on my shoulder and soldiered on.

Were we there yet?

Or at least, getting close?

I hoped so.

The possibility of me collapsing under all the weight I was carrying was steadily increasing, but I didn’t want to be the only one complaining. Still, the last thing I needed was to collapse dramatically, half way on the hike to the temple.

I’d probably never get over that embarrassment.

I didn’t even have an Oliver to heroically carry me anywhere- whether to a hospital or toward the temple.

Katie was just about as athletic as I was, so there was no way she was carrying me anywhere.

I’d probably just lie on this path forever if I collapsed now.

I shook my head to clear it of the totally unwelcome, completely unrealistic, but super-HD images that had popped into my mind. I could see my decomposed body lying on this path, with Katie crying desperately next to it.

I mean, realistically, my body couldn’t decompose that fast. Especially, with no catalyst. I should really lay off my crime shows. My mind had way too many visuals of decomposed bodies ready for my peace of mind.

Besides, if I collapsed, someone was bound to help.

Some helpful passerby?

Maybe my -as of now, non-existent- mysterious soul mate.

Or maybe, it could be my super amazing, allergic to shirts, werewolf boyfriend, who was still entirely imaginary.

Great prospects around here. Note the sarcasm.

I grinned, my imagination bolstering me up. I marched forward with renewed energy. There was no way I was collapsing this close to my destination!

Imaginary or not, my super hot, super muscly and super imaginary werewolf soul mate boyfriend was waiting for me!

Actually, moderately muscly sounded more comfortable to me. Six packs were pretty and all, but they can’t be very comfortable.

Still, whatever it was that was waiting for me, I’d find out soon enough. I just had to walk far enough, long enough.

I huffed and puffed and huffed and puffed and marched on ahead, ignoring the complaints of my friends.

They’d catch up. Eventually..