Chapter Ten: 

Face Your Fears

Aghhh, my neck hurts. What happened...? Did I pass out...? My body was still rocking around from the motion of the bus. Ugh, I’m still on this ing bus. What am I even sleeping on anyway?  

I opened my eyes as cracks of sunlight beamed into my vision. My eyes twitched closed for a moment. I attempted to re-open them again. Surprisingly, that was actually a really good nap despite my neck wanting to snap in half. My pupils scanned my surroundings as I stayed in one position. I turned my head slightly to see Nara right above me, knocked out. Guess I passed out on her shoulder...  

I gradually lifted my head up, changing back to regular sitting position. I looked to my left to see Hanbin fast asleep with his head leaned back against the seat. It was odd seeing him asleep. Somehow he seems a lot more… peaceful. Well of course he does because he’s sleeping but that’s not what I mean exactly. Something more along the lines of maybe his features seem to strike out at me more? From the side view, his face actually looks so perfectly structured. His nose trails down in a perfect shape going down to his surprisingly defined jawline, along with his adam’s apple that was sticking out.

Wait a minute, what am I doing? I should stop staring, I feel like I’m being creepy right now. I’m literally watching him sleep. Hey, I’m going to be completely honest here. I’m not one of those people who try to deny their thoughts. If someone has nice features, I acknowledge it. I never said Hanbin was unattractive. His personality is just--- not very tolerable sometimes, and not really that charming… at least from what I’ve seen so far. I shifted my gaze over to my right to see Nara’s head now resting on Bobby’s shoulder who was also asleep. She looked a little too comfortable at the moment. Jinhwan was just sitting there listening to music with headphones on, lip syncing while staring out the window. He seemed like he was in his own little world. I guess I know the feeling. Once you got headphones on, you’re basically in your own self-directed music video.

I grabbed my phone from out of my pocket and looked at the time. It was already 9:12 AM. We’ve been on this bus for 2 hours already, so I’m guessing that we’re almost there. I decided to just chill out and browse through SNS for the rest of the time being.

It’s kind of strange really. I was sleeping on Nara’s shoulder who’s on my right, but for some reason the left side of my face feels a little more sore. I rubbed my cheek gently, quickly brushing off my curiosity. As I scrolled endlessly through twitter, I felt some odd movement next to me. I looked over to see Hanbin fidgeting around in his sleep. His face was scrunched up as if he was in pain. His face was covered in some light sweat. Was he having a nightmare or something? I leaned in a little closer to him. His head was shifting from left to right as light groans escaped his lips.

Uhh… what am I supposed to do? Do I wake him up?

Ugh, whatever. We’re almost at the campsite anyway. I grabbed a hold of his shoulders and gripped onto them tightly. I tried to shake him as lightly as possible, trying to wake him up.

“Hanbin!” I called out in a soft tone. I didn’t want to yell or sound too fierce in the chance that he might freak out and punch me in the face. With no response to my actions, I shook him a little harder.

“Haaanbinnn!” I called out to him again. Yet again, there was no response.

this. I got a little closer to him and decided to violently shake him. You know, as if he was a lifeless corpse.

“HANBIN WAKE THE UP!!” I said a little louder, shaking his body roughly.

His eyes suddenly shot open in shock as he took gasped for air. His hands automatically grabbed a hold of mine, prying them off of his shoulders.

Oops. Maybe I overdid it just a little bit.

He stared at me for a moment while panting lightly. His hands were gripped onto my wrists tightly. The way he woke up kind of threw me off. It kind of scared me to be honest, my heart  jumped for a split second. Okay, not scared. A little more like surprised and not expecting it.

Ow, ow. OW. He was doing it again. He keeps squeezing my wrists too hard without noticing. He suddenly broke his gaze away from me, slowly letting go of me.

“Sorry.” he said lightly under his breath as he turned his head slowly sitting up.

“I didn’t mean to scare you. You looked like you were having a nightmare or something so I tried to wake you up. Sorry.” I apologized. He just sat there quietly looking out the window. The atmosphere became extremely awkward.

Nara had woken up from her short nap. She looked around, realizing that she had fallen asleep on Bobby’s shoulder. Her eyes widened. She suddenly pushed him away from her, waking him up as well.

“What?! What happened, what did I do?!” He asked frantically. He was confused after being woken up and pushed away suddenly.

“You're breathing too much of my air. Distance.” she said sitting up straight.

“What the hell…” Bobby mouthed rubbing his upper arm.

The bus suddenly entered a forest like area. The windows were soon bombarded with dark green trees. I was growing anxious. I hate nature!!! I hate bugs, I hate dirt, I hate the cold, I hate it all!!! Nara’s face began to light up.

“Yaaaaaas, we're here!!!” she exclaimed happily. She was jumping in her seat while shaking me with her arms. I'm stressed.

The bus treaded down a narrow path, eventually coming to a steady halt. The bus stopped in what it seemed like the middle of nowhere. We were still just surrounded by trees on an empty dirt road.

“Alright students, we’re here! Please exit the bus, and don’t forget any of your belongings!” Park seonsaengnim announced.

Finally! I stretched out my arms letting out a slight yawn. Oops, was that rude of me? On second thought, I don’t care. Just get me off this goddamn bus! The five us got up from our seats, grabbing our bags that were scattered all over the floor. I felt dizzy just from sitting in a moving vehicle for so long. I walked off the bus, entering the death hole we call mother nature. The air was nice and refreshing at least. I took a deep breath, taking in all the different scents and smells of the environment. It was nice out… at least for the time being. I know when it hits night time, it’s gonna get cold, muggy, and bugs are going to swarm me. Nara jumped on me from behind, catching me off guard. I almost tipped over and fell.

“Oh my god, don’t do that!” I whined to her. She laughed and smacked me in the arm. Again with the unnecessary violence.

The boys appeared behind us soon after holding their bags over their shoulder.

“Yahhhhhh!” Bobby cooed. “It’s nice out here.” he said smiling to himself. Jinhwan nodded his head in agreement.

“Come on Jin, we have to take a picture together!” Nara said pulling me along against my will. She took out her phone and opened up the camera, putting it on ‘selfie’ mode. I’m not really a picture person because I feel like I have an awkward smile. Plus, it was kind of embarrassing with other people watching.

“I’m going to take it.” she said holding her finger close to the button. “Smile !!” I tried my best to look like I was enjoying life to the fullest. I tilted my head closing my eyes and smiling as if I was turnt up. After hearing the snapshot sound, she laughed looking at our picture. Hey it didn’t come out as bad as I thought it would. It was instagram-worthy at least?

“Let’s all take a picture. Get in guys!” Nara said gesturing the three guys standing around to come over. Jinhwan ran over behind us without any hesitation. Bobby and Hanbin kept refusing until Nara had to walk up to them and grab them by their arms and force them over.

“Wait, this isn’t going to work in selfie mode.” Nara said looking around. “Seonsaengnim!” she called out to her homeroom teacher. “Can you please take a picture of my friends and I?” She handed her teacher the phone after he agreed to be the photographer.

We had a nice scenery background behind us fortunately. Jinhwan came in between Nara and I putting his arms around our shoulders, with Bobby resting his arm on Nara’s shoulder. Hanbin stood awkwardly on the side next to me.

“Alright, smile!” The teacher yelled out to us. I posed happily. Anything for nice pictures. After taking a few snapshots, her teacher handed the phone back to us. “Are these okay?” he asked. We all crowded over, looking at the pictures that were taken.

“Ey…” Jinhwan complained. “Look at Hanbin, he looks like an awkward loner on the side.” he said pointing to the boy in the picture who was standing next to me with his hands in his pockets. I chuckled underneath my breath. Oh my god, Hanbin is actually so awkward. Even more than I am. “Can we take one more?” Jinhwan asked the teacher politely.

“Of course.” he agreed holding the camera up again. We all got back into our original positions, but this time, Jinhwan walked over to Hanbin and grabbed ahold of his arm, forcefully wrapping it around mine and his neck. I felt a jolt shoot up my spine when his arm touched my neck. This was kind of weird, I’m not gonna lie.

“That’s better.” he smiled back in position. Hanbin stood there confused at his cousin’s actions. He just went along with it, unable to argue back. I could tell he felt slightly uncomfortable, because I was feeling it too. His aura was like contagious or something.

“Alright, ready? Smile!” The teacher called out to us about to take another picture. We all tried our best to pose nicely and get these pictures over with. The sounds of snapshots went off again. We all bowed to Nara’s teacher, thanking him for his hard work. Literally. We all crowded up again looking at the phone.

The picture actually came out really…good. We were all smiling genuinely as if we were the bestest of friends. Even Hanbin, which surprised me.

“Ahhh! This picture is so cute!!” Nara squealed in happiness. “This is so going on instagram.”

“I like it! Send it to me!” Jinhwan nudged her joyfully. “Wahhh, Bobby looks so cool in this picture. His aura is no joke.” He chuckled. “And look at Hanbin, he actually looks cute for once!” he said pointing proudly to his cou