029: ...Ups and Downs
Like Stars In the Sky
The busses didn't arrive at the camp grounds until around nine at night. Luckily, the campsite the school picked was very much catered towards tourism and one night stays. So, the tents were rentable; meaning they were already made and the teachers were able to assign tents to groups that varied from three to five, then send them in the direction of the numbered tent they would be staying in. Doyeon's class joined up with the classroom next door, and were all able to fill a patch of tents--which was a large area formed by around twenty tents.
A lot of the kids were able to convince teachers into putting them in the same tent as a group of their friends. Jaemin, Mark, Jeno, and Chenle ended up in one tent. Renjun, Jisung, and Haechan were in another. Doyeon would have ended up with a full group of girls she didn't know, but since Mira was in the class that had joined up with theirs, she was able to have at least one tent mate she actually somewhat knew. There was only one other girl added to their tent; Kim Soeun from Doyeon's class.
When Doyeon and Mira walked into their tent, they were met with the narrowed eyes of Kim Soeun as their greeting. "Hello!" Mira said with a wide smile, "I'm Kang Mira, you and Doyeon are in the same class right?" Her bubbly personality did nothing but cause Soeun to make a face that practically screamed 'ick.' Mira didn't seem to notice though, "Let's all get along well!" Her smile didn't falter as she extended a hand out to Soeun, even when the girl rudely walked off to the other corner of the tent.
Doyeon gave Mira a sympathizing look, "It's already almost ten, we should probably get ready for bed." Doyeon told her, glancing over towards Soeun; her bangs and short black hair framed her face in a way that made her sharp, tired, eyes look even more prominent, and her button nose even softer. Her lips hadn't moved from the pouty oval they'd been in every time Doyeon had ever seen her. She was almost the complete opposite of Mira, who's features were the epitome of femininity.
Doyeon walked out of the tent first, waiting for Mira who was grabbing her pajamas. She was beginning to feel like this trip would be something to remember--she just wasn't sure if that would be for better or for worse.
~~~~
Jaemin wiped his eyes as he walked out of his tent the next morning. The chilly morning air greeted him, along with the sound of morning dew slowly dripping off of the tree leaves. They were flocked by trees all around them, if it wasn't for the long circle of ground the tents enclosed, and the walkway that led to where food would be being prepared; you would barely be able to take five steps without running into a branch. Today was the first official day of the school trip, and to put his feelings about it quite simple; It was too early and he felt exhausted. It was just one night of sharing the tent with his friends, and he already wanted to challenge them all to a fight. Chenle snored most of the night, and Mark slapped him in the face at some point. Jaemin's eyes shut as he yawned and stretched his arms into the air.
"Grape."
Jaemin almost choked, he coughed repeatedly as he spit the grape out, "What the-" he stopped speaking as soon as he saw who it was, "Why would you do that?" Any trace of anger had immediately left his voice.
Doyeon shrugged, "I thought it would be funny," he gave her a look of bewilderment, "It was, by the way." She smirked.
Jaemin wanted to pretend to be upset, but as soon as she smiled he could only find the whole situation amusing. "Did they already make breakfast?" He asked, looking at the cup of fruit she had in her hands. "Ay, strawberry!" He grabbed a strawberry from the cup before Doyeon could stop him.
"Oh, but you didn't want the grape?" She asked, pointing to the fruit that was now on the ground.
"The grape almost killed me!" He said defensively.
Doyeon hummed, "Draamaqueen~" She teased.
Jaemin rolled his eyes as he grabbed a grape from her fruit cup, he popped it into , "Shut up~" He said in a sickeningly sweet tone. It did, in fact, shut her up. Luckily, she didn't have to find a way to make her brain function enough to form a coherent response, because the tent flaps behind Jaemin opened.
"Oh, Doyeon!" Jeno smiled, stopping beside Jaemin. "I didn't realize people would already be awake, it's barely eight o'clock." He said, noting how even the sun hadn't fully risen. Jeno looked between the two of them, a feeling of dread immediately settling into his stomach. "Did I miss something?" He asked, feeling as if he'd just walked in on some kind of moment between them.
Doyeon shook her head, "No, we were just talking about the fruit." She wasn't sure why she felt so relieved that Jeno had shown up. Jaemin's weird actions shouldn't still affect her after over two years of knowing him. "The teacher told me to tell my tent that we all have to gather outside of the hotel at nine, by the way." She said, her normal blank expression back on her face.
"What do they even have planned?" Jeno wondered aloud, even though he knew neither of them would know. When both of them gave him a shrug, he decided to change the subject. "Jaemin you left your phone in the tent, Mark was playing a game when I walked out." He said it loud enough so Mark would hear him from inside of the tent, it sounded like it worked, because he heard a yelp from inside. Jaemin let out a sharp sigh as he turned and went back into the tent.
"I'm sorry!" Mark yelled, the sound of someone being hit filled the air.
Jeno felt like he had to do something while it was just Doyeon and him, so he grabbed her arm and led her a little farther from the fence. She gave him a questioning look as he turned to face her. "I heard there was a tree house hidden somewhere in the forest...would you like to find it with me, sometime before the trip ends?" His hand was anxiously rubbing the back of his neck.
Doyeon perked up, "A tree house?" She asked, "Are the rest of the guys in?"
Jeno's hands started to sweat as he forced out his next words, "A-actually, I meant just the two of us."
He anxiously watched her eyebrows furrow briefly, then it seemed like something clicked in her brain. "I guess that would be too many people in one tree house." Jeno had to stop himself from laughing at just how silly her conclusion was--but he was extremely thankful for the fact that she didn't think too far into the meaning behind his words.
"Exactly!" He said.
"Let's find it then, before we leave." She said, giving him a little nod as she turned to leave. She's never been one for giving a proper farewell Jeno thought as he watched her retreating figure.
"Was that Doyeon?" Mark asked as he, Jaemin, and Chenle all excited the tent. Seeing them all walk out of the medium sized tent felt like seeing clowns getting out of a clown car.
"Yeah," Jeno said. "Now let's go get breakfast.
~~~~~~
Everyone seemed to have dressed as comfortable as they could--given how they weren't sure what exactly they'd be doing. They had to try and fit as much as they could into today and tomorrow, since they'd be heading home the next day. "Alright students, gather around." Mr. Kim said, using his hands to usher everyone towards him. "Mrs. Go and I planned out an itinerary for you all today." There were a few people who sighed--most likely the type of people who didn't really enjoy the outdoors--but for the most part everyone seemed excited. "The first thing we're going to do, is go on a walk along the resorts trail." Mr. Kim cheered as he finished his sentence, trying to bring up the enthusiasm that had dwindled the second the word 'walk' left his mouth.
Mrs. Go, the other class's homeroom teacher, laughed. "Don't give us those looks! It's going to be so much fun~" She patted the student closest to her on the back, "Lead the way, Samuel." The student did as told, and the other students began to follow him like a colony of ants.
"I hear the teachers are planning a game to play before dinner." Jeno said low enough for just their group of friends to hear.
Haechan looked intrigued, "Really? Mr. Kim and Mrs. Go are so old I'd be surprised if they even had the energy to finish this walk."
Mark slapped his back, "Dude, they're both in their like, mid forties!" Mira chuckled beside him.
"I know, they're practically ancient." Haechan said, his hand soothingly rubbing the place that Mark had just inflicted pain upon. Doyeon could only shake her head as she watched their exchange. She came to find that Mark and Haechan's dynamic was...vey rowdy one. It seemed as if their bickering had became a sort of white noise to her, but that might only be to her; because the students around them had started glancing back and giving them annoyed stares.
"Can you two shut up?" Renjun asked, shoving Haechan forward. Before Haechan could even get upset at Renjun, Jeno expertly set their focus onto something else.
"Is that a river up there!?" He asked, pointing ahead of them. All the boys, not just Haechan and Renjun, looked up. By the time Doyeon could even finish blinking, they'd all rushed forward toward the river--well all except Jeno and Jaemin, who stayed on either side of her. "I didn't think that would actually excite them." Jeno said, making both Doyeon and Jaemin laugh.
"They have the attention span of puppies, they'll be back to fighting in no time." Jaemin said, a tired sigh leaving his lips. Doyeon snorted, if they really were planning a game for later, she hoped it didn't involve a bouncy ball; they might get distracted and go fetch it instead.
~~~~~
"Mark, can you go get me a water~" Mira asked, showing her best puppy dog eyes. They were all sitting on the logs around the fire pit, waiting for the teachers to come back from, quote; 'preparing a little something.'
"Get me one too!"
"Me too!"
"And me!"
Mark let out an exasperated sigh as he stood up, letting Mira's hand go as he stood up. Doyeon stood up at the same time, "I'll go get my own." She said.
"At least one of you know how to uses your legs," Mark said, jokingly linking arms with Doyeon as they walked in the direction of the cooler. Mark waited till they were a few feet away from the others, "So," he began, "you and Mira seem to be getting along?" It sounded more l
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