Just Another High School Story!

Leah leapt out of the bus, they had been dying of heat inside, while everyone else seemed to get on just fine, they were the only ones, whining on the inside to get down, and take in some fresh air

Leah was really happy though, no matter what E thought about the situation, she loved that he had hugged her, even if she was just assuming things. She was on cloud nine, and going still up, when her coach called her. They checked people first, attendance, in a way, and then set up the tent, since they were not a lot of people, they decided to set up one big tent for the kids and one small one for the coach. The coach could have privacy, and let the kids play around, this was, after all, the last trip, officially at least, the last trip they were going to have while still in high school, everyone had one goal in mind, and that was to make memories, to laugh loudly as if nothing was troubling them, but most importantly, to have the best time of their lives.

Right after setting the tents up, everyone wrestled for a spot, unfortunately, Mindy got stuck next to Leah, and Leah, although, not too happy about this unfortunate incident either, was bearing it quite well because Mia and Xin were next to her but the catch of the situation was that Ethan was sitting right next to Xin, they were going to have a little party now that everyone who surrounded her was kind of in her 'inner circle', some her 'enemies', some her friends, she did not mind the enemies and loved the friends, so there was nothing to really worry about. Leah put the list of attendance in her bag, and they left to have fun. There was a cliff near their campsite, a cliff, too high, and the coach warned them about it, he stated two things, "One, if you play around there, I'll send you home immediately, no questions answered, no excuses entertained, and two, if you fall from there, you will get really, really hurt, you might break your spine, and that's to say, if you're lucky, you might even die, I don't want that to happen, do you get me??" "Yes, Coach!" they shouted in unison, but oh well!

There was another cliff. But this one was used for Cliff Diving by people, the only danger that lurked here was that if you did not know how to swim, you'd probably go under water, and stay there. There were three spots from where you could jump, Leah straight up went to the third one, she had gone on a trip once with the her soccer bros, in middle school, and she would never forget what happened. Not only did she almost kill herself by drowning, but she almost knocked all her friends out too. She did not know how to swim, but like idiots, they were doing it without supervision and advice. She had thought it would become a good experience, and thankfully almost drowning didn't go to waste, when they finally pulled her out, everyone scolded her, they were worried about her, she had realised she was not alone. Maybe, she should have reminded herself of concern shown when she was in danger, wouldn't she have been more grateful sooner? Well, that's life anyway, you do things and you don't! That was probably the incident that helped them become friends, not friends, I'd say family, better than most, when they got back, they were punished, 60 rounds of the whole ground, "Damn it!", Xin had freaked out when she fell, and called Cop Coach, they were pissed, all of them, not at Xin. They had just saved a person, and rather than talking about how cool they were or making a fun story out of the incident, they were stuck running, they ran together ever since.

Leah had felt ashamed but not one of the guy have her the look-- you know, the it's-all-your-fault look-- she was done with 57 rounds and almost everyone was too, except for Xin, Xin was running and he was still at his 49th round, everyone was going to finish soon, so she told the coach that she would do ten instead of him, so that they could finish together, everyone propped her up, and said, "Girl, you might as well befriend the grim reaper. We are all doing this together." And so they did. They did it together, everyone doing a round for Xin, they had a big meal that night, and even though she didn't eat much, she was full... full of happiness, Xin and Leah became super close because of that incident too. Their bond was stronger than iron, and after her 'illness' was exposed by our Queen Mindy, he had not judged her for not telling him, they had a pack in the Soccer Team, "Nothing's private!" Despite this pact, and despite their brotherhood, she'd held back, kept the biggest secret of her life, all to herself, as opposed to their working principle, she had refrained from telling him, he had come to see her that day, she was scared to face him, instead of yelling at her or asking her why she hadn't breathed a word, told them, he hugged her, he hugged her tightly and said sorry, he apologised for not knowing, he said that they should have asked her why she ate so little, but since girls are usually picky and stuff, and she knew that they didn't have girlfriends, so naturally, they couldn't figure her out.

"We liked having you as the centre, we all took your food, it was like you were a girlfriend to us all, you kept us from fighting, but who knew you were in so much pain yourself?" he said it with such hurt in his voice that Leah could not help but think, if I had told them, maybe they wouldn't have teased or pitied me, maybe they would have tried to understand, and I could have stopped bullying and helped many others in our school, much sooner than I actually did, if only I had said something I would have known, I should have tried. There is a lesson for us all in her mistake, we should always try things we want to see the conclusion to, you cannot hide in the corner, chewing your lip, pulling on your hair, you have to come out and say it out loud, confront your fears, it always seems impossible before it is done, but it feels easy once you have conquered it. She hugged him and promised herself that she would not suffer alone again. She had people around who would listen, you aren't alone either, and though it may feel like it, not many but just one ear is needed to satisfy the urge to get it all out, you want to talk to someone, look around and try to find someone who will listen. And if you don't find someone immediately, don't give up thinking that that's the end, the world is full of people, many of whom you won't meet, but the ones you do, it is unknown who, but there is that someone who will change your life. So pick yourself up and live... there isn't any point in crying indefinitely when you could be laughing instead.

Leah had finally realised that even if Ethan could not be her lover, life wouldn't end there, she would find someone else, and even though she could not fathom the ending of her story yet, she could tell she would make it a good one, they could stay friends and be happy, maybe they would be better as friends, who knows? The initial intention of dominance and conquering had dissolved itself, she realised that she just wanted to be near him, and that would be enough, no matter what their relationship would be called in the future, Ethan would always be her first love.