"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

BY THE time Iris and Levi had finished their activities, the rest of the camp mates had arrived at the lake where they were waiting for their next instructions.

Hunter's eyes, after scanning around the group, found his brothers, and he bounded over like a deranged puppy.

"Did you know I'm a sucker for canoeing?" Hunter whispered in Iris' ear, a grin on his lips.

Iris rolled her eyes. "I really don't care."

"Whoa!" Hunter gasped, putting a hand on his chest and turning to Levi, who had an amused look on his face. "What is up with her today?"

Levi ran a hand through his soft, blonde hair, turning to look out distantly into the lake. He seemed distracted, as if something was bothering him. Iris wondered whether he'd finally tired himself out. Maybe he was beginning to have second thoughts on the training program. She hoped, at least. "Nothing's wrong with her, she's just having a sulk because I made her do one hundred press ups."

Iris shoved him, hard. "I am not. Fuck you."

"Alright!" Jade's voice boomed over the noise of the camp mates. She was accompanied by John, who had a pained look on his face. One of the newer camp mates was eyeing him up scarily, inching closer by the minute. John moved to the other side of Jade and wiped his forehead, plastering an awkward smile on his face.

Jade continued. "As I mentioned earlier, we're going canoeing. You will be partnered up and given a canoe, with which you and your partner should use your team working skills to paddle to Rocky Island. It's a long way out, so you should be prepared to evenly distribute your paddling between you. Alright. So, I'll call out you and your roommate and you can come and collect a canoe."

"Did she just say you and your roommate?" Iris asked Levi, beginning to panic. She had been able to avoid Ember, mostly, albeit for going to bed or seeing her around when Chase was there. Other than that, there had been no problems, but she knew that was due to their absence of time spent with one another. Being stuck on a canoe for an hour in the middle of a lake was quite possibly one of the worst ordeals she was going to have to go through.

Levi chucked, his hazel eyes sparkling at her. "Yep. Have fun, Klutz."

Iris watched sadly as he made his way over to Chase, high-fiving him with a sudden burst of energy that she hadn't seen before. The only friends Iris ever had were boys, and sometimes she felt as if they were only her friends because they had to be. Because most people were scared of her.

A part of her ached to have a real friend. Perhaps her and Ember could work it out – maybe it would be okay.

"Ember and Iris." Jade called out, signalling for them to collect their canoe.

Ember, coming from behind, shoved Iris with her shoulder as she moved past.

On second thoughts, Iris thought, I don't think it will.

♥♥♥

The canoe that they had was bright yellow, an offensive, neon colour that seemed to have muddy footprints along the inside. It didn't exactly look stable, either – its bottom seemed scratched and worn down, along with the worded-print along the side that seemed to be peeling off.

Ember stared at the canoe as if it was a pile of vomit. "I hope you know I won't be talking to you."

"What, never?" Iris smiled smugly. Truthfully, she had forgiven Ember for what had happened between them, and she was now beginning to feel bad for the bruises that were still fresh on Ember's face. That didn't mean she was going to act nice though. Iris was never nice; not even if she felt sorry for someone. That was a known rule in gang culture. Being nice got you nowhere. Being rude or threatening did a lot, surprisingly.

Ember glared. "Who cares. You're a violent, aggressive bitch who I've unfortunately been stuck with."

Both girls began pushing the canoe down the stretch of pebbles aligning the edge of the lake. Around them, the other camp mates were doing the same, but they were chatting eagerly, smiles on their faces as they held their canoes, awaiting more instructions.

Levi and Chase seemed to appear next to them, apparently finding the situation that the girls were in all- too-hilarious.

"Hope you have fun, Girlies. Course, that's not likely." Chase said, blowing a kiss to Ember.

Ember mimed catching it, dropping it on the floor and stamping it into the ground. "You just lost yourself valuable time with me, asshole."

Chase let out a cry of detest. "Oh, baby. Don't be like that! I was joking."

"Well it wasn't funny."

"Whatever. We're going to have more fun than you, anyway." He lifted his hands in the air and let out a whoop. "Oh my god - I just did a Yahoo in a canoe!"

Levi's eyes hooked onto Iris', and she immediately felt her breath cut short. There was something about the way in which they stared so sincerely – as if he truly wanted to know more. He was daring, he wasn't scared of her, and more importantly, he was showing a strange kind of interest that Iris had never seen before. Not to mention his good looks. Nobody Iris had ever met before looked like Levi; even just his sharp jawline would be more than enough to make any girl from her old school swoon. Clearly, they could be likened to most of the girls that Levi had been with in Camp Juvy, too. Iris wondered whether that was the same anywhere Levi went.

"You sure are staring at him." Ember hissed, getting into the canoe after Jade called for everyone to begin. Levi had turned away, laughing at something Chase had said, and suddenly Iris felt a blush sprouting up her cheeks as if speckled with crimson powder.

She didn't realise she had been doing it. He interested her – that was all. Anyone that was interested in Iris was interesting to her. Nothing more, nothing less. Iris wasn't the type of girl to get attracted to somebody. The last time she even remotely had a crush was Benedict Sautoin in year 7 – the French exchange student who uttered two words more than anyone had ever said to her in her first week of high school: 'Merci' and 'bonjour'.

Iris rolled her eyes, trying to distinguish the redness on her cheeks as they began to paddle. "I was not."

"You were. What, you have a crush on him or something?"

"Fuck off. I do not have a crush on him."

"Damn." Ember moved her paddle against the stream of the water with one smooth push. "I was hoping you would say that you do. That way I can enjoy seeing him break your heart like every other girl in this stupid camp."

Two girls in a canoe that were passing Levi giggled loudly as he flicked water on them, throwing their heads back and eyeing him up flirtatiously, like ravenous lions advancing onto their prey.

Iris found herself staring at them with a look of disgust. "Aren't those girls your friends?"

Ember shrugged. "I guess. They're all boring after a while though. All they talk about is boys and boys and...oh yes – boys!"

"That must be pretty dull for you."

Ember was silent for a minute, focused on the movement of the boat. She was the driving force, from the front, so Iris could stop paddling if she wanted to seeing as Ember wouldn't see – but something made her carry on.

"Yeah. It is." Ember said finally. "But whatever, sometimes it beats Chase's 'I love boobies' talk."

Iris nearly laughed. It was strange having a conversation with Ember without using her fists. Ember was beginning to seem more and more like her as they talked – though neither of them wanted to address the fact that they were actually being civilised.

"How did they even get here?" Iris looked at the two girls flirting with Levi again and scowled. They were gorgeous – long, wavy hair with big lips and large eyes. They, like Levi, could be models; they didn't look like felons, not the criminal type by any stretch of the imagination. Innocent, maybe a bit spoilt and stuck up, but not the kind of people that deserved to be in prison. They were the sort of girls that Iris' mother would die for as daughters. Girls that were, quote, in touch with their 'wonderous femininity'.

"Stealing. They stole some Gucci bags from a mall." Ember turned around, a smirk on her face. "Pathetic, right?"

"Seriously?"

"Yep. I'm dead serious. Melissa – the one with the brown hair, has an ultimate dream to be on The Real Housewives of Atlanta."

Iris burst out laughing.

"Oh and the other one-" Ember pointed to the blonde one that was beginning to shout at Melissa for rocking the boat, "was on teen mom a while back. She sent the baby to adoption though."

Both Iris and Ember paddled, grins on their faces. The smooth, still water glided around them as they sliced their paddles through it softly, settled within a state of tranquility.

Iris cleared her throat. "You know a lot about gossip here, huh."

"I guess I do." Ember sighed. "Makes up for the lack of fun shit to do around here."

Iris watched the landscape begin to change around them as they headed out of a large cave. "Where were you from, anyway?"

"What, we're suddenly best friends now?" Ember asked, but a joking tone in her voice let Iris know that she wasn't as irritated as she probably would like to be. "Indiana." She finally replied. "I'm not telling you how I got in here though."

Iris smiled, her paddle moving in unison with her roommates. "I wasn't even going to ask."

♥♥♥

When they reached Rocky Island, Iris felt more worn out than ever. Who knew canoeing could be so exhausting?

Levi and Chase sat smugly on a rock, tucking into some food that had been set up on a table nearby. They watched Iris and Ember pull the canoe up onto the rocks and lie down next to them, panting exasperatedly.

"So, you didn't kill each other then?" Chase asked, running his free hand through Ember's hair as she rested her head in his lap.

Ember projected a small, tiny smile to Iris. It was a start. "No. I would still prefer to be by myself any day, though."

Iris laughed. "Ditto. Ditto."

Rocky Island was a lot smaller than Iris had pictured. It was more like a collection of pebbles on one, enormous rock, along with some bushes and a large tree. In no way did it deserve the title it got – there were plenty of other islands around. That said, something about the peacefulness and intimacy of the whole thing was new to Iris, and part of her liked it. It was a change from the communal, consumerist throw up of the camp, anyway.

Levi's hot breath wavered down Iris' neck as he whispered into her ear, "You like it here, don't you Klutz?"

She ignored the feeling in her chest as his eyes briefly wandered to her lips. But in a split second, they were staring at the landscape around them again. "No, I don't." She said, a pang of home beginning to settle in her chest again.

Sure, she still missed The Sangue, and the busy, bustling streets of London. There was a pang in her chest, and it was a deep, aching, and empty pang that had existed for a long time.

Iris stared at Levi as he lay back onto the rock.

But it was a pang that was beginning to fade.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

AUTHORS NOTE: Hey hey HEY!

I wasn't going to do another chapter, but I have been requested by you lovely people and I truly feel very bad for neglecting this book!

I promise I'll try and post more, y'all - I'm right in my A level semester period and revision is super hard core right now so I don't have much time to do it. Regardless, I know how annoying it is to read a book and have an author that doesn't update so Imma push push push for you guys!!!!!!!!

What did you think of the chapter anyways?

Have you changed your minds on Ember?

Let me know!

Lots of love,