Me and Sean walked along the side of the road, he had insisted that they didnt run and save their energy.

"So what's so important about this James guy?" Sean asked, I shrugged.

"Well, he's my brother for one." I started. Sean stopped walking and looked at me.

"Seriously?" He asked, I nodded, he was quiet for a while, probably thinking. "Did Ben know? I mean, they've been friends for a while." I didnt like talking about Ben, with how upset I was with him, but Sean deserved to know.

"Yeah, he knew, for at least a year, and he never told me." I said quietly, Sean hugged me, it actually helped, Sean gave me that same happy feeling Josh did.

That same feeling Josh did.

The sentence repeated in my head for a while as we continued to walk. It was almost pitch black outside already. Sean was a best friend, I didnt like him as a boyfriend.

I didnt like either of them as boyfriends. Sean was a best friend, and Ben was keeping secrets from me.

I saw my dad's car drive up, thank goodness.

"I got worried, you two ok?" He stuck his head out the car window and asked.

"Yeah, we're fine, someone stole Sean's bike and my phone was dead, he doenst have his phone on him." I explained. I got in the front seat of the car and Sean sat in the back.

"What're you going to do about your bike?" Dad asked, he looked in the Rearview mirror at Sean.

"Buy a new one I guess." He said sadly, I could tell he was trying to sound stronger about he subject than he actually was.

"I'll see if I can pitch in a bit, knowing your dad he wont get you a new one. The Lodge is doing well and it's about to get even better, we can afford to help get a valued worker a new bike so he can get to and from work." My dad said, I looked at the backseat with a smile.

"You dont have to do that. . . But thank you." Sean said upon seeing my face that practically screamed 'ACCEPT'.

"Never a problem." Dad said, I smiled and put my head on my dad's shoulder gently so he could still drive just to show a little thanks. I plugged my car phone charger in and hooked up my phone.

Hey, you ok? You need me to pick you two up? It's getting late. ~ Dad

Skye? ~ Dad

Hey, Skye, can we talk? I need to explain. ~ Ben

Look, I'm sorry I never told you, but I couldnt. We need to talk, I have to explain it to you. ~ Ben

Six missed calls, four from Ben and two from Dad.

I showed Sean the messages from Ben. He nodded towards my dad, a way of telling me he didnt really feel like it was wise to mention my brother in front of him yet.

We pulled up to the lodge and I kissed my dad's cheek, thanking him for the ride and me and Sean went for a little walk to the tree.

"You should talk to him. While I dont agree with what he did, he's still my friend, and he's still your friend. There might be a good explanation." Sean said when we were away from all the people of the Lodge.

"I know, I want to trust him. But I havent exactly told you the whole story. It's a little bit harder to talk to him than you know." I said, my phone buzzed, I sighed and turned it on.

I know you're mad at me, but I meant what I said, while you might not like me at all right now, I'll always- ~ Ben

I turned my phone off before Sean could read the rest of the text and sighed. He could read faster than I could.

"Yeah, that's a lot more complicated than I first pictured. But you still need to talk to him." Sean said. He looked at me seriously. "We both know that you've already chosen him. It's always been him for you. And no matter what that idiot does, it'll always be him." He said, he grabbed my phone.

To Ben ~ Meet under the tree in five minutes. ~ Skye

He gave me my phone back, kissed my forehead, and walked back to the lodge. I sighed, too late to turn back now. I walked the rest of the way to the tree, Ben was already there. When he saw me, that look in his eyes. I cant do this. I turned around and started to walk back, he grabbed my arm and spun me around.

"Skye. There's a reason I never told you." Ben said, his eyes held so much guilt. I couldnt stay here. Tears were already welling up in my eyes.

"Ben I cant." I said, I fought his grip and ran back to the lodge. I ran upstairs and sat on my bed. Josh wasnt in my room, which I supposed was a good thing. I didnt want to explain to anyone else right now.

I cried myself to sleep.

~~~

For a week, I avoided Ben, and James, as he had decided to stick around and just stay in the secret room that I decided to call the Underground. I spent all my time working and being with Sean and Josh. They knew I needed to not hear Ben's name for a while.

But today was the announcement of the Lodge Games. Today I had to pull it together and ignore the texts I kept getting from Ben.

I stood up on the stairs, all the guests and other participants were gathered around and ready for me to start the race.

"Welcome everyone! In a few minutes, we're going to go line up on our bikes! But first, we're going to draw names to decide who is partnered with who. If you are a guest, write your name down and put it in the top hat on the table, if you are a staff member, write your name down and put it in the baseball cap." I announced, I walked down the stairs and wrote my name down, putting it in the Baseball cap.

"Skye," Ben whispered to me, I ignored him. "Skye, come on." He called as I walked away. I climbed back onto the stairs after everyone seemed to have gotten the names situated. I grabbed the top hat and the baseball cap.

"Alright, when I call your name, raise your hand, and then I'll call out your new partner's name and you two can go wait outside," I called. "For staff, it'll be the same idea," I called out names of tons of guests. Until finally staff was all that was left.

"Noah and Josh," I called for the first team of the staff. Josh and Noah fist bumped and I smirked, they were actually going to be hard to beat, unless . . . "Noah, there's no tech allowed on the course, it'll make the three days at the camp too easy to bear," I said, Noah blinked several times and put everything but his phone on the counter.

"Sean and . . . James!?" I read, I looked around, James was hidden around a corner. Dad stood up straighter and looked right at me. I pretended I didnt now the name, but I gave a direct look to Sean.

"Me and . . . " I stopped reading and closed my eyes with a sigh. "Me and Ben." I gave another look to Josh, James, and Sean. I could see Ben rub the back of his neck out of the corner of my eyes. It was going to be five days with him, five whole days of working together.

I cant do this.

"Alright, go on outside and let's get this started." my dad called. I stood up and walked outside, Ben right beside me.

"Don't even, not right now Ben." I snapped at him when he tried to talk to me again. He sighed but didn't say anything else. "Oh, and you can have this back. I don't want it anymore." I threw his jacket back at him.

"Alright, everyone get on your bikes! But make sure one of your team members grabs a backpack first! We want everyone to have food and take our safety precautions." Dad announced. James walked up to me.

"I told him not to tell you. It's not his fault that he never told you, it's mine. For the past week, he's been sulking around and completely avoiding me because he knows it's my fault that you never knew. Iv already talked to Dad, and he knows you know." James explained quickly. Then he took off with Sean to the bikes, most of them were provided by the Lodge, but a few of them people actually owned.

Maybe I could forgive Ben, maybe. Sean was right, it was always Ben. I just don't trust him right now. I got on my bike, Ben got the Backpack full of stuff and got on the bike next to me. We were all being sent out in three groups to help with safety. One team from the staff and al the rest would be guests. Each team had a separate map that lead to where they were going to camp at and had the route to get to the zipline and such.

"I'm sorry I didn't let you explain, but I still don't think I can forgive you yet," I told Ben.

"At least I'm one step closer." He said, he put on his helmet over his short hair, I hadn't even noticed that he had cut his hair.

"Let the race . . . BEGIN!" My dad called, he waved a flag and everyone took off.