Harry's POV

"Whole centre meeting!"

The sound of someone crashing pans woke me up as the madman known as Dr Smith paraded up and down the corridor yelling. Rubbing my eyes, I let out an exasperated sigh and wondered what on earth Dr Smith needed to tell us.

As I walked among the poor souls to the main room, I couldn't help but feel sorry for some of them. Some patients looked like zombies, edging forward with gormless looks plastered across their faces. I knew none of their names, in fact I doubted that I had talked to any of them.

My eyes scanned the crowd for Phoenix and sure enough I saw her stomping at the front, wearing the same pissed off expression she always did. I didn't even know what time it was, but I was sure that it was far too early and I found myself forcing my eyes to stay open.

Once at the main room, I weaved through the crowd to find Phoenix and she nudged me with her elbow, a smirk plastered on her face.

"Is this meeting due to something else you've done?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, and she just chuckled slightly.

"Probably, but there actually hasn't  been many incidents recently," she replied and focused her attention to Dr Smith who wore a smug look on his face.

"I have exciting news," Dr Smith said in the loudest voice he could muster up, and I could feel anticipation growing in the air around us, "As a whole centre we're going on a camping trip in America!"

There were some faint cheers from the back of the room, but most of the patients stood in the same stunned silence that I was in. What could be worse than sending fifty or more mentally ill kids to a wood? Was Dr Smith out of his mind?

"Come on kids, lighten up. It will be fun! Maybe Phoenix can light the campfires for us, am I right or am I right?" He directed his attention over to Phoenix who looked like she was about to burst with anger.

"Well unless there are any other notices..." Dr Smith scanned the room to see if anyone else had anything to add, "You are free to go back to whatever you were doing."

As the crowd of people returned to their rooms, Phoenix and I hung back and watched with bemused looks as Dr Smith tried to console the staff that he was making the right decision.

"My bet is that at least three people will die on this trip. Whether it be stupidity, suicide or schizophrenia I don't know," Phoenix remarked and then proceeded to walk out the room, leaving me to follow her like a lost puppy.

Compared to Phoenix I felt like a little boy again, despite the fact that I was practically twice her height. She seemed so put together, so confident, and most of all, so adult-like. She led me to the common room where we sat on the sofa and joked for a while about how stupid Dr Smith was.

That seemed to be the main focus of our conversations, neither of us delved into our lives outside the centre bar a few comments made about family and friends. I liked the fact that Phoenix knew nothing about me, and that she probably never would know the full story.

"Can we be partners on this trip? I don't really want to share a tent with one of the losers. They'll probably try and kill me in my sleep- oh that's another way people could die! Too bad that murder doesn't start with an 's', I was on a role with stupidity, suicide and schizophrenia!"

"Slaughter?" I suggested and she chuckled, one of the few times she laughed whole heartedly.

"You're brighter than you look Styles. Answer my question- can we be partners on this trip? I need someone to protect me if Dr Smith makes any advances," she turned and faced me with puppy eyes, and I was glad that she was the one asking me rather than the other way round.

"Sure thing, we'll keep each other company!" I replied back, and felt a growing feeling of worry build in my gut.

I would be alone with Phoenix for a lot of the time on this trip presumably, and I wasn't sure whether I could maintain these friendly feelings towards her for much longer. Every second I spent with her I found myself falling slightly deeper into her trap, but I knew that she wasn't looking for anything more than a companion.

"Why do you look so glum? You get to spend the whole trip with me!" She knocked me out my thoughts, and a smile crept back onto my face.

"Maybe that's what's making me feel blue- having to spend a whole freaking trip with you!" I retorted back in the same joking tone, and she smirked, knowing fully well that I was excited to spend time with her.

"Would you rather spend hours upon end listening to Crazy Calum talk about his pet fish or stand Gurgling Gertrud making her weird noises?"

"I'm 100% convinced you just made up those two people, and no of course not. I was only kidding," her expression was calm and for the first time I felt like Phoenix was letting her guard down around me.

Maybe she wasn't as difficult to understand as I had once thought.

So what will happen on this trip? And is there a hint of romance between Phoenix and Harry?

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