Like usual, I wake up at 4am the next morning, but I'm still tired. I didn't sleep well, too aware of the rocks and hard ground beneath me to find a good sleeping position. Hannah on the other hand knocked out as soon as she was buried within her sleeping bag, and I'm all types of jealous. I barely got one hour of sleep last night.

A part of me wants to wake her up, so she can suffer with me.

"Hannah." I whisper. Her mouth opens, but otherwise, she doesn't stir. So I clear my throat. "Hannah!"

She jerks awake, sitting up and looking around the large tent. Her bonnet's askew and she looks like she's afraid something's happening before her eyes settle on me.

"What?" She says, alarmed. "Why did you shout my name? Are we having an earthquake?"

I shake my head, watching her face fill with short relief before returning to confusion. "I was bored." I say.

For a few seconds, Hannah's face is completely blank. Then, she checks her phone, shakes her head and then lies back down again, facing away from me this time.

"You are a stupid boy," She announces. "And I hate you."

"Harsh. I was just bored." I say, pouting. My pout doesn't do much because she's still facing the other way. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going back to sleep." She says.

"But I'm bored."

She fakes a loud snore, shutting me up.

I scroll through my phone for a few moments, bored out of my mind. There's nothing new or interesting on Instagram, on Twitter, not even on YouTube, so my boredom intensifies. I think of Hannah's book in my backpack and shake it out of my head. I'm bored, but I'm not that bored. Yet.

Hannah turns around with her eyes closed, but I can tell she's still awake. She sighs heavily and I scratch the top of my head, still bored.

"Your bonnet is slipping off." I decide to tell her.

Her eyes open wide, furiously. I regret speaking.

"Nate! If you're bored, get outta here! I'm trying to sleep!" She shrieks.

I find myself standing up and getting the heck out of the tent. Her voice was all shrill and her eyes are literally the scariest things I've ever seen in my life when they are that big. Maybe I should go for a walk or something.

After finding a pair of shorts and a T shirt thin enough that I won't sweat in it, I start walking around the campsite, trying not to make too much noise. The sun isn't even close to being up yet, but I feel at ease, following the trail and feeling at ease in the early morning air.

I've always loved mornings. When I was a kid, I used to wake up super early and just lie in bed until I felt too jittery to stay in my room. Then I'd go downstairs and watch cartoons until my Grandma or my mom came down and forced me to get ready for school, or sent me back to bed because it was the weekend. It's my favourite time of day just because of how peaceful it is.

The trail leads into a small forest area with a thick patch of trees and a small overgrown and green pond. I move closer, snapping a picture of the water because it looks cool. I sit on a mossy log, watching the water ripple and change colour as the sun rises. It's this greenish brown colour and has lily pads perched on the top, floating whichever way the soft breeze blows it.

I sigh and close my eyes, leaning onto a tree behind me where it's shadier. It's hard to think about all my problems when it's so nice and calm here. I ignore the thorns that scratch at my bare legs and hum a tune that just about resembles one of the songs from Grease. I feel good.

That is, until I hear a toad creak and I get the hell out of there.

☼ ☼ ☼

"I can't believe you woke me up at the booty crack of dawn because you were bored." Hannah grumbles, side eyeing me.

"At least I didn't fart in the tent." Her glare intensifies. I ignore it, picking up one of the tent bags. "Could you get the other one?"

She huffs, but picks it up. "You know, I was in the middle of a quirky rom-com in my dream. My best friend had just broken up with the man of her dreams and we were having an ice cream binge in my swanky New York apartment that I clearly would not be able to afford, what with my low paying journalism job."

I raise my eyebrows, once again impressed at her ability to say so much in one breath. "You weren't the main character? In your dream?"

"Just look at me, Nate." I look at her. "I'm visibly a black girl: the most I'll get from those type of rom-coms is the super cool best friend with a great dress sense and a better backstory than the main character that's never explored."

"Or in a Tyler Perry movie -"

"Shut up."

My mouth quirks. "Who told you that you were super cool?"

"My niece. Who told you recently? Oh, right. Nobody."

I glare at her and she nods smugly as we reach the main cabin. Katie, the woman who helped us out yesterday, is standing at the counter, reading a magazine. She smiles when she sees us through the glass door and I steady myself for another question and answer time.

"Kayden, look who's here!" She says as soon as we step inside.

A biracial boy, about eleven years old, peeks over the counter and his eyes light up. I smile at him, feeling the awkwardness leave my shoulders as he smiles back. I also wave as we head up to the front, then put the tent bags down, saying hi to Katie before I turn to him.

"Hey." I say, smiling. "How's it going?"

"You were on TV!" He says. "Dude, you were super cool!"

I hear Hannah make a sound and my smile morphs into a grin. "Thanks. Your mom said you swim?"

"Yeah, sometimes. I'm not very fast though." He climbs up onto the counter and sits down, his legs crossed. "The other kids are way faster. How'd you get so good?"

"I just kept swimming." I tell him truthfully. "I've been in a pool since I was seven, and I'm almost eighteen now, so that's eleven years' worth of practice. How long have you been swimming for?"

"About a year." He says shyly. "I started lessons when I was nine, and I'm ten now."

"So you still have time to get better." I say. "Plus, I'm not even the fastest person around, you know?"

He thinks hard about my words, putting his finger to his chin and looking around. I take this moment to look around the cabin, noticing Hannah talking to Katie about something that sounds a lot like a book. She catches my eye and steals a quick but pointed look at her watch. I decide to wrap up my conversation.

"You aren't the fastest," Kayden agrees. I turn back to him. "But you still are pretty fast. Like a fish or something, it's weird."

"He is a weirdo, right?" Hannah says, suddenly beside me. "You should see him when he drives, he looks totally gormless."

"Gormless? What's that?" Kayden asks, saving me the question.

"It's when you look dumb. Nate's got that look on his face right now, actually."

I close my mouth and roll my eyes. The two of them giggle while I straighten up and pretend to be irritated. It doesn't work too well though, because the conversation has me smiling.

After Katie gets us to take photos together, Hannah and I head out to my car. She's looking up directions for a waterfall close enough to us that won't be inconvenient to get to, or take us too off course from D.C.

"There's this one, Hidden Falls." She says, showing me her phone screen. I peer at it, kinda uninterested if I'm honest.

"Okay." I say, shrugging. "You wanna drive?"

"What, you too famous to get behind a wheel now, Fish boy?" She puts her hands on her hips. "Don't let little Kayden get to your head."

"I am famous." I mock being offended and rub at my chest. "I have a Polish boyfriend to prove it."

She sighs. "Fine, I'll drive. You do the music."

I stop walking to do a little wiggle of joy. She ignores me completely, continuing to my car. Though I'm still not sure if I can completely trust Hannah's driving yet, I'm still sore and tired from lying on the ground last night, so I'm happy to let her drive. All I wanna do is relax, and I don't know, maybe get a few minutes of sleep.

"Hey, can we get into this waterfall? Like, in the water?" I ask once we're on the road. Hannah's got her phone in the dock and she's sitting like a grandma again. "I'm itching for a swim."

"We can, but we gotta hike for about an hour or so to get there." She glances at me with a smile. "You know this will be the first time I see you swim, right?"

"It's just leisurely though. No big deal." I shrug. I haven't swam just for leisure in ages. Nowadays, it's always for training or something. Not that I mind, really. Honestly, I just like being in water.

My body misses it. Being fully submerged, those few moments of gargled silence before my lungs pretty much tell me to behave and I have to resurface. I think I'm getting restless because I'm not used to not having some type of physical activity for this long. This waterfall will be a nice way to get all of my anxious energy out.

I connect my phone to the aux and play some old school hip-hop music, happy when Hannah seems to know the lyrics like I do. We show off our dance moves (she doesn't actually relax out of the grandma position but she's still getting it), we talk, we finish off the fruit I bought at the farmer's market yesterday. It's so much fun, and it's so easy being around Hannah like this.

In a way, she reminds me of Chloe. It was always easy to hang out with her too, and it was even easier falling in love with her. Unfortunately, it was stupid hard getting over her.

Thank God that's done with.

I'm completely relaxed and enjoying myself when the music cuts out of the car stereo and the sound is replaced with my ringtone.

"Why does your phone always ring?" Hannah asks, exasperated.

"Jealous, Kenickie?" I ask, knowing how much she doesn't like that nickname. Too bad it's stuck now.

"No." She blows a raspberry. "But does nobody text you? Every day it's been a new phone call, and I've literally had like, two in this time."

"I'm famous, remember?" I say, looking at my phone. I wince when I see Reese's name come up and put it down again.

"Oh, so it's your Polish boyfriend?"

"Absolutely. He can't live without me." I reply.

The phone stops ringing and music fills the car once more. Then, there's a ping, signalling a text. Even though it's probably from him, I still look at Hannah smugly.

"See, I get texts and phone calls."

"Truly the greatest measurement of fame is how many phone calls you get in a four day span." She says plainly. I laugh and pick up my phone again.

Reese: yo bro, call me back when you get this. kinda urgent lol

My good mood is suddenly thrown out of the window. Is he making fun of me by calling me 'bro'? Surely he's making fun of me. Why is he making fun of me?

I should ignore him. It can't be that urgent, or else he would've tried harder to reach me. Besides, this isn't the first time he's kept urgent news from me before.

But what if it's about my mom? Or my Grandma? What if something happened while I was just out here doing nothing?

I call him back.

"Hey." He says. His voice is easy and simple, like there's nothing wrong at all.

"What was so urgent?" I ask, annoyed all over again.

"Nothing, really."

"Then why are you calling me?"

Reese sucks in a breath and releases it loudly. "Look man, I know you're mad at me. And I know I said I'd wait for your call, but that was before you left. Your mom's real worried about you, Nate."

"Is she okay?" I ask, despite myself. I'm mad at her, sure. But she's still my mom.

"She's been going to work and spending a lot of time over at my place." He says, sighing. "She even offered to get me a – you really should call her bro."

"Don't call me bro." I say sharply, ignoring Hannah's curious side eye. I fold my free arm over my chest and pretend like I'm alone while I wait for Reese's answer.

"Okay... noted."

"Anything else?"

"Well... I know you're mad at me –" He repeats.

"I'm not."

"Are you sure?" He asks slowly. "Because you sound like you're pretty mad at me."

"Don't tell me how I sound." I snap. He mumbles an insincere and empty apology, which I quickly forget about in order to keep talking. "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the situation and how nobody is leaving me alone."

"We've left you alone for four days, Nate, be reasonable. You've literally been in New York-"

"I'm not in New York." I have to stop interrupting him but he's sounding so stuck up. Why is he calling me unreasonable? And what's with this pointless call?

"Then where are you? Your mom said-"

"She told me to call her when I get there. I'm not there yet so I haven't called her. We're in North Carolina."

"What you looking for in NC? What do they even have? Mountains and the Hornets?" He mumbles. "You said 'we'?"

"I'm with my friend Hannah."

"Your girlfriend? Is she cute?"

"She's not my girlfriend." Hannah makes a disgusted sound. "And is that an appropriate question to be asking me?"

"Appropriate. Big word from big Nate, now huh?"

"Not really."

He doesn't reply, and I definitely have nothing to say, so we're just on the phone together. Reese is breathing loud enough for me to hear and I can tell he's trying to calm down. I'm trying to do the same, so I can get through this as fast as possible.

I know it's not his fault. I know my anger is misdirected. I know, I know. I just can't help myself.

I sigh.

"Why did you call?" I ask, my voice calm now. Hannah is humming along to the radio, but her hums get quieter when I start speaking again.

"Well. I thought you were in New York already. So it doesn't matter."

"Why'd you think I was in New York already? Why do I have to be there now?"

"Have you always been this defensive?" He scoffs, and I imagine him rolling his eyes at me. "You ask so many questions."

"That's because you're acting formless and not making sense."

"Gormless." Hannah corrects gently.

"Gormless." I amend, sending her a thankful look that she doesn't see. "That's why I'm asking you so many questions. Now, why is it important that I'm already in New York?"

Reese pauses, clearly thinking over his next words carefully. I feel kinda good, all powerful, knowing that I'm making him reconsider his decision to leave me in the dark again.

"So... I was thinking about flying up there to see you and um... talk."

"Don't come." I say too quickly. It's not even a thought. 

"Yeah, that's what I thought you'd say." He chuckles. "But your mom thinks it's a good idea too. She was ten seconds away from buying me an open ticket last night."

I feel the air leave my lungs.

"She what?" I yell. Hannah flinches, but my car stays straight on the path. "Open tickets, like the ones with no dates attached to them? You just get on a plane and go within a time span?"

"Yeah... she really wants you home, Nate." He sighs.

"Well, I'll say! I didn't even know airlines actually did those!" I sit back, putting my hand on my head in disbelief. "How expensive is that gonna be?"

"I don't know, man, a lot? I told her about my plan last night, and she almost wanted to go herself, but dad convinced her that she shouldn't. I wanted to ask you if you wanted to see me..."

"Well, now I know what she's doing with all that overtime money." I grumble. "If it ain't for me, I'm glad she can waste it on a ticket."

He laughs. It wasn't even funny.

"So..." Reese says after an awkward pause. "What are your thoughts?" 

I shrug, aware that he can't see me. "I – do what you want, Reese. I'm gonna be with Chloe when I'm up there anyway."

"Oh. Right. Chloe." He clears his throat. "So you don't want me to come?"

"Do what you want." I repeat. He keeps quiet. "That all?"

"Oh. Yeah, I guess. I'll let you know what I decide. Is that cool?"

"Whatever." I grumble. "Bye."

I hang up before he can say goodbye, thoroughly pissed off. My mom and I haven't interacted with each other since the day I left, but I'm gonna have to call her at this point. If she's offering to buy tickets worth hundreds of dollars for other kids, maybe she can send me some money, dang.

"Tough call?" Hannah asks after a while.

"Yeah." I say, aware of how tight my voice is. And then, before I can even think about it. "My mom wanted to buy my – Reese a plane ticket to New York, and it's one of those flexible date ones. The ones that cost the same amount as a mortgage for a small apartment down in Miami. Can you believe that?"

"I really can't." She shakes her head. When I don't reply, she continues. "Parents, huh?"

"They're insane."

"Tell me about it. My dad's been asking me to visit my Grandma since we're nearby."

"Oh. Where does she live?"

"Virginia."

That makes me raise my eyebrow. Virginia's barely a few hours away, so it's failing to connect in my head why that's such an insane thing for her dad to suggest. I'd love to see my grandma right now. Maybe I should've driven to New Orleans instead, to her and Howie and eaten all their food. I think that would've actually been a better decision than this.

"Why don't you want to see her?" I ask.

She stares out of the windshield, unnaturally concentrated on the straight road ahead of us. It's like she's thinking about what she's going to say, or, what she isn't going to say. The longer the silence continues, the more likely it seems like the second option.

"Well." She says eventually, surprising me. I had become happy with not getting an answer from her. "I don't know my dad's parents. They didn't like my mom when my parents first got married because she had Kiara, and... other reasons."

"Oh." I say, trying to think of something to say that'll make her feel better about it. My Grandma is one of my favourite people, and I don't know where I'd be without her. "That sucks."

Hannah shows me a small, reserved smile. "Yeah, Fish boy, it does. Family's messed up."

"Super messed up." I agree.

A/n:

me talking myself into sticking to the OG plan I had for this  but also thinking about writing a book on elves and vampires who fight for no reason whatsoever

Hope you guys are well 😂  this week I am here before midnight! Hurrah