———

After the rush of unpacking bags and setting up tents, the sun had begun to set and the Kindersquad huddled around the campfire. Buggs toasted marshmallows whilst Carla and Jerome were trying to set fire to people's clothes using the stick's used to grill the marshmallows.

The vibes were immaculate. Jerome was constantly making jokes about Monty pining over Carla, which earned him multiple death glares that were the epitome of 'if looks could kill', with that also resulted in hard punches on the arm.

After the pyromaniac's successfully set fire to Billy's hoodie for a split second, Carla sat up and began talking to Cindy. The two had grown rather close in high school. Cindy being an enabler and always helping people out with their usual shenanigans to cause a scene, and Carla who was just an all-around troublemaker. The two made quite the pair, and also were the people to come to if you wanted gossip about anyone. If there was gossip or drama about anyone around school, you could guarantee these two knew the full story and more.

"Sooo.. how are you and Mr 'Soul Searcher?'" Carla grinned, whispering quietly to the blonde next to her.

The 'Mr Soul Searcher' in question was Cindy's 'situationship,' more commonly known as Buggs. He'd been taking a gap year travelling around various countries to find his purpose in life, which seemingly was doing wonders for his mental health and helping him grow as a person. Although, Cindy complained and didn't like being apart from him for too long as it made her have to actually miss him, which she didn't usually do with her actual boyfriends.

"We're fine. I just wished he'd stay with me for longer than a couple days before disappearing to another country." She rolled her eyes.

"Well I don't think he's gonna stop 'soul searching' for a while, he's pretty set on it." Carla said.

"Unfortunately, how's you and pasty ginger?"

"There's nothing with me and 'pasty ginger', thank you." Carla scoffed.

"You slept at his house for two nights in a row and he met your dad, you're practically married with three children." Cindy raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

"I think I'd know if I had children, Cindy." Carla snorted, crossing her own arms to mock the blonde.

"You do! It's me, Jerome, and Felix." She grinned.

"..Wouldn't that mean Ted would also be my kid?" Carla raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, that guy... he's pretty forgettable." Cindy rolled her eyes at the mention of the 'lesser great' Huxley, as she usually referred to him as.

"You've not changed one bit since Kindergarten, have you?" Carla chuckled.

"You haven't even! Still pining over pasty ginger." She crossed her arms again dramatically, a triumphant grin on her face.

"I do not pine over Monty Montgomery." She hissed under her breath, looking at Monty who was still squabbling with Jerome.

"Carla, just get with him! He clearly likes you, you've practically got him on his knees."

Carla smirked slightly at the mere thought of that before realising and coughing, "No, he doesn't."

Cindy groaned, "I'm going to throttle you. For someone so smart, you're so oblivious when it comes to romance."

Carla chuckled, knowing her acting was working, "Don't threaten a girl with a good time."

Cindy rolled her eyes and gave up trying to convince Carla to give Monty a chance. She was usually persistent with her matchmaking but talking to Carla about boys was like talking to a brick wall.

Time passed, it was around midnight and life felt amazing. They were all huddled around the campire, telling spooky stories and roasting marshmallow and only a few clothes got caught on fire from the roaring campire, which was quite the record for the clumsy Kindersquad. Monty and Carla didn't talk much, everyone was engrossed in different conversation yet all united in some way.

Jerome was the main focus of entertainment, as usual, telling one of his possibly made up spooky stories to try and get a rise out of everyone. He was scarily good at re-enacting these fake stories, it made a lot of them wondering if they were real by a slim chance.

Ted was sat on the edge of seat, biting his fingernails and clutching onto Billy whenever Jerome raised his voice slightly. Billy, on the other hand, was unfazed. He was just sat there, snorting at some of the pathetic stuff Jerome said to rile up Ted.

The tension suddenly increased when Jerome gave one of his many dramatic pauses and everyone suddenly realised just how deadly silent the forest was at this time of night.

"And then, the man reached behind the woman and raised his machete and-"

"Boo!"

"AH!" Billy shrieked like a little girl, physically jumping and knocking Ted which caused him to fall off the rigged log he was sitting on.

Laughter erupted behind the boys, as Felix and Adam emerged from the shadows.

"Adam Caufield I swear I'm going to CASTRATE YOU!" Billy shouted and scrambled to his feet, running after Adam- who was now sprinting into the woods like his life depending on it, which it probably did. He didn't not like the idea of Billy castrating him, contrary to what many of the friendgroup believed.

The rest of the group just chuckled and honestly forgot about the altercation that took place a few moments ago, laughing and talking over the campire. Ted and Buggs helped Felix set up his tent whilst the rest of them got ready to go to sleep.

Carla and Monty were left alone for a while. The girls had gone to sleep in their assigned tent whilst the other boys were down at the lake and Billy and Adam were probably still squabbling in the woods.

Carla and Monty stared at eachother, the campfire being the only thing that seperated the two. A comfortable silence filled the campsite, although others would've called it awkward- they protested. Due to them becoming so close recently, they started to like how they could sit perfectly fine in silence around eachother.

Carla sipped her cheap alcohol she stole from the local corner shop and Monty drank a beer, their eyes never leaving eachothers once.

Thick tension soon flooded the atmosphere as the entire campsite was silent apart from the odd stick on the ground snapping and the rummaging in a tent every so often. Carla couldn't help but stare at Monty's lips. Have they always had that freckle on the top right? Since when were they so pink? They contrasted his pale complexion and she smiled, her eyes lingering on his lips for far too long.

Monty also couldn't help himself, he would've run through the roaring campfire to get to her if he wasn't so much of a pussy. Although, he could feel himself growing more confident with every sip of beer that passed his lips. His mind was suddenly full of Carla and how beautiful she looked in the outfit he chose. He breathed a shaky breath and tried to ground himself, gripping the large log he was sitting on a bit too hard it was almost obvious.

The tension grew thicker with every second, so thick you'd have to cut it with a knife to stop it- or just walk in unannounced and ruin the moment, which is exactly what Buggs did.

"Yo, Monto, are you coming to the lake or what?" He spoke, his deep voice making Carla and Monty snap out of their thoughts and turn their heads to him.

"Oh, uh- yeah.. sure. I'll see you later." He nodded at Carla and got up, following Buggs down to the lake.

Cara smiled slightly and sighed a sigh of relief as he walked away, she could finally calm down from whatever that was and clear her thoughts from Monty. She went back to her shared tent with Cindy and began to put her pajamas on.

"Carla..? What are you doing?" Cindy asked groggily, half asleep.

"Getting ready to sleep." She answered bluntly, changing her clothes into her baggy band t-shirt and some loose pajama pants.

"Obviously, idiot." Cindy muttered and fell back asleep.

Carla just chuckled, getting into her sleeping back and lying there for a while.

She managed to shake the image of Monty out of her head... mostly. He was still taking up a small corner of her brain but he was always there, permanently. Carla concluded a while ago she'd have to approach him to demand him to pay rent but she wasn't sure how well he'd react to that. She sat and wondered, listening for footsteps to indicate the boys were back from the lake but she heard none, She grew curious and checked the time, 1.48am. She thought for a second before getting out of bed and slipping her crocs on and walking down to the lake.

She could hear the boys having drunk conversation and laughing, she smiled and sat on the hill that overlooked the lake. They had their backs turned to her so she was free to spy and listen to their conversations as long as her heart contended to. She zoned out for a while, looking at the luminescent moon light up the dark sky before she heard her name get mentioned.

"Monty, dude, when are you gonna make a move with Carla?" A voice so deep it could only be Buggs', although it was hard to decipher exactly what he was saying due to him slurring his words.

"I told you I don't like her." Monty practically spit back.

"Dude, from bro to bro, you are so downbad for her." Carla saw the faint silhouette of one of the boy's putting a hand on what must've been Monty's shoulder.

"I only keep her around 'cause Penny likes her." Monty slurred, and Carla's heart dropped.

Her smile instantly faded into nothing, there was so little emotion written on her face you would've thought she was the android, not Penny.

She scoffed, irritated, before walking back to the cabin and shaking her head. Pure anger filled her, how could he say that after her moment earlier and the ones before? She had to practically drag herself away to not cause a scene and ruin the entire trip for everyone, although it was already ruined for her.

She opened her tent angrily, surprised the zip didn't fall off by how aggressively she tugged it. The Latina got into her sleeping bag and forced herself to go to sleep, wanting to forget this whole night happened.

———

trash don't hate me i'm SORRY IM SORRY PLEASE