Day 2

I woke the next day with a good morning lick. Err it was too early. Yawning I looked at the clock. Seven thirty. Pushing my pillow over my face, closing my eyes, back to the Z’s for me. Zander grabbed the end of my blanket and ran out the room. Not that type of Z, damn dog! Now fully awake I shuffled out. What was for breakfast? There wasn’t anything in the small fridge or cupboards.

“Lexis!” Jess was at the door. I groaned. Damn the early risers. I let her in. “Oh your cabin is like mine,” she smiled looking around, followed by Gentry who looked miserable. “Can I choose what you’re wearing today?” she asked noticing me still in my pyjamas. I just nodded, not really caring. “Oh yay,” she bounced, “Tina just shut the door on me, but your my BFFL.” Oh I wish I was as smart and had that idea. I collapse on the couch. God I hate mornings. Zander snuggles up to me. He isn’t the cuddliest dog in the world but I am beyond caring at this point. Oh please someone turn the sun off! “Lexis come and see what I’ve pick out for you! Come on! Come and see!” Annoying pest. She grabbed my arm and dragged me into the room. There on the bed is what she has chosen. “What do you think?”

Personally I couldn’t care less what I thought. I shooed everybody out and got changed. Slightly more awake I look in the mirror to see what I was actually wearing. I’ve had my black and white striped tights on and my striped pink and black fingerless gloves that sits half way up my forearm. Jess has picked my peachy pink long converse lace up boots and unexpectedly a black and bright blue check tie that I didn’t know I had packed. And finally she picked a short pink baby doll dress which could pass as a top lined with a pale pastel blue hem. I'm surprise that it’s not all pink; though you can tell that Jess coordinated it. I grab my back pack which I realise matched my tie hanging loosely around my neck. I quickly pin back my side fringe and open the door. I’m hit with a massive hug almost knocking me over.

“You’re actually wearing it! None of my friend back home would ever let me choose. You’re the best,” she says excitedly. She is so easy to please. I have to admit the outfit looks kind of good.

Zander is staring at me again; Lucas is also staring, perv. Jess is beaming at me, proud of her self, and Tina has her nose in another book. As for Sam and Gentry they are occupied with their meals and the Yorkie twins are giving me the death stare again, and trying to get Lucas attention. Why can’t I eat by myself. Lynn has finally showed up with a stop watch in her hand.

“We’re going to have a race,” she smiled down at us. Race? What type of race? “A running race” she answered my question. We all groaned. Well I wasn’t going to run. “Did I mention that if you win you get a box of ice cream in your fridge?” Ice-cream is nice but not worth running for. “Oh and if you don’t run you won’t have any lunch and have to clean the others dishes.” Was she reading my mind?

Most of us had decide that a race wasn’t worth starving for. Well we were running a hundred meters in sand. No problem. I looked at Jess. She was wearing high heels, nice ones too. Tina would rather starve than run, but Sam had dragged her to the sandy bank. Then there was Lucas, all serious, warming up and stretching. Hope and Faith were lying at his feet in his shadow, not giving a care in the world. Err it was so hot. It was hardly past eight and the sun was already high and beating me down. Zander gave me an encouraging bark.

“Oh yeah, did I mention that both you and your companion both have to past the finish line to win.” Before we could think about what she said she signalled to start.  Surprised by the sudden start I ended up falling over straight away. Lucas had picked up both of the pups and was already a fifth of the way. Tina just walked with Sam trying to urge her on with no luck. I picked myself up and  started a light jog passing Tina easily. I turned to see where Jess was. She must have loved those shoes because she wasn’t stepping into the sand with a 3 inch heel. I stumbled a little. Zander at my side, patiently staying at my pace. Lucas had finished and the collapsed on the ground. Oh stuff it; I sped up just to get it over and done with. I found it surprising that Lucas was panting; he must have really pushed himself, what a dork. Zander licked my face happy with my poor excuse for a running race. A minuet or so later Tina arrived. Sam still continued to pull at her. She ignored him though she wasn’t happy. Probably up to the good part in her book. We all waited for Jess who still hadn’t crossed the start line. Gentry was getting annoyed with her and started pulling at her dress and nudging at her legs.

“Stop it you dumb dog!” she yelled at it. That surprised us all. “Don’t you know how expensive these heels are? They were specially made for me,” she cried.  The Rottweiler left her and ran down to us. Poor dog, Jess didn’t like him from the start and now Tina was completely ignoring Sam. I wasn’t sure about Lucas, I suppose he liked his but he seemed to get distracted. Well I was going to be different. I like Zander, though I still hold the fact that he woke me up against him. Curse the early risers.

I gave Zander a hug; he was so loyal and patient. I wonder if mum and dad would let me keep him when I got home. Finally Lynn came over with John who had now been appointed as her assistant, instead of my chauffeur.

“Well while we are still waiting for Jess to come I’ll tell you who was the winner,” Lynn smiled, her teeth needed a bit of dental work. “Well congratulation to Lucas for passing the finish line first,” Lucas was about to stand up to get his prise when… “But you carried Hope and Faith which meaning that they didn’t run. So congratulation Alexis and Lysander your prize is in your fridge back at the cabins.” We won? I rubbed some of the sand off my face from when I had fallen over. We actually won! Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I cheered in my head. Lucas seemed disappointed.

“Umm, can dogs have ice-cream?” I asked suddenly remembering hearing that dogs can’t eat chocolate.

“A little bit should be ok,” Lynn smiled crookedly again. “Anyway its time for the next event. JESS HURRY UP OR WE LEAVE WITH OUT YOU!!!” she yelled down the sandy bank

“Oh ok, wait a minute!” Jess yelled back.

We watched and she quickly undid her heels and came running down the sand, no problems. In the corner of my eye I could see Gentry face crease. Oh boy he was crossed but he still walked alongside her.

We came to the place where we had seen the high ropes, though there was a lot more there than we had originally thought. The course we were going to be doing was a cross between a dog obstacle course and one of those training course that they use in the army. And then there was the mud. No way was I going to get dirty, I didn’t care if it meant starving and a few dirty dishes, and there was no way I was going to chance getting mud on me.

Lynn explained that we had to complete the course in less than 3 minutes, including all the mud obstacles. Again Tina was dragged to the start line and Lucas pumped to go. I just hung near the back with Jess who had her heels back on. Why was I even here? Jess had found a rustic bench in the shade and invited me to join. The bench wobbled a bit but was otherwise sturdy. Lynn waved the flag to go glancing down at her stopwatch. We watched as Lucas went for the hurdles and the Yorkies’ trotted under them. Tina took her time but was making good time. Next was a tunnel thing where we lost sight of them. Lucas emerging first he ran to the first mud obstacle which was swing across on a rope, nothing too hard. He fell a little short and got the tip of his foot in the mud. Tina was more graceful and landed perfectly, but Sam ran through and got her muddy. After that was a see-saw, monkey bars and a few rings you had to go through. Then there was the major messy bit. You had to crawl under netting through the mud. The look the twins were priceless.  By the end, Jess and I were laughing at the beasts coming out of the bog. Tina’s glasses needed windscreen wipes and Lucas’s face was completely unrecognisable. I looked down at Zander and his little stumpy tail wagging. He’d been disappointed when I had sat out of this but hopefully he was completely on my side now. Tina was over the line first because Lucas had a little trouble finding the other twin in the bog.

Lynn smiled and cheered and slapped Tina on the back, knocking her glasses from her face.

“Way to go kiddo! But you didn’t make the time.” She laughed. Shock ran through Tina’s little eyes like she had never failed anything in her life. Well that could be true, now that I think about it. “Well that’s enough for now I think, go have a shower,” she laughed and turned heading back to camp.

The others trudged off back to camp; I hung around a little longer. i pulled my sketch pad out from my backpack and turned on my iPod. The creek we had seen yesterday was running nearby but not as fast. Through the clear water I could see some fish and the stony creek bed. Sitting against a tree in the shade I put pencil to paper and sketched the scene, adding a little bit of a false background, trying to show the area without the obstacle course. I had finished the leafy shore line when I took off my canvas boots. Ahh that was so much better, air to my feet. Looking at the running water I moved further down the bank and slipped my feet into the water. It felt so good. I closed my eyes and laid back, putting my sketch pad to the side. It was so peaceful here. Nobody to disturb me. No sirens or car horns. No servants walking up and down the hall. No friends ringing to sob about their boyfriend. Hmm I wonder how Hank was. There was a gentle eastern breeze with a song of a faraway bird. I felt something nibble my foot but ignored it. My friends had always said that fish made your feet smooth. I could hear a mumble and realised that my earphone had fallen out and had switched to a new loud song. Feeling the smooth hard case I turned it off. Peace, there was nothing like it. Several minutes had past and the sound of pages turning brought me out of my trance. I opened my eyes and saw Zander looking at my sketch book. I totally forgot that he was here. He flicked the page again with his nose and spent a minute looking at my drawing before flicking over the next page. I closed my eyes again.

“A dog who likes art, what else do you have in store for me?” I mumbled. He had heard it and came over and lay down beside me.  I stroked him. His coat still had sand in it, but hey, at least it wasn’t mud.

He was strange dog. Hmm something smells nice. Probably some forest flora. And the sound of the stream was peaceful. No wonder they sold those rainforest soundtracks, this was so peaceful.

I woke again to a cold gust of wind. I sat up. The sun was setting. Oh sugar, it was almost dark. I looked at my phone. Five thirty! Why hadn’t anyone come to find me? I looked around. No dog, that was a first.  My note book was still lying where I had left it. Stuffing it back into my bag, I looked around the high ropes course. None of it was recognisable. And I hadn’t paid that much attention to which direction the camp was. Well I was sure in a pickle. The light slowly fading I headed for the closes set of ropes. If I could get to the top I could possibly see which way camp was. I laughed at my ingenious plan.

 It took me five minutes to reach the firs platform my hands stinging from holding to the ropes tightly. “When did I become so unfit?” I heaved. And this was only the first platform. It would be so much less stressing if I had the safety harness on.  Grabbing the next rope I had to edge my way across a large gap between platforms. One rope for my feet, one rope for me to hang onto.

“Ok Lexis this is no time to be scared and especially no time for one of you clumsy falls.” I told myself. I really wish I had gloves. No, I really wish I wasn’t here. Slowly inching my way across a horrible thought occurred to me. Even if I made it and found the direction of the camp site I would have to come back the way I came to get down, since I couldn’t make the leap of faith jump at the end, without a harness. 

My arms were shaking by the time I had gotten to the other side. I had slipped twice, and now my fingers were burning. This course was going to kill me before anyone could help me. The next obstacle was a suspended rope bridge followed by and a series of tyres which you had to swing across to get to safety.  I passed the bridge with little effort but had to light the tyres up with my phone. Which made the going slow. I officially hated this course.  I was covered in rope burns and had sore and tired limbs.

I laid on the boxed platform gasping for air. When I get home I'm joining the gym. I took another glance at my phone. Six thirty, there was no way I was going to get back safely. I laid against the half meter wall. This platform was different from the others. It had a ceiling and walls that stretched only half way up. Suddenly there was this echoing wild screech coming from somewhere in the forest below. Ok I was going to stay the night.