All I could hear was my own heartbeat and the sound of my footsteps pounding against the forrest floor. Twigs and leaves crunched under my feet, causing me to stumble every so often. The night air was nippy, but I felt boiling hot from running. There was a layer of sweat on my forehead- whether it was from running or nervousness I wasn't sure.

I finally spotted a place I could conceal myself and made a mad dash for it, scrambling up the tree. I had to try several times to reach the branch, falling on my ass more than once. Not all of us could have the superior upper-body strength and tree climbing abilities of Jimmy Wellot.

Once I was finally safe up the tree, I focused on calming down my breathing. I was physically fit, but running through a forest while feeling panicked was making me a little frantic. My eyes frantically scanned the thick forest for any sign of the pursuer, but to no avail.

I tucked my legs into my chest, holding onto the branch for dear life. Knowing my luck, I would somehow fall out and impale myself on the way down if I wasn't careful. I was up in that tree for a while, with no sign of anyone even close to me. I pulled out my phone and clicked on Felix's contact.

'Have you been found yet?' I sent to him.

I wasn't waiting long before I received his reply, that he has indeed been caught and that I was the only person still in the game. The objective had now changed. It wasn't about hiding- I had to get back to the campsite without being caught in order to win. We had agreed to do it this way, since we had all been playing 'Dead by Daylight' recently.

I checked the map Saint had given us, trying to workout where the hell I was in relation to everything else. When that failed, I decided to just wing it. Getting down from the tree was pretty hard, especially when I was trying to be as quiet as possible. The second my feet hit the ground, I was on the move.

I ran as fast as I could, rapidly looking around me as I moved to try and spot Oli in case he tried to sneak up on me. A torch light peeked through the dense trees in the distance and I hit the floor rather abruptly, turning off my torch. I held my breath as the torch drew closer, heading right for my direction.

If everyone was back at camp, this had to be Oli. He was coming right my way and if he continued coming straight, he would undoubtedly see me and it would all be over. I tried to shuffled, but it made too much noise. I was quickly running out of time, so I thought back to every horror film I'd ever seen. Would a distraction work?

I grabbed a nearby twig and threw it quickly so that it hit a tree to the left of me. I held my breath, pleading my terrible plan to work. I could have screamed with joy when the torch stopped getting brighter and headed off in a different direction instead, towards the noise.

I peeked up, barely seeing the torch anymore. I breathed a sigh of relief, sprinting off towards camp. I was making a lot of noise, but I figured I could probably out run him. I could almost see the exit of the forest when I heard footsteps other than my own. I didn't even glance over my shoulder, knowing Oli was hot on my trail by the chaotic light bouncing around the forest as he ran.

I let out a high-pitched, half-laughing scream as I spotted the campsite in the distance. Felix was up on Mike's shoulders, cheering me on. I could hear Oli gaining on me and I pushed myself even harder, my legs burning. I jumped over an abandoned old campfire, cutting through to our camp. Luckily, that slowed down Oli and he was no longer hot on my tail.

Saint and Mia were cheering me on too, doing pretend cheerleader routines for me. I couldn't help but laugh, pushing myself one last time as Oli regained on me. He tried to reach for my hoodie, but I was already too close to the gang. I was safe. I collapsed onto the floor, gasping for breath and Saint yelled 'dog pile'.

I tried to protest, but they all quickly piled on top of me, making me groan with the sheer mass they all equated to. I had Oli and Saint squished on top of me, Mike next and topped off with Mia and Felix.

"I think you guys just turned me into flat Stanley." I wheezed, making them all giggle.

"How do you feel being outrun by Andy Pandy, Oliver?" Felix teased, patting my head from on top of the pile.

"I feel crushed... literally." Oli groaned, pushing mike off of him.

"Imagine how I feel!" I huffed, pushing him off me.

Finally free from their death trap, I gulped down water and tried to breath. They were all talking about another round, but Oli and I quickly shook our heads. We were absolutely beat after running all through the forest.

"This was more of a workout than football camp." I joked.

"Less of the lip action, though." Mia pointed out, which earned a blush from me and a high-five from Felix.

"Did you really make out with that guy at football camp?" Saint shook his head, laughing, "Teenagers these days. Sex crazy."

"I wish you still were." Mia teased, making Saint jokingly put her in a headlock.

"You're literally only a year older than me, Saint." I rolled my eyes.

"Believe me, in college time a year is an eternity." Saint pouted.

"Time for bed finally?" Mike clarified, earning a nod for everyone.

"Night, love you guysss." Saint cooed, giving me a half hug and Oli a punch on the arm.

We all said our goodnights after that, heading into our respective tents. I was quite hot after all that running around, but I knew I would get cold quickly if I took any layers off. I climbed into my sleeping bag, cuddling up inside with a pillow. Oli started to strip off and I dragged my eyes to the tent wall to look away, feeling awkward.

"Tired yet?" Oli asked, once he was inside his sleeping bag too.

"Not really." I shrugged, "It's hard to sleep so soon after running around like that."

"It was good fun, though. You're very quick." He complimented me, making me smile.

"I got a lot of training throughout high school. I guess running from assholes and everything paid off." I joked, receiving a quick laugh from him.

"Did you look into Universities by the beach?" He asked, referring back to our first proper conversation up on the hillside the night we met.

"I did. I applied to a few scholarships at some... I also applied here." I admitted, making him look over in shock.

"I thought you couldn't wait to get out of this place?" He asked, furrowing his eyebrows, "You were so excited for a fresh start."

"I did. I was. Now, I'm not so sure. Spending time with Felix and you guys, I've had the chance to see the place in a completely new light. It's not horrific memories of where I had a panic attack at work because of homophobes, it's now the place where I met my best friend, or had breakfast with you guys for the first time. What I'm trying to say is that I've grown to like it recently and I don't know if I want to give that up."

He sat in silence for a bit, probably processing what I had to say and thinking of a response. I hadn't even told Felix that I had applied to University here. I had been keeping it to myself, a sort of security blanket in case I chickened out of moving away and losing all my friends.

"I'm glad you don't hate this place anymore and that we've helped with that, but... You know that even if you move away, we'll still miss you and want to be friends with you, right? It won't change anything. Whenever you're not there when we see each other around campus, it feels weird. Like something's missing. You're missing. You're apart of the group."

Hearing that brought tears to my eyes and I didn't even bother hiding them from Oli. That was one of the sweetest things anybody had ever said to me. I was so worried that leaving would ruin what we had- that the group would move on without me. I finally had a friendship group and now I had to leave them? Seems unfair.

"Thanks. I've got a bit more time to think it over anyway." I shrugged, "If I don't get a scholarship, it'll be cheaper to live at home anyway."

"Are you staying because of Jimmy?" He asked suddenly, making my eyes widen.

"No. Not at all." I shook my head, "I was literally only thinking about friends and money when I made the decision to at least apply."

"Okay, good. Don't get me wrong, I didn't mean that in a jealous, attracted to you sort of way. That ship has long sailed. Message received loud and clear. I gave up on that the night of your party, now I see you as more of a little brother. I just don't want you to make the same sort of mistakes I did."

"What happened?"

"I followed a boyfriend to university. My parents kicked me out over the relationship and the being bi thing. It was dumb, but I was a sucker for love. I thought everything would be okay as long as we stuck together, but college is so different to high school. We drifted apart, but I clung to the relationship. The breakup was bad and I've been acting out since. I'm not proud of what I've done since the breakup, which you can probably remember from that drinking game. I even cheated on a girl. It's been so much better since I've been hanging out with you guys, though. I've decided to quit drinking and take a break from relationships."

"I'm glad you're slowly getting better; I know it's hard to heal." I smiled softly, reaching out and taking his hand to comfort him.

"I'm glad you'll be here over the summer- I was dreading baring it alone. I'd much prefer a summer of friendship to a summer romance, anyway."

"Me too." I nodded, chucking a bit.

When I was inside my depression bubble, before I'd met Felix, it was hard to imagine other people struggling. It felt like I was the only person who felt that way, who constantly felt like they were drowning. Now that I've opened up and found friends, it feels good to know I'm not alone and we can help each other heal. I don't feel devastatingly alone anymore.