Archer's arm weighs heavy on my shoulders as he pushes his entire body weight onto me. I bite my tongue in determination, using all my strength to help him up to his room.

By the time we get there, I feel like I've run a marathon. I drop him on his bed, cradling my already-aching arm.

He starts mumbling a series of incoherent sentences under his breath causing me to lean closer in to hear him. A crease forms between my brows once I realise what he said. I think it was something along the lines of a horse eating a slice of cake. I know, it doesn't make sense to me either.

I pull the duvet over him and luckily, he doesn't rip it off just to spite me. He still has his shoes on but it's his own problem if he gets his bed dirty.

Briefly, I check on him before looking around his room in disbelief. This is the first time that I've been here. I wasn't expecting it to be so clean; nothing's out of place.

I was expecting the colour scheme though. Everything's black. The walls, the sheets, all of it.

He has a computer that looks like it hasn't been used in years and a few lamps dotted around. I start to feel embarrassed by the state of my room. It's definitely not as organised as it was when I first got here.

"Where were you?" I ask, my attention switching back to Archer.

His eyes are closed yet he chuckles softly. It's almost too quiet to hear but it's there. I decide to ask him again but still get no response. He's lying on his back with his hands bent awkwardly at his sides. Is he even awake?

With a roll of my eyes, I give up on trying to get any answers out of him. He was probably at a party with his friends like he is most nights.

I turn around and head out of the room, but I don't make it out of the threshold before his voice stops me in my tracks. "No," he protests. "Please don't leave me again."

His voice is laced with sadness. His normally blank eyes are now squeezed shut, a pained expression plaguing his features.

My lips part slightly, and I start inching towards him again. "Archer?"

"Please don't go, I need you." He mumbles.

My eyebrows furrow instantly as I search his face for something. Anything. I open my mouth to say something but before I can think of some sort of response he passes out.

I leave his room, closing the door behind me. I know not to listen to what he said. He's drunk out of his mind; he couldn't possibly know what he's talking about.

His pain-riddled face appears in my thoughts every time I close my eyes for the rest of the night, but I manage to eventually fall asleep.

*

For the next few days, I rarely see Archer. When he isn't at school he's shut in his room. He only leaves to go to mysterious places that I and Penny do not know of.

I haven't been able to get his words out of my head. They keep replaying over and over. There must be a meaning behind them, but I can't work it out.

I discard the thought and allow myself to enjoy today. It's the day I and many students have been looking forward to. The school decided that the seniors are going to go on a field trip which means no lessons. I couldn't be happier about that.

It hasn't been that long since I started the final year of high school, but it feels like forever. The endless cycle of school and assignments day after day is exhausting. I definitely need this break.

Supposedly, the trip is strictly educational but finding out that it's simply a walk in a forest doesn't sound very educational to me. It'll be more quality time to spend with Penny and Brody. We've all been getting on really well recently. I'm grateful that they welcomed me to their friendship group so quickly.

Although, I don't know if it will be quality time when Archer's in the picture. He'll find some way to ruin it.

"Is everyone ready?" Mr Williams asks after he's finished ticking everyone off on his sheet.

Penny eagerly ties her hair up. "I was born ready." She states before marching off in front with her partner in toe.

How did I forget to mention this? We've all been assigned a partner for today. I was hopeful that I would get Penny or Brody, but that hope was crushed when they called Archer's name after mine. It's like the world doesn't want me to get away from him.

We all exchange glances before going off in the directions we've been given. Archer instead stares at an unappealing rock. I huff as I walk past him. However, I hear his footsteps behind me moments later and try to ignore the excitement that bubbles within me.

You're supposed to oppose the idea of being around him, Madison.

There are a million ways this day could turn out. We could hit it off and end up enjoying our time together or rip each other's throats out before we even make it halfway. I would like to think it's going to be the former rather than the latter, but I know that's probably too optimistic.

How about if I settle for one conversation that doesn't end in an argument?

He still hasn't made any effort to talk to me after that night and, trust me, he's had plenty of chances. It's been nearly two weeks since I first arrived in Portland and he still gives me a cold look whenever I pass him. I know that he acts this way around most people, but I can't help but be offended by it.

I look over my shoulder and shout back, "pick up the pace!" My words have the desired effect when he sneers. I scoff with a roll of my eyes.

My legs start to move faster and faster. They have a mind of their own, a mind that can't say no to a chance to spite him.

I can't help but sneak another look at him after a while. He's avoiding getting too close. His eyes are glued to the floor. I'm sure if a swarm of wasps flew at him from every angle, he wouldn't even spare them a glance.

"One mile down, four more to go," I say to myself breathlessly.

That is if I'm reading the map correctly. Today's field trip aims to navigate our way out of the woods. I don't know why the school would need us to know how to read a map, it's not like I'm going to get lost going from the cafeteria to the library. But it's not my place to question it.

It dawns on me that I'm not even halfway there yet and I collapse on the floor. I grab the bottle of water that I brought with me and unscrew the cap, gulping down half of its contents.

"Tired already?" Archer smirks as he walks ahead of me. "You should really get out more, maybe then you'd be able to keep up."

I snarl, shooting daggers at the back of his head. "Now he decides to pick up the pace."

I take a final deep breath and pull myself up off the floor. I speed walk until I reach Archer's side and instantly regret my decision to do that, holding my hands over the stitch that has grown in my side. Someone, please remind me never to do that again.

I rub off the sweat that has formed on my forehead causing him to roll his eyes in amusement. "You're looking a bit red; do you need to sit down?" He teases but makes no move to stop.

"I'm fine," I lie and carry on walking beside him.

This goes on for another ten minutes. Neither of us mutters a single word. I finally have enough of the awkward silence and attempt to make conversation. "Does the school do field trips like this often?"

Instead of answering, his long legs start moving faster. I struggle to keep up with him without running. His lips are pressed into a hard line, making it more than obvious that he would rather be anywhere than here, but I keep up with him anyway.

"You're extremely ignorant, you know that?"

"Believe it or not you're not the first person to tell me that." My eyes widen in disbelief that he actually answered. I was expecting a grunt and then more silence.

"You should give people a chance," I state. This gains his attention. His intimidating brown eyes bore into mine and I nearly stumble over a log that's lying in the middle of the path. Great job, Madison. We're just over one mile in and I'm already making a fool out of myself.

"Oh yeah, why's that?"

"Because some people..." I stumble on the right word to use so I settle on, "just because" instead. He gives me an 'are you serious' look to which I muster up the fakest smile that I can before walking ahead.

I and the silent one are now surrounded by trees. There are trees next to us, trees behind us, and you guessed it, more trees in front of us.

Living in Portland, I've almost become accustomed to the constant sound of car horns and wheels scraping along the tarmac road. It's eerily quiet now. I almost forgot that it could be this quiet.

I breathe in the fresh air and sigh. This is the longest that I've been away from my family. I've been handling it better than expected. I thought that I would be a sobbing mess by now, insisting that I go back to them and never leave their side. But it's been the opposite of that.

Penny's starting to feel like a sister to me. I always wanted someone to hang out with who was around my age. Not that my little sister isn't enough, she's more than I could ever ask for. But it's nice to have someone to talk to who understands what I'm going through. She's going through the same thing.

"We're lost," Archer announces out of nowhere, ripping me out of my thoughts.

I grow irritated at his constant bad mood. "We're not lost," I deny as I scan the area for anything that I might recognise.

All of the trees look the same which isn't helping, and I could have sworn that we've passed that exact rock five times already. "There's no way we're lost." I try to reassure myself.

Who gets lost with a map?

"Newsflash, genius. We're lost."