-Sky-

It was Saturday morning. We were getting ready to go pick up Max around noon and then leave for our camping trip. I was eating my breakfast with Mom in the kitchen when Dad stepped in. He stopped by the door and stood there so long I had to take a glimpse of him. He was watching me.

"What?" I asked.

"What do you mean, what? I should be asking that question," he said.

"What?" I repeated with a higher voice, turning to look at him with a frown.

"It's Saturday!" Dad spoke like I wasn't already aware of it.

"Yeah?" I spoke, and he turned to look at Mom for a moment, like asking for help, before turning his attention back to me.

"What do you mean, yeah? What about the camping trip?" he asked.

"Dad, seriously, what's going on?" I asked.

"What's going on? What's going on with you? We're leaving for the trip in just a few hours and you're just... sitting there. Why aren't you all over the place by now?"

I rolled my eyes and turned to continue eating. "It doesn't feel appropriate right now..."

"Sky is worried about Luke," Mom explained. "And about Troy."

"Oh," Dad uttered with an understanding voice. "Any news about Luke?"

"He had a surgery this morning, but Troy hasn't texted me back yet," I said. "I just know his kneecap broke in several pieces."

"It could've been worse," Dad said in a soothing manner while sitting down next to me. "It takes quite a while to recover though."

"I know Luke's going to be pissed about it for a long time," I sighed.

"Is he that kind of guy?" Mom asked.

"Yeah – he hates showing any kind of weakness," I said, even though it was merely a guess, based on what Troy had told us and what I had seen myself. "And he thinks it's his fault they lost the game – Troy told me about it..."

"Nonsense!" Dad proclaimed. "They played really well last night. The other team was simply better."

"Wow, Dad," Freddy stepped in with a smirk on his face. "Look how mature you've gotten!"

"He's not allowed to say anything bad or negative about the game, or either of the teams," Mom said, giving Dad a stern eye. "Or else..."

"Ah..." Freddy chuckled and went to grab a plate for himself.

So that was why Dad wasn't all over the place, cursing the enemy team and ranting about all the mistakes ours had made last night. I was old enough to understand which privilege Mom would take away from him if he disobeyed her on this one. I let out a laugh and continued eating.

Only a few moments later, I finally got a reply from Troy. I hurried to read his long message, and by the time I was done, I felt much better. Apparently, Luke's parents had just spoken with his doctor, and according to them, the operation went well. They had to use metal screws to put the pieces back together, and even though it had not been an easy task, Luke was able to go home later in the day.

"Ugh..." I said when I read the last sentence.

"What is it?" Dad asked.

"Luke has a cast now," I muttered while typing my reply. "That's... not good."

"What do you mean? It's much better to have one on, so he won't ruin the healing process," Mom spoke.

"Yeah... That's just going to piss him off even more," I said, trying to imagine Luke jumping around with a cast and a pair of crutches. "That's just... No."

Mom chuckled lightly. "At least the operation went fine," she said.

I sent my message, telling Troy to wish Luke a speedy recovery from me and that he could borrow my crutches if he wanted. Troy told me they already had a pair for him to use. I asked how Luke was feeling about the cast, but apparently he was still asleep.

'But you know him...' Troy added.

'Yeah... But he'll be happier if you'll take care of him!' I told him.

'Oh I will take care of him all right.'

I was reluctant to think what that could mean. Troy had a... mature sense of humor, so I assumed he was just joking. Probably. That got me thinking... Did Max... want... things like... that? I shook my head, getting rid of that thought before I would start blushing. It was too soon to even think about things like that. Even if Troy and Luke were ready to go that far, it didn't mean Max and I would have to hurry things as well.

Besides, I really didn't believe Troy or Luke were ready for that, either.

I continued eating my breakfast, pushing relationships out of my head. And then it hit me.

"Saturdayy..." I hummed quietly, a smile forming on my lips. "Camping trip with Max..." I continued singing.

"Oh, God..." Freddy groaned dramatically.

"Camping trip with Max..." I repeated my verse, adding a little dance to it.

"What are we? Pocket lint?" Mom chuckled.

"Camping trip with Max...!" I sang louder.

"And us!" They laughed.

*****

My dad probably wished I would go back to being silent again. Freddy sure did, at least. We were driving to Max's, and I couldn't hold still. I could see from the corner of my eye that Freddy shook his head every time I started squealing about the trip. I didn't care.

"Can we just leave Sky at Max's and go on the trip without him?" he asked at some point when I was giggling like a maniac.

"Don't ruin his excitement, Fred," Mom said sternly. "Or I'll kick you out of the car."

Freddy rolled his eyes and picked up his phone again. I assumed he was texting with Stacey. She couldn't come with us because her entire family would spend the entire week at her grandparents'. I did feel a bit sorry for Freddy, because I could tell he was in love and I knew he had wished she would come with us. These camping trips had always been special to our family, and he wasn't an exception. I was sure he would've loved to show his girlfriend that part of our life.

"Did you bring along that little gift I gave you some time ago?" Freddy asked loud enough for my parents to hear him. So much for feeling sorry for the guy.

I gave him my 'I will murder you in your sleep' look, but he just laughed.

"What gift?" Mom asked, sounding delighted that Freddy had given me one.

Freddy turned to look at me like the weasel he was, enjoying the fact that I was in trouble now. But oh, joke's on him.

"Yes, Freddy, why don't you tell our mother about the gift you thought Max and I would often need," I spoke, looking him dead in the eye.

Mom turned around in her seat to look at Freddy with a happy smile. Now it was Freddy who was in trouble.

"A... uh... A map and a compass," he said, sounding confident. I had to laugh at his words. He had always been a quick thinker.

"Oh?" Mom said, sounding surprised. "Did Sky lose his old compass?"

"Yep," Freddy said without a blink of an eye. I had not lost my compass yet, because I hadn't actually remembered I even had one, but I didn't want to ruin his story now. "And since Sky and Max have been talking about going on one-day trips in different locations, I thought they would need a new one."

"Aww, that's so sweet of you," Mom said and turned around again. "You are a good brother."

"Thank you, thank you," Freddy said with a humble voice – faking it, surely – and gave me a triumphant smirk.

There was a short pause of silence in the car.

"Like hell Freddy would do that. It was a pack of condoms, right?" Dad suddenly said.

"A WHAT?!" Mom screeched.

*****

"So..." Max muttered next to me.

There was a deadly atmosphere in the car when Max sat in. I was sitting in the middle seat, between Freddy and him, and Mom kept giving Freddy some pretty murderous looks. There was no doubt that Max had noticed it right away.

"Dad told Mom about Freddy's gift," I whispered in his ear.

"Sky, leave enough room for Jesus between you two," Mom said sharply when she saw me leaning close to Max. I straightened my back so that our arms were barely touching, but pressed my leg against Max's as an act of rebellion. Then I turned to glare at Freddy, who had started it all.

"For the hundredth time! It was a joke, Mom! A joke!" Freddy spoke, but Mom turned to glare at him.

"That was a terrible joke," she said sharply. "You are a terrible boy! Here I thought you did something nice for your brother!"

Oh well, at least she wasn't mad at me. "Mom, it's fine. I threw them out already," I told her.

"Good," Mom said. "You and Max are way too young to be thinking about things like that."

"Okay! Who's excited about the trip!" Dad suddenly said, clearly hoping to change the subject. Sadly, his words were met with silence. At first.

"I am," Max said, when no one else said a word.

"Atta boy!" Dad said and took the opportunity to talk about his favorite subject. "So, how are you feeling, Max? I know we lost the game, but you guys played really well!"

"I haven't really thought about the game, to be honest," Max said. "I was more worried about Luke."

"It was really scary when he just fell down like that," Mom nodded.

I had to agree. Seeing him collide with the other player was bad enough, and when he collapsed, I thought he was having a heart attack or something. Thankfully, it was just his leg, even though that was also bad.

"What do you say, should we go pay him a visit before we head off?" Dad asked.

"Oh! Yes! Yes! We'd love to go see him!" I said excitedly.

"That'd be great," Max smiled as well.

"Okay! A small detour it is!" Dad announced and started heading to the hospital.

On our way there, Max and Dad talked about the game. I was thinking about Stephanie instead. Once the game was over, she had tried to take Troy home with her. Troy, of course, had insisted he'd go with the Frosts, and she didn't seem happy about it. She had given up eventually and had left when she saw Gwen approaching them.

I was really worried about what would happen next. If Troy's father was the jerk Troy said he was... It would break Troy's heart if he banned him from seeing Luke again, and Luke would be absolutely devastated. And just when Troy finally started discovering himself...

We stopped at the hospital, and I pushed those grim thoughts out of my head. We all got out of the car and made our way inside the hospital, where Gwen came to greet us. At first, I thought it was a funny coincidence that she was there in the lobby, but apparently, this small detour wasn't as sudden as I thought.

"I'm so happy you came to see Luke," Gwen greeted us with a bright smile. "Especially since you guys were supposed to leave already."

"We have plenty of time left," Mom said cheerfully. "It's only a two-hour drive."

"Oh? Where are you going then?" Gwen asked as she started leading us to Luke.

I couldn't help getting excited again when Mom told her about our destination. It was a less known camping site, so we hoped there wouldn't be many people camping there with us. It was close to a big lake with an opportunity to rent a kayak or a fishing boat, and we would have a hot shower and indoor toilets to use as long as we stayed by the lake. But we were not going to, since our plan was to go deeper into the forest and stay there for a couple of nights.

"Sky is getting scary again," Freddy muttered.

I had a big grin on my face. The one that made Luke call me gremlin. I didn't mind. I didn't even want to contain my excitement.

"Here we are," Gwen said, and pushed open a door on her left.

I saw a few unfamiliar faces inside, but when we stepped in, I saw more beds hidden behind the door, and Luke was lying on one of them. Troy and Luke's Mom were sitting next to his bed.

"Hey guys," Troy waved at us with a smile on his face.

"We'll go grab some coffee with Gwen and Kayla," Dad spoke to me. "We'll be back in an hour or so, so you guys can hang out a bit before we leave."

I was confused about Kayla for a moment, but then I figured Luke's mom was probably not called just Mrs. Frost. They all left, taking Freddy with them, while Max and I joined Troy and Luke, who was now awake.

"How are you?" I asked, looking at Luke, who seemed grumpier than usual.

"Pissed. They had to put that fucking thing on me..." he muttered, glaring at his brand-new cast.

Troy let out a warm laugh, patting his cast gently. "Well they wouldn't have if you weren't so stubborn."

"I'm not stubborn!" Luke hissed, and I had to hold back my laugh. He was the king of stubbornness.

"Yeah, right. You'd refuse to give your leg enough rest and would probably be bumping iron first thing tomorrow," Troy spoke.

"I have not been working out in weeks! Why would I start now?" Luke growled.

"He's a bit tired now," Troy turned to talk to us over him, and Luke crossed his arms over his chest in a moping manner.

"Not tired..." I could hear Luke mutter, but he clearly was. "Wait. It's your fault they put the cast on me! You and my parents told the doctors to put it on!"

"Ding, ding, ding," Troy smirked. "We talked about it and we all agreed right away you would not let your leg heal if you don't have the cast on."

Luke let out a growl. A real growl.

"Aww, don't be mad at me, honeybear," Troy cooed quietly and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

"Ugh, don't call me that," Luke said, but his attitude was already changing.

"Honeybear," Troy smirked, tickling his chin with his finger. "I like it."

"Well I don't," Luke grimaced in disgust. "No cute nicknames, please, or I'll throw up."

We all laughed, and I had to admit, honeybear didn't quite suit him as a nickname. A vicious, angry grizzly was on top of my mind. But it didn't take long before this grizzly was already purring when he got a little bit of attention from Troy.

"So, why are you two fucking about here when you could be on your way to your camping trip?" Luke asked.

"We wanted to see how you're holding up," I said.

"Yeah, it didn't feel right to just leave without dropping by," Max added.

"Right, I forgot you all are just a bunch of sentimental idiots," Luke muttered, but it was clear he was happy that we bothered.

"You're welcome," Max chuckled. "So, the surgery went well?"

"Yeah, it wasn't easy, but they managed to put my kneecap back together," Luke explained, glaring at the cast again. "It'll take a long fucking while to heal though..."

"Time will go by faster than you think," Troy said reassuringly. "And in the meantime, we'll keep you company. We'll play games and watch movies and everything!"

"Yes, that sounds like fun!" I said. "And I can help take care of Bella!"

"You mean you're going to steal my dog," Luke chuckled. "Fine, fine, it's not the end of the world, I guess..."

"It's not," Troy said and kissed his cheek again.

We were silent just for a moment, before I said quietly, "I wouldn't steal your dog..."

"Aha," Luke said, giving me a suspicious look. "I'm not convinced."

I played along and looked somewhere up at the ceiling. "Definitely wouldn't steal your dog." They all laughed at my act, and I couldn't stop smirking when I looked back down. "Okay I'm probably going to steal your dog," I said.

"That's more like the Shrimp I know," Luke chuckled.

I chuckled as well. Luke was in a much better mood now, and I was happy about it. But... I couldn't stop thinking about Stephanie, or that look she had given Gwen. I wished so hard things would turn out well with Troy and his family, or this happy atmosphere would be gone. Maybe for good.