"Hey Jude, don't be afraid,

You were made to go out and get her,

The minute you let her under your skin,

Then you begin to make it better.

And anytime you feel the pain,

Hey Jude, refrain,

Don't carry the world upon your shoulder.

For well, you know that's a fool

Who plays it cool

By making his world a little colder."

❁❁❁

"I HATE THIS," I heard Asher mutter under his breath as we searched for twigs and other ignitable materials. Under the instruction of Greyson and Marla, we were set off into the woods to collect firewood. Unfortunately for us, every twig and branch we came across was soggy due to the rain.

"Here," Emily said softly, reaching into her backpack to retrieve her water bottle. She pushed the bottle towards Asher, who eyed her with an unreadable expression on her face. "Drink this."

He stretched out his arm stiffly and grabbed the bottle from Emily. Without a word of thanks, he opened the bottle and took a sip.

"Why do we have to do this again?" I muttered unhappily, kicking a pile of wet leaves on the ground. I cringed when the leaves made a squelching sound.

"We are supposed to make our own fire, remember? If we don't find any firewood, we'll freeze to death tonight," Emily reminded glumly. Grumbling, I began my half-hearted search for firewood again. We probably spent half an hour with our backs bent at a 90-degree angle trying to find some kind of dry twig, but to no avail.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of fabric tearing and a loud curse. Turning around, I held back a laugh when I saw that Asher's shirt had been caught on a protruding branch.

"I hate this," Asher repeated for the hundredth time, ripping off his sleeve that was torn by the branch and revealing his pale alabaster skin underneath. Upon closer inspection, I noticed jagged, brown lines peeking out. They looked like scars that had healed over. What a strange place to have scars like that, I thought. My thoughts were quickly interrupted when Asher noticed my stare, which caused him to glower at me with a vicious glare.

"Don't slack off," he snapped.

When the sun started to set, we realised that it was time to return to our base camp, whether or not we had collected enough firewood. Defeated, the three of us trudged back to our tents. When we were nearing the base camp, we saw smoke rising up into the purple sky. Could it be that other groups were successful in finding firewood?

Curious, we quickened our pace. When we finally reached the base, we realised that there was only one campfire burning. Yuko, Robin and Logan sat around the fire they started, drinking and talking quietly to one another.

We were one of the first groups that arrived back at the base, and soon, more groups started to appear. Each group looked equally as exhausted and defeated as Emily, Asher and I. And every one of them looked completely flabbergasted at the sight of the single campfire in front of the three Royals.

"H-How is that even possible?" I murmured under my breath. "How did they even find anything that's dry in the woods?"

Asher stalked up to his friends with the same question in mind.

"How did you start the fire?" Asher demanded, and his friends looked up at him with smug smiles.

"We're geniuses, obviously," Logan replied cheekily before looking behind Asher at Emily and I.

"Oh dear," Logan muttered, standing up and going into his tent. He retrieved a large blanket and draped it over Emily and I when we finally reached the campfire. "Must've been tough out there, huh?"

"Wait...did you three go into the woods to collect firewood too?" I asked curiously.

"Why would we?" Logan grinned mischievously and winked as Emily and I stared at him, open-mouthed.

"It's obvious that everything ignitable would be soaked from the rain," Yuko said in a matter-of-fact tone. "It was useless to go searching for firewood."

"B-But how did you start this fire?" Emily asked, looking shocked. With another pearly white grin, Logan held up a familiar looking survival booklet before throwing it into the fire without hesitation.

"Oh my god, Logan!" Emily squeaked, her jaw dropping as we watched the fire engulf the book whole.

"Don't you need that?" Asher asked, frowning.

"While the lot of you were searching for firewood in the forest, we spent two hours reading the booklet from start to finish. Memorised it, too. And then we started our fire," Logan explained proudly.

Everyone stared at the three boys, speechless. Why didn't we think of that? Suddenly, someone started to clap. Turning around, we noticed that the applause was coming from none other than Greyson himself. Our survival instructor looked pleased with the three boys, walking up to the small fire.

"Good job, boys," Greyson praised, before regarding the rest of us.

"Everybody should learn how to be survival-smart like these three boys. The weather is not always going to be kind to you, especially if you are low on supplies and nightfall is approaching. Think, what is more important? Keeping warm or keeping a survival booklet? That survival booklet is useless to you if you can't learn how to survive from it," our instructor explained to us. When he was met with silence, he clapped his hands and shot everyone a charming smile. "Now who's ready for dinner?"

❁❁❁

THANKFULLY, WE WEREN'T made to hunt for our own food for dinner. Instead, containers of pre-packaged food were passed down to everyone. Of course, this wasn't well-received by the majority of the campers and mutters of dissatisfaction floated around the campsite.

Logan and Yuko were nice enough to offer to share their fire with us, so the six of us huddled around the small fire and ate our dinner. I was silently grateful that the boys weren't picky eaters and ate their food without complaint. We made small talk with one another, although Robin made sure not to talk to me at all, much to my disappointment. I knew that I shouldn't have expected much, but it still stung whenever he ignored me.

"I'm going to go to sleep," Asher muttered after he was finished with his dinner. Without another word, he got up from the ground and headed back to our tent. We all exchanged puzzled looks, wondering why Asher seemed more broody that usual.

"Why's he extra grumpy today?" I asked. The boys shot each other looks, and Logan finally shrugged and replied.

"He doesn't like being around nature. That's probably it."

Somehow, I wasn't very convinced. Emily, who was sitting next to me, pursed her lips. Her eyebrows creased together with concern and she let out a small sigh.

"I'll go talk to him," she said softly, getting ready to stand up.

"You should finish your dinner first, at least," Robin finally spoke up, gesturing to her unfinished food. "Asher's not going to go anywhere."

"Right," Emily reluctantly said, picking up her spoon again.

Robin, Yuko and I were the only ones left sitting around the fire. Emily returned back to our tent the moment she finished her dinner, and Logan excused himself and wandered off to god knows where. The three of us sat in silence, relishing in the warmth the fire offered us. Indeed, the night was beginning to send chills across my skin.

"It's getting late," Yuko said, slowly standing up. "I'm going to head into the tent. Would the both of you mind putting out the fire?"

"Why should I?" Robin began to protest, but I quickly cut him off.

"The two of you can go, I'll take care of the fire," I replied hastily, shooting the Japanese boy a grateful smile. "Thanks for letting us share the warmth."

"You're welcome, Alex," Yuko said, smiling slightly. "Goodnight."

Yuko turned around and headed towards his tent, disappearing behind the flaps. Robin and I sat in an uncomfortable silence before I got up and grabbed the small bucket beside the campfire. Without saying a word to Robin, I turned and walked toward the assembly area to fill my bucket up with water. With difficulty, I trudged back to the fire only to be taken by surprise when I realised that Robin was still there.

"You don't have to stay here," I muttered, setting the bucket down at my feet. Robin shifted his eyes to look into mine, raising an eyebrow.

"Do you know how to put out a fire?" he asked, crossing his arms. Rolling my eyes, I gestured to the bucket of water.

"With water," I said, before grabbing the bucket and pouring water over the fire. I broke out into a series of coughs when smoke billowed straight into my face, and Robin reached out and pulled me away from the smoke.

"Good job, idiot," Robin muttered, shaking his head. "Sit down, I'll do it."

Reluctantly, I sat down and pat my chest as I continued to cough. I eyed him as he expertly poured the water over the fire, making sure not to stand directly over the fire like I had stupidly done. Then, he grabbed a stick off the ground and started to mix the ashes and embers in the pit. The extinguished fire let out a thin line of grey smoke that drifted into the air and disappeared into the night.

"You're awfully quiet," he mumbled, his eyes never straying away from the campfire pit.

"I tend to do that when I'm angry," I replied snappily.

"Is that so?" he murmured, his rosy lips pursing slightly. I frowned, clenching my teeth and willing myself not to grab him by the shoulders and demand answers from him. Why was he ignoring me? Did he regret kissing me? Did he want to pretend as if nothing happened between us?

Does he hate me?

I chose not to reply him instead. When the last stream of smoke disappeared into the evening air, I stood up from my seat and began to turn away.

"Alexandra, wait," Robin suddenly said, stopping me in my tracks. I heard him set the bucket down and walk towards me.

"Yeah?" I replied. I was meaning to sound indifferent towards him but instead my voice was whispery, breathless, anticipating. I turned around to face him, and was caught off guard at the unspeakable emotion shining in his eyes. Robin blinked, shaking his head slightly. When he opened his eyes, the look in his eyes disappeared.

"I just—", Robin began, before he was suddenly interrupted. Logan ran up towards us, waving his arms wildly. Logan was pale and looked panic-stricken.

"Robin! Alex! There's trouble!" Logan yelped when he finally come to a stop in front of us. Heaving deeply, he grabbed Robin's shoulder and took a second to compose himself.

"What's wrong?" I asked, eyebrows furrowing with worry.

"Emily," Logan gasped hurriedly. "She's gone missing!"

"What?" I exclaimed, my stomach dropping. "How could she have gone missing? We just saw her!"

"I think she went to find Asher because he wasn't in the tent. Asher ran into the woods when we realised she was gone. Oh god, Asher's going to die," Logan cried, looking at Robin helplessly as his friend calmly accessed the situation. Yuko's head of black hair popped out from the flaps of his tent at the sound of all the commotion.

"What did you do now, Logan?" Yuko asked, rubbing his eyes. His glasses were missing, and I assumed it was because he was about to go to sleep.

"I didn't do anything! I just assumed that Emily went into the woods and Asher dashed in without warning! What should we do? What should we do?" Logan asked, fidgeting anxiously.

"Did you alert Marla and Greyson that two of their campers have gone missing?" Robin asked, and Logan paled. He shook his head, biting his lip. Robin sighed.

"Let's go," Yuko instructed, and Logan nodded, dashing off to find Marla and Greyson. Yuko gave us a look, before jogging behind Logan.

"I'm going to go too," I said, getting ready to follow behind Yuko when Robin suddenly stopped me.

"You shouldn't. It's already dark outside, it's too dangerous," Robin stated, and a spark of annoyance ran through my veins.

"Don't tell me what to do!" I snapped. Robin grabbed my arm firmly, giving me a hard look.

"Do you even know how to navigate yourself in the forest? Asher and Emily are already in trouble. If you try to act like a hero by running into the woods, you're as good as lost. Don't make me worry about another person," Robin muttered. My breath hitched in my throat at what he said. Was he telling me that he would worry about me? He was, wasn't he? So why is he being such a jerk and avoiding me for the past few days?

I shook my head, focusing on the issue at hand. My best friend and her fiancé are missing, presumably lost in the woods. And the two of them are completely clueless about survival in nature. Not to mention, Asher hated the woods. The situation seemed bleak, and I knew that the more people looking for them, the higher chance of them being found.

"I still have to help them!" I protested. "I won't be so stupid by going into the woods by myself. I'll partner with someone. Asher and Emily need as much help as they can get."

With my final decision made, I turned around and ran in the direction the two boys had gone before me.

  ❁❁❁  

A/N: Hey, everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. The response for the Vietnam donations was huge! I was overwhelmed with how many of you decided to contribute and I'm honestly so touched. I've gotten so many messages from those of you who want to contribute but aren't in the position to do so, but just know that the fact that you want to help is already such a fantastic thing. I'm so glad there are so many generous and kind-hearted people on Wattpad and Radish, and I'm so proud to be able to call you my readers! Stay amazing, everyone :) Also, Radish won't be updated this week (which means my Wattpad update for chapter 25 will be delayed as well) as I have fallen ill and haven't been able to edit the chapter. The proceeds from chapter 25 on Radish will still be going towards the Vietnam donations, but I will just be uploading the chapter later. I hope everyone understands and I apologise in advance for the delay.

Song of the Chapter: Hey Jude // The Beatles