Pitch Black Heaven

-RHIANNON'S POV-

"I hate you." Tiarne rasped with narrow eyes.

This only made me laugh. "Oh c'mon is just a hike and a bit of rock climbing. It'll be fun." I enthused, pulling her limp body along.

"I still hate you." She puffed. I laughed louder enjoying her discomfort, she needed to get out more. We converged where we always did, in front of the stage near the campfire. Miss Regal was stretching next to the stairs while Mrs Andrews our usual gym teacher tapped the microphone and cleared her throat calling the groups attention.

"Hey everyone, listen up!" She called. The camp was silent apart from the occasional animal crying out. "Okay, now we're going to go on our hiking trip. Make sure your wearing appropriate footwear on because as you may of heard, we will be climbing up a cliff face." There were a few distressed groans but I was raring to go. "I'll hand you over to Mr Garret who will introduce you to two new helpers who will give us a hand with the cliff climbing." There was a lengthy exchange of the microphone before Mr Garret finally got hold of it.

"Well kids I'd like to introduce you to Zach and Luke who will be helping us out on our little hiking trip." Climbing up the stairs were Zach and Luke, the familiar pair.

"W-wait. Isn't that your Mr Jerk and Luke?!" Tiarne croaked.

"What the hell?!" I exclaimed, my voice hoarse and rough. Zach eyes met mine and winked, my eyes widened dramatically. The girls around us giggled and chattered away about the new eye candy standing right in front of them. I had a sudden yearning to slap them. Hold up, was I... Jealous? No. I couldn't be, I didn't even like Zach.

"We expect you to make Zach and Luke very welcome. If you need any help you can either go to the teachers or these two boys. Everyone follow Mr Jenkins to the hiking track, lets go."Mr Garret pointed us in the right direction and we all marched towards the track.

"Hello." Someone murmured, not hard to guess who.

"And what are you doing here." I demanded, hiding my cheerfulness. He caught up to me and and grinned.

"I said I was going to keep an eye on you, and thats what I'm doing." He shrugged. "Aren't you happy to have me here?" He wondered, he failed to hide the glimpse of hurt lurking in his eyes.

"Truthfully... yes, I am." I admitted sheepishly. He perked up almost straight away.

"So are you any good at rock climbing? Cause I could always give you a piggy back ride." He quirked a brow bending over slightly. I walked straight passed him snickering away. "Okay..." He laughed.

"Hi, I'm Samantha." A girl walking behind us approached Zach, smiling constantly.

"Uh Hi, did you need something?"

I sneered at the girl. The fact I enjoyed knowing Zach showed no interest with the other girls confused me. "You know what, I'll take that piggy back." I smiled sourly at Samantha as Zach raised his eyebrows. She glowered at me.

"Seriously?" He asked. I nodded and he chuckled. "Okay. Jump on." He bent over and prepared to catch me. I giggled as I jumped onto his back, he caught me and walked over to where Luke was of course with Tiarne. "Lets race." He grinned an evil grin. Luke and Tiarne exchanged a look hard look before breaking out into grins.

"Jump on." He commanded. Tiarne too, jumped onto his back giggling.

"Okay on three we'll race down to the cliff face, first one to touch it wins." Zach said. I tightened my arms around his neck, adjusting myself on his back.

"Your going down." Luke threatened jokingly, Tiarne nodded in agreement. They lined up next to us and we all leaned forward in anticipation.

"One, two," Zach began. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, I drew in a deep breath. "Three!" He hollered and we shot forward. He ran smoothly as if I wasn't even on his back. The wind blew my hair out behind me in a frenzy, I let out a carefree laugh. We were leading as we turned the bend, he began to careen but he managed to keep us up.

"Suck on that mother f****r!" Luke shouted as we fell behind. Zach remained determined and sprinted after them.

I laughed loudly as we passed them, the cliff face appearing on the horizon. "Giddy up." I yelled giggling.

"Yes ma'am." He sped up and the others soon fell back. The other kids walking along the track gawked at Me and Zach, and Liam and Tiarne. Tiarne 'yeehaaed' as the slowly began to catch up just meters from the cliff.

"C'mon!" I encouraged, with that Zach pushed forward and literally dove for the finish line his hand out reached. His hand hit the rock and we both slammed backwards and fell to the ground.

"Damn!" Luke grunted letting Tiarne climb of his back.

"Shit are you two okay?!" Tiarne gasped running to are bodies. A few kids ran towards us too. I looked at Zach, he looked at me, and we exploded with laughter. My stomach ached as I grasped it trying to control my fits of laughter. Zach rolled around chuckling loudly.

"Oh god..." I squeaked as I finally composed myself.

"Whoa..." Zach breathed, rolling to face me. "Your hair!" He chuckled.

"Your hair!" I laughed. He got up and held his hand out, I took it willingly and he pulled me to my feet.

"We win!" He boasted shaking his fists in the air.

"Yay!" I shouted earnestly. He held his hands up for a high five, I slapped them but he took them and didn't let go until Luke cleared his throat crudely.

"Lets go." Luke ordered scolding Zach with the look he shot at him. I wonder what that was about. i frowned to myself, my good mood dulling down.

-ZACH'S POV (MR JERK)-

Luke pulled me away from her and pulled me to the side track on the side of the cliff where they couldn't see or hear us.

"What the fuck are you doing man?!" He growled shoving me against the cliff.

"I'm just having a good time, jeez." I scoffed.

He pursed his lips. "She isn't just some girl you can be best buddies with, we need her to get to Liam. Focus or I won't bother with he pleasantries I'll just freaking throw her in my car and bring her to Arron myself." He threatened. I cringed, I wouldn't let that happen.

"Listen dude, I'm not going to let you or anyone hurt her. Shes done nothing wrong." I snarled spinning our bodies around till he was pressed up against the side of the cliff, my hand restraining him. He didn't flinch, we just glared at each other.

"Don't get to close to her. This is strictly business." He reminded me, shoving me out of the way. He walked off not giving me time to respond. God he could be such a dick. I liked it better before we had made this stupid gang.

"Too late now." I muttered to myself. I walked back to Rhiannon forcing a smile.

"Hi." I said, my voice cracking.

"Hi..." She didn't smile, she just scrutinized my face searching for answers. I needed to lead her off the trail.

"So you ready to climb?" I grinned. To my relief she grinned back.

"Yeah!" She enthused.

"Well then lets harness you up then." I pulled a harness from the one of the boxes and helped her into it. "You ever climbed before?" I was curious to know why she was so confident.

"Yeah, plenty of times." She revealed. Man she was amazing, I wanted to tell her that. But my voice of reason was telling me to keep my mouth shut. Liam was right, if I got to close to her now it would only hurt her later on.

"Okay there we go, so I'm guessing you'll know how to do the rest." She nodded confidently and marched to one of the ropes and was quickly climbing up the wall. I ran up the pathway to the side of the cliff that led to the top. I got into one of the safety harnesses and attached myself to one of the ropes there to keep people from falling off the edge. I peered over the ledge and looked down at her quickly climbing body get close and closer.

"Hey there." She greeted as she pulled herself up and over the ledge. I grabbed her arm and being the gentle man I am - ha ha - I helped her up. "Thanks." She mumbled flushing red in the cheeks. I just smiled like an idiot.

"Wow, your quick and damn good." I complimented her as she loosed the straps and pulled her harness off.

"Thanks, but don't you have other kids to tend to." She nodded in the direction of the cliff edge.

"Oh, yeah... okay I'll talk to you later then..." I said sluggishly. She nodded and grinned half heartedly.

"See ya." She waved and walked away.

It was a tedious job helping all the kids, most of the girls flocked to my side making the job all the more lengthy and horrific. The other teachers had to force the kids to their lines just to keep us on time. By the time I finished most of the kids had already continued off on the hiking trip heading back around to camp, I had no chance of catching up to Rhi. Luke however had waited and came to walk with me as we followed the pack back to camp.

"Shes getting suspicious." I informed Luke, taking a drink from my water bottle.

"Yeah I kinda noticed..." It was silent for what seemed a long time. Luke Finlay spoke. "I'm sorry about before." He apologized shakily.

"Its okay... your right anyway, I shouldn't get to close to her." I grumbled, an ounce of venom leaking into my tone.

"I am truly sorry." He murmured, patting my back.

"God I'm so sick of this war." I muttered. I kicked a rock, it hit a near by tree with a bang. "So fucking sick of it."

Pitch Black Heaven - © MemoriesdonoJustice / Rose Tonis 2009