Betrayed
Chapter 1
This was it. Our plan was complete and each of us was slipping into our roles:
Emily: the master of the rebels. For wall we came across, she would have an idea that could bulldozer it down. Don’t be fooled by her feminine exterior; her cunning will make up for all of that.
Kai: the experienced. We have been obliged to listen to his complaints about his annual camping holidays since he was five. At least some good came out of this torture – An experienced camper! (Yeah, should be helpful.)
Graeme: the wordsmith. Born with the amazing ability to talk his (our) way out of anything. Also, the comedian of the group; he has talent that is certain to make us laugh, even when we’re being devoured by big grizzly bears. (Not that they live in the cliffs of Yorkshire)
Jenny: the SatNav (Although her voice is not half as annoying). Knows her was around the area like the back of her hand (allegedly). Will, hopefully, not get us lost.
Katy: the supplier. Spoilt rotten and filthy stinking rich; she always manages to get what she wants. Daddy’s unbelievable amount of money should get us all we need... if only he knew what she wash splashing his cash on.
And Leigh (me): the tag-along. Pretty useless in the outdoors department: no money, no experience, no sense of direction whatsoever... just there for moral support really!
So that’s it: our team. We like to call ourselves ‘The Crew’ (so what if we have no creativity?) and sneak around, spy style, to our theme tune of ‘Smoke on the Water’.
Not too long (about half an hour) after the formation of The Crew, the crew decided to embark on their first mission. After much thought, we decided to call it: OPERATION: GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS DUMP OF A HOLIDAY. (Creative much?)
Yeah, you’re probably wondering who in the right mind would want to end a holiday early? Right? Wrong. It goes more like: Who in the right mind decided to go on this ‘holiday’ anyway? Fair enough, we might no be in the right mind, but we’re sane enough to realise that choosing to go on the four night school residential to the east coast was a Big mistake (with a capital B). It’s all ‘do this’, ‘look at that’, ’switch that light of it’s late at night’ (Yep, so late it’s past 7pm). Holidays are meant for relaxation, minus the bit about obeying the best part of a million rules while you’re at it.
So we – being the mentally challenged- concluded that camping, in the middle of nowhere, with no tent, plus a slight possibility of becoming something’s dinner, would be a much less strenuous experience. Of course, it came with its complications, such as how the heck are we supposed to sneak out of the death camp/big brother house?
Therefore, at the crack of dawn, all six inexperienced members of The Crew reluctantly woke up at the crack of dawn, ready to make the final preparations for the night ahead of us. We congregated in the girls’ room for three main reasons: 1. God only knows what lurks in the depths of the boys’ dorm; 2. It is a physical impossibility fitting the six of us in Kai and Graeme’s tiny shoe box; and 3.Nobody wants to be woken by a heard of elephants marching up the stairs at 5.30am.
Graeme didn’t hesitate to break the silence. “Right then, peeps. As we all very well know, it is pretty much impossible to get out of here at night. So I suggest this: we bring everything we need with us on the coach to the beach today. Then, when we get off the coach after we arrive back here, we sneak around the back of the building and make a run for it into the woods.”
“Erm, Graeme, just one question.”
“Yes, Katy.”
“I though we were camping on the cliff tops, not in the...”
Jenny interrupts. “We are, there is a shortcut through the woods that bring out at the main road. From there we take a path which will lead us directly through to where we want.”
Katy just nodded and pretended to understand. Drama was her strongest subject academically, but I could still tell that she got lost, and/or lost interest after ‘we are’.
I couldn’t help but wonder how we were supposed to fit duvets and pillows in to our oversized backpacks (courtesy of our parents). Wouldn’t the teachers and supervisors notice that our bags look exceptionally large? Time to doubt Graeme’s intelligence. “Graeme, excuse me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think you’ve though this through very well.”
“What? You don’t?” He sounded a tad puzzled.
“I mean, no offence to you or anything, but your plan has its flaws.”
“Like what?” Emily butts in. A tint of anger could be heard within her voice; once again she was becoming a little too defensive.
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but I have my suspicions about Emily and Graeme. When their eyes meet... who am I kidding, they don’t go well together at all. My supernatural ability to foresee the future (I wish!) tells me that Emily plus Graeme equals disaster. I have my theories though, okay, they’re not usually right, but I think I’m onto something with this one. There’s quite a few signals for proof, such as she’s: overprotective, overly concerned, nosy (and I don’t just mean normal Emily nosy, I mean scarily nosy) and for ever looking, no, staring at him.
Anyway, back to the story.
“Well, firstly, wouldn’t the teacher notice our freakishly big backpacks?”
“Everyone has big bags, we were told to bring big bags!” Emily snaps. (See what I mean?)
“Yeah, but not that big! Plus, we can’t fit all our equipment in it with the duvets and all that.”
“Forever the pessimist, aren’t we Leigh?” She hisses.
“No, Em, she has a point.” Graeme agrees with me, in order to prevent an unnecessary argument. Emily innocently looked at Graeme, then at me, and back at Graeme. “We need to fine tune this, any suggestions?”
All in all, our meeting lasted little under an hour, and after much dispute, our plan was finally complete. All of our duvets and pillows were to be put into mine and Emily’s suitcases; we were to pack all clothing (including our PJs) in our back packs before we set off to the beach this morning; when at the beach, we visit a nearby store so than Katy can buy what we need; and then, when we are let outdoors to ‘get rid of our energy’ doing what only could be described as torture (yes, you guessed it , sport), we make a run for it!
All six of us were excited. Anxiety rapidly ran through my body. Everything was starting to become so real. Only twelve hours to go!
Emily: the master of the rebels. For wall we came across, she would have an idea that could bulldozer it down. Don’t be fooled by her feminine exterior; her cunning will make up for all of that.
Kai: the experienced. We have been obliged to listen to his complaints about his annual camping holidays since he was five. At least some good came out of this torture – An experienced camper! (Yeah, should be helpful.)
Graeme: the wordsmith. Born with the amazing ability to talk his (our) way out of anything. Also, the comedian of the group; he has talent that is certain to make us laugh, even when we’re being devoured by big grizzly bears. (Not that they live in the cliffs of Yorkshire)
Jenny: the SatNav (Although her voice is not half as annoying). Knows her was around the area like the back of her hand (allegedly). Will, hopefully, not get us lost.
Katy: the supplier. Spoilt rotten and filthy stinking rich; she always manages to get what she wants. Daddy’s unbelievable amount of money should get us all we need... if only he knew what she wash splashing his cash on.
And Leigh (me): the tag-along. Pretty useless in the outdoors department: no money, no experience, no sense of direction whatsoever... just there for moral support really!
So that’s it: our team. We like to call ourselves ‘The Crew’ (so what if we have no creativity?) and sneak around, spy style, to our theme tune of ‘Smoke on the Water’.
Not too long (about half an hour) after the formation of The Crew, the crew decided to embark on their first mission. After much thought, we decided to call it: OPERATION: GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS DUMP OF A HOLIDAY. (Creative much?)
Yeah, you’re probably wondering who in the right mind would want to end a holiday early? Right? Wrong. It goes more like: Who in the right mind decided to go on this ‘holiday’ anyway? Fair enough, we might no be in the right mind, but we’re sane enough to realise that choosing to go on the four night school residential to the east coast was a Big mistake (with a capital B). It’s all ‘do this’, ‘look at that’, ’switch that light of it’s late at night’ (Yep, so late it’s past 7pm). Holidays are meant for relaxation, minus the bit about obeying the best part of a million rules while you’re at it.
So we – being the mentally challenged- concluded that camping, in the middle of nowhere, with no tent, plus a slight possibility of becoming something’s dinner, would be a much less strenuous experience. Of course, it came with its complications, such as how the heck are we supposed to sneak out of the death camp/big brother house?
Therefore, at the crack of dawn, all six inexperienced members of The Crew reluctantly woke up at the crack of dawn, ready to make the final preparations for the night ahead of us. We congregated in the girls’ room for three main reasons: 1. God only knows what lurks in the depths of the boys’ dorm; 2. It is a physical impossibility fitting the six of us in Kai and Graeme’s tiny shoe box; and 3.Nobody wants to be woken by a heard of elephants marching up the stairs at 5.30am.
Graeme didn’t hesitate to break the silence. “Right then, peeps. As we all very well know, it is pretty much impossible to get out of here at night. So I suggest this: we bring everything we need with us on the coach to the beach today. Then, when we get off the coach after we arrive back here, we sneak around the back of the building and make a run for it into the woods.”
“Erm, Graeme, just one question.”
“Yes, Katy.”
“I though we were camping on the cliff tops, not in the...”
Jenny interrupts. “We are, there is a shortcut through the woods that bring out at the main road. From there we take a path which will lead us directly through to where we want.”
Katy just nodded and pretended to understand. Drama was her strongest subject academically, but I could still tell that she got lost, and/or lost interest after ‘we are’.
I couldn’t help but wonder how we were supposed to fit duvets and pillows in to our oversized backpacks (courtesy of our parents). Wouldn’t the teachers and supervisors notice that our bags look exceptionally large? Time to doubt Graeme’s intelligence. “Graeme, excuse me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think you’ve though this through very well.”
“What? You don’t?” He sounded a tad puzzled.
“I mean, no offence to you or anything, but your plan has its flaws.”
“Like what?” Emily butts in. A tint of anger could be heard within her voice; once again she was becoming a little too defensive.
I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but I have my suspicions about Emily and Graeme. When their eyes meet... who am I kidding, they don’t go well together at all. My supernatural ability to foresee the future (I wish!) tells me that Emily plus Graeme equals disaster. I have my theories though, okay, they’re not usually right, but I think I’m onto something with this one. There’s quite a few signals for proof, such as she’s: overprotective, overly concerned, nosy (and I don’t just mean normal Emily nosy, I mean scarily nosy) and for ever looking, no, staring at him.
Anyway, back to the story.
“Well, firstly, wouldn’t the teacher notice our freakishly big backpacks?”
“Everyone has big bags, we were told to bring big bags!” Emily snaps. (See what I mean?)
“Yeah, but not that big! Plus, we can’t fit all our equipment in it with the duvets and all that.”
“Forever the pessimist, aren’t we Leigh?” She hisses.
“No, Em, she has a point.” Graeme agrees with me, in order to prevent an unnecessary argument. Emily innocently looked at Graeme, then at me, and back at Graeme. “We need to fine tune this, any suggestions?”
All in all, our meeting lasted little under an hour, and after much dispute, our plan was finally complete. All of our duvets and pillows were to be put into mine and Emily’s suitcases; we were to pack all clothing (including our PJs) in our back packs before we set off to the beach this morning; when at the beach, we visit a nearby store so than Katy can buy what we need; and then, when we are let outdoors to ‘get rid of our energy’ doing what only could be described as torture (yes, you guessed it , sport), we make a run for it!
All six of us were excited. Anxiety rapidly ran through my body. Everything was starting to become so real. Only twelve hours to go!