Saving Grace.

“The only true test of friendship is the time your friend spends on you.”
― John Marsden, Circle of Flight

***

“All the vampires walkin’ through the valley, they move west down Ventura boulevard!” Harry sang at the top of his lungs. I laughed as I nodded my head along to the song. The other boys had yet to get their license yet, so Harry offered up to drive as an apology for coming over late the previous night.

“Honestly, Harry. It’s no big deal. Not the first, and definitely not the last.” I laughed at him. He stuck his tongue out at me and grinned. He tuned up the music and kept singing along to Free Falling. The other boys threw out a few complaints for getting louder, but eventually settled back down to go to sleep or listen to their own music unaccompanied by Harry. In order to make it to our camping spot we had to pack everything into the car and get moving before the sun had even fully shown.

Going to the camping spot was like a get-away for all of us. The boys were soon to start Uni back and leave their homes, and me, until a few weekends from the start for a few short visits before the holidays rolled around. The spot was a get-away for Niall the most; he could go there and relax and forget for a while that he wasn’t at home in Ireland. Woods are like all the other woods all over the world: tall trees, steady streams, and the peacefulness of the sounds of the woods. He always took going back to school the hardest out of all the boys. Only being in the UK a few weeks, he was already starting to seem homesick to the rest of us, and the school year won’t make it any easier for him. That’s one of the main reasons we go camping before heading off to our studies; to forget and relax before a figurative living hell began for all of us.

Harry reached over and wiggled his finger near my face while he continued to sing along to the radio. I swatted it away and tried my best to put on an annoyed face. He just smiled away and kept going. Harry, surprisingly, is one of the most mature acting of the group. Louis and he have known each other since primary school and had grown up together. They’re a strange combo, the two of them. Harry acts like the more mature one, knowing when it’s the right time to act adult and official; Louis acts like life is a party, joking with anyone and everyone regardless of their relationship to him. Their complete differences balance their relationship out and making them as close as brothers. But, they’ve gotten a lot of hell for being so close. Being shoved around, called names, physically hit. It’s sickening that bullying to that degree still existed well into Uni, but they say it’s fine. They cope with it. Louis got Harry’s back and Harry has Louis’. Any hostility or negative feelings that come from it, they take out playing football. They’re pretty talented with their sport and even have recruiters coming to see them from all around.

“We’re finally here!” Harry shouts, causing everyone to jump. Everyone lets out their own complaint of Harry’s rude awakening (some literal), and we all piled out of the car. We each grabbed our own share of equipment and belongings from the trunk and started setting up our ‘camp’.

--

“Harry, help me over here, will ‘ya?” Liam groaned as his attempt at a tent fell over for the fifth time. Harry, having finished his tent a few minutes prior to the request, groaned from his spot in his camping chair, “But I’ve already done my share.”

“The least you could do for singin’ the whole way here, yeah?” Liam huffed, finally kicking the tent in defeat. Harry sighed in defeat and began making his way to Liam as Louis came running from the woods with armfuls of logs and sticks in his hands.

“Whose bright idea was it to send me in there alone?! Do you know how many dangerous things could have gotten me?!” He shouted as he laid all his findings in the middle of our circle that was slowly forming.

“Oh, right,” he smiles as he sits in Harry’s camping chair and leaned back some, hands behind head, “keep at it boys! By this pace, we should be done by sunset, yeah?”

“Well, if a certain Doncaster boy would help us out some, we’d be done a lot faster.” Zayn grunted from the ground where he began starting the fire up.

“That’s Doncaster man to you, Mister Bradford.” He sang as he finally stood from Harry’s chair and walked to Zayn to help. I laughed and shook my head, continuing to help Liam prepare food to cook for the night. We’ve been coming to this camping spot for years now and still don’t have a set order for anything; it’s do as you please and go as you go, just so long as the jobs get done by the end of the day.

“Is the food done yet?” Niall groaned.

“Almost, Niall. Keep calm.” I rolled my eyes and smiled at him.

“I’m going to go for a jog down to the lake, yeah? I’ll be back before the food is served!” Harry calls, grabbing a bottle of water and taking off. Harry had started to jog before dinner when we came up here about a year or so ago. One day Liam and Zayn had created a small trail that reached the lake and back so we could go anytime we’d like without getting lost and it’s only gotten bigger and bigger since Harry began using it as his running trail.

I looked to Liam and he nodded in understanding, “I’m going.”

He quickly stood up, striped himself of his shirt and took off after Harry. It was getting awfully dark and we never venture out into the woods alone around this time, even for such a small trail.

“Okay, lads. Have you dragged the picnic table over?” I questioned, looking to Louis and Zayn. They rolled their eyes, mumbling about having to do hard labor, and went to drag the old picnic table we had found a few years back over to our grill.

Niall and I began wiping down and setting the table once it was dragged over as we heard Harry and Liam’s voice’s coming back, yelling at each other about some nonsense. They came running over, sweaty and out of breath, and sat down beside and across from me. I shook my head at them as their banter continued and began giving them each their portion of the food.

“Alright, everyone. Dig in.” I said, finally sitting down after I gave them each their own. They smiled gratefully at me and did as told.

“Grace, this is amazing, you’ve really outdone yourself with this batch.” Zayn moaned as he took another bite of his food.

“Never leave again, your food is superb.” Louis added in, finishing off his first plate and beginning on his second. I looked to Harry, as he usually adds in to the food conversation and see him hardly eating. I frowned at him as he looked up to me.

“Harry, eating this one meal isn’t going to ruin your body or anything. Eat up, I worked hard.” I tried, giving him a sheepish smile and grabbing his hand resting on the table. He frowned, looking back down at the food, but then looked back at me, returning the smile and then began really eating, enjoying the food just as much as the other boys. Louis began snickering and shaking his head and I just gave him a confused look, laughing along with the other boys.