Different Directions

Combing her hair, Caitlin wondered what it would have been like to go to university. Her mother would have been thrilled if she had chosen that path and, if she were being honest, would probably still be thrilled if she did what Cam did and dropped from the group to get a degree. Of course she couldn't blame Cam for leaving, after all a death is a serious thing, but she couldn't have picked a worse time to decide to pursue a degree. They were about to go on tour! She had taken them down to a four member group and that was going to cause some problems when it came to filling in for her.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a knock on her door. "Are you ready yet?" Louis called.

"Give me a minute," she replied, looking back at the mirror. This hike was not the best idea ever but clearly it was an idea by one of the guys, considering she would have never suggested it and highly doubted that any of the other girls would suggest a hike for something to do when they were supposed to be getting to know each other.

After a few more minutes of debating how to put her hair up, she ended up with a loose ponytail. She stood and grabbed her bag, pulling a face as she exited her room and went downstairs to find everyone except for Izzy congregated by the front door. "About time," Harry said sarcastically.

"I want you to know that I resent being outvoted about this hike." It wasn't that she disliked the outdoors, but rather it was the fact that she was currently on her period and disliked climbing out of bed on occasions due to the cramps. But apparently the fresh air will "do her good", or whatever that was supposed to mean. "Where's Izzy?"

"I'm here!" she replied, making Caitlin look back to the stairs where her friend was currently standing. "I had to make sure I have bug spray and hairspray because you never know how humid it's going to be." There was a mumbled comment by one of the boys but it was brushed off and they set off out of the house and into the outdoors. Thankfully she had remembered a watch to make sure they weren't out for too long.

After over an hour of trekking by Harry's directions, Izzy called for a break and found a rock to sit on while she pulled out her compact mirror. "My hair is ruined," she complained, drawing Caitlin's attention.

"I have some water you can use?" she offered, pulling her bag off. Izzy nodded and she passed her the water which she proceeded to soak her hand with before combing through her hair, attempting to tame it. She also gave Izzy a hairband after seeing her friend frantically look for one in her pockets.

As she was tightening her ponytail, a groan came from where the others were stood. "This is a bloody hike, not a salon," Louis snapped, irritated by their timewasting.

"Well sorry, but I actually care about how I look," Izzy shot back, jumping up with a squeal moments later. "Oh my god, there's a spider!"

Before Louis could open his mouth, Zayn stepped forward, picked the spider up and took it away to another place. He returned a moment later, spider-free. "There you go, it's all gone," he assured Izzy, who was currently several feet away from the rock she was just sat on.

"That was awfully nice of you," Caitlin said, flashing him a smile. Izzy nudged her before they all set off again, walking further away from the house. As Harry had decided to give up leading in favour of talking with Amelia, the group was now being led by Louis who wouldn't show anyone the directions. None of them knew where they were exactly going but what they did know was that their destination was supposed to be a lake. Every five minutes or so Caitlin would check her watch, anxious as the time kept passing by and all they got from Louis was an annoyed "I know what I'm doing" and silence.

After another hour of walking without finding anything, she'd had enough. "I am not going anywhere unless I see those directions," she said, stopping in her place and making everyone stop and look at her.

"I know what I'm doing," Louis retorted, looking back at the directions and frowning.

Amelia piped up. "I don't think you do. It was supposed to take us a little under an hour to reach our destination and it's safe to say that we've been out a lot longer than an hour without a glimpse of it in sight."

Caitlin leaned against a rock and folded her arms. She was happy to see that it wasn't just her who was doubtful about Louis' directions. However, none of the guys seemed willing to accept that their friend could have gotten them lost. "I'm sure we're going to get there soon," Liam reasoned, looking between the girls. "It's not that hard to read some directions."

"He's right," Niall agreed, "we can't be lost."

That made Logahn speak up. "We can't be lost? Who says? Clearly we're not on the right path." She gestured around, emphasising the fact that they were nowhere near to a lake or any body of water that wasn't contained without their bottles.

"And how would you know?" Harry snapped back.

"If it wasn't for your friend and her constant whining, maybe we would be there by now," Louis said, pointing at Izzy.

Outraged, she placed her hands on her hips. "Excuse me, but how is this my fault?"

Amelia pointed at Louis. "Don't you go blaming my friend. This is all your fault. You got us lost because you couldn't admit that you didn't know where we were going," she accused.

Harry raised his hands in the surrender defence. "Woah there, don't go blaming Louis. Maybe if your friends weren't so obsessed with how they looked we could have spent more time looking over the path to the lake before we got going," he said, looking at Caitlin and Izzy. Clearly these boys did not like getting blamed for something that was their fault.

For a moment there was silence as the words sunk in. No one wanted to be the one who said the next word and no one looked like they were going to continue with the hike. But Caitlin's feet were hurting and she really needed a toilet. "You know what? I'm done. I'm going to go back to the house, soak my feet and then look at my self in the mirror and be proud of the fact that my appearance made the mighty Louis Tomlinson unable to read some directions," she said, turning around and walking away.

A moment later she was joined by Zayn. "I couldn't let you make your way alone," he explained.

"I'm not like your friend. I can make my own way without getting lost."

He shrugged. "Maybe so, but I also don't want to stay around with the others. A hike sounded good but maybe we should all stick with music next time."