Kiss of A Titan
Chapter 46

Early next sunrise, the team led by the coach except the newcomers got ready for the usual morning drill of hiking around the mountain just like the first day had been and it took us quite a mile to jog around the designated mountain path as previously chosen by Coach Robbins. It was breathtaking for all of us even when we had completed venturing half of the journey of reaching the checkpoint where we had to return back to camp for breakfast. Returning back to the camp was very much difficult for the girls including myself as well but not for the boys who were at the forefront jogging behind Coach Robbins and were leaving us behind. Richard soon took notice that the line was falling apart and that some of the girls were far behind. He had Coach Robbins stop the march at a safer spot for the boys to rest but more importantly gather everyone together so as no one gets left behind in the forest that was fraught with danger in spite of the fact that it was broad daylight. Sent along with two of the bigger boys in our team by Coach Robbins, Richard went back to see help out with the girls that were finding it difficult to catch up with them and they succeeded in getting the girls from straying from the right path.

"I'm sure that's all of them", William said, putting his hand on his waist.

"Richard, we should go back", the other boy said.

"Alright...wait a minute", "What now?", "I feel tired already", "I sure we didn't see Rosalie among the girls we met", "Maybe we missed her on the way", "Most likely, I'll go find her. You two can leave if you want to", "You sure, you don't need backup", "There's no need. You guys look tired already and perhaps, she's close by", "Okay if you say so. William, let's go back", "I'll take it from here. You can help the girls find their way back on your way back to the others", William and the other boy left whilst Richard went to find me. I had taken some time to rest my weary legs at a nearby ridge after failing to catch up with the girls who were earlier in front of me. Because of that, I unfortunately was left behind by the girls and obviously derailed from the right path to a nearby valley which was quite sloppy for me to climb but Richard soon found me heading in a different direction a couple of minutes after his friends left him. He shortly appeared amongst the trees at the opposite side of the valley and called out to me.

"Over here!", I turned around and saw him waving to me as soon as I heard his loud voice. There was contempt written on my face when I saw him but I knew it would do me no good if I refused to follow him and ventured on the wrong path. I took a step back to turn around but I missed my next footstep and accidentally fell down the valley. He came to my rescue soon after I was done getting up my feet only to find that I had bruised my left ankle during the fall. He saw that the sore was bleeding and that I felt a serious pain each time he tried touching my feet.

"This is not good...", "I can see that", I said and groaned sharply when he tried moving my feet after taking off the sneakers.

"We need to wash the blood off first to stop it from getting infected", I scoffed rudely and he felt surprised at this.

"What's wrong?", "I can't tell if you have some medical skills but there's no water around here", "I know that...", He said and looked around. Then he left me to climb the valley and from there, he saw a brook twenty kilometers away from where the accident took place. He came back and found me getting up from the ground.

"There's a stream not far from where we are", "That's good then", I replied wiping off dirt from the shorts I wore. It took me by surprise when he offered his back but I refused even when I knew I could barely walk.

"Get on my back", "Thanks but I can walk”, I said and limped forward but I fell down only to suffer more excruciating pain from the wound. I let out a sharp scream and clung on the injured part of my leg. "This won't do. It would be faster if I help you out", He said as soon as he came to help me stand up.

"I said I'm fine", I replied stubbornly, pushing his hands aside. He saw that I wasn't ready to listen to him and grabbed me around my torso and hauled me up in his arms with my legs dangling in mid air. I was aghast at this but he seemed resolute and determined to carry me instead of allowing me to walk. An hour later, we were already at the brook and he helped get the wound washed carefully till the bleeding stopped.

"Hold still", He said as soon as he was done with the wound. He was about to take his shirt off as he squatted beside me and I felt infuriated at this.

"What are you doing?", "Removing my shirt...", He answered in bewilderment.

"It doesn't look it", He chuckled when he realized that I must have thought of something else and pulled off his shirt leaving his entire torso exposed for me to see his biceps and smooth albs.

"I'm not going to harm you if that's what you're thinking", "Then why did you take your shirt off?", I answered, trying to suppress the sensation I was already feeling inside.

"I just want to cover the wound, at least before make it back to camp", "But that's all stained with sweat", "You got a better idea?", He asked, taking the injured feet in his hands and tied the wound with his jersey. As soon as he was done, I wrench my feet away from and stood up to leave. He sensed that I was angry and stopped me from leaving.

"What's wrong with you?", "Nothing", I said but my eyes betrayed me.

"I can see that you are angry about something. Is it me or...", "It's nothing. Let's just get back to camp", I replied and limped away from him. He thought for a while about how I reacted to him and came back to confront me. He paused searching my countenance for some positive reaction but all told him that I was mad at him for some reason I was refusing to tell.

"Is it because of Lori?", He asked for my response but I was defiant and refused to answer. I walked away from him the second time to avoid his persistent questions but doggedly, he followed me from behind and soon caught up with me within a short distance away from entering the forest. Then he grabbed me by the hand as soon as he got to where I was.

"Tell me what the problem is", "I thought I said it's nothing....I just don't want to be seen around with you", I replied and glared at him but he could see that there were tears in my eyes.

"By any chance.....", "What do you want to say now?", "That's impossible", He muttered to himself but I overheard him.

"What's impossible?", "I know this might sound weird but did you by any chance hear the conversation I had with Clyde?", He inquired. He would have believed me if I had denied the truth but I was already so mad about it that I couldn't stop myself from telling him the truth.

"So what if I did?", I asked, still bewitched with anger.

"Listen to me...It's not what you think. Clyde was the one who invited her here and...", "And I absolutely don't care anymore!", I screamed at him and understanding how hurt I felt, he let go of my hand. Trying to hide my tears, I walked away from leaving him behind with barely enough strength I had left to drag my leg along the path I took into the forest heading in no particular direction.

My mind was completely filled with the thought of getting far away from him and I hadn't wandered far off into the woods when he started tracking my movements. As I went further into the forest, trying to find the right path with the best I can to keep walking, I unknowingly came across a hunter's trap lying underneath some shrubs which triggered the moment I stepped on it and what followed was three sticks, each having a sharp pointed edge.

All three weapons flew in my direction from whence it had been hidden but Richard was fast enough to save me just in time from being killed by the trap. It was after we both fell to the ground that I saw that the sharp wood barely missed Richard by his left bicep leaving behind a sharp cut on it.

I was frightened to the marrow and hardly realized that I was lying beside Richard with my hair all over his face. He was the first to get up from the ground and he helped get me up from the ground. The fall had instilled a fresh wound on the same sore and I knew at that moment that I was in no position to move further. He tightened the jersey around my feet, binding it harder than he did earlier.

"There's no time. I'll have to carry you", "But I-", "Coach and the others might be getting anxious by now. We've have to get back ASAP", He said, offering his back once again. At first, I was reluctant but I obeyed even though I really wanted to refuse his help but it was clear that I was out of any option to walk on my own. With me on his back, we got back to meet the others already waiting for us at the camp and they were surprised that he returned with his shirt off whilst carrying me on his back. I was given first aid treatment from the list of things in the storage tent and was instructed to spend the entire day in one of the tents which inevitably exempted me from partaking in the activities Coach Robbins had planned for everyone.

It was only until everyone had settled down for camp fire-night that I was allowed to come out of the tent to have fun with the others since it was the last day of the camp. Opportune to have a private discussion with Richard, Lori took him aside from the center of the fun where a small blazing bonfire was lit as part of the celebration upon the instruction of the Coach.

She had led him to a quiet corner where they could hardly be disturbed by anyone with the intention of talking to him and knowing the obvious. Richard already knew this would happen but he followed her even though he knew we saw them as they left the gathering.

"I already know what you are gonna say but it's not happening", Richard said effortlessly, trying to make their discussion brief.

"So you wanna forget what we had and chase another girl, huh?", "It's not what you think", "You expect me to believe that? I want us to patch things up but that won't happen if you keep fooling around with someone else", "Rosalie isn't someone else...She's different", "Is that it? You act as if you are some kind of protector or something but you and I know clearly that you are not", "Fine, I agree that I'm not. Are we done here?", Richard questioned holding back his anger. "No, we aren't. I know I made a mistake in the past but still...", "There's nothing left for us to talk about", Richard retorted, cutting her short. Lori looked around for a while and saw me from afar chattering with Paige and the others. "So, you don't want to talk because of her, right?", She asked after a prolonged silence between them. Richard didn't answer and walked away from her but she yelled at him as he was heading back to camp. "There's nothing special about her and you know that's true!", Richard stopped walking and returned back to her infuriated by what she said.

"Yeah, you are right... There's nothing special about her but do you know what special about you?", "What's special about me?", She inquired with a bit of hope that Richard had come to his senses. "You are viciously evil, that's what and if you hadn't tried drowning her to death, maybe I would have been glad to listen to you right now...It's over between us and I sure mean it", He walked away after giving her a stern warning. Afterwards, Lori returned as well and it was clear that she was hurt after their conversation since we all saw her sobbing quietly as she went back to one of the tents without joining the thrilling celebration around the campfire like Richard did. From where I sat beside Paige near the glowing campfire, I saw him walking towards the tent where he slept the previous night instead of joining his teammates at the campfire. Only a few noticed that Lori and Richard were absent but they didn't feel bothered believing that they might have had some sort of argument which had been inevitably forthcoming ever since Lori arrived at the camp. After the fun ended, Linder was the first to inquire about Richard's absence from the whole fun which they all planned together and Clyde was the first to ignore him.

The others did the same thing and left to chat with the girls aloof from the campfire except for Linder. Linder became upset and went to see Coach Robbins in his tent. Katherine was among the girls who followed them and didn't quite show much interest in Linder's inquiry of Richard's whereabouts. So did all the girls who were talking with them. Paige and I were the only ones left alone sitting down by the campfire. As a result, the frenzy noise that had been hovering around the campfire soon died off. Only the noise of the campfire crackling was the only thing that I could hear as Paige and I remained seated in silence. It was only after the boys had left us alone that I realized that the night had gone far too cold and I was thinking it best to turn in for the night.

I glanced towards Richard's tent to see if he was going to come out but he didn't and I felt disappointed. Paige noticed that I wasn't paying much attention to what she had said about Richard before Linder left and tossed a stick on the crackling campfire. I brought my head back to stare at the others along with Paige and tighten my knees to endure the brewing chilly breeze.

"Aren't you cold....?", She asked when she noticed I wasn't looking.

"What? What did you say?", I questioned when I failed to hear what she said.

"I asked if you are cold since you keep rubbing your hands", She explained looking elsewhere. I looked blankly at my hands as though it wasn't mine.

"I guess I am...", "You didn't realize you were", Paige said and hauled a stone into a nearby bush, "You got your head all wrapped in something, don't you?", "Most likely...", I replied and looked away. Then I shuddered as soon as I felt the cold grow stronger and effortlessly drew the sleeves to cover the edges of my palm in an attempt to keep my hands warm but it didn't budge no matter how hard I pulled the fabric.

"Is it Richard or.....?", "No, Not him", Paige shrugged after she heard my response and took a brief moment to gather her thoughts before responding, "If not him, then...it could be Lori", she guessed again, Then she threw another stone into the dark bushes. The stone skillfully spun higher in mid-air, surfing in the direction where she wanted it to go away from her teammates. Then it sloped down as it kept losing velocity to keep going higher and fell into the heart of the dark shrubs which served as a perimeter to the camp. The movement of the stone was quite similar to the ball often thrown in the basketball court and at that moment of watching the curvature of stone in midair before it got swallowed by the rustling bushy plants, I saw Paige to be a basketball player, like those players I frequently see on television, with the skill to bend the direction of the stone according to her will which amazed me profoundly.

***

If only I had the ability to bend things my way with Richard like the way Paige did with the stone, then I wouldn't be thinking too much about what Lori and Richard had talked about but instead be enjoying the fun camping out in the woods so late at night despite the cold wind. So I thought as I sat close to Paige whom I looked in awe at even though she would laugh at my thought if ever I told her about how heroic she looked after throwing the stone.

I wanted to share my thoughts with her about Lori but I decided to keep my opinion about the warring cheerleader to myself and wanted to spend a few minutes outside before turning in early for the bed. "You can throw pretty well", I complimented changing the line of discussion but she only scoffed and remained silent.

"You mean....?", "The stone...", I replied feeling timid and grinned shyly the moment it became awkward to explain what I truly meant. Paige only stared at me and realized what I was talking about. "Oh...that", she smiled at me and smirked in childish that I felt relieved, "That's nothing", "That's not what I saw. You really nailed that throw", I replied and we both chuckled.

"It probably because I have a hobby with throwing balls", "Like basketball?", "Not really but....beach volleyball was kinda my thing in the past so....I guess I haven't lost all the skills yet", "Hmm...Just as I had thought", We went silent for a brief moment but I wasn't done talking.

"I didn't know you were this quiet", "I'm being quiet because there's no one to talk to", "But I'm here", "And you don't know a thing about me, so, It's better if we keep staring at the fire and be quiet than talk about things that don't matter", I felt my tongue glued to my palette after Paige's response and at that moment, I heard someone coming out of the tent close by. I turned around and saw that it was Richard. He most likely wanted to remind his teammates or the Coach that it was almost midnight and it was way past the hour for everyone to go retire for the night in each of the tents. I thought he saw me but I was quick to notice that he was looking in the direction of his friends. Then he decided to walk towards the other side of camp taking along with him a hefty torchlight.

Apparently, he was dressed in the same overalls that I saw him wear the other night with Clyde and it was obvious he was going to keep watch for the night. I looked around to check if Lori was out of her tent but it was too dark to decipher if she was still inside. Then I looked in the direction of Richard's teammates and found out that they knew nothing about Richard's plans to keep watch at night.

At first, I thought he was going to inform the Coach who was surprisingly absent from the night gathering that it was already getting late for everyone to remain outside and I was surprised to see that Linder was already back from where he went to see Coach Robbins but was lost in the jokes the boys were telling girls. I glanced at the route Richard took after he came out of his tent and saw his shadow accompanying the beams of his torchlight to the back of his tent, in the direction of the woods.

Paige watched me as I stood up and perceiving that I was going to bed, she returned to play with the campfire. She saw that I was engrossed in staring at the dark end of Richard's tent and became fed up that I wasn't making any move to leave.

"You want to turn in for the night?", "What? I....uh...", I stammered the moment I recovered from the trance. She smiled as her eyes glittered before the fire, "Forgive me.....I didn't quite hear you this time around", "It's okay. There's no need to be upset about it. You're already tired and want to leave for bed anyway, so...you can go ahead and sleep if you want to", she said, still looking at the fire and rested her head on her knees.

"What about you? Aren't you going to sleep before Coach comes?", I asked but she remained calm and quiet as ever.

"I will when I feel that the time is right, besides, he hasn't given orders for everyone to go to bed yet", she explained.

I wanted to return back to my seat but something that I had wanted to tell Richard after we came to camp prevented me from leaving Paige alone. I felt bad but it was by far urgent to snatch the opportunity to talk to Richard now that everyone wasn't paying attention to his private adventure in the woods.

"Suit yourself then. See you in the morning", I said and left, not waiting to find out if Paige heard me or not and went towards the direction Richard took to scour around his tents. I found Richard staring blankly at the dark sky alone by himself when I got to where he was standing and I knew at once that he was thinking about something. My doubts became clear when he failed to notice that I was standing a few meters behind him. Five minutes, I stood there wondering what he was doing and he remained lost in thought.

Even his torch was dangling loosely in his right hand. I became impatient and wanted to touch him but he suddenly brought himself back to the present and turned around. His unexpected turn caught me off guard and I was taken aback, very much startled because of him.

"Wh....? Rosalie..., is that you?", He asked pointing his torch at me and at once, the beaming rays from the torch struck my eyes. Luckily, I was quick to shut my eyes and I had to shade off the lights with my hands before it could hurt me any further.

"Get that thing off my face!", I shrieked at him and he obeyed. "Oops, sorry for that", He apologized and strode to where I was.

"What...are you doing out here?", he asked as he came to meet me, "I thought you would be in your tent by now....", "I could ask you the same thing", "It's pretty much obvious that I am going to keep watch while everyone else's sleeping in their tents", "But then, what were you doing looking up there like a child?", I asked and gestured at the opaque bare sky which lay bare without a moon. I thought he would feel embarrassed but instead, he was defiant and drew himself back. Clearly, his conversation with Lori had upset him greatly and he had apparently been very much unsettled by what they had discussed.

"Something...got me thinking, that's all", He replied evasively.

"And what would that be?", "It's nothing....Have you been staring at me?", "Of course not! Why would I be?!", I retorted fervently and he felt reassured even though he wasn't in the mood to talk to me.

"Okay....If it's nothing then, you should go back to bed. It's almost midnight", He said making a move to leave but I stopped him.

"Wait...", He stopped and turned to face me. I moved closer to him but his torch grazed my face once again.

"Stop doing that!", I screamed and he did but he chuckled lightly. I became infuriated at him and sneered at him. He didn't seem fazed nor did he apologize for his offense.

"Whatever you've to tell me, be fast about it. Coach will be out any second", He said looking at me straight in the face. I wanted to speak but I felt nervous. He wasn't interested in talking and it seemed he was bent on leaving rather than listen to what I had to tell him. I summoned enough courage left inside of me to share my thoughts knowing very well he wasn't ready to pay attention nor was he in the right state to hear what I had said. “I....just wanted to say...I'm sorry for how I acted towards you earlier...", I stuttered and felt a bit embarrassed at myself.

"And?", "And....I'm grateful for you helping me find my way back to camp even though I didn't deserve it. I could have really gotten in a lot of trouble for being lost in the woods if not for what you did....", This time, I wasn't looking directly at him. I lowered my head and stole two glances at his face but he kept quiet. I suspected he wasn't expecting that I was going to thank him for bringing me to camp regardless of how I treated him.

"You needn't thank me. I...was just doing what a teammate would do if someone got lost", "But still...", "Coach would have been mad at us if one of the girls had been left behind and I was just lucky to have found you, that's it, anything else?" he inquired about wanting to leave. His reaction was by far disappointing but I felt reassured that he didn't feel bad about what happened.

"Yes..... When we get back, it would be best if you don't tell anyone about what happened between us in the woods", "Is it the fact that you got injured or...", "You know what I mean", I replied and blushed childishly. It took him quite a few minutes to recall how we both fell on each other's arms after narrowly escaping being killed by the hunter's trap.

"Fine...I won't tell though I'm not that kind of a person", "Glad to know that", I said, smiling wistfully. Then I left him first and headed back to the campfire. Paige was missing from where she was when I got there and so were Clyde and the others but they had left the fire burning right in the middle of camp. I figured that a few of the boys might return to join Richard for the watch that night. Realizing that they had all gone to bed, I went to spend the night in the same tent I had slept with Lori and the other girls.