"Giving up on your goal because of one setback is like slashing your other three tires because you got one flat." -- Anonymous.

Warning: Just a little foul language.

- - - - -

Sam and her friends camp at Forest Hills at least once every year, if not more. She felt that every time they came, it just got better and better.

They had all went down to the waterhole a few minutes after Sally ran off; she jumped into the water, claiming that that was the only solution -- Carter and Chris laughed at that. They had had fun, splashing each other, racing, and lots more until they were freezing and their skin was shrivelled and pruned, not even the Sun warmed them. It was late afternoon when they got out and they immediately changed back into their clothes.

They had snacks, some took a nap and others relaxed. Liv, Cam and Gabs disappeared again. Sam wondered what they were always up to.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful since everyone was tired. In the night, when their energy returned a little, they played a game and told scary stories which resulted in Sally, Steph, Raj and, surprisingly, Brand, to run off, scared out of their skin. The group split up to look for them and after a while, they found them all in different parts of the forest.

Sam and a few others tried comforting them to which Jay-Jay and the rest laughed and laughed . . . and laughed at until their stomach's got sore and they were writhing on the forest floor.

Sam shone her flashlight at them and shook her head. She returned to their camp to gather some blankets -- it was getting pretty chilly -- and clutched an armful of them as she walked back to the rest, who were still trying to get the four of them to move.

As she walked on, she heard some twigs crack and saw a flash of yellow. She stopped dead in her tracks, knowing that it was not any of her friends -- they all had white LED flashlights -- and slowly glanced in that direction. After a while of staring into complete darkness -- except the light of her flashlight --, she sighed and carried on walking.

It's paranoia, imagination. Chill out, nothing's there, Sam told herself and repeated it in her head until she reached her friends.

They had done a successful job at moving Sally, Steph, Raj and Brand.

Sam covered each of their shoulders with a blanket and held out three more to anyone else who wanted. It was quickly snatched from her hands. Sam rolled her eyes at their exaggerated behaviour.

"Come on, guys. Let's go back to our camp," Sam said, pointing the flashlight in that direction.

They reached their camp and Sam immediately went into her tent, trying to find her phone. She found it in her bag and suspiciously looked at it, remembering that she had not put it there, but instead, left it on her sleeping bag. She also noticed that her backpack was closed and neatly placed on her sleeping bag.

Sam scanned through her memory and she confirmed her suspicion; she had left her backpack open and on top of her luggage bag.

Sam gave out a deep sigh and looked down at her phone.

It's just paranoia, she reminded herself, again.

She sent a message to her Uncle, as she promised she would. She threw her phone back into her bag and went out of her tent, joining the others at the fire they had made.

"Sam, here's a seat," Jay-Jay said, patting the place next to him and Steph.

"Thanks," she gave him a smile and sat down.

They placed chicken meat on a big, thick stick and put it over the fire. After a while, the meat was ready and they all ate hungrily.

"Marshmallows, anybody?" Max asked, passing around a packet of marshmallows.

"Here's the sticks," Sameer said, also passing a bunch of long, slender sticks around.

Everyone put their marshmallow on the stick and placed it over the fire. After they finished the packet, they got up and left the fire burning for light -- it would burn out in a few minutes.

Mishka yawned. "Let's call it a night, shall we?"

Everyone immediately agreed, all tired, and retired to their individual or shared tents.

"G'night, everybody," Sam heard Steph yell from her tent. She chuckled and mumbled a reply she was sure would not reach Steph's ears. She zipped her tent up so that nothing unwanted could come inside.

Sam slipped out of her clothes and put on her night clothes and her glasses were pulled off after. She looked around her tent and cleaned up a little before diving under the covers of the sleeping bag. She had spread a thin blanket in earlier, knowing that it would get colder in the night. She adjusted her pillow and zipped herself up, sleep almost immediately consuming her body.

- - -

The birds were chirping melodious tunes, some loudly and some distant. She heard the rustling of leaves and the gentle breeze. The water from the fountain was faint in the distance.

Sam's eyes slowly fluttered open and she closed them immediately as the bright Sun hit her delicate eyelids. It was still so bright through the tent's layers of fabric. She opened them again and got used to the Sun's bright rays soon after.

Sam got out of her warm cocoon -- it was a little too warm now -- and dressed into her clothes. She pulled her hair into a pony and slipped her glasses on.

Unzipping her tent, she stepped outside into the warm Sun and glanced at her watch. It was already past 9:00 am. It was a habit now to wake up early, but it seemed that yesterday was more tiring than she thought it was. She stretched her hands high above her head and spread her feet, feeling the stiffness leave her body. She walked off to the little sheltered area there was which contained a shower, a toilet, a basin and a mirror.

After she finished there, she walked to each tent and yelled, "Good morning! Rise and shine, everybody. It's a wonderful sunny day, so get out of your tents!" she was extra loud just to be annoying.

She heard groans and smiled, knowing that she had succeeded in annoying her friends.

"Shut the fuck up! I'm trying to sleep!" she heard someone yell.

She couldn't make out whose voice, but she could tell that it was the husky voice of a sleepy boy.

Sam started again. "Morning, guys. Lovely day today, isn't it?"

"Fucking hell! Shut that mouth of yours all ready!" this time she could tell it was a girl from her right.

"All of you shut up!" another girl.

Wow, Samantha thought, My friends are full of vulgar words today.

Not giving up, Sam walked over to the extinguished fire and and started to make a new one, making sure to be extra noisy. She took some canned food from her tent to make breakfast and once she emptied the ingredients, she drummed against them with two sticks.

After what felt like forever, some of them finally came out of their tents. Sam flashed them bright, happy smiles which they returned with scowls and glares.

To infuriate them further, she said, "Aw, why you so sad? Lighten up a lil," she finished that off by giving another set of drums to the cans which were quite battered by now.

Mari walked up to Sam and said, "Please, please, please stop that now. I'm begging you."

Sam cocked her head to one side, gave her a smile and lifted a finger to her chin as if she as thinking.

"Um . . . no, thanks."

Mari shook her head and gave her the finger before walking away.

After half an hour, everyone was sitting around Sam and eating the breakfast she made, still scowling and sending her glares. She ignored them all, knowing that neither of her friends were morning people -- only some of them were when they wanted to be -- and hummed a tune under her breath.

She took her usual morning run -- only in a different forest this time -- and returned to find them all still eating.

They seem super slow today, Sam thought.

She knew it would get better eventually, so she didn't mind them and their gloomy looks.

At around 10:20 am, Sam managed to get them all ready for the day. They looked a bit fresher, too, she noted. She looked around and noticed that Liv, Cam and Gabs were also there.

Sam frowned as she didn't remember seeing them last night when they all left for bed. She shrugged it off, deciding not to pry in their business and forgot about it altogether.

"Hey, Sam?" Max called her and gestured her over.

Sam waked over to him and sat down. "Yeah?"

He gave her a lazy grin. "You got something for headaches?"

She nodded. "You okay? You should have asked me last night. It would've helped you more."

"I only got it this morning," he said and gave her a look.

Samantha suddenly felt guilty and gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. I don't think I would have gotten out of bed if it wasn't for you."

Sam nodded, apologised again and got up to fetch him some tablets and a bottle of water. She gave it to him and went to Jay-Jay, who called her over.

I won't be surprised if everyone here wants to personally abuse me now, Samantha thought, thinking about what she did earlier and how angry they all were.

"What's up?" Sam asked as she set down next to him.

"Oh, nothing much. Only the fact that I've got a pounding headache that someone caused," he said.

"Oh, really?" Sam got up to fetch the tablets again and another bottle of water.

When she returned, she handed them to him.

"Sorry, Jay-Jay. I didn't realise I was that bad."

Jay-Jay laughed. "Actually, the drumming was really good. Just the part where you woke us up so early and so loudly was bad."

Sam nodded, not knowing what to say to that.

"Yo, Sam," Brand came and sat on her other side.

Sam nodded in acknowledgment. "Hey."

"So, do I even have to say it?" he grinned.

Samantha sighed. "I'm gonna hear it all day."

"You definitely are," George said, standing over her.

"Kill me now," Sam said.

Den laughed. "Aw. But, Sam. If we do that then we won't be able to be woken up so nicely anymore."

"Yeah, totally," Cam piped up.

"Where'd you learn to drum like that, Sam?" Raj asked.

Sam shrugged.

"Oh, come on. We wanna know. Don't keep this a secret also," Steph pushed.

Sam grinned, knowing what she was referring to. That camera stunt she pulled in Mr Cage's office was all thanks to her Uncle. He taught her how to do that.

"Yeah, Sam. We wanna know so we can wake you up like that, too," Sameer said.

Sam laughed, but still didn't say anything. She felt that the attention was starting to get a little too much.

Hazel and Jake scoffed at the same time and both said together, "She'll be awake long before you would be."

Sam always found it funny how they sometimes spoke in unison.

"Please do not do that," Paige pleaded.

Paige hated it when they did that, it was creepy.

"Do what?" they both asked together again.

Samantha had a feeling they did that to annoy her further.

"That!" Paige yelled.

"What?"

"Okay, okay. Hazel, Jake, stop that now. It's creeping me out," Marianna said and Mishka instantly agreed.

"How do you guys do that?" Gabs asked curiously.

"No idea," Jake said.

"It just happens, y'know," Hazel added.

Sam was glad that the attention was off her and now and on the twins.

Max stood up. "Okay, guys. I think we delayed enough. We should get going now."

"C'mon, people," Mishka stood up after Max and tried pulling each of those who were still sitting down.

"Seriously? Just get up already," she tugged harder on Natt's arms and gave up.

"What are you made of?"

Natt laughed and got up.

He dusted himself off and pulled Drake up, too, since he was still lazily sitting down.

"Dude, I can get up myself, okay."

"You obviously weren't."

Sam rolled her eyes as they pulled the rest up and they all got ready to start their day.

She grabbed her stick and slung her backpack on her shoulders. She carefully took her camera out of her luggage bag and put it around her neck. She had safely tucked it into a pocket in the bag to be safe when she had packed her bags.

She made sure the laces on her running shoes were tied and adjusted her glasses. She looked around at everyone and they all seemed ready to go.

"So here's the plan, guys," Jay-Jay said.

He looked at Steph and she shrugged her shoulders and pointed at Sam. Everyone's attention turned to her.

"Okay. We woke up late so I guess we'll do the proper plan tomorrow . . . if we wake up early. Hopefully we do. Anyways . . . ," Sam gave out many different ideas and said what she had in mind to do.

She then said her last one and that seemed the best of all because everyone agreed and excitement lit up their faces.

". . . So, at around two -- if our timing is perfect --, we'll sit up there . . . ," Sam pointed at the tip of one of the biggest hills there. ". . . And we'll have lunch. After that, we'll hike down a different route that crosses over one of the streams. We can take a little swim there if there's time and if there isn't, then we'll dip here at the waterhole," Sam ended her idea of what they'll do and when she saw their nods of approval, she started walking to the trail she had saw last time she was here.

Everyone followed her and she dropped back once they were further up; they could walk together as a group, they didn't need her as a guide.

They continued up the trail until they came to a bridge which they crossed over. They turned right and followed a small stream instead until they came to a hill. Sam told them to cross over it and the proper hike would start on the next hill.

After a lot of walking and a short rest, they came to the hill they would hike up right to the tip. They started up the path and had much more difficulty than the previous hill.

Forest Hills got its name from the amount of hills that it contained. Sam researched it on one of her first visits here.

At 2:15 pm, they made it to the tip of the hill. Sam took some pictures and they set out the food on the ground. A little later, they hiked down another path Sam showed them. It was much more quicker than coming up and they made it down in no time. They crossed over the stream Sam told them and around a while later, they made it back to the camp.

They dumped their things and raced each other to the waterhole. The rest of the day was spent very similar to the previous one. Sam sighed as she headed for bed, tired and sore. She had a feeling that it was going to be much more difficult to wake up the next morning than it was today.

Little did she know of the surprise that was waiting for her the next day.

- - - - -

Don't forget to vote comment and share the story! It'll make me unexplainably happy :)

Follow me on social media:
Instagram: crocodiletears__
Twitter: crocodileears__
                 (I typed it
                  incorrectly and
                  can't fix now :/) 

Peace,

Croc