Taming The Bad Boy By Ivy Coleman Chapter 23

As Sam walked into the camp he couldn’t help but release a yawn as he flung his arm over his mouth and yawned into the material of his hoodie. His brown eyes swept around the camp as he caught sight of dead looking students all tiredly dragging themselves around, eating out of plastic containers.

Sam was passed a container as he turned around to pass it to Hunter and then get another one for himself. However, as Sam turned around he watched as Hunter accepted a container off Carter, who slapped Hunter’s shoulder with a grin and called him over.

Sam watched as Hunter turned to him, resting his large hand on Sam’s head before ruffling his locks. With his empty tone he told Sam, “See you later, Bambi.”

Sam nodded but silently wished that Hunter would have stayed. Hunter had not related to being hidden withdrawn, though Sam pinned it down to him not returning to being his old self, ignoring Sam or being bitter towards him… not used to opening up to anyone.

Last night, when Hunter had finished telling Sam about his past, Sam had gone to comfort Hunter but Hunter rolled over and told Sam to go to sleep as he turned off the lights. This morning when he woke, Hunter was already up and getting dressed as he handed Sam his clothes and told him to get dressed as well. Although Sam wished Hunter would just let him comfort him, Sam knew that Hunter probably never told anyone about his past and that it was hard for someone as closed off as himself to open up. Yet he did and so Sam didn’t push him any further.

Sam searched the crowd of zombies for Happy and Kay who had finished eating. He spotted them sitting on the ground not too far away. As Sam walked over he saw that Happy had yet again got his arm wrapped around Kay’s shoulder.

His other arm was back behind him, hand leaning against the floor as his body slightly tilted back. Kay was sat up, his legs bent so his thighs pressed to his chest as his arms wrapped around his legs.

Sam walked over as he sat down in front of the two crossed legged. Happy smiled at him. “Heya, Sam.”

Sam smiled back before he turned and gazed his eyes over the tired students.

“I wonder what we’re doing today?”

Kay scoffed as he tiredly rested his chin against his kneecaps. “Probably something boring.”

Happy chuckled as he pinched Kay’s cheek. “He’s just in a mood cuz’ ‘e’s not a mornin person.”

Sam squinted his eyes at the wavy locks producing from Happy’s head. “Your hair has grown a lot, Happy.”

Happy reached up as he ruffled the black, wavy locks. “Yeah—needs cutting again.”

Kay turned his head as mumbled under his breath. “I don’t think you should cut it.”

Smirking cheekily, Happy leaned in, his hand pinching Kay’s cheek once again. “Guess I’m letting it grow out then.”

Sam nodded as Kay batted away Happy’s hand. Sam smiled as he looked between the two of them. “You two seem a lot closer now.”

Kay and Happy both blinked as they glanced at each other. Kay looked at Happy then back at Sam then back at Happy. “Is he for real right now?” Happy nudged Kay with his elbow as he leaned close to Kay’s ear. “Leave ‘im be. Let ‘im keep his innocence whilst he still can.” Happy laughed as he scratched the nape of his neck before addressing Sam. “Well you know what they say about nature… brings… people… together?”

Kay made a ‘tch’ noise as he looked away. “No one says that, idiot.”

Happy leaned up with a grin as he wrapped his other arm tightly around the front of Kay’s shoulders, almost pulling Kay into a headlock type stance as Kay growled, hitting Happy’s arm. “Call me that again, go on.” Happy teased loudly as he sat up on his knees and leaned his chest against Kay’s back, almost squishing the thin boy.

“Okay. Okay. Let go of me you—Happy. People are starting to look.” Kay mumbled with red cheeks as Happy let go and sat back down again.

He shrugged. “So, who cares?”

Sam glanced around again as he caught sight of Hunter sitting beside Carter on a log opposite of where the trio were sitting. Sam watched as he observed the two but thankfully spotted no signs of romantic behaviour and just friend type.

Mr Hornton’s voice called out loudly across the camp, the only one to be awake and alert. It was like watching a military captain try to lead a group of uncooperative troops.

“RIGHT. LISTEN OUT FOR YOUR NAMES.” He yelled through a cupped mouth as everyone fell silent. “You’ll be split into teams of four. Team 1. Team 2. Team 3. Team 4. I want you to find a partner in this team who you’ll be working together with. Right.”

And as he said that he started reading out the list.

“Team 1. Joel. Henry. Charlie. Spencer. Kay. Luke…”

Happy waited with clenched fists that were just waiting to be fist pumped into the air when he was called onto the same team as Kay but as Mr Hornton clapped his hands together and told Team 1 to go stand to the far left of the camp Happy soon realised he was not on the same team.

“WHAT?!” He yelled as he kicked his foot out, sending dirt and dust spiralling into the air. “WHAT THE HELL IS THIS BULLSHIT?”

Although Happy was yelling this it was not in an aggressive manner as Happy was rarely ever angry, but more of one of disbelief and hurt.

Kay rolled his eyes as he got up and left the whining boy to grovel on the ground. He got up as he walked over to the far left and teamed up with the silent Charlie.

“Alright! TEAM 2! Kyle. Dale. Jordan. Happy. Carter, Peter. Vihaan.”

Happy huffed as he got up and stood in the opposite corner on his far right.

Luckily, Happy was so friendly he knew everyone in that team and so he partnered up with Carter who he had played ball with a few times.

“Hey man” Cater grinned as he slapped hands with Happy. Happy nornaly grinned back and the two were just like happy, excited puppy’s who couldn’t out smile each other. Yet Happy’s smile was weaker than Carter’s as he glanced over at Kay all the way across the other side.

“TEAM 3! Josh. Junior. Aarav. Hunter. Jermaine. Bear.”

Sam slumped, his hopes falling as he watched Hunter’s lean body get up and walk to the left corner opposite of Kay’s left corner. Hunter paired up with Bear, the two tallest and burliest of the group as they stood silently side by side.

“TEAM 4! Lyle. Cartwright. Michael. Andre. Sam. Douglas.”

Sam got up, thankful he was in the same group as at least one person he knew well. He walked over towards the right corner opposite Happy as Lyle waved at him.

“Sam. Let’s partner up.” he smiled as Sam nodded, somewhat relaxed.

Hunter’s eyes followed Sam, his stance fell protective the minute he heard Sam’s name called along with Lyle’s. However, when Hunter looked over because there was a boy standing in front of Lyle and Sam, from Hunter’s perspective it looked as if he and Sam were partnered up and so this put him at ease a little bit.

“Alright. Now that you’ve found your partner you will be with them for the whole of the task and will not be swapping no matter what. Each time a pair wins the point goes to whichever team they are on and the team with the most points in the end will be rewarded with some junk food I snuck in. The losing team will be eating just beans and will have to gather up as much wood for a fire as possible.”

Although the punishment and the reward were nothing great, everybody was suddenly motivated to win at the simple thought of eating all those sweets and chocolates after they had been eating beans and bits of meat. No one also wanted to go collecting firewood as Mr Hornton was super fussy and would not allow you to come back until you had gotten just the right type of twigs.

He’d send you back and make you start all over again even if you had been searching for hours.

And so, with that each one was paired up with another;

Happy and Carter

Sam and Lyle

Hunter and Bear

Charlie and Kay

Each pair stalked through the never-ending woods as they sauntered about batting away broken twigs and fallen branches. They searched for the pieces of paper so stupidly hidden away with riddles curved pathetically on them as they groaned and moaned all the way there.

No one wanted to participate in this stupid task, yet no one wanted to just not play and lose out on the junk food they had been cruelly made to go cold turkey on.

The first pair to find the first riddle was Hunter and Bear as Hunter’s calculating eyes easily spotted the corner of the crumpled paper hiding under a bush. When Hunter grasped it and showed it to Bear he watched as Bear turned to him and shrugged slowly. Although strong and brave, Bear was not the smartest cookie in the cookie jar. Hunter said nothing as he read over the riddle.

You heard me before, yet you’ll hear me again. Then I’ll die, till you call me again.

Hunter walked on as Bear followed behind, picking up a stick and casually beating it against the ground. Hunter turned his body, shuffling into a small cave before he reached out and plucked the second riddle from the cave wall.

Bear blinked before he lifted up the branch. “How’d you know?”

Hunter shrugged, bored. “Echo.”

With that the pair went on to read the second riddle before quickly moving onto the third as the other pairs had yet to find their first riddle.

Kay and Charlie trudged through the woods, Kay groaning as he stamped his feet heavily as if the world was weighing him down. He too dragged a stick from the palm of his hand but instead of beating it down on the ground like Bear did he dragged it behind him.

Charlie calmly observed the area before finding a piece of paper hidden under some rocks. He grasped it as Kay stood behind him with furrowed brows.

“What the hell does that even mean?” Kay frowned before his eyes widened.

“OOOH I KNOW IT’S YOU CHARLIE!”

Has a mouth but never speaks, has a bed but never sleeps.

Charlie turned his head towards Kay as he narrowed his eyes in a ‘bitch—really?’ vibe before he continued on and discovered the next riddle near the river. Kay scratched his head, “Oh… a river. Yeah, I knew that.” Happy and Carter laughed throatily as they slapped each other’s arms. “Yeah, I know! Me too, man” Happy chuckled.

Carter laughed as he ruffled his blond locks. “Isn’t that so cool. I would have never have known you liked that too”

Happy laughed as he stopped, hands deep in pockets as he scratched his tuffs and glanced around. “Where’s the riddle at?”

Carter stopped, peaking between the blonde strands of hair as he shrugged. “I dunno…”

“..Ah well! It isn’t about winning.” Happy shrugged.

Carter nodded with a grin. “It’s about the taking part…plus…basketball is so much cooler.”

“YEAH!” The two screamed in sync as they high fived each other, the slap echoing through the forest. Carter slung his arm around Happy’s shoulder as Happy turned to him, the two of them walking straight past the riddle hidden under the tree.

“You know you remind me of someone, but I can’t place who…”

***

“Oh! What about here—no.”

“HOW ABOU—no.”

Lyle watched with a chuckle as Sam bounded about trying to find the riddle.

Everywhere he searched he could not find one. It was not until he started to get deflated and bored that Lyle pointed and Sam slowly craned his head up.

Sam inhaled as he scratched the crown of his caramel locks. “Ah man… why did we have to get the one up in the tree?”

Lyle looked over at Sam as Sam looked over at him. Lyle was only an inch taller than Sam and so neither could tackle the giant tree.

Sam scratched his head again as he glanced over at Lyle. “Should we get it? I mean it’s not too high up but how do we get up there at all?”

The riddle was seated on the first branch which any student could have merely stood up on their toes and reached for it. However, Mr Hornton seemed to Have forgotten that three of the students (Charlie, Lyle and Sam) were all below average height.

“Get up on my shoulders, Sam” Lyle said as he squatted his knees down and patted his shoulders. Sam nervously bit his lip.

“Are you sure? I mean what if you get hur.”

Lyle laughed gently as he shook his head and smiled kindly at Sam. “You’re really small, Sam. Weight wise too. I don’t think you’re gonna hurt me.” he chuckled sweetly.

Sam nodded as he carefully climbed up onto Lyle’s shoulders and grasped the riddle. Lyle helped Sam get down as Sam read the riddle aloud.

Dies half its life, lives the rest. Dances without music, breathes without breath.

Sam’s brows creased together as he rubbed his chin. Lyle’s blue eyes glanced around as the two came up with multiple ideas that didn’t fit.

“What about… a tree?” Lyle stated hesitantly as Sam jumped up, eyes wide.

“THAT’S IT! Come on, let’s go find it!” He yelled excitedly as Lyle coughed and pointed to the other branch on the same tree they had been sat under trying to solve the riddle. Sam frowned as he deflated. “Oh.it was right there the whole time”

As Sam grasped the riddle again with Lyle’s help he jumped off of Lyle as the two began to walk towards their third. “You know, that was really smart of you to get that.”

Lyle modestly waved him off. “Ah but it took us a long time, it was just a lucky guess.”

Sam shook his head, smiling sweetly. “No, honest it was clever. You’re a lot different to what you seem.”

Lyle nodded as he slyly glanced at Sam from the corner of his eye. “So are you.”

Sam frowned as he glanced at Lyle. “Me? Oh, what impression did you have of me?”

Lyle pretended to become bashful as he scratched the nape of his neck.

“Well… don’t take this the wrong way but because you hang out with Hunter…I just guessed you would be like him.”

Sam frowned, a sick feeling bubbling up in his stomach as his fingers unconsciously clutched too tightly at paper beginning to crease. “What do you mean… like him? Hunter’s a really great guy.”

Lyle looked away before nodding, “You’re right. You’re right. I mean… I’m sure he laughs and jokes with you all the time. I’m sure he never pushes you away or reacts coldly to you.” Lyle said slowly as he turned his back and watched Sam’s reaction secretly.

Sam looked away for a minute as he rubbed his arm insecurely. “He does bu… it’s not his fault I—”

Lyle pretended to be shocked as he turned around. “That’s so weird… I figured since you two seemed so close that he’d…well he’d act the way he does around Carter..I mean I always see them laughing and joking.”

Sam frowned. “You do? I haven’t ever seen Hunter laugh…even with Carter.” Lyle nodded as he patted Sam’s shoulder sympathetically. “Yeah… one time I saw him wrap his arm around Carter’s shoulder. He even did it with Bear once. I thought that’s why they partnered together so quickly, you know since their so close and all. Hmm… I wonder why he laughs and jokes with them but not you?”

Sam stood silently as he tried not to show Lyle how upset he was, but the manipulative boy could easily see the poor boy’s eyes beginning to water.

Lyle’s words swarmed into Sam’s ear like a toxic nest of bees.

Of course, Lyle was lying out of his ass and had never once seen Hunter laugh with anyone nor wrap his arm around them, but he also knew how gullible Sam was.

“I mean… ther—no. No. I shouldn’t.” Lyle stuttered as he tried to walk off, but Sam caught his arm.

“What? Tell me” Sam asked with big, wet eyes. Lyle sighed as he nodded. “Well… I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to get upset… do you remember that day when Dale started picking on you and Hunter got up and left the classroom?”

Sam nodded.

“Well… I went outside shortly afterwards to get myself some water and I heard Hunter talking… Bear was yelling at him, asking why Hunter wasn’t trying to stop Dale but Hunter said you had it coming to you for always getting involved in his business… like when you tried to stop him from beating up that student in front of the school… so Bear pushed him aside and rushed in to help you instead… PLEASE! Don’t tell Hunter! He’ll kill me if he knew I listened to his conversation!” Lyle panicked as Sam shook his head.

“I won’t, don’t worry.” He smiled sadly before patting Lyle’s shoulder. “Th—thanks for telling me.”

Lyle squeezed Sam’s arm.

“That’s what friends are for.”