Twisted (Editing)

Chapter 10

My parents arrived a few hours later, full of concern and worry. I opened my eyes and lifted my head to greet them. My father hushed me quietly and guided me into the backseat of the car. Liz and Yasmine went into the camp and brought my stuff over. My mom ruffled through my bag. "Where's your toothpaste?"

"It's in there."

"This isn't yours." She glanced at my father.

"What does that mean?"

"This is an allergic reaction. That's why we use all natural toothpaste in the first place." She took an orange pill bottle out of her bag and dropped two of the white pills into my hand.

"There's water in the back," my dad said, sitting at the wheel. My mother went around the car to get water out of the trunk My dad grabbed my hand. "As soon as you get your medication, you'll be fine."

"I didn't know I had allergies."

"You were too young to remember your diagnosis." My mom came from the back with a water bottle. I swallowed the pills with a gulp of water. On the drive back, I began to feel the relief. My mom started to ask me questions.

"How did you lose your toothpaste?"

"I thought that you might have packed it."

"I told you to be careful. Did someone take it?"

"That's what I thought at first, but why would someone steal my toothpaste?"

She shared a look with my dad. "Maybe sending you on this field trip was a bad idea."

"I'm going to get a failing grade."

"I'm sure your teachers will understand."

I lied back until we got home. I was well enough to go back to school in the morning, and subsequently, work on my project with Jonah. My thoughts drifted back to that cologne, or perfume, whatever he was wearing. I don't know how to describe it. Would I be weird if I asked for the brand name. Yes. Maybe I could discreetly get someone to tell me what it was. I laughed quietly. I wonder what reaction that would get out of people.

I spent the next day myself, reading and lounging in my bed until my parents came home. Yasmine raced up to me the morning after the trip officially ended. She gripped me by the shoulders. "What happened to you? I've heard all sorts of stuff. SOmeone told me you had meningitis, but obviously, it couldn't be that because you're still here and-"

"Calm down," I said, peeling her hands off my shoulders. She took them off apologizing sheepishly. "I had an allergic to a tube of toothpaste. I thought it was mine but it wasn't. Don't worry, I took my medication and I'm all better."

She hooked her arm around mine. "You know what else I heard. That Jonah Evans himself was smelling up and down your neck like an animal."

I chuckled, but my face heated up with embarrassment. "I think he was just trying to keep me upright. I almost fell, and the smelling.....those are only rumors."

"Okay..." she said, clearly not believing me. "Maybe since you almost died, they'll make involuntary next year."

"Oh, so I took one for the team?"

"I would never say that. I'm just saying you showed the dangers of teenagers camping in the woods with little to no supervision." I rolled my eyes.

"So how did our group do? Better than Liz and I, I think."

"One guy caught a squirrel. I felt too guilty to eat it so I made him release it back into the wild. The whole group was forced to eat a lovely meal of grass and a handful of berries."