You Are the Shell to My Tortoise | ?

77

"But you hate insects!"

I blinked. "I mean, yeah, I guess ... but they're not as scary now."

After feeding Blue with them several times over the course of last year—in Nolan's presence, of course—I had kind of gotten used to their existence. I didn't desperately want them as a pet or anything, but I no longer had the kind of revulsion towards them that I used to have.

At this, Melissa applauded me. "You've finally seen the light, Chelsea! They're just insects!"

"What is this?" Ashley cried. "I can't believe this!"

"You're coming too, right?" Derek looked at Nolan. "We can go in the evening. As long as we don't go too far in and follow the common trail paths, I think we should be okay."

Nolan stifled a yawn. "Yeah, why not? I've gone there a lot of times, so I'm actually pretty familiar with it. I can help to make sure we don't get lost."

"Wow, you have?" Melissa leaned forward, her hazel eyes practically glinting with excitement. "We've only been there once!"

"Hey, speak for yourself," Derek said, slinging his arm around her neck and over her shoulders. "I've been there more than once, remember?"

She stuck her tongue out at him before asking Nolan, "Who did you go with? Don't tell me you went alone!"

"Yeah, I went alone," he said, leaning his side into me.

Everyone goggled at him.

"You went all by yourself in the evening?"

Nolan looked around the table, looking visibly surprised by everyone's reaction.

Smirking, I leaned over and whispered into his ear, "I guess my reaction back then wasn't so overkill after all, huh?"

He gave me a flat stare but didn't reply. Instead, he turned back to Melissa and shrugged.

"Yeah, I did."

They all started asking him questions about it, the quiet breakfast atmosphere over our table quickly changing into a rowdy one. Afterwards, we also invited Cody, who quickly agreed to come with us.

So here we were now, walking along a well-worn trail, listening to overlapping sounds of the various wildlife around us. Insects chirped and called from a nearby distance. Occasionally, I heard distant rustling sounds.

We'd left for the forest right as the sun was about done setting, so we made sure to keep strictly to the well-marked trails for better lighting and visibility.

"Everything looks so different when it's dark," Melissa commented.

Both she and Derek were each holding a flashlight, so by Nolan's request, they led the way ahead.

A twig cracked under my shoe as I stepped on it. The air I was inhaling tasted so clean and fresh. I could practically smell the leaves. I loved it.

"I can hear the insects," Ashley whispered, looking around slowly as if she thought an ambush was incoming.

Cody looked concerned for her. "Are you okay?"

She was practically coated in organic insect repellent, courtesy of my stash, so I was fairly sure she'd be okay. I had to smile at how much attention he was paying her, though.

I wasn't sure why they hadn't gotten together yet, but Cody and Ashley had grown a lot closer over the last year. Cody still spent most of his time with his own group of friends, but he was an honorary member of ours. When he wasn't with them, he was usually hanging out with us.