But Seriously. [o1] I Hope Something Eats You.

"Zoe!" I yelled out as I ducked under another low-hanging branch. I sighed and pushed my hair out of my face, squinting through the dark. The moon wasn't giving us much light to see by; we were in a forest, and the tops of the trees mostly blocked it out. Our flashlights were dim and didn't shine very far, either. "Zoe, please, come back!"

Tucker had to duck even farther down than I did, because he was at least a foot taller. "Zoe?" He yelled as he straightened back up. "Where the Hell could she have gone?" He turned his icy eyes to me, and even in the darkness they were gorgeous and bright.

I caught myself getting trapped in them again. Mentally shaking myself, I looked away and bit my lip. "I don't know. She's got absolutely no sense of direction. I have no idea where she could have gone."

"She wouldn't have gone back to the beach houses by herself, do you think?" He asked, following me as I continued walking.

I thought about this. It seemed possible, but... "No, no way. Zoe would have let me know or, at least, let Ace know. I honestly can't believe she was stupid enough to run out of camp by herself. She'd never have gone back alone, too."

Suddenly, I felt a set of strong, lean-muscled arms wrap around my waist. I inhaled sharply, glancing down and basically freezing up. What was Tucker doing? I felt my heart start to race just a little. We were alone, in the middle of the woods, at night. I got that feeling of wanting to kiss him again.

But when I turned my head, it didn't look like he wanted to kiss me. "Emma." He hissed, his lips pursed. He narrowed his eyes and pulled me backwards a few steps. "God. That lack of sense of direction must run in your family, or something."

"What are you talking about?" Okay. So, I'll admit it. I was put out that he hadn't planned on kissing me. But, damn, what was I supposed to do? Kissing Tucker Stryke had felt good it had felt damned good, and I wanted to do it again. Sure; we're supposed to be enemies. He'd made my life Hell for the past fourteen years. But could I honestly help the way my stomach got all weird when he was around?

Better yet, did I even want to help it?

"You almost walked off a cliff, Emma." He rolled his eyes and pointed the flashlight in front of us. He was right; in the light of the flashlight, I could see where the ground in front of us suddenly stopped.

Jeez.

I took a look over the edge. I could see a very large mass of dark blue. There was probably a small lake; you could find them in random places around the beach.

And, for the second time in the span of a week, Tucker Stryke had saved my life. I turned to look at him, my eyes slightly wide. "Tucker... Wow. Thank you."

"You're welcome." He mumbled. He reached out to grab my wrist, and he began tugging me along behind him. "From now on, I lead the way."

"Bossy, bossy." I rolled my eyes and sighed as I (ahem, willingly) followed him. Actually, you know, the way he had me feeling lately... I'd follow him anywhere, even if it meant having to back to Algebra class.

Yeah.

I was that far gone.



"My feet hurt." I whined, shuffling slowly behind Tucker as we walked through the woods. "Can't we rest for a while? Please?"

I heard Tucker sigh from in front of me. "No, Emma. We have to find Zoe, and we have to find our way back to camp. Your feet will survive, I promise you."

"What do you mean..." I narrowed my eyes at the back of his head, my lips pursed in irritation, "that we have to find our way back?"

It was silent for a moment before Tucker spoke again. "Well, Ems, I-"

"I mean," I interrupted, my irritation growing. "You were leading the way. I was under the impression that you knew where camp was, Tucker. I was under the impression that you knew where camp was this entire time! Are you telling me that we're lost?"

"Ems, I-"

"Don't you 'Ems' me!" I shrieked, slapping his back. "Dammit, Tucker! You got us lost after you criticized my sense of direction? Jeez! You're a jerk."

He sighed again and stopped walking; I, not anticipating this, bumped into his back. He turned around and reached out, wrapping his arms around me again, trying to steady me as I began to wobble backwards. I yanked myself away from him, and he sighed again. "Emma, look. It's dark. I'm tired. I've never been here before, and all these trees look the same! What am I supposed to do?"

"Find a way out!" I whined.

"I'm not a god, Emma." I saw him roll his eyes through the dark. "I don't have godly powers."

Well, he sure did look like a god, if you ask me.

But, I told myself, that was not the point. Now, not only was Zoe lost, we were lost, too.