Pulling the car in the driveway, I looked around the buzzing campus to find a parking spot. It took me fifteen minutes until I found a proper parking space where no one could beat me to park my blue mustang. As I walked out, some people stared but I was used to it... the staring. The first lecture which I had today, was geography. It used to be my favourite once. I didn't hate it though nor dislike it. I just don't love it anymore.

Taking my books out of my locker, I walked to my class, room 7C, around the hallway. Typical college students crowded the hall, some chatting with their respective group, some busy on their phones and some, well they had nothing better than silly pranks to play.

"Emery! Wait up!"

I paused in my steps, looking at my breathless friend. Raising my eyebrows at her, I looked at the time on my watch. I still had ten minutes to spare before my class. I had known Alessia for more than five months. She was a good friend but we were not close.

"Did you hear the news? Everyone is so excited after finding out... " she kept on babbling.

"Hold up. What are you talking about? Just calm down first. I can't understand anything. What news? I just came to college!" Alessia counted to ten before speaking once again.

"Semester three and semester five will be taken for a camping trip for one whole month. Well, it's also for a study project. It's been told that there will be a group of two people combining both the semesters. And, it's also compulsory for all the students to attend. Can you believe the fun we would have. I wish we would be in the same group Emery. The mountains are such a good vacation spot..."

I hope we don't. I won't be able to tolerate your constant gibbering for one month straight. Few hours every day is enough. I thought to myself. It was true though. The nonsense Alessia talked every day could fill the deepest cliff. It was the reason she could keep no secrets in her tummy nor could she see the reality out of her own bubble.

"I gotta go, sorry Alessia. I'm getting late. Will see you at lunch. Bye." Bidding farewell, I walked away to my class. This time with more thoughts in my head than before. A camp meant sharing personal space with someone else. A camp could lead to way too many problems... problems that I didn't want to carry with me.

Fixing my glasses, I sat down in my usual seat. It was good that Venarki didn't have the scorching sun. It was mostly cloudy and the sun rays didn't bother me too much. I debated if I should take my books out. It was obvious the teacher would discuss only about this camp today and assign us partners. Only under extreme medical conditions college would allow anyone to take a leave from the camp. It was mentioned in the rules when I had taken admission. All college activities were important since it was the best college in Venarki.

Light footsteps on the cold marble floor reminded me of the rain last night. Mrs. Kelly, our geography teacher was always on time.

"Hello students, some of you may have already heard the news about the camp. Rumours travel faster than light among the younger generation. Let me make everything a bit more clearer. This year, semester three and semester five are selected to go to Mt. Lucida or Mt Vernon for a study project and camping trip. I know you have questions like 'why', 'when',etc. I said Or because where you would go would be decided by your luck. By the lucky draw system. Seventy five students are being taken to Lucida the other seventy five to Vernon. It's compulsory for the biology students and Geography students to attend this camp. You will be graded on your project report. Half of this year's marks will depend on this. So this means no summer break for you all. Any questions?"

Before anyone could even ask Mrs. Kelly any question, she started continuing her speech.

"Two students from semester three and two students from semester five will be selected to be in a group. Now who will be your partner will depend on your fates. Now come one by one and take a piece of paper from this jar. Each has a different number on it. No exchanging of cheats please. At lunch break your other three partners' numbers will be randomly grouped with yours and shown on the main hall screen. Now hurry, make sure you keep the cheats safe till lunch break."

Nervousness washed over me as I took out a random paper from the last ten pieces. '84'. I had cheat number 84 with me. Now to wait two more hours before getting to know who would be my partners. The college knew how to kill people from anxiety and stress. It wasn't like that, that I was afraid to have a partner. But you know young adults these days, have nothing but jealousy and rumours to spread. I don't want to be stuck with someone like Alessia or like James, who boasted about himself non stop and well obviously, his cheap flirting. I thank God that I was able to friend zone him for the rest of my life.

Mrs. Kelly went on explaining more about the trip and what we would do there but my mind was somewhere else. Both the places were so far away from here and I have never went out of this city... beside that fateful day.

Classes got over quickly bringing the lunch time. I didn't even realize how time flew in such speed. Guess I was way too worried. An unknown place always seemed to make me panic. I like to have my surroundings known for better or for worse. That's what made me restless. It caused fear in my heart.

There was a huge crowd at the assembly hall. All eyes were on the board to know the numbers of their partners. My eyes searched for '84'. There it was, with 112, 93 and 130. At the corner it was written Mt. Lucida. Now I have to find out who had these numbers. The principal might have turned crazy when he thought this would be a good idea. This was chaos, worse than a fish market, worse than a traffic jam. Shouts and yelling filled the big room. You could hardly hear anything above the noise. Frustrated, I sat down on a chair. At this rate, this would take away the rest of the college hours.

"Umm excuse me. Can I sit here?"

I looked up to find a boy looking more nervous than me. Well he looked like he would wet himself the way his legs were shaking. He looked Asian to me with messy auburn hair and freckles covering his face.

"Sure, it's college property. Don't let me stop you resting from this chaotic nonsense going around." I gave him a soft encouraging smile. I had seen him before. He was a batch mate who always sat at the last bench in economics class. Maybe my stare was making him uncomfortable as he was shifting in his place a lot.

"So what's your number?" I asked to make a friendly environment and make him feel more at ease.

"Uhh, I don't think... I don't think I should give my phone number... I don't mean like that... I just don't know you much... I'm sorry that came out wrong... I shouldn't have-"

"I meant your cheat number." I quickly cut off his blabbering. It was easy to see how embarrassed he was, he was blushing pink. I had to bite the inside of my cheeks to keep myself from laughing.

"Oh... Sorry.. Uh.. It's 93...what's yours?"

"Well let's say you found one of your group partner buddy." I wasn't exactly happy having him as a partner, but he didn't seem so bad. Other than his nervous blabbering he seemed like an introvert.

"So, I'm Emery. You?"

"Huh... oh. I'm... I'm Maxim"

"Nice to meet you Maxim. Let's go look for our senior partners."

Finding 112 and 130 was not easy. Squeezing through those sweaty students and asking around for them was a complete mess. Nearly twenty minutes later we found 130. Ana Mcdurfuffy, an acrobat. Quite popular may I add, took part in many talents shows, won awards. I think she might be among the cheerleading squad in our school. Not quite sure about that though.

"130?"

"Yes."

"Finally. I'm Emery, 84 and this is Maxim, 93. Nice to meet you senior. I have heard a lot about you. You have got some incredible talents may I say." I talked with a wide smile. You might wonder why I'm sweet talking. Well, you never know who can be rude to you for some misinterpreted words. It's a matter of one month and I wanna avoid drama as much as possible.

I had actually thought hearing all those rumors that Ana would be a bit self centered person due to her fame, but I was happy to be wrong. She was sweet, ethnic and respectful. Ten minutes of talking and I wondered why didn't I meet her before, before the incident. Maybe then we could have been good friends. Not that we couldn't now but... I... I don't think I have it in me to get someone close to me again. That's why I have all the walls around myself.

"So we have just 112 to look for now. Who might this mysterious person be?" asked Ana, with a mischievous glint in her eyes. Well maybe the prank queen rumour was true.

"Maybe it's better if we eat our lunch now. We are already quite late. We can search for the last member later on. What do you think?" I asked the group.

"Sure I wouldn't mind. My tummy is already calling me for food." said Ana with a heart warming laugh.

"Ugh... Sure... If you girls want to... Let's eat." A nervous Maxim spoke in a whisper. It was hard to even hear him in the loud crowd.

A cold drink in one hand and a bowl of Raita in the other, I tried to find my new group for the next month. Alessia was nowhere to be seen in the cafeteria, probably with her group at the moment. Placing my food on the table, I sat down. Maxim and Ana was waiting for me. We started lunch together along with a bit of chatting to know each other. But majority of the time each of us were busy eating our food.

"Watch Out Girl!" The scream broke in the middle of the room.

I turned around only to have a ball coming towards my face. Reflex made me catch it in time to save me from a bruised face.

And that's how we all met number 130, an African teen who was busy scolding his younger team mate about his carelessness with the ball. He made him apologize to me too. Kierian Jackson, our college basketball boys team's vice captain. There was no one in college who didn't know about him. Among all the rumours that went around, one was true no doubt. Kierian was extremely punctual and strict. Some wondered if he had been in a military school before coming here.

You might think how I knew he was number 130. Well the cheat was peeking out of his pocket and you could clearly see the letters 1 3 0 on it.

"You are 130 right?"I asked even though I knew the answer.

"Yeah, how do you know that?" Kierian questioned with knitted brows.. He bid goodbye to the boy and turned towards us, as if scanning us from head to toe.

"Well, I can see the paper winking at me. We are your teammates." I say laughing at the end while watching him glance down at his chest.

"So that's it then, our team. Not bad I would say. It's hopefully going to be a fun trip." Ana commented looking at the three of us.

"So... Umm... Do you want to join us for lunch?" Maxim asked Kierian while looking down at his feet. He kept shifting weight from one foot to another. One thing's for sure, I really need to help him build his confidence in these 30 days.

"Uhh, well I don't mind eating with you all but I already had my lunch. So if you all don't mind me just watching you guys eat, then sure. I would sit with you." Kierian said with a friendly smile.

We all nodded our heads.

The funny thing was, before he could even sit down with us, someone tripped and that person's entire milkshake poured down on us. We looked up, shocked. It was the cringiest moment of today. All my clothes were ruined. I seriously should not have worn red today. The most funny expression was of Ana and I wasn't surprised that Kierian couldn't help himself from laughing at her expression.

This day could obviously get worse. One hearty laugh, one angry young lady and one cheesecake can start a war. So why not a food fight among grown ups?

I don't think I had this much fun ever. Ever since that day, I hardly had a true laugh to express. But the happiness was short lived. After a month when all this would be over, we would be back to the way our lives were before... monotony and isolation.