Going the Distance ✔️

Chapter four.

I had to be honest, I was incredibly nervous to ditch school and my mind was telling me to turn back right now and go to Chemistry. No teachers were in sight as we quietly walked through the corridor and out into the sunlight. "I'm not so sure about this anymore." I told Liam as I stopped just as we got outside.

Liam turned around. "Well, you've made it this far. You can't turn back now or you'll get a late slip in your next class."

I sighed, I didn't really didn't want to get my first late slip. I was an exchange student, I needed to set an example. I followed Liam to his two seater black Porsche. I admired it for a second before he unlocked it and we both slid in. I placed the seat belt on and took in a deep breath. I wasn't ready for ditching school and I told Xanthe I wouldn't, but if this is the only way to help Liam, I had no choice. "There are a three rules when it comes to ditching school." Liam began, scaring me a little.

I nodded, the saliva running down my throat. "Rules? I thought there would be no rules."

Liam cleared his throat. "Rule number one: Don't tell anyone. The teachers, my sister, my parents." I nodded as he continued. "Rule number two: If anybody asks where you were, always say you were sick."

I sighed heavily and cringed at what might be coming next. "And what's the third rule?"

"Rule number three," Liam winked at me, "is to have fun."

By now, I was freaking out. I was a bad liar and I knew I would accidentally blurt out where Liam and I were or even worse, I could accidentally tell Xanthe. "Are you okay? You seem nervous." Liam asked me, he looked worried, but not worried enough to let me get out of this.

I looked at Liam who was already staring. "I'm fine. It's just," I paused, collecting my thoughts. "I've never ditched before."

Liam chuckled and put his keys in the ignition and turned it. The car roared to life and I looked around at the parking lot which only contained cars. Nobody was in sight. We were safe. Liam pulled out of the school's parking lot and we drove down the road and we turned the corner.

My nerves still wouldn't calm down. Every turn we took, I kept a lookout. Would anyone even know we were ditching? I was so afraid that Mr and Mrs Gilbert would find out and Liam and I would be in a world of trouble. I remembered when they yelled at him yesterday, they didn't take ditching lightly but Liam did it anyway.

"Where are we even going?" I finally asked after the anticipation was killing me.

Liam kept his eyes on the road with a smile plastered all over his face. "You'll just have to wait and see." I really hated surprises, especially when it was ditching school. I felt guilty already and I wanted to turn back time, and to quickly run away from Liam and into my Chemistry class where I belonged.

We kept on driving, in silence. I watched as we drove out of town and into a place I didn't recognise. We came to a stop and I looked around to be surrounded by trees. "Your fun day out is to go to a forest?"

He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door. "It's not just any forest." He jumped out and slammed the door shut. I took another deep breath and unbuckled my seat and jumped out of his car. My school bag was still in the car and I contemplated taking it or not. I decided not to. I slammed the car door shut and he locked it with the push of a button.

I circled myself around and all I saw were trees and the clear blue sky. I looked at Liam who looked at me. He turned away and began walking up a path I didn't see until he started walking up it. My feet couldn't more, but what could I do? I already made it this far, I couldn't stop now.

And yet, I still couldn't believe I was doing this.

I followed Liam for what felt like an endless track of trees, mud and grass. He was way ahead of me, turning back every once and a while to see if I was still behind him. I heard the birds chirping and it sounded like all the birds around this forest was communicating with each other through singing. I admired the sun that shone through the little patches of tall trees and I almost forgot about school.