30. Isla

30

ISLA

“ Y ou know, this wasn’t such a bad idea,” says Jade.

“I told you it wasn’t.” I glance over my shoulder at her and chuckle.

Since today is Friday and none of us have early morning classes, I managed to get Selene, Hailey, and Jade to come on a hike with me. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I got back, but adjusting to life in Crestwood and my health issues made that take a lot longer. Not that it matters though because at least I’m out on the trail now. Not to mention having this break with new and old friends will hopefully help settle my nerves about the upcoming trip I need to take with the hockey team.

I swear, I'm not mentally prepared for that at all, especially after the talk I had with Mom. I didn’t tell her who, just that I was dating one of the players and asked how she thought Dad might react to that. She said I need to make sure we are serious before I do anything, because Dad could be harsh depending on who the player is, and we need to be careful and make sure we are prepared for whatever happens. So with that on my mind, I hoped this hike would calm my nerves. We'll see how it goes. I turn my attention back to capturing some shots with my camera.

"Earth to Isla," Selene's voice cuts through my concentration.

I look over at her, Jade, and Hailey and notice she's practically bouncing up the path ahead of me.

"Less photo taking, more walking!"

I lower my camera. "Some of us actually like to take in the view and keep a record of it."

"Yeah, well, some of us would like to keep moving along," Hailey chimes in from behind me.

I roll my eyes playfully and pick up my pace, catching up to the rest of my group. I take a moment to look at each of the women standing in front of me and wonder at how lucky I am to have them in my life. Selene has always been there practically as long as I can remember at this point, but to have Hailey and Jade welcome us in with open arms has been an amazing experience.

And now they are hiking with us and I’m getting emotional about it.

Maybe it’s the fresh air getting to me.

I watch Selene bend down and start digging through her backpack. When her face lights up, I know we’re in trouble. Knowing her, it could be anything from confetti cannons to a portable karaoke machine. Asher would be thrilled with the latter.

"I know you didn't actually pack party supplies for a morning hike," I say because of the expression on Selene’s face. I wouldn’t put it past her.

"Bold of you to assume I didn't pack something like glow sticks," Selene shoots back, grinning. She's already pulled her phone out, probably queuing up a playlist called, “I conquered this hike, bitch.”

"I swear to god, if you start blasting Sabrina Carpenter up here—" I say, but I’m quickly cut off.

"You'll what? Finally admit you secretly know all the words to 'Espresso'?" Selene challenges.

“But that’s not a secret. I do know all the words,” I throw back.

"Of course you do," Jade laughs. "From what I now know about her, I don't think anyone who's spent more than ten minutes with Selene can escape without learning at least one pop song by heart."

“I agree, and you can add Levi to the list too,” Hailey adds.

A rustling in the brush ahead catches our attention, and it’s immediately followed by rapid footsteps on the trail. A girl with her dark hair in a ponytail comes jogging around the bend, nearly colliding with our group. She's wearing hiking boots and carrying some kind of sketch pad.

"Oh! Sorry!" She comes to a stop, breathing rather hard. "I was trying to catch up to—" She pauses, looking at each of us. "Wait, you're in my Creative Writing seminar, aren't you?" She points at me. "Isla, right?"

"Yeah," I nod, recognizing her now. "Willow, from Professor Martinez's class?"

"That's me," she says, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I thought I was the only one crazy enough to be up here sketching landscapes at this hour."

Selene's eyes light up once more, probably because she has another potential person to corrupt with her music choices. I’m not complaining about the corruption either way. "Well, you're definitely not alone. Though some of us—" she shoots me a pointed look, "—prefer to capture the view through a camera lens."

"And some of us prefer to actually complete the hike," Hailey interjects, but she's smiling as she says it.

Willow looks at each of us before her eyes land on me again. "Would you mind if I joined? I've been trying to work up the courage to ask about your photography in class. I use sketches as references for my writing, but I've always wanted to learn about taking better photos."

"Of course you can join," I say, already reaching for my camera to show her some of the shots I've taken. "Just be warned though. If you’re hiking with us, you might end up starring in an impromptu music video."

"Please don’t give Selene any ideas," Hailey adds with a laugh that’s not meant to be funny.

“Hey!” Selene jumps in. “Don’t judge me. The video might go viral or something.”

"Getting back to the topic at hand, what brought you out here so early?" Jade asks Willow as we continue up the trail. Our pace is more leisurely now as I show Willow some basic camera techniques.

"I've been working on this story that takes place in the mountains, but something about the setting felt... off. My professor—well, our professor," she glances at me, "suggested I might benefit from experiencing it in the real world."

I adjust my camera strap as I try to think of how to properly word my answer. “I can see that. It’s the same thing with photography. Getting out into the real world and taking photos of different subjects is one of the biggest ways to gain experience. It just clicks.”

Selene suddenly gasps. "Oh my god, speaking of clicking—" She whips out her phone. "Group photo time!"

"Is this a regular thing?" Willow whispers to me as Selene herds us all together against a particularly scenic backdrop.

"Eh, it comes in waves. She’s very hyper right now," I whisper back. "It could go either one of two ways; we’ll take your basic photo, or she’ll start coordinating our poses."

As if on cue, Selene starts telling us where to stand and how to pose like a film director instead of someone who decided to take a selfie with her phone. "Okay, Isla, you stand here. Willow, next to her. Jade, can you crouch down a bit? Perfect! Now, Hailey, actually give me a smile!"

I can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. This is supposed to be just a regular hike and what it is turning into is something I both could and couldn’t have seen coming.

Thanks, Selene.

Once we are done taking photos, we begin to head down the trail again until Willow stops walking abruptly. "Wait. Is that a red-tailed hawk?"

We all look up. I watch as a medium-sized bird flies around up above. There’s no way I’m going to be able to positively identify what type of bird it is.

"It’s a cooper's hawk, actually," Jade says.

Our attention shifts from the bird in the sky to the woman who just blew our minds. All she does is shrug.

"What? I took a zoology course last semester. There was a focus on ornithology during one of the sections."

I raise my camera, adjusting the zoom. Bird photography isn’t a specialty of mine, but if I can snap a photo, I know it has the potential to be amazing.

The hawk circles overhead and I hold my breath with my finger poised over the shutter button. The world narrows to this moment as I tune everything else out.

Click. Click. Click.

The rapid-fire shots capture the hawk's graceful descent.

"Got it?" Willow asks, peering over my shoulder.

I lower the camera and check the display. The sequence shows the hawk diving through patches of sunlight, wings pulled tight against its body. It’s not perfect because the last shot's a bit blurry. But I’m proud of the shots I got.

"Here, look at this one," I say, zooming in on the second shot. The hawk's silhouette is crisp against the morning sky. Its wings catch the light just right, making it look even more majestic.

"That's incredible," Willow says, already reaching for her journal. "The way the light hits the wings?—"

"If you two are done with your artistic bonding," Selene cuts in, "some of us are starving."

My stomach growls in response, informing our group that Selene isn’t wrong.

"Told you we should've eaten before we started climbing," Selene says, already shrugging off her backpack. I shake my head as she unzips her bookbag and digs through what she's dubbed her 'adventure preparedness kit.'

"You're the smart one here," Hailey admits, sitting down on a nearby rock. "I completely forgot breakfast."

"Which is exactly why I came prepared." Selene pulls out an impressive array of trail mix, protein bars, and fruit. "Hiking takes energy, and I've got us covered."

"Is she always this organized?" Willow asks, gratefully accepting an apple.

"You should have seen her during our last month of high school," I say. "Color-coded study guides, backup USB drives, emergency coffee supplies. She's basically the reason why I survived and made it to NYU alive."

I shove away the small pang of longing that I have for the life I had to leave behind. After putting my camera away, I grab some trail mix and lean against a tree trunk. After a few minutes of peaceful snacking, Selene starts fidgeting with her phone.

Uh oh.

"Okay, but seriously," Selene says, already queuing up another song on her phone. "Who's ready for the descent playlist?"

"No one," we all say in unison, but we're laughing, because of course she would say that. I swear we all continue laughing the entire way back down to where I parked my car.

And at least for this short period of time, I've forgotten how nervous I am for my first overnight away game with the Crestwood Red Wolves.