Chapter 10: Chapter 10
The rest of the day went by fast. Jameela managed to sneak off towards the river. It was chilly as the sun set. She wrapped her arms around her body, gazing at the water. She could see her reflection dancing around, floating. It was peaceful here, she already liked it. Perhaps this would be where she would spend her alone time. Jameela felt feet crunching in the sand. She turned slightly, to see her friends walking towards her.
"Hey, does anyone else get service problem? Here I'm not getting any." Ade whispered, as he took position near Jameela on a low stone.
"Nope. No signal either,"Jameela shrugged. She had tried to call home when they arrived, but it wasn’t going through.
"Yeah. I tried as well, but no service." Joe added.
"Well then, I will go ask Mrs Sana. She will understand." Peyton suggested, stalking off. The tents they had set up were all ready but everyone was waiting for dinner. They were all exhausted after all the work they had managed to achieve in a few hours.
Not five minutes later, Peyton stormed towards them, face fuming. "What happened?" Carrie asked her.
"What happened is that there is no service here. The only place to get service is on the mountain. Or up the hill or something. She said there are more important things than that so we shouldn't even worry. Can you imagine?" She huffed. Peyton was the most 'obsessed-with-social-media' one among them all. No matter where there went, she must take selfies, vlog and blog about it, not to mention the too many pictures and videos she posted on her accounts.
"Wait a minute. I don't get there's no service here? I thought there was, we just weren't supposed to use it." Carrie looked taken aback.
"Yea. Exactly what you heard. This area,” she gestured all around them, “the entirely of it all has no network." Peyton replied.
"You know, Mr. Alessio actually said there was signal problem from the beginning." Jameela reminded. And yes, he did say there was connectivity problems. But since their aim was camping, they didn't make much deal out of it. Jameela mentally pictured how this trip would be -- boring. That was just the word for it.
Peyton whined, "I really need to use my phone. Know what's going on, you know? My accounts have been inactive for approximately 10 hours. Do you know what that means? This is the longest I have been without checking my accounts. Besides I haven't even told my parents that we have arrived. Well, none of us have, anyway."
"Yeah. I'm sure my Mom is worried by now. You know how she can get if she hasn't talked to me for a while," Ibraheem said.
“Ya’ll have no idea about mine.” Drew countered.
"Well, I have made a decision guys. One of these days, I will go up to the mountains."
Jameela’s eyes widened. "What? You made a decision just now? Are you even freaking serious? You can't go there alone. Don't forget, our teachers won't allow you to. At least not alone."
"Well, they don't have to know. Besides, I'm gonna spend a lot of time there. And I'm sure if they were to go with me or any of us, we would only stay for only 5 minutes. So I'm going alone." Peyton remained stubborn.
They tried to reason with her, but Peyton being Peyton, refused to listen. "Ok, then. But promise you will tell us. At least one of us should follow you." Sarah begged.
"Ugh. Ok. Fine I will let you know when I plan to go. My fans must be worried by now." Peyton pouted, stomping one foot after the other.
****
Dinner was wonderful. Spaghetti with meal balls, and pudding for desert was scrumptious. Jameela ate with an appetite she never knew she had. She didn’t even care it was hot. None of them did. As Jameela took her plates to the kitchen, she caught sight of Mr Alessio. He smiled at her, his perfectly shaped teeth twinkling. Or did she just imagine it? She stifled a giggle. He was wearing a white shirt with a black jeans. She mentally wondered when he changed into them. That didn’t matter. The only significant thing was how excruciatingly hot he looked in them. Jameela took a deep breath, and shook her head as she walked back outside to her tent, only to find her classmates looking at her as if she was deranged. She quickly ducked into her tent, still grinning like an idiot.