“Why the hell does he have to come along?” Asked Chloe, as she got in the car.

Her parents and my parents along with myself, Zach, were going on a trip together. It was only a 4 hour drive from where we live in Belen, New Mexico. We here heading up to Cortez, Colorado, well, just north of there, to go camping.

“Because,” her mother replied, “He is Carol and Mike’s son, and he has every right to go along too.”

“Its bad enough that I have to go to school with him.” she retorted.

I was starting to get very uncomfortable. I am more of an outcast in high school, always sitting at the back of the class, sitting alone at lunch, talking to no one. I was shy, and because of that, I was typecast as the the outcast. Since I was also really into Model Railroading, I was also considered the nerd, since I always wore a shirt with a railroad logo on it.

“Chloe, please, don’t make this trip unbearable for us, just get used to it, who knows, you two might become friends” her father told here.

Chloe slid into the seat into the seat next to me and gave me an evil glare, making me even more uncomfortable.

“I highly doubt it, dad” Chloe said.

We were taking two cars, Chloe’s parents were driving their Dodge Dart, while my parents followed in our SUV. Apparently they had decided to use my parents SUV to haul everything down to our property about 15 minutes south of Cortez.

“Listen, its bad enough that I have to sit next to you for the next 4 hours, but help me god, if you even dare touch me, even accidentally, I will scream bloody murder and have my parents force you to ride on the top of the car!” She scowled

I looked at her and just nodded. I was getting more uncomfortable by the minute. I scooted as close as I could to my side of the car so I would not accidentally touch her. I picked up the book I was reading, “Saving the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad” and started to read.

I should take this moment to describe Chloe and myself. I am about 5’9, 190 pounds, dark brown hair and grey eyes. I may be a little overweight, and I have no excuse for myself, since I am not very active. As for Chloe, I have always had a secret crush on her. She is 5’2, petite, weighing in at no more than 110 pounds soaking wet, small B-cup breasts, dark red hair and green eyes. I have always had a crush on her since the 3rd grade when she transferred to my school when her father was transferred by his job from Bozeman, Montana, however, she instantly hated me, and everyone in our grade told her about how much of a nerd and geek I am. Ahh, yes, the cruelty of grade school towards the outcasts!

Chloe’s parents, Ray and Donna, spoke during the whole trip, it seemed like they never ran out of things to talk about. As for myself, I was intently reading my book, trying my best from not touch Chloe, and Chloe it seemed like had fallen asleep while listening to her music from her Samsung phone. We were going going up old US 666 (The Devils road), when the dreaded thing happened. As we were going around the a sharp corner , the movement of the car caused her head to lean over and land on my shoulder!

“Good God!” I exclaimed quietly. I was afraid she was going to wake up instantly and come through on her threat. Thankfully as we rounded the next corner, it caused her head to move the other way, and she did not even stir. I gave a sigh of relief.

When we got to our property, I helped my parents unload the car. We had made previous arrangements to bring 4 tents, two for our parents, and one each for Chloe and I. As we were unloading, Ray came up and asked where the last tent was, since we he only counted 3. My dad and I searched the car and all around, but there was no tent to be found, we had 6 sleeping bags, but only 3 tents!

“Oh geez,” Ray said, “Chloe will not be happy about sharing a tent with you, Zach.” he said, almost apologetically.

“It is fine, I can sleep outside in my sleeping back, I don’t care” I replied

“I don’t think so, Zach,” My dad told me, “it is supposed to rain hard tonight”

“I could wear my poncho!” I said, doing my best to get out of sharing a tent with Chloe.

“Not gonna happen!” my father said sternly.

“CHLOE!” Ray called out to his daughter, “COME OVER HERE!”

Chloe walked over to where we were standing.

“Yes?” She asked her dad.

“I hate to say this, but it appears that we forgot one of the tents. It is supposed to rain hard tonight, so you are going to have to share a tent with Zach”

I could see her face become pale with terror…

“What the HELL!