Mark headed down the dirt path and didn't look back. I wasn't surprised. He had no intention of talking to me. Honestly, I didn't feel like talking to him, either. We were both doing this because his parents made us.
I was feeling depressed. I realized I was back to having zero friends. To make it even worse, I was stuck up here for days with someone who didn't want me around.
It made me sick to think about going back to school. Summer was over in a little less than a month, and then it was back to the same old thing again. Mark would probably be even worse to me than he was last year.
The lake was in a valley far below the cabin, and the hiking path ran the through the thick woods along the side of the mountain, parallel to the lake. It was steep and awkward to walk, and the trail wasn't very wide and was mostly covered with brush.
When the trail switched back a few times—repeatedly leading uphill ten or twenty feet, then curving downhill another ten or twenty feet, and then repeating the same thing—I lost Mark for a while.
After a few minutes, I saw him again when the trail went back to moving parallel. He was holding a thin branch he'd found somewhere, stripping the leaves from it so it was just a whippy stick. He swung it back and forth like some useless machete as he moved down the path.
He was getting bored and distracted, so I tried to pace myself, so I wouldn't get too close, but I was catching up to him anyway.
"Are you going to say anything?" I asked him when we were too close to ignore each other.
He didn't look at me."Nope." 265Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE80incRZlo
He slashed at a clump of dead leaves.
"Yeah, I didn't think so."265Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOQGFNhchRp
"I've got nothing to say."
"Nothing?"
"Nope."
I didn't expect anything different. I walked past him.
"Do you have anything to say?"
I gave him exactly the same answer, mocking his slightly lower voice like he would mock mine.265Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6w227LabRd
"Nope." 265Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlMu25AV22
He snapped my butt with the branch, slashing it like a whip. Hurt like hell. I couldn't help but turn back to him.
"STOP IT!" I shouted, then kept walking. I wanted to rub my butt to see if it was cut, but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.
Then he did it again, snapping the branch right above where he's hit the first time. It hurt even more.
I finally turned around and faced him as he tried to get by and walk away. He didn't expect me to yank the stick from his hand.
But I wanted him to know how I felt.
I wanted to whip him in the butt the same way he'd whipped me.
But he turned back toward me just as I took my swing.
And I whipped him in the face.
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