Prologue

Summary: On a field trip, Mikayla and her friends make a life changing discovery.

Mikayla barely shifted her eyes from the passing trees in the window as she felt Tulip’s head softly rest on her shoulder. The latter looked incredibly drained when she showed up at school this morning with her twin sibling Lake. Not that Mikayla blamed her. They had to wake up really early to avoid missing the school bus for this school trip.

She noticed Tulip didn’t talk much on the walk to school with her friends. She’d been trying to ask Tulip what was going on with her, only to be met with Tulip changing the subject or straight up not answering at all. Lake was always with their friend Jesse these days, so it was hard to ask them anything either. Soon she felt herself drifting off to sleep herself. The bus ride would take a few hours to get to their destination, she figured she could use the rest.

She woke up to something repeatedly bonking her on the head. She looked up to find Lake twirling a pencil in their fingers with a slightly amused look on their face. Tulip remained peacefully dozing on her shoulder. She almost couldn’t bring herself to wake her friend up with how relaxed she looked.

“Tulip, we’re here,” she said softly. Tulip’s face scrunched up slightly before getting up wordlessly. The two of them got off the bus and caught up with Jesse and Lake. Jesse bounced from one leg to another, looking around eagerly. 

“I’ve never seen someone so excited to go hiking,” Mikayla commented as two older teenagers showed up. She figured they must be juniors or seniors, but she was confused as to why they were here on a freshman school trip. Jesse’s face brightened upon spotting the two. The shorter of the two walked up first and practically tackled Jesse. The two pretended to spar for a few moments before the older teen held the younger boy into a loose headlock, ruffling his hair. Lake gave the guy a fist bump. The taller guy waved shyly as they caught up.

“Hey. I’m Ryan, and this is my buddy Min-Gi,” the first guy said, nodding his head back to his friend. “We’re supposed to volunteer at least once before graduation, so we’re here as chaperones for your group. Now I know Jesse and Lake here from track but would you two ladies mind telling us who you are?”

“I’m Mikayla and this is my friend Tulip!” Mikayla said. Tulip barely looked up at anyone in the group. She looked a little better than she did when she showed up at her door to walk to the bus stop together, but there was still a vacant look lingering in her eyes.

“Is your friend ok?” Min-Gi asked, raising an eyebrow in concern.

“I think she’s just tired!” Mikayla answered for her. Tulip did not respond at all, worrying Mikayla further. She decided she would ask Lake about it as soon as she got the chance to do so.

After the class got their debriefing from the head teacher, they split off into the groups they signed up for weeks ago. Jesse led the group with an upbeat stroll, Ryan close behind. Min-Gi trailed behind the group with Tulip so she wouldn’t be left behind. This left Mikayla with Lake walking beside her.

“So… anything going on with Tulip lately?” she asked, trying to sound casual. Lake continued to look up ahead, their lips pulled into a grim line. “Hello? Lake?”

They groaned and took what appeared to be headphones out of their ears before turning to look at Mikayla.

“You… needed something?”

“Yeah! About Tulip!”  Lake seemed to scowl more.

“Who’s surprised?” they sighed. 

“Oh, are you two fighting?” she asked quietly. “I didn’t mean to pry or anything–”

“I’m not fighting with her. How can I when she barely talks to me anymore” they said bluntly. “She’s been acting so weird lately. Now all she does is spend all day typing away on that computer of hers.”

“Any particular reason why?”

Lake paused for a moment. “Not that it’s any of your business, but our parents are getting separated this year. I saw it coming a few months ago, but I guess Tulip took it harder than I thought. Mom and Dad wanted me to talk to her but she’s just been shutting herself away from everything.”

“I… I’m sorry to hear that.”

“She got into a really bad argument with Mom last night while I was at practice. Mom won’t tell me what it was about to avoid making Tulip even more upset. Maybe she’ll tell you about it.”

“I’ve been trying to talk to her for days… But she never answers her texts anymore! And she barely talks to me when we walk to school together these days,” Mikayla sighed. “At least I know what’s been making her so upset now.”

She looked behind the two of them to see Tulip trailing behind with Min-Gi flanking her. Min-Gi looked up at her and waved awkwardly.She looked in front of her to see Jesse and Ryan practically racing each other through the trail.

“Jesse’s gotten SUPER into running since he and I made varsity,” Lake said, a small smile appearing on their face. “He’s been a lot happier since he switched from swimming to track. I’m glad he did too. He was too good for those water jocks anyways.”

“Hey up front! Don’t lose the rest of the group!” Min-Gi called out.

“Catch up then!” Ryan said, jogging in light circles around Jesse. The two of them laughed but managed to slow down enough for the rest of the group to catch up.

“We’re supposed to be… teaching them about nature I guess? There’s an assignment they’ve gotta do by the end of the trip.” Min-Gi said, looking through a binder he pulled out of his backpack. Ryan sighed and lowered the binder from Min-Gi’s face. 

“Do we have to? We could just make up a bunch of stuff,” Ryan suggested.

“What? Come on, they’re gonna know we didn’t follow directions and we won’t get the volunteer credit. You want to graduate, don’t you?” Min-Gi said. Ryan rolled his eyes, helping Min-Gi hand out a paper and a clipboard to write on.

“Fine, let’s do some nature stuff,” he sighed.

“Thank you,” Min-Gi said. Mikayla spotted Ryan’s lips turn up slightly once Min-Gi nodded approvingly and placed a hand on his shoulder. Lake ran up to Jesse to look at the assignment together. Mikayla opted to lag behind so Tulip could catch up.

“It says we need to find three different plants to identify and write about. Wanna look for some together?” Mikayla smiled, hoping to cheer her friend up. Tulip’s brows furrowed and she kept dragging her feet along. Mikaya quietly followed along, stopping as Tulip did and taking the time to write down notes on her clipboard.

“Alright, guys! I think now’s a good time for us to take a little break,” Ryan announced,  shifting his duffel bag to the front of his body. “I got everyone’s lunches packed here! You guys can do whatever you want but don’t go where we can’t see or hear you!”

Tulip took her lunch bag and immediately stormed off further down the trail.

“Hey, wait!” Min-Gi called after her, but she didn’t respond. “We’re supposed to stick together! Please don’t run off like that!”

“I’ll go check on her,” Mikayla offered, running off before Min-Gi could protest.

“Probably best to let her handle it,” she heard Ryan say.

Mikayla’s eyes darted around, looking for any signs of her friend. She finds Tulip running further into the woods, veering away from the predetermined trail.

“Tulip? Come on, I’m worried about you.”

She managed to catch up to Tulip, grabbing her by the shoulder and pulling her back.

“Mikayla, I don’t really need this right now,” Tulip said, her voice soft yet menacing as she glared at her.

“You’ve been acting weird for weeks and now you’ve been giving everyone the silent treatment, even your own twin. Parents getting separated sucks I can tell but–”

“They told you?” Tulip looked bewildered.

“Well, yeah. I wanted to know why you’ve been so upset lately. Maybe I could help a little...I dunno… do something to make you feel better at least.”

For the first time that day, Tulip’s face softened. She shook her head.

“I…I don’t think you can help me with this one. It’s all on my parents.”

“Try me.”

Mikayla sat down by a tree close to them and beckoned for Tulip to sit down. Once the two got comfortable, Tulip leaned back slightly.

“Everything’s just gotten so…difficult since Mom and Dad told Lake and I that they were separating. You know that programming camp in Oshkosh I’d been talking about?”

“Yeah?”

“Well, thanks to some stupid mix-up, I can’t even go anymore,” Tulip threw her hands up in frustration.

“What? How come?”

“My dad planned an out of town trip for work and my mom has hospital shifts right up the ass planned on that day so neither of them can take me. We had an agreement and everything! They signed a contract and I held up my end of the deal! How hard is it to keep track of two kids between two parents?”

“Wow, that really sucks. But… why did you run off from the group just now?”

Tulip’s brows furrowed once more. 

“I figured we were pretty close to a bus stop or anything I could take to travel to Oshkosh…with the money I kept saved…I dunno,” she mumbled, looking more embarrassed now. 

“Yeah but what’s the guarantee that you’d even make it to Oshkosh in time? What if something happens to you on the way?”

“I know, it was a dumb idea, you don’t have to rub it in.”

“I’m not, I promise! I just would’ve been super sad if you went missing without a trace and I didn’t know what happened to you. Besides, I don’t want to get our chaperones in trouble. Then we’d always have grown adults watching our every move on trips instead of the fun upperclassmen who let us get away with stuff,” she joked, gently nudging her friend’s shoulder. 

“Well, maybe Oshkosh can wait until next year,” she sighed in resignation. 

“Maybe you don’t have to wait,” Mikayla said, leaning on her. “I could beg one of my dads to let me skip school so he can take you to Oshkosh! And I could also see you off before you become the country’s greatest coder.”

“You’d… you’d do that for me?”

“Well, yeah! You’ve been through a lot lately, and as much as I wish I could make everything better, I hope getting to go to camp at least makes you smile a bit.” Mikayla's hand crossed over Tulip’s, gently squeezing it. Tulip looked up at her, a small smile starting to light up her face.

Jesse and Lake soon came clamoring up to the two.

“We found ‘em!” Jesse called out. “Did… did we do something to upset you, Tulip?”

“No, it’s not that,” Mikayla said, waving her hand. Tulip nodded and stood up with Mikayla’s help.

“I’m fine now, I promise,” Tulip assured the two. “Mikaya found me and I feel a little better.”

Lake looked like they wanted to object, but Ryan and Min-Gi caught up to the four of them before they could say anything.

“Thank goodness, I thought we were absolutely screwed,” Min-Gi huffed, struggling to catch his breath.

“I’m sorry you’ve been having a hard time lately, but please don’t run off like that and scare us half to death,” Ryan added. 

“Come on, let’s get back on the trail,” Min-Gi said. “We’re almost done with this anyways. I just need to look at the map and figure out how far off we…are?”

What’s up?” Ryan peered over the taller man’s shoulder as he dug through the duffel bag.

“Where’s the map? Did you take it?”

“I thought you had it?”

“I put it right back when we took a break for lunch. I left the duffle bag with you when I went to use the bathroom.”

“So you think I took it? You won’t even let me touch the map unless you’re right behind me!”

As the two upperclassmen bickered, Mikayla spotted Lake holding something in their hands. Upon closer inspection, she spotted the map rolled up in their fist. They smirked. 

“Jesse snagged it when they got up to look for you and Tulip,” they admitted. 

“Only because they dared me to,” Jesse interjected, his face flushed.

“Well you’ve gotta give it back or we’ll be stuck here for hours,” Mikaya pleaded. “Come on, I’ll tell them the map flew out of the bag by mistake. No one will get in trouble.”

Mikayla held her hand out for the map expectantly, but just as she was about to grab it, a gust of wind blew it out of Lake’s hands.

“Damn,” Lake said, following after it. After glancing back at Ryan and Min-Gi still looking for the map in the duffel, Mikayla and Tulip looked at each other before following Lake, Jesse tagging along. They stumbled deeper into the woods as the map flew just out of their reaches. 

Mikayla’s foot got caught in the overgrown roots of a tree, sending her falling onto the dirt. When she looked up, Jesse came running back to help her up. The twins stood further ahead staring at something…glowing.

“You ok?” Jesse asked, gently brushing some dirt and sticks out of her hair and face. 

“Yeah, I’m alright… What are those two looking at?” She asked.

“The map went through there!” Lake exclaimed, pointing at something green and bright. When Mikayla and Jesse got closer, they found what appeared to be an aging trailer car with the door wide open.

“I took the map, so I’ve gotta go get it in there,” Jesse offered, stepping forward. Lake stopped him.

“I dared you to do it, it’s my fault the map got blown away,” they insisted, heading into the trailer. Jesse followed soon after regardless, both disappearing into the trailer.

“We’ve gotta tell Ryan and Min-Gi we found the map. You go and alert them and I’ll make sure Jesse and Lake come out ok!” Mikayla stated. Tulip nodded hesitantly but ran off to grab Ryan and Min-Gi. Mikayla stood in front of the trailer, seeing no signs of Jesse or Lake coming back. She felt a strange force pulling her into the trailer, but she could see nothing around aside from nature itself. Pensively, she started inside to get a better look of things. Something grabbed at her arm, and she whipped around to come face to face with Tulip.

“They said not to go in there!” Tulip gasped, with the two upperclassmen running up to them in the distance.

Unfortunately, the sudden movement sent the girls both stumbling backwards into the trailer.

As the two became engulfed in light, Mikala vaguely noticed either Ryan or Min-Gi yelling after them.