I didn’t think I was going to be the screw up who kept the group from moving on, but, still, just the idea of it made me uncomfortable.

Then, as if she knew what was going through my mind, Nina added, “Don’t worry about what the others are thinking, learning or doing.

Just worry about doing your part.” Mike jumped in with glee, remembering he still had to talk about all the ways we could get in trouble. “Anyone who doesn’t pull his or her weight, or makes trouble of any kind, gets demerits—extra kitchen detail, cleanup, heavy labor, basically whatever we want.

“The part of the program that we call Mountain Water starts tomorrow. We will hike up to a high altitude lake called Darkhorse Lake. We will snow camp for two days and then hike down. Got it?” Nina took over, “To get through the next couple of days you will need map reading skills. So that’s what we are doing this afternoon. Then, after dinner you pack and get to bed early, no funny stuff.”

In the map class that afternoon, Nina showed us how to read elevations, and various markings for mountains, lakes and rivers, and other stuff. That’s when I first noticed Layla.

It was hard not to notice her. She was wearing a tie-dye shirt that didn’t completely fit her and she had obviously dyed her hair super jet black. Layla was not the type I usually pay much attention to, but there was something about her. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing. She definitely didn’t care what anyone else thought. In the map class, it was like she was a genius. She could figure out how far any one place was from any other place. She knew what all the symbols meant, and she seemed to really enjoy it.

I hate to admit it now, but she was so obviously smart that I cheated off of her when they gave us a little map reading test. By the end of the first day, I already owed her one.