A DAY'S CAMPING.

The school's announcement hall was crowded and rowdy on a day that was meant to be short lived in school. It was a Friday morning, the last day of school in every week before the weekend. The principal, Mr. Jamestown had called all the student to the school's announcement hall as he had an announcement to make. As they all gathered in the hall, they contemplated and discussed the reasons why the principal would call them to the hall. There were lots of noise from the chitchats and murmurings of the students.

"Do you have an idea what the principal is planning on telling us?" A student from the junior class asked his mate.

"If I knew that I wouldn't be here, would I?"

"Well, I would have believed you if only I wasn't aware of your prestigious position in school."

"And what do you mean by that?!"

"I heard you hold the most prestige post here in our school. They say you are the school's town crier. I could bet you know even what the principal doesn't know, so I guessed you might have an idea what he is planning to announce to us today." The student joked and let out a very annoying laughter.

"As you can see, I don't have time to listen to your weird and annoying jokes." The other student responded and angrily walked away, pushing his way through to the front of the podium where he could clearly see and hear the principal.

"Yeah, we should probably make our way to the frontline of the battle field, there we can get more information. I guess it's time to get some information, Information minister. Wait up for me, my Honourable minister." He joked and ran towards him.

At the other end were Fedrick and his friends Cat, Favour and Anna.

"I don't know why, I just feel excited about what the principal wants to announce." Anna said feeling all excited.

"Well, I think I know why you are excited about it, even before getting to hear it." Cat responded as they all turned looking surprisingly at him.

"And what would that be?" She asked.

"Why are you all looking at me like this? Isn't it obvious that the reason she is so excited is because she already knows what the principal is planning to announce?"

"And why would she know that? The last time I checked, the principal isn't her dad." Favour said.

"It seems you all have forgotten that her dad is still a teacher in this school and there is no way the principal will be making an announcement 📢 without discussing it with the school management and teachers." Cat reminded them. Immediately they turned away from him and looked suspiciously at Anna.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about." Anna denied and walked away dancing in a very weird and funny way trying to avoid any interrogation.

"Oh, not that dance again! she only does that silly dance when she is hiding something from us. I must find out what she is hiding. Catch you guys later." Favour said and ran after Anna leaving Cat and Fedrick laughing uncontrollably.

"Girls and their busy bodies." Fedrick said. Immediately the creaking sound of the opening door 🚪 to the hall drew the attention of the students. In came the FOUR ANGELS. They walked in majestically and elegantly, the heels to their shoes made beautiful sounds as sweet as that of a lovely music 🎶. They walked down to a free corner in the hall, that was not to crowded.

"Fedrick, there's your crush, The Arc Angel. I believe she's still looking for her missing rip. What are you still doing here Mr. Rip? Your master seeks thee." Cat teased him.

"Please leave me alone Cat. Can't you ever be serious for once in your life?"

"Well, I'm being serious my friend. When are you going to man up, walk up to her and tell her how you feel?"

"I don't think I'm the only one who isn't man enough to tell the girl he likes how he feels, my dear Cat." Fedrick responded with a smirk on his face.

"Excuse me, I don't know what you are talking about." Cat responded looking surprised.

"Ah ha! I did catch you off guard, didn't I?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Cat said.

Fedrick grabbed his hand, "My dear Cat, when are you going to tell Favour how you feel about her?" Cat looked on surprised and speechless with his eye balls almost popping out. It made Fedrick laugh so hard and loud 🔊 that it drew to them some attention.

"Don't look at me that way, you look so funny. I have seen the way you look at her, enough to know it's not just friendship." Immediately the principal walked on to the podium.

"Hello students, good morning to you all. I Hope you all had a lovely night?" He greeted.

"For some time, I, your teachers and the school's management have been deliberating on what activity we should organize for you all for this term's holiday. We were able to organise a prom party for you all last two terms and last term we had a beach party, which was successful. I am excited to announce to you all that this time around, we will be having a day's camping." The principal announced as the students clapped and shouted in excitement.

"Hold on, I'm not done yet. This time around, we have decided to let you all invite up to two friends or mates for the camping. The school will provide transportation and feeding for you all, but please be sure to hold little cash for your other needs." He added with a big smile on his face. The students shouted, jumped and clapped excitedly.

"I was quite busy with the preparations in my office and will like to return to that now, every other announcement will be made by Mrs. Eve standing here with me." He said pointing to her direction.

"I will hand over the mic to her now. Have a good day you all." He handed over the mic and walked off the podium leaving the hall.

"Good day students." Mrs. Eve greeted them with a bright brimming smile on her face as they responded.

"I guess you all are curious to know the reason why this announcement has been made earlier as we normally do this a week before the supposed date?" She asked as they all looked and listened attentively to her.

"Well, we haven't changed that tradition, at least not yet. The school camping will be on Sunday next week. I know this is a surprise to you all, because we normally have these activities every end of the school terms."

"Yes, we are!!" The students shouted in response.

"We decided to shift it up front because it collided with the period of the competition in which our great Wild Cat team will be participating…." Immediately, the students sang aloud a short poem for their team cheering them on.

"Great Wild Cats, the Great Wild Cats, we are meek, Friendly, lovely but also dangerous, we are Wild!!" Immediately Fedrick and his team mates that was present in the hall were filled with joy, pride and determination. They could feel their ego soaring like an eagle.

"Great, that's nice and beautiful. You all should keep on supporting, encouraging and praying for the team. We are going to do wonders in this year's competition." Mrs. Eve continued as the students shouted in excitement.

"For the camping, the school will be providing the means of transportation, so don't worry yourselves about that. And about the feeding, the school will make sure to provide that too, but you all are advised to still come with at least little cash for other things you may need or paid games or activities you may like to participate in." She informed them.

"The buses 🚍 will be on stand by in the school premises by 12 o'clock pm, that is after church service. You will have about one hour to get yourselves down to school before we move. We will hit the road by 1 pm, so all those interested in the camping program should make sure to be here on or before 1 pm."

"Note that you all will be given random seat numbers and not allowed to seat with your mates or friends as usual, except you are lucky to choose a number that corresponds. This is just for fun, we want the ride down to the camp to be fun."

"I hope to see you all on Sunday next week. If anything, new comes up that you all need to know of, we will make sure to pass the information. That will be all for now, so head back to your classes for lectures." She concluded and walked out of the hall, and the students followed suit.

Sunday, the day of the camping came around so quickly. Fedrick was in his room preparing for church, when he remembered that it was the Sunday for the camping program. He ran down to the living room to his parents.

"Mum, Dad, I almost forgot what today is."

"Isn't today a Sunday for church service? how could you forget that? and you are still dressed for it." His Mum, Mrs. Lionel asked.

"No Mum, not that." Fiona answered.

"Then what?"

"Today is the Sunday for the camping 🏕 program."

"How can you easily remember that, when even myself didn't remember until this morning?" Fedrick asked her.

"Well, ever since that day you came back home telling us about your school's camping, I marked out the date on my calendar, especially as you promised to take me along. Hope you didn't forget about that too?" Fiona asked.

"Isn't that after church service?" Dad asked as he adjusted his belt.

"Yes, it is, but I haven't even packed up yet. I just forgot all about it, what was I thinking?" Fedrick complained.

"Well, myself is set to go. I love outdoor activities a lot to forget about such things." Fiona responded.

"We are already late for church service, so you will have to do that when we get back from church ⛪." Mrs. Lionel said and walked out of the house with her handbag, heading towards the car.

"Both of you should join your mum in the car, we are already late to church. I just need some seconds to adjust this… belt (he adjusts his belt), I really don't know what's wrong with this belt." Mr. Lionel said to Fiona and Fedrick, still trying to set his faulty belt.

"Dad, I guess we will be going to church late today again because of your belt?" Fiona asked.

"It's high time you change your belt dad, it's always holding us up on Sundays and eventually we end up going to church late." Fedrick added and walked out of the house with Fiona towards the car.

Soon Mr. Lionel was done, he got into the car and drove off to church. The church service lasted for three hours and after the service Fedrick and Fiona had to head back home to pick up their stuffs needed for the camping.

"Fedrick, please make sure to take care of yourself and Fiona. Watch her every movement. I know she can be impossible to handle sometimes, that's why you have to do your best in watching her." Mrs. Lionel requested.

"I heard you loud and clear mummy."

"Young lady, hope you heard mum's request." Fedrick asked Fiona.

"Yes, I did…. So what?"

"Soo, don't leave my sight at the camp."

"It's already 12:30 P.m. You both will be late. Get into the car, I should drop you off at school before heading to the office." Mr. Lionel said as he walked out of the house towards his car.

"dad, are you going to work today?" Fiona asked.

"No, not really. I just want to get something from the office, that's all. So, you both should hurry up before you miss the bus."

Mr. Lionel dropped them off at school before heading to his office.

"You are late man!" Cat who was standing on the long queue along with Favour and Anna, shouted at Fedrick on seeing him.

"Sorry bro, we took quite a while at the church." Fedrick apologized.

"You all should meet my younger sister, Fiona."

"I must warn you, she's quite the fierce one." Fedrick joked as they all laughed out loud.

"Fiona, these are my friends and class mates, Cat, Favour and Anna."

"It's nice meeting you all." Fiona said.

"Same here, Fiona." Anna responded.

"Fedrick never told us he has a beautiful sister like you." Favour added.

"You are really beautiful." She complimented.

"Thanks, and you too. You are a very beautiful." Fiona responded as she let out a very beautiful smile.

"You should join us on the queue." Cat said to her.

"Yeah, I should do that." She replied and turned away to go join the queue.

"And where are you going?" Anna asked her.

"I'm going to join the queue."

"You shouldn't stress yourself, I will create a space for you here. Just join me here." Anna offered.

"Thank you. You are nice." Fiona thanked her and join her.

"What about myself? I'm I not getting a space?" Fedrick asked.

"Nope, you came late so you should join from the back. Moreover, even if we all stand together, we may not be lucky enough to sit together as we would be picking a random paper with seat numbers on them." Anna responded.

"You know, you might be luck enough to seat with your Angel 😇, Mr. Missing rip." Cat Teased him.

"Catch you later, Mr. Missing rip." Fedrick walked to the back to join the long queue. soon, it got to his turn to pick the paper. He picked and unfolded the neatly folded paper. When he opened it, he had picked the number no12.

"Number 12? Quite the lucky number." He said to himself and walked to the bus. As he got to the seat with the number 12, behold he caught sight of the captivating beauty of an angel seated on the seat with the number 11. It was Danielle, the Arc angel. Immediately, he could feel the butterflies in his stomach, he was all giddy and sweaty as he stood lost looking at her.

"Aren't you seating down?" Danielle asked him, letting out a big beautiful and alluring smile. Her smile was so alluring and captivating, it was hard to ignore.

"Sorry?" He responded.

"I'm guessing you are seat mate?"

"Yes, I do, yeah…. Sorry, I mean, I am."

"Well, you've been standing there for a while now, so I was wondering if you are not going to seat?"

"Sorry about that." Fedrick apologized as he anxiously sat down.

Fedrick was nervous and uncomfortable, that he could not move freely. He tried his best not to make eye contact with her and kept his head down, as he was too shy to look at her.

As soon as the bus 🚍 was filled up, they hit the road. Fedrick who was too shy to look at Danielle who was listening to music 🎶 with her headphone, peeked at her from the screen of his phone. He wondered how he could speak to her without being awkward. He was clueless on what to even say to her.

"I'm I that beautiful for you to peek at me from your phone screen or I'm I making you uncomfortable? Danielle asked. Immediately his phone fell from his hands as he was shocked.

"Oh, be careful." She said and picked up the phone for him.

"I am Danielle and it's nice meeting you, Fedrick." Stretching out her hands for a hand shake.

"It's nice meeting yo…." He paused on noticing she knew his name.

"Sorry, howw... how. You know my name?" Fedrick asked.

"Yes of course. Do you think I'm the only popular one in school?"

"Well, you also have made a name for yourself, handsome. I'm a fan of the Wild Cats, specially a fan of yours." Fedrick blushed and let out a smile.

He felt his hammering heart and the adrenaline that ran through his body.

"Well, thank you. I'm also a fan of yours."

"You are more appealing in person." She complimented.

"you should be comfortable around me, feel free. At least for today let's be friends." Danielle said and offered a hand shake.

"Sure, that would be nice." Fedrick responded, accepting the hand shake.

Danielle smile and plugged back her headphone, laid her head back on to her seat with her eyes closed. Fedrick kept staring at her, he couldn't stop looking at her. Her hair was midnight-black and it flowed over her shoulders. She had saccharine sweet lips. They were blossom soft and her eyebrows were slender and beautiful. She was just too perfect.

"Incredibly beautiful, what a creation." He thought to himself.