Cold water hit against my fingers as I sat next to the fresh stream of water rushing down beside our trail. The bright sun felt nice against my skin, it wasn’t too hot due to the chilly wind that came and went. The sound of water running and leaves moving was incredibly relaxing. I almost forgot I existed while looking around at Mother Nature’s marvelous creations. I heard footsteps approaching me quickly and then felt a pat on my back.

“Hey, we’re gonna start going up the trail soon.” Calysta informed me.

I got up and brushed the dry soil that managed to stick to my blue jeans. I hurried on behind my friends leaving small footprints that soon would soon be gone,  just like my teenage years. I extended my sunburnt arm, letting my hand touch all the tree branches and plants to my right. So many verdant hues swirled around me, relaxing me completely.

“All I’m saying is that Fiona is a strong female lead, if Shrek really treated her like that she would leave.”

“No. Shrek is toxic and she’s only blinded by love.”

I could hear my friends arguing in front of me, making me laugh. We began walking uphill for about 20 minutes. The hike was filled with stupid debates and dumb comments until we finally reached a beautiful waterfall. Tiny droplets of water hit my face as I approached. It had gotten colder due to the increasing amount of trees surrounding the area. Truly I did not mind, because I was warm from the quick-paced walk. The warmth of my face contrasting with the freezing temperatures of the mist felt incredible.

While looking at all my friends I wondered where they would be in a few years from now. We were all growing up so quickly it almost hurt. We could all still remember our peaceful, and often melodramatic middle-school years, but then, suddenly everything changed in the blink of an eye. We grew into sweaty, acne-prone, oddly-thinking teenagers.

“Guys, let’s climb that rock!” Serena yelled over the aggressive, gushing waterfall.

“You’re stupid! That rock is very smooth and slippery!” I yelled back.

I looked over at the huge stone sitting in front of us. Seeing it slightly lean over the pool of water, where the waterfall ended, made me nervous. She shook her head and walked over to it then began to walk towards the edge of the wet rock. One by one all of my friends joined her, like the sheep they are. I decided to follow too because I didn’t want to miss out on any fun. We stood on the dark colored rock for a while trying to reach as far as we could towards the waterfall. Knowing I was feeling uneasy about the slithery, concreted mass we were walking on Justen though it would be very comedic of him to jump up and down on the edge. Maybe it was my heartbeat matching his steps, but I’m positive I felt the rock move.

“Really? Stop that.” I furrowed my eyebrows.

“Hey take our picture, J.” Serena interrupted before we could start bickering back and forth.

Justen sighed and walked off to get the polaroid camera from Colby’s bag. He came back and told us to pose in a fake enthusiastic voice. We all gathered together and crouched slightly to not block the view of the water. Justen’s pale finger pressed the button triggering the bright flash to go off, almost blinding us. The rectangular film popped out and slowly developed due to the frigid temperature.

The rest of the hike downhill was amusing to witness, because everyone was tired and grumpy and just wanted to get back to the Jeep. For now, life was enjoyable and I’ll treasure that waterfall hike forever.