The next morning, which was probably only a couple of hours after I had woken up to see Alaska and the Colonel making out, a thick hand shook me awake. I squinted through the half light and saw the Colonel standing over me. I groaned at the sight of him, knowing I could easily blame my mood on lack of sleep and a hang-over.

"We gotta go, Pudge. Time to roll up," he said.

"M'sleeping..." I grumbled and felt his foot nudge my back.

"You can sleep after we check in. IT'S TIME TO GO!"

"All right, all right. I get it..." I said, remembering the plan. I unwound myself from Lara and she wiggled out of the sleeping bag, groggily finding her feet and untangling her bouncy mess of curls as I stretched the kinks out of my back and glanced around at the others. Takumi was stuffing his poorly-rolled sleeping bag into its cover while Alaska was sitting crossed-legged on a bale of hay, her messed hair tied hopelessly into a loose bun on the top of her head and dark shadows underlining her tired, green eyes. She looked bloody awful and no wonder; she'd spent the night drinking shit wine and kissing the Colonel. I couldn't decide which was worse for her. She reached down behind her makeshift seat and picked up an all-but-empty bottle of Stawberry Hill and poured the last of it into her coffee mug. She stirred the wine into the just as shitty instant coffee with her little finger and drank.

I saw the Colonel look at her with a small frown as his lips pulled tight, almost like how I imagined a concerned parent would look at their troubled kid. As much as I hated him at that moment, I couldn't help but agree with him. Sometimes it was like Alaska just looked for any opportunity to destroy herself.

"I feel like an alcholic preacher on a Sunday morning," Alaska shook her head and took another sip of her imaginably disgusting concoction.

"Maybe you shouldn't drink so much," I said.

"Pudge..." she began, "Pudge, what you must understand about me is that I am a deeply unhappy person."

Yeah, no kidding. I would be to if I was cheating on my so called 'beloved' boyfriend. For once I actually felt bad for Jake, yet still found myself hoping that he hadn't done anything to hurt her which may have lead to her kissing the Colonel. But I quickly dismissed the thought, not wanting to think that the Colonel would take advantage of her misfortune. I looked away and sighed to myself and pinched the bridge of my nose. My best day ever had lead to my worst one yet.

I didn't say much during our walk back to campus and was, in a way, thankful for my hang-over as it provided me with an excuse not to talk. Lara walked silently beside me and for a moment I wanted to hold her hand but I was too pissed off and grumpy to do anything even remotely happy. I just wanted to be back on campus and in my room where I could confront the Colonel... Or maybe sleep first. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do more.

"Hey, you okay, dude?" Takumi croaked as he appeared on the other side of me after having just puked on the edge of the washed-out dirt road. My expression must have given me away. It always did.

"Uh, yeah, just feeling like shit," I said, which was true.

"Yeah, yeah... Me too," he burped into his fist and I thought for a second he was going to less loose another stream of yellow and pink.

"I hope you deedn't get too uncomfortable een my sleeping bag," Lara said, looking up from her feet. She sounded almost apologetic.

"Nah, I liked it," I said, which was also true. She smiled tiredly at me and took my hand, a gesture I was thankful for in the end as it helped me look and feel less distant.

Takumi arched his eyebrows at us and smirked. "Well if coming down from Strawberry Hill doesn't make me puke anymore, that sure as hell will," he joked which made me smile a little and Lara blush. I couldn't deny that I liked it when she blushed, it made her look even cuter. Although we had hardly spoken, I was glad to have Lara to take my mind off things. I really did like her, maybe even more now that I knew about Alaska and the Colonel's dirty little secret.

We arrived back at Culver Creek and Lara spun around to kiss me goodbye but I smoothly turned it into a hug on account of not wanting to kill her with my ghastly, Strawberry Hill breath. She and Alaska returned to their rooms and I didn't bother waiting for the Colonel before I headed back to mine. I collapsed on the bottom bunk, my face half buried against the pillow and exhaled slowly. My headache was begging me to give in to sleep but the thought of Alaska and the Colonel persauded me not to. The more I thought about it the more everything began to make sense, like the way the Colonel spoke about Alaska and her relationships:

"So she really likes him?" I'd asked the Colonel about Jake when I first arrived at the Creek.

"I guess. She hasn't cheated on him, which is a first," the Colonel had told me with a shrug.

So she does cheat, I thought. And she doesn't really like Jake, I thought again. I rolled onto my other side and scrunched up my face with annoyance. I supposed if it were any one else other than the Colonel I wouldn't care so much, but I thought he was better than that. I wondered how long their little affair had been going on for. Was it just last night? Or had it been going on for longer? Maybe even before I came to the Creek. That would explain what Kevin had really meant when he said: "This is for the Colonel. You shouldn't hang out with that asshole." Perhaps he had found about him and Alaska and was pissed that he was cheating on Sara.

I pulled the covers over my head and tucked myself into darkness as I let sleep envelop me, thankful for its quick release that saved me from both my thoughts and my hang-over.

I woke up to the sound of the door slamming shut and winced under the covers.

"Hey, what happened to you?" The Colonel's voice said accusingly.

"Huh?" I flung the covers back and sat on the edge of the bed.

"You ditched when we were supposed to check in with the Eagle," he said. "I covered for you though, and you're lucky he was okay with it."

I wanted to ask him what he'd told the Eagle in case I had to stick to my story later, but at that moment I honestly didn't care. It was just after midday and I'd already slept half the day away. Time was passing by strangely and it made me more tired and seemed to distort my sense of 'yesterday'.

"Where've you been?" I tried to keep my tone normal so I didn't set him off.

"Doing stuff," he said as he pulled off his shirt and dug through his unorganised draws for a clean set of clothes.

Yeah, I bet, I thought and before I could stop myself my thoughts became words and my tone was no longer normal. "With Alaska? I saw you. Last night. Kissing her."