Hiking with The Boys

Honk.

Beeep.

Inhaling the dense city air that surrounded us, I nearly choked on the thick scent of gasoline and coffee.

Prius and I were carrying takeout burgers through a bustling parking lot. We were on lunch-buying-duty as our truck was in for maintenance. I felt my phone buzz.

“Ravi said he’s here,” I said.

“Let’s hurry then,” Prius nagged.

“Naw. We can’t leave until Coco’s here.”

“Man, we need to get going soon.”

“How long’s the drive?”

“Three hours.”

“Isn’t that the usual?”

“Our hike is supposed to be five hours round-trip.”

“…”

“It’s also listed as a moderate trail, and we’re not exactly experienced hikers.”

“Well, we’re relatively fit, right?”

“Ravi and I are. I don’t know about you and Coco.”

“Hey.”

Walking towards the meeting spot, I saw two figures next to the garage. It was Ravi cheerfully chatting it up with a serious-looking long-haired girl. She wore a baggy windbreaker over a sports bra and black leggings, as if she was fresh from the fitness centre. With her slender physique and toned arm muscles, I was reminded of some of the female basketball team members—although she seemed a little short to make the cut.

While Ravi was animatedly talking, the girl only responded with nods and short replies. She seemed disinterested.

“Hey, you think he’s getting hit on?” Prius whispered.

“Maybe. He’s hottest one here.”

“Let’s go wingman him.”

And so, the two of us confidently strut up to the pair with a clear mission in mind. My palms were sweaty, but this was no time to be anxious. Being a wingman for my friend was the greatest privilege I could possibly have.

“Hey Ravi! What’s up? You still volunteering at the orphanage?”

Prius lied as easily as he breathed.

“Eyy, how’s the puppy you rescued last week?”

Of course, I lied too.

I wrapped an arm around his shoulder while Prius patted his back.

“H-hey, stop it,” Ravi complained.

“This girl bothering you?” I teased. “Ravi’s a great guy, so you better not mess with him.”

“It’s a little last minute, but wanna join our hiking trip today? There’s another girl coming with us,” Prius said.

“Yeah, her name’s Coco.”

“Bro, this is Coco,” Ravi said.

Everyone froze.

“Hey Prius. Hey Via,” Coco said, giving me a downwards nod. It was hard to tell if she was amused. There might’ve been a slight curve on the edge of her lips.

I took a while to piece together what I knew of the girl before me. On a closer look, she definitely had the same face as before, albeit wearing a stoic expression. I’ve never imagined that such indifference could appear on her countenance.

Growing up, Corolla had been the tallest of the group. Due to her physical advantage, she often bossed us around and dragged us on spontaneous adventures. She always rocked the same short hair as us, rolled in the same dirt as us, and wore the same clothes as us.

But this short, serious looking woman in front of us? It was hard to imagine her doing any of that.

“You look a lot more feminine than I expected,” Prius said bluntly.
Hey. Take it easy.

“Well I am a girl,” she replied coldly.

“To be fair,” Ravi interjected. “We all grew. I could barely recognize you guys at first either.”

I nodded.

“…Well let’s get going. It’s gonna be a long hike. We might barely make it home by midnight.”

“Isn’t it only five hours?” Coco asked.

“Yeah, but that’s the average.”

“We’ll be faster than average.”

“Wow. Someone’s confident today.”

“Well let’s go grab the car,” Prius said, taking out his keys. “Who’s riding shotgun?”

“Shotgun.” “SHOTGUN!” “Shotgun!”

“I heard Via first.”

Coco furrowed her eyebrows.

“Are you sure Via?” She asked. “You look kind of tired today.”

“Ah, yeah. I came a little early. But what about it?”

“You fool!” Ravi dramatically declared. “Shotgun is a responsibility, not a privilege! Only the most alert co-pilots may ride it! Honestly speaking though, you should sleep in the back.”

“Fine. I’ll sit in the back. You two can rock paper scissors, or something.”

“Reload,” Prius said.

“Shotgun!” Coco’s hand shot up, to Ravi’s dismay.

“Hey! I didn’t know that was a thing.”

“Hehe.”

o

Last week’s alp grew larger as we passed the lake and drove straight through the pine forest. Our destination was a sharp rocky prominence with a crown of clouds; as we came closer, I could see a small sierra trailing behind it. Among them was a tiny mountain, shyly peeking its head through its deep green jacket.

Now who were these aspiring hikers, parting their way through a dense evergreen sea towards the promised land?

You already know—it was me and the boys.

“That mountain’s Ravi,” Coco said, pointing towards the largest one. “He went from the shortest to the tallest in just a few years.”

“Yeah, I remember when you guys picked on me. Where’s my most-improved award?”

“If we were kids then that mountain should’ve been Via,” Prius said. “He was our captain.”

“Ehhhh, not really,” I replied. “We only decided that because my birthday came first. If we’re talking about our childhood, Coco should be the biggest mountain.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You were the only early-bloomer, so you dragged us everywhere with brute force. The real ringleader was you.”

Her eyes through the rear-view mirror seemed to glimmer for a moment. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell what her expression looked like from the backseat.

“Yeah, now you’re a midget,” Ravi teased.

“Hey.”

“Look! It’s elk!” Prius exclaimed.

Our truck slowed to a stop as everyone rushed to roll down their windows.

All I could smell was poop.

“Where?”

“There!”

“…”

“You idiot,” Ravi laughed. “Those are goats.”

“Close enough. They both have horns and four legs. I was half-watching the roa-“

“Shut up! I’m taking a video,” Coco scolded. She’d unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned across the dashboard to grab a better angle of the wild animals.

“Sit back down. Let me park properly first.”

“Can we go down to see them?!”

“I don’t think you should,” Ravi said. “They might kick you.”

“It’s okay. Didn’t we all take kickboxing lessons?”

“You’re thinking of fighting a goat?”

“I’ve been working out.”

Prius and I snickered. This seemed like the Coco we knew.

“Alright, I’m gonna keep driving. We’re almost there.”

We continued moving over the rugged pavement. I was wondering when we’d reach the winding hillside roads, when Ravi told us to stop.

“We’re here.”

“Really? It’s barely been a minute.”

“Yeah. Look, the sign’s right there. There’s a few cars nearby too.”

There was no parking lot this time; we were on the side of a two-lane highway seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t seem like we were at the base of the mountain either, but the sign seemed to name the right location. I read it out loud:

“Spark Skylines. Is this really where it starts?”

“I think so. The actual baseline is around ten minutes away.”

“What a scam.”

“…That’s barely anything.”

Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam.

Truck doors slammed shut to signify the beginning of our adventure. Inhaling the forest’s familiar scent, Coco and I started stretching while the others grabbed their bags from the trunk. Adrenaline was already releasing in my bloodstream as I reached for the sky.

“You ready?” Coco asked.

“Yup. But it’s been a while since I did cardio, so I might take it slow.”

“Ooh, that’s gonna be rough. I’ve been running every day since high school started.”

“Even during finals season?”

“I… don’t have anything else to do.”

She lowered her eyes. Hmm. I wondered how she convinced her parents for permission to play with us during exams. Prius’s teammates were studying, and Ravi’s parents liked us more than his current friends.

Speaking of friends, my curiosity was sparked. What kind of friends has Coco made these past couple of years? I turned towards her.

“Hey Coco…”

“Hm?”

I stopped in my tracks. There was a more pressing questions that I needed to ask, even though I knew the answer already.

“Why are you changing your shoes?”

“Didn’t we tell you to bring hiking shoes?”

“…”

I forgot.

“We’re ready!”

Prius and Ravi came out from behind the truck, both wearing sleek, dark woodland boots. While they made Prius look like a typical dad, Ravi looked like he came straight from the cover of an outdoors magazine.

“Are you going to change shoes, Via?”

“…No.”

And so we commenced our gruesome five-hour hike.

Sorry—I meant to say: my gruesome five-hour hike. Everyone else could’ve finished in four hours.

The first section of our journey was quite literally the same as a walk in the park. No elevation, just a bumpy dirt trail in the forest. Once we reached the base of the mountain, I was only lightly fatigued.

Then the real hike started.

Step after step after step, I trekked endlessly under the blazing afternoon sun. If it weren’t for the canopy’s shade, I would’ve been flash fried in my own sweat. Every stick, stone, and soil-covered root made a painful impression in the bottom of my sole.

We took intermittent water breaks, everytime I caught up to Coco and Prius resting in the forefront. Ravi seemed to be walking slower to match my pace. By the halfway point, I couldn’t help but feel immense guilt at the realizatio that I was holding my friends back.

“You guys can go ahead,” I said.

“It’s okay, we’ll wait.”

“I’ll buy dinner for whoever hits the top first.”

I saw Coco’s eyes and ears perk up. Without a word, she turned and bounced up the craggy path like a mountain goat.

“H-hey! You’re cheating!” Prius yelled as he scrambled after her.

Ravi patted my back as the others ran out of earshot.

“It’s okay to take it slow, buddy.”

“You can go ahead too.”

“It’s okay, I’d rather follow your pace. They’re way too fast. Besides…”

His eyes settled on something behind me.

“It’d be a shame to walk all this way and not enjoy the view.”

As I turned over my shoulder, a breeze blasted me in the face. My eyes were forced shut as the wind cooled my burning body as a reward for my perspiration.

When I opened my eyes, I was met with a marriage of breathtaking blues and greens. Within a matter of seconds, I went from squinting in the sun’s glare to being goggle-eyed in my awestruck.

“There’s the lake we fished.”

Ravi pointed towards what looked like a distant puddle. The large evergreens we admired last week blended together, disguised under the illusion of prickly patches of grass.

“Don’t indulge in this view too much,” he warned. “It might ruin the view from the top.”

“Let’s go.”

“Oi, wait up! I thought we were pacing ourselves!”

With a newfound smile and motivation, I skipped ahead towards the patiently waiting summit.

o

As we neared the peak, I could see multiple figures. Some of them were heading home already. Fellow climbers shouted encouragements at us on their way down. At this point, I only had the energy to respond with a small smile and a weak wave.

“Almost there!” “Keep going!” “The view’s worth it!”

“Are hikers always this friendly?” I asked Ravi.

“Yup.”

We made the final push upwards through a dangerously loose trail of rocks, when I heard a girl yelling.

“I won!”

It was Coco, standing triumphantly on the mountaintop like the statue of a Greek god. She had tied her hair into a bun. As we walked closer, I noticed a pitiful-looking Prius lying on the ground.

“It’s because she had a head start.”

“Don’t underestimate me. I was on the track team, you know.”

“I thought you would join the basketball team.”

“I switched over to track.”

“It’s still impressive for you to beat Prius,” Ravi said. “Did you do anything other than practice?”

“…”

A bitter look flashed across Coco’s eyes.

“I didn’t have many things to do.”

“What about hanging out with friends?” Prius asked. He was great at candidly approaching sensitive topics, as usual.

“…I didn’t have many of them.”

“…”

She left it at that.

“Why’d you put your hair in a bun?” I asked awkwardly.

“Oh, it’s because of the wind. It keeps blowing in my face when I look that way.”

Coco’s index finger directed towards something behind me. It must’ve been the path we came from.

“What do you mean by wi-“

Mother nature once again slapped me with the equivalent of a miniature gale as I attempted to admire her beauty.

What is she, an embarrassed girlfriend?

Opening my eyes, I was overcome with amazement for the second time. Then, I felt regret for spoiling the sight halfway up. Although it was much prettier, it felt like I expected too much after seeing the same vista from a different angle.

I turned towards Ravi, who was holding his fingers up to his face with one eye closed.

“What are you doing?”

“Hundreds of kilometres of plants and wildlife are pinched between my fingers right now.”

“You’re such a kid.”

“Where’s the problem?”

“Hurry up, let’s take a picture!” Coco called.

She had waved down a nearby hiker to take a photo of us. We faced the sun and put our arms around each other as we smiled for the camera.

“Alright, three… two… one… say cheese!”

None of us said cheese, and all of us struggled not to blink.

“Now do a funny one!”

“Ravi get his legs!”

“W-whoa! Hey!”

The boys manhandled me into the air, dangling me between the two of them like a hammock.

“Coco, you should sit on his stomach.”

“I’ll diiee~!”

“It’s okay. I’ll lean just back so it looks like I’m sitting.”

“Quick! He’s heavy.”

After what seemed like a small eternity, the stranger handed back Coco’s phone and I was finally released from my torture.

“What time is it?” Prius asked.

“Oh right. It’s uh… three,” I replied. “Two-and-a-half hours to get down, and three to get home. It’ll be pretty late.”

“Let’s grab takeout pizza later.”

“Sure. We haven’t even ate lunch yet.”

“I have the food!”

Prius pulled out a grease-soaked paper bag from his backpack. I was much too hungry to care about the oily food. Seeing how eager-to-eat everyone else was, I don’t think they cared much either.

Sitting on solid rock seats, we each wolfed down at least two fat fast-food sandwiches, with a dessert of northwest gust on the house.

Now who were these high schoolers, bloated on burgers and drunk off the dreamy mountaintop view?

That’s right—it was me and the boys.

“Y’all ready to head down?” Ravi asked.

“I still haven’t caught my breath yet,” I said.

“If that’s the case then we should head down. There’s less oxygen at higher altitudes.”

“Oh, okay.”

It was nice hanging out with someone who knew his stuff.

“Come on, let’s go!” Coco urged. She was already on the trail, waving for us to come back down. Despite our cold initial encounter, the smile I saw on her face at this moment was faithful to my childhood memories.

We made eye contact and she gave me an upwards nod.

“Hurry up. It’s faster on the way down.”

Coco had lied right through her teeth.

The way down was much harder—at least, harder for those who feared death. Like me. One misstep, and I could probably cause a landslide.

“Hey, there’s still people coming up.”

“This late?”

“Maybe they live nearby.”

I looked up from my feet, and saw a group of four hikers who looked to be a little older than us. We exchanged greetings and promised them that the view was worth it.

A fifth hiker, lagging behind the others, caught my eye; his face was violently red as he panted his way up the rocky incline wearing regular sneakers.

“You’re almost there!” I shouted.

He gave me a tired smile and a weak wave.

o

“It’ll be ready in thirty minutes, so we’ll have to wait a bit when we get there,” I said.

“How much do we pay you?”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re driving us.”

We were on our way towards a nearby town for pizza. I had just finished ordering takeout and smelt the beginning of a nostalgic argument.

“No way bro. At least me pay you back.”

“It’s okay Ravi, you helped me out today.”

“Are you sure about paying for all of us?” asked Coco.

“I already promised you dinner for reaching the top before Prius.”

“Our parents would always argue like this over the bill,” Ravi laughed.

“It’s a part of our culture,” I replied.

“I… can’t relate.” Prius said.

Driving towards the darkened blueberry sky, Ravi and Coco nodded off in the backseat as I made small talk with our driver. Though I was tired, keeping Prius awake at the wheel held much higher priority than napping.

A pale wave of loneliness hit me as the revelation occurred: today’s trip was almost over. It wasn’t until now that I realized how fun it was to have our entire group together again.

These were the moments I wished for when I first met Prius, and the moments I feared would disappear when we become university students.

My attention turned to an orange glimmer on the side. The sunset was reflecting off the metal cross of a nearby church. Closing my eyes, I desperately prayed to their God.

Please let us be together for a little longer.

“Oi Via, you’re not supposed to sleep.”

“I’m awake.”

“Good. We’re here.”

“Ah, the pizza’s ordered under my name. I’ll go grab it.”

As Coco and Ravi came to consciousness in the backseat, I paused. There was something I needed to get off my chest. I’d be uneasy if it wasn’t put into words.

“Is something wrong, Via?”

“You guys wanna go camping next week?” I asked.