Maria is riding in a white minivan. The dark redwood and cedar trees rush by faster than she could count, and the road seems like it is never going to end. As the vast wind keeps on beating against the window, Mount Shasta is inching closer and closer. She could feel her heart beat loudly in her chest and her hands quivering. The excitement building up with a faster rate each second of the way. The beautiful, long, golden locks reaching to her waist uncurl over her left shoulder, covering a fraction of her aquamarine-colored eye and slightly pointed nose after she seeps her fingernails through the once-formal hairstyle. This makes her feel more protected, since the taut, pulled back braids her mother makes at the beginning of each day for school never create much of a relaxable situation. What’s the purpose of them anyway? She thinks to herself, they still get undone.
Although she was in this kind of state, the girl next to her, Maya, isn’t an inch close to the kind of thoughts that Maria is having right now. Even if it is going to be her first time in Headwaters Outdoor School as well. She, an 8th grade girl only a couple centimeters taller than Maria, is rather solemn. Her humor doesn’t appear as funny to most, and her facial expressions demonstrate what seem to show her idle and lazy form of personality. As if this trip is actually going to turn out simply non functional in the purpose of education and time. Although Maria is very humorous and a complete opposite in any place of character, this doesn’t change her positive thoughts and warm feelings towards the soul that was placed into the 13-year-old body sitting in the bus seat right next to her.

“Hi. You’re Maya I believe, right? My name is Maria. I think I saw you in another camp. So, how do you feel about going here? Your first time?” asks Maria in a cheerful, but slightly nervous way as she breaks the silence.

Maya gives her a quick, neutral glance with her eyes, not moving her head from practically the highest point she could reach, and answers in a bored tone, “Yeah.”

The way Maya answers makes Maria’s neck muscles tighten and her insides jump a little. 
What’s up with her? Everything’s ok. I couldn’t have done anything to her, could I?

Maria takes a deep breath, trying to still sound interested, “Are you excited? I know I am. How did you find out about this camp?”

Maya shows no sign of thoughtfulness and answers quickly, “I can’t say I am super excited. My brother used to go here every summer so I know most of the things that we are going to do.”

Maya isn’t a very talkative person. I’ll just leave her alone to her thoughts for now. I can tell she doesn’t really want any interaction at this moment, Maria thinks.

She leaves it at that and looks out the window towards the wilderness, running away from the vehicle. Only 2 more hours left. 2 more hours. Can’t be that bad. Her head drops behind her on the back of the seat as her long eyelashes close over the big, bright picture in front of her.

***

The arrival goes by in a daze. But it seems to the 12 year-old girl that there is just far too many people, and they all seem to know each other very well. A little bit too well. I hope this goes by faster, Maria thinks. The kids here seem to be more of the ignoring type to newcomers. She swings her pink duffel bag over her shoulder and enters through the front, wooden arch in long, fast strides as she reflects on all the new assumptions thrown at her.
The group is taken towards a narrow path covered in rough stones and medium-sized, flattened rocks, surrounded by evergreen trees. One of the naturalists leads them into the camp grounds while explaining every place of the way, including the path leading to the sweat lodge, maze of artistically stacked boulders, and the little lake that is only filled up halfway, compared to the mark of where it was before. Maria stays quiet, but has a very very strong urge to start talking to someone. The feeling is choking up inside her throat and she feels like she just got kicked in the stomach.

Ugh! Come ON Maria! Get it together! You were sent here to socialize, not become invisible.

They all continue walking down the trail, laughing and talking can be heard in the back, but the groups and the amount of kids in each one of them is plainly overwhelming.

I’ll just try to listen in to the directions for a while. Practically everyone has been here before so they know everything by now, Maria decides, but still gradually decreases her speed of pace to tune into what the new teenagers are talking about…

“Seriously Greg? Seriously?! You absolutely had to share that joke out loud?” One girl suddenly exclaims in a rather joking way to a tall, skinny boy with curly blonde hair.

He laughs warmly with a beautiful smile revealing two sharp canine teeth, “Well Lara, I’m sorry your humor doesn’t quite reach to the level of mine.”

The girl turns speechless after that phrase, so instead punches him on the shoulder, quite weakly. Greg laughs but the pain in Lara’s knuckles is reflected by her facial muscles, and she does not do a very good job of hiding it.

Maria shakes her head side to side a little to lose concentration from the eavesdropping and to gain focus on the surrounding land. Other than that, everybody continues strolling along, nobody listening to the instructions, but the urge to say something is now on the verge of exploding in Maria.

I’ll just ask those girls up front what they predict we’re going to do after lunch, she thinks and quickens her walk.

But, as she holds her head high, searching for the two figures in the very lead and is about to take one sudden big step, it is all in a matter of seconds before, “-AH!”

Somebody grabs the hood of her blue sweater and pulls Maria back. A familiar voice exclaimed, “Woah, ho ho! Watch it there! Don’t want any twisted ankles do we?”

Maria looks down where she was about to step and notices that there is a rather large trail of pointed rocks, resembling a dried-up stream. Looking back, she sees a pretty girl with long blond hair and recognizes the person right away.

“Oh my god! Thank you so much!” Maria exclaims, but still slightly confused.

“No problem. Look where you’re stepping next time, ok? I’m Cora.” The girl answers, letting go of Maria’s hood and straightening it out.

“I’m Maria,” but before Maria could fully turn around and say anything else, all she is able to see now is the person in the light gray jacket, blond hair covering a big letter “C” on its back, walking away from her in a calm stride.

Maria stops for a minute and looks around. Hardly anyone has noticed what just happened.

Good, she thinks, I guess embarrassment won’t be on my list of moral dangers this week. I wonder who she is… Taking a deep breath, she steps over the dry streambed, runs over to the girl named Cora, jumping over tussocks and rocks, and they start a new conversation…

***

The rest of the day goes by in a blur. Maria and Cora spend practically all of their time together, while being introduced to their new homes for the stay, called teepees. They were built to resemble the houses that the Native Americans had lived in around that area and time. The group is also taken to a couple of areas in which they are going to be at the most, including hiking, crafting, playing games, and exploring. Those are the places which Cora and Maria decide to investigate even deeper. But there is one place which fascinates Maria the most. A tree that looks like it is far too high to climb, but not impossible. That is where she meets them…

“So! Kids, welcome to Julie’s Tree. This has a rather interesting story behind it, but we would like you to find out about that on your own over this period of time,” one of the male naturalists, Ira, announces as the group settles in front of the trunk of one of the biggest trees in the ‘backyard’ of the owner, “and guess what? We are going to climb it. Yep. Right now. Don’t be nervous though, as long as you have three points of contact, with your hands and feet of course, everything will be fine. So, the main rules here are three points of contact, do not climb dead branches, although there are not many. You can tell if the leaves are alive or not, and make sure there is only one person on each branch. Other than that, you’re all good to go.”

Everybody gets into a fuss and conversation as they approach the tree.

Oh no. Please no. Ugh! I’m next! Maria’s thoughts rush by as she takes a couple nervous steps forward and raises her hands up to shoulder-height to reach the lowest branch she could find.

She looks to the sides she sees a couple of others pulling themselves up with ease and already continuing on. Maria unwillingly places her foot on the branch next to the one she was holding onto and pulls herself up. When she continues to do so, Maria receives a sudden wave of shock as she looks at her feet and everything below them, Oh my, and the feeling of butterflies clumps into a ball. Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Ok, you got this, Maria takes a deep breath and her sweaty palms take a firmer grip on the two branches she was holding onto, deciding to give it a break for a while. “Hey, Maria!” her head suddenly jerks up. A boy at around age 13 is hanging on one of the firm, iron strength branches located mid-way of the tree, “Come on up a little!” Right away,  all of Maria’s fears take off, leaving no trace behind.

I wonder how he knows my name. Did he actually listen into the introductions? Maria confusedly thinks as she again stretches her hand out to grab onto a higher level of the plant.
Now that she looks to the peak, the destination, she realizes she is actually going to need to go through quite a bit of work. I’m up for it, but she persistently pushes herself, and that is all that matters right now...

Cora, on the other hand, is far too scared to even reach the platform, which is practically the lowest you could get.  Heights scare her to death. She doesn’t even dare to look up. “Ugh why did Maria have to leave me here all alone? I thought we were friends,” she says quietly to herself and hugs the tree, biting her lip so she doesn’t cry. Cora might be sad about the situation, but she doesn’t want to be labeled as a wimp...

There is a moment sometimes, when you know there is no turning back. Nothing stands in your way. No matter how big. Maria is in that moment right now. She can feel her heart pumping in her ears so loud enough to make her lose concentration, slip, and fall. But the connection of the eyes that she is making with the boy urges Maria to move on. As she reaches closer and closer to the peak, she begins to see more of the resemblances of the person calling her over. Straight blonde-ish hair, oval face, grey converse, and a physical state reminding a little bit of a huggable bear. As she pulls herself up to a branch right below him, he looks down at her with a smile, and there it is. Maria looks into pair of deep deep green colored eyes, creating a feeling of the evergreen forest, swallowing her down in some type of trance.

“Hi there! I can see you’re new here, aren’t you?” he begins the conversation coolly.

Maria, still in shock from his stare and blinking back quickly, stammers, “Uh - yeah! I’m new here. Came to - uh - this camp for the first time - uh - yeah- yep I’m new.”

The boy gives her a confused but still a little amused look which makes Maria’s mind go on an even faster rollercoaster, more into the thinking of why he is doing this.

“I’m Ivan. Ivan Nikolaev,” he lets go of one of the branches and stretches out his hand, “and you are Maria. Yes, I know already.”

Maria shakes his hand wearily, “Call me Masha.”

“It may not seem so, but most of us tune in to what our instructors talk about,” he chuckles. “So, how do you like camp so far?” Ivan asks the now more relaxed girl and they break into a friendly conversation, climbing up higher and higher every now and then…

Time goes by for the two faster than anyone else in the whole camp. It only seems like seconds before Ira shouts the “hoodeate” to call everyone in for free time before dinner. As Maria jumps down from the last branch with Ivan, laughing, he starts heading away from the tree and waves his hand, signaling for Maria to follow him.

She runs up and confusedly asks,“Wait a sec. Where am I going?”

He turns his head towards her and replies jokingly as if it was clearly obvious, “To introduce you to everyone else of course!”

Maria gets taken aback and thinks, huh. Wasn’t expecting that to ever happen, as they stroll downhill without any discussion until the two rows of the structures come into sight.
Between that is an open area of clear land with scattered groups of teenagers laughing, talking, and some playing guitar.

Ivan points towards a couple of laughing girls, standing closest to the two as they are walking, “Those four are Mia, Sveta, Lyuba, and the tall one is Lyubov’. They’re all really friendly.”

The way Ivan says “friendly” makes Maria acknowledge the fact that she might actually be welcomed and wanted here.

They walk a little further before Ivan points to a couple of boys that seem to be slightly older than everyone else, “Those are Alex, Peter, and Pavel. Alex is the one playing the guitar, and those three other girls are Nika, Sasha, and also Sasha,” he gestures to three girls standing around the boy named Alex, singing along to a song Maria never heard before.
She smiles to them and they smile back as they sing , then briefly turn away and look at each other as if someone messed up on the lyrics, Alex stops strumming the guitar and they decide on the correct spot to start from. A few moments after Maria and Ivan pass the group by, the now familiar singing could be heard again.

“Now last but not least,” Ivan stops and Maria suddenly feels as if the colorful butterflies were reborn in her stomach and multiplied. She drives herself into a halt and looks into the faces of two people as they approach them as well: the girl she recognizes as Lara who smiles at her with big, bright lips, but still makes Maria go thinking if she actually means it, and the tall, curly haired boy named Greg that Maria saw at the beginning of the day when they’ve all just arrived.
The first thing she notices is his smile, of course, but when she looks up from the unrealistic teeth Maria sees the unique color pattern of his eyes. Just what she noticed in Ivan’s eyes when she first saw him as well. They have a dark grey border around a blue-gray iris, next to which stood out the bright aquamarine burst of color, circling the pupil. But there was one difference. Whenever she looks into Ivan’s she could feel the power of warmness and gratitude slowly seeping out, and she just wants to keep on looking deeper into them. But every time she looks into Greg’s, a chill runs down her spine. As if their coldness begins to fill the outside world around her and take over. That is what makes her uncomfortable when next to him.

Maria doesn’t usually notice these kinds of things. Especially in eyes. But for some reason this is unique. As if both of them have the same kind of talent, looking at you in a gypsy kind of way, not allowing you to think straight.

As if they have some kind of relation toward each other… she thoughtfully smiles again, thinking this, right before Ivan introduces,

“Maria, this is Lara and my twin brother, Grigoriy.”

A short pause of silence and confusion goes on as Maria gets her thoughts together after Ivan says this. Finally, noticing that she was being stared at for quite some time already, blinking back Maria replies, “Oh! - Wow! No wonder you guys look so alike! I can see all the resemblances now! Gosh.” She is trying to sound surprised and still keep her cool, but can see it isn’t really working out, since by the way Greg grins back tells right away that he notices and is amused by the fact that Maria is nervous in front of him.

“So you’re Maria, as Ivan just said,” Lara says nicely.

Before Maria gets to reply, Ivan quickly answers the question in a fast tone, “Yes, her name is Maria.”

“Welcome to Headwaters. Hope you’re already enjoying your stay. Well, it was nice meeting you Maria. Greg and I were just heading towards the spring. We’ll see you around then,” Lara says in a warmly, looks at Ivan, then at the young boy standing behind her.

He nods at her and they pass through Ivan and Maria, brushing the two slightly with their sweaters.

Just when Maria opens her mouth to say, “thank you” a loud and abrupt call suddenly fills the air, “HOODEATE!”
 
“That’s the call for dinner. Wanna join us?” Ivan says.

Are you kidding me?! Of course I wanna join you guys! Maria tries to hide back her thoughts of overexcitement, so instead answers, “Ah - sure. Of course. I’d love to.”

Ivan smiles and takes a step back, allowing Maria to pass first, “After you.”

There are still boys that actually do that? What a world. Maria walks by him, getting thrown back for the moment, but plays along as the two head towards the camp kitchen where everyone Maria just met is already there. She sits down on a free tree stump while waiting for the line of campers to shorten, looking into everyone’s faces and hand movements. Maria notices many things here. The different kinds of laughs, phrase wordings, face expressions. Everybody is unique and different, like all people in this world, but there is some sort of force that keeps them all connected. Like a family. It’s unexplainable.

The rest of dinner Maria spends here, wanting to talk and joke along with everybody else, but there is this little thing inside of her that holds her back and does not allow her to do so. Maria’s face remains neutral for most of the time, and it is fairly hard to even plaster a smile. It is as if some sort of force is holding her emotions back. Instead of going out and towards everyone, they are traveling to a mystified land full of deja vu, memories, deepness of thought, and just plain seriousness. The only part of Maria’s face that is lit by joy are her color-changing eyes, staring out into another world that only she can see...

***

All the teenagers head to the campfire and Maria is the first one to enter the craft area. I’m really forgetting something here. I have no idea what, but I am. She walks past the tables and those are her last thoughts before she sees a hooded figure, faintly illuminated by the brightness of the already lit fire.
Maria suddenly figures who it is by the color of the jacket and comes up nervously, realizing what she had forgotten. It is Cora, “Where have you been? What have you been doing? I thought we were going together! Why did you leave me? I thought we decided to be friends!”

Maria slaps her forehead, remembering what she had promised Cora a couple of hours ago, “Oh my God Cora, I am so sorry. It just completely went out of my head. I totally forgot. I am so sorry I had to leave you alone there.”

Maria’s cheeks were reddening and ears heating up. Everything around her seemed foggy and transparent at the same time. She knows this is all her fault and she hates that. She hates the fact that Cora was also making such a big deal out of such a little thing though.

“Oh I wasn’t alone,” she replies quickly, already with a slight of annoyance, “Maya and I have had quite the fun of investigating deer scat. Yeah Maria. Who would have fun looking at deer waste for 2 hours other than Maya? Maybe it’s obsessive for her, but not for me! We had a plan Masha!” She bounces on her toes a little as she says this, and before Maria could say something again,

“You know why am I even saying all of this? You know why? Because I finally thought I was worthy enough to be friends with someone for real. When you don’t have any secrets, no lies, and you don’t feel betrayed. I thought a person like you would understand! But you know what? I’m getting fed up by all of this. I don’t want to ‘disturb’ any more of your plans. I will make new friends. Ones that will respect my feelings and opinion and actually remember me. You can forget about all of this since it doesn’t really matter to you enough anyway.”

Cora spins around on her heel, flipping her hair into Maria’s face, and stomps angrily away. There is a long silence. Maria looks down at her feet and feels a strong wave of guilt.
She was my friend. She was the one there for me in the first place. What have I done?

All Maria can do now is join everyone else. Trying to run after Cora will do nothing but raise her friend’s level of pride and make matters worse. She takes a deep breath and steps over the cut open log, acting as a bench, and sits down by herself. Across from Maria sit Alex and Ivan, trying to pick up a tune on their guitars that nobody but them know about. But right now she is not worried or even interested about listening in, although this kind of music was always part of her likings. Everyone else is a blur. The same laughing and talking that is not as important right now. The feelings Maria is receiving at this second overthrows all of her interests of practically everything...

Time goes by slowly. Mostly chatter goes around other than singing in the first half of the time period. Nobody really leaves their spots other than the smaller kids already started standing up and going to sleep.

If it’s around nine, and we have about an hour left, so I still have some time to get everything straightened out before lights-out.

Maria ponders for a while, staring at the sparking flames. The only distraction she has right now is the starry sky, not as clear as she had seen before that summer, but still rather beautiful. She grips on to the inner edge of the bench and leans back, trying to not think about anything but how pretty the stars looked in contrast of the tree peaks and silky smoke. The whole picture spins around in circles in front of her eyes. Practically the whole night goes like this...

***

It is 10 o’clock sharp and everybody is sent to bed.

Oh, what should I do? How can I tell her I’m sorry and that she is just as important to me as everybody else? This is impossible. Maybe I should just walk up to her and say - what should I say? I’m not her friend anymore. Cora won’t change her mind for sure, Maria thinks while her body trembles as she takes the longest path possible to her teepee village.

Just when she is about to take a sharp turn, Maria hears a twig break and she quickly spins around. There in front of her stands Ivan.

“Oh it’s you,” she exhales.

“Is everything alright? A couple of others were also asking.” Ivan suddenly says in a worried tone.

How does he know?, a suspicious thought rushes by

“Um,” Maria takes a deep breath, “well… So you see - ah- Cora and I became friends, and everything was good and all. But now, after what I thought she would understand, she doesn’t want to anymore. Because I forgot that we were supposed to meet after Julie’s Tree. I apologized and all, but she wouldn’t listen.”

Ivan’s eyes open wide, “Really? Just because of that?”

“Yeah,” the answer is already making it hard for Maria to breathe.

“Do you want me to talk to her?” Ivan asks pleadingly, lifting his head as if to look ahead to where Cora might be, and looks back at Maria.

“I don’t really think it is necessary. We’ll figure it out sooner or later,” she answers through the darkness, although on the inside, Maria was screaming a definite “YES”.

But the face expression that was visible through the moonlight and Maria’s mood through her tone of voice made Ivan make a mental note to help her anyway.

“Alright then. Make sure you think about this though, ok?” he replies, and they wish each other good night.

Maria strolls away, leaving the boy in the dark woods, standing alone, secretly working out a plan in his head. The darkness is swallowing Maria up though, including the past, present, and possibly the future…

***

In the morning Maria wakes up by the shining rays of the sun. She slept outside, due to not wanting to wake anybody up while fiddling with her sleeping equipment the evening before. Maria could not sleep the whole night, only at the last hour was she able to do so. The thought of losing a friend haunted her intensively.

During breakfast Maria cannot spot neither Cora or Maya. Either they’ve already eaten or just aren’t hungry. Maria just does not want to accept the fact that Cora is skipping a meal because of her. Though all of this is going on, everybody else doesn’t notice a thing. Even the dogs seem cheerful. It’s an odd feeling…

***

Today is the day when the group goes out barefoot to the meadow to investigate different types of plants that could be easily found in the forest wilderness and used for purposes including food and medication. Interestingly enough, this intrigues everybody, even those that have visited the camp before. After the hour-long introduction and activity, the kids are let out to investigate the meadow. It is a rather large area of land, covered in green, half dried-out, shoulder-length grass. More than half the teenagers start their playing around right away, while the remaining portion takes their time on slowly walking and enjoying the surrounding nature. Maria is one of them. This kind of beauty can never be found in any part of a city. Never. It is the only way for Maria to finally put her thoughts away from negativity. She then turns her head towards a twisted tree,

Oh my! Thank God! Maria sees a bright patch of blonde, climbing up the slanted surface. It is definitely Cora. Maria’s pace turns into a walk, then when she sees Cora is climbing down and walking away she switches to a jog.

What are you doing Maria?! You can’t see where you’re going! STOP!

But Maria ignores her inner warnings and breaks into a sprint. The grass blades brush by, tickling her shoulders, and everything seems to be going in slow motion.

I need to get to her. I need to get to her. I need to get-

“WOAH!” Maria’s foot gets in between two rocks and her body is flung forward. She lands on the earthy ground. Immense pain rises in Maria’s left ankle and she tries to sit up. Her head goes in circles as she looks down at the deep cut and she cannot hold her balance. The blood rushes to her leg, increasing the swelling and bleeding, making her head rock forward and back as if on the verge of falling off. The last thing she can remember is Cora’s worried face. Then everything goes blank...

There is a moment sometimes, when you know there is no turning back. Nothing stands in your way. No matter how big. Maria and Cora are in that moment right now. Maria is getting carried towards camp by two older boys as Cora jogs behind, clearly more worried about her friend than anyone else. Her eyes slowly open as Maria gets lowered down into a chair, an ice pack put on her forehead and her foot elevated, getting ready to be cleaned and winded with bandages by one of the staff members.

Cora sits next to her, looking down onto her trembling hands and on Maria’s wound, nervously and slowly saying, “Maria, I talked with Ivan yesterday. I am so sorry what happened last night. Please forgive me. I was wrong of letting all of my emotions out on you like that and I understand people can forget. I actually forgave you from the start, but I just didn’t know what to do. I never had friends before, you see. And when you came along I finally felt that I have a chance. I’m just not experienced with these kinds of things. Can we start over?” Cora looks pleadingly at Maria, “Please?”

All Maria can do now is smile, and Cora smiles back at her. As the girl leans back and looks up, she can feel the warm energy overfill her from the inside. The rest of camp is going to be full of many more interesting and exciting adventures. Maria knows that for sure. She then closes her eyes on the sun and thinks,

So this is what it truly feels like to have friends. This is what it feels like when you know you will never be left alone.

And this is that moment when you know nothing stands in your way.