The sun had almost set; it was time to pack up and declare the results.

This is nothing very serious like exam results or like a medical report but it was nevertheless a serious one at that.

I along with my friends was sitting on the riverside deck, almost everyone seemed exhausted.

We were eight people in total i.e. four girls and four boys.

We just had a contest between ourselves and now it was the time for the results. Although, it would be best that I don’t hear the results myself because I already had known mine.

*cough*

Suddenly the blonde guy stood up and gaining everyone’s attention.

He was sporting a Hawaiin shirt and cargo shorts topped with a pair of sunglasses and a straw hat. You could say he was the epitome of the word ‘C-O-O-L’.

He was nonetheless Dylan Fernandes, the most popular guy in the whole school also he was a genius at studies and to top on that… He’s filthy rich as fuck!

And he and I go a very long way. You could say we were best buddies, somehow.

The word ‘Cool’ doesn’t even do justice for him.

“Well, everyone did a good job! But its time to declare the results,” he said with a cheeky smile.

“Today we all had a blast! Although, whenever we do hang out, it’s always the fun, I ‘Dylan Fernandes’ declare this day to be the best day ever!” said Dylan out loud with a bright smile.

That showoff never does a thing without boasting, does he?

Everyone clapped out loud because we really had fun and he was the one who organized this contest in the first place.

We really had a great time competing in today's contest and it wouldn’t have been possible without him.

“Declare the results already, you showoff!” squeaked out a petite and vivacious girl with rude diss in her tone.

She does make a point but she didn’t have to be rude… but that’s just like her.

That girl was none other than Luna Porters. Despite her cute and little appearance, she’s quite the short-tempered girl. Don't get me wrong, Luna is a pretty good friend and fun to hang out but never… ever… EVER!

Mention about her ‘Height’.

It’s if you don’t have a death wish, never try to talk anything that might question her height. Despite her cute and small physique, she knows taekwondo and what not shit. Other than that she’s pretty good people to hang out with.

“Alright! Alright! Geez... You don’t need to get annoyed.” retorted Dylan, “You must do something about your short-temper.”

“Did you just call me ‘short’?” asked Luna as she started approaching Dylan with her fist closed.

Not this again!

“Hey, guys! Not this again! You guys would weird out Calista.” I butted in.

The thing is today a new girl has joined our pack.

“I don’t mind. It’s great to see everyone seeing so lively and getting along so well,” replied Calista with a cheerful smile.

Meet Calista Rodriguez who was the new transfer student that joined our school in this countryside also new to join our wolf pack.

P.s- Wolf pack is just a name given to our friend circle by Dylan.

Callista is hella cute! With her beautiful blue sapphire eyes and long curly blonde hair. She looked like an angel descended from heaven!

I never believed in love at first sight, that is until I saw her for the first time she introduced herself to our class.

Also, I had paired up with her in today's contest.

The pairs were rigged and Dylan helped me out with this. Despite being a jerk, I can count on him when needed.

“Hey I did not mean it this time!” shrieked out Dylan, “Back off, Luna!”

Dylan started to back away from the menacing Luna who was walking towards him.

“What do you mean by ‘this time’? So that means you were calling me that behind my back, did you?” asked Luna as her brows thumped in anger.

“Now, now…” suddenly a feminine mature voice joined in.

Suddenly Luna was stopped on her tracks as this mysterious strong opponent stopped Luna’s march by grabbing her by the waist.

It was none other than Helena Evergarden.

She’s the most mature person and also the peacekeeper of our group. Also with her maturity level like an adult despite the same age as us, she also had a body like a mature woman. She has the perfect curves and with her charming personality, everyone in the school has hots for her.

But because of her mature personality, everyone in our group calls her the 'Big Sis'.

Helena grasped a tight hold on Luna,

“Let him go, this time. For big sis, please!” pleaded Helena with her charming smile.

Luna and Helena were quite close and good friends. Their friendship also goes long back, like me and Dylan.

Luna let out a grunting noise and backed away finally.

“Well… Sorry for the interruption, a little party pooper was about to ruin the mood,” said Dylan once again taking the spotlight…

“WHAT DID YOU SAY! YOU LITTLE SHIT!” screamed Luna but Helena had a firm hold on her.

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“It’s better you start with the announcement, otherwise I will get angry as well,” said Helena threateningly to Dylan while giving a cold stare with a smile.

Dylan froze up in his place,

“Sorry…” then he again cheered himself up, “Alright the thing you were most waiting for is here. I'll announce the results.”

Then he spread his arms wide,

“The first to win the 22nd Maple fish hunter contest is… Of course! Yours truly, that's right it's me… Dylan Fernades and also my partner, Nicholas Williams. We won by overwhelming 26 fishes and giving a crushing defeat to everyone here. Hahaha!”

For your information, today we had a fishing contest.

It was not like big sporting even just competition between friends to enjoy this Sunday. Also, Calista had newly joined our pack so we wanted to do something fun to commemorate her joining the pack.

So we did a fishing contest where two people in one team compete against others.

Now it seemed Dylan and Nicholas earned the most fishes then the rest of us.

That bastard was getting all high and mighty.

Nicholas stood beside Dylan with a little embarrassed smile.

Everyone clapped for them and so did I.

Dylan raised his arm as if he was asking for more claps and praises. Whereas Nicholas bowed his head quietly.

After all the cheering on, it was time for the runner ups.

“And coming in second place is Brian and Sophia who has caught 19 fishes. Losing the first place spot by 7 fishes and defeated by yours truly and Nicholas. They gave a tough fight indeed.”, cheekily announced Dylan.

The announcement now started to sound one-sided but we again clapped like usual.

Brian was used to going fishing with his dad numerous times. He was a kind person despite his appearance that might look to others as if he was always angry.

His partner was Sophia who also joined our wolf pack when she joined our class last year. She’s a meek and shy person but somehow Helena and Luna befriended her and slowly we all became friends in the blink of an eye.

“Hey, Dylan! Could you stop boasting about yourself for a change?” said Luna as she had this angry look once again.

Dylan glanced at Luna and ignored her.

“Moving on to our next runner up coming in third place, that is none other than Big Sis, Helena, with 9 fishes! Also defeated by your’s truly and Nicholas,” he said out loud with a smile.

We all started applauding once again.

“Thank you, everyone. The competition was fun but the most important this is treasuring these moments we spent today. We must do this once again.” said Helena with a gentle smile.

The claps got even intense after she said those words, mostly because of that beautiful smile of hers.

“Hey wait for a second!” interrupted Luna, “You didn’t announce my name along with Helena! I was her partner after all.”

Yeah, almost forgot those two had paired up.

Dylan didn’t take Luna’s name like everyone else.

To that Dylan made this annoying expression,

“Tch. Yeah, also Luna. is that good enough? Moving on…”

“You bastard!” screamed Luna and kicked Dylan in the knee.

“Ow! You crazy girl!” squealed Dylan in pain as he grabbed his knee.

“Who’re you calling crazy!” screamed Luna.

She tried to free herself from Big’s sis grip but Helena’s hold was pretty strong.

After the little squabble was over, finally, it was results that I was not so eager about.

“Coming in the last place is Sebastian and Callista who caught about 5 and ½ fish,” announced Dylan as he had a smug expression as looked at me.

I knew we were last but what the hell!

I approached Dylan and pulled him aside to a corner away from others,

“What the hell are you doing man! Why are you embarrassing me in front of Calista! I thought you were willing to help this fellow brother out and be my wingman.”

To that Dylan had a smirk on his face,

“Although, I will help you out. But remember this is the 22nd fishing contest, I won’t rig the results for you. Also, remember before being your wingman you are also my rivals. Now let’s get going.”

“But…” I mumbled but it seemed it was pointless. This guy since declared himself to be my rival because Dylan always came in 2nd place in academics. Although, he was popular and even great in sports... he still somehow made me his rival for the matter that I was a little better than him in studies.

I stood beside Calista with the bucket of our fishes

“So they caught 5 and ½ fish. Getting the last place. Maybe next they could do better. Also, they lost to me and Nicholas with 20 and ½ fish. Ha!” said Dylan out loud.

“Hey!” I shrieked out loud, “There are seven fish if you can count.”

Dylan let out a sigh,

“Listen now. That one fish is a little too small and not even worth a snack. Whereas the other is just oversized tadpole. It’s basically a frog, can’t you see the legs? So that doesn't count as a fish. So then that sums up to 5 ½ fishes in total.” he replied.

“Good luck next time Seb and next time try to keep your eyes on the fishing pole instead of glaring at Cal-,” said Luna making a smug smile.

I quickly covered Luna's mouth with my hand and shut her up.

"Stop you, blabbermouth! Please, I beg of you!" I told her quietly in an angered tone.

That little brat!

I glared angrily at Luna.

For some reason, she got the gist that I had hots for Calista. I don’t know how she noticed it but she’s been such a prick since then.

It’s true while fishing I was mostly distracted by Calista and lost focus on the fishing. She came from the city and so this was her first time fishing. Hence she doesn't know a thing about fishing and me distracted by staring at Calista, without her noticing of course only managed to catch 7 fishes in total, out of which one wasn't even a fish.

“I am really sorry,” said Calista as she apologized with her puppy eyes.

I looked the other way to hide my blushing face,

“No, it’s my fault. I should have been more attentive despite living in this town since I was a child.”

Although that bastard Dylan was ruthless during the results but still if he hadn’t rigged the pairing for today’s contest, I wouldn’t be in such a blissed state, right now.

It was soon getting dark, everyone started to head home.

I made sure to give her 2 fishes in a plastic bag filled with water. The fishes were still kept alive. I also started heading home although mine was in the opposite direction than others. My house was situated opposite the hill where there were no homes other than us.

Why my parents had to make a home away from society like that?

It’s really annoying to walk through these thick woods. It’s just that my dad loves greenery so he constructed this home secluded from the rest of the town.

But after going through this wood numerous times since childhood, I was used to this thicket. I think I can even survive in the amazon forests for all I know.

Without any notice, it started to downpour like all of a sudden. My home was still further away but I don’t want to get drenched in this rain. I don’t wanna catch a cold.

I went and took shelter under a tree.

The downpour only seemed to be getting more worse. All of a sudden I noticed there was old shabby rubble of stairs opposite me. It was also covered with moss and seemed pretty old.

I knew this hill like the back of my hand but I never saw this.

I approached the stairs while dodging the rain. To my surprise, there was an old trail of stairs that lead towards somewhere up at the hills.

I knew this hill like the back of my hand but I never saw such trail ever before in this hill. I even go through this same path but there was no pathway such as this.

I started to climb the old broken stairs pathway as curiosity got the best of me to see what lies at the end of this trial.