Melinda’s Journal

Sunday, March 11

When Pat suggested we go hiking the other day, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. While the walk was enjoyable—and the views were fantastic—the quality time with Pat was even better. Today we’re taking the longer path. I’m looking forward to taking some great pictures, but I’m also excited about spending time with my friends. Walter’s been so busy with work this week, I feel like I’ve hardly seen him.

Melinda’s Story

“Remind me again why we’re doing this?” Walter whined as we pulled into the parking lot for the hiking trail.

I rolled my eyes. “Because it’s good exercise.”

Walter scoffed. “Yeah. Like running three miles a day isn’t good exercise.”

“Fine, then. Because it gives you some quality time with Lily.”

Walter smirked. “I can think of a lot of other ways I’d rather be spending time with her.”

Shaking his head, Pat parked the car. Lily was waiting for us at the trail entrance. Smiling, she ran to us.

“Hey, Patrick? Can I throw my bag in your car?”

Pat shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

Since he had left the convertible top down, she tossed her backpack in the trunk. “Thanks. I brought some stuff for hanging out at your place later.” She turned to Walter. “Ready?”

He grinned. “Can’t wait.”

As they walked to the trail, Pat muttered under his breath. “That’s not what he was saying a minute ago.”

I elbowed him. “Be nice.”

We took the paved road Pat had mentioned the other day. We didn’t get far before reaching a bulletin board. Walter stopped to examine the map.

“So, what’s the plan?”

Pat pointed to a trail. “I want to take the paved road to the bottom, then the east trail back.” He traced the route with his finger.

Walter frowned. “The east trail is steep. I want to take the west trail.” He turned to Lily. “What do you think?”

She shrugged. “I think I may have been here before, but I don’t really remember it. I don’t really have a preference.”

Pat sent me an expectant look. I bit my lip. “Why don’t we get to the end of the paved path and then decide?”

Lily smiled. “Works for me.” Taking my arm in hers, she continued along the path. Giggling, I checked behind us. The boys were still arguing, though they were at least following us.

Lily released my arm. “So, roomie. What do you think of LA so far?”

I smiled. “It’s gorgeous. Pat took me here the other day, and I got to see the Hollywood sign! It was so cool. And yesterday, we went to the beach.”

“Oh, that sounds like fun! Walter should have invited me.”

I shook my head. “Walter wasn’t invited. He had to work.”

She nodded. “Yeah, he mentioned that the other night.”

I glanced over my shoulder. The boys looked even further behind than when we first left them. Rolling my eyes, I turned back to Lily. “Speaking of, what’s going on with you two?”

She shrugged. “We’re just friends. We’re enjoying hanging out together before he goes back to Connecticut.”

“Just friends don’t share goodbye kisses.”

Lily giggled. “Okay. More than friends. But neither of us wants to do the long distance thing, so we’re just enjoying our time together before he leaves next week.”

I nodded. “I can see that. It’s too bad, though. You two make a cute couple.”

Lily sighed. “We really do, huh?” She glanced over her shoulder, rolling her eyes as she turned back to me. “Could those boys walk any slower?”

I giggled. “I wonder how long it will take for them to catch up to us.”

It turned out to be half an hour. The boys didn’t join us until we reached the end of the trail. Lily and I stopped just before the parking lot, where the trail split in two directions. The boys joined us a moment later.

Pat pointed to our left. “I vote the east trail.”

Walter pointed in the opposite direction. “I still want to go west.”

I sighed. “Why don’t Pat and I go east and you two go west, and we’ll meet you at the car.”

Walter and Pat both nodded. I turned to Lily. “That work for you?”

She smiled. “Sounds great. Have fun!”

Grabbing Walter’s arm in both of hers, she dragged him to the west trail. Pat took my hand, leading me east.

I had assumed he wanted to take this trail because of its amazing views or something. But the paths overlooked random houses on one side and a tall wall of sand on the other. There weren’t even any trees. Just some scrub brush and a few small cacti. I felt like I was in the desert.

Pat squeezed my hand as we walked. “So, you and Lily seemed to be deep in conversation back there. What were you talking about?”

I smirked. “You. She was asking if you were a good kisser. All the best places we’d made out. You know. Typical girl stuff.”

Pat looked scared. “What’d you tell her?”

I rolled my eyes. “Pat, I was kidding. We talked about school. She doesn’t think she’s coming to Hartfield next year.”

He sent me a skeptical look. “So you weren’t talking about me?”

I patted his cheek. “You’ll never know. What about you? Why didn’t you and Walter join us?”

Pat smiled. “I thought it was time to have another lecture about responsible choices with my brother.”

We reached a fork in the trail. I turned to Pat. “Which way?”

He frowned. “Uh, right.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Definitely.”

But after a few steps, I was pretty sure we were going in the wrong direction. It had taken us half an hour to travel the paved path. There was no way the parking lot in front of us was where we had started.

I frowned. “I don’t think this is right.”

Pat pointed to a trail on our left. “That way.”

With a shrug, I followed him. When the trail again split, he glanced in both directions before pointing to the trail on the right. “That looks steep. Let’s go this way.”

I followed him to the left. Ten minutes later, we were back at the parking lot.

I rolled my eyes. “Great work, Magellan. We just went in a circle.”

Pat smiled. “I like that one. And yes, we did. We should have taken that steep path.”

We tried again, this time taking the steeper path at the fork. Since I wanted to make the most of this hike, we took our time along the trail, stopping along the way to take pictures of the breathtaking views of the city. After about half an hour, we returned to the paved road.

Pat looked in both directions. “Um, left.”

I couldn’t see the cliff we had been traveling beside, but my gut told me we should go in the opposite direction. I bit my lip. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Positive.”

With a shrug, I followed him along the road. After all, he had been here before. And he had studied the map.

Another half an hour later, I saw the bulletin board near the parking lot. I frowned as we neared it.

“Uh, Magellan? I think this is the wrong parking lot.”

Pat swore as he examined the map. We were at the southern end of the trail again. He traced the map with his finger.

“Okay. What I think we should do is take the west trail.”

I groaned. “Are you sure? Why don’t we just take the road back?”

“That’s no fun.”

“Yeah, but we know it will get us back to the car.”

“The west trail is easy. You’ll see.”

I wasn’t convinced he was right, but I followed him anyway. He tried to take my hand again, but I pulled my backpack around to my front, digging through it as we walked.

Pat frowned. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Just thirsty.” Pulling out my insulated bottle, I took a long drink before holding it out to Pat. “Want some?”

He shook his head. “I’m good. Thanks.”

I took one more sip before returning the bottle. A few minutes later, the trail split again.

Pat frowned before pointing right. “That way, I think.”

I gritted my teeth. “Gah! I was wrong. You’re not Magellan. You’re like that myth I read in English class. That Theseus guy that got lost in the labyrinth and needed his girlfriend to get out.”

Pat sent me a confused look. “What are you talking about?”

I pointed in the direction he wanted to go. “Look around. That trail goes downhill. We want to keep going uphill.”

Pat frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Come on.”

He followed me, but I could tell it was reluctantly. “You’re a little cranky. Do you need a granola bar or something?”

I gave an exasperated sigh. “No. I want to go home. My feet hurt.”

“We’re almost there.”

I wasn’t sure I believed him. I had a sneaky suspicion we would walk in circles until nightfall.

The trail split a few more times, but I encouraged Pat to keep going uphill. Eventually, we were back on the paved road. Again.

Like before, there was no drop-off to give me an indication of which way was north. And the area was flat, so I couldn’t determine which way was uphill.

Pat pointed to the right. “That way.”

I frowned. “Are you sure, Theseus?”

“Positive.”

Like before, my gut was suggesting we were going the wrong way, but Pat didn’t wait for me before setting off. With a sigh of resignation, I followed him.

Less than five minutes later, we passed a wrought iron gate on our left. I stopped to look at it. On the other side was a long driveway that led to a house. I had seen this before. I turned to my boyfriend.

“Pat!”

He must not have realized I had stopped. He was pretty far ahead of me, walking briskly. Groaning to myself, I jogged to catch up, cupping my hands to my mouth. “Patrick!”

That got his attention. He turned around, confusion clear on his face. “You okay? How’d you get back there?”

I stopped running. There was still a sizeable gap between us, but at least we didn’t have to shout to hear each other. “My boyfriend didn’t realize I had stopped. Come here.”

Pat sighed. “Mae, I’m sure whatever you want to show me is gorgeous, but can you just snap a picture and show me later? I want to get to the car. I really need to pee.”

“Then you should come here because you’re going in the wrong direction.”

Pat’s tone was a more than a little patronizing. “I’ve been here a bunch of times. You haven’t. I think I know my way a little better than you do.”

I pointed over my shoulder. “There’s a house over here. It’s the house where Matt King filmed Ghost Hunt.”

Pat took a few steps in my direction, sending me a look of confusion. “You can barely see that house from the gate. How on earth did you recognize it?”

“I didn’t. I just saw the gate. When we passed it earlier, Lily told me about it. But that’s not my point.”

Pat sent me an expectant look. “Mae, I really want to get going. Can we walk and talk?” He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb.

I was more than a little frustrated, but I tried to keep it out of my voice. “We passed this house near the beginning of our hike. And it was on our left, like it was just now. Which means, if we keep going in this direction, we’re going to end up at the other lot. Again. We want to go that way.” I pointed to the road behind me.

Pat glanced in both directions. “I don’t know.”

“Look around, Theseus.” I pointed to my left. “Can’t you see the drop-off? That means this way is east and you’re going south.”

Pat shook his head. “No. You’re turned around. The drop-off’s that way.” He pointed to my right. “Now, can we please go?”

I glared at him. “You know what? You go where you want. I’m going back to the car.”

I was hot and sweaty and annoyed that Pat kept getting us lost. Huffing off in the direction I knew was right, I didn’t wait for Pat.

Pat jogged up to me a minute later. “Hey. Don’t be mad. Listen. We’ll take this trail and if we end up in the wrong parking lot again, I’ll just call Shelia to pick us up.”

He tried to take my hand, but I was angry. I quickened my pace just enough to get away from him. He didn’t try to keep up, although I could sense he was just behind me.

Five minutes later, we were at the bulletin board. The parking lot was in the distance. I could see Pat’s car in the lot. Two people had their heads glued together in the backseat.

I stomped to the car. Pat unlocked it as I approached, so I didn’t have to jump over the side like Walter and Lily must have. As I opened the door, Walter smirked.

“Where’ve you two been? We got back over an hour ago.”

Crossing my arms, I glared at Pat as he slid into his seat. “Theseus over here got us lost. Many times.”

Pat frowned. “I got turned around. It could happen to anyone. You didn’t have to storm off.”

I glared at him. “If I hadn’t, we’d be at the south parking lot. Again.”

Pat knew I was right. I could see it in his face. I didn’t say anything else on the short drive home. As soon as Pat parked the car, I ran up to my room. I wanted a shower. I couldn’t wait to wash away this hike.

And never speak of it again.

Pat’s Story

Sunday morning, Walter whined the entire ride to the hiking trail. He made sure Melinda and I knew he had absolutely no interest in this adventure and that we were dragging him there against his will. Thankfully, the trip was only ten minutes long.

Lily King was already waiting for us when we arrived. As soon as I parked the car, she ran over to us.

“Hey, Patrick? Can I throw my bag in your car?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

It was a gorgeous day and there was no need to raise the convertible roof, so I popped the trunk. She tossed a backpack in the car with a smile.

“Thanks. I brought some stuff for hanging out at your place later.” After pulling a bottle of water from a pocket, she turned to my brother. “Ready?”

He smiled. “Can’t wait.”

Taking her hand, he led her to the trailhead. I shook my head, muttering to myself. “That’s not what he was saying a minute ago.”

Melinda elbowed me. “Be nice.”

Frowning, I took her hand and followed my brother. He stopped at the map display.

“So, what’s the plan?”

I pointed to the big You are here dot. “I want to take the paved road to the bottom. Then the east trail back.” Tracing the route with my finger, I turned to my brother.

Walter frowned. “The east trail is steep. I want to take the west trail? What do you think?”

I was about to answer, but I realized he hadn’t been asking my opinion. Lily shrugged. “I think I may have been here before, but I don’t really remember it. I don’t really have a preference.”

I turned to Melinda. She would have to be our deciding vote. She sent me a hesitant look. “Why don’t we get to the end of the paved path and then decide?”

Lily smiled. “Works for me.” She grabbed my girlfriend by the arm and walked away.

As I followed the girls, I frowned at my brother. “The west trail isn’t that scenic.”

He shook his head. “But the other one is so steep. But, whatever. We’ll let the girls decide.

The girls were a little ahead of us. I slowed my pace slightly to put a little more distance between us and them before nodding my head in their direction.

“So. What’s up with you and Lily? Is she your girlfriend?”

Walter shrugged. “We’re just enjoying spending time together.”

“You invited her back to the house later?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Yeah. Was I not supposed to?”

I shook my head. “No. Just trying to figure out why you invited her to spend the day if you two aren’t together.”

He smirked. “Just because we’re not together doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy spending time together.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What exactly happened the other night? When you walked her to her car?”

He shrugged. “I walked her down to the gate. We talked. Her ride wasn’t there yet, so we made out until her mom texted her.”

“You made out as friends?”

“Dude, why do you make things so complicated?”

I wanted to yell at him but, since we were in public, I made sure to keep my voice low. “Because it doesn’t sound like you’re making responsible decisions.”

I saw the anger flare in Walter’s eyes as he hissed at me. “It’s not like we’re sleeping together! I kissed her. That’s all.”

“So, are you going to ask her to be your girlfriend?”

He sighed. “We’ve talked about it. But, I mean, I’m only here for another week, and I’m going to be working most of that time. Neither of us really want a long-distance relationship.”

“So, you don’t like her?”

“I like her a lot. And if we weren’t going back to Connecticut, yeah, I’d probably ask her to be my girlfriend. But for this week, we’re just enjoying the time we have together without any labels.”

I shook my head. I couldn’t comprehend that type of relationship. “When you say enjoying each other, what does that mean?”

Walter shook his head. “Dude, just stop, okay? You’re making too big a deal about this. Besides.” He turned to me with a smirk. “Every time I go near Lily, I remember her getting snowed in at our house. And then I remember Dad cornering us in the truck to give us that horrible Responsible Choices lecture. Kind of kills the mood.”

I shuddered. “Thank you. For reminding me of that lecture. You just killed my afternoon with my girlfriend.”

---

The paved road ended near the west side of the south parking lot. When Walter and I joined the girls, I pointed to the spur on our left. “I vote the east trail.”

Walter, of course, voted against me. “I still want to go west.”

Melinda looked exasperated. She turned to Walter with a sigh. “Why don’t Pat and I go east and you two go west, and we’ll meet you at the car.” When my brother and I nodded, she turned to Lily. “That work for you?”

Lily smiled. “Sounds great. Have fun!”

She grabbed my brother’s arm and dragged him to the trail. Shaking my head, I took my girlfriend’s hand and led her in the more scenic direction.

I squeezed her hand. “So, you and Lily seemed to be deep in conversation back there. What were you talking about?”

She smiled. “You. She was asking if you were a good kisser. All the best places we’d made out. You know. Typical girl stuff.”

I knew it. I knew girls were talking about me behind my back. But I was curious about what Melinda would say about me. Was she honest about our chaste relationship? Or did she make things up to impress the girls she talked to?

I tried to keep my voice even. “What’d you tell her?”

Melinda rolled her eyes, but I had no idea what she was saying about me. “Pat, I was kidding. We talked about school. She doesn’t think she’s coming to Hartfield next year.”

Now I was confused. “So you weren’t talking about me?”

Melinda patted my cheek. “You’ll never know.”

A few minutes later, the trail forked. Melinda turned to me. “Which way?”

I couldn’t remember. I tried to picture the map at the trailhead. “Uh, right.”

“You sure?”

No, but I didn’t want her to know that. “Yeah. Definitely.”

It didn’t take long to realize I was mistaken. This was the way to the east end of the south parking lot.

Melinda frowned. “I don’t think this is right.”

Thankfully, I was saved. A small trail spurred off to our left. That had to lead to the east trail. I gestured to it with a lot more confidence than I felt.

“That way.”

It wasn’t long before we hit another fork. I glanced at both trails before pointing to the one on our right. “That looks steep. Let’s go this way.”

Melinda was quiet during our hike. I wanted to ask her what was running through her mind, but I was afraid she may ask me the same question. And I didn’t want to tell her my concerns that we might be lost.

It wasn’t long before I realized we had made a circle. The south parking lot was again in front of us.

Melinda rolled her eyes as she turned to me. “Great work, Magellan. We just went in a circle.”

I smiled. “I like that one. And yes, we did. We should have taken the steep path.” At least, I hoped I was right.

We took the small spur again, this time turning right at the fork and reaching the drop-off a short time later. I paused, taking Melinda’s hand and pointing to the city below us.

Her voice was full of awe. “It’s amazing.” She turned to me, moving close. “Thank you for taking me here. It’s gorgeous.”

After a quick kiss, we took some selfies with the city as our backdrop. As we continued along the trail, we stopped every few minutes to take some more. Eventually, the trail turned away from the drop-off and dumped us back onto the paved road.

I looked in both directions, but I had no idea which way would take us back to the parking lot. I took a guess. “Um, left.”

Melinda sent me a hesitant look. “Are you sure?”

No, but I didn’t want her to know that. “Yeah. Positive.”

It took almost half an hour to reach the parking lot. Melinda frowned at me. “Uh, Magellan? I think this is the wrong parking lot.”

The poor girl. She had no sense of direction. I turned to the bulletin board, intending to point to the You are here circle. But it wasn’t at the top of the map. I scanned the bottom. We were back at the south parking lot.

Cursing under my breath, I tried to figure out where we had gone wrong and how to get back. I turned to Melinda.

“Okay. What I think we should do is take the west trail.”

Melinda groaned. “Are you sure? Why don’t we just take the road back?”

“That’s no fun.”

“Yeah, but we know it will get us back to the car.”

“The west trail is easy. You’ll see.”

I tried to take her hand, but she pulled away from me. How mad was she?

As we walked, she swiveled her backpack in front of her, still wearing it as she dug through it. What was she looking for? Her phone? Good luck getting service out here.

I frowned. “Everything okay?”

Melinda’s face was buried in her bag. “Yeah. Just thirsty.” She removed an insulated bottle from the bag, taking a long drink before passing it to me. “Want some?”

“I’m good. Thanks.”

With a shrug, she took another sip before returning the bottle to the bag. As she swung the bag to her back, we reached a fork in the trail.

I had no idea which way we should go, so I turned to the right. “That way, I think.”

Melinda glared at me. “Gah! I was wrong. You’re not Magellan. You’re like that myth I read in English class. That Theseus guy that got lost in the labyrinth and needed his girlfriend to get out.”

I only understood two things. She was upset with me, although I wasn’t sure why, and Magellan wouldn’t be my new nickname. I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

She pointed along the trail. “Look around. That trail goes downhill. We want to keep going uphill.”

“Are you sure?” There was a major flaw to her logic. Sure, the trail gained elevation overall, but there were parts of the trail that went downhill while still going north. I was pretty sure this was one of them.

“Yes. Come on.” She huffed away in the opposite direction.

I followed her. “You’re a little cranky. Do you need a granola bar or something?”

“No. I want to go home. My feet hurt.”

“We’re almost there.”

We had to be. We had been walking forever. My feet hurt, too. And, despite what I had told Melinda, I was getting thirsty. But I didn’t want to drink anything because my bladder was already yelling at me to find a bathroom. Unfortunately, these trees weren’t tall enough for me to hide behind. And, well, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pee with my girlfriend standing right there, even if my back was to her.

For the next half hour, every time the trail split, Melinda said we should keep going uphill. Since there were more than a few times when the trail would then turn and go downhill, I was concerned we were going in circles.

Eventually, though, the trail spit us onto the paved road. I pointed to the right. “That way.”

Melinda frowned. “Are you sure, Theseus?”

I wasn’t sure I liked the new nickname. It was cute and all, but she didn’t say it very nicely.

I nodded. “Positive.”

I could tell Melinda didn’t believe this was the right way. Truthfully, I was only about eighty percent confident myself. But I didn’t want her to know that.

We walked in silence and I could feel Melinda slowing down. But I did my best to keep an even pace. I really wanted to get back to the car.

Out of nowhere, someone called my name. “Patrick!”

At first, I thought it would be a crazy fan. But the person had only used my first name. Turning, I tried to figure out who had called me. The only person I saw on the trail was Melinda. About two car lengths away and jogging toward me.

I frowned. “You okay? How’d you get back there?”

Melinda slowed to a stop. “My boyfriend didn’t realize I had stopped. Come here.”

I knew she was excited about seeing everything for the first time, but I was losing my patience. This tourist thing was getting a little out of hand. I really wanted this hike to be over. Hadn’t we taken enough selfies?

“Mae, I’m sure whatever you want to show me is gorgeous, but can you just snap a picture and show me later? I want to get to the car. I really need to pee.”

She glared at me. “Then you should come here because you’re going in the wrong direction.”

How would she know? “I’ve been here a bunch of times. You haven’t. I think I know my way around a little better than you do.”

She gestured behind her. “There’s a house over here. It’s the house where Matt King filmed Ghost Hunt.”

I knew the place she meant. I frowned. “You can barely see that house from the gate. How on earth did you recognize it?”

She rolled her eyes, but I had no clue what she was saying about me. “I didn’t. I just saw the gate. When we passed it earlier, Lily told me about it. But that’s not my point.”

Seriously? She wanted to give me a history of the house? Didn’t I just tell her I needed to pee? “Mae, I really want to get going. Can we walk and talk?” I pointed to the trail behind me.

Melinda was scowling, but I couldn’t understand why. “We passed this house near the beginning of our hike. And it was on our left, like it was just now. Which means, if we keep going in this direction, we’re going to end up at the other lot. Again. We want to go that way.” She again pointed behind her.

I was so confused. Yes, the house was on the east side of the mountain, so it should be on our right to go home. But was she sure that was the right gate? The dog park gate was nearly identical and that would be on our left.

I looked up and down the road. “I don’t know.”

“Look around, Theseus.” Melinda gestured to my right. “Can’t you see the drop-off? That means this way is east and you’re going south.”

“No. You’re turned around. The drop-off’s that way.” I pointed to my left. “Now, can we please go?”

She narrowed her eyes. “You know what? You go where you want. I’m going back to the car.”

She spun around, stomping in the direction she had suggested. I wanted to call out to her, but I figured she wouldn’t listen. She seemed a little angry with me. With a sigh, I jogged to her side.

I wasn’t about to apologize for being right, but I figured I could compromise and let her know it was okay that she was mistaken. “Hey. Don’t be mad. Listen. We’ll take this trail and if we end up in the wrong parking lot again, I’ll just call Shelia to pick us up.”

I reached for her hand, but she jerked it away from me, storming ahead. I let her go. It wasn’t my fault her horrible sense of direction would keep us here all night.

It wasn’t long before we reached the trailhead. I had every intention of stopping at the map to point out to Melinda that we were back at the south parking lot. I even pulled my phone from my pocket to call Shelia for a ride.

But Melinda didn’t stop. She stormed into the parking lot. I had no idea where she was going, but she seemed to. She was heading straight to a green convertible. One with two people making out in the backseat. One that looked an awful lot like Dad’s Grasshopper.

Cursing under my breath, I swapped my phone for my keys, unlocking the car as Melinda reached it. The beep was enough for my brother to unhinge his lips from Lily’s.

He glanced between us with a smirk. “Where’ve you two been? We got back over an hour ago.”

Melinda glared at me as we climbed into the car. “Theseus over here got us lost. Many times.”

That wasn’t fair. “I got turned around. It could happen to anyone. You didn’t have to storm off.”

She glared at me. “If I hadn’t, we’d be in the south parking lot. Again.”

Okay, so she had a point. She didn’t have to be so mean about it.

We drove home in silence. As soon as I pulled into the garage, Melinda hopped out of the car. At least Walter and Lily waited until I turned off the engine before climbing out.

Walter turned to me as I followed them into the house. “We were thinking of going for a swim. You in?”

I shrugged. “Yeah. Sure.”

Walter smirked. “I’ll tell Melinda for you.”

I sent him a rude hand gesture as I made my way up the stairs to my room.

Attention Hammerheads

Melinda is always trying to build her vocabulary. What were some words in this episode that were new to you? She will add them to her vocabulary journal.