{Prologue}

A girl was walking across the room. She was an average 12-year old. She had brown hair with brown eyes. She walked towards the water fountain as she held her bright blue water bottle.

“Hey, where are your friends?” a girl with blonde hair said.

“Over there,” gestured the girl.

“Oh look, Lily. They are on their phones just like I said they would be,” The girl with blonde hair said to the girl with hazel hair and blue eyes.

“Give it a rest, Max,” the girl with brown hair said.

“I don’t think so, Maddison. You see, your friends are always on your phones.”

“Why do you always spread bad rumors about us?” Maddison interrupted Max.

“How about a deal?” asked Lily.

“What now?” Maddison said, groaning on the inside of her. Max and Lily were not the best at coming up with good bets.

“How about you and your friends surviving in the woods for a week? Then, Max and I will stop the rumors,” Lily suggested.

“I doubt that,” Maddison mumbled.

“What was that? You don’t want to do it? Too bad,” Max said, sneering at Maddison.

“I was thinking!” protested Maddison.

“Give her a chance, Max,” said Lily.

“Can we bring supplies?” Maddison asked.

“No,” said Max.

“Max! Of course you can. Just make sure not to bring too much,” Lily said.

The girl, Maddison, walked back to her friends from across the cafeteria.

“Hey, George,” said the girl sitting on the bench.

“What’s up?” replied the girl’s phone. Maddison walked up and sat down next to the girl.

“Addison,” she hissed, “Stop talking to your cousin for once. I have something important!”

“Sorry, George,” Addison said. “Maddison needs something.”

“Bye,” the phone said and Addison shut it off.

“Where are Amelia and Liv?” asked Maddison.

“They are grabbing cookies for us.”

Addison gestured to the dessert table. There, she saw two girls pulling the cookies off the table, putting some in their mouths, and running back to the table with the cookies in their hands. Maddison sighed, slid down on the bench to make room.

{Chapter One}

It was a fine summer morning. The sky was like cotton candy. Blue and beautiful. The morning was hot and humid. Maddison thought the weight of her backpack was dragging her down. Her friends, Addison, Liv, and Amelia, were complaining of all the stuff they packed. She remembered now. She had told the girls to bring, well… a lot of things.

“You can never be more prepared than me,” she thought. Out of the group, she was the prepared one. Addison, who was the crazy one, was complaining.

When are we going to get there?!” she complained.

“We’ll be there soon!” snapped Liv, who was the smartest.

“Uh oh!” Maddison thought, “The heat’s getting to her.” Just like a genie granted her wish, Liv finally sighed and then said,

“We’re here.” The girls set up their stuff and layed on the ground, their chests heaving for breath. They had all been exhausted for the 30 minute hike. Amelia popped her head from the ground and said,

“I’m hungry! What’s for dinner?” Maddison knew she was right. The sun was finally dipping over the trees and the night was getting cooler.

“I think I will make tomato soup,” Addison replied.

“While you make that, I will look for some berries,” Amelia decided.

I’ll come with you,” said Liv as they headed for the trees and disappeared behind the bushes.

“So…” Addison trailed off from her thoughts.

“What’s on your mind?” Maddison asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t really think this is going to be fun. You know, I don’t really like being outdoors much. “

“Don’t worry, do you really think that this challenge was just for you?”

“Well, I feel like I dragged us all into this. Especially you because you're like, never on your phone.”

“Don’t feel bad. Max and Lily were the ones who challenged me.”

I just feel very…” Her words were cut off by the rustling in the bushes. Amelia and Liv popped out. Amelia was eating something. Maddison eyes Liv and sees something in her hands.

“Blackberries!” she thought satisfied.

“These ahe soh gohd!” Amelia said through a mouth full. Then, she swallowed and said.

“These are so good!” she exclaimed.

“Oh, that’s what you said. I thought you said these are sold, god.” Addison said. Liv suppressed a laugh of giggles. Then, Maddsion walked towards Liv and asked her,

“Are you sure these are all right to eat?”

“I’m sure,” she replied, “These are the Northern Blackberries. They are safe to eat and they grow in this type of woodland.”

“Ok. Just checking.” Then, Maddison popped a blackberry into her mouth.

“Anyway, dinner is ready. The tomato soup just needed to sit still for a while. It’s good now.” The girls ate in an awkward silence. None of the girls wanted to talk about what happened at school. Max and Lily, some girls they weren’t friends with, told Maddison that her friends are addicted to their phones. Maddison said that they were checking their text messages but really, they were facetiming Addison’s cousin, George. She shuddered at the thought of Max and Lily setting up the challenge. She feared that this was a trap. She came back to the present when Liv was staring at her expecting her to answer.

“Well?! Aren’t you going to answer my question? Did you pack a raft?”

“Yes! Of course! I couldn’t leave out what we came here most for!” Then, she regretted that saying.

“Don’t you remember what we REALLY came for?” Addison snapped.

“I’m sorry,” mumbled Maddsion. “What I meant to say was that the best part of the trips was supposed to be the rafting.”

“Why don’t we just go to sleep now?” Amelia asked.

“Yeah. I agree. Let’s go to bed.” Liv said. The girls crawled into their sleeping bags and curled up.

{Chapter Two}

The next morning when Maddison woke up, Liv, and Amelia were already awake. They were discussing the activities planned for today. Last night, Maddison lay awake thinking about rafting. She wasn’t so fond of rafting and getting wet. She did like going swimming when it was hot, but not when it was the spring.

“I can’t wait to go rafting,” said Amelia, “This is going to be the best rafting trip I have ever experienced!”

“Well, this is your first rafting trip,” Liv said.

“True,’ said Amelia, “But I love the water and I can’t wait!” Maddison sighed. The girls ate breakfast quickly and packed up all their stuff. Well, only Maddison did. She was the most prepared. She shoved some granola bars and some bottles of water into her backpack and then heaved the backpack over her shoulders. The weight, once again, felt like a boulder clinging to her shoulders.

As the girls reached the surface of the river water, Addison, who was carrying the raft, put it down and sighed. Maddison could tell she was tired. Amelia hurried past Addison and into the raft. Liv followed after her. After that, Addison hopped in too. Maddison looked up at the sky. She wanted to make sure a storm wasn’t coming. But the sky gave nothing away. Only some sunshine.

“Well, are you coming?” asked Amelia.

“Yes. I just wanted to check the weather,” Maddison replied. Then, she stepped in the raft. Soon, they were floating away from where they started. Just then, a gust of wind pulled them down the river. The cloud burst into blackness. Maddison gasped. While Addison and Liv were frantically looking around. They were being swept to sea!

{Chapter Three}

Amelia shrieked in horror as she soon realized what was happening. Maddison gulped. She had checked the weather before they got on the raft. So why hadn’t the weather stayed like that? She knew her friends were going to blame her.

“You said that the weather was going to be okay!” shouted Addison. Before Maddison could reply, she heard the boom of thunder as it crashed loudly above the girls. Suddenly, she heard an additional noise she didn’t want to hear. The pop of the raft! She panicked and looked around. Amelia eyed her until she figured out what was happening.

We're sinking!” she shrieked. “We need to jump!”

“No!” shouted Addison, “You don’t know how to…” Ka-splash! Amelia was already flailing around in the water before Addison could finish her though.

“Swim…” Addison said quietly.

“Help!” Amelia said going under the water. Before Maddison could say something, Liv jumped into the churning water after Amelia. Liv went under the waves just as Amelia did.

“Liv!” Addison and Maddison shouted in unison. Liv appeared at the surface and said,

“Don’t worry! I’m going to get her!” Then she plunged down where Amelia had disappeared. Maddison scanned the area and then said to Addison,

“We need to get to that island over there.”

“Ok. No problem. I can swim well enough.”

“So can I,” replied Maddison, “But just be careful with the current.” Then, she plunged into the depths of the water. Addison followed her doggy-paddling. As they reached the shore, they saw Liv swimming towards them carrying Amelia in her arms. As soon as she reached the shore, Liv laid her down.

“Is she okay?” asked Addison.

“She will be okay,” Liv replied simply, her gaze revealing nothing. Maddison had doubts pricking her stomach. She could tell that even Liv didn’t believe what she had said.

{Chapter Four}

The girls sat on a rock under the beach trees. The rain was still pouring and Amelia’s injury wasn’t helping. She still lay under the tree in the soft sand. She was alive and well, but was resting. Liv, Addison, and Maddison sat watching her, carefully making no noise while munching on granola bars. Amelia stirred. She sat up.

“Can we get to more shelter?” she said.

“Sure,” Liv replied. The girls walk for a while, resting if needed to. They walked on and found an abandoned house. It was brown with lumps on the side. The side was mossy and covered in rotten wood. Splinters stuck out of the side. The roof was collapsing after being weathered for all this time. It looked like a once cozy cottage.

“Should we check it out?” Addison asked.

“It might have supplies,” Maddison said, thinking about the survival movie. The movie had an abandoned house and had supplies. It could be worth a shot. The girls headed into the doorway. The house was weathered on the inside but still had shelter.

“This is a good place to stay. It is better than staying under a tree,” Addison said. The girls looked around. They agreed to split up and call for help. They left Amelia on the old couch. Maddison walked into what looked like the living room. Cobwebs were hanging around everywhere. She shuddered at the thought to sleep right under then. She missed home and wondered why they even came on this challenge. Who cares about what other people think of us? She thought. Suddenly, a shriek rose through the air. It was Addison’s high-pitched scream. Maddison sighed. She wondered what trouble she got into this time. Maddison headed towards the room where the scream came from. She walked in to find Addison crumbled under some boards. Liv was trying to get the heaviest board off.

“Let me help,” Maddison said. Liv grunted in response. Maddison guessed Liv appreciated the help. The girls lifted the heavy board off and tossed it aside. Immediately, Addison shot up, but fell back to the ground.

“Let’s get you to the couch with Amelia. I saw 3 extra sleeping bags and 2 blankets. We can use the blankets to cover Amelia and me, you, and Addison can have the sleeping bags,” Liv said.

“Great idea,” Maddison replied. Maddison and Liv helped Addison get over to the couch where Amelia was sitting.

“What’s going on?” asked Amelia from the couch.

“Addison got crushed by some boards. She’s not gravely injured. She was just shocked and had the wind knocked out of her,” Maddison replied, plopping Addison down.

“I’ll go get the blankets and the sleeping bags,” Liv offered.

“No, I’ll go get it. Which way?” Maddison asked. Liv gestured to the room to their right. Maddison walked over and into the room. The room looked like a bed room. The sheets were dirty and smelled bad. The closet was falling apart. Inside, the sleeping bags and blankets sat propped against the wall. Suddenly, she felt uncomfortable. She knew someone was watching her.

“Who’s there?” She looked up and noticed a family of bats looking down at her. She shuddered, grabbed the blankets and sleeping bags, and walked out. Maddison layed out the 3 sleeping bags and put the blankets on top of Amelia. Addison and Liv settled into their sleeping bags. As the girls fell asleep, Maddison lay awake, wondering what would happen the next morning.

“We are very resourceful. I hope we can survive long enough to get help,” Maddison thought as she fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning, as Maddison woke up, she noticed that the girls were gone. She found Liv in the old kitching, scouting for useful materials.

“Where is Addison and Amelia?” Maddison asked.

“I sent them scouting for edible plants. I gave them my Survival Guide Book,” Liv replied. Suddenly, she realized they had hope of finding something to eat. Wherever they went, Liv would carry it. Of course she would have it now. A scream split the air. Liv and Maddison jumped, frightened by the sound. She heard a low growl along with the scream. Carefully, she saw Liv grab 2 knives. Maddison decided to grab one too. They rushed outside to see what was happening. Amelia and Addison were cornered to a tree. A full grown, male, brown bear by the looks of it, was crouching and growling at the girls. Liv and Maddison snuck up on the bear. As soon as Liv was in throwing range, she chucked the knife at the bear, careful not to hit Addison and Ameila. She missed its back but hit it in the legs. The bear growled with pain, alerting another bear. The other bear was at least 100 pounds, outweighing the other bear.

“RUN!” screamed Liv. She chucked another knife at the other bear. Maddison ran towards the girls. Liv followed her. Maddison shielded her friends with the knife she had.

“Get out of here!” she hissed. “I hold them back with my knife until you’re safe!”

“No! You need to come with us,” Amelia said.

“Come on!” Liv said. “I believe that Maddison will follow us once we are safe.” She glared at Maddison and Maddison knew that she should do what she said.

“Yes. I’ll come once you’re out of sight.”

“Hmp,” Addison complained.

“Come on…” Liv said. The bears suddenly lunged at Liv, Addison, and Amelia. Maddison slid into the way, knife in hand, and the bear backed away slightly. Before they left, Maddison handed the rest of the girls 3 granola bars, just in case. The three girls took them, and ran away. Maddison remembered that she needed to back away slowly. When she did this, the bear growled loudly. The other bear was looking for where the other girls went. She knew that the bear wouldn’t find them. The bear lunged once more and got a knife into their forearm. The bear growled with rage and lumbered towards Maddison. She staggered back, starting to run. Suddenly, she saw the perfect escape. She set her feet and prepared her hands. She leaped into the tree, starting to climb at a fast rate. The bear stopped running, and sat down under the tree. Luckily, Maddison aced the hardest climbing test at her favorite summer camp. She climbed tree after tree until she was out of sight. She climbed down and realized, Where were Liv, Addison, and Amelia?

“Pst… over here,” she realized the voice was someone she didn’t know.

“Uh… where are you exactly?” Maddison relied, puzzled.

“In the tree…” She climbed back up and realized she had missed the sight of a treehouse in the tree. The treehouse looked old and worn, due to the weather. The wood had splinters and looked like mud. There was a little boy, he looked 9. He had brown hair with blue eyes. He looked tired. After all, he lived in the trees.

“So… this place is nice…” Maddison inquired.

“Yeah. I’ve been living here for 5 weeks. I got lost from my parents while going camping and those bears,” he gestured to the place Maddison had climbed away from. “They chased me into the tree. I found a wood plank to sit on and started to make a home here so I could be safe until my parents found me…” he trailed off sadly. “By the way, my name’s Leo Tyvek.”

“My name is Maddison Filestone. And have you seen three girls run past here?”

“In fact… I have,” Leo replied.

“Which way did they go?”

“They went just north of here,” he replied. “But stay a while in case those bears come back.”

“So… you’ve lived in this tree house for 5 weeks without seeing another person until me?” she questioned.

“Yes,” Leo replied. “It gets quite lonely sometimes. However, I have lived just to see my parents again.”

“Oh,” Maddison said. “I should tell you how I got here.” Maddison told the story of how she and her friends went camping because of a challenge. She and her friends then went rafting and were stranded on this island. They found shelter for the night and settled down. Then, Addison and Amelia went out to gather edible plants.

“And that’s how the bears struck,” Maddison finished.

“Wow. What an adventure,” Leo commented.

“What do you do around here if you're bored?” Maddison asked.

“Well, I play soccer so I usually find something to kick around,” he replied. “But I mostly think about my family. I really miss my mom, dad and my best friend, Jake.”

“I can imagine. I miss my best friends already.”

“Once the bears are gone, I can help you look for them,” he glanced at the ground.

“Really? Thank you!” Maddison exclaimed. Ethan nodded, looking unhappy.

“What’s wrong?” Maddison asked, picking up on Leo’s sadness.

“It’s just…I don’t know. I haven’t had someone to talk to in a while…” Leo said, glancing upwards toward Maddison.

“If we find my friends, you can come with us.”

“Thank you,” he replied into the distance. “I’m going to sleep now. It’s getting late.” Maddison looked out the exit, she realized it was growing dark. Without waiting for a reply, he laid down on the leaves he had gathered. Maddison sighed and laid down in the far corner, waiting for sleep to come.

{Chapter 5}

The next morning, she woke to birds singing a sweet song. She saw that Leo was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, the treehouse started to rock as Leo stepped into the room from the tree.

“The bears are gone,” he said. Maddison could tell that he had gone down to the nearby river to wash the dirt out of his hair. His hair was much lighter than before.

“Ok, let’s go.” They walked for a while before discovering a pile of firewood.

“They’ve been here,” Leo said. Maddison started investigating around the firewood to stumble across crumbs of some sort.

“Leo! Come here! I know where we have to go!” She explained to Leo how he had given them some granola bars and how they left crumbs behind.

“Those geniuses!” Leo exclaimed.

“Are you sure they did that on purpose?” she asked.

“Of course! I doubt they ate that granola bar,” he said. They followed the trail for a while until it stopped. Ethan and Maddison both saw muddy footprints going through the bog. Suddenly, they swerved around a corner and heard voices.

“We will never find Maddison!” complained Amelia.

“Quit whining! This is driving me nuts!” Addison said.

“Guys! Stop fighting!” Liv exclaimed. “This isn’t what Maddison wanted!”

“Maddison probably got eaten by bears,” argued Amelia.

“That’s very unlikely. According to the big book of facts, the chances of that are… 1/100000% chance of that happening,” Liv stated flatly.

“Those are my friends all right,” Maddison muttered under her breath.

“Come on,” she said to Leo. They continued on until they were face to face with Liv, Amelia, and Addison.

“OMG SHE’S ALIVE!!!!” exclaimed Amelia.

“See? She wasn’t eaten by bears,” Liv said again. They all ran over to her and hugged her.

“Who’s that?” Addison asked Maddison.

“Oh. This is Leo. He helped me get away from the bears.

“Wait… Leo Tyvek?” Liv asked.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Oh. We all go to the same school!” Liv replied

“Wait,” Leo said. “You’re Liv Paz, right?”

“Yeah,” Liv replied.

“Oh, you were in my science class last year. That’s why you looked so familiar,” he said, the confused look vanishing.

“Come on. I want to show you guys my treehouse,” Ethan said.

“Yeah,” added Maddison. “It’s really nice.” They walked all the way back, following the path they made. They made it back before noon. Leo went out to go gather some edible plants. He told the girls could go up into his treehouse. They climbed the tree until they were all in the room. They sat in silence before Amelia broke the silence.

“I want to go home.”

“We all do,” Maddison replied.

“I hope Max and Lily are happy now.” Addison grumbled. “We agreed and now we get to stay in the woods longer. It’s been miserable this WHOLE TIME!”

“Relax,” Leo said. “I’ve been stuck here for 5 weeks.”

“Really?!” Liv exclaimed. “Is that why you have been absent all this time?”

“Where did you think I was?” he shot back.

“There were rumors. Even your friends didn’t know what happened to you. Some say that you were kidnapped. Others think that you bleed to death on the streets,” Liv said nervously.

“Wow, what fun rumors to be spread about me,” Leo said sarcastically. Suddenly, they heard a loud noise coming from the bog.

“They went this way!” Maddison and the others looked around at each other, confused. Leo poked his head out of the treehouse and gasped. Maddison peaked out as well. There, in the middle of the clearing, she saw a set of parents and 2 state troopers.

“Come on guys! We are about to get rescued,” Maddison said. They all climbed down the tree. Leo ran over to the parents.

“Mom! Dad!” he shouted.

“Leo!” the mother sobbed. He ran straight into her arms. Meanwhile, Liv was talking to the state troopers.

“Who are you guys?” the state trooper asked. Everyone turned to look at him and responded,

“I am Liv Paz.”

“I am Maddison Filestone.”

“I am Amelia Duki.”

“I am Addison Constanica”

“And this is my son, Leo Tyvek,” finished Leo’s father.

“So, let’s get back to your town.”

{Epilogue}

One month later, the girls were sitting at their usual table. Except, instead of being on their phones, they were talking about how they survived in the woods for a week. Everything has been great since they came back. Everyone liked them and even Lily apologized for behaving the way she did. However, Max didn’t but they didn’t care.

“Guys! Guess what?” Maddison exclaimed.

“What is it?” asked Lily. Ever since they came back, she had wanted to be friends with them. They had accepted.

“My birthday is coming up… and I talked to my mom…”

“Just tell us already!” Amelia piped up.

“We are going camping for my birthday!”

“What?! Are you CRAZY! We nearly died!” said Addison.

“Relax,” Maddison said. “My mom is coming too. Nothing can go wrong.”

“Who’s invited?” Liv said.

“You guys, of course. And Leo if he wants to come,” Maddison replied. Addison and Amelia giggled. Liv eyed them, supporting Maddison.

“So are you guys coming?” Maddison asked to change the subject.

“Of course!” Addison said. “What could go wrong?”

End of Book 1

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