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All right. It wasn't going to be that hard. All Val had to do was tell a minor lie. Something as simple as that wasn't that hard to pull off, right? She'd done it before a few times. Well, maybe just that one time. And that one time wasn't even that severe either. Trying to get her parents to let their daughter sleep out in the wilderness with a bunch of teens? That was going to take some major convincing, if not a truckload of lies that Val would get trampled on if she somehow ever got exposed.

But for some reason, the truckload of lies seemed like the most appealing idea to Val.

By the time she had gotten home it was still light out, the sun beginning to make its journey below the mountain landscape. To her relief, Val could see none of the lights from the front view of the house on, a clear sign that nobody was home yet. She would quickly run inside, clean the place up just a little bit, and waited for night to fall. Perhaps her parents would come early enough to be able to discuss the whole forest camping matter.

But at least she would have time to plan out the biggest lie she would probably ever have to tell.

[color=FFE4E1][center]•••[/center][/color]
Monday had come earlier than Val had ever expected, though she had already began secretly preparing and scheming for the hike ever since she had arrived at home on Friday evening. First came the scavenging; going on a trip like this in a summer dress - well, in one of [i]Val’s[/i] summer dresses - was almost unthinkable. All she could find in the depths of her frilly wardrobe was her only pair of leggings that now barely passed her knees and an old skirt that now barely touched her knees. She had even managed to find a pair of old boots half a size too small for her ever growing feet, but they weren't that tight nevertheless. It looked like Val had hit the bizarre jackpot this time around.

But coming in second was probably the most difficult and ‘need to plan this whole thing thoroughly because if I mess up it's the end for me’ step for Val. She had decided to go and persuade her parents to let her embark on a sleepover to a ‘friend's’ house rather than on a journey to visit some isolated radio station. Although the task at hand would have seemed rather simple for anyone else she knew, for a person who literally hadn't lied in what seemed like forever, this was going to take some preparation. She knew full well that her mum would ask an endless amount of questions, despite the fact the person who Val was supposedly sleeping over at lived only a few streets away, so she had to have in mind which questions she would be asked and how to answer them without giving away the whole hiking trip.

Twenty minutes. Twenty solid minutes of having questions thrown at her that Friday night. Val had her fingers interlocking with one another behind her back throughout the whole persuasion process with her mother; and although Jocelyn was being very persistent and pushy at the idea of her daughter just going to a friends house for a night and a day, she eventually said the much wanted yes. But recalling the whole conversation on the day she was supposed to leave would be a mind sore. Still, she was freaking ecstatic on the inside, more excited than she had actually ever been before.

Due to a few complications with a dodgy oven, Val had arrived worryingly later at the Big Rock than expected of the girl. As the headcount began, Val's sweaty self ran in, slowing herself down so that she wouldn't crash into anyone. She had her back hunched, hands on her knees, panting and with her last minute ponytail sticking to her neck. The girl most likely hadn't looked this… bad in front of her friends ever since... Heck, she couldn't even recall such an event, like, ever.

[b][color=FFE4E1]“I'm…”[/color][/b] she gasped, taking a deep breath before speaking again. [b][color=FFE4E1]“...here, Debra. I had… to deal… with some things… sorry that… I'm late…”[/color][/b]

After regaining her breath and composure, Val tried to put on her brightest smile. The girl certainly wasn't late for no reason. Pulling out an old (but clearly washed) plastic lunch box, she clicked it open and displayed its freshly baked contents to the group.

[b][color=FFE4E1]“Brownies, anyone?”[/color][/b]