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If he's taking you on the trip, your best bet would be to talk with him about his gear. If he's going for 5 days, he probably has some experience. Most all hikers and backpackers I know have tons of extra gear. He may very well have an old pack, tent, sleeping bag.... all kinds of extra stuff you could borrow. I'm not expert myself, but I still have almost enough extra gear to outfit another person for a few nights.
Yes cotton sucks. When it gets wet, you get cold. I'd get some hiking clothes. For cheap shirts, walmart has polyester active wear shirts for cheap... usually a off brand or something like Spalding. They're not bad.
Another place for hiking stuff on the cheap is gander mountain. I have a pair of convertible hiking pants from there, Guide series brand, and they're really nice. Look for sales online, they have them all the time. Can get a pair for like $25. Add in a shirt or 2 from there for $10-20, and a few fair of lightweight wool hiking socks, and you have a whole set of hiking clothes for like $50.
Make sure you have comfortable hiking boots/shoes. Ones that have some traction. I like waterproof hiking boots, some people dont.
Get yourself a mora too. Not that you'll need it that much, or that it's so amazing.... but it's about $14 on amazon, may help you get inspired.
