Field Trip... Of the Dead?! IC; [M]

[ｒａｂｂｉｔ]

Field Trip... Of the Dead?!

Lincoln City awoke that May morning, the sun peeking over the mountain range to the east, warm rays finding the pristine lawns of the suburbs, assorted roofs of the homes, and sparkling glass of the towering buildings downtown. The streets were mostly quiet, save for a few early commuters, men and women leaving for the office early, and a select few who were returning home from a night shift. The early risers – the people who didn’t have to get up, but rather wanted to – were climbing out of bed and amidst getting ready for the day ahead.

Tyler lay in her bed, fidgeting like a seven year old on Christmas Eve. Her green eyes were open, studying her ceiling, scanning the assorted posters and pictures on her dark blue walls without really seeing them; her focus drifted anxiously out the window, past her sheer white curtains, while her ears were trained on noises inside the house, listening to the muffled sounds of her mother and father get ready for work just down the hall. The young woman’s head still lay on her pillow, vibrant red tresses strew across the dark fabric, as her knees were drawn up, creating a mountain in the almost-center of the bed.

The sun crept between the edge of Tyler’s window and her neighbor’s house, throwing its light across her room, blinding her and making her shut her eyes quickly, out-stretching a hand to block the intrusive light. That, however, was her cue. The soon-to-be graduate tossed the covers off her legs as she hopped out of bed, pulling her hair up into a ponytail before she made her bed (which she’d hardly disturbed) and trotted into the bathroom next door to her room. Tyler emerged showered and towel-clad, moving into her room and shutting her door behind her, where she cranked up her music – her parents had left during her shower and waking up to Tyler’s music was something her brother had become accustomed to.

There was a thud, louder than her music, against the wall opposite her bathroom and Tyler froze, her body tense – that was unusual. She stepped into the second-floor hallway (still only wearing her towel) and turned toward her brother’s room, voice carefully composed as she called out, “Jacob? Are you all right?”

Her brother’s door swung open suddenly, making her jump, and his young, grinning face appeared in the doorway, telling her in a voice still in between that of child’s and young man’s, “Yeah, I’m good.”

Tyler pursed her lips and jammed her bare foot into the way of the door as he tried to close it. When Jacob turned back curiously and in the light coming into his room, she could see the circles under his eyes, the abnormal pallor to his skin; her eyes narrowed and she moved closer, touching the skin of his cheek – clammy. “Are you getting sick?”

“No,” he lied and she rolled her eyes, walking back to her room. “I’ll take a DayQuil right now, ok?!”

“Mhmm,” she closed her door, finished getting dressed, and did her hair – lightly curled and tousled, bangs swept to the side across her forehead.

Tyler sat on her bed and tugged on her socks, followed by her favorite pair of calf-high black motorcycle boots. Tyler tugged on her cuffed blazer over her The Rolling Stones tank top, leaving the light jacket unbuttoned. She leaned down and rolled up the hem of her dark blue skinny jeans, completing the outfit. She pushed her sleeves up to her elbows, checked her slender three-ring folder for the roster of seniors attending the trip to Lincoln City State University and frowned at the sixteen names that were stricken through with red pen, unable to attend as of yesterday evening due to illness.

She thought of her brother and wondered if he’d come down with the same thing – whatever it was that had been going around lately. Tyler had boned up on her vitamins and orange juice since the start of winter and hadn’t stopped when she’d caught word of the bug, unwilling to risk getting sick for the spring production of Little Shop of Horrors. She knocked on Jacob’s door on her way to the staircase – a signal it was five minutes till they’d be leaving – her keys in hand, backpack slung over her shoulder on one of its shoulder straps, folder, wallet and other assorted girlish and school-related goodies inside, as it was a weekday.

Tyler’s brother came down a few minutes after she had and she handed him a piece of buttered cinnamon-swirl and raisin toast wrapped in a paper towel and a small bottle of milk, holding a similar meal for herself as she headed to the garage. “Ready?”

“Yup,” he replied, a mouthful of toast muffling his speech. He slapped the button on the inside of the garage wall and the garage door started to groan open as she slid into the driver’s seat of her violet-black Jeep Wrangler, it’s canvas top removed to welcome the May weather, which would hopefully warm up later in the day. Her brother climbed in beside her and Tyler backed out of the garage, swiftly pulling onto the street and headed toward the high school. Her "Caution: Zombies Ahead" magnet-slash-sticker on the back end of her Jeep caught in the light and boy, it was almost too bad that she wouldn't realize the irony until later.

Eight and a half minutes later, they arrived at school and Tyler was shifting into park while her brother climbed out of the jeep and grabbed up his backpack from the backseat. She slipped her bag onto her shoulder again, retrieving it from the floor of the passenger side where it usually rested when driving (as with most women) and slipped out of her vehicle, pulling her cell phone from her pocket. She unlocked the screen and it showed her that she had three text messages – two from Twitter, the other from her mother wishing her a good day. Gee, she mused, I’m sure popular.

“Fifteen minutes to spare,” she said to herself, hitting the small lock button on the top of her phone before tucking it into the pocket of her shorts. Tyler made her way to the ASB room and was greeted by the sight of her drama teacher, Mrs. Ruberg, chatting animatedly with the ASB teacher, Mr. Stockton.

“A good conversation I assume?” Tyler said, smiling at both teachers as she paused in the doorway, “Should I come back after the bell?”

“Oh, no, child!” Mrs. Ruberg exclaimed, turning to the girl with a grin and flip of long, silver-white hair. Mrs. Ruberg insisted she’d gone white-haired early in her life and that she had no intention of coloring it because of how wonderful it looked, and she was actually far younger than she looked. It was a very believable argument, especially after seeing the woman on stage, the feeling and being around the intense, intoxicating energy she had.

“No, no,” Mr. Stockton didn’t come out from behind his desk or stand, but he smiled and nodded a good morning. “Just discussing the trip.”

“Right, of course,” Tyler nodded, “Are the updated lists I emailed you last night ready?”

“Yup, and the buses will be here in ten,” Mr. Stockton replied, handing Tyler the updated lists from the printer.

She took them and set her bag down on one of the long tables, withdrawing her folder, taking out the old list and replacing it with the new ones just in front of the lists of parent and guardian contacts of students attending. “Looks like we’re good then, as long as Mr. Fuller is here?” Mr. Stockton nodded. “Ok then! I’m going to go be a student now. See you at the buses.”

Tyler left the ASB room and went down to the commons – the massive grouping of picnic tables and cement benches under an even larger set of four canvas roofs, constructed close to the front of the middle of the school, where most of the school’s population (save for the teachers) congregated. She greeted a few people as she wove her way through the masses of students, faces she recognized well from the past year, seniors and underclassmen alike; she drew out her cell phone as she walked, unlocking it and turning it on its side to compose a text message.

TO: Twitter

Senior trip to LCSU today! Buses arrive in ten! Be there or be… Well, pretty lame, if you ask me.
♥ - Tyler A. M.

[Black]

Richard woke in the strangest of ways. He was having a delightful dream involving a local girl who went to his school, acting like the perfect bad-ass. Then as he went to kiss her he rolled off of his bed and hit his head on the floor.

"Son of a bitch!" he said, sitting up and scratching his messy mop of a head. He was still in yesterdays clothing, having been too tired to change out of it as he fell into bed. He got up and pulled off his dirty white shirt and tossed it across the room into his over flowing laundry hamper. He left his jeans on because they weren't too bad as be pulled on a white wife-beater and rummaged around his room for a pair of socks that didn't smell too horrific.

He finally found the least vile pair of socks he could and set them down on an ironing board. Next he kicked around the junk on his floor until he found what he was looking for. He came up holding a can of old spice body spray and he sprayed it onto his socks.

"Least they no longer smell like something the devil used to clean his ass with" and with that lovely bit of imagery Richard pulled his socks on and then pulled on his steel-toed boots, lacing them up and tying them tight to his feet. He rummaged around a bit more and found a shirt to put on over his wife-beater and then grabbed his coat and pulled it on as he headed out the door while also grabbing his gym bag which he had prepared a few days earlier.

Richard lived on the sixth story of an apartment high-rise. He paid for the apartment in advance for the next six years with his money he had gained from patents and inventions. Instead of taking the elevator Richard took the six flights of stairs down two at a time until he reached the bottom. From there he set off at a dead run down the street and through traffic.

It was standard for Richard to jog to school every day and it took him only thirty minutes to get from his apartment to the school at a dead run. He ended up on school grounds around 6:43.

He headed through the main office, nodding to the secretaries that worked there. He grabbed a pair of keys off the wall, keys which had been made specifically for him, and headed towards the male locker rooms. This early in the morning the coaches hadn't come in yet so Richard used his keys and entered, dropping his gym bag near the showers and stripping as he went.

He hopped into the showers and turned them on full blast.

Getting out of the showers thirty minutes later Richard opened his gym bag and pulled on a new pair of knickers as well as faded jeans and a fresh black t-shirt which fit tightly over his body. Then he threw his old stuff into the bag and put on a fresh pair of socks that he bought not to long ago and wiggled his toes in them, enjoying the simple feel of new cotton against his feet. Then he pulled on his boots once more and zipped up his gym bag.

On his way out of the locker room Richard dropped his bag off in the coaches offices knowing that it wouldn't be bothered there. Then he headed out of the doors and started off towards the cafe to grab breakfast.

Once he grabbed breakfast he found the most reclusive part of the commons and sat down with his back against a wall. He tore into a breakfast bar and sipped his orange juice as he watched the students begin to arrive. After he was done with that he pulled a few pieces of metal out of his jeans pocket and began to fiddle with them. It soon became obvious that these metal pieces fit together in many different ways to form many different kinds of puzzles.

It wasn't too long before he had configured the metal pieces into the many different puzzles and grew bored with the game, tossing the metal pieces towards another table where it would lay forgotten until some underclassman found it and took interest in it.

Richard soon forgot about it as his high-school crush walked through the commons. His face turned slightly red as he watched Tyler Micello walk through the commons in her graceful way. Richard ducked his head slightly so as not to be noticed by her and turned his eyes away from her, but kept her in his peripherals.

[Reenok]

Dean groaned groggily as he rolled over in his bed the palm of his hand slamming down on top of the alarm that rested on his bed side cabinet eyes opening halfway as he gazed through blurry blue eyes at the clock. Nibbling on his lip he began to sit up, throwing his quilt aside and revealing his barely covered body to the chill of his room. Looking back over his shoulder he realised he had forgot to close the window before falling asleep. Shrugging he stood up with a shudder and readjusted his boxers before walking into his on sweet bathroom.

As he came back into his room he gripped the towel at his waist loosely as he ran his fingers through his dark damp hair, shaking it out softly as he ran his tongue along his teeth carefully checking they'd been cleaned properly. Before opening the draw of his cabinet and taking out a black pair of boxers and socks. Dropping his towel he shuddered again in the chill before stepping into his boxers and pulling them up into a snug fit around his waist. After he quickly slipped on his socks nearly falling into the wall a few times. He yanked a set of grey denim jeans from his wardrobe along with a white vest and black long sleeved shirt. After quickly dressing himself he rolled the sleeves of his shirt up till they rested just above his elbows. Turning once again to face his desk he picked up his phone, keys, ipod and small journal and pen set. Slipping the ipod and phone into his back pockets and the journal and keys into his front. As he heard his dad begin to move and fall into his wall in his general drunken stupor. He quickly grabbed his black leather jacket and hopped up on to his bed, climbing out of his window and hopping down on to the garage roof as he reached the edge of the garage sat down and slipped his jacket on before placing both of his hands on the tiled roof and pushing himself off, landing on the ground with an oddly graceful crouch.

After twenty minutes he made it to his schools grounds, moving silently through the crowds he went to his locker and sighed loudly as he tore a piece of paper from the front reading 'You're not going to make it back from this trip alive' crushing the paper in his hand he threw it into a near by bin. As he pulled open his locker he leaned inside and took out his bag. Looking inside to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything he would need the day before. Nodding happily as he double checked everything he slammed his locker shut and made his way outside leaning against a tree near the crowds of students waiting for the buses. Slipping his hand into his back pocket he took out his ipod slipped in his ear phones and turned it on to hear 'A day to remember: All signs point to lauderdale' start playing.

As he listened in silence he looked around to see if any of this friends would actually be coming on this trip.. or whether it would be him and the rest of the student body which had grown to hate or dislike him for all their own petty reasons. Closing his eyes he turned from his shoulder to his back and looked up into the leaves before closing his eyes and enjoying the feel of the breeze on his face.

[Azazeal849]

Gina Wright coughed, blew her nose into a pocket tissue, and reflected that the common cold had to be - without a doubt - the worst disease in the whole world. It wasn’t serious enough to get you off school, but it still made you feel like absolute shit.

She supposed that that pretty much summed up the past six months of her life. She wasn’t a born leader like Tyler, or possessed of the same effortless genius as Richard, but she had made it through her formative years with a bit of natural talent and a lot of work ethic. That work ethic however seemed to have deserted her over the last few months, and she knew she was going to have to get it back if she was to have a chance of achieving the straight A’s she needed to get into med school. Likewise, she had never been as popular as local queen bee Megan, but she had always had a good circle of friends back in England. For some reason, the same thing just hadn’t happened here in Lincoln. Perhaps it had been the stress of the move, or the culture shock, or perhaps she had just felt intimidated by this group of apparently effortless overachievers who were already well settled into their self-sufficient little cliques. In any case she hadn’t particularly bonded with any of them, and as the weeks went by the class had accepted her as someone who was merely there; an acquaintance who they would talk to, and occasionally sit and eat lunch with, but not someone who they would class as a true friend - the kind they would tell their deep feelings to, or make the effort to see regularly outside of school. Gina could keep herself busy with her own company - LCH might not have a school hockey team, but she could still run and that was the next best thing - but the lack of close friends left her feeling rather lonely and that, she suspected, was why she couldn’t throw herself into her work with the same enthusiasm she used to.

It was easy to blame her mother for the move, for tearing her away from everything and everyone she had grown up with and expecting her to just put down new roots in a whole other continent. God knew, both Gina and her dad had done enough of that kind of blaming in the lead-up to the move. But it wasn’t her mother’s fault that the law firm she worked for had insisted on relocating her to the states, and that the custody rulings of her parents’ divorce meant that Gina had to go with her. Unfortunately, this didn’t stop it being the case that the father Gina was used to seeing every weekend (even if he did sometimes malign it for him always being the one who had to deal with her on “party” nights) was now 3000 miles away, and Skype calls were a poor substitute for him actually being there.

Gina’s mum never talked much while she was driving her to school on the way to work, mainly because Gina’s mum wasn’t much of a morning person. To pass the time Gina pulled her metallic-blue iPod Nano out of her coat, put one white earpiece into her ear, and circled her thumb on the touchscreen wheel until she found Underdog by Kasabian. The familiar opening riff brought to mind something the band’s mouthy but occasionally insightful front-man had once said in an interview, which seemed particularly relevant right now: “Be positive about life. You've been brought up well by your parents, so don't sit around in your bedroom moping. Grow up.”

She knew she should stop feeling sorry for herself and get her arse in gear. Of course it wasn’t quite that simple, but maybe this visit to the local college and a glimpse of future possibilities would inspire her to start working hard again.

Coughing a second time, Gina rested her forehead against the window and watched the world flash by outside until her mum’s car pulled up outside the school. She popped the door and pulled her rucksack out of the footwell and onto her shoulder.

“Have a good day, Georgie.” her mum called after her as she climbed out of the car.

Gina resisted the urge to grind her teeth. You’d think that four years after everyone else had dropped the childish nickname her mum would have gotten the hint. Then again, embarrassing their kids was every parent’s prerogative.

“You too, mum.” she called back automatically, and made her way over to the benches where everyone else was gathering. As she came closer, she realised that she apparently wasn’t the only one feeling under the weather. She had put on a bit more make-up than usual that morning to try and offset her washed-out skin, but a couple of the guys here had very obvious grey circles around their eyes. She exchanged brief hellos with her classmates as she passed them, picked an empty bench and sat down. There she sat, listening to her music while she waited for someone to start calling the register, and hoping vaguely that someone might come and talk to her.

[Arkayna]

Stepping out of her room and into the hallway dressed in a short, silk nightgown, Megan immediately noticed the sound of running water coming from the nearby bathroom. It wasn't particularly uncommon for Megan's sister, Emily, to wake up before her and seize control of the crucial room that always seemed to be a point of contention for siblings, but for some reason it always felt as if the little brat was doing it intentionally just to annoy her. By that point, though, Megan had already begun preemptively planning ways of taking back what was rightfully hers as the eldest child, so she simply had to carry out her plan.

Marching into her sister's room, she found her phone and held down the red button until it shut off. Megan then promptly returned the the hallway and pressed the phone up against the washroom's door after having turned back on. The device emitted a distinctive little jingle that Emily would most certainly recognize as it powered up. The sound of water running vanished as the faucets were hastily turned counterclockwise, confirming to Megan that she had her beloved sister's full attention.

"I'll give you five seconds to get out before I delete your contacts," she stated in a very flat and matter-of-fact sort of tone as if already knowing that she would succeed had bored her.

"Give it back!!" Emily screeched as the door swung open and she came rushing out like a furious little garden gnome.

Megan rolled her eyes while quickly slipping around her sister, finally relinquishing control of the cellphone once she was halfway inside of the bathroom. Even with the door shut, she could still her her little sister's heavy footsteps as she stomped around unhappily. Feeling no guilt whatsoever, Megan went about her usual morning routine and got herself prepped for school. It was definitely tough love between Megan and Emily most of the time, but her sister would thank her in a year or two when she'd be able to use everything that she'd learned to take over as queen bee of the high school.

Having taken up a large chunk of her time showering, putting on her makeup and styling her hair, Megan had to get dressed pretty quickly to make up for it. It was easy enough since she'd already selected her outift during the previous night before going to bed. It wasn't anything too out of the ordinary for her, as the button up blouse and pleated skirt combination was pretty much her go-to look, but it seemed appropriate enough for the LCSU visit.

Speaking of which, Megan had already visited the university on her own time as she assumed that anyone who was serious about pursuing the academic success would have already done, making Tyler's idea seem even more stupid - as if the fact that it was one of Tyler's ideas wasn't reason enough for her to hate it. Nevertheless, Megan didn't want any absences to stain her spotless record, so she had no choice but to show up.

Making her way down to the kitchen, she read the short note that her parents had left for her before quickly scarfing down a couple of croissants in such an unrefined manner that it would shock anyone who knew her. Yes, even the prim and proper Megan could eat like a slob as long as she was hungry, late and alone enough!

Having managed to make up for lost time to a certain extent, she went down to the garage and hopped into her practically brand new Mercedes SLK that her parents had rewarded her with for her consistently flawless grades. It was about a 20 minute drive from her house to the high school, but she did it in 15 while breaking a few speed limits. She'd never actually gotten pulled over before, but even if she did, Megan was sure that she'd be able to talk her way out of a ticket.

Once she'd reached her destination, it soon became painfully apparent that pretty much her entire clique of popular girls had decided to stay home because of the recent wave of colds going around. That was actually considerably more irritating than she would have imagined, and it left her feeling pretty much alone for the first time in as long as she could remember when she reached the commons. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

It was at that point that Megan noticed Georgina sitting by herself. She hadn't really payed the British girl too much attention thus far since Gina had managed not to cross her yet and she also did a pretty good job of flying below the radar, but the more she thought about it, the more Megan realized that she might be the ideal friend. She was both pretty and smart, but not as much as Megan herself (at least in her own opinion), and she didn't seem like the overly ambitious type who would challenge her or attempt to overthrow her either. It was actually surprising that she hadn't noticed the potential earlier.

"Hey, how's it going?" Megan opened up casually as she sat down across from Georgina, testing the waters a bit to see how the other girl would initially react.

She also managed to discreetly follow Tyler through the corner of her eye, negatively commenting every little move that the girl made to herself inside of her head while reflecting about how undeserving the obnoxious redhead was of the popularity that she'd somehow attained.

[Azazeal849]

Gina pulled out her earphones and looked up to see, of all people, Megan Eldridge sitting across from her.

“Hi,” she said, wondering why Lincoln High’s most popular senior had decided to say hello to her before any of her other friends. Then she noticed that none of Megan’s usual crowd seemed to be around. Unlike the handful of kids who had forced themselves to come into school for the field trip, their colds must have kept them in bed. Didn’t want to be seen looking less than their best, probably. So Megan, left on her own, was just mingling. Megan herself had never struck Gina as snobby, just slightly aloof, but it was still a slight surprise to see the petite girl with her big, slightly-slanted eyes looking at her with such apparent interest.

“I’m okay,” she added, the default answer, “I’m coming down with a cold though so I wouldn’t get too close.”

As if on cue Gina felt a cough rising in her throat, and she quickly turned her head aside and brought up one hand to stifle it.

“Sorry,” she apologised, “Where’s Jessie and the others today, off sick?”

[SikstaSlathalin]

The wind and leaves rushed past Jeri as he practiced his Free-Running by springing from tree to tree off the grounds of the school. He'd been here an hour before school even opened, his insomnia poked it's ugly head again and kept him up in his basement bedroom of his Uncle and Aunt's house. And as usual when he couldn't sleep he got up and dressed in his old family color kilt, black shirt and vest. Before he climbed out of his window he slipped on a pair of blue high-top Converse sneakers and slipped out into the early dawn light after snagging up his survival bag neatly packed with matches, a flashlight, a military grade compass, a small first aid kit, a mess set water, E-tool, hatchet, wire saw, power and granola bars, a book on first-aid, E-Blankets, spare changes of clothes, an Amazonian Survival knife, and a collapsible metal walking stick.

All and all Jericho MacTavish was always ready for the Apocalypse be it atomic, machine, or zombie. He went out over the well trimmed lawn and immediately began practicing his new found love Free-Running the art of using the urban environment to move quite quickly from point A to point B. He'd managed to ninja around and over his neighbor's houses without even making the dogs bark. He was very proud of himself when he managed that usually he kind of tripped and flopped on his face on the first attempt but he chalked it up to still being a novice at it though. Before too long his heart was racing with the exercise and his limbs burned some which made him all the more proud of himself. His people were always proud to feel the burn of work in their limbs but he also looked up at the pink sky and knew he'd have to go to school soon especially since he lived about an hour away from it. Swinging his way back to his house he practically spun himself out of his clothes and got into the shower. He loved the smell of exercise hanging on his skin but these Americans tend to turn their noses up at someone smelling like work that isn't a farmer. He was already sure the lasses thought him a serial killer like Dean and the lads he figured wanted to beat his arse for being more man then most of them but they never had the balls to act on the desires for violence. Life in the Scottish Highlands makes a boy into a man totally and completely in mind,body, and spirit, he could break the arms of the biggest jocks and destroy the spirits of the others if they crossed him enough.


After he showered he reached to grab his kilt but decided to just stuff it in his bag for later and opted for his old torn-up blue jeans and a Wicked Tinkers t-shirt. Satisfied with his look he threw on some Brute deodorant and headed for his garage grabbing the beat-to-hell but amazingly still working blue bike and pedaled out to the school grounds. He'd get there a good hour before anyone else but if there's one thing he loved about Lincoln High it was all the stuff to Free-Run on and off. As his classmate began arriving he was spinning around some trees trying to jump between them with little success.
"Bloody gravity make this so damn 'ard." He pants getting off the ground for the umpteeth time and wiping grass from his pants for the twelthteenth time. His Granda's pocket watch chimed at him from it's place in his bag telling him it was time for school.
"Damn the luck ah'll get ya soon tree dun't ye worry." He grabbed up his bag slinging it over his shoulder then jumped onto his bike and powered on to school ripping into a Power Bar on the way.

He arrived in the commons seeing only a few of his classmates, The Brit was talking with the psycho perfectionist, Dean sitting down with his eyes closed, Tyler was clicking away on her phone gizmo and Rich was hiding from Tyler again. With a loud laugh the young man walked up to Rich and plopped himself down next to the kid genius. They had shop class together well it might be better to say Jeri sat in the same room as Rich made millions making everything under the sun.
"Ye know laddie hiding from a lass, especially a bonny bright one like Tyler wun't get ye her number, let me help ye." He stands up and holds his hands in the form of a bullhorn around his mouth. His already loud and unmistakable voice was amplified as he yelled.
"Oy, bonny Tyler come here please, my mate Rich has something he needs ta ask ye!" With that the young Scot belted out with laughter and waved the young woman over to them.

[ｒａｂｂｉｔ]

As Tyler sent the text message, she cleared the screen and smiled a bit, looking around the commons curiously. She spotted Megan, who she quickly avoided eye contact with, as she was sitting with Gina -- wait a second, were those two friends now? Tyler chewed her lower lip a little as she thought on it, mindlessly playing with her phone. She then kept looking, spotting Dean headed for the bus lines to wait, rather then lingering in the commons as many did, and that was when Jeri hollered at her from halfway across the commons.

The redhead hadn't even seen Richard and the Scotsman tucked over in a corner of the commons, and as Jeri yelled for her, just about everyone in the commons turned to look at him for a few beats, then looked around for Tyler. Laughing a little nervously, Tyler ducked her head - which was hard to do with vibrant red hair - and headed over to the pair.

"Hey, guys," she greeted them, leaning against the table they sat at and tucking her phone into one of the pockets inside her blazer.

"Seniors," a voice came over the PA system, "please congregate at the bus lines for the field trip to LCSU.” There was a muffled cough, then murmured words away from the microphone and the voice came back, a little less formal, “Again, go to the bus lines if you’re going on the field trip, seniors.”

"Ah, I guess that's our cue," she told them and pushed herself back up, shifting her weight off the table. Tyler began walking toward the bus lines, expecting them to follow as she asked, "So, what was it you wanted to ask, Richard?"

The buses pulled up the the curb right on cue as they were approaching the bus lines, and she cast a smile over her shoulder at him. The ASB president swung her bag off of her shoulder, digging out her folder with the attending students list and handing it to Mr. Fuller quickly followed by her student identification card (as if she needed to) and he told her to go to bus two, but she lingered around him with Richard and Jeri for their bus assignments, both of them on bus two as well.

[Black]

Richard watched as everyone had shown up, Gina-Megan-Dean. Jeri, Richard knew, had been on campus even before Richard himself had shown up. Still it took Jeri a few minutes before he found Richard. It took even less time than usual for Jeri to make Richard feel as out of place as he usually did.

"Oh Jesus Jeri, I suppose they don't know how to be discreet in Scotland do they," Richard slammed his head on the table causing it to vibrate a little with a metal hum. As Tyler got to where Jeri and Richard were sitting Richard felt his face heat up and his eyes avert to look off into the distance where he saw Megan and Gina.

"Seniors, please congregate at the bus lines for the field trip to LCSU. “Again, go to the bus lines if you’re going on the field trip, seniors.”

Saved by the PA system... Or so he had thought.

He got up with Jeri and Tyler. Richard hung back a little, allowing them both to get ahead of him. He took a deep breath to calm his unsettled nerves- as if that would help much- and followed after them.

"Well," Richard clenched his sweaty palm and glared daggers at the Scottish bastard who put him into this situation. "Well..I- ...I was curious as to why you seemed so excited to go on this trip," He asked, failing miserably at what he really was gonna ask and turning his head in relative shame.

When she was looking away Richard made a point of slapping the Scotsman on the back of the head and whispered furiously "Why do you have to have the subtlety of a three legged ox!?"

[Arkayna]

Without any of her usual accomplices to serve as her eyes and ears, Megan tried to keep tabs on everything that was going on in the commons while still paying attention to Georgina and maintaining a conversation with her.

"Probably," Megan shrugged her shoulders slightly as she replied to the girl's question rather indifferently, making it seem like she didn't care that her friends were all missing in action even though that wasn't exactly the truth. "Or pretending to be, at least."

Even as she spoke, Megan was discreetly paying attention to what was going on between Tyler, Richard and Jericho. A slight feeling of irritation and even a hint of jealousy began coursing through her as she watched Richard continue to beat around the bush with Tyler just like he'd been doing for a while now. What did a savant like him see in that wannabe actress who would probably end up working as a waitress or something?

With Richard's intelligence and looks, Megan would even have considered him tarded. Still, she couldn't help but feel that he was aiming pretty low. Although she didn't have a crush on him per se, Megan remained somewhat curious as to what she could make out of Richard if she were to get her hands on him and fix the details about him that she considered to be problems.

Megan was considerably more interested in Dean, however. There was no denying that she had a - perhaps somewhat cliche - penchant for bad boys, and the mysterious Dean certainly fell into that category. The fact that he was ridiculously hot didn't exactly hurt, either. Having recently broken up with her former boyfriend, Megan was feeling more drawn to Dean than ever, so perhaps the boring field trip would be a good time to get closer to him.

"Oh, joy." Megan's tone dripped with sarcasm as the voice over the PA system announced that it was time to board the buses. "C'mon, I don't want to get stuck in the front," she urged Gina to follow her, casually inviting the girl to sit next to her without making a big thing out of it, and apparently not being off-put by the girl's cold either.

Unlike some of the others, Megan didn't linger around before getting on the second bus which she, Gina and most of the other seniors had been assigned to. With so many students being home sick, the other bus seemed pretty much useless anyways. Poor planning on Tyler's part resulting in a waste of school resources, Megan hastily concluded to herself. Taking a window seat in the very back of the bus, she waited for Gina to join her before playing her next card.

"Share an earbud?" Megan asked her new British friend innocently, referring to the iPod that Georgina had been listening to earlier. She knew that music was a very powerful medium, and it could also be used to help form connections with people.