Storybook

School field trips are almost always boring. Especially when they are educational. And even though writing is my favorite subject, that doesn’t mean I like writing field trips. And this one is going to be especially boring. Why you might ask? Because we can’t pick our partners. At least on the bus we can choose where we sit, but that is just a small fraction of the field trip.

Chloe and Lyla, my two best friends, are telling me to talk. I don’t see the need to. I’m perfectly fine in my head. Unlike them.

Chloe and Lyla are both pretty stereotypical teenage girls. Lyla has black hair while Chloe has brown, but both keep it long and in a ponytail. They both have brown eyes and are pretty basic beyond that. Neither are super smart, but they have good grades and get through school just fine. Basically, they are practically invisible to almost everybody.

“Come on Ella! We only have five more minutes of the bus ride, and when we get off the bus, there is not a doubt in my mind that we’ll be seperated, so we have to make the plan now!” Chloe explained while shaking my arm.

“Okay, okay! We’ll make the plan now. But we can’t make it obvious, so we’ll have to go to a few places on our own.” I say and make sure they’re both listening.

“Okay, Chloe, you go here first,” I say pointing to a corner of the museum on the map I somehow found. “ Lyla and me will go to the first exhibit first and then meet you at the fifth one after that. Then you will both go to the third exhibit while I go wherever my partner wants to go. Finally, we will meet back at the second exhibit and hopefully run out of time while we are still there.” I point to pretty much everywhere on the map before finally landing at the second exhibit.

“If we still have time after the second exhibit, we’ll go where our partners want to go. That way, it won’t be too suspicious. We also need to remember to be subtle when talking to each other so that the teachers don’t notice.” Chloe and Lyla are nodding along with every word I say, like they totally agree. It suddenly strikes me how much they look to me for planning, since they don’t have very many brain cells. Huh.

“Lyla, you’ll probably have to abandon the plan at some point to go where your partner wants to go, so just make sure to get back on schedule afterwards.” The bus rolls into the parking lot right as I say this, and all around us kids are getting their things and grumbling about the random partners.

“We’d better be going. I’ll see you guys at the fifth exhibit if I don’t die of boredom first!” And with that Chloe gathers her stuff and bolts down the aisle.

“I guess we should go see who our partners are,” Lyla grumbles in a tone that conveys she wants to do anything but that. I nod my head and pack up my notebooks and put my phone safely in my backpack. As we walk down the aisle and onto the sidewalk, we duscuss who we’d want as a partner.

“I wouldn’t mind being with Anya or Misha, and I suppose Jade wouldn’t be awful, even though she is a little quiet, but if I get paired with any of the boys then I don’t think I’ll even make it to the first exhibit.” Lyla complains loudly, and I nodd respectfully.

“Honestly, I don’t really care who I get paired up with. Yeah, there are some boys who are annoying, but most of them are kind of scared of me. The only person I don’t want to be paired up with is- “ I turn and catch the frisbee that was flying straight towards my face. Almost everybody is quiet, accept for a small group of boys who are laughing their guts out. And right in the middle of that group is Ryan.

Think of a stereotypical prankster. Now imagine the awful humor of that prankster was mixed with the popularity and looks of a stereotypical popular boy. That’s the definition of Ryan. With dirt colored hair and a hyena’s laugh, he somehow has twenty girls crushing on him. I don’t see it.

Me and Ryan have hated each other since the day we met. Everyone at school knows it. None of his pranks work on me, and he’s one of the only kids who isn’t intimidated by me, so naturally we’re like oil and water. He likes trying to prank me or - in some cases - hit me with things, and I like verbally calling him out for it. You might think that its fun, but it isn’t. Arguing with some one of equal or near amount of braincells is fun, because you never know what they are going to say next. But Ryan just laughs. Or teases me further. I try to avoid him at all costs.

“Ryan!” I throw his frisbee back at him and he catches it while continuing to laughing uncontrollably. “Is a frisbee the best thing you had, or did you think I wouldn’t catch it?!”

Between gasps, Ryan manages to get out, “You should have seen your face when you realized the frisbee was about to hit you!” He’s practically falling over his buddys trying to stop. “I can’t believe you actually caught it!” By now I’m so mad I could scream, so naturally the teacher in charge, Mrs. Dean, decides to intervene at that moment.

“Students! We’ll be announcing the pairs now, but we are only going to say them once so listen up!From Mr. King’s homeroom, we have Hayden and Jake, Misha and Lyla, Nigel and Lily, Peyton and Chloe, Hailey and Anya, Jade, and Bradly, and Ella and Ryan! From Ms. Rede’s home room we have Jack and Hana, . . . “

Mrs. Dean continues to list teachers and students, but I don’t hear. I don’t hear when Lyla wishes me good luck. I don’t hear Chloe squealing in excitement from getting someone she can actually tolerate. I don’t even hear Ryan complaining loudly about me to a chaperone. All I hear is one phrase, over and over. Ella and Ryan.

Just my luck that I’m stuck with Ryan. I wouldn’t be surprised if the teachers paired us up to ‘get over our differences’ and ‘bond’. As if. But now I have to spend the next three hours with him, and this time there is no teacher or classmate to keep the fragile peace.