I'm overwhelmed by the response to the first chapter! Thank you, all of you!

Anyway, here's the next chapter. I'm sorry if it's moving a little slow, but I swear they'll get into the camping/bushwalking thing next chapter!

Please review and tell me if you like the OCs :D.

-Lauren

x.x.x

Alex found himself awake far before the sun had even risen.

The school had insisted they left early so they had time to travel to the location and still get a full day. Alex had to be at school by 5 am, and he wasn't happy about it. Grumpily he trudged downstairs, to find Jack whistling and making scrambled eggs for him. That almost made him smile, but not quite.

'Morning, Alex! If you'd call this morning,' she said, smiling at him. He made an attempt to smile back.

'Morning Jack,' he replied.

'Have you got all your stuff ready?' she asked cheerily. Alex nodded in response. He ate the scrambled eggs – they almost made up for having to wake up so early, and made his way to school.

When he arrived, Tom and the rest of his group were waiting for him. The groups had been organised at school, and there were 10 people in each group.

Alex was in the same group as Tom, and a few others.

Mark was one of the jocks of the school; the "popular" group, the group that supposedly got all the girls. He was well-built and rather tall, and looked older than he actually was. At that point, he was in a foul mood. The teachers had broken up his group of friends (which Alex was surprised he even had) – who knows what they would have done if they were put together, and he wasn't happy about it. He was always sarcastic and rude, and Alex found that he didn't like Mark much at all.

Lucy was a headstrong Asian girl who was good at everything except for sports. She was unanimously voted the team strategist – owing to her skills in maths and engineering. She would be useful because she knew the best way to start a fire, and how to sustain themselves if they lost their food, but Alex didn't suspect she could keep up with the pace of the rest of them – she was rather unfit due to the fact that she didn't play any sports.

Erin, on the other hand, was an athletic girl, and quite fit. She ran in the school marathon, and represented the school at State level. Alex suspected that she would have a lot of endurance, which was good for a bushwalking trip. She wasn't the brightest of people, but she was cheery and good fun most of the time.

James was a new friend of Alex's, who was new to the school. He was rather funny, but his sense of humour was rather sarcastic and dry. He was a new competitor for Alex and Tom in the sporting field – he was sporty and motivated. All the girls seemed to think he was rather handsome, as they did Tom and Alex, and they were often called the Golden Trio.

May was a quiet girl who didn't even seem like she wanted to be on this trip. She was studious and hardworking, didn't talk much, and avoided having conversations with people. Her real personality was a mystery to Alex – he didn't know much about her at all. Nor did anyone else, for that matter.

Holly was Lucy's friend, but unlike Lucy, was rather sporty, though not nearly as sporty as Erin. She was an all rounder – she knew a little bit about science and maths, and knew a little about sport and everything else in between.

Phillip was a computer geek – who didn't look like he fitted on this trip either. He wore thick black glasses, and got into a fight with the teacher when she said that he couldn't bring his Game Boy. He packed it regardless, however. He knew everything there was to know about computers, Star Wars and video games. He was unfit, and though he was smart, Alex didn't think he would be much use in this trip.

And finally, there was Caitlin. She was a tomboy, and played soccer, tennis, basketball, and she would have played rugby if the school had let her. She was friends with Erin, and they frequently pitted themselves against each other on the sporting field. She was rather sarcastic and quite rebellious – the first time the school had told her there was no girls rugby team, she snuck into the boys team, knocked out one of their members and pretended to be him. The funniest thing was, the school didn't even notice until after the game, where she was scolded and received several detentions. She was fun when she wasn't in a bad mood, but when she was angry, she was dangerous.

'Ready?' asked Caitlin.

'Yeah,' replied Alex unenthusiastically.

'Come on, Alex, let's get on the bus then!' said James, grinning. Alex suspected he shared Tom's insane excitement about the trip, from the way he was acting.

The bus was already half-filled when they got on, and so Alex found himself sitting next to the last person he wanted to – Sabina.

In the months that MI6 hadn't contacted him, Sabina had moved back to England, and came to Alex's school. Things were rather awkward between her and Alex at the moment – the dinner they had right after Alex had come back from Australia was pleasant, but Alex had soon found out that she was dating someone else and though she looked genuinely sorry when she said it, Alex knew she was happy with her new boyfriend, Josh. Alex hated the name. There was an unspoken taboo of talking about the incident with Damian Cray, and Alex found that even though they had gotten along very well in the past, there was nothing to talk to her about.

From across the aisle, Alex could see Tom raising his eyebrows suggestively and grinning. Alex groaned. He knew Tom was going to do something stupid like that. He turned back to Sabina, and said,

'Sorry. Tom's a little…'

'I know, Alex,' she said, giving her that killer smile. Alex fought the blush that was growing on his face.

There was an awkward silence between the two, but the rest of the bus was very noisy. Alex heard Caitlin's unmistakeable laugh ring out. James sniggered. And neither Alex nor Sabina said a word.

The teachers supervising the trip got on the bus last, and after the usual safety speech, they were off. Alex chose to pretend that he was interested by the scenery out the window, using it as an excuse not to talk to Sabina. She, too, looked out the window. Occasionally one of them would make a comment, such as 'look at the horses,' to which the other would just nod. It was an awkward situation. Alex was tempted to get up and change seats in the next toilet stop, but he knew it would be offensive to Sabina, even if she wanted to do the exact same thing.

Growing bored of the scenery, Alex turned around to look at the rest of the bus. Caitlin was sitting with Erin, and they were talking, frequently bursting out in laughter. Alex could only guess what they were talking about. Lucy and Holly were sitting a few seats away, doing basically the same thing. James and Tom looked like they were having a good time too, and whenever they glanced at Alex, they egged him on silently, knowing that he liked Sabina. He grew rather tired of this after a while, and simply ignored them. May was sitting by herself near the front and she was reading a book and listening to her iPod. Alex wondered why she didn't sit with anyone else. Phillip was sitting with one of his friends, and they were playing the Game Boys, mashing the buttons furiously in some sort of battle.

When he turned back to Sabina, Alex found that she was asleep. He took the opportunity to look at her – it was far too awkward when she was awake. She looked so… peaceful. She was smiling gently, looking content. She was as beautiful as always, and possibly even more now that Alex could gaze at her without embarrassment. For a few minutes, he simply looked at her.

Then, her facial expression changed. She frowned, and lines started to appear on her forehead. She looked troubled, and then her face changed to one of fear.

'No,' she whispered. Alex was about to wake her up from what obviously was a nightmare, but then she started thrashing around in her seat.

'No,' she moaned, 'No, please!'

Alex could guess what she was dreaming about. Damian Cray, Yassen Gregorovich… Alex never knew what they did to her during that time in which she was kidnapped. And it was all his fault.

'Sabina,' he said, shaking her gently. 'Sabina, it's alright.'

She seemed to hear him, and slowly her eyes opened.

Luckily, the bus was so loud and everyone so engrossed in their own activities that no one heard Sabina.

'Alex?' she asked softly.

'Sabina, are you alright?' he asked.

She paused for a moment, and then answered.

'Yes, Alex, I'm fine,' she lied, and Alex knew she was lying. For the rest of the journey, neither of them said a word.