Chapter 10: The Field Trip of Doom
"Alright, listen up!" Boring English Teacher's voice boomed over the large group of 8th graders, myself included. Today was the big day, meaning the grand-old camping trip of doom that was the 8th grade field trip. We, meaning every 8th grader, were all milling around the front yard while the teachers were trying to get organized. This job of course called for Boring English Teacher's booming monotone voice. "Get into your classes, please! Class B! Over here!"
"Class A, too!" I heard Sensei pitch in.
"Come on, Rima!" Amu said, pulling at my elbow. She started to run with me following behind. "Hurry up, Rima!"
"I'm hurrying, Amu!" I snapped back at her. "It's not my fault my petite legs can't run!"
"Jeez, you don't have to be so angry, Rima," Amu said, skidding to a stop at the back of the group just as Boring English Teacher motioned for everyone to climb aboard the bus with Class A. Due to Amu's habit of screaming at every pothole, I had to be with her at the front of the bus. Not that I minded, of course, the noisier kids usually took up the back and it will be really annoying sitting back there. Just as I predicted, the kids in the basketball team, other random sports clubs members, and their friends immediately filled up the back. I saw Sensei march over near them just as the bus pulled out of Seiyo and towards the great outdoors. Smiling at the poor souls who will face her wrath soon, a certain voice perked up from behind me in my aisle seat.
"Morning, Rima-chan. You look happy today."
I shot my head upwards, only to come face to face with Nagihiko. He smiled down at me. I growled back at him. "Oh, don't ruin that pretty face of yours with that scowl, Rima-chan," he said happily, aggravating me even more. Pretty? Coming from him, that deserves vomit. Lots and lots of vomit.
"Why are you up here?" I asked. "Shouldn't you be with, you know, your friends?"
"But I am with my friends," he said happily. I growled some more. I am not on his happy friend boat, for sure, so why does he have to say I am? "Isn't that right, Amu-chan?"
Amu, who was busy staring out the window in a bored daze, blinked and turned around. "Huh?" she said. "What? Oh, um, yeah, yeah, sure." Nagihiko plastered on another stupid smile.
"But don't you have friends on the basketball team?" I asked.
"I do," Nagihiko said, "but I just want to spend time with my dear friends Rima-chan and Amu-chan." Dear friend, my foot.
"That still doesn't mean you can sit with me," I said.
"Rima," Amu, who was finally paying attention to the conversation, said angrily. "Why do you have to argue with Nagi everywhere we go? It's a field trip, for crying out loud. Nagi, Rima didn't mean that, honestly. You can sit across from us if you want."
I grumbled and complained silently as Nagihiko sat across from me and leaned against his chair. "It's so much fun hanging out with Rima-chan," Nagihiko mused randomly. Hanging out? You mean, throwing insults and threats left and right are hanging out? Good gosh, what has this world come to? "Rima-chan also has such nice eyes. They're just like honey." Um… What the heck? "Honey is sweet, you know?" No duh, Sherlock. "That must mean you must be sweet, too, Rima-chan." What the…?
Amu giggled as I said, "Okay, what the heck are you trying to pull?"
"I'm just saying the truth," Nagihiko said. I groaned and turned away from him for the rest of the ride up there.
~.~.~
"All right," Boring English Teacher boomed. We arrived at the campground, which was a pretty large property with lots and lots of trees. There was a giant building that was too big for just us 8th graders. "First, we'll all drop our stuff off at the dorms. Then, we'll meet back here to divvy up into our groups for the day. Do you hear me?" A dull sound was heard from the crowd of 8th graders, which Boring English Teacher took as a yes. "Boys will be on the left wing while the girls will be on the right. And nobody should go into the opposite gender's quarters. Got that?" A groan came from a few boys and girls, but that was all. I rolled my eyes, though I was glad that Nagihiko can't go anywhere near me during the night. "Now go," Boring English Teacher commanded, and we all spread out to grab our bags and head to our designated rooms.
"Come on, Rima!" Amu beckoned me to follow, which I did. "I think Sensei told us that we'll be in the same room."
"That's great!" I gushed. I followed Amu up a flight of stairs and down a hallway, which sure did tire me out. Finally, we stopped at a door that Amu opened. The first I saw were futons, lots and lots of futons. Sure, the room wasn't that big, but did the teachers really expect about a dozen girls to keep quiet in the night? I groaned, dropped my suitcase, and dug through it to put something on a futon to claim it, which was Kusukusu. Amu raised her eyebrows briefly at the green bear, but then dug out 4 different kinds of stuffed animals: a red bear, a blue cat, a green dog, and a yellow bunny. I gave her a quick look, then returned to unpacking.
After we finished and all the other girls in there finished, we all grouped up and headed downstairs in one pack, surprising a few guys. When we came down, Boring English Teacher told us where to go. "Mashiro-san, Hinamori-san, you're in the same group," he said, bringing a smile onto Amu's face. "The other girls from Class A already came down, so…" He quickly raised his loud monotone voice to call them over. A brunette in a ponytail, a strawberry blond, and a girl with short, light purple hair jogged on over. "Girls, this is Mashiro-san and Hinamori-san. They'll be in your group for the day."
"Yo!" The ponytailed brunette said. "Name's Ito Izumi, but call me Izumi! Nice to meet you!"
"Uh, call me Rima," I said to Izumi. Amu quickly introduced herself and also told Izumi to call her by her first name and her first name only.
"Nice to meet you, Mashiro-chan," the blond said. "I'm Akane and the little one beside me is Yuki-chan."
I looked at Yuki, who didn't look that short compared to me, and she said, "It's nice to meet you, Rima-chan."
"Uh, hi," I said. Boring English Teacher left, which made Izumi exhale in relief.
"Glad he's gone," she said. "I can't stand having to be all proper grammar and stuff. It's him and Japanese-sensei who are so crazy about grammar. Jeez, it's called slang. Learn it, live it, love it." I couldn't help but laugh at that. "So, Rima, right? What should we do now?"
However, instead of me answering Izumi's question, Akane answered, "Uh, I think Sensei told us to wait until everybody else is all set, then he'll tell us all where to go."
"Uh, right. I knew that," Izumi said, making Amu giggle. I could tell these guys will be good to hang out with. Izumi turned to me. "So, I heard you and Amu are friends with Fujisaki, right?"
"Um, I don't think we're exactly friends," I replied. "What gave you that notion?"
Izumi grinned. "Fujisaki keeps on talking about you." Well, that's not awkward at all…
"Oh! So you're friends with Nagi, right?" Amu said.
Akane said, "Not exactly. Fujisaki-kun's on the basketball team, and Izumi-chan here has a brother on there, so we're acquaintances."
"You forgot something, Akane-chan," Yuki quickly said.
"Wait, I did?" Akane said, confused.
"You forgot that your boyfriend's also on the team."
"Eh?" Amu said. "Y-you have a b-boyfriend…?"
"Of course she does," Yuki said. "I mean, look at her." Amu and I did, and I do have to admit Akane was kind of pretty, but dating in 8th grade…
"All right, all right," Boring English Teacher suddenly boomed. "I believe we've been all put into groups, so it's time for the activities."
"Finally…" Izumi hissed.
"There will be archery, hiking, and dodgeball, so everybody will be divided into three big groups, all of which have the groups you're in for the day." He then started to rattle about which group was where. Thankfully, Nagihiko's group wasn't with mine, but I was going to archery first. Hopefully I don't kill anybody. Don't want to be sued…
~.~.~
"All right! Free time!" Izumi cried. It was after lunch and the activities and I was dead tired after brutal hours of archery, getting hit by a rubber ball, and walking up a monstrous hill. So tired, in fact, that I needed a nap. A long, long nap. So I was going to sneak up to the stairs and do just that, when Yuki spotted me.
"Where are you going, Rima-chan?" she questioned.
"Um, I'm tired," I quickly said, trying to make my escape.
"Not so fast," Yuki said. "We're gonna go meet with Izumi-chan's brother and his friends."
"Yeah, you can go on without me," I said.
"No can do," she said. "We're a group, and a group sticks together."
"Come on, Rima," Amu pleaded. "It'll be fun!" So says the girl who can't stay in the same room with most guys… I sighed, "Fine." And we left the building and with that my wonderful futon.
"Now, here's a warning for you all about my brother," Izumi said as my legs continued to move. "He's way more obnoxious than me and he is pretty stupid."
"Really?" Amu said.
"Mm-hm," Izumi nodded. "Pretty darn stupid. Oh, and speak of the devil, here he is. Oi! Ritsu!"
A boy, who I'll safely assume is Ritsu, came running up. He looked almost exactly the same as Izumi, though maybe a bit taller. "Yo, Izumi," he said, his voice cracking a little. "Who's the new girls?"
"Oh, that's just my new friends Rima," Izumi said, pointing to me, then Amu, "and Amu. And no, Ritsu, I doubt they're interested in you, loser."
"Hey, I wasn't thinking about that!" Ritsu said.
"Ah, I'm just messing with you," Izumi laughed, pulling Ritsu into a noogie.
"Wow," Amu said.
"That's the Ito twins for you," Yuki simply said, then called out to Ritsu, "Hey! Where're your buddies? Aren't you supposed to stay in a group?"
"Oh, right," Ritsu said. "I think Jiro and Fuyuki are by the hoops. Come on!" He motioned us to run, and I just about died running to keep up with them. Thankfully, we stopped at the basketball courts, and sure enough, there were two brunettes shooting orange spheres at a ridiculously tall hoop. One of the brunettes had slightly neater hair than the other, while the other looked like he just climbed out of bed. "Oi! Jiro! Fuyuki!" The bouncing basketballs stopped bouncing and the two jogged on over.
"What's up, Ritsu?" The ruffled-haired one asked.
"I brought you and Fuyuki some lady spectators," Ritsu grinned, earning a smack on the head from Izumi.
Jiro, on the other hand, ignored that comment and scanned over us, then making eye contact with Akane. "Oh, um, hi Akane," he said, blushing a little.
"Hello, Jiro-kun," she said happily, making Jiro turn a shade redder.
"Jiro-kun is Akane-chan's boyfriend," Yuki said to me. I nodded, looking Jiro over. Those two seemed like an odd couple, but I won't make any comment just yet.
"Where's Fujisaki?" Izumi asked. "Isn't he part of your group, too." Oh, shoot. If Nagihiko just randomly pops up right now and makes some comment about me again, I'm gonna murder him.
"Oh, Nagihiko had to take that kid from Class A, Nakamura, that's right, right, Fuyuki?" Ritsu said, turning to the boy with the neater hair, who nodded. "Anyways, Nakamura fainted in the middle of our hike, so Nagihiko had to go take him to the nurse's station." Thank goodness for Wimpy Nakamura. Now I can stall Nagihiko for just a bit.
"Well, anyways, who's up for some basketball?" Izumi shouted. There was a cheer from the boys, and Izumi grinned. Akane politely passed while Yuki complained that she'll get trampled by the boys. So, in the end, Izumi and the boys decided to have a match. Fuyuki and Jiro on one side, and Ritsu and Izumi on the other. They all seemed pretty good…well, better than me. I'm more likely to get hit by a basketball than to get a goal-thingy or whatever they call getting a point in basketball. My bored mood turned to annoyed, of course, when an all too familiar voice cried, "I'm back! Nakamura-kun's all right, but he can't go out for free time! Oh? Look who we have here!"
I turned around, and sure enough, Nagihiko was standing right behind me. I glared, but he only smiled. "You look so cute when you do that, Rima-chan," he said. Gosh, he should die in a fiery pit of fire…oh, and he should get that annoying hair shaved. Yeah, I'd like to see him with a buzz-cut.
Anyways, Amu took notice of my not-so-favorite purple-haired creep, and she said, "Oh, hey, Nagi!" Yuki and Akane turned around, too, and also greeted him.
"The boys and Izumi-chan have already started a game, Fujisaki-kun," Akane said. "You can join them, if you want."
"I think I'd rather not," Nagihiko answered. "It appears they're evenly matched and I don't want to throw them off by putting an extra player on one side." I'm not even sure it that's supposed to be conceited or not. But soon enough, he took a seat by, guess who, me. Yep, my life just got a little worse. "How are you doing, Rima-chan?"
"Not good since you got here," I said, sliding closer to Amu, but Nagihiko persisted.
"Oh, come on, I'm not that bad, Rima-chan. Wipe that scowl from your face and give me that adorable smile." I swear, if he's gonna give me another compliment, I'm gonna slaughter him… I groaned, ignored Nagihiko, and tried to concentrate on the game. Looks like this free time is gonna be the worst time ever in my life…
~.~.~
Free time and dinner quickly passed, and the teachers announced that we're all supposed to go down immediately to somewhere a distance away from the building for a grade campfire. Izumi and Amu seemed pretty excited. They were chatting it up like they knew each other for a long time. I, on the other hand, wasn't as cheerful as those two, since the campfire meant Nagihiko may or may not sit next to me. Ugh…
"Eh? Is something the matter, Mashiro-chan?" Akane asked. "You look pretty grumpy."
"Think about this, Rima-chan," Yuki offered. "This is our first and last night up here, so you have to smile and make this night last." Akane nodded. I didn't reply as we all strolled through the dark woods to the fire. When we reached the campfire there wasn't a lot of space left, but Izumi saw that her brother and his friends saved a spot for us. We ran and greeted them. After much teasing, prodding, and pleading on Izumi, Ritsu, and Yuki's part, they managed to make Jiro and Akane sit next to each other in true boyfriend-girlfriend fashion. Jiro looked like he wanted to die and Akane blushed, too. With that, Izumi and Ritsu sat down on either side of the odd couple, with Izumi next to Akane and Ritsu next to Jiro. Fuyuki joined the guys and Yuki squeezed herself next to Izumi. Amu and I were about to sit down on the bench, too, when we noticed that there wasn't any space left for us.
"You guys can sit in front of us," Izumi said. "We're tall enough to see, anyways." So with that, Amu and I took a not-so-comfy seat on the dirt. Though, something seems a little off…
"Hey, where's Nagi?" Amu wondered, answering my thoughts. Oh, good, the creep isn't here. That means-
"Ah, sorry I'm late!" I spoke too soon. Nagihiko ran up to us, then stopped when he saw there was no room on the bench. Shoot, hopefully he'd be a good friend to Amu and sit next to her and not me. "Ah, it seems like you guys left me out, Ito-kun."
"Sorry," Ritsu laughed. "There's always the dirt."
Amu scooted over and said, "Here, you can take a seat between me and Rima."
I cut in, "But what about Izumi? Nagihiko's probably too tall and she won't be able to see."
"Ah, it's fine," Izumi said. "He'll be sitting, so that'll be fine." Drats, my plan failed. And so, Nagihiko took a seat beside yours truly, with nobody on her right to talk to. Everybody hates me.
There was a slight awkward silence between Nagihiko and me except for the chattering coming from everybody else. Finally, Nagihiko broke it by saying, "Nice night for a campfire, isn't it, Rima-chan?" I shot him a mean look. "Eh? Personally, I like it. It's seems like a pretty romantic night, right?" Romantic? What, is he throwing fancy talk at me now? I wanted to scream, shout, anything to make him shut up, but I couldn't. Not with a huge crowd like now.
"Ahem," Sensei cleared her throat, trying to silence everybody. There still was a buzz of talking. "Ahem-hem-hem…" Still talking… She sighed, then whispered something to Boring English Teacher, who shouted.
"Attention!"
Every mouth was shut and every head was turned toward the teachers. Sensei smiled, then said, "Okay, since this is a campfire, it seems like a perfect time for a sing-along!" That exclamation were met with groans and boos. She sighed, signaled towards the Science teacher to start playing a guitar she brought, then started to singing a lame campfire song. She continued on until the chorus, which was when a small group of people started to nervously join in. A few more, then pretty soon everybody joined in. Sensei smiled, and the song sped up. Pretty soon, almost every student were acting like idiots, singing, waving their arms around, and swinging to the beat. I would've been happy at that moment, but the presence of a certain purple-haired person kept my spirits fairly low.
Sensei switched songs and my fellow classmates sang to their hearts delight. I managed to smile a little, ignored Nagihiko again, and just leaned against Yuki's legs with the hopes that she won't mind. And the rest of campfire past with gleeful songs, shouts, and peace for me.
I'M BACK! Disney was fun, but I'm glad I'm back writing Ask Rei. Thank you for having Ask Rei reach 100 reviews! I'm happy that there are so many faithful reviewers here! But Ask Rei hasn't ended! We're about halfway there, so grab on to something, 'cause everything will (hopefully ^_^;) be exciting in the next few chapters!
Speaking of the next chapter, I got a nice something-something planned ahead. What's that, you ask? Just to give you more fun imagining what's going to happen next, I'll tell you one thing and one thing only: Next chapter will be written from Nagihiko's point of view. Yep, our favorite long hair, overly-perfect enemy of Rima's will have some time to shine!
Hope you didn't mind the OCs I threw in. They're gonna play some part in the story (at least, one certain character will…). So while I cook up the exciting next chapter, please review!