Reviewers: I decided to take the whole Carol Danvers plot out of the story and go with what I originally had in mind. So I present to you: Chapter 8!


Chapter 8: Field Trip

When I told Natalie and Angie about going to jail they laughed in my face. They would never believe good girl Haley would actually turn into a bad girl and go to jail. It was no use convincing them so I supposed it was a good thing. I didn't want anyone to know I had gone to jail previously in my life. Who wants people to know that anyway?

Nothing extreme had happened lately. Pietro Maximoff or Quicksilver had transferred to Bayville High School, like I had thought. Evan Daniels had found some incriminating evidence against Pietro and everyone had found that he had been the locker thief, even though I had known long before that. Some anonymous person had paid Pietro's way out of jail.

Two boys had cried out frantically that they had seen a blue furred demon/ghost in the boy's bathroom. It makes you wonder what goes on in there. Anyway, nobody believed the two boys and thought they were just delirious. That day Duncan Matthew's was also having a party. His sister Natalie convinced him to let Angie, Kitty, and me into the party since we were all freshman and his party was clearly with no freshman. He reluctantly agreed. A few times at the party I had seen Kurt's blue tail pop up once in a while. Scott tried desperately to cover it up even though no one noticed but me.

A wonderful thing had happened to me the following day. I had received a letter from the Bayville High School to go on a geological field trip to the mountains. The coordinator of the field trip was Mr. Rhodetsky. I was practically ecstatic to go up to the mountains and my parents of course saw this as an opportunity for me to intellectually enhance myself. Well, as long as they were letting me go…

So the following two weeks I was busy packing for the trip and the day finally came. I was waiting outside the bus with a bunch of other kids who also received the letter to go on the trip. I was help loading the people's baggage into the bus carrier with Paul's help.

I grabbed Tracey Weimer bag and threw it across, barely missing Paul head.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

"Oops, sorry," I said, muffling up a giggle.

As students continued to pile up I kept on gathering their luggage into the bus and waited patiently as Jean Grey and Scott Summers walked toward the bus. I could only imagine what would happen with these two on board. T-R-O-U-B-L-E. Trouble!

Mr. Rhodetsky was standing in front of the large yellow school bus reading off of a brown clipboard, "Alright. Double-check your spelunking gear. Make sure your packs contain a hard hat, spiked boots, rope, compass, rations, lamps, candles, and matches. Remember, there are no sporting goods stores in the Taepo Caves. Oh, and I'd better not see any game toys."

A couple of students sighed and a boy complained, "C'mon, I just got a sweet new game."

The students mulled about and tried inefficiently to assemble a line. I grabbed Jean Grey's bag from her hand and put it into the bus carrier. Her hair was put in a ponytail. As she walked with Scott I could here their conversation. Scott spoke, "Look, how can we pretend she's the enemy in battle simulations when we're tryin' to convince her to be our friend? If we can't think of her as a friend, she'll never wanna join us."

What in the world were they talking about? What were battle simulations and whom exactly were they talking about? I could only guess. The people from the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters were mysterious and lived a whole separate life than the rest of the world. Whether I was putting myself in danger by going with my curiosity so much, I did not know. And I didn't care.

I was hanging around the bus as Jean and Scott were installing the snowmobiles onto the large yellow automobile. Suddenly the sound of approaching footsteps caught my attention and everyone looked toward Mr. Rhodetsky walking our way with a look of distress on his face.

"Jean! Bad news," he called to her.

Everyone gathered around to see what had happened.

"What?" she asked.

"Seems the administration won't clear your time off for the field trip. Something about too many absentee days in your file?" Mr. Rhodetsky asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Whoa, wait a second. Those were all approved," Scott countered in Jean's defense.

"If they just call Professor Xavier, he'll-" Jean began in a worried tone.

"I wish we had the time, Jean, but they've already filled your spot. I promise, we'll clear this up when I get back. Hey, I'm really sorry," Mr. Rhodetsky said sincerely.

"Yeah, well have fun," Jean said coldly, crossing her arms in depression.

"Oh man, this stinks," Scott sighed.

"Who filled her spot?" I perked up.

"New student," Mr. Rhodetsky said, pointing to a gothic girl. Rogue walked toward the bus and climbed aboard. She was wearing a rather large brown trench coat and smiled slightly at Scott.

The rest of the students outside the bus gathered around the short, stocky teacher and waited for him to speak. He called out, "Okay, junior geologists, let's pile in. We're behind schedule."

As I walked toward the entrance to the bus I could see a slight scowl on Scott's face. He was obviously very upset Jean wouldn't be participating in the field trip and probably even more upset that Rogue was.

Once I was seated inside the bus, I looked outside the window as the bus began to pull out. I wondered what the Taepo Caves would look like and anticipated all the snow that would be up there in those mountains. Even more, I wondered what would happen. For some reason, every time a mutant was around I always anticipated the idea that something absurd and wildly unnatural would happen. But who could blame me really? Imagine if you were in my position.

After awhile the bus was driving down a desolate highway and it had begun snowing outside. The students inside the bus began to laugh and talk amongst themselves but I was still able to hear the loud sigh from Mr. Rhodetsky.

"Oh, wonderful. It's starting to snow," the teacher sarcastically remarked.

"Yeah, fresh powder!" Paul cheered and everyone began to agree at once.

"This isn't a snowmobile trip, people. Too much of the white stuff means we turn around," Mr. Rhodetsky explained, glaring.

Everyone including myself gave disappointed sighs. I was seated in the seats next to Scott across the aisle and could see him look sadly outside the window at the snow (probably missing Jean). Rogue, a few empty seats behind him, leaned over the seat in front of her with a bored look on her face.

Suddenly the sound of frantic cries inside the bus and the screams of terrified teenagers filled the bus as it skid down an icy turn and began to swerve all over the road. My breathing quickened as my fear increased. The bus began to bounce up and down and I held my seat to steady myself. I looked to my right and gasped when suddenly Scott opened his window and stretched his head out. I could hear the sound of a tiny blast and recognized it immediately as his eye beams. I could feel the left wheels of the bus hover above the ground for a moment but luckily they settled back down and everyone gave a sigh of relief.

I closed my eyes for a moment and looked up to see Mr. Rhodetsky, the driver, look worriedly back at all the kids. He spoke, "Everybody ok?"

Everyone gave there muttered 'yes's.

Paul mumbled, "Now what?"

"We head back," Mr. Rhodetsky answered almost immediately. He would probably loose his job if anything happened to us. Plus I don't think he wanted anything to happen to himself either.

Mr. Rhodetsky put the keys in the engine and started the bus but failed miserably.

He looked back at us and spoke, "Okay, people, now, who wants to get out and push?"

Rogue got up from her seat and walked through the aisle to the head of the bus.

"Mr. Rhodetsky, why not take our snowmobiles to the cave and wait out the weather there?" she suggested.

"Yes! Love that idea," Paul agreed. He nodded his head and everyone gave their shouts of approval.

"Yeah!"

"Sounds good to me!"

"Let's do it."

Mr. Rhodetsky put his head in his hands and sighed in defeat.

So because of Rogue's great idea all the students walked outside of the bus and got the snowmobiles. Everyone partnered up and took a snowmobile out to the caves. Rogue and I were partnered up and since I had no idea how to ride a snowmobile, Rogue took the front and I was in the back.

We were riding in the snow side by side Scott and Paul. Rogue smirked and challenged, "Test your mettle, tough guy?"

"What? No! No racing, no!" I shrieked. Was she crazy or something? Did she want us dead or something? I certainly wanted to live to see tomorrow.

"You're on," Scott nodded in agreement. Paul followed in agreement and so the mighty race began.

Suddenly our snowmobile gained acceleration and we were way ahead of Scott and Paul, yet I was too worries about keeping my head on. I shrieked as we began to go faster and faster. Rogue climbed up the side of a hill while Scott and Paul stayed on the same path. I shrieked as Rogue jumped off the side of the hill and rejoined Scott and Paul. Instead of crashing into them like I had thought, we landed in front of them and they ended up crashing into a tree.

"Oh, whoa. Look, you know what? I've had enough," I heard Paul cry. He wasn't the only one who felt that way.

I looked behind and saw Scott trying to keep up with us. Suddenly our snowmobile began to gain speed and I closed my eyes in fear. I moaned, "Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick!"

Once I opened my eyes I could hear the sound of Scott and Paul's snowmobile start to go faster in order to beat us. "Aw, no, no, no! Forget it, you maniac!" I heard Paul shout once more.

Rogue and Scott couldn't hear our pleas. This was a battle just between them now. I heard Paul's scream as Scott went faster and was now ahead of Rogue and me. We were right behind them and now winding down a twisting path. I was ready to throw my stomach right then and there but had no time. I looked ahead and saw Scott extremely close to the side of the path and shrieked when I looked down at the VERY long way down to the bottom. I gasped when suddenly Rogue rammed into them and both Paul and Scott toppled over.

"Lean in! Lean in!" Scott shouted hoarsely.

I sighed in relief as I looked behind me to see them get their snowmobile upright. They stopped. At least Rogue and I wouldn't be charge with murder now. I had already gone to jail once; I didn't plan on going a second time.

Rogue and I were the 'victors' since we arrived at the Taepo Caves before anyone else. When Scott and Paul Rogue walked over to them and smirked, "No trophies for second place."

"How'd a southern gal like you learn to handle a snowmobile?" Scott asked in wonder.

"Let's just say I'm full of surprises," Rogue chuckled.

Later, once the whole class had arrived at the Taepo Caves, we were all gathered inside and around Mr. Rhodetsky.

"Okay, we're stuck here. Might as well make the best of it. So, in review," Mr. Rhodetsky began and gestured to a rock, "metemorphic rock. Question, what has altered it from its original state?"

I waved my hand up in the air and shouted, "Ooh, I know! I know!"

"Yes, Miss Woodrow," Mr. Rhodetsky called.

"Heat, pressure, or chemical change," I answered automatically.

"Yes … correct," Mr. Rhodetsky smiled impressed.

He continued on with his lesson and I hardly paid any attention after I had answered his geological question. I looked behind me and saw Rogue walking off somewhere else, separating from the group. Scott followed her, his curiosity probably getting the best of him (like me).

I began to walk off toward Scott when suddenly I stopped in my tracks, surprising myself. All this meddling would surely be hazardous for me and possibly for others around me. It might be best if I NOT follow people out of my curiosity this time. Just once my curiosity would NOT get the best of me.


Violet: Sorry for not updating in a while. Anyway … R/R!