Chapter 40

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be going on the field trip while you-know-who is coming?" Jaz whispered a few weeks later, poking me.

I frowned. "Yeah. I guess." For obvious reasons, I hadn't told Jeb about Daisy's possible evil-ness. Although I hadn't told the rest of the flock either, for once. Jaz was the only other person that had heard Daisy's conversation with her father, and for once, she wasn't saying a word about it except to me.

"Alright, but if she starts acting funny… I'll take care of her!" Jaz decided, throwing a few (pretty bad) punches.

I laughed a bit as we climbed on the bus, heavy duffel bags in tow. "Alright, Jaz."

"Back here!" Iggy called, recognizing my voice even from the back of the bus. He did have pretty great hearing. Fang was sitting next to him, looking grumpy as usual.

I smiled. "Coming, uh, Jeff." I started to walk away from Jaz who normally sat in the front of the bus, but she followed me.

I glanced at her. "Uh, hi," I said, sitting down in the seat behind Iggy and Fang.

"Hi!" Jaz replied with one her huge trademark smiles. "Isn't this going to be a great field trip? We just have to hope that Daisy doesn't go all evil on-"

"Shush!" I yelled, elbowing her in the ribs and making almost everyone on the bus look at us. I waved at them weakly. "Um, hi everyone."

As soon as everyone went back to their own business, I glared at Jaz. "You keep your mouth quiet. You almost gave us away!"

Jaz clamped her hands over her mouth. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she apologized, her voice muffled. Then she put her hands down and started talking again. "You know what I'm most excited to see? The Capitol building! Because…."

I groaned, looking out the window and hoping the bus would start moving soon. "Does anyone have some duct tape?"

"No, why?" Jaz asked, unfortunately hearing me. I groaned again and felt like banging my head against the window.

"Hello, class," Mrs. Jenkins said suddenly from the front of the bus. "I'm sure you're all very excited about the field trip!"

"Yay," I muttered sarcastically while people clapped. I wasn't excited if I was going to be sitting next to Jaz all the way to Denver.

"Here's Keith, our bus driver," Mrs. Jenkins continued. "He's going to tell us some important rules about bus safety."

"That's boring," I whispered to Jaz.

"Shhh!" she whispered, then looked back at Keith the bus driver, listening intently.

I ignored the boring bus rules until finally I realized that the bus was pulling away from the curb. "Finally!" I cheered, and a bunch of other people started cheering too.

Mrs. Jenkins marched her way down the aisle to the back of the bus where we were sitting. "Maxine, we do not cheer loudly on the bus in the fifth grade!" she reprimanded me. "It could distract the bus driver."

I rolled my eyes at her. "Whatever. It's not my fault everyone started cheering."

"You started it," Jaz reminded me as Mrs. Jenkins started walking back towards the front of the bus, wobbling slightly because of the fact that the bus was moving.

"You shut up," I commanded.

Mrs. Jenkins, with her super hearing or something, turned around, halfway towards the front of the bus. "Maxine, we do not use that type of language in the fifth grade!"

"Blah blah blah," I muttered. "My name is Max." This was going to be a long bus ride. "Hey, F-Nick!" I said, leaning over the seat. "What's up?"

He looked up at me from the game he was playing on Gazzy's Gameboy, which obviousy he had taken from him. "Nothing."

"Hi, Max!" Iggy said, smiling in my direction. "I brought cookies for our field trip! Want one?"

"I do!" Jaz interrupted, snatching the cookie out of his hand. I rolled my eyes at her.

Mrs. Jenkins happened to look at the back of the bus at that moment. "Jasmine, we do not eat food on the bus in the fifth grade!" she said, heading to the back of the bus once again and plucking the cookie from Jaz's hand.

"We do not have fun in the fifth grade," I intoned in my best imitation of Mrs. Jenkins' voice. Luckily, she didn't hear that one or else she would have come marching to the back of the bus again, bellowing, Max, we do not make fun of our teachers in the fifth grade!

Jaz looked devastated by the loss of her cookie. "I was going to eat that," she said sadly.

"It's okay, I have more!" Iggy responded with a shrug.

"Shhh!" I hissed. "Keep it down, or else she'll take the cookies and then we'll be starving!"

"We'll be forced to live on a diet of bad hotel food," Jaz added. "Gross."

"Or we'll have to go to the nearest grocery store and ditch our class," Iggy suggested.

Fang frowned. "You'd get in trouble."

"Right, sorry, Mr. Goody-two Shoes," I teased him, knowing that he wasn't actually that type of person. "Lighten up. Want a cookie?" I pulled a cookie out of Iggy's bag, waving it in front of Fang's face. "Come on, it smells good. Delicious, store-brand cookies."

Fang just rolled his eyes. "No thanks."

"He ate the heart-shaped ones I made him," Jaz proclaimed. "That means he loves me more than you."

I sighed in exasperation. "Jaz, nobody cares!" I yelled at her. She was so annoying sometimes.

"Maxine, we do not yell in the fifth grade!" Mrs. Jenkins yelled from the front of the bus.

"You're yelling," I muttered under my breath, wanting to throw Mrs. Jenkins out of the bus. Maybe we could organize a mutiny. Then Mrs. Jenkins would probably say, "Maxine, we don't have mutinies in the fifth grade!"

"This is going to be so much fun!" Jaz was saying, bouncing up and down in her seat. "I can't wait until we get to Denver!" From the front of the bus, I saw Daisy looking at us suspiciously. When our eyes met, she looked away quickly.

"Yeah," I muttered, wondering just what kinds of evil things she could possibly be planning. "Neither can I."