Lizzie wasn't necessarily excited for a field trip that included her two younger sisters going, but she wasn't going to let this destroy the annual trip to the history museum that she always anticipated this time of the year.
Since her school was so small they could have the whole school attend the field trip with only a cost of five dollars for each student to pay for a seat on the bus.
The ride was uninteresting as they passed the rundown houses and stores that were out of business. Ever since her family moved into the city when she was six, she was never allowed to go outside. It was almost suffocating and she was always eager to go on these trips with her class so she could explore new territory.
When she reached the museum, she was the first one off with her best friend trailing behind her. Charlotte was like her rock, the only one who seemed to be able to deal with her energy.
Unlike her younger sister's energy, which was wild and uncontrollable, Lizzie was always on the pursuit of knowledge of the world around her.
"Please hurry up guys. The last thing I want is to be a witness to Lydia and Catherine's behavior when they start fooling around with the upper classmen boys. You would think they never saw an older guy in their life."
"Oh Lizzie, I'm sure they'll grow out of it as they get older."
"Jane." looking pointedly at her sister, "I love them to death, but they will turn out to be miniature copies of mom who doesn't see anything wrong with their behavior. I love them to death, but I'm sure they'll end up embarrassing me to death if they continue."
"They just have a lot of...energy."
"Jane, don't go and try to justify them in anyway."
They climbed the stairs and headed to the man waiting for their teachers.
Instructions were given and the classes split up and they were to head with their first period teachers into the beginning part of the tour.
Lizzie were together, but Jane was in another group.
As they began their tour Lizzie pulled Charlotte aside.
"Can you cover for me?"
"Just don't be late for check in at lunch."
Lizzie gave a huge grin before pulling out her earplugs and heading off on her own into another room.
She turned on a song with no lyrics and stuck the earbuds into her ears, turning the volume up to not hear the people talking around her who were also on a tour.
After a while Lizzie ventured into the Roman section of the museum. There wasn't any else in this part of the building so she allowed her music to play a little louder as she slowly bobbed her head to the music and looked at the different pictures and artifacts.
One in particular caught her eye and she couldn't help but laugh, "I would definitely like to go back in time and visit this city in real life. Maybe then I could ask why the hell they let their children run around naked."
Suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder and she was at first surprised, thinking it was a teacher or even a security guard. Taking out her earplugs she was instead staring up into a boy probably a couple years older than her.
"Would you mind being quiet?"
At first she was going to comply but then something in her snapped at being told what to do, and suddenly she decided to go off on him.
"What? I didn't see any signs that said you had to whisper!" Lizzie said, raising her voice higher than before, "Will one of these scenes of history wake up if I'm too loud?" She couldn't help but think about the movies, Night at the Museum, and continued with a smile threatening to appear, "If so," she said quieter this time, "I hope it's one of the gladiators, so he can show you the meaning of decorum."
Feeling triumphant at seeing the boy only able to look shocked, Lizzie smiled, placed the earbuds back in her ears and walked off.
She was so tempted to look back and see if he was still looking, but she willed herself forward.
After she was safely in the next room she stomped the ground in frustration.
A cute guy had just spoken to her and she had to go and go off on him.
She could picture his dark curly hair that didn't quite reach his eyes and his gray eyes that she felt she could get lost in if she stared too long.
"No, what's done is done. Can't go back now."
With that resolve she raced off to the neighboring room just in case he walked in. She knew she couldn't face him again so soon.
In the next room Lizzie saw Jane's class listening to the tour guide explain the section. Looking around though, Lizzie couldn't find her.
Confused, she decided to ask one of her classmates where she was.
"Hey have you seen Jane?"
"Jane? Oh she went off with some guy when we were in the Paris section."
"Do you know who?"
"No, I've never seen him before, but it looks like there are a couple of schools on field trips."
"Ok thanks."
Worried, Lizzie went off to find her sister. She however had to dodge her teacher who was in the next room over and was facing her way.
Hiding behind a wall, she noticed that a small group was walking in her direction. Taking advantage of the protection she walked with them pass the room with her class. One of the boys in the group noticed her however noticed her and called to get her attention.
"Um excuse me?"
Lizzie turned and almost bolted at seeing Ricky Collins, her childhood husband as her mother called him. She then remembered that nothing ever good happened without a cost, something that happened quite often that it became a life motto.
"Lizzie I didn't expect to see you here. I must say this is a pleasant surprise. Are you also enjoying your tour in time with the great pieces of history with your school?"
"Yes, and I probably should go and join them now." Interjected Lizzie before he could gear up to a long monologue.
"Ok, it was good seeing you. We should hang out some time and catch up."
"Sure." I said as I rushed off to my class.
I stood on the side of Charlotte that hid me from Collins.
"Done with your exploration already. I thought I wouldn't see you until lunch."
"Yeah well, fate wouldn't have it that way. For real Charlotte. I felt like I was being pulled by some invisible force back to the group. And it was all that guy's fault."
"What guy?"
They were interrupted by the teacher announcing that they would stop for lunch and a bathroom break before starting up in an hour.
Lizzie was just finishing telling Charlotte about the guy in the Roman Empire section when Jane came up.
"Hey guys! Are you enjoying the trip so far?" She was grinning from ear to ear which wasn't unusual except for her eyes were sparkling with excitement.
"Apparently not as much as you have." Charlotte said with a smirk.
"Where did you go off to? When I saw your class I didn't see you with them."
"I was admiring some pieces in the Paris section and I lost track of time."
"And does this piece have a name?" Lizzie said trying to hold in a laugh.
"Charles Bingley. He's here with his class from the suburbs on a history field trip."
"Why come all the way from the suburbs, don't they have their own museum up there?"
"According to Charles, no."
"Well I don't know if I like a guy who is turning my sister into a student who goes off from her class with some strange boy."
"He's not some strange boy. He is a gentleman and was very sweet. And it's not like we were alone. His sister was with us."
"Whatever, just don't get emotionally involved with this guy. Remember that he will be going back home to his safe neighborhood where his father no doubt wears his shirts tucked in and his mother wears a sweater jacket around her shoulders while we go back to our dangerous neighborhood where some poor soul is probably going to die."
"Since when did you become a hater of relationships?"
"Since she went off on some guy in the Roman section." teased Charlotte.
Lizzie jabbed her friend in the ribs.
"I'm just telling you not to get your hopes up. Once we return home he's probably going to forget all about you, and I don't want you to be expecting anything."
Jane spent that whole time just nodding to whatever Lizzie said.
"You're going to go find him after lunch again aren't you?"
"Oh come on. He's really funny and I like hanging out with someone who is interested in the same things as me without faking it."
"Is he a Whovian?"
"It can almost rival Mary's enthusiasm for her manga."
Lizzie only shook her head. She caught something out of the corner of her eye and she looked to her left to see the guy from earlier in the Roman section. For a second she thought their eyes met, but with the distance she couldn't tell if he'd actually been looking at her.
He broke the connection first and she figured that he didn't see her and went back to talking to her friend and sister about seeing Collins.
"Awe, isn't that sweet, you got to meet up with your husband."
"If anything, he would be my ex. What was I thinking when I was younger?"
"I doubt anyone would've known that mom would haunt you with that for the rest of your childhood and into your teenage years."
"It's mom, of course I should've seen this coming. Play house with the boy once and you are signed off as a couple for the rest of your life."
"Not that I don't feel sorry for you, but can I be a little selfish and ask you guys to come and meet Charles?"
"I might as well. Being the substitute man of the family in this situation, I need to tell him that if thinks he can toy with your feelings then I'll have to pummel him." Lizzie said as she puffed up her chest and flexed her almost non-existing muscles.
After lunch Lizzie went off on her own again to explore when she found her younger sisters, Lydia and Catherine, flirting with two boys near the China Dynasty section.
They were giggling uncontrollably, sounding like their mom.
"Hey you guys." she called getting their attention,"Shouldn't you be with your class right now?"
"Oh please Lizzie, like you're one to talk." scoffed Lydia.
She grabbed Catherine's arm and ran off with the boys giving an apologetic look to Lizzie.
Lizzie gave a sigh and shook her head. There was no taming those two. Suddenly she felt like she was being watched and she turned to see the guy again.. Too tired to argue or say anything smart, she looked away and decided to go and wait for Charlotte to get out of the bathroom.
Just as she arrived the other girl came out.
"Sorry for making you wait."
"It's no big deal." Lizzie said waving her off.
"What's wrong? You sound tired."
"Just drained a little by my rampaging sisters. and it doesn't help that a certain someone was watching."
"Who?"
"That guy over there. The one I told you about earlier."
"That's the Roman guy? He looks hot."
"Whatever."
Seeing how down Lizzie looked, Charlotte decided to cheer her up.
"Come on, we still have the best section to go to, and I know how much you've been savoring this moment."
Charlotte grabbed her by the arm and began to skip. Lizzie grinned and followed her friends lead and as they kept going the stress of her sisters left her and she was off to see the Russians.
When they arrived her friend decided that she would go back and join the class for the remainder of the field trip and warned her to be on time for role call.
Lizzie watched her friend leave the room and she had to do a double take to see that the guy from earlier was walking into the section.
She watched him for awhile, wondering about his story. As quiet as her sneakers could allow her, she crept closer to him.
The picture he was looking at was not unknown to her. Anything in the Russian Dynasty interested her.
"Messed up what happened to Feodor, and False Dmitriy, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes. I only hope he was really in love with his Polish princess."
The guy turned to look down into Lizzie's face. At first it looked like he was going to say anything.
"And what happened to False Dmitriy?"
"Oh he died; shot because he married a Catholic girl. What a romantic way to go, if he really loved her of course, which is what I believe he did."
The guy pursed his lips and tilted his head, "Love is such an overused word."
"True; I myself will never fall for someone who just says he loves me, must show it in his actions and behavior to win me over."
"Fair enough."
"What about you then?" now amused at her companion.
His began to redden and he stood a little straighter.
"For a girl to win me over, she had to be one who has respect for the arts and history, while having a mind of her own; she can't have a superficial personality; compassionate and..."
Lizzie couldn't help but laugh, "You can't be serious! That's asking a lot out of a girl."
Even she wasn't going to believe in things that were impossible. This guy had too high standards for girls. Lizzie crossed her arms and squinted up at him suspiciously, "And tell me, just how many girls have you found with such qualities?"
"Our preferences aren't different, I'm just being specific in what I'm looking for."
"I'll take that as zero then," she gave a short laugh, "Fine, as long as we're being specific: I prefer boy who will actually talk and act as if they aren't above me."
He let out a sigh sounding if he was frustrated and was about to say something when he stopped. He looked behind him and Lizzie followed his eyesight and saw her sister with two other people. The boy who was standing near Jane was obviously Charles and she guessed the girl behind was Caroline.
"Lizzie, our bus will be leaving soon. Have you seen Lydia and Kitty?"
Lizzie looked at the clock on the wall and sure enough the precious time she had planned to spend in the Russian exhibit was taken up by the guy standing next to her.
"No, maybe we'll get lucky and we leave them behind." she replied half-heartedly.
Jane looked from her sister to the guy standing next to her, "You already met? This is my sister Elizabeth. Lizzie this is Will, Charle's friend."
Lizzie looked Will up and down. So the person she went off on earlier and the guy she just told about her ideal guy and that he himself was a prick was Charle's friend. She stared at him a bit longer until Charles spoke up.
This was Lizzie's first time actually hearing him speak. Yes, she thought, they'd be perfect for one another if only.
"Do you want me to help you find them?" he asked.
Lizzie wanted to snort but instead she exchanged it for a laugh, "They'll turn up. They're like roaches, can't just get rid of them."
Jane only smiled, "I'm sure they're probably on their way to the bus now."
With that the whole group started to walk back to the lobby area. Lizzie spotted Charlotte and the girl ran up to them grabbing Lizzie's hand.
"Lizzie, Jane, the teacher was about to send a search party out for you. We're about to leave."
"Can I call you tonight?" Charles asked.
"That would be great." Jane said smiling. Lizzie gave a sigh and pulled her sister along with her.
Once they were on the bus Lizzie began the conversation, "Did you seriously give him your number?"
"Yeah."
"Jane!"
"What?"
"You only know the guy fro like what? Two hours, he can be a player for all we know. We can't trust people like him."
"I liked him." Charlotte said from across the row.
"Charlotte!"
"What? The guy is really sweet. I doubt he's a player."
Lizzie turned back to Jane.
"I just don't want you to get hurt."
"We're just friends right now so I doubt anything will happen.
Frustrated, Lizzie turned to face the seat in front of her and close her eyes.
She instantly saw Will's face and it disturbed her a bit. Pulling out her earphones she drowned out her thoughts with an audio.
A/N: So since you guys never told me what you wanted me to redo and after reading the story over again. I decided to go back and do what my Creative Writing teacher calls, looking at it from another view. So I give you Lizzie's point of view in all this. Tell me what you think.
