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CHAPTER 3 – The Field Trip

Three weeks after Alberta had joined me in the gym, our field trips started, one important part of the novice's graduating grade. It was something I was looking forward to since this would be something to take my mind off things and to show everybody what I had learned during the last months. I have never been a person to get out of the way of a good fight.

I had been paired with Christian Ozera, Lissa's boyfriend, and much to my disappointment we actually had our good moments. But since Lissa and Christian nearly hung out together all the time, I still had time to keep an eye on my best friend. Eddie had been paired with Lissa and since he was one of the best novice's, I knew I could trust him to take care of Lissa nearly as good as I was able to.

During the first days nothing much happened. Nearly all of my classmates had been aimed at by our teachers playing the attacking Strigoi but Christian and I had been spared so far.

It was right during lunch time when it happened. Christian and Lissa walked along the path to the building for their next classes, deeply engrossed in their talk about the closing graduation, and Eddie and I walked behind, closely watching the surroundings as we've been told.

Suddenly four teachers jumped out of the bushes, two trying to get to the Moroi and the other two to distract Eddie and me into a fight. Actually it was outlying the rules that four teachers attacked only two novices but it made me a little bit proud that they obviously thought that Eddie and I were so good to take on all four of them. So I ignored Celeste advancing on me and went straight to Lissa and Christian to save them from the other two teachers, who were none other than Stan and Alberta.

I stood in front of the two Moroi when I saw that both teachers had split up, Stan attacking from the front and Alberta from behind. First I pushed Lissa out of the way of Stan's reach and told her and Christian to watch out for Alberta. Meanwhile I saw that Eddie was already fighting the other two teachers, Celeste and Peter.

Suddenly Stan jumped at me trying to push me out of the way with his foot. I ducked his foot and came up to use his weight to redirect his flight path and pushed him to the right side. When Stan landed on his backside I jumped at him, kneeled over his body and pushed the stake right where his heart would be at if he would have been a real Strigoi. This meant that I had taken out the first one. Only three more to go!

When I turned around to take on the other teacher my heart nearly stopped. Alberta had approached Christian and Lissa and they stood there, absolutely unaware of the danger they were in. I darted forward but within the split of a second I knew that I would be too late. Alberta, playing one of the attacking Strigoi, had already reached them and grabbed Christian from behind, acting as if she was about to bite him.

Before I had time to react, Eddie shot up behind Alberta and yanked her away from Christian. Meanwhile I turned around to see if any other of the teacher was approaching. Eddie did have a hard fight with Alberta. She wasn't the chief of the Guardians for nothing.

While Eddie was fighting Alberta it was my task to keep the other two remaining teachers at bay. When Celeste attacked me, I kicked her hard into the stomach that sent her back a few feet. Then Peter tried his luck but didn't get any further. Since Peter was still recovering from the blow I gave him against his chest, I made my race towards Celeste and quickly "killed" her off. Two more to go.

In the meanwhile Eddie was not really doing well and with a short signal we two switched places so he hopefully would finish off Peter and I tried myself with Alberta.

It was a long and hard fight and most of the time I actually didn't really plan what I was doing but only tried to hit and kick and break Alberta's defense. Suddenly I saw a tiny chance when she made a mistake and with a gamesmanship I broke through her defense and pushed my stake right at her heart. We both where laying on the ground now, our breath coming out heavily. Alberta first looked but soon the proud gleamed in her eyes and she was smiling up to me.

Suddenly Eddie's shout ripped me out of my reverie and I jumped up, immediately charging towards the place where Eddie was still fighting with Peter. Eddie had taken some really heavy blows obviously since a gash on his forehead was bleeding heavily. I felt the need rising in Lissa to help and heal him, but I glared at her and she moved her already raised hand back at her side.

To give Eddie time to recover I pushed myself into the fight and abstracted Peter from him. If this would have worked in a real fight with real Strigoi I was not so sure about, but all is fair in love and war, right? So this time it did work and I would do my best to also give Eddie the opportunity to finish off one of the teachers.

After much circling and few punches and kicks Eddie joined in and quickly both of us were leading the fight and Peter found it more and more difficult to keep up. When the chance came I stepped aside to give Eddie the chance and surely he killed Peter as effectively as we've learned.

Eddie and I were breathing hard and suddenly applause erupted from all around us. During the fight I only concentrated on the task at hand but now I saw that a crowd had gathered around us and was watching the fight closely. Now that it was over they clapped since the viewers were mostly Novices and each one of them had been in a similar situation during the last days.

"This was really a good fight! You two did not lose your heads when the situation got dangerous and you did a good job in protecting your Moroi!" Alberta said. All four teachers looked at us and also chimed in on the clapping. I felt Eddie switching his foot uncomfortably and I myself felt a little bit strange. During the last weeks it had always been my goal to stay out of the focus of the campus and now, that someone had pushed me back into it, I felt a little uneasy also.

Soon everyone had to go to their next class and Eddie and I also joined back up with Lissa and Christian to accompany them. The fight during the lunch break was the topic people chatted about for the rest of the day. It has never happened before, that two novices got attacked by four teachers and even won the fight.

I for myself was not really satisfied about the fight. The teachers had been too close to our Moroi and if they would have been real Strigoi, I was sure that Christian would be dead by now. Even if we weren't the best friends I knew that I would make self-reproaches because losing Christian would hurt Lissa. And this was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. We weren't best friends for nothing and in my function as her best friend and her future Guardian it was my job to keep away everything that could harm her. Even if it meant for me to have look-out at her boyfriend.

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. In the afternoon we all met up in a secluded corner of the huge library, since Lissa and Christian still had school and were heading towards their final exams. While Lissa and Christian were studying, Eddie and I stood in the near like real Guardians would do. From time to time Eddie or I would walk around to watch if any teacher were approaching which might endanger our Moroi but it was a very quiet evening and soon the librarian came and told us that it was time to get some dinner.

The cafeteria was not as crowded as usually since many Moroi would have their exams starting tomorrow and would do some final studying. Luckily Lissa and Christian started with their exams in three days only, Lissa already being very edgy.

After dinner Eddie and I escorted Lissa and Christian back to their rooms, meaning that I would have to stay with Christian while Eddie stayed with Lissa. I was sure that Christian was absolutely not comfortable with the situation but secretly I felt a little bit happy about something that Christian disliked. After curfew we went into our rooms and quickly felt into a deep slumber. Luckily the rules said that no teacher was allowed to attack while everybody was asleep.

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