Elizabeth changed the subject.
“Anyone hear about that field trip in a few weeks?”
“Oh, that one for the freshmen? The one to that art gallery?” Brendan asked.
“Yeah, you guys are so lucky,” she said looking at Cleyra, Jacob, Travis, and me.
“Not even,” Cleyra said moodily.
“Hey we didn’t even have a field trip last year,” Sapphire said tonelessly. She never used much emotion anymore.
“So? Why the hell would I want to go out on a trip filled with a bunch of freaking idiots?” she said with such a murderous glare at Sapphire that everyone seemed to tense up.
“I heard it was mandatory,” Liz said cautiously.
“I don’t care,” Cleyra answered with a smirk that clearly meant she dared any teacher to try and force her to go.
Jacob smiled mischievously.
“If Clair doesn’t go, I won’t.”
“Of course you won’t,” I heard Brendan mutter under his breath in a sarcastic tone.
“I don’t know if I want to go,” I said quietly.
“You should,” Brendan said cheerfully.
“C’mon Lily, it’ll be nice to get out of the school for a while,” Damian said from the far end of the table.
“What do you think?” I asked Travis next to me.
He shrugged. Everyone already knew if I went he’d probably come along.
“So no one really wants to go?” Brendan asked half disappointed.
“I guess not,” Travis said out loud. We all stared at him. His voice sounded lifeless and scratchy from not being used for so long.
“Did he just speak?!” Elizabeth said in an excited tone that we hadn’t heard in weeks.
“No I think we imagined it,” Ayden said with incredulity in her voice.
Travis just shrugged and silently went back to work.
“Fine, I’ll go to the damn field trip,” I said giving in.
“Really?” Brandon said, smiling. He was obviously glad that I would be getting out of school and hopefully away from my problems.
“I’ll go with you,” Travis said in a murmur. No one else seemed to have heard. They didn’t need to. They knew that Travis wouldn’t leave my side for anything.
I glanced at Cleyra.
“So I guess…”
“Nope, there isn’t anything on Earth that could make me go,” she said closing her eyes defiantly and leaning back in her chair.

Apparently there was something on Earth that could make Cleyra go on the field trip. Her parents. It seemed our art teacher had figured Cleyra would refuse to go and contacted her parents. No one was really sure what happened after that but Cleyra was pissed. She was all set to go a week before the trip, and Jacob seemed happy to go after her. Any happiness that Brandon might have had disappeared as soon as he heard about this.
Despite myself I was looking forward to the trip. A full day outside the school grounds was just what I needed. I had never thought that school could be so stressful. I actually missed living on the streets.
But in truth I wasn’t altogether sure I could ever go back to living that way; in the few months I had lived as Lily Edwards I had become a different person, my instincts had dulled, I no longer had that overwhelming desire to survive by any means possible. Indeed, I had to learn to survive in the world of the rich and powerful now, and it was very different than those years alone on the streets…
Yes, a field trip was just what I needed to get my mind off the treacherous girls who stalked the halls of Celeste Academy.

Chapter Eleven

The day before the trip there was some sense of excitement in the unused classroom. Brandon and I were visibly more excited, but the rest of them were all glad to feel a general change in the atmosphere. It was almost party-like, almost.
Right before I went to bed, I packed a small backpack for the next day. I only put in a few things, a compact comb, a ribbon to pull my hair up in case I lost mine, a little money for emergencies, and my school ID. I was just about to put it away when the small dagger on my bedside table caught my attention. It wouldn’t hurt to take it as a precaution… right? I stared at the delicate thing for a few minutes and finally packed it in my skirt pocket along with the other things.

We had a few hours before the bus left the next morning, so the freshmen in our group grudgingly went to the front grounds to wait. Travis’s face was clear of any expression and Cleyra threw him a semi-dirty look. Even after two months she couldn’t take the sight of him anywhere near me. Especially when my moods tended to match his; I expect my face was just as blank as his. And sure enough she gave me the same look.
Waiting two hours for the bus with all the other freshmen was very boring. I had no idea how but I fell asleep on Travis’s shoulder and when I woke again everyone was already boarding. The crowd was large and I caught glimpses of people I knew, Marella and he group of giggling friends pushing everyone out of their way.
Purposely, Cleyra, Jacob, Travis and I stayed at the back of the line. We waited a while for the first bus to fill up and were almost to the front of the line when we heard Brendan shouting for us.
“What does he want?” Jacob asked angrily.
“Guys!”
We all turned to face him as he came up to us.
“Just wanted to wish you a good time.”
“Huh.” Cleyra said.
“’Kay then that’s all I guess,” he said somewhat embarrassed although I couldn’t imagine why. He began to walk away, and then stopped. He seemed to be debating something for a moment and then briskly walked back to us, blushing.
He spoke again, this time in a rush and avoiding Cleyra’s gaze.
“I-hope-you-have-a-great-time-and-I-just-want-you-to-know-I-love-you-Cleyra.”
Before Cleyra could do anything more than stare at him he abruptly kissed her full on the lips, smiled once, and ran off.
Everyone stared after him, mouths open.
“SON OF A BITCH!” Jacob shouted after he got out of his shock. “I’M GOING TO KILL THAT BASTARD!”
“Calm down, Jacob,” Cleyra said in a dazed voice. I saw her touch her lips for a moment and it seemed like the old Cleyra was back.
“Hey, you kids get on the bus, we’re about to leave,” one of the teachers called to us.
“Coming!” I called. I glanced back at the others in time to see Jacob looking like he’d been slapped and Cleyra looking like the field trip was the most wonderful idea in the world.

“Ever been to an art gallery?” Travis said conversely as we made our way through the busy city streets. We were following the crowd of freshmen closely, careful to keep them in sight. Cleyra was somewhere ahead of us. She’d had an earsplitting fight with Jacob on the bus and they were no longer talking to each other. But she had never seemed happier, I noticed. Jacob had definitely been a worse influence than Cleyra herself.
“No never.”
“Really? I’ll show you around then. I’ve been here a few times,” he smiled. I beamed at him; his smile always made my heart skip a beat.
“I’ve never even been in this part of the city before,” I told him.
“No? Why?”
I shrugged.
“It’s the wealthy part of town. The police was always hanging around,” I said matter-of-factly.
He gave me a knowing glance and as if to change the subject, he stroked the back of my hand as we walked. I intertwined my fingers through his and he smiled at the touch. It brought the old cheerful Travis back for a while but soon the smile disappeared into his usual frown.
I sighed. It would take a miracle to bring back the sense of life into our group again.
I was so immersed in my thoughts I didn’t notice that I had let go of Travis’s hand. I walked behind the rest of the group without really paying attention until I saw Aqua come towards us.
She looked pretty as always, that much hadn’t changed. She had lost her carefree and innocent look though. It seemed a permanent smirk was etched across her face. It made me angry to see the small changes Marella had caused in our old friend. But she didn’t seem to notice our cold stares as she came to walk next to us.
“Hello,” she said in a carefree way.
We didn’t answer.
“Marella wants to make a bet.”
“So?” Travis answered sharply.
“She thinks that little miss flower here won’t be able to last in the streets alone for longer than an hour.”
I glared at her.
“So how about it? Maybe for a hundred dollars?”
“No.”
“A hundred-fifty.”
“I said no. Now go away.”
“I guess Marella was right,” she said starting to walk away. “You never were a thief; you were just some kid at the orphanage who got lucky when the Edwards found you.”
For some reason my anger snapped.
“Fine I’ll do the stupid bet.”
“No, don’t do it Lily,” Travis said worriedly as he took my hand again.
“I can take care of myself,” I snapped as I pulled my hand from his grasp. His eyes seemed hurt but he nodded to show he understood.
“Ok what do I have to do?”
Aqua smiled, but it wasn’t her old smile. It made shivers go down my spine.
“You have to stay out on the streets by yourself for more than an hour. Then you meet up with us at the art gallery.”
Seemed simple to me.
“Alright.”
I turned without looking at either of them and made my way down a side alley.

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