"Name?"

"Jennifer."

"No, last name."

"Oh, sorry. Acadia."

There was a pause as the biology teacher in front of her scrolled down the list of names using a highlighter as a guide before she stopped midway. She looked up from her clipboard and nodded.

"Alright, you're good to go." Jennifer gave a polite smile and uttered a quick "thanks" before moving past her and rejoining her friend. Jen's face fell flat once more as she rolled her neck around slowly and yawned loudly.

"You're gonna make me yawn, stop that." Kathleen Carr, Jen's friend since the 5th grade, lightly scolded. Jen shrugged.

"I'm tired, what do you want me to do? It's five in the morning."

"It's 5:17, and you can cover your mouth while you do it."

"Fuck that." Jen countered, initiating another wide yawn. Katie could only shake her head. "Y'know, if Dr. Short arrived when he said he was gonna arrive, we wouldn't even be having this conversation." Jennifer pointed this out while wrapping herself tighter in her flimsy, oversized high school hoodie. Her mother had told her she would regret not layering up and she was right. For November, in St. Louis, at 5:17 in the morning, this was definitely a cold one.

"You say that, but you were also late." Katie took the time to finally turn towards her friend, her critical tone beginning to shift towards amusement.

"False. I arrived right on time. 5:10. I figured, hey, if I show up when they start loading the bus, I won't have to wait in the cold for as long. Well, la dee da, here I am with nothing but regret to show for it." Jen proceeded to do some high-knees to get her blood flowing, both to wake her up and warm her up.

"If I had known you were gonna be such a whiner, I wouldn't have asked you to come with me." Katie muttered, watching Jen in her puffy, zip up jacket that she had put on with critical thinking before walking out the door.

"It's the principle of things, Kathleen!" Jen insisted, dramatically slapping her foot down on the pavement. "What were we told? Departure at 5:10! Bus will leave without you! Don't be late! And where are we now? 5:18 in the goddamn morning! Bus not here! Standing around like a bunch of weenies!" With every exclamation, Jen did a varying degree of high kicks in differing angles. She did not do them well. Katie couldn't help but laugh at the sight and decided to join in.

"I paid $20 damn dollars! To go hiking! On a Saturday! And where are we now?" Both girls turned to look at each other, smiling wide.

"Standing around like a bunch of weenies!" They declared in unison, laughing loudly. The spectacle had gained the attention of a few students in close proximity, but neither seemed to notice or care.

"Can you guys keep it down? You're being loud for, like, no reason." One girl called out, clearly having a negative reaction to the harmless fun. Jen felt herself deflate slightly, but stood her ground.

"It's a public parking lot, Ashlynne. Besides, I'm just trying to keep my energy up, I don't see a problem."

"Well, I'm trying to have a conversation and you guys are being obnoxious, so if you could show a little consideration to-"

"Fine, whatever!" Jen threw her arms up in exasperation, turning away from her and stuffing her hands in the kangaroo pouch of her hoodie. "Fucking seniors, I swear to God." Katie rubbed a soothing hand on her back, glancing backwards. "What a weenie."

"It's not worth it anyway. She just doesn't want to be here." Katie assured.

"Maybe she should've thought of that before she decided to take AP Bio in her last year when she took Intro Bio her freshman year and already needs extra credit."

"I mean, in her defense, you're also only here for extra credit."

"I-I'm sorry, but whose side? Are you on?" Jen tilted her head at her friend with a look.

"Yours, you big weenie." Katie shoved Jen, who received a light shove back. Just then, a worn down Jeep turned into the parking lot of the high school they were standing in front of with a school bus tailing it. A light smattering of cheers went up at the arrival of their transportation. Jen was just psyched to get out of the cold.

Out of the jeep hopped out a man with white hair, a hawaiian shirt that was sure to have been received at a Jimmy Buffet concert, khaki field shorts, and a pair of KEEN sandals. They were those hiking sandals that were like the grown up versions of Chacos. Jen couldn't help but stand there and look at her biology teacher first with confusion, and then a shrug that said "do you". Because when it's 47 degrees fahrenheit outside and you're about to embark on a hiking trip with around a dozen high school kids, why wouldn't you live on island time 24/7?

"Sorry I'm late. There was a pretty lengthy train. Everyone that's supposed to be here is here?" Dr. Short explained before directing his question to the other chaperone, who nodded in confirmation. "Alrighty then. Everyone, just a reminder. You are representing your school while we are in the park, so do not embarrass me or yourselves. Lastly, do not die on my field trip. If you have to die, do it on someone else's field trip." He paused to allow for a few chuckles and smiled when his joke hit. "Okay. Everyone on the bus." He clapped his hands together to initiate movement and everyone slowly meandered into the school bus.

With the windows already fogging up from condensation and the back seats taken up, Jen and Katie plopped down into a seat in the middle. Jen rested her head on Katie's shoulder, immediately planning on sleeping for the duration of the ride. "Please don't drool on me." Katie groaned, popping in her headphones and leaning against the window.

"Please, I'm not a drooler."

XxXxX

"Do we have estimation of touchdown yet?"

"Yessir, approximately 1200 hours. We're tracking their trajectory to Shawnee National Forest in Illinois."

"About how far is that from Shiloh Air Force Base?"

"A little under 3 hours, sir."

"Okay people, wheels up in 20! Let's roll out the red carpet for 'em."