"Good morning!" I said to Nolan, who had just woken up at the end of math class.

He blinked at me. "Yes?"

I decided to get straight to the point. "Gym is next period. Are you skipping again?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Do me a favor and please find a better hiding place than last time. Or," I said, adding my next line as an afterthought, "at least make sure no one sees where you're going."

"Why?"

Was that amusement on his face? Impossible. There was nothing amusing about my desperate request.

"Because the last time you skipped," I whispered, "Jordan saw where you went. If he hadn't, no one would have known, and Mr. Robinson wouldn't have sent me."

That, and if Jordan had been able to keep his mouth shut.

"Who's Jordan?"

Typical.

"He's in our history class," I said, waving his question away. "It's not like you recognize any of us, anyway. The point is, do you really want me bothering you again?"

"No," he said. "But you could have just not come."

"I couldn't, because the whole class somehow had it in their heads that I'm responsible for you," I snapped. "And then Mr. Robinson just ... got a totally wrong impression and made me go! Unless you want to come to class today, which you should—"

His dark glare silenced me faster than his reply. "No."

Alright, I got the hint! Before I could say anything else, Ashley approached my desk.

"Hey, Chels," she said, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "We'll be late if we don't start going now."

"Oh, yeah, I'm coming," I said, standing up and collecting my things. I turned to Nolan and said, "Don't forget, okay?"

The corners of his mouth twitched upwards as he said, "Fine. I'll be careful. For both our sakes."

"Thanks," I said, beaming at him. "You have no idea how much I appreciate this."

As we walked out of the classroom, Ashley gawked at me. "I think I need a new pair of eyes. Where can I buy them?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Nolan just smiled at you!"

------------------------------------------------------------------

"You've shot down all my ideas so far," Derek complained.

"They weren't good ideas, so can you really blame us?" Melissa said, flicking a tiny leaf off her shoulders.

"Fine, then maybe you should come up with some yourself," he snapped.

Ashley raised an eyebrow at me over the can of apple juice she was sipping from. I smirked back when I was sure neither Derek nor Melissa was looking at us. The afternoon breeze lingering in the courtyard today was great—or maybe air just tasted fresher after classes at the end of the week. We were seated at one of the many large stone tables spaced out in the courtyard, contemplating what we were going to do this coming weekend. Derek had suggested going to a movie, but we didn't find any of the currently showing movies appealing.

"I vote," Melissa announced, leveling a challenging stare at him, "that we go for a hike in the forest Saturday morning."

Ashley's hacking coughs punctured the air as she clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Are you okay?" I asked, horrified, rubbing her back. "Did you get juice up your nose?"

She nodded wordlessly, accepting the tissue paper I was offering her.

I turned to Melissa. "Please tell me I misheard you. Did you just suggest that we go to the forest?"

"I like that idea," Derek said, gazing at Melissa with approving amazement. "I'm up for it."

Looking completely unruffled by my disbelief, Melissa laughed. "Yes. Come on, it'd be so fun!"

"Um, getting detention for the rest of the year sounds fun to you? Really?" I crossed my arms. "We're prohibited from entering the forest unless we have a faculty staff chaperoning us."

The large forest outside our school was gorgeous with its bountiful greenery and spanned many acres. It was also strictly forbidden for students who were not accompanied by school staff to step foot in it. Occasionally the students were brought on nature trips to the forest that were under the optional 'enrichment' program, so if they didn't want to go, they didn't have to.

I liked the trees, don't get me wrong—but I hated the insects. I hated insects like Melissa hated pickles on her burgers. I hated insects like Ashley hated cardio. I hated insects like Derek hated pineapples on his pizza. I hated insects like Melissa hated seeds in her grapes. I hated insects like Ashley—

"Chelsea? Chelsea? Hello, earth to Chelsea?" There was a short, sharp pain in the side of my ribs.

"Ouch!" I grabbed my side and glared at Melissa, who was frowning at me.

"Did you hear anything I just said?"

"You poked me!"

"You didn't hear anything!"

We scowled at each other.

After two seconds, I sighed. "Okay, let's start over. What were you saying?"

"I was telling you that it's not a big deal. We can just sneak in and no one would be the wiser."

"As long as you keep your voice down," Derek said, a sardonic smile on his face. "Don't forget, we're in the courtyard right now. Lots of teachers strolling around."

Melissa grimaced at him. "Whatever."

"But – but we're not allowed!" I flailed my arms helplessly.

Ashley shook her head at Melissa. "Let me tell you why this is such a horrible idea."

"I'm listening," she said with raised eyebrows, tying up her wavy light-brown hair into a ponytail.

"Okay," Ashley said, putting up one finger. "First, it's going to be very hot. We're going to suffer in the heat."

"That's easy. We'll go out in the morning, so we won't have to face the afternoon sun. And we'll bring tons of water with us, obviously," Melissa said.

Ashley ignored her. "Second, there are going to be tons of insects in the forest. Chelsea and I will be freaking out the whole time."

"Yes," I said at once.

"That's what insect repellent is for. I've got tons, so don't worry. I'll spray you with so much of it a ladybug wouldn't dare to touch you with a ten-foot pole," she said.

Ashley ignored her again. "Third, what if we get split up and get lost? We're going to live in detention for the rest of the year. Fourth, hiking is so tiring."

"Come on, you two need to start working out anyway," Melissa pleaded. "Chelsea, didn't you tell me you wanted to start exercising with me? This is your perfect chance!"

"Oh, yeah!" Derek said, grinning at me. "I heard about it, but I didn't get the chance to say this. I'm really impressed that you made it all the way up two flights of stairs carrying half of Nolan's body weight."

"Yeah, well, I almost didn't make it," I said, sighing.

"It's been so weird these few days seeing him actually say hi to you in between his napping," he said.

Ashley nodded. "Yeah, and these days I've been seeing some girls going up to him in the hallways to say hi. He just straight up ignored them!"

"Maybe they just thought they could try after witnessing your conversations with him," Melissa said with a snort.

I shook my head. "They weren't conversations—they were more like greetings, okay?"

Ashley shrugged. "Well, Nolan doesn't do greetings."

"He's just weird," I said, rolling my eyes. "He should just try to be nice to everyone instead of acting like they don't exist."

Melissa cleared her throat. "Okay, don't change the subject. Look, if you're that worried, we'll just make sure that we don't split up when we go into the forest."

Speechless, I stared at her. "You really want to go, huh?"

"Yes." Melissa pouted at me. "Please, guys. Please."

Resignation appeared on Ashley's face as she sighed. "Fine. We can go. But we'd better not get into trouble."

"I guess I'm okay, too." I groaned. "Please don't make me regret this."

Melissa punched the air and clapped loudly. "Yes! You guys are the best!"

"Great, so we're officially going on a secret mission tomorrow," Derek said, cracking his knuckles.

"Oh? A secret mission?" another voice said out of nowhere.