Field Trip

Chapter Seventeen: Always Ahead (Day Three)

"Mark, what are you doing?" Adam asked, looking over his shoulder as Mark set a paper on his desk and began to write on it.

    "Homework," Mark replied, not taking his eyes off of the paper on the desk in front of him.

    "Homework?" Ryan groaned. "You mean for the classes we are missing this week?"

     "Yep."

"But why?"

He finally looked back at Ryan, a tad annoyed, "Because, unlike you, I don't procrastinate. What about you? Don't you want to get all of your work done?"

"Well, yeah, but I usually save it until the last minute, though, because I can't make myself care enough to do it until the night before it's due."

     "Do you know how bad of a habit that is for you? If you got everything done early, you would have more time to relax!"

     "Yeah... I mean, people tell me all the time to stop slacking off and try to get work done ahead of time, but..."

     "But what?" Mark asked, looking for a reasonable excuse, with the kind of voice an angry parent would use.

     "What are you, my mother?" Ryan laughed, and then shrugged, "I don't know, it's just a bad habit, I guess... I may act like I don't, but despite the times I play dumb and make people laugh, I still get straight A's."

     "I know that, but it's not a good habit for high school next year, that's all."

     "Damn, I can't believe we're going into high school next year," Landon's voice came out of nowhere and startled everyone.

     "Geez, Landon! You gave us a heart attack! Where have you been?!" Mark shouted.

     "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you guys! I was just downstairs getting some snacks from the shop in the lobby!" Landon explained, and everyone else exhaled slowly.

     "I can't believe we didn't even hear you leave the room," Adam gasped.

     "Actually, I didn't even come up to the room. I've been down there since we got back from the planet tour like 5, 10 minutes ago," Landon stated.

     Adam's mouth opened in shock when he realized that Landon was right; he had not come up to the room with them, and this made Adam feel like a terrible friend.

     Adam clenched his teeth, "Yikes! Sorry, Landon... I thought you were with us. We would have waited for you if we knew. We were just caught up in a conversation, that's all."

     "It's okay, Adam... I should've told you I was going to stop to get snacks," Landon replied with a smile. "Anyways, wow, high school..."

     Mark nodded slowly, "Yeah, I've heard it's worse than hell..."

     Adam turned towards Mark, "How would you know what hell is like?"

     "Oh, I have my sources..." Mark smirked at Adam and threw him a wink.

     Adam laughed, "You sure you would go to hell? I mean, you're probably the least likely because you're just so damn perfect!"

     "Come on, I'm not that perfect..." Mark replied humbly.

     "Really, Mr. 'Non-procrastinating-neat-freak?'" Ryan said.

     "You got me there," Mark laughed.

     "Why are you such a perfectionist anyways?" Ryan asked.

     "Does there need to be a specific reason? It's not like I have OCD or anything, I just like to be organized!" Mark replied. "And whatever I do in life, I always strive to it as best as I can!"

     Adam checked his watch. It was 5:58 PM.

     "Oh, guys, dinner is in two minutes," Adam interrupted.

"Well, we better get downstairs then!" Ryan stated, "We wouldn't want to be late." Ryan looked directly at Mark with a smirk when he said that, and Mark replied by rolling his eyes and going to the door, holding it open for his friends.

Landon and Ryan exited the room, but Adam stayed. "You coming?" Mark asked, still holding the door.

"Yeah, just a second, I'll meet you down there," Adam replied. Mark nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Adam smiled, and walked towards the window. He gazed out at all of the beautiful stars outside. There are so many, Adam thought, and to think, our lives depend on only one.

He looked down at his shirt, where he still wore the pin his parents gave him. At first, he smiled at it. But then he frowned. He found that he felt homesick, and was sad that he left so many people behind, even though it was only for a short time. You always do this, he thought to himself. You go on vacation for a short time, and then you feel homesick after only a few days.

But this time, he felt like something was different. It was something about the time just before he boarded the ship. That's it, he realized suddenly what it was. Carmen.

     As he sat down on the bed, he remembered what happened a few days ago at the launch. Carmen came to Adam with a purpose, a goal in her mind that she wanted to achieve. However, when she met his gaze, Adam could see something inside of her flip, and when she softly sighed, "Have fun on the trip," she frowned, like she had been defeated by her own conscience. This made Adam doubt that this is what Carmen actually wanted to say.

What did she want to tell me, he thought, still gazing at the golden pin on his shirt.

A/N: Guys, I am really sorry for my laziness. I have no excuse. Well, besides school. School has started again. I am not going to promise more chapters in less time, but I can promise you that I WILL finish the story! You can count on that! Anyways, I appreciate all of you for reading my story and continuing to support me, despite the time between chapters! I also really appreciate those of you that have commented on chapters, voted on chapters, or added my book to their library! It makes my day to see so many people enjoying this story! Anyways, thanks again, and more chapters will hopefully be out soon! :D