The Cave

Chapter 1

*Rien’s POV*

I jump, awakened by a nightmare. A shiver runs through me as I throw off my covers, exposing myself to the chill of my room. I quickly jump in the shower to shave my legs, before this field trip. I get out and dry off as quickly as I can. I pull on my clothes which consist of an old black tank top and faded blue cut off jean shorts. I pull on my old vans and threw my hair in a bun just in time to hear Kate honking her car horn; signaling that she's here.

I run out the front door, barely remembering to lock the door as I try to balance my bag, books, and coke in my arms. I hop into the back seat of Kate’s blue Jeep Wrangler as she  peels away from the curb.

"You excited?" Bella asks looking at me from the passenger seat.

"To go crawling through a cave?" I ask sarcastically, " Sure, why not."

"Well I'm super excited!" Kate exclaims, turning down the music.

"That's only because Mr. Winchester is leading the trip." I whisper to Bella. She busts out laughing and its contagious, because I burst into laughter as well. A few  minutes later we pull into the school parking lot.

The buses are already lined up in front of the school. We rush over to the group that is already waiting to board.

"Nice of you three to join us." Mr. Winchester says from the front of the group.

Kate and Bella are chatting about something and I was looking over at a group of boys. Michael Barrett was leaning against the side of one of the busses talking to one of his friends, Scott Bentley.

Mr. Winchester walks to the front of the group to get everyone's attention, "Guys, we need to get into your partners," He says looking down at his clipboard, "I'm going to call you by name and put you into pairs."

He starts calling names and people start finding seats next to their partners on the bus. "Bella Singer and Scott Bentley." Then a few more names before I hear mine, "Rien Grey and Michael Barrett."

My eyes find their way over to where Michael stands. I look over at him and he's smiling at me.

The last person to be called was Kate. "Kate," Mr. Winchester says, "there aren't an even amount of people so you'll be with me."

I look over at her and she rolls her eyes in our general direction. I try not to laugh at the sarcasm I can see in her eyes.

That's the thing about Kate that no one sees. She has a major thing for Mr. Winchester. And no, before you say anything he isn't like some old creepy dude. He's like twenty one and I'll give it to her. He's really attractive. Granted I do prefer guys closer to my age, but I don't see anything wrong with them being together. There's like maybe a three year age difference?

Kate walks onto the bus following Mr. Winchester and with no doubt in my mind she was staring at his butt the entire time.

Bella and I walk over to where Scott and Michael are standing.

"Hey." Scott says turning to Bella. She mutters something that sounds like hello, but I can't be sure. I awkwardly smile and wave at Michael and he waves back, grinning. Bella pulls on my arm and I follow her, Scott, and Michael onto the bus. They head towards the back of the bus and slide into empty seats. I stop Michael before he can slide to the window. He stands back up and waits for me to slide in.

The buses slowly pull out of the parking lot and onto the highway. I don't say anything to Michael and he doesn't say anything to me either. After about fifteen more minutes of silence, he finally turns and looks at me, "How are you?" He asks. I'm a caught off guard so it takes me a second before I reply,

"I'm good. How about yourself?" I ask.

"I'm great." He says giving me a smile that makes my insides go funny. I don't understand why though.

"Awesome." I say a bit shyly. And we fall back into silence.

I look over his shoulder and see Bella and Scott laughing their heads off about something. At least she's not as awkward as I am, I think to myself.

Out of the corner of my eye I see Michael dig in his pocket. After a second he pulls out a pair of earbuds. He offers them to me and I take one and put it into my ear. He takes my iPod from my hands and plugs it into the headphone jack. When he hands me my iPod back his hand lingers for a second and sparks fly up my arm. He takes the other earbud and puts it in his ear. He smiles at me and I smile back. He nods his head at my iPod and I unlock it looking for something to listen to.

After a second I settle on my “random favorites” playlist and look up at Michael’s eyes staring at me.

"What?" I ask curiously.

"Ed Sheeran?" He asks with a questioning look.

"Yeah.. Is there something wrong with that?" I ask.

"Absolutely nothing." He says, and then he starts grinning, I can't help but smile too.

I look up toward the front and see Kate talking to Mr. Winchester. She's smiling rather big. I feel like there's something going on that she's not telling Bella or I...

"What are you looking at?" Michael pulls back my focus.

"Huh?" I ask, "nothing." I lie. He gives me a quizzical look. My cheeks feel warm. I look out the window letting Ed’s voice overtake my thoughts. I glance over at Michael and he has his head leaning back against the seat with his eyes closed.

I just look at him. His jaw line is perfect. His eyelashes are so long. When he breathes his chest rises and falls just enough to be noticeable.

"What are you looking at?" he asks glancing at me before closing his eyes again. I feel my face go red. Had his eyes been open? How long had I been looking at him? I'm not sure.

"Uhhhh.... n-nothing..." I stutter.

"Didn't look like nothing." He says smirking.

I feel myself go even redder than before. I look out the window, but not pulling far enough away so that we could both still listen.

He bumps his knee against mine and I look over at him. He still has his eyes closed, but I can tell that he was trying to get my attention.

"Hmm?" I hum. He scoots a little closer so that his knee rests against mine.

My heart flutters, What the crap was that? His hand rests on his knee, tapping to the beat of the song. I can't help when my foot taps to the beat too.

We stay like this for almost the entire ride. KB playing on repeat. Every once and awhile he'll bump his knee against mine to tell me he's still awake, and I'll bump his back to let him know that I know.

The silence isn't bad or awkward, but it's comfortable. Eventually I start drifting in an out of sleep. I try and stay awake, but surprisingly the music lulls me into sleep.