Leap Year Wishes

Chapter Twelve

"Are you serious?" Kayla exclaims with joy after I deliver the big news.

"Yup! Mom signed me up yesterday!" I smiled as we walked toward her classroom.

"That's terrific!" Kayla squeaked. "Can you please tell me the story of what happened last time? I know you were lying; a broken arm doesn't stop Lyndsey Richards!"

I sigh. "Fine."

Before I finish the story, the bell rings so I had to promise to finish the story at lunch. I sit at my seat and glance over at Nate's seat. He was already looking at me and our eyes lock. After a second or two, he blushes and I'm almost positive I was, too. He smiles and gives me a small wave and I do the same before we focus on our attention on the professor.

"Today, we will be doing an experiment." he begins. "You will all have to choose a partner that I will approve of! You two will pick a station to work at where a paper listing the directions will be waiting for you. If you need anything, let me know. You all know the rules you must follow, and I don't want to hear any squeals or 'Ew that's disgusting' when you open the rat's body open. Yes, you're dissecting a rat, you are going to run tests on the kidney and liver. Be mature, you're all in high school now. You may begin."

I stand up to find Nate already standing by me. "Hey, partner." he winked. I smile and see Bridgette, Sydney, and Trixie scoff and I smirk at them. Then I lead Nate to the station closest to where we were standing.

"Okay, Step 1: Put gloves and goggles on." I read off the paper as I put the gloves on and wait for Nate to do the same.

"Step 2: Remove deceased rat from plastic bag." he reads through the goggles. "Go ahead!" he offers, stepping back.

"Ha! I don't think so! You're the one who read it!" I pointed out. Nate sighs in defeat and slowly pulls out the dead rat. I try my best not to laugh at the ridiculous face he's making, but a small giggle escapes my lips. "Step 3" I continue. "Use knife to cut a centimeter deep line through the center of the stomach (between the front arms through between the hind legs)."

"Have fun with that!" Nate laughed. I softly hit his upper arm and he raised his hands in the air as if he was innocent. I slowly do as the instructions say while wincing.

"Your turn..." I groan and back away, receiving laughs from Nate. I elbow his rib playfully as he begins reading the fourth step.

"Use cleansed tweezers to... Pull out the intestines?!" Nate's eyes widen and I immediately start cracking up. He glares at me as I clutch my stomach, gasping for air before he starts picking out the small intestines one by one.

"Your turn." He mumbled.

I finally collect myself before continuing. "Step 5: Put one kidney in beaker filled with 250 mg of vinegar and the other in a separate beaker with 250 mg of water." I use the tweezers to pick up the first kidney, carefully dropping it into the vinegar. I do the same with the other except putting it in the water.

"Okay class!" Professor Williams announces. "Class is almost over so take care of the supplies and I'll take care of the rest."

I sigh and take the gloves and goggles off while Nate does the same. I catch myself getting lost in his beautiful brown and green eyes and he notices me.

"What?" Nate smirks cocking up an eyebrow.

"Nothing." I smile just before the bell rings. I grab my stuff and just before I was about to exit, Nate calls after me, "See you in PE!" I turned around and smiled before heading off to social studies.

"Alright ladies! Permission slips for next weeks trip is due today! Turn them in or you aren't going!" Coach Brown yelled. He calls the girls and boys 'ladies' but nobody knows why. Typical coach. "And you will be picking a group of four to bunk with and as a team!"

I look directly at Julie who is in my PE and she's already looking at me. We jog up to each other and walk to the coach together to turn  our forms in. Then, I see Nate and his friend, Ashton, looking at us.

"Come." I take Julie's hand and drag her over to the guys. "Wanna join our group?"

Ashton and Nate look at us with astonishment, but they're happy. They agree and Julie runs off to sign our name on the group roster our coach was holding. When she got back, we started talking. The whole time, I was already eager for next Tuesday.

"Okay! On the busses! Everyone's here!" Coach shouted. It's finally Tuesday and we are just about to leave for Camp Wattoma, which isn't even a camp. Just a deserted camp site that only my school goes to. I climb on the bus, getting in the aisle seat with Julie by the window. I watch Ashton and Nate crawl into the seat across from us.

"Hey, girls. Ready for an awesome three days?" Ashton is 20% enthusiastic,40% friendly, and 40% funny. I've known him since first grade and he really knows how to make someone smile. We all laugh as he starts being ridiculous.

For the two hour and forty-five minute ride, we were either talking, laughing, or sleeping. We slept for the last hour or so and I woke up as soon as I felt the bus stop at the bottom of the hill. I shook everyone awake just before Coach Brown started waking people up himself. By that, I mean he was screaming in their ears.

"Okay! Now that I have everyone's attention, we will be taking a forty minute walk up to the cabins. As you exit the bus, you will be putting all of your electronics in this bin," he holds up a plastic container, "and then you will go to the bus behind us to get your stuff. You have five minutes to do that and get stretched. Go!"

Everyone was rushing out of the bus including us. I dropped my phone and MP3 Player into the bin as I stepped onto the concrete road. Julie followed me and we look up at the mountain before us. Then we go to the bus behind us and find our suitcases on top of each other, just how we left them.

This week is going to be awesome.