I looked at the bulky bag I had packed full of food, water, clothing, and comics. I would have packed a tent if I had one, but I don't. Ana had never believed in sleeping in tents anyways. She claimed they were too obvious, which I had never understood.
I'm having a hard time believing that in thirty minutes, I would be in the Dusk. The legendary land that Ana had been raised in. A land full of dangerous creatures, murderous beings, and who knows what. I just hope Mrs. Oak lets us bring our swords. I was oddly more excited then nervous, and hoping for a fight or two while we were there. Maybe I'm the only one that thought like that, though.
I reached into the leg of my combat boot, and pulled out my pocket knife. It glinted under the dim light that came from my window, dangerous and beautiful. I had packed several of my daggers and pocket knives in my bag, but I would still feel more safe with a sword.
I checked my reflection one more time, smoothing down my orange hair that I was wearing loose today, and making sure there was no wrinkles in my camouflage print tank top. My jeans were already scuffed up pretty good, but I didn't care. I liked 'em like that.
I looked battle ready, all the way down to my guarded expression; eyes hard and lips smoothed into a grim line. I was as ready as I'd ever be.
I marched down to Mrs. Oak's office, as was planned, and waited for the group outside the door, tapping my foot impatiently. What's taking them so long? Dang.
I checked my watch. Ten minutes 'til time to go. Where were they? I could hear other students talking in the hallway, caught snippets of conversation. I saw Rae-Lynn first, waltzing up with a sequined pink bag thrown over her shoulder, dressed in a loose blue shirt that would snag on every branch we walked past, a pair of open-toes sandals, and some shorts that looked more like denim panties. God, she's stupid if she thinks that's proper attire for the Dusk's forest.
I tensed when I saw Naida and some chick from the tenth grade strutting along behind her. Oh, what's her name? Tally, I think. Super tall, Italian, and too nice to be one of the mean girls. Her and Tina used to hang out a lot.
They leaned in, whispered and giggled like the air heads they were, and then Naida and Tally walked off in the other direction. I raised my brows in confusion.
“Hello. Ready for the trip?” Rae-Lynn asked, sounding surprisingly nice. I wasn't going to fall for it though. Squirrels seem really sweet, until you got close enough to them, and they give you rabies.
“Yep,” I said, not elaborating. I didn't ask her if she was ready for the trip, and that seemed to annoy her.
“I am ready too,” she said, even though I hadn't asked.
“Cool,” I said, never taking my eyes off the hallway in front of me, searching the faces for one of the others. Where were they?
“Listen up, red head, I ain't got time for this. I am being nice by joining y'all, because I know what I am doing,” Rae-Lynn paused. I could feel her eyes boring through me like a nail through a board, but I didn't even acknowledge her. “Oh, no! Don't you dare sit there and ignore me,” she snapped, but I did just that. I bit my bottom lip to hold back a laugh.
“Maybe it won't be so bad having you tag along,” I said.
“Of course not,” she said, and I could hear the smirk in her voice. “Wait, why?” she asked. Maybe she wasn't as dumb as I thought she was.
“You're funny,” I said.
I saw Tina, Belle, and Aurelia all walking in my direction. “Sorry we're late. Since we are leaving today, Cordelia insisted we eat a large breakfast,” Aurelia said, shrugging.
