Growing Pains | Nowhere Boys

episode two

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As Maisey skate boards to her school, a nervous pit grows in her stomach. For some reason, she felt very anxious about this excursion, and usually her gut feeling was not wrong. To help her stop being anxious, she scrum aged around her bag for her phone and earphones. She quickly plugged her earphones in before shoving her phone in her jean pocket.

She hit shuffle on her music and she carried on her way to school-almost bumping straight into Jake Riles.

Jake Riles: A school jock, a bully and an ex-friend of Maisey's.

Before either of them could say anything, Maisey jumps right back onto her skateboard and is  gone before he even notices. She sighs in relief as she turned around the corner, looking over her shoulder subconsciously. It was already way too early in the morning, and she didn't feel like arguing with him.

Jake and her had history together, and up to her fourteenth birthday it was all good memories.

Then everything went downhill.

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Maisey re-tied her hair as she rode her way into the school grounds. The first thing she did when she got to the school was checked in by the bus with Mr Bates.

"Hey Maisey!" Some students greets her as she walked in. Maisey has never been 'popular' but she was friendly to a lot of people, therefore people found it hard not to like her. She always tried to help others when she could, and she sort of had a protective aura that made people go to her quite often, especially in times of distress.

She greets all of them with a smile and a wave, carrying her plain black skateboard under her arm. She had tried decorating the skateboard with a sticker or spray paint but her brother told her no and proceeded to hide all her stuff.

"Good morning, bush walkers. Ready to leave your comfort zones?" Mr Bates, smiling and ready for adventure as always, greeted anyone who walks past.

"Hey Mr Bates," she smiles at the teacher who would be taking them on the Nature Walk. He is a middle-aged man and one of Maisey's favourite teachers-coming into a close first with the art teacher.

"Ah, Maisey," he states, checking her name off of the list on his clipboard. They both stand in front of the school bus that would be taking them. "Do you have your permission slip?"

Maisey felt her heart skip a beat and her face redden, 'I really hope so.'

She awkwardly pulls her bag in front of her, while maintaining her grip on her skateboard, and was delighted when she found her permission slip tucked neatly into the front pocket of her bag. She let out a sigh of relief before handing it to the teacher who stood in front of her with an amused smile.

Just as she gave the notes over, Andy Lau came trudging to them-carrying a lot more baggage than was probably necessary.

Andy Lau: The school nerd, described in one word 'Bear Grylls' (Okay, that's two words but you get my point), incredibly smart. kinda overprotective dad and, in at least in Maisey's books, friendly and kind.

"Andy, you made it," Mr Bates greeted him. Andy gives a confident smile and nods his head.

While Andy gave Mr Bates his slip, some grey storm clouds gathered together, dark and gloomy over the vibrant aura of the students beneath it. Thunder rumbled throughout the sky.

" Although I don't like the look of those clouds." Mr Bates said."Best get everyone on the bus now."

Maisey nods and leans against the side of the bus, waiting for the doors to officially be open. As she leans, she hears Jake and his "friends" make fun of two other kids in her class - Felix and Ellen.

Felix Ferne: The "goth" of the group, has a friendly brother who is paralyzed from the waist down, not always sociable but will make a few exceptions, has an obvious crush on Ellen.

The both of them are often the victims from Jake as they preferred goth clothing and sticking to each other.  From Maisey's experience, she knew that there wasn't anything wrong with them, they were rather nice in her opinion - although, anyone who disagreed with Jake was automatically an ally.

"Alright, everyone on the bus," Mr Bates declares. Maisey stands up straighter, waiting behind Andy who she lets go on before her, just because he seems so excited. However, as Andy moves to climb the steps, Jake pushes Andy to the side, right into Maisey. 

"Whoa," Mr Bates stops him, pushing him slightly back. Jake steps back confused and Mr Bates continues, "After you, Andy and Maisey." Maisey has to use all her willpower to stop the smirk from forming on her face.

"Bates!" Jake throws his hands up, "Favouritism." Mr Bates has his arm in a sweep towards the bus for Andy and Maisey, and they both climb up. Maisey sending Jake a smirk as she steps before him, he responds by rolling his eyes and looking away. She can still hear, her now favourite teacher, Mr Bates scold Jake, "Jacob, it's 'sir' to you. Permission slip, please." 

'Glad, he got what he deserves,' Maisey thinks before plopping herself in the seat in front of where Andy was struggling to get his humongous backpack on top of the seat. Feeling bad for him, Maisey drops her backpack on her seat to help Andy. "Thanks," he breaths out through a sigh. Maisey opens her mouth to respond before a body crashes into her.

"Oi! Move out of the way!" She internally groans at the voice, of course he has to be the one to bump into her. She bumps his shoulder back on the way to get to her seat, "accidentally" stepping on his feet too. Felix fist bumps her for that, on his way to his and Ellen's seat.

'Finally,' Maisey sighs to herself, resting in her seat and laying her head back, 'who knew the hardest part of this excursion would be us getting onto the bus.' Soon Sam Conte and his girlfriend, Mia arrive onto the bus, holding hands.

Sam Conte: the "golden boy" of Bremin High School, funny and popular, but more open than the other so-called popular people, has two brothers, and isn't that bad Maisey assumes (of course, Jury is still out as he is friends with Jake Riles).

They weren't her friends but Maisey thought they were adorable nonetheless. From her seat, she sees Mia looking at Sam expectantly, as if waiting for something.

"Do you remember what day it is?" Maisey hears Mia asks and silently groans for Sam. It's obvious from how confuse he looks, that he hasn't the slightest clue on what Mia is talking about. "Friday?" he answers back quietly and Maisey mentally facepalms herself. She decides to rather tune out their conversation.

She turns around, surveying who else is on the bus, and meets eyes with Mike Parker behind her. She gives him a smile, and notices that he blushes and looks down. As she opens her mouth to speak to him, Mr Bates stands in front of the bus and clears his throat.

"OK, listen up - welcome to the year-10 science excursion, which is quite literally a walk in the park, the Bremin Ranges National Park. In groups of four, you will orienteer a 7km walk to a pick-up point marked on your map. You are expected to identify flora and, with any luck, fauna.

"Now... In the interests of breaking down social barriers and as a little treat for me, I have preselected the groups, so don't expect to be with any of your friends," with this, everyone in the bus groans. Maisey doesn't think much of it, knowing as so long she wasn't in a group with you-now-who, she would be fine.  What could possibly go wrong?

If Maisey thought the hardest part was getting onto the bus, she was in for a surprise.

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Hiya! First official chapter done! Hope you guys like it, I'm trying to make it more about Maisey than the rest so I might skip their perspectives and what they are doing at time. Feel free to comment and next chapter is when our beloved Maisey gets an unfortunate group member.