Chapter 27: The Other Way Around

Avegaille and Nicole May finally got out of the observatory and both of them could see the huge crowd around the park. Nicole May thought that the combination of seventh and eight graders were not enough to fill the park and wouldn't make this place crowded. Then, she realized the rest of them were from other schools. She wasn't familiar with the town in the first place… there could have been other schools aside from Centralville Middle School. The two of them sat down on an unoccupied bench that was close by the food stalls.

"Hey, Avegaille… are there any other schools in this town aside from the ones we went to?" Nicole May asked and turned her attention to the overwhelming crowd.

"Eh… well… I'm not sure, but I know Centralville Elementary, Middle School and High School belong to the school district my grandma is the superintendent of…" Avegaille replied while tilting her head slightly to the side. "I think there might be other schools near here, but they're probably outside of town, and also, let's not forget the private schools like Midway Academy and Archer Academy…"

"Where did this huge amount of people come from anyway?" Nicole May muttered and stared at the scenario with exasperation. "I know Mom helped plan out this field trip, but I think she forgot to reserve this whole place just for our school to explore without anyone else interrupting."

"You're not too fond of people, I see…" Avegaille remarked and laughed nervously. "Anyway, where do you want to go next?"

Nicole May took out the pamphlet from her bag and looked at the map of the park. Now that they were finished looking around the observatory, where they learned quite a lot about the stars and the universe, Nicole May pointed to the drawing on the map that looked like a forest.

"We should head down here… considering how the majority of the students here are interested in the latest stuff, they're probably going to crowd the hi-tech places," Nicole May muttered as she placed back the flyer in her bag. Then, she stood up and Avegaille also did the same.

"Eh, the tropical forest? Well, as long as the animals there aren't real… or that there aren't any creepy scary exotic bugs in there…" Avegaille muttered nervously. She clung onto Nicole May's arm and closed her eyes.

"Hey now… there's nothing to worry. Besides, the animals here aren't real at all…" Nicole May said and her left eye started twitching while she stared at Avegaille.

.-.-.-.-.-

Back at Centralville Middle School, Jane had just finished attending her history class, and it was now time for lunch. She didn’t finish setting up the room earlier as it was almost time for her class to start, and Madeline told the other students attending the meeting that it would start later, after school. While she was on her way to the student council room, which was by the other side of the campus, near to the exit that led to the school's swimming pool, she saw Madeline standing in front of the door, waiting for her.

"Jane, there you are!" Madeline exclaimed happily. She quickly grabbed Jane's arm and attempted to drag her inside the room but Jane forced herself to the other direction so she couldn't be dragged in.

"Madeline! Stop that!" Jane exclaimed furiously as she tried to get off Madeline's grip. Then, she saw Vicky and Sabrina coming out of the room and quickly went behind her. "Hey, now… what are you guys doing?"

"Come on, Madeline thought of something good," Vicky said as she pushed Jane to the inside of the room. Now that Madeline had some help, it was easy to get Jane to follow her lead.

The four of them finally got inside the room and Jane looked around the room. She was impressed at how the chairs were now neatly arranged. The tables that the members used were placed to the side to make room for the chairs. The extra chairs were borrowed beforehand from the gym. Then, Jane sat down on one of the chairs and Madeline quickly released her from her grip.

"You guys arranged all this?" Jane asked surprisingly.

"Well, we got some help from the other members, but anyway Jane… we need to do something about your look!" Madeline exclaimed. She came closer and stared at the faded red blazer Jane was wearing aside from the white collared shirt underneath.

"Hey… just what do you plan on doing?" Jane asked nervously.

"Take off your blazer Jane," Madeline said and grinned slightly.

"What? You're crazy…" Jane muttered and stared at Madeline exasperatedly.

"Don't worry Jane, she's not gonna strip you naked," Sabrina remarked and chucked a bit.

"Fine…" Jane stood up from her seat and took off her blazer, which she handed over to Madeline. Then, she watched Madeline slightly fixing up the blazer and went closer to her. Then, she placed the blazer on her back, with the sleeves resting on her shoulders. Afterwards, Madeline tied up the sleeves so that the blazer wouldn't fall off.

"It looks good on you Jane," Vicky remarked and did a thumbs-up pose. "At least, it doesn't make you look like an office clerk!"

"Haha, very funny guys," Jane sarcastically retorted as she folded her arms across her chest. Then, she turned to the window and saw her reflection and saw how good she looked that way. Maybe perhaps this way, some guys might start to become interested in her, was what she thought.

"But seriously, Jane, it looks much better on you," Madeline added and nodded slowly. "Anyway, now that we're done here, let's go have some lunch!"

"I agree, I'm getting kinda hungry," Sabrina said and placed her hands on her hips. "Lunch today seems to be interesting since the cafeteria lady made some new dishes."

"I hope that's the good kind of new dishes," Vicky remarked and slightly shuddered.

.-.-.-.-.-

"You know, this place is getting crowded the more time passes by," Emily remarked. She was still with Phil, walking around the park.

They were standing near the food stalls, which were near the artificial tropical forest. Emily had quite a talent when it involved finding people, even in crowded areas like these. From the other side of the food booths, she could see Elizabeth and Naz talking about something. Emily quickly took Phil's arm and dragged him until the two of them got close to them.

"Hey guys, we've been looking all over for you!" Emily exclaimed and tried to catch her breath.

"Huh, what for?" Elizabeth asked skeptically. Then, she turned to Phil, who looked weary from all of the dragging. "So, you're partnered with Emily on this field trip?"

"Yeah, it was her idea," Phil replied and shrugged. "I actually wanted to be partners with Avegaille, but Nicole May was threatening me…" Then, Naz started laughing, in which Elizabeth stared at her exasperatedly.

"Ohoho, that's a good one!" Naz remarked and continued laughing loudly. After she regained her composure, she went closer to Phil. "How exactly did Nicole May threaten you?"

"I don't really want to go into details…" Phil muttered as he closed his eyes and shuddered a bit.

"Well, moving on, what is it that you want, Emily?" Elizabeth asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Well, you guys are still working on the news articles, right? Well, maybe if you guys got Nicole May to help you, you can finish things faster…" Emily suggested as she placed her hands on her hips. "Besides, I think she has her laptop with her, so that makes things even easier!"

"The problem is, we don't know where she is… along with Avegaille," Elizabeth muttered.

"Well, I just thought of something," Naz interrupted and everyone quickly turned to her. "Remember when we met them earlier? They were going to the observatory thing. That place, as Elizabeth and I looked into, isn't as popular as the other places here. It's like Nicole May was dragging Avegaille to the less crowded areas of the park."

"Well, girls, I know another certain area here that isn't as popular either," Phil added and everyone turned to him. "And it's right behind me…"

The girls all looked to the facility that was behind Phil and saw the tropical forest… even though it looked real… it was just actually very expensive artificial materials and props. All of them walked to the entrance of the forest and saw that only a few people were entering it. Once all of them got inside, they stood by an area underneath a tree. The place itself had a path for anyone entering to follow, with signs hung over the trees detailing the species of the animal close by or the tree itself.

"So, you guys think they're still here?" Elizabeth asked. She took off her backpack and placed her notebook inside it.

"I'll take a look around," Naz said and quickly ran off, following the path.

"I'll come with you!" Emily exclaimed and quickly followed Naz until the two of them disappeared from sight.

After Naz and Emily left, Elizabeth realized that she was alone with Phil. Even though there were a few people coming in and passing by them, they didn't even care. Elizabeth slightly turned to Phil and glanced at him. Phil, on the other hand, noticed Elizabeth staring at him and smiled sheepishly at her. Elizabeth was so startled that she quickly turned away from him and her face started turning red.

"Eh?" Phil slightly scratched his head and looked a bit worried. "Something wrong, Liz?"

"Ah! It's nothing, don't mind me," Elizabeth muttered and slowly walked away from Phil. She placed the straps of her backpack on her shoulders.

The two of them kept quiet while waiting for Naz and Emily to return, hoping that Avegaille and Nicole May were with them. A few more minutes had passed until they could hear a familiar voice ranting. It was coming from the other side of the path, and finally the two of them could see them… Naz was gripping on Nicole May's arm while Emily was pushing Avegaille from behind. As soon as all of them got to the spot where Phil and Elizabeth were, Nicole May quickly pulled her arm away from Naz's grip and folded her arms across her chest. Avegaille, on the other hand, was confused at what was going on.

"Okay… so why did you guys have to drag us here?" Nicole May asked as she turned to Naz and stared at her exasperatedly.

"Come on, Rustford… Elizabeth's working hard on writing the articles… you should help her out!" Emily exclaimed and Nicole May turned to her, very skeptical at what she just said.

"Eh, why am I also here?" Avegaille asked as she sweat-dropped. Then, she turned to Elizabeth, who was also confused at all of this. "Hey, Elizabeth, you still have more work to do?"

"Well, sort of, but we already got most of the stuff that we need," Elizabeth replied and held on the straps of her backpack. "Anyway, Nicole May, is it true you have your laptop with you?"

"Yeah… I always bring it with me," Nicole May muttered apathetically. "Why, you guys need it?"

"Well, sort of… not really right now… but Emily here was just being persistent and all," Elizabeth replied and laughed nervously. Then, she turned to Emily, who looked quite excited from all of the events happening here. "So, Emily, where should we go now?"

"After all, you wanted us to take Nicole May with us…" Naz added and laughed.

"Oh, I know a good place!" Emily exclaimed happily as she took out the pamphlet from her pocket. Then, she read around until she found the location. There was an illustration of a building near the observatory that Avegaille and Nicole May went into earlier. "They have this facility that is exactly like a library and you can read their stuff in there!"

"What an interesting attraction…" Phil remarked and laughed a bit.

"Huh?" Avegaille furrowed her eyebrows, confused at the fact that there was a library in a supposedly amusement park. She wanted to explore more of the place but everyone else would rather finish the newspaper first.

"Come on, let's go!" Emily exclaimed as she quickly took Nicole May's hand and dragged her while Naz and Elizabeth followed them until they got out of the facility. Then, the four of them went to the building next to the observatory. Nicole May didn't realize that Avegaille wasn't following her, and neither Phil was with them.

.-.-.-.-.-

On the other hand, as Phil and Avegaille got out of the tropical forest, the two of them could no longer figure out which way the other girls ran off to. Since Emily had the map of the amusement park, Phil wasn't so sure on which way was which, considering also the amount of people in the park. It was almost noon and most people were now by the food stalls since it was also lunch time. Avegaille was getting hungry and her stomach started grumbling loudly.

"Hey, are you hungry?" Phil asked after hearing the grumbling. "You want to eat something?"

"Eh… well… I guess," Avegaille muttered and followed Phil's lead. She felt flustered while she was with him and she didn't want Phil to see it.

Both of them ended up lining up in one of the food stalls. Avegaille opted for the tuna sandwich while Phil bought a hotdog sandwich and some drinks for both of them. Then, they found a nice table that was slightly far from the crowded area, near the trees and bushes, and sat down there.

"Avegaille… you know, we never have a chance to spend our time together like this…" Phil said and chucked a bit. "Although, I've been wondering about something…"

"Eh? What is it?" Avegaille asked curiously. She started eating her sandwich while waiting.

"You seem to be always with Nicole May… well, not that it's bad or anything… actually, even I can't tell… I don't want to make assumptions either," Phil started, even though he was getting nowhere.

"You're confusing me even more…" Avegaille muttered as she stared at Phil blankly. "But… Nicole May is my best friend… I mean, it's true we didn't get along the first time we met, but people change for the better when they know what's right."

"Really? I never knew that…" Phil remarked and he started biting into his hotdog sandwich. "You never told me anything about you and Nicole May when both of you were still in Midway Academy… maybe it's because you forgot already?"

"Yeah, I forgot most things, though some of them were coming back…" Avegaille muttered and laughed nervously. Then, she noticed Phil's expression that he didn't look quite satisfied with her answer. "Well, either way, don't tell me you're jealous or something… I mean… it's not like something is happening between us…"

"Eh, of course not!" Phil exclaimed and quickly stood up from his seat, banging the table with his hands. The impact from the slamming shook the things on the table, including their drinks.

"You don't have to overreact…" Avegaille muttered as she closed her eyes and finished her sandwich. After that, she opened her eyes and looked at Phil. "But what's wrong? I thought you and Nicole May were getting along now, so why are you bringing this back up again?"

"Well, that's true, but lately, she's been acting strange again, whenever I attempt to talk to you at school…" Phil muttered and folded his arms across his chest.

"Hmm? Well, maybe she's still not used to talking to guys like you… or she's just really strange," Avegaille remarked and giggled a bit. "Anyway, you always talk to me whenever you and Mrs. Anderson are at our house… so, I don't see what's wrong if we can't get a chance to talk in school…"

"I suppose…" Phil muttered as he sat down again and finished off his hotdog sandwich. "Sorry if I made you… well, confused about this matter all over again… I mean, maybe I'm just… paranoid or something."

"Eh?" Avegaille looked at Phil curiously and saw how cool he was while he was looking away from her. She couldn't help but stare and her face started turning red. "Well, um… you don't have to worry about it!"

"Haha, you're right," Phil said and chuckled. Then, he stood up. "You want to go to at least one of those cool rides before we find them again?"

"Eh… um… I suppose…" Avegaille muttered and slowly got up from her seat. "No roller coasters please!"

"Okay, let's just go somewhere less scary," Phil said and smiled sheepishly.

.-.-.-.-.-

After a few more hours of waiting in line, Avegaille and Phil finally got to experience the virtual roller coaster, even though Avegaille didn't want to get into one at first. Well, at least, knowing the fact that it was just a simulator somehow made Avegaille feel safe about it. As they got out of the building, they continued walking around, trying to figure out what to do next. Since their actual partners for the field trip had the maps, they had no choice but to move around aimlessly. Then, Avegaille spotted the observatory that she and Nicole May went to earlier. She also noticed the building next to it. The glass covering the front of the building made the inside very visible, including all the books in the shelves, the tables and chairs and how it even had a second floor in it. Surprisingly, there were a couple of other people in there aside from Emily, Elizabeth, Naz and Nicole May. Of course, Avegaille and Phil were slightly far away from the building that they couldn't exactly tell where the other girls were in the building.

"Oh, maybe we should see if they're still there…" Avegaille muttered and turned to Phil. "I know Nicole May's gonna be so worried the minute she finds out that I'm not with her…"

"Yeah, I think we should go there and see…" Phil said and smiled.

The two of them went inside the building and looked around. The receptionist at the counter next to where they were standing asked them to sign in. Avegaille checked the list and saw that all four of them were registered. After both of them signed in, they looked around the area, going through sections until they finally found them. The four girls, Nicole May especially, were surprised to see them. Emily and Naz were sitting next to each other on one side of the table while Elizabeth and Nicole May were on the other side. Nicole May's laptop was set up right in front of Nicole May, along with a couple of papers and notebooks in front of Elizabeth. Nicole May was wearing her glasses on her face and it began shining that her eyes couldn't be seen when she approached Avegaille.

"So… where did you guys run off to?" Nicole May asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Eh? Well… we had lunch and then, we tried out that simulator…" Avegaille replied nervously as she sweat-dropped. "It was kinda scary at first, but at least… I didn't have to think about falling off the cabin…"

"Yeah, that simulator was awesome, we should do it again!" Phil exclaimed ecstatically.

"See, nothing bad is going to happen, like what I told you," Emily remarked and smirked. Nicole May quickly turned to her and stared at her exasperatedly. Then, she looked at the watch on her wrist. "We have to leave soon… and we're done with the articles… so…"

"Well, Elizabeth and I had some shares of the rides," Naz added and she grinned. "Also… we met up with Arthur here earlier but it seems that his partner is keeping him too busy that he couldn't stay with us…"

Nicole May closed her laptop and placed it in her bag. Then, after she placed the strap of her bag on her shoulder, she quickly took Avegaille's arm and dragged her until the two of them disappeared. Everyone else was surprised, but Emily just shrugged it off.

"Oh… I wonder where Nicole May's gonna take Avegaille to?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

"Who knows…" Naz said nonchalantly and started giggling.