I leaned in close to her. "You could have been paired up with someone worse, Rachel," I whispered to her, red spreading across the side of her face.
Rachel always turned red. I smirked. Her chin was against her shoulder so that she could almost see me. She placed her index finger over her lips so that we wouldn't start anything.
"I'm hoping that even though we paired a bunch of high school students together for this assignment you'll will act as young adults instead of hormone driven teenagers," Principal O'Doherty continued, voice still stern despite the catcalls that followed.
I glanced around at all of the tables. There were the girls who did their make up between classes paired with guys from honors classes, then there were some with guys that they wouldn't usually take a second glance at. Then there seemed to be football players with cheerleaders, a couple were with girls from orchestra and some girls from ROTC with guys from choir. I smiled at the so-called social spectrum being scrambled. I peeked over at my friend Dill and he rolled his eyes once he saw that I was watching him.
"Since it's still a decent hour in the afternoon we're going to have you in your groups get organized, then head over to the historical sight. Watch for your chaperones and remember you're representing Adams High on this field trip so behave yourselves."
The teachers started to line up in front of the room to get our attention, but the chatter in the room just grew by the second. Dill rolled his eyes as Bridget next to him was putting on her long black coat, ignoring the guy beside her. I glanced over to Rachel who was always bundled up in class. She was still wearing her coat, her hands buried deep in her pockets. Rachel was already standing up as if I was taking too long.
"Ready to head over?" Rachel asked, her green eyes on me, her voice light.
I shrugged my shoulders and followed her through the mob of students. I was almost tempted to grab onto her hand so that I wouldn't lose her in the crowd. With her tiny stature she was having an easier time zipping through the people than me. I had to watch to trail after her. Rachel kept her arms curled into her chest as she weaved. I did not want to lose her. I was squishing myself between people to keep up with her. How the hell was she doing this? She finally stopped near the teacher, scanning over her shoulder till she found me. Squeezing through the last couple of people I made my way next to Rachel whose head came up to about the nape of my neck.
We moved out of the room and got onto our newly designated buses. It was a short bus ride to Williamsburg. Everyone was talking madly about this new news. We had to share a room with the opposite sex. The guys were either complaining about the girl they were with, celebrating that they got the hottie they wanted to talk to in class, but couldn't, or were too embarrassed to say anything. I didn't really know how to respond to my situation. Here I was with Rachel, even though I had a girlfriend. I kept glancing over at her but she was staring out the window the whole ride. She was acting as if I didn't exist.
We arrived at Williamsburg with me wondering if this was a good pairing or not as they gave us our badges to prove that we were on a school trip together. I got off of the bus and waited for the rest of my group. Rachel stood there next to me waiting like me. She was shaking, but wore a coat with her hands still well hidden in her jacket pockets. Yet, I was fine and I had a lighter coat than her.
"You okay?" I questioned, tilting my head so that I could catch her eyes.
"Eh," she mumbled with a shrug, her body swaying slightly.
"Give me your hands," I said, holding my hands out as she raised an eyebrow at me.
"Ha, no." Rachel snorted.
I raised my eyebrow as I watched her during the tour. We strolled on the dirt path though the colony just like they did all those years ago. After learning American History since kindergarten it was nice to actually see what was being shoved down our throats that wasn't Hollywood's version. We saw people in costumes and buildings from that era. There were a few people in horse-drawn carriages too. A couple of guys started to point and laugh at the horse droppings. It is amazing how some teenagers weren't much different from preschoolers. There was also some talk of trying to get the people out of their character. If anyone from my group could get the colony people out of their character that would be very funny, I'm not going to lie. Yet, my eyes kept peeking over at Rachel to check up on her.
"It's nice here," Rachel said through chattering teeth, crossing her arms firmly across her chest.
"It's okay," I responded.
I really couldn't wait to leave this part to get her back inside and me some food. I couldn't figure out why our school couldn't have gone to the site in the spring when it was warmer and there was less of a chance for the students getting sick. My own fingers fidgeted at my sides, restraining myself from forcing my own coat onto Rachel. She would likely throw a tantrum proclaiming she was fine and didn't need my help.
We were at Williamsburg for a few hours before we headed back onto the bus to return to the hotel from our 'adventure'. We arrived at the hotel rooms to get ready for dinner
