The next morning found the field trip students tired, sore, groggy, and homesick as they all stumbled out of their tents and gathered about the fire pit for breakfast. Only Tym, who still seemed thrilled to be out of the woren reservation, seemed to be in any sort of a good mood.

"Good morning, sunshines!" Tym's tail was wagging frantically and her tongue hung out in a happy pant as she greated Amber and Sabs, both of whom were wondering just how it was possible for their friend to be so cheerful. "It's it a beautiful day out??"

Amber looked straight up at the sky. "It's grey, cold, and I think those are storm clouds..."

"Beautiful day!" Tym howled happily. "Wonderful day to be alive!"

"I don't know about you, Chris." Cynthia was rubbing her neck as she gave Tym a weird look, watching the wolf girl skip away. "But I think being out here has really started to get to some of the other students."

Chris just chuckled. "I know what you mean." He ran a hand through his raven black hair and stretched. "But I really can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight." Of course, Chris wasn't the only one who was looking forward to that.

"What the FUCK is your problem??" Jason shouting over his shoulder at the tent he just stalked out of and headed over to the fire pit. Sabs was just making her way back to her own tent to grab a few things from her pack when she heard the windian shout and paused to watching him curiously. No more then a few seconds after Jason went by, David came crawling out of the tent, chuckling to himself. Sabs couldn't hold back her curiousity as she looked over at the wrester.

"Cheezus, what's his problem? Not a morning person?"

"Oh, it's not that." David just flashed her a grin. "It's the fact that he woke up with Chad snuggled up to him this morning."

Sabs just stared at David for a moment, trying to figure out if he was really serious or not. "Alright..." the human just shook her head. "Forget I asked." David watched her walk away, then looked over as Chad popped his head out of the tent.

"Man, you know Jason's going to try and throttle you later today." David chuckled as Chad just shot him an innocent look.

"Dude, come on, last night I'm going to have any sort of excuse to sleep that close to him for a long while, I had to take advantage of it." He flashed a grin at the wrestler who laughed.

"Accidentally took advantage of, you mean?"

"Oh yes, yes of course." Chad looked down, twiddling his thumbs. "Purely accidental." He just chuckled. "Now then. Food." The two windians headed over to the fire pit and flopped down next to Jason, who, after shooting a glare at Chad, stated that he wanted David in between himself and Chad for the rest of the day. Chad faked a hurt look.

"Dude, he doesn't love me anymore..."

"Aw man, don't worry Chad." David slipped an arm around the windian. "I still care."

"Oh you." Chad let out a girlish giggle and leaned his head against David's shoulder. Jason just made a gagging motion and turned his attention back to his breakfast.


The group was walking again. Excitment buzzed through the crowd of students. They were scheduled to be arriving home at Windia tonight around dusk, and it seemed most of the students had reached their limit for the great outdoors. Carl had been complaining loudly about bug bites he was getting, Amber wouldn't stop groaning about how much her feet hurt, Cynthia just shook her head and smirked to herself as she listened to more complaints floating around from various students. It was obvious the wolf girl wasn't feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable out in the woods like this. Jason seemed to be in a perpetual bad mood ever since the talk with Vagger the day before, and David was still the windian divider between Jason and Chad. Compared to when they're first started out on the field trip, the trio was feeling drained, mostly grumpy, and anxious to get home, or at least get back to Windia. Jason admitted to himself a few times that no matter how much the field trip was bothering him, it was still loads better then being at home with Troy. The red haired windian glanced over in time to see Chad try to sneak behind David to walk next to him, but a quick glare sent the brown winged windian back to his place on the other side of the windian wrestler, looking somewhat hurt and rejected. Jason just rolled his eyes.

"Look, Chad." Jason glanced over at his friend who seemed to perk up as he called his name. "It's just that four consequetive days with ANYBODY is enough to drive me insane, let alone a hyper active drama freak who constantly tries to snog me."

"It's alright, dude." Chad grinned, his brown wings twitching open and closed a bit. "I know I'm just too much for you to handle sometimes."

Jason just rolled his eyes and then reached over to punch David who was currently snickering.

About two hours passed, and Tym Black's high was beginning to wear off, being replaced by an annoyed look as she gazed around at the forest they were walking through. The wolf girl let out a little growl and wagged her tail impatiently as she gazed at a nearby try.

"Cheezus, Tym!" Sabs finally couldn't ignore her friends deep throated growls and looked over at her. "What is your problem?"

"Something's not right here." The wolf sniffed the air lightly, furrowing her brow. "I don't think we're going the right way." Tym have a very fine sense of direction, and she was rarely ever proved wrong about things like this. "I'm pretty sure we've passed that tree before, because I remember looking at it two other times and wondering about that little hole in the trunk."

"Oh cheezus, it's probably just your imagination." Sabs rolled her eyes. "I bet there's a bunch of trees with little holes in them all over these woods!"

"Yea? Well I'm not so sure about that. Hold on a sec, I'll be right back." Tym turned and headed back towards the tree she'd been eyeing. Sabs just stopped to wait for her, sighing and clicking her tongue in annoyance.

"What is it?" Amber's little white wings fluffed lightly as she looked back at Tym. "What's she doing?"

"Don't mind her." Sabs shook her head. "She's just marking her territory, that's all." The look that comment earned from Amber was a priceless one.

"There," Tym returned, brushing her hands together as she panted to herself. "I stuck one of my ink pens in that little hole. If we pass by that tree again, I'll see the ink pen and know it."

"I still say you're just delirious." Sabs rolled her eyes. "Now come on." The three girls caught up with the group of students once more.

An hour later, Tym spotted the tree with the ink pen sticking out of it.

"HEY WINDFORD!" The wolf's bark echoed across the entire group and everyone stopped to stare at her. "You guys are taking us in circles!"

Mr. Windford considered her quizzically for a moment. "Are you sure?" Tym just jabbed a clawed finger at her tree.

"Yea, I'm pretty sure."

"Hold on a second." Vagger muttered as he pulled out his map, looking it over. The woren then glanced around the forested area, ears twitching lightly as he studied the surroundings. Windford waited a moment before addressing his fellow teacher curiously.

"Well?"

"Well I hate to say it but I think she's right." Vagger muttered something under his breath before glancing up at the darkening sky, and then turning his attention back to the group of students. "Alright everyone, we're setting up camp here for the night."

A chorus of groans rose up and Windford clapped his hands, attempting to quiet the group down.

"Come on, come on." He made his way through the small crowd. "Set up tents, we'll get a fire going."

The windian trio exchanged glances. Jason just jabbed a finger at David. "Dude, you're sleeping in the middle tonight."

As everyone began to set up, a rather flustered and embarressed looking Vagger frantically went over his maps, doing his best to ignore the comment from various students that constantly reached his ears.

"Vagger got us lost out here."