The Hunter's Secret

CLASS TRIP

"Whatever." - Me

“Breakfast!” I heard my dad shout from the kitchen.

My new room didn’t have a mirror, not that I care how I look at this point. I tossed my pajamas into my suitcase and grabbed my backpack. I was making a stand. I was showing my dad I did not believe the lie he told me right before we moved. This was not going to lead to a stable job, this was not going to be the place we'd settle in. I just knew it. So I took all the essentials out and left everything packed.

We had been in this stupid city for three and a half months and I hated every day of it. We had lived in many places, but I hated cities the most. They were grey and uninviting. My stupid school was as generic as they come, and the people, well, they were pre-teens that had just found social media. You do the math.

“We live in a matchbox.” I said as I walked into the kitchen and dropped my bag near my chair. I tried the angry teenager for about a month after we arrived. It didn't change anything and we ended up being two angry people inside a very small apartment. I was angry at dad and at life, he was frustrated and angry that I didn't comply like all the other times. So I chose to be the brooding teenager who sulked at everything. “There is no need to shout unless you want to invite the neighborhood.”

“Good morning to you too.” Dad set the plates with eggs and sausage on the table as I poured the coffee for us.

“Here.” I handed him a crumpled-up piece of paper that I took from my back pocket. “You need to sign it.”

“What is it?” He asked without even looking at it.

“A consent form for some stupid trip.” I shrugged.

“You know how I feel about these trips, kiddo.” I sighed. Yes, I heard his speech a million times. He would tell me how teachers were not equipped to take care of 20 kids at once and if the school really needed a trip, they needed to bring the parents along. Of course, that was impossible and his distrust of teachers was selective at best: he trusted them just fine for 8 hours a day. At some point, I had stopped asking, but this time I had to.

“I know, but it’s 30% of my grade and I do not want to repeat eighth grade!” I huffed, feeling the frustration bubbling up. “It’s only two days and we won’t even go far. We’ll be north of the city learning how people actually survive without the internet.” I added the last part sarcastically. My phone was still straight out of the Stone Age.

The truth was, I really didn’t want to go. For me, it was 2 days stuck with people who didn’t like me and doing things I didn’t want to do. However, I also didn't want to repeat the seventh grade, and knowing my dad didn’t want me to go, naturally, made me want to go. I kept stabbing my food until he sighed and reached for the paper.

“I don’t like this…” I knew he was trying to make eye contact, but I made sure to keep my eyes on the last few pieces of sausage on my plate. “I’ll call the school this afternoon.” He said finally, and I knew he was going to try and get me off of this trip.

“Whatever.” was all I said before getting up and leaving for school. I didn't even know why I bothered anymore.

I have to say I didn’t think Mrs. Bennet had it in her to stand up to dad, but I was wrong. It was 2 weeks after our breakfast discussion and I was sitting on the bus on my way to the “Settlers' Village”, a place where you could live like it was 1675 or something. It was almost not worth it. Except for this morning, before walking me to school - dad wanted to size up Mrs. Bennet - dad handed me a brand new smartphone.

“You can use the camera to take pictures of anything… interesting. And we can video chat.” He said unenthusiastically. I knew what he meant: take a picture of any funny business so I can take it to the school board and we will video chat so I can make sure everything is okay around you. I was initially surprised he didn’t offer to chaperone the trip, but then Mrs. Bennet said he tried to but they already had enough chaperones.

"I'm very happy he wants to be more involved!" She kept going. "I told him he could chaperone the next trip, but he didn't seem too thrilled. A real history buff, your dad..." She finished off with a giggle that I started calling the "dad effect". Whenever a woman spoke with my dad for more than five minutes, she would find him charming. How do I know? Because every single one that knew he had a daughter tried to get closer to him through me.

“Look who entered the 21st century!” Casey’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I had just inserted the sim card into my phone and was trying to figure out how to use all its functions. I decided not to answer her, so I just half shrugged.

"No, honestly, do you even know how to work one of these?" her posse laughed. I rolled my eyes at her not-so-subtle way of implying I didn't know how to handle technology. Bored by my lack of response, they moved on as she mumbled "Whatever, weirdo." not so under her breath.

"Each station you complete will earn you points. Complete all of them and you will have earned one-third of your grade ready. If you fail to complete a Station, points will be taken away from you. If you fail enough stations, your essay will only be worth 15% of your grade, not 20%." Mrs. Bennet was forced to pause due to the loud protests."Yes, I know, life isn't fair. Don't slack off here and you won't have to worry then." she added curtly. "Alright. Let's go look at the stations!"

"Mrs. Bennet?"

"Yes, Miss Smithson?"

"Aren't we dropping off our bags in our rooms before?" It was hard to fight the urge to roll my eyes. Casey's whiny voice was annoying.

"Well, Miss Smithson, back in the day they didn't have the luxury of busses and cars with air conditioning and pod airs, and we are here to learn how they did it. So consider lugging your backpack around as part of the learning."

There were some more protests but everyone knew there was no way to change Mrs. Bennet's mind, mostly because people were trying to figure out what she meant by pod air.

Diligently, I took a picture of every station and sent it to dad so he would know that the biggest danger I was in was getting some melted wax on my fingers. He replied asking for more pictures of the surrounding area and of the place I would be sleeping. I did as requested and almost got my phone taken. Apparently, they didn't have smartphones in the 1600s and we needed to keep technology behind or something stupid like that. I was able to keep my phone, however, by asking Mrs. Bennet to pose for a photo next to the emergency exit, telling her my dad wanted to see it working. She was more than happy to pose.

We had three stations that day and everything went as expected. Stupid pre-teens acting as stupid pre-teens - yes, I was jealous, yes, I wanted someone to laugh with, but as I didn't have it, then everyone was stupid. At night we all ate in the hall and returned to our cabins an hour and a half before lights out.

The two big wooden cabins were opposite each other, which we were all thankful for as it meant the boys couldn't peak into ours. The girls were chatting animatedly as if they hadn't just spent a very boring day together. Oh, wait, they hadn't, I had. Seeing everyone around me happily chatting made me regret coming to this thing. Suddenly, the large cabin felt too small and stuffy, so I went outside to get some air. Obviously, no one noticed.

Breathing the fresh air helped me. I like the outdoors. I like how the grass tickles my feet, the sound of the wind hitting the trees, and how crisp the air is. I didn't know how long I was outside contemplating if I had time to walk around or not, but suddenly, the lights in the girl's cabin went out. I cringed at the high-pitched screams that came from inside, reached for my phone, and turned on the flashlight function before going back in.

"Who is there?" someone asked as soon as I stepped inside.

"Are the lights going to come back soon?" someone else asked.

"It's Cassie and I don't know. Anyone knows where the breaker is?"

"I need to charge my phone!" someone else protested.

I sighed heavily. This wasn't something the adults would have shown us. Mrs. Bennet and the other female chaperone were supposed to be sleeping with us, but she had told us they were only coming to the cabin at lights out and there was at least half an hour left. I was trying to decide whether to wait for an adult to notice our lights were out and come to our rescue or if I should go look for the circuit board myself. At every new place, my dad would always show me how to kill the lights and how to put them back up.

However, my thought dilemma was interrupted by some strange animal sounds that were coming from right outside our door.