“Quiet down!”

Mr. Snow’s futile attempt at bringing order to the room fell on deaf ears as the students of his homeroom class chattered away. The teacher had been told to announce the field trip to the Space Center Visitor Complex, and had not properly prepared the class to hear the words ‘field trip’ without a lengthy interruption of class time.

The room got colder.

“Shut up! If you want to go on the field trip, you need to know what I’m going to say!”

Slowly, the roar was reduced to scattered whispers.

“I’m going to hand out parental permission slips, bring them back signed by Friday along with a check for the amount specified. Today, there are seating sign up sheets posted on the board next to classroom 0-451, as usual. Seating is first-come-first-serve, so try not to kill each other getting there.”

Sammy felt stares from Lane and Riley. She made eye contact with each and nodded.

* * *

 The first bell tolled, marking the end of the class period and cutting off Mr. Snow. The classroom grew deadly silent. The second bell tolled, everyone watched each other with an unspoken dare in their eyes, a dare to be the first one to step up. Mr. Snow was saying something but nobody heard. 

The third bell tolled. 

 Everyone in class stood up and rushed to the door in a mad scramble, student on top of student, screaming and clawing, the collective roar was deafening. Within the horde, Sammy, Lane and Riley managed to find each other, sticking close and squeezing through the door in single file.

 The hallway was chaos, every freshman student heard the same announcement and were scrambling to the board to secure a spot next to their friends. A student tripped and fell, and was trampled by the oncoming horde, another climbed along the walls to avoid the crowd, yet another breathed fire into the air in an attempt to get people to clear the way.

 Riley floated her phone high into the air, snapping a picture with its camera. She let it drop and caught it in one swift motion.

 “Most are taking the direct path to the right, so it will be faster to take the left route around the other way.”

 Lane and Sammy nodded, bolting to the left route. A voice came over the intercom saying that running was not allowed, but nobody listened.

 “Lane, you’re the smallest, you should squeeze into the crowd once we get there,” Sammy said.

 “Got it.”

 They continued along their route, some other kids seemed to catch on to Riley’s plan and followed in their direction. 

 Riley, Lane and Sammy turned a tight corner, sliding a bit on the floor.

 The seating chart was in sight, a small crowd formed around it, and it was about to get bigger.

 “Lane, you’re up!”

 Lane gave a thumbs up, running ahead and squeezing into the crowd.

 Sammy’s eyes widened.

 “Does Lane have a pen ready?”

 Lane reached the front of the pack, they were looking for available spots, but it dawned on them that they needed something to write with. Lane pivoted, removing their backpack and scrambling for a pen. Lane cursed their inability to keep an organized bag.

 Riley quickly procured a pen from her neatly arranged backpack, floating it in the air towards Lane. More students joined the mob.

 “Can you levitate it far enough?”

 “I can try!”

 Riley started to shake and sweat, her head throbbing in pain. She continued to reach out, pushing her abilities to their absolute limits. Riley winced. Sammy put a hand on her shoulder.

 “You can do this, I believe in you.”

 Riley’s eyes opened wide, and she pushed with her mind, using all her might.

 Lane was about to give up, their backpack had swallowed all their writing implements into its gaping maw, gone in Lane’s time of need. Lane’s eyes started to water.

 Something dropped onto their head.

 Lane caught it. It was a pen, a green gel pen, shiny and perfect.

 Silently, Lane thanked Riley. Lane stood up and looked for a spot on the seating chart, but something was off. 

 “Sammy! Riley!” Lane shouted.

 “What is it?”

 “The seats, they’re for two!”

 Riley held her head in her hands. She was expecting the older model of bus that they used for field trips that seated three per section, but they must have upgraded to the newer model recently. 

 “Sammy! Do you want to sit with me or Lane?”

 “I’m fine having to sit with someone else, as long as you two aren’t lonely!”

 A heavenly glow enveloped Sammy. Riley shook her head.

 “No!” Riley and Lane shouted.

 Sammy blinked, her eyes darting between the two.

 “I won’t let you make that sacrifice, Sammy. I can’t.”

 “Lane!”

 Lane turned their head and met Riley’s gaze with tears forming in her eyes.

 “Put yourself and Sammy together, I’ll sit alone.”

 Lane hardly had the time to process the true weight of this decision. More students flooded in, wielding their pens and pencils at the ready. Lane’s arm, moving on its own, filled in the first empty seat they saw with their and Sammy’s names; the closest empty seat for Riley was three seats away, an insurmountable distance. Lane penned in her name as well. Shaking, they put the pen back in its cap, solemnly making their way back to the others.

 “Riley…”

 “It’s okay.”

 The trio embraced, mourning the hours Riley would lose alone, so far away from her friends. They let go, turning around to head in the directions of their respective classes.