The plan

A week had passed, and somehow not a single interesting development unfolded. At best, we were slowly closing in on our goal - each new candidate meeting more scrutiny than the last.

Today's mission was an unofficial meeting of sorts. I didn't really want to spend a Sunday afternoon locked up in school, but tis what tis.

I walked through the halls with my phone in hand, quickly tapping out a message to the group. "Almost there. You guys here?"

"I'm in your walls."

"Give me five minutes!"

"I've been here for an hours already, get here!"

"Sorry, new BL manga, will be a bit late."

This was truly one of the group chats of all time.

Thankfully, as I arrived at least one familiar face had come a bit early. Ella sat near the bleachers with a book in hand. Her eyes scanned the test from page to page - completely immersed in her own little world. What would I know, books took way too much effort to read. Why bother imagining a world when blockbusters movies held your hard though the mindless explosions. Critical thinking was so ten years ago!

"Anyone die yet?" I asked, leaning over her shoulder.

"Kaiden!" She jumped, voice high. "When the hell did you get here?"

"Round an hour ago. I've been tossing heavy objects around like any man should.

"How dare-" She stopped as my smile broke through. It was so much more fun when they didn't immediately catch onto the bit - ruining my fun out here.

"You didn't answer my question." I noted.

"It's a rom-com! No one dies in these!"

"Only in the good ones. Where's the fun without a bit of mortal peril?"

"Mortal what now?" She asked, putting down the book and pulling up her phone. "There's this new thing called reading comprehension you should try out sometime."

"That sounds like a challenge." I sat down on the bleachers next to her. "Please, enlighten me on the deep themes within two awkward sixteen year old's flirting with each other."

"God, you're hopeless." She smacked her forehead, sighing.

"And proud!"

"Shameless more like it." Charlotte's voice caught my ears, followed by several sets of footsteps.

An army walked besides her - one purely consisting of bored teenagers. Well, it wasn't much of a force, but one by one they'd be eliminated till only Astella remained.

"You're late." Ella said, looking up from her book.

"We're here now." Charlotte replied, sitting down at the top of the bleachers and tossing her bag to the side. "I see you're just as enthusiastic as usual Ella."

"Please, I'm just a bright fuzzball of joy." She muttered, eyes solidly back on the page."

"What's this about anyway? I have some fine literature to read after this." Val said.

"Would this so called 'fine literature' get you kicked out of every library on this side of the globe?"

"I plead the fifth." BL nut.

"Whatever, there's been something on my mind recently, especially with Ms. Hani's speech earlier. Our class trip is in a week or so, out towards the boonies with minimal law enforcement in sight. And while noble, the teachers just informed every student with half a brain cell that one of the girls here is uber famous, you can connect the dots."

"We can't exactly watch two hundred students by ourselves. That's the teacher's job anyway." Lilly stepped in, finger pointed in the air

"With a ratio of thirty to one." Charlotte sighted. "Honestly try as she might, can you see Ms. Hani keeping that close of an eye on us?"

"We'll no, but-"

"Not to mention, we're just as much at risk here, not that I expect anything to happen." Camden said.

And of course, Felix immediately started nodding in agreement. Never change dude. "And by being at risk, yall need to protect yourselves before even thinking of watching others. We need to keep an eye on each other more than anything else."

"And that's why I have a plan." I said, placing my hand on my chest. "I know what you're thinking Felix, and for the first time since the big bang, you're on point. We can't protect everyone, and besides, if they're not asking for protection is it really right to just insert ourselves into the equation like that?"

"Huh..." Camden rolled her eyes, saying nothing else. What was she on about now?

I continued on. "However, our class is different. We'll be around them like it or not, and the least we could do is keep an eye out, especially for each other like Felix said."

"Do we have a choice?" Lilly appeared from behind Val's shoulder. "I'd like to play my games in peace while we're shuttled out into the wilderness like animals."

"Only you could describe a camping trip like a personalized trip to hell Lilly." Val scoffed, glaring at the girl behind her.

"Dad got a new shipment of materials in."

"Like I said, Lilly has a great point here!"

"Whatever, just keep an eye out, and lets have fun getting dragged around in the boonies." I stood. "See y'all in Lilly's personal hell."

I phased out their goodbyes as my mind ran on overdrive. Felix had broken my illusion without a second thought - I couldn't protect Charlotte all the time, especially in the boonies. Should I convince her not to go? It'd be the safest option, but how to get that across…

"Kaiden, wait up!"

"You just can't stay away from me." Charlotte came running up, out of breath.

"In... your... dreams..."

"Sadly, Astella is the only one for me, maybe in our next lives."

Charlotte stood, clearing her throat "Why does you falling for a fictional girl just make so much sense."

"I just have high standards."

Charlotte smacked her forehead. "Delusionally high. Anyway, you excited for the trip?

"Eh, a bit. It's just camping for a week."

"Camping for a week with me, big difference."

I blushed. Why the hell did that make me blush? "I'm even less excited now."

"Rude! But, I just hope it turns out ok. You can tell how excited everyone is. Despite the dangers, I think everyone just really wants the break."

"Even Lilly?"

Charlotte chuckled. "Ok maybe not her, but last year's trip had nowhere near this much energy; I'm just glad they didn't cancel or anything. Not letting everyone go would be cruel!"

"Yeah..."

"Anyway, I gotta head. You free to study tomorrow?"

"I'm always free, long as-"

"Astella's not streaming, yeah yeah. Well looks as if you’ll have some free time soon. See you tomorrow lover boy."