Field trips when your name is Beatrice

“Come on, people! If we’re gonna finish touring this museum today, we’re gonna have to hustle!” Mrs. Harui shouted over our excited voices. Mrs. Harui is my science teacher, and today we were going to the science center. I’m ok with science, but it's not my favourite subject ever. My name is Beatrice, and my friends and I are the exact same (kind of). Rea likes art, just like I do. Jumi loves hummus, just like me, and Mary likes to practice skateboard tricks, even if she gets hurt in the process, JUST LIKE ME. So we basically did everything together, and I was devastated when we were all  separated into different groups for the scavenger hunt. Rea was whisked off into an all-girl group, Jumi was in the group with the teacher, and Mary went with her friends that she played with when we weren't around. I looked around at my group members: boys, boys, and more boys. Oof, I thought. Today was going to be a long day.

 I was with a group of boys that hung out with each other every single day. Their leader, Marcus, was who wore the same leather jacket for 2 years straight, and who will keep doing that until he’s 16. Marcus’s “henchmen” were Joshua and Harry. Joshua and Harry were like their own mini group, because they stuck to each other like E6000 glue. They did whatever Marcus asked them to do; go throw something in the garbage, or buy something for him from the vending machine WITH THEIR OWN MONEY. The last member of their group was Fio. He just hung out with them just so he could tell his mom that he had friends at school to talk to. So he was like the back-cast part of their group that never, ever talks. So they were chatting about the new Doritos flavour, was when I walked over. They froze and Marcus asked me, “What are you doing here, Beatrice?” I just held up the index card with our names circled in a group, putting on a smug and disappointed face at the same time. Marcus looked up at me and said, “Really? Who would think of grouping us together?” Joshua and Harry nodded their heads and echoed Marcus. “Yes, yeah, who would think of that?” they said in almost-unison. Fio just nodded his head solemnly. “So”, I started. “What do we do?” Marcus responded, “Well, I guess we just start the scavenger hunt.” I nodded and asked, “So, where’s the list?” Marcus gestured to Joshua and Harry, and then they both scrambled around, finally giving Marcus a pink index card that had 5 different things listed on it. An artifact that is at least 1000 years old, a prehistoric sea object, something that is red, an artifact that means love, and something that shows the span of time. “What should we find first?” I asked. “Let’s just find the closest exhibit and find stuff in there.” Marcus said. Joshua and Harry nodded, and Marcus led us to the nearest exhibit, which turned out to be the dinosaur exhibit. “I think we can find a prehistoric sea creature here” Marcus said, observing the room. There were glass cases throughout the whole room, with plaques on them explaining the life and death of the animals, complete with a huge skeleton of a sea dinosaur on the ceiling. “Let’s start looking!” I said, trying to sound excited. We drifted off to different parts of the room to try and find something that was prehistoric and lived in the sea. While I was looking at a mini model of a Megalodon, Joshua called our, “Guys! Come over here! Me and Harry found something!” I rushed over to Joshua, who had something in his hands. “Aren’t you not allowed to touch anything in this exhibit?” I asked. Marcus and Harry came closer to our almost-huddle circle, looking at the thing in Joshua’s hands. “What is that?” Marcus asked Joshua, with a little disgust mixed in with his question. “I think it's a Thresher shark tooth” Joshua whispered. I gave him a questioning look at how he knew that and what that is. “He reads a lot of shark books,” Marcus answered. Then Harry asked him, “Why are you suddenly whispering?” Joshua looked at Harry. “The Thresher shark tooth is the most valuable shark tooth in the whole world. It's even more rare than a Megalodon tooth,” he said. We all looked at each other, not knowing what to do with a 12 million dollar shark tooth in Joshua’s palm. “What about when Mrs. Harui asks us what it is, lets just say it's a Great White tooth?” Marcus said, whispering so low that it was hard to hear him. We all nodded, and we stepped back from our huddle circle, Joshua slipping the Thresher tooth back into his back pocket. “Umm, where should we go next?” I asked, breaking the tense silence in the air. Marcus brought out the index card, and crossed off the prehistoric sea object off the list. “Let's find the something that is red thing,” Marcus said. He led us out of the dinosaur exhibit, while us feeling very awkward with Joshua having a rare shark tooth in his pocket. He brought us to the Middle Eastern part of the science center. It was filled with draped clothing on mannequins, and the things they brought on their long desert journeys. At the back of the exhibit, there was a life sized model of a person on the back of a camel, looking out to the right side of the room. Most of the things here are brownish, I thought. How are we supposed to find something RED? I looked around, and my eyes immediately spotted a red gem at the very corner of the room. I walked quickly over to the stand, and picked the gem up. The plaque said that the gem wasn’t the real thing, it was just a replica. It also said that the red gem belonged to one of the noble people in ancient Saudi Arabia. I walked over to Marcus, showing him the gem. “Ok, wait, is that an actual ruby?” I shook my head. “Ok, guys, Beatrice got the red thing, so let's go find something else!” Marcus called to Joshua, Harry and Fio. Fio was so quiet this whole time, I almost forgot he was here. Marcus brought out the index card, and crossed the something that is red off the card. “I wanna do something that shows the span of time thing, ‘cause that sounds really cool.” Joshua said, looking at Marcus for reassurance. It looked like Marcus didn’t say yes to many things that Joshua and Harry asked, because when Marcus nodded his head, Joshua’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. Joshua took a step forward reluctantly, but when Marcus didn’t say anything, Joshua started walking more confidently and led us to the Science Fiction part of the science center. We reached this exhibit, and it was very interesting. There were aliens, UFO’s, unrealistic spaceships everywhere in the room. Even the room was a bit wack. It was shaped like a dodecagon(which is basically just a 3-D octagon that has a big belly in the middle). We didn’t even have time to look around when Fio said something. Fio NEVER says anything, so we ran over to him quickly. He said, “ Time Machine.” Fio pointed at a big cylinder, about 3 meters high, wide enough to fit a person in it just standing at the side of the wack-shaped room. Then all of a sudden, two people dressed like lab scientists jumped out from behind the cylinder. “AAAAHH!” we all shouted, jumping back. “Oh, sorry about that,” said a tall scientist with pale skin and an Australian accent. “We had just realized, the girl is the one!” the second scientist said. He had light olive skin, with a bright blonde hairdo, also with an Australian accent. “What do you mean I’m the one?” I asked, getting up from where we got ambushed. “Sorry, you don’t know about that,” said the first scientist. “David, shall we tell them?” said the second scientist. David nodded his head. “So one day, our boss told us that we couldn’t go in this time machine we built cause we’re adults and all that nonsense,” started the second scientist. “And then my boss said,’ Orel, if you want to conduct this experiment, you need a child to do it for you!’” “He’s Orel, by the way,” said David. We all nodded and Marcus said,” Ok…” Then Orel continued. ”Then he said that it has to be a girl. Why? No idea. AND he says her name needs to start with a B, and need to end with an E. Why this specific? I do not know. But my boss said that only a girl with those requirements can go into the time machine, so that’s that,” Orel ended, crossing his arms in frustration. “Umm.. so when is Beatrice supposed to go into that time machine thingy?” Marcus asked. “She’s not going into a time machine,” said David. “She’s going to go into a stasis, which is basically being frozen in time.” My eyes widened in panic. “What if I die of hypothermia, or frostbite, or--” David held up his hand, and Orel told me, "You won’t actually be frozen. You’ll just like, stop moving for a while.”  “Ok,” I said. “Wait, what about my parents, will they know I’m going into this thing?” Orel replied,” I wish, but if your parents interfere, it will affect the results of the experiment greatly. So just pretend that everything is normal, and you will not be going into a time stasis chamber in two days.” I panicked again. “Two days! How am I even supposed to prepare?” “You don’t,” said David. “Like Orel said, pretend everything is normal.” I nodded, kinda confused but getting what I’m supposed to do. Marcus crossed something that shows the span of time of the list, said bye to Orel and David, and then they walked behind the stasis chamber, disappearing out of sight. We walked back to the place where Mrs. Harui said to meet up at 2:00pm, and we arrived just in time, because Mrs. Harui was taking attendance. She saw us and nodded, like she understood what just happened. All throughout the day, I was wondering what being frozen in time would be like, but before I knew it, two days passed, and I was back at the science center. I walked over to the science fiction exhibit, alone this time. I walked over to the stasis chamber, which David and Orel were hiding behind magically. David said,” Step inside, and close your eyes.” “That’s it?” I asked, surprised at how easy this was. Orel nodded his head. I stepped inside, and looked around. It was basically a scaled-up can of frosting when all the frosting was eaten. I turned around, and laid down in the huge frosting can, facing up. I closed my eyes, and David’s voice asked,” You ready?” I nodded my head, bracing for impact. A pause of silence. Orel then said,” See you.” I heard the door of the chamber close, and I was shaken, like a bottle of orange juice. Colourful lights flashed in front of my eyes, so bright that it almost blinded me. Then the door of the chamber opened. As I stepped out, I looked around in awe. The land was a bright purple, with a silver skyline in the distance. The sky was a soft pink, and little tiny UFOs were flying around the sky, with little green blobs placed inside of them. I realized just then, I was in the future.