Chapter One: The Invitation

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Today seemed like it would be an average day, until our teacher walked in and made an announcement.

We were gonna go on a field trip tomorrow.

My whole class cheered at the mention of this, but there's more. This field trip was actually an invitation from a new company to test the latest in Virtual Reality technology, and they figured that people around my age were perfect candidates. Our teacher said the reward for completing the test would be great, so naturally we all signed up. Virtual gaming AND a field trip? You can count me in 100%. I thought.
My name is Jace by the way, and tomorrow will be the coolest day of my life.

As soon as I got home from school later that day, I told my parents about the news.
"Really? That's so cool Jace!" My mom said. My dad added, "Seems like you'll have a really good time on this field trip." I will, and I intend to do my best on that test.
I got my form for the trip signed by my parents then semi-impatiently waited for tomorrow.
                            . . .
The next day I woke up with renewed enthusiasm. I got ready for the trip quite quickly, and had lots of time to help my siblings too. By the time it was time to walk to the bus we were all ready, and I was still joyful. Once we got on the bus I took the seat I always do, which was right across from one of my friends, Kanan. He's in the grade below me, but to be honest, he'd do perfectly fine in our grade given how smart he is.

"You excited for that trip you got today?" He asked.

"Oh yeah. I almost can't wait, it's going to be awesome!" I replied happily.

"I'm sure you guys will have a good time. And hey, good luck." Kanan said.

"Thanks Kanan. I'll try not to have too much fun there." I said jokingly. And after that all we did was wait for the bus to take us to school so we could start our days. I was excited because mine was gonna be awesome!

As soon as I got to school, the first thing I did was run and find our teacher and hand in the slip to guarantee that I go on the trip. As I waited for first bell to ring (the trip started at first bell), a lot of my classmates started to file into the school. Some either didn't come, couldn't come, or would be late to school, but anyone not at school right at first bell would be left behind. Eventually, after so much waiting we finally got on the bus, a second time for me, and started on our way to our destination.
"Here we go." Our teacher said.
A lot of the kids on the bus cheered at this.
"Yeah!"
"Woo-hoo!"
"All right!"
I managed to snag a seat on the bus near my friends; London, Kelly, Allison and Petra. I know they are all girls but that doesn't matter. They're friends and nothing else. Anyway, they were pretty excited about the trip, London and Kelly in particular because this was one of their first actual field trips since transferring to our school about a year ago.
London was about average height for her age (I think she was about 5'8" or 5'9"), was neither too skinny nor too big, and normally has dirty blonde hair but a little while back, she decided to have it dyed maroon red. It was a good look for her.
Kelly was a bit taller than London but much skinnier. She has messy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Kelly is also the oldest sibling of 4, like me, so we see eye to eye on some matters, specifically family.
Petra has dark brown hair, green eyes and is also the oldest of our little group. She isn't as tall as London or Kelly and is a bit bigger than both, but she is still fun to be - and have - around.
Allison is the shortest of us (almost by a head compared to London) but she is just as smart and capable as anyone else in our class. She has brown hair like Petra but much shorter, and she has brown eyes.
Then, there's me. I stood taller than all the girls at nearly six feet. I have blue-gray eyes and I'm relatively well built for a 15 year old. I'm not saying I'm like an Olympic athlete or anything, but I'm not a beanpole either.

We were a diverse group of individuals, but diversity was good.
"This will be so cool!" Kelly said.
"I can't wait to get there and start trying this new stuff out." Petra added. "I wonder what the reward is." Allison pondered.
"What about you Jace? You seem pretty excited." London asked.

"I think the best thing about this is that I get to try this with my friends, not just by myself or with a bunch of random morons that I don't know." I responded. 
"Friends do make it better." Petra  commented.
"It's like a quote I've heard,'if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.' And today I want to go far." I replied.
"I guess it is good to have a gaming nerd on your side." London said, hinting at my gaming knowledge.
"Hey, nerds rule the world, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." I said jokingly.

The rest of the bus ride wasn't as exciting but when we were getting close I could almost feel the joy and tension in the air.
Finally we got to our destination, and when we started filing off the bus I drew in a breath and said, "Let's do this."

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