The Wilderness

Chapter One

The crisp morning air was gone, replaced with the somewhat bland and stale smell of the inside of an airplane. On board were the year's freshmen nominees, all from East Bell High School. They had all been chosen, along with the other freshmen at EBHS to take a special survey, sponsored by the newly made program American Trips for Freshmen (ATF). The program was made to promote "pride and Americanism," but for the teens it was more or less an excuse to miss two weeks of school and visit some exciting place. This was the ATF's first trip, and they had picked Fairbank, Alaska as their destination. If the trip was a success they would continue their program. They had chose EBHS at random to receive the survey. Only a little less than half of the freshmen given the survey were qualified to go on the trip. Of that half only some had the money, materials, and parental permission to go. As a result, of the 106 freshmen qualified to go, only forty-four were actually going.

​The forty-four freshmen aboard the plane were giving the airline attendants the runaround. While the kids were having the time of their lives, the attendants were moments away from calling it quits. In their eyes, the freshmen were scarcely better than two-year-olds.

​"Mrs! Mrs!" One of the boys, Jason Powell, exclaimed from the back of the plane. "This idiot right here is annoying me! Can you kick him off the plane?"

​Jackson Wallston, Jason's best friend, laughed and said, "No, he's bothering me! Kick him off, kick him off!" The attendant glanced over at them and walked away down the aisle, rolling her eyes exasperated.

​"No, don't go!" Jason shouted, laughing.

​"Could you just stop?!" Kristen McGrim, who was sitting behind Jackson and Jason, exclaimed annoyed. "You both should be kicked off the plane." Jason and Jackson continued laughing.

​"Hey! I'm supposed to sit next to you!" Lola Baxen complained from the front of the plane. Stephan Collins, her latest boyfriend, and Alexander Waters, his best friend, looked up at her confused. They were both sitting in their seats.

​"You still can," Alex said, "There's still one more seat next to him."

​"Yeah Lola," Stephan added, still a little confused at Lola's outburst. "I saved you the seat next to the window, just like you wanted." Lola frowned.

​"Where's Sally supposed to sit?" Lola asked as Sally Ford stood beside her. Stephan looked from her to Alex. There were only three seats on the right side of the plane for each row, and on the left there were two seats. He had been planning on sitting between Lola and Alex. Apparently, though, Lola had other plans.

​"But Lola, I had already told Alex he could sit with us," Stephan explained. "Sally can sit in one of those seats," he pointed to one of the seats on the left side of the plane.

​"I want to sit next to Sally!" Lola pouted like a three-year-old. "So either you tell Alex to move, or I'll go sit somewhere else." Stephan looked at Alex regretfully and, with an annoyed sigh, Alex got up and sat in the row behind Stephan, next to Jonathan and Joe Fairlight.

​"Lola?" Jonathan asked Alex.

​"Yep, spoiled brat," Alex said.

​"I heard that!" Lola said from her seat between Stephan and Sally.

​"Good!" Alex shouted back.

After a quick stop at Chicago, where the kids boarded another plane that was specifically for the ATF program, the freshmen found themselves a few hours away from their destination in Alaska. The commotion from earlier had vanished as time went by. Many of the kids were sleeping, or trying to at least. Some stared out the window or talked with friends.