1 Field Trip

We had to be at the bus by 6 am. I was still half asleep when my mom pulled into the parking lot of Bensonville Junior and Senior High School. It was still dark out, but I could see the sun dressed in ribbons of pink and peach rising. Bensonville Junior and Senior High School is a 100 year old brick building. It looks creepy in the predawn light, like a gothic mansion out of a scary story. It looks like it would more at home on the Yorkshire moors than in a tiny suburb in Maryland. The entire 7th grade and their parents have gathered around the bus in the parking lot. Bensonville only has 200 residents and our 7th grade class only has 20 students. Some people cannot believe how tiny our town is, but my family has lived in Bensonville for generations so I'm used to it. There are benefits to living in such a small town. I know every kid in the seventh grade and I'm on good terms with all of them. That's one thing that I can say. We don't have bullies at Bensonville High.

My mother insists on hugging me before I get on the bus. It's embarrassing, but I allow it because this is the first time that I'm going on an overnight field trip and because Boston is so far away. Me and the rest of the 7th grade will be spending 2 days and 1 night in Boston to see two special exhibits, one at the Museum of Fine Art and one at the Science Museum. I'm super excited to be going, but since I'd spent the night before too nervous to sleep, I couldn't muster much visible excitement. Once I was seated on the bus, in the rows, next to and across my two BFF, I put my head on my pillow and fell asleep.

"Roxanne, let that child go on the field trip. It's a school trip. They'll have chaperones and if she doesn't go then she will be the only kid in the whole 7th grade class who isn't going. Now, I know that you don't want the child to stand out like that, now do you?" My nanna is a former school teacher and she has a way of peering at your over the top of her glasses like she just caught you talking during a lesson. It always stops my momma in her tracks. It always stops all of us in our tracks except for my granddad and her younger brother, Uncle Jonathan.

"Yes, Mother. I understand that, but . . .but. . .we have never been apart for an entire night before. What if something happens?"

I swallowed against the lump that suddenly developed in my throat. I have never been allowed to sleep over at my friend's houses. My mother explains it away by saying that I'm a chronic bed wetter. It makes me feel so ashamed, but my friends have been warned about revealing that secret or teasing me about it.

"Like what, Roxanne? What do you think is going to happen? It's only 2 days and one night. The girl is no dummy and she's 12 and she knows how important it to hide her talents." Nana said, still peering at my mother over the top of her glasses and patiently waiting for her to see that she's right. That she's always right.

My talents that they were talking about were my powers. I can fly. I am super strong and super fast. I have x-ray vision and super hearing. Super powers are not that extraordinary, but not registering yourself as a powered being is a big deal. All powered people must be registered at the state and federal level. It was one of the first things that I learned in the 3rd grade during my first social studies lesson. I remember coming home and asking my mother if she had registered me. I knew not to let anyone know that I had super powers. I had always known that, but I didn't know that the government could hurt my family for not registering me. When my mother told me that if I got caught using my powers that she could go to jail and that I would be sent to a special school, I cried and cried. But Nana was right. I'm 12 now and I have never been a dummy. I wasn't planning on flying around the motel room or lifting up one of the dinosaurs at the science museum. I would never do anything to put my mom in jeopardy. It was starting to make me angry that she didn't trust me.

"Mum, I promise, I'm not going to be stupid. I'm not going to use my talents. You know me better than that. C'mon." I was on the verge of angry tears. People without powers don't understand. I cannot tell you how often I had to sit and listen to Rolanda wish for super strength. But she doesn't understand that it's not like winning the lottery. Having powers means that you have to be extra careful because the Authority is always watching. I heard of a kid getting thrown in jail for getting into a fight. He has super strength. He didn't use it in the fight and lost and got beaten up quite badly. But just the fact that he had been in a fight and was capable of killing the other kid with his bare hands was enough to get him 13 months in super juvie. I wasn't going to do anything to get sent to juvie. "Please, Mummy." I was about to get down on my knees and beg.

My mother looked between me and Nana and finally gave in. "Okay.Okay.But you have to keep your phone charged and you have to bring one of those portable cell phone charges with you.You need to text me once every 3 hours so that I know that everything is okay."

I jumped up and threw my arms around my mom and then my Nana. "Thanks Mummy! I have to go tell Chanel and Rolanda.

I had never been to Boston before. I had never really been out of Maryland before and although I had practically had to get on my knees and beg my mom to let me go, I knew, I just knew that I was going to have fun. We were going to stay in a hotel!!I had never stayed at a hotel before and I was looking forward to being able to order room service!!! I was also glad that I would be sharing a room with my BFFs instead of my mom. Yes, my mother and I share a bedroom. A lot of my family live together in my Nana's house on Buttonwood drive in Bensonville. Fun fact, the street was named after my great-great-great-grandfather Nigel Bensonville, who was a town founder.

Anyways, it's a big house that nearly takes up the entire small block on the corner of Buttonwood and Elm. We have plenty of bedrooms, but my mom insists that I share a room with her. She's very overprotective. That's fine most of the time. I get it. She lost my father just before I was born and she doesn't want to lose her only child too, but I'm 12 years old and I want to spend some time with my friends. I really wanted to go on this field trip because my bffs, Chanel and Rolanda were going. I begged my mom for weeks, but in the end, Nanna had to speak up for me.