Lucas And The Time-Traveling Fog A Field Trip To Remember

The New York Giants game that night was freaking awesome! The Giants won! The final score was 24-17. So on Monday, I was pumped to wear Ben’s New York Giants jersey to school, I picked one out of the few he had. Suddenly, his mom hollered that breakfast was ready. I sat down at the table and dug into my sugary cereal, enjoying the nostalgic feeling of watching the morning news in the background.

I felt like I was finally back home. At least for a moment. And speaking of home, that's when I finally found out where my new "home" is. Apparently, I'm from a town called Bradsberry in Pennsylvania. Of all places! But hey, it's better than being back in the Midwest. I was all set to go to school when “my” mom reminded me to grab my bike from the garage and to not forget my helmet. "Don't worry, I won't," I hollered back as I opened the front door. When I swung it open, I was startled to see Allison standing there, arm raised like she was about to ring the doorbell. This time, she was wearing a plain red t-shirt with a red scrunchie, blue jean overalls with a bleached jean jacket, and different black sneakers. I literally jumped when I saw her, because I wasn't expecting anyone to be there. But she just giggled and said,

“Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I was just about to ring the doorbell.”

“Sure you were.” I said, trying to catch my breath.

Allison, or Al as I was starting to call her, smirked and playfully hit my shoulder. "Get your bike out of the garage already, will ya? We don't wanna be late for school and have Josh gloat all day, do we?"

I was surprised to hear Al say something positive about Josh. Maybe she was actually listening to me after all. I brushed her aside and went into the garage to get my bike. As I was putting on my helmet, I asked her how she had gotten there so quickly.

"I biked," she said. "Like I do every day. It's pretty easy when one of your best friends in the whole wide world only lives four doors down from you."

Oh, right. I had forgotten how close she lived. She laughed at my confusion, then got on her bike and started to clip on her helmet.

"You seriously thought I walked to your house all this time?"

“No.”

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me, Benji. I won't tell Josh a thing," she said with a goofy cheeky smile.

Whatever. At least I wouldn't be the one hearing about it until the end of time. I clipped my helmet on and hopped on my bike, and we started our exciting bike ride to school. I couldn't help but wonder when she'd mention Josh again. I desperately wanted to learn more about what was going on between them.

I was starting to suspect that someone was playing games with their friendship, but who? It wasn't Allison. She was too sweet. Joshua? Maybe. But there was also a good chance it could be Brittney, who Allison was obsessed with. Or she could just be that one jealous friend. Not really much of a threat there. But I'd have to see her in action to be sure.

Just as I was thinking about this, Al asked me, "Hey Ben, when we get to school, can you please talk to Josh? And while you're at it, get him to admit he's sorry. He didn't even answer when I tried calling him last night."

"I'll see what I can do, Al," I said, reassuring her.

Allison looked relieved. "Good," she said. "And be sure to tell him that I'm willing to forgive him and put everything behind us if he just apologizes for every mean thing he's ever said to me, especially that loser with no familia that he said on Friday." She then mumbled to herself, but I swear I heard her say, "I just want us to be friends again."

"Allison, don't worry about it," I said. "I'll get him to apologize to you one way or another at lunch."

Al suddenly got off her bike and stopped at the crosswalk. I guess that was my cue to hit the crosswalk button, so I got off my bike too and did just that. But as I hit the button, she went for a hug and squealed, "Oooo, thank you, Benji! I knew I could count on you!"

After that, we got back on our bikes and I followed Allison as she led the way. Soon, we could see school buses dropping off kids at a one-story red brick building that looked like a prison. Before we joined up with the other "delinquents," Allison reminded me that I had until lunchtime to talk to Josh. I thanked her and we made it to junior high. As I was struggling to lock my bike to the rack with all the other bikes, I overheard Allison say in a snarky voice,

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in. What took you so long, Joshua?"

"I don't know, Allison, maybe it has something to do with me taking the bus to school since I live so far away from you two," Josh replied.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

"Forget? How could you forget when you seem to remember every—"

"Got it!" I yelled gleefully, interrupting their argument as I finally locked my stupid bike.

"Got what?" Al asked rudely, turning to me.

"I got my bike locked... this darn lock just wouldn't click," I laughed awkwardly. "I think I have to convince my mom to get me a new one."

"Well, good for you, Ben, good for you," Al said in a huff. She and Josh looked at each other, huffed, and darted in separate directions.

I was left stranded as they joined the crowd of kids walking into the doors. "Wait for me, guys!" I exclaimed and tried my best to catch up to them as I shimmied my way over.

Franklin Junior High, or so the sign said. It looked like it hadn't been updated since the '70s. And get this, the Bulldogs were the school mascot. As I walked past a mural of a tough-looking cartoon bulldog wearing a maroon sweater with the school initials, I saw Al in the distance.

This day was getting weird. The last time I was in middle school was in the fall of 2021, when my girlfriend Emily and I went to see my little brother Liam play basketball when it finally opened up again after Covid.

Walking through Franklin Junior High, home of the Bulldogs, is interesting. I can't help but stare at everything. I even remember seeing kids wearing some of these clothes when I was little. It's giving me flashbacks. I don't know if I like this or hate it. But I do hate carrying this backpack and helmet though. Where's Ben's locker? I could've sworn I saw Allison walk down this hall. Walking further down this hallway, I only saw a dozen or so dark red lockers with number name plates everywhere down to my right and left trying to get past a few dozen or so kids around me of all sizes.

So I'm walking down the hall when I see streamers and a white envelope on a locker. I was like, "What's this?" So I went over and read it. It said, "To: Ben 'WILDCARD' Harper. Happy Birthday!" I thought, this must be my locker, since I’m the only Benjamin Harper around here. But what kind of nickname is Wildcard? Is it a basketball reference? I don’t think so, since he’s not that tall.

So I put my stuff down and opened the card. It was just a basic, generic birthday card with some sappy quotes from “friends.” But I noticed that all these friends were on the cheerleading team. Wow, Ben, you got some admirers!

I thought, “This is a stroke of luck, finding his locker right away.” But then I noticed the combination lock. How am I supposed to open that? Just as I was thinking about it, Ally came up behind me and said, “Who’s the card from?”

I turned around and said, “Oh, it’s from… the cheerleading team."

She smiled and said, "That's nice of them."

I smiled back and said, "Yeah, it is."

"I thought it would be from Savannah for sure," she said.

"Savannah?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing as I scrunched my nose.

"Oh, please. Like you don't know who she is. All the girls know she has a huge crush on you."

I laughed. "I don't know about that."

"Trust me," she said. "She does."

Great, another thing to add to my list of things to worry about. Not to mention this stupid locker was difficult to open. As I was struggling with it, Al couldn't bear to watch me anymore and asked if I needed help. I said “No, the combination was just not working.” She sighed and replied, "You boys and your lame excuses. Have you ever thought of..." and then she elbowed my locker and it magically opened. "Doing that," she said.

I looked at her in disbelief. "It's one of the perks of having these old lockers," she said. "You should try it out sometime." I rolled my eyes and put my jacket and helmet in the locker before locking it. Al told me to follow her to the school gymnasium, where Josh was supposedly waiting for us. Inside the gymnasium, it's like a zoo. There were kids everywhere, running around, sitting at tables, or on the floor by the bleachers. I noticed a group of kids playing a Pokémon card game at one table, and at another, a group of mean eighth-grade girls talking, whispering, and laughing at them. Then there were the jocks, being their usual bully selves, picking on the wimpy sixth graders. It's a lot like my middle school. It's nice to know that some things never change.

So, I was walking through the chaos of the hallway when I saw Josh sitting by himself, playing on his purple Game Boy. He quickly shoved it in his backpack when he saw us. Al, who I'm guessing was the leader of the friend group, said, "There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you."

"We?" I asked, turning to her.

"I mean, I wanted to look for you," she said. "Ben is just here for the ride."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," I joked to myself.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I said to you on Friday," Al said. "Ben reminded me over the weekend how caring you guys are and how I shouldn't take you for granted."

She sighed and added, "But both of you should know that I'm a person too, and I can make my own decisions, especially about who I hang out with." She glared at Josh as she said this.

Just then, the bell rang. Al ended her rant with, "You don't have to apologize for everything you said to my face just yet... save it for lunch."

When Al was a good distance away, Josh and I walked in silence to my classroom. Before we went our separate ways, I told him that we'd talk after class. He just nodded and went to his class, which was directly across from mine.

I could tell that what Al had said really got to him. Maybe Josh was right. Maybe this truly was the beginning of the end of their friendship.