"We'll go shopping, after the official tour," Daniela said. "Jenny can take the train home with the rest of the class if she doesn't want to come. Maybe she can sit beside our good teacher Perkins."

Even though she talked about me, she looked at the others, smirking. Most of them laughed at her joke.

Even Nora.

The hate I felt for Daniela was almost physical, a bolt of electricity slamming through my body. I was tempted to slap her face. I took a breath, trying to regain control—control of myself and of the situation here.

"Well, really," I said. "I don't think that Perkins will allow anyone to stay behind for shopping. We'll all have to take the same train, together."

Last night, when arriving in the city of Geneva, all the shops had already closed. So we had gone straight to the hostel. We then had devised a vague plan that we could go shopping after visiting that CERN thing today, before taking the train home.

But now I was dead tired from last night. That foray into the hostel's kitchen had lasted until 2 a.m. And after that, the beer that the boys had smuggled in their packs left my head spinning and the rest of me sleepless basically until breakfast.

On top of all that, my shoulders were aching from my heavy backpack, and a pain at my left heel held the promise of a big, fat blister. I just wanted this hike, and the whole school outing, to be done with.

So, no, I wasn't in the mood for shopping today. I longed to take the earliest train home. But I wanted the girls to be with me for the long ride back. Nora, at least.

"I'll talk to Perkins," said Daniela and went off in pursuit of our teacher. The others followed, only Nora lingered.

"Don't be a spoilsport", she said.

"Look, I'm so tired," I answered. "Let's just take the train home. Please!"

Nora hesitated. Then she shook her head, her pretty dark curls shedding drops of water. She loved getting her hair wet in the rain. I didn't know why I found this habit of hers so endearing.

"Naw," she said finally. "Geneva is such a great city. This is a unique opportunity. I'll stay if Perkins allows it."

"OK, whatever," I answered and sat down on a log at the side of the trail. "I need some more rest, I'll sit here a moment."

"You're sure about this?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. I'll follow with one of the other groups. You can go." I didn't need them, I didn't need her.

"OK," she said, a vague smile on her lips. With a wave of her hand, she turned and scampered after the others.

I watched her disappear behind a bend in the trail.

What friends I had. Really.

The clouds hung low in the sky, gray and heavy like a huge herd of elephants. It was not yet noon, but the world felt like late evening. Gloomy and drowsy.

I was sure that ours hadn't been the last group in our procession through the rain, but as I sat there alone on the ridge of that sodden hill and no one passed for minutes, I was beginning to feel restless, wondering if I should just get up and hike by myself. Might be a neat experience, for once.

But then I heard voices, and I looked downslope.

A guy appeared. "Hey!" he said, and it took me some seconds to recognize Steve under the hood of a dark Wellensteyn jacket. "Jenny?"

Hmm, it could be worse. I didn't know him well, he wasn't in my crowd, but he seemed OK. He was with Kevin, our class nerd, and three girls.

"Oh my God," I said, realizing how relieved I felt to see them. "Hello Kevin, hello Steve. It's so good to see you guys!"

"What's the matter?" Steve asked, coming to a halt before me.

"Everything's hurting," I answered. "My legs, my back, and, oh my God, my feet! I can't go on. My pack's so heavy."

I really needed help, hoping that they might the hint.

"We're the last group," Steve said. "You can't stay here. You'll have to come with us ... give me your sleeping bag, I'll carry it for you."

He gave me a shy smile, a charming one.

"Thanks, you're such a sweet!" I answered and smiled at him gratefully. Then I untied the thing from my pack.

While he was busy strapping it to his own backpack, I looked at the rest of the group.

"Hello Kevin, hi Rose," I said. I always had thought the two of these would make a couple, but the way the stood apart showed that they hadn't yet come to realize this. "Wet, isn't it?"

The last one was Leona. I didn't really know her. She was a fairly quiet one with mousy hair and unremarkable clothing. She looked exhausted, the poor girl. "Oh, Leona! You look terribly tired."

"Well, I can still carry all my stuff myself, thanks," she said, the edge in her voice taking me by surprise. "But yes, I'm tired. Some people did make a lot of noise last night when we were trying to get some sleep."

She seemed to be cranky. Well, so was I. But I just shrugged, too tired to answer in tone. Exhaustion had taken hold of me, wrapping everything in a fat layer of cotton.

I heard them talking something about that CERN, not really caring.

We finally decided to take some shortcut. Well, they decided, against my better judgment. And it was a mistake. That trail was steep and slippery, and we were all covered in stinking mud when we reached its bottom. And there, the path ended at that fence.

"You see?" I said. "Now we have to turn back." I felt utterly depleted.

As if in mocking response, Steve approached a door in the fence and tried its handle. The thing opened with a grating sound.

"No way!" I said. "Don't you see that sign?" I pointed at a hard-to-miss no-trespassing sign.

"Yeah, but that's just a hard hat warning," replied Steve. "They're probably doing construction work here, sometimes. But today it's Saturday. No one's working. Look." He pointed at the field on the other side of the fence. "It's just a field and a road. You don't need no hard hat to walk that."

"Yeah, let's go on," Leona chimed in. "I really want to get to a dry place." She looked as tired as I felt.

"But don't they do experiments here?" asked Rose. "You know, with radiation ... and such stuff?"

I nodded.

"The experiments they do are far underground," Kevin said, obviously warming to the topic. "There's no significant radiation even right beside their accelerator. And certainly none of that up here. As Steve said, it's just a hard hat sign. If there were any radiation danger, the sign would look different."

"OK," Rose gave in, an adoring smile on her lips. "If you say so. You're the expert here."

"Let's go then," Steve said, turning for the door.

"Really," I tried to reason, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Ah, come on," Steve replied, bringing up that smile of his. "You don't want to climb back up that mud slope again, do you?"

I opened my mouth for a retort. But the thought of climbing up there again, through the mud, stopped me short.

I hated trouble, and they were seeking it out. But if they wanted it that way, I wouldn't be the one to blame. "OK. But if something goes wrong, it wasn't my idea."

Steve winked at me then headed for the field. Leona followed him as if she drawn along by an invisible rubber band between them. Did they have a thing going on? Or was this just some one-sided crush?

Next were Kevin and Rose, moving in perfect synchronicity without knowing it.

I sighed. Why should I care what went on between these four?

Then I followed.

The gray elephant clouds galloping through the heavens had grown heavier and closer, and they drenched us with everything they had.

A searing pain on my left heel brought tidings of a blister torn open. Perfect.

A phone rang. Civilization's wonderful voice making itself heard in this desolate world of water, wind, and wounded heels. Like a brief shaft of sunlight, but then I realized that the ringtone wasn't mine.

It was Kevin's. His mom—why didn't that astonish me?

My eyes were drawn to some functional building to our left. It suddenly seemed to grow dim, then fuzzy.

Next, my stomach attempted to do a summersault. I lost my equilibrium to the sound of giant hitting a gigantic drum with the biggest stick he had found.

A/N

As I am currently redoing the first few chapters, I have decided to jot down some of that from Jenny's POV. These are just some quick and dirty notes...