Walk on the Wild Side

[Cactus]

((PREGAME START - MORGAN DRAGOSAVICH))

"But Mrs. Yan... trust me, it'll be so cool!"

The slight biology teacher sighed at the student who stood before her, the facade of her objections being easily melted away without a whole lot of effort. The student knew this, of course. It was why he'd come to Zhi Yan in the first place. Confrontation wasn't her strong suit, and to ask for an extension or a modification to an assignment was a pretty common occurrence. The motives behind this particular ask though, were nothing but pure. There was no malice, no trying to get out of an assignment.

There was just far too much enthusiasm.

Morgan Dragosavich was one of the better students in class - the boy obviously had more than a passing interest in chemistry, but he was always very exuberant and loved to participate in whatever the class was doing; from dissections to making large drawings of the human body on the whiteboard with only a minimum of teenaged commentary. He stood now, slightly hunched over, perhaps to try and lessen the amount he towered over the diminutive teacher. Morgan had a head on her - at least, and he didn't want to come off as trying to intimidate his smaller teacher. He liked Mrs. Yan. Her classes were entertaining, maybe not as much as Mrs. Zhang, but Morgan enjoyed them.

Mrs. Yan hemmed and hawed some more. The idea was a little outside-of-the-box, but it did present something much different than the standard 'write a paper, hand it in' that she'd likely spend many nights grading. At the same time, there were certain concerns that she knew would need to be addressed before she'd sanction anything of the sort.

"Slow down, Morgan. I've already told you, I like your idea. But we need to think this through a little bit more. How are you going to tie this in to the curriculum?"

Morgan tapped his fingers together a few times as the gears moved within his brain. It only took a few seconds before the ideas came pouring out.

"Well we're studying fossils, fauna, and things like that, right? So what if we basically go and catalogue anything we find? We could take pictures, we could try to classify different species, figure out the binomial nomenclature for all of the various mosses, animals, and stuff. Would that work?"

Nodding slightly, Mrs. Yan furrowed her brow a little bit. That would satisfy the curriculum and still allow for a writing component.

"Yes, I suppose that would work. But Morgan, this is an awful lot of work to be doing on your own. Have you considered that?"

Morgan's eyes lit up. He obviously had - the idea had been formed out of an off-hand remark during a conversation he'd been having, and had only grown from there. It made sense that he'd be ready to draft at least a few of his friends.

"I have, Miss. So that's why I've already talked it over with Michael Froese, and he's on board. If anyone knows about plant and sea life, it's Mikey!"

Zhi Yan's eyes lit up. That was one way to ensure that the assignment stayed on track. Michael Froese was probably her best biology student. If he was involved, this project, this little adventure had a larger chance of staying on the rails. She started to feel better about it, and Morgan obviously had thought this through. Much more than most of his wild suggestions.

"No, absolutely. Michael's a great person to have along. So it's just the two of you?"

Morgan shook his head with a smile. He had yet another trick up his sleeve.

"They say three's a crowd, but I don't agree. I talked to Erika and she's agreed to come along and take the photos for us!"

Now there was a surprise.

"Erika? Erika Stieglitz?"

Morgan nodded with a grin. Mrs. Yan couldn't imagine the diminutive student associating with someone with as much manic energy as Morgan, but she was starting to see that he really had taken this whole thing seriously. Admittedly she was impressed. Morgan was a smart kid, but he had a tendency to only half-finish things. That he'd put this level of effort in was a serious sign of growth.

Also probably a prerequisite of Michael Froese being involved, she mused to herself.

Thinking for a moment, she pondered. She'd basically made up her mind already, but she had one final objection.

"Wow, okay. Well, Morgan, I can see that this means a lot to you, so I'm going to allow it, on one condition."

The boy's face fell slightly, and he braced himself. "What's that?"

"I'd like you to find a fourth person to go with you. Three might not be a crowd, but four makes a group, and I'd feel better if there were an even number of you to look out for one another."

Visible relief made its way over Morgan's face, and then his brow furrowed.

"Anybody?"

Mrs. Yan shook her head.

"I'd prefer that they be in your class. Once you find a fourth, just email me the list of names, and you can submit and present this instead of the paper."

Morgan's face lit up. Finding a fourth person probably wouldn't be too difficult: he was on pretty good terms with most of his biology class, and talking someone in to it likely wouldn't take much.

"Sweet! Thanks, Mrs. Yan! I swear, you will not regret this. We're gonna have such an awesome presentation, just you wait!"

She smiled at Morgan, who nodded and basically sprinted out of the classroom. He couldn't wait to tell Mikey and Erika the good news.

They were going on a field trip.

They were going to the caves!

((Morgan Dragosavich continued in Five Crooked Lines))