“Of course I’m not scared. Bugs are bugs and a little dirt won’t hurt anyone. And I hope I’m not out at night so that there will be bats,” Avi answered. She didn’t think seeing bats in the jungle was likely, but of all the things she didn’t like, bats were right up there. There was definitely something creepy about little rats that can fly. Yuck!
“Not that I’d want to go tromping around in some sweltering jungle,” Lilith said dryly, “but will there at least be cute guys there? I mean, you can’t be going out there all on your lonesome with only the company of dusty old professor Clement and geeky archaeology nerds.”
“Hey!”
Lilith shrugged. “I didn’t mean you! But all the dudes in archaeology leave a lot to be desired.” She wrinkled her nose. “All they care about is fossils and old pottery and relics better left in the ground, if you ask me.”
“Hey!” Avirelle protested again. “I like all of those things!”
“Well, at least you’re hot. A guy could do worse than you even if you do tend to go on and on about ancient things no one cares about anymore.”
Avi glared at Lilith. The two were friends, but mostly because Avi liked Anna. Lilith on her own tended to have too much snark. She thought her “honesty” was witty. Avi just thought it was mean, but she’d gotten used to it over the years. When she wasn’t being such a bitch, Lilith could be a lot of fun. And she was one of those girls that would throw down for you and engage in a hair-pulling, crotch-kicking, girl fight if anyone else dared to even aim shade your way. Lilith took her role as Angela’s protector and pretty much applied it to anyone she cared about. Avi could forgive her for a little bitchiness and brutal honesty.
“Not that it really matters because I’m going to be there to study those ‘ancient things no one cares about anymore’ that you are mocking, but I’m sure there will be hot guys there. Salvadorada is a tropical jungle. The locals can be quite good looking, I imagine. And seriously, not all the archaeology dudes are geek-like. Russel Herbert is good looking (despite his unfortunate name).”
“Sure,” Lilith dismissed the thought of Russ Herbert. All the girls knew him. He was extremely hot (at least according to Lilith who first saw him at the campus pub). But then the guy started talking. Avirelle had never met a more self-centered asshole in her life! Seriously, he was always talking about himself and his accomplishments.
“My parents are legacies here,” he informed them. “I got in on a full ride because they donate so much to the school.”
“I don’t really have to go to classes everyday,” he continued. “There’s always someone to give me the notes and most of the professors don’t want to piss off my dad. I can usually schmooze them into changing a grade or two.”
When Avirelle asked him why he was studying archaeology since it seemed like the last thing a guy like him would care about, he said, “Doesn’t matter what I study. I’ll probably change my major next semester. But I like Indiana Jones so I thought, hey, why not!” What a dweeb! Indiana Jones was just a movie character who was more of a glorified treasure hunter than he was a scholarly archaeologist. People who thought archaeology was just some grand adventure really irritated Avi.
At least there was no way that Russel would be asked to go on this trip to Selvadorada. He was barely passing. Even the professors knew that he wasn’t serious about his classes.
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