“What are you—” Elchanan began, but then he heard something. Was that a voice?

This was not how he’d expected the long-awaited graduation trip to turn out.

Elchanan scowled to himself as he scrambled up a steep hill, the trail barely discernible under his feet. Avi was lagging behind, again, still talking about the map.

Map or no map, he’d have to be blind to think the trail went in any other direction. To their right and left, the trees were packed so densely they would probably be lost within minutes.

For a minute, a twinge of doubt assailed him. Could they be on the wrong path? It didn’t look like it was supposed to; Mr. Kreiser had insisted that all paths were well-maintained and easy to follow.

“Can you — hold on — a minute?” Avi called from behind, words coming in spurts between breaths. Elchanan rolled his eyes. To think the great Avi Shine couldn’t handle a couple hours of hiking...

He checked his watch. They’d been walking for well over an hour. Mr. Kreiser had told them the trails would take them three to four hours if they followed the directions correctly and moved at a reasonable pace. Avi’s pigeon steps, though, could hardly be considered reasonable.

“Why do you keep running ahead?” Avi finally reached him, breathing hard and angry. “You don’t need to show off, you know.”

“Running ahead?” Elchanan asked, incredulous. “We’re on a forest hike, not a kindergarten stroll. Do you want to get there after the barbecue is over?”

“We’re not gonna get there quicker by refusing to check the map.” Avi was holding out the sheaf of papers again. They were starting to look dog-eared.

“We’re not going to get anywhere by just running down whatever path we see. Mr. Kreiser gave us this for a reason, and I think we should be using it to check where we’re going.”

For real?