Nobody stops her. One of the students jogs over to the trashcan, to incorporate kicking the soda bottle into the charcoal-catching game, to shouts of approval.

Yup, leaving for that walk. There's a few quiet streets she knows, ones with just enough trees to make her homesick, but it's the best she can get when her mind is jittering like this.

It is in fact quiet, and not quite too chilly for a walk to be pleasant.

She'll walk until she's exhausted, then, hoping to purge out some of this antsy feeling.

It gets the rest of the way dark, and the air grows chilly, and then cold, and her breath starts to fog.

This is nice.

She slowly meanders back.

The gathering seems to be over. There's trash on the ground, but the tables, charcoal, and food and drink supplies are gone and the grills have been closed up. Nobody else is there.

Well, she'll pick up some trash, since she doesn't really feel like going completely to bed yet, and then head up.

The trash is not unexpectedly gross, aside from a pile of partially-chewed marshmallows. Nobody interrupts her on her way.

And then sweet, glorious sleep.

(She wakes feeling even worse mentally, wanting to vanish, wanting no one to look at her or talk to her or use her damn name, she hates it right now, hates everything about her body, wants to burst out of her skin and be other.)

Fortunately, it's the beginning of the weekend, so she is free to respond to this feeling as she pleases!

Which is finding someone with a car and exercising her 'surviving in the wilderness for two days' ability.

Which is a lot easier with backpacks and ready meals and not being eight.

(She claims she's section hiking. She'll make it to the pickup place on time, but first she's going to hide in a tree and not talk to anyone for a bit.)

A short-haired aspiring search-and-rescue member with a soft voice is delighted to borrow a van to drop her off, after making sure she knows about local hazards, and has emergency numbers and list of numbers to get picked up again if she needs it.

Camping in a tree it is.

The weather is reasonably nice for this late in October. The leaves of deciduous trees are mostly colorful. A standard spread of wildlife is around, occasionally fleeing upon noticing her.

Good.

Mal, meanwhile, is not having a particularly good time.

At the pet funeral, a day prior...

The argument between the two girls with friendship bracelets was getting louder, if not more comprehensible. The students complaining about their math test had started a game of catch with pieces of charcoal from the bag. Someone in a clip-on tie moved the marshmallows to the punch bowl, further from the game. Tess was trapped in conversation with Ava, although the awkward guy in the button-down had just made his escape.

Parties, ugh.

She talks to a few people she knows, hanging on the edges, but mostly people watches.

Bored people begin to congregate around the punch bowl, in a way that indicates that they at least hope it's alcoholic. One of the students interrupts the game of charcoal catch in order to demonstrate her ability to juggle the four pieces that have just been thrown to her.

The guy in the button-down looks around, then sighs and walks up to the girls in friendship bracelets. He says something while shaking their hands, probably an introduction, and they respond and then glare at him until he leaves.

Drama, ugh. She should've brought her textbook.

The button-down guy scans the crowd, and then walks over to Mal, giving a wide berth to the game of catch.

He offers her a hand, and says "Hello, I'm Harold Goodman."

She doesn't shake it. "Haven't seen you before," she says.

He winces and lets his hand fall. "Someone emailed my church that there was a funeral at this time and place, and didn't mention it was for a mouse. It was my turn so I'm supposed to wander around and introduce myself to people and tell them about us if they're willing?"

"Yeah sorry about that, Ava was really upset and then someone decided to I guess be mean to her and make a bigger deal of stuff. And, uh, not really interested in the spiel, sorry."