Jake and his older sister Layla stood shoulder to shoulder inside the massive, echoing lobby of the city museum, both wearing their school sweatshirts and lanyards with bright neon name tags. The class field trip was supposed to be educational, but so far, Jake was mostly focused on finding new ways to annoy Layla.

“Ugh, why is it freezing in here?” Layla muttered, wrapping her arms around herself as they entered the dinosaur exhibit.

“It’s so the fossils don’t rot,” Jake said dramatically. “Also because you’re cold-blooded.”

Layla shot him a look. “You’re literally wearing a hoodie and a beanie. You’re a walking contradiction.”

Their classmates scattered around the hall, oohing at the giant T. rex skeleton towering over them. Jake stared up at it, wide-eyed. “Yo, that thing kinda looks like Coach Brown when he’s yelling at us during P.E.”

Layla snorted despite herself. “You’re not wrong.”

As they wandered into the Egyptian exhibit, Jake started reading the ancient hieroglyphs out loud in a completely made-up language, pretending to be a tour guide. “And here we have… uh… the ancient scroll of Layla’s soccer career. It ends in tragedy.”

Layla rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop the smile that tugged at her face. “If I get kicked out of this trip because of you, I’m telling Mom.”

“Oh please, you love hanging out with me,” Jake replied, skipping ahead to a replica mummy.

They spent the next hour walking through dark-lit halls filled with artifacts and displays. Layla was actually interested in the Renaissance paintings, stopping to read the info cards, while Jake kept sneaking behind statues and trying to scare her.

At one point, they ended up in the gift shop while waiting for the rest of their group to catch up. Jake picked up a pharaoh plushie and handed it to her. “Here, a trophy for surviving my commentary.”

She laughed, finally admitting, “You’re annoying, but at least this field trip wasn’t totally boring.”

Jake grinned. “Aw, was that a compliment?”

“No.”

“Too late. Already taking it.”

They walked out of the gift shop together, bickering in the most sibling way possible—just loud enough to get a few amused looks from their classmates and one very tired teacher.