Question

“hey, earnest!” said mary lou hawkins, the busdriver’s daughter, as she bounced by in a loud johnson dress.
“hey, johnson!” i said, screaming so furiously that she kept on bouncing. i stared after her a moment, feeling that she should have felt a faint breeze, carrying my cool hate out, touching her indian papoose and arkansas strawberries in her eyes that were taking on intensity from the front of the current issue—ears pinned backcuriously, afraid to sit, and boys seated restlessly on sawbucks, high-relieving benches. those students fortunate to have satchels flipped from one painted hand to the other. through the saturday cleaning around the windowed lunchrooms and facing the saturday and the shoves around the painted money to the bologna and mustard they were the number turned to cook their home-fried eggs for longer between the kitchen tables; but for today he be bothered.
on the far side of the town i spied miss turner standing beyond the seventh-grade-classes building, and wondered at the sunset. miss was one of stancy’s friends, the twins on the mayfair plantation, a three-and-a-half-mile drive from the school. because of this distance, thirty children from the mayfair plantation did not come to green fawn after they had finished the four-year school near greenways cross. but there were some girls and boys like miss who made the trek daily, leaving their homes while the sky was black and not returning till the darkness again. i for one was certainly glad that i didn’t live that far out. i don’t think my head would have wanted that badly for me to be educated.
from richard wright, roll of thunder, hear my cry, copyright 1976 by richard wright.
what is the meaning of trek as used in the passage?
a long journey
a difficult drive
a leisurely stroll

Explanation:

The passage states Moe lives a three-and-a-half-hour walk from school, travels while it's dark both ways, and the narrator is glad not to live that far. This context shows "trek" refers to a long, arduous trip on foot, matching "a long journey". "A difficult drive" is incorrect because the trip is on foot, not by vehicle. "A leisurely stroll" is wrong as the journey is described as tiring and time-consuming, not relaxed.

Answer:

a long journey