Sparrow Truman April 28th, 20XX

Like it was a race, I scarfed down something that barely qualified as a breakfast like before running towards my shoes and struggling to get them on.

To my left, my brother shared my panic and we both rushed to get ready to leave the house in a somewhat presentable appearance.

“ I can't believe we both slept in. Are the alarm clocks broken? all of em?”

I nodded, focused on tying my shoes,

“ Yeah, I'll pick up some more after school I guess”

Because of our shared poor sleeping habits and anger at it being interrupted we usually ran through alarm clocks pretty quick. We didn't dare use our phones either for obvious reasons.

We both stood at the and reached for the car keys but froze when our hands made contact with each other.

I glared at him.

“ Don't you usually take the company car?”

He glared right back not willing to back down.

“ My boss needed the car today so I'll need it.”

The clock on the wall shone the time, I did need the car to avoid being late. I squared up to my elder brother and started to argue my case when his phone rang a cute and whimsical ringtone. He grabbed it off the table and answered it without moving his hands from the keys.

“Will Truman.”

The voice on the other end of the line buzzed for a while before letting Will speak but then again considering that Will didn't immediately cut them off and let them speak for so long I could only assume that it was his legendary boss.

“ You’re coming to work early? is something wrong?”

The voice on the other side of the phone said something worrying because Will’s face fell before he spoke again,

“ Sure, I’ll tell everyone at work and let them know…. Should I call the school too? You know I could fix this in a heartbeat right?”

The person on the other end hung up the phone rather than giving an actual response which only served to make Will worried. He let go of the keys and sat down with a pensive expression on his face.

Seeing as he had let go of the keys I did the same and sat beside him…. I guess I was going to be late either ways.

“ Is everything okay?”

“ Hey, Sparrow you go to school with Finn right?”

I nodded but wondered why on earth Finn randomly popped up.

“ Yeah? is something wrong?”

Will kept his worried expression and said,

“How’s Finley doing there?”

Judging by the hopeful expression he hadn't heard about the isolation and bullying yet, even though he was so close with Finley.

I debated whether to tell him, after all, if Finley hadn’t told him then he must have had a reason.

“ Finn’s doing fine, He doesn't have that many friends but I don't think he wants that many. Did you hear something?”

Will shook his head but kept the thoughtful expression on his face as he stood and adjusted his suit.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“ Alright then, I’ll have to take your word for it then. C’mon I’ll just drive you to school and send a car to pick you up after school”

He paused then suddenly asked me, with an incredibly solemn look on his face.

“… You know he doesn't have anyone else right? It's just us two that are here for him.. I won't ask you to babysit him or anything but at least keep an eye out okay?”

I nodded in response but because of the sudden request, I began to worry. It wasn't like I just completely ignored him at school but one; he was rarely there and on the days that he was our paths rarely crossed. and then began to worry as well.

First, he had missed school for about a week then he only attended for a day before we heard he was hospitalized for something.

Will had assured me he was fine when Id asked and Jake said pretty much the same thing but before all of that I’d heard of more than a couple of idiots had taken things to far and constantly harassed the guy..what if he was just hiding from school because it was difficult to deal with.

Will dropped me off at school with a promise to call and excuse me for being late but I was beyond that. I drifted through the day in a daze and once classes were over I headed over to my department, ready to see what I could do.

I needed to stop this somehow. It would be a tragedy if he had to be held back a year for absences because of those annoying brats.

As soon as I finished saying this the answer came in the form of the very person I was thinking of. Finn popped up in front of me like a ghost with a serious expression on his face, catching me off guard.

“ Ms. Sparrow.”

I hissed, albeit jokingly, and grabbed him by the ear, twisting it until he had hunched over to my height. I wasn't grabbing him that hard through so it was encouraging to see him playing along with me.

“ ah-ah-ouch!”

“ What did we agree you would call me?”

Still, I quickly let go before any of the bystanders was to go spread a rumor that I was bullying him. there were already so many rumors about me out there, what with the whole Jake and Alice thing I had somehow become a part of.

Like a robot that was restarting, He looked downwards with the previous serious expression and looked back up with a startlingly sweet and innocent one.

“ Sis, can you help me out?”

His bright eyes sparkled brightly and earnestly and I could only think,

If this kid ever chose to become an actor or a male escort he would give all the other competition a run for their money.

“ What is it?”

Before he spoke I noted approvingly that he was wearing the modified uniform I had made him and had tried to style his hair...tried being the keyword.

“I was thinking-”

His eyes widened as I suddenly shoved him backward into a styling chair and heard the quadruplets appear behind him.

They quickly strapped him into a barbers coat and began to snip at his hair that had somehow grown longer in the past three days.

I drew his attention back to myself and said,

“ So what was it?”

“ what-?”

He was still dazed from the sudden change in tempo and had lost his train of thought. which made me have to ask again.

“ You said you needed my help?”

He nodded- or tried to anyway. One of the quads held his head still and hissed as the other one near missed a cut.

“ Yeah. I was wondering if you would like to join me for the showcase this year. since it’s our senior year and all..you can focus on the fashion part..it's just that as a management student I need it on my resume and can't exactly go into it myself.”

A bright light went off in my head and I realized,

this is it!

I pretended to think about it even though the decision was already made but my mind was whirling around.

If he’s running a group for the showcase then he’ll have to be at school every day AND winning over Alice's group would help him out and make me feel better for what they did to me before.

“I already have a big group because Jake and his tag-alongs joined us”

I said while referring to his teammates and the lower classmen that had somehow forced themselves into my department.

“ But who would you want to join us? I mean, you don't have to force yourself. it's fine if you just helped organize us a bit.”

Right now we were just a bunch of different departments operating under the same banner rather than a company working together and sharing resources. We really did need a good management team but it was a pretty small department and they had been quickly snapped up by other groups.

Fin grinned when he heard my confirmation which triggered the Quads to pretend to faint in adoration.

Both Finn and I ignored them.

“ Well, There’s you for the Fashion and design section, Jake and his team for the Sports and I have someone for performing...All we need is someone for the acting.”

“ That sounds good. Jake has a couple of rookie actors under his belt but we need someone more experienced.... do you want me to put my feelers out?”

He shook his head as he stood up with a newly styled hairstyle and chuckled in an unfamiliar teasing manner.

“ Thanks but I think it would be less than effective to kidnap someone and make them team up with us.”

The quad’s burst into laughter at his comment but I got slightly offended,

“ What exactly does he think I am anyway?”