“What is that unforgettable line?”

-Samuel Beckett

Jaius looked up and down the empty halls lined with the seventh and eighth grade class lockers. They stood like sentinels guarding a grand palace. After a few moments of looking he turned back at the others. “I guess we are kinda early, and not really supposed to be in here till the bell rings, we should probably find somewhere to hold out so the Justinator doesn’t nab us on the first day.” He said with a grin. Jim looked down the hall as if mentioning her name would bring Sister Justina emerging from the far stairwells.

“We won’t need to be looking for the Justinator.” Said Trudi somewhat sadly. All of them except Oliva and Anne turned and looked at her eyes wide and mouths open. Which made Oliva and Anne look at eachother and shrug their shoulders in confusion. “What do you mean Trudi?” Said Jaius.

“My mom mentioned it to me after she was talking to the principle about us staying back in Eighth grade. She had asked if Sister Justina was available that day so she could thank her for getting Keri the help she needed that day when she collapsed in the cafeteria. Sister Sophia, the Principle, told her that Sister Justina had retired at the end of the last School year. There is a priest that has just arrived in the area who will be taking over as the Dean of Students, a Father Clement.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that.” Said Jaius. “I was always afraid of her when I saw her coming, but at the same time, now that she isn’t here anymore if feel a big loss. Like she really did look out for us and do her best to keep order. I wonder why she retired? I mean she didn’t look that old, I mean Sister Gertrude has got to be almost 80.” He thought of all those times that he had heard that clap, clap, clap, echoing down the halls that would be the only warning you would ever get of the Justinator’s approach. He also remembered how she had noticed at different times when kids had made fun of him, which made them pick on him more, but he had to admit at least she noticed it.

There was a quiet among them as the reality of change settled on them. It was the same school, same uniforms, but everything else seems to have changed. All of them had gone through some form of change or another over the summer, and so, it seems the school had too. Alianna was the first one to break the silence. “Come on everyone. Let’s go down to the Art room. Mrs Shaffer is always there early and we can show Anne where her locker is.” She said putting her arm around Anne’s shoulder and smiled. Anne blushed but also smiled. This seemed to brake the tension and they all smiled and nodded and so Alianna looked at Anne and said “Shall we?” Anne noodled and put her arm through Alianna’s. Jaius, moved forward and opened the door and bowed. “My ladies.” Anne giggled, but Alianna smiled at him and said “Why thank you Sir.” She said in a not so perfect southern accent. She then proceeded, with Anne, toward the steps that led down to the lower level.

Keri smiled at Trudi and offered her her arm. Trudi smiled and put hers through it and they walked past Jaius and both said at the same time. “Thank you good Sir.” They both said in a much more believable southern accent. Jim, having regained some of his cool over the past week, looked at Olivia with his patterned

grin. “May I have the honor my lady?” Olivia blushed and nodded. “You are most kind sir.” She said not even attempting the accent. Jim offered her his arm and she took it and Jim gave Jaius a two fingered salute and nodded. “Thank you, my good man.” Jaius smiled and bowed them through the door. Then, once they were through he let the door close and put his hands in his pockets and began whistling a happy tune as he went down the stairs. About halfway to the bottom he stopped dead as a sudden realization hit him. “I haven’t been this relaxed at school for like 5 years.” He said outload to no one. He looked around and up the stairs in wonderment. He spent a few minutes trying to figure out what was going on, but eventually realized it wasn’t going to be fully revealed to him right now and so let it go and continued on his way down to the art room. He joined them as they were down a ways to the left at Anne’s new locker.

“38…10…24.” Said Anne as she slowly turned the combination lock. She lifted the handle but it didn’t open. She stamped her foot and made a frustrated noise. “38…10…24.” This time it opened and she sighed with relief and looked at Alianna, who smiled and clapped her hands together. She looked up over Anne’s head and caught his eye and he could see a twinkle in it. They both smiled at eachother and that was when the realization finally surfaced as to what the real change was that had been nagging at him since they got here. He wasn’t feeling so anxious about coming to school this morning. He used to feel like he was about to digest his own stomach with fear of what might happen to him or who would hurt him at the Dungeon, but today, that fear wasn’t there at all.

Alianna moved around Anne and looked at him, her smile fading. “You okay?” He looked at her and nodded. “Yep. I just realized what the major change was that I had been feeling since we got here but couldn’t put a name too.” Her smile came back. “Oh, good, please let me know what it is because it’s been like an annoying buzz in my brain.” He smiled and nodded. “I’m not afraid to be here. I was actually excited to come to school today, Ali, and it sounds like that might be what you're feeling too.” She shook her head and laughed and then nodded her head. “Yep, that was it. We’re gonna be okay now, Jaius. The Dungeon doesn't seem so much like a dungeon anymore.”

“Yep, it’s like a brand new place.” Said Keri as she put her arm around Ali’s shoulder and Ali wrapped her hands around it and smiled at her. Behind them a locker shut and Anne came over to join them. “Thanks everyone for showing me where to go.” They all smiled at her. “ Now what?” Said Anne. Alianna’s eyes lit up and she let go of Keri’s arm and looked at Anne. “Do you want to see the coolest room in the school?” Anne caught Alianna’s excitement and nodded her head vigorously. “Totally Ali.” She giggled. “ Come on, everyone.” She said as she grabbed Anne’s hand and pulled her back the way they had come. “Wait for me Ali, I want to see it too.” Said Olivia as she hurried after them. Jaius looked at everyone else and smiled. “Shall we?” Jim held out each of his arms and Keri and Trudi smiled at him and put their arms through his. He then looked at Jaius. “Lead on my good sir.” Jaius chuckled and gave Jim a two fingered salute. “Right this way sir, ladies.” He said and turned on his heel and led them to the door that said Art room that was just beginning to swing open. “Yes, may I…” Mrs Shafer stood in the doorway looking down at Alianna and Anne as if she had become a statue. Then her mouth began to try to move but wasn’t able to produce words, but tears began to spill from her eyes. She knelt down and threw her arms around Alianna. “Oh….oh my dear sweet Ali…thank the saints you're alive and safe, and here!” She held Alianna tightly and continued to cry happy tears. Anne stepped back and leaned against Jaius and wiped at her eyes. Jaius smiled, and he caught Keri and Trudi both smiling and trying to coyly wipe a tear from their eyes. Jim just looked on, his face unreadable. When Jaius looked back Alianna was pulling a way wiping at her eyes and Mrs Shafer was standing up and began to realize there were other’s there. Then she saw Jaius and all of a sudden it was his turn. “Oh…Jaius…oh you're both okay.” Suddenly he was wrapped in a huge hug, and he could hear Mrs Shafer shedding tears for him too. A few moments passed and then Mrs Shafer stood up and looked next to Jaius. “And…and who is this?” Said Mrs Shafer trying to remove the emotion from her voice as she looked down at Anne. “This is my sister Anne Mrs Shafer.” Said Jaius. Anne looked up and smiled shyly and waved slightly at Mrs Shafer.

“Well, It is a pleasure to meet you Anne, welcome to St. Pious my dear, I’m Mrs Shafer, the art teacher.” “Thank you Mrs Shafer.” Mrs Shafer smiled and then looked around at the others. She first looked at Olivia. “Oh and another new face, and welcome to you also My dear, what is your name?” Olivia smiled and her cheeks reddened. ‘I’m Olivia Parker Mrs Shafer. It’s so good to meet you. Ali told me all about you and your awesome art room, I’m so excited to see it.” She said bouncing a bit. “Well it will be my pleasure to show you my dear, it is great to have you here with us at St Pious.” Then her eyes moved past Olivia to Jim and for some reason Trudi and Keri were trying to hide behind Jim. Mrs Shafer’s face became unreadable as she realized who the two girls were. She took a deep breath and sighed and walked over to the two sisters. When she got to them Keri looked up at her with guilt filling her face. “Mrs..Mrs Shafer, I’m…” Mrs Shafer didn’t give her a chance to finish speaking. She put her arms around her and pulled her into a hug as well. “I am so glad that you are here with us right now Keri. I was praying very hard for you and I…I.. didn’t think I would see you again. It would seem that Alianna and Jaius have forgiven you and Trudi.” She said opening her arm to Trudi, who after a moment's hesitation accepted the hug also. “So, I forgive you too, my dears. You're welcome in my room anytime.” Keri buried her face in Mrs Shafer’s shoulder and cried softly and Trudi’s shouldner’s were shaking slightly too. Alianan kept swiping at her eyes. Jaius moved over and put his arm around her shoulders. She laid her head on his shoulder, but he could not miss the smile on her lips.

After a few minutes Mrs Shafer stepped away and Keri was pulling a little packet of tissues from her purse and turned away to blow her nose. Mrs Shafer turned to give them some privacy and her eyes fell on Jim. “I am glad to see you also Mr Kurtz. Would you like a hug too?” She said with a slight smile. Jim gave her his grin and held his arms up. “Thank you Mrs Shafer, but I’m good.” He said with a smile. She smiled back and nodded her head and walked back to the classroom door. She laid her hand on Alianna’s shoulder as she passed her. Alianna looked up at her still smiling. She lifted her head off Jaius’s shoulder and moved to take Anne’s hand and followed her into the room. Olivia followed them. Jaius turned to look at the other’s and saw Jim talking to Trudi and Keri and they both nodded their heads. Jim turned and saw him so gave him a thumbs up and then smiled and walked toward the room.

When Anne entered the room she was overcome by how different this room was. Where most of the school rooms she had been in were pretty uninteresting and bland, this one was amazing and full of color. The first thing she saw when she walked into the room was the massive painting on the floor of the room. It covered the entire floor. It was of a dragon, its long, snakelike, body with legs and arms rising out of the ocean with a glowing silvery orb floating above its left palm.

Then when she looked up, right across from her there was a mural of a boy walking next to a stream of blackish water kicking a skull down the pavement in front of him. On his right side was a wall that was made up of six sided dice all with the three diagonal dots facing outward. In the middle of the wall, spelled out in black dice with different numbers facing out was the word RUSH, and underneath was the words “Roll the Bones”.

To the right of that was Mrs Shaffer’s desk and behind it was a wooden door. To the left of the RUSH mural was another. This section of the wall was all black and had the Hunger Games symbol painted in it. The background was all black and in the middle was a ring of fire with a fiery bird with its wings partially spread and an arrow clutched in its beak.

To the left of that was a mural of a woman who was sitting in a wooden boat as it meanders down a river. She was beautiful, but her face bore a terrible sorrow. A part of a tapestry hung over the side of the boat and dipped into the waters. There were three candles burning at the prow of the boat and a stone pier was just behind her.

On the wall directly opposite the lady in the boat was a mural of a dark background and in the middle there was bright circle coming out of that circle was a muscular man with white hair and a long white beard. His one arm pointed down toward the blackness and from his fingertips two lines of light appeared that seemed to form a pyramid.

On the wall to the left of the woman in the boat was a black background with a triangle made out of a thin white line. Coming from the bottom right corner was a thin stream of white light, which then struck the front of the triangle, and then coming out of the left side was a cone of rainbow colors.

Below that were some cabinets, but in the far right corner where there was open space between where the cabinets ended and the wall with the sad woman began there was a square about four feet by four feet. On that was painted a scene of a large ornate globe in the foreground that had been damaged and there was what looked like lava flowing out of it. Behind it there were three large sections of marble pillar laying in the sea and extending back to lay on top of some mountains in the distance. There appeared to be flames rising above the mountains and some form of settlement being destroyed that had been on a small hill rising out of the sea.

Anne’s mouth dropped open in shock. She stood there, unable to take it all in. Olivia on the other hand seemed to avoid all the murals after some quick glances around the room and moved over to the woman in the boat and began examining it. After a few moments of looking around Jim went over and stood next to Olivia. After a few more moments Keri looked around at all the murals, but then walked right over to the Rush Mural and stood looking at it, Trudi went and stood next to her. They learned their heads together to talk. Alianna came over to Jaius and Anne. “What do you think Anne?” Said Alianna with a smile. “Wow doesn’t even cover it Ali. Mrs Shafer, you have the awesomest classroom I’ve ever seen.” Said Anne as she turned to address Mrs Shafer who had moved to sit at her desk. Mrs Shafer looked at Anne and smiled me. “Thank you dear. I try to keep it as awesome as possible.” Mrs Shafer looked at Alianna. “Ali, why don’t you show Anne your project?” Said Mrs Shafer nodding her head toward the back of the room. Alianna looked at Anne. “It’s not very good.” Said Alianna shyly. “Yes it is.” Said Jaius. “Especially the mountains and the lamp.” He said, smiling at her. She blushed and Anne jumped in. “No, please Ali, please show me.” Alianna took Anne’s hand and led her to the back of the room to show her the painting of the destruction of the great lamp.

Mrs Shafer got up and came over and stood next to Jaius. “I’m not going to ask what happened while you both were gone, Jaius, but how in the world did this miracle happen? I haven’t seen Ali this happy since sixth grade, and even then I’m not sure she was this happy. I tried for two years to get Keri and Trudi Bellows and Mr Kurtz to come to art class, as they are all very creative, but they always said art was for the un-cool, and now here they are. Also, Keri and Alianna are friends!” Jaius smiled and looked at her. “It was God, Mrs. Shafer. He took a bunch of terrible situations and molded together into something wonderful. I started reading in Genesis after I got back and, and it’s like the story of Joseph. Really bad things happened to him, but then God changed everything around for him.” A tear ran down her cheek. “He most certainly did.” As he was looking at her Jaius noticed a bright poster hanging from her bulletin board. “Mrs Shafer, what is that over there?” She looked where he was pointing and saw the poster. “Oh, Father Michael, the Play director, has placed posters around the school to let kids know that he is holding a contest to see what the winter play will be. Students can submit their own Ideas and he will pick the best one and help them write the script. They need to write a 500 word synopsis of the play and submit it to him by Wednesday.” Jaius’s eyes lit up, Ali had told him about the times she had done school plays and community theater and how much fun she had made it sound. He read the poster and suddenly an idea formed in his head. “A Play…a Play, On Words. I can go through and look up all the movies I’ve watched and take quotes from them and make a play using one phrase or line from each movie. All the diologe would be comprised of movie quotes, and book quotes if Ali was open to helping.”

Olivia stared at the painting of the woman. She had seen this one before, The Lady of Shalott. A tragic story of love set in the time of King Arthur. “She looks pretty tragic.” Came Jim’s voice from next to her. She looked at him startled not expecting anyone to be next to her. “Oh…um hi…Jim. Yes, it’s called the Lady of Shalott. She fell in love with Sit Lancelot from the story of King Arthur. Lancelot did not return her affection and so she died ten days later and her last request was that her body be set in a boat and sent down the river to Camelot, where Lancelot then learns of what happened.” Jim’s patented grin faded as did his cool. “Jim are you okay?” Olivia said as she saw the change in his demeanor. “Yeah.” Was all he said. “Jim, I’m not the best at social queues or giving advice, but is there anything I can help with?” He sighed and looked over his shoulder at where Alianna was talking to Anne. She followed his gaze and then sighed. He looked back at the painting. “I’m sorry Jim, I’m definitely not really any help with relationship issues, but…It must be hard to like someone but not know if they like you back.” There was something more in her voice when she said that, but Jim was too lost in his own feelings to notice. “That’s just it Olivia. She does like me, or at least she did, back before that awful day last spring when she came to school pretending to be Emily, which was actually who she really was on the inside, but wasn’t. Anyways she liked me then, but I just don’t know now.” He said glumly. Olivia said a silent prayer for help and looked at Jim. “Jim, I…ve never been in a relationship, and so have, like, no experience in this area, but I’ve gotten to know Ali a lot better since she got home and I know that her heart is so big and that everyone she cares about has a room in it. Some rooms may be larger than others, but she loves on everyone as hard as she can. The room she has for Jaius in her heart is pretty big Jim. I can’t even imagine what they went through when they were missing, but it seems like they went through it together. It’s hard to contend with that.” She paused and almost seemed to be struggling with something, but quickly sighed and went on. “But, you have a room in there too, but it’s filled up with you from before all this happened. Maybe you need to show her who you are now, clean that room out of the old Jim and fill it up with the new?” He just stared at her. “Oh, I’m sorry Jim, that was probably the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard.” He just kept looking at her for a long moment which made her worried she had said the wrong thing but also made her heart stir at the same time. “That actually was pretty good advice Olivia, thanks. I'll try to figure that out.” He almost said more but they could both hear Alianna coming as she was talking to Anne apparently.

She walked past them and then stopped near them and both Her and Anne turned to wave. “Hey you two.” “Hey Ali, hey Anne.” Said Olivia as she turned to greet them. She saw something in Ali’s eyes that unsettled her a little bit, but she had no idea what it was. “Hey Ali, Anne.” Said Jim in a very neutral tone. There was an awkward tension in the air that hung there for about thirty seconds, but then evaporated as Anne exclaimed. “Wow, Ali, is this one in the corner your project?” She said pointing to the picture of the destruction of the great lamp. Anne’s exuberance burst the bubble of awkwardness and made Alianna smile and turn to the picture Anne was pointing to. “Yep, I finished it right before…well, right before we went away last year.” She said in a hushed tone. Anne looked at her with empathy and grabbed Alianna’s hand. This made Alianna smile and again the bubble burst and everything was right again.

“Wow, Ali, that is really cool. What, is it exactly? Said Olivia. “It’s the destruction of the great lamps, from The Silmalrillion.” Said Jim nonchalantly. Alianna had had her mouth open to respond but let it hang open as Jim spoke. “He knows about the Silmarillion! Jaius had said he’d only seen the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. How does Jim know the Sillmarillion?” Her heart betrayed her again and began to flutter, she was so stunned by Jim’s revelation that it took her a moment to remember to stamp it down. “Jim, wow, how did you know? How do you know the Sillmarillion?” She said trying to hide any flutter from her heart from escaping from not her voice. Jim shrugged. “I love everything music. So, a book where the world is created through the singing of a song caught my interest instantly. I didn’t read every page, a lot of it read like a history book, and so was hard for me to get through. But I had an illustrated copy and this picture was in it I. The part about the lamps being destroyed. The lamps lit the world till they were destroyed by Mel…something or other.” “Melkor”. Said Alianna. “Yep, that was it. He was like the devil of Middle Earth, or something.” Olivia looked at him with concern. “The devil?” Alianna came out of her stupor and shook her head. “J.R.R Tolkien modeled the creation of the world of Middle Earth after what is recorded in the Bible. Melkor, well, yeah, I guessed he did represent the devil in his story. He was created as an Valar, or like an Arch angel, but then tried to make creation after his own will. He caused a lot of pain and sorrow for man and Elf after the world was made, but he was eventually defeated and kicked out of Middle Earth.” She stopped there as thinking of the story of Middle Earth began to take on deeper meanings for her as she had begun her own new journey in knowing the truth about Jesus and God and sin.

“So, this Sillmarillion is like a history book of Middle Earth and it also is based on the Bible?” Asked Olivia. Alianna noted that she really got interested when she heard that it was a history and dealt with the Bible.

“Yep, kinda like the Chronicles of Narnia, I mean, until last month I didn’t even know that Aslan represents Jesus.” Anne and Jim turned to her with shocked looks on their faces. “Wait, Really. Aslan, is Jesus?” They both said almost at the same time. “Yep.” Said both her and Olivia almost at the same time too. There was an awkward pause and then they all started laughing. As Alianna looked up still smiling she caught a movement over Jim’s shoulder and saw Keri and Trudi standing in front of the mural with the boy kicking the skull. Keri was wiping at her eyes. Alianna let the smile slip from her face and told the others she would be right back.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

She went over to stand next to Keri and nudged her gently. “Hey, you doing okay?” Keri looked over at her and smiled still wiping at her eyes. “Yeah, Tru and I were just talking about how absolutely different our lives have become in four months, and how good those differences are. In the course of that discussion I started remembering something that wasn’t an easy memory to relive.”

Alianna wanted to ask what, but was afraid that might be too prying. Keri kept going as if she had read her thoughts. She pointed to the picture of the boy kicking the skull. “This isn’t my favorite Rush album, but it reminded me of that awful day this past spring when all our lives changed.” She turned and looked at Alianna. “You and Jim came over to the table and you said your favorite song was Red Barchetta and immediately you had my interest. It was my favorite too. Then you invited me to check out your hair stylist and…” Her eyes began to water again. “…I, well, I began to think you were awesome and that we could be friends.

Then when the Justinator came around and outed you and I got so mad. Not because you lied, like Jim said that day, kids at the table lie all the time. What made me so mad at you that day was that you went and made me like you. I wish I had become your friend that day, maybe all this wouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry Ali, for being so….” She stopped as Alianna pulled out a small jar with a slit in the lid that had dollar bills inside it from her purse and held it up in front of Keri. “One dollar please.” Alianna said with a grin. Keri’s eyes moved toward the jar and then back to Alianna. Trudi started laughing which made Keri smile and shake her head. “She got you again Sis, a dollar for every I’m sorry. ” Trudi said with a deep laugh. Alianna smiled triumphantly. Keri laughed, unable to keep it in anymore. Keri reached into her purse and pulled out a dollar and put it in the jar. “Okay, okay, I’m s….” Trudi really started laughing as she realized that Keri was about to say sorry again. Alianna put her other hand to her mouth, trying to stop from laughing too hard. Keri couldn’t stop, she just started laughing out loud. She put her arms around Alianna and gave her a hug. “Thank you.” She whispered to her. Alianna hugged her tight. “I’m not going to let you slide into hating yourself again Keri Bellows. There isn’t anything for you to be sorry for anymore.” Alianna whispered back. Keri squeezed her tighter then let go.

Before anyone else could do or say anything else a very loud bell rang which signaled that they had five minutes to get to their homeroom. “It has been such a joy to see you all but you all know what that means. If anyone wants to come down here for their studyhalls you just need to let me know and I’ll talk to your teachers and get their permission.” She got up and walked over to Alianna. “Ali, I checked with your homeroom teacher and she said you could spend homeroom down here again this year if you want?” Alianna looked around at everyone and then sighed and shook her head. “Thank you Mrs Shafer for doing all that, I think this year though, I’ll go to homeroom, but I’ll definitely be back during study hall.” She said hoping she hadn’t offended her. “Oh, Ali. I’m so proud of you and how far you’ve come.” She hugged her. “Thank you for everything Mrs Shafer.” “God has great things for you sweetheart, but I’m here for you if you need anything.”

When Mrs Shafer stood up every one else had their hands raised. “You all want to come for study hall?” Everyone nodded their heads. “Okay.” She laughed. “I’ll talk to all your teachers and let you know. Now hurry along everyone, you don’t want to be late.” Everyone grabbed their bags and then headed for the door.

When everyone got out into the hall they all started heading for the far stairwell that was farthest from the cafeteria. After a few steps Jaius stopped and turned around, noticing that they were missing someone. He looked behind him and saw Anne and Olivia standing where they left them. They were looking at their phones and then turning their heads left and right. “You two okay?” He said loud enough for everyone to hear. The rest of the group stopped and looked back. Olivia looked at him and blushed with embarrassment. “Um….well, I’m, we’re not sure where to go.” Alianna walked back over to them and looked at their phones. “Olivia, you're in the A section for the Eighth grade.” Keri moved quickly over to Olivia and put her arm through hers. “You’re with me. I’ll show you where Mr Dulles’s classroom is. We got Geography first.” Olivia relaxed and smiled at Keri. “Thank you Keri.” They both waved at everyone and headed off down the hall toward the far staircase.

Anne looked at everyone. “Why are they just going off? What is A section?” Jaius looked at her. “Yikes, sorry Anne, I thought I had told you about everything. Each grade has an A and B section. A section is for the real smart kids, B section is for everyone else, Keri and Olivia are in the A section so they are in Mr Dulles’s home room. We are all in B section, Mrs Carson’s homeroom, and you're in…”. Jaius looked over at her phone and it said Section A, “Mr Reies’s room.” He smiled and pointed back towards the cafeteria. “Mr Reies’s room is up the stairwell just on the other side of the cafeteria, on the main floor. Common, I’ll walk you to it.” “Me too.” Said Alianna as she stepped up next to them. “We’ll head up the short way to Mrs Carson’s and let her know you’ll be right there and why.” Said Jim as he offered Trudi his arm and smiled back at them. Jaius nodded and gave him a salute and then Trudi took his arm and they went through the doors to the middle stairwell.

Jaius looked at Anne. “You ready to go?” “Yep.” She said with a little too much pitch to her voice. He motioned his arm toward the Caff and Alianna took Anne’s hand and they smiled at each other and then Jaius fell in next to Alianna on her left. As they walked into the calf an all too familiar voice came out from Jaius’s left. “Well well well, what have we here? McFartland and the Milk Carton Girl.” Jaius stopped and looked to his left and there was Stephen Pennington and Peter Comfort getting a soda from the vending machine.

Whether it was a study hall or not, the two of them had always found a way to leave class and wander the halls. It would seem that them going on to the ninth grade hadn’t stopped this. Jaius turned and looked at them. He had faced down Maleric and hyper powered tattooed men, but something about Steve Pennington, still brought a chill to his veins. “Hey Steve, don’t got time to catch up right now, but I will definitely look for you later.” He said with a grin and a salute and turned and started forward, nodding with his head for Alianna and Anne to join him. Ali looked at him, smiled slightly and nodded and started walking forward with Anne. They made it to the first round table when Jaius felt a hand grab his backpack and pull him around. He had already had a number of fight scenes from movies coming into his head even as he turned his back on Steve and Peter. So when he was being spun around he caught Steven’s fist in his right hand as it was flying at his face. The shocked look on Steven and Peter’s face when he caught the punch was priceless. He stepped to the side and swept Steven’s leg. Steve flew into the air and his head was about to come down on the edge of the cafeteria table, but quicker than a blink of an eye, Jaius had stood and grabbed Steven’s shirt which kept his head from striking the table and held it just inches from it. Jaius could see Steven staring at the wooden round table that had been inches from striking him in the back of the head. That was when Pete shouted. “Hey, let my friend go.” He rushed in and threw a punch at Jaius. Jaius, still holding Steven, stepped out of the way of the punch and brought his arm up to deflect it. Peter threw a few more punches, which were just as easily deflected. Then Peter tried to reach out and grab Steven in an attempt to free him and Jaius reached out and grabbed the fingers of his hand that were reaching and squeezed them together and bent them downward. A scene from the Steven Segal movie Under Siege flashing through his mind, and just like the man in the scene, Peter’s face scrunched up in pain and he stood on his tiptoes dancing in place.

Jaius looked down at Steven while Peter was dancing. Steven looked up at him, shock still plain on his face. “Wow, Steve, that was close, I mean if I had not been here to catch you when you tripped, you could have hit your head on that table and been really hurt.” He then turned to Peter and said. “Now Pete, can I call you Pete? Pete, you know you shouldn’t touch someone unless they ask. Now, we are really running behind for class and so we’ll have to catch up later.” He pushed Pete backwards and the boy stumbled over his feet and sat down hard. He then moved Steven away from the table and dropped him so he sat down hard also. He then gave them a salute, picked up his bag and turned to start heading to the stairs. He saw as he passed them, Anne had her mouth wide open in shock, and Alianna was smiling at him and nodding. Jaius and Alianna could both still hear what the boys said to each other as they moved away from them. They heard both boys get to their feet and then Steven spoke to Pete. “Common, let’s get him!” “No way dude, Pious just downloaded Kung-Fu like Neo did in the Matrix. I’m your bud man, but I ain’t taking on Bruce Lee just so you can save some face.” And then they heard someone walking the other way.

As they walked up the stairs Anne burst out. “Wow, Jaius that was amazing? I can’t believe that, like you totally kicked both their butts and didn’t even break a sweat.” “And you didn’t hurt either one really, I’m proud of you.” Alianna said approvingly. “Thank you my lady. I have to be honest though, there was a brief second where I felt the urge to really mess them up. Seeing Steve, hearing him call me and you names, brought an old fear, a chill to my heart and it was hard to not let that build into revenge.” Alianna placed her hand on his shoulder. “But it didn’t turn to revenge, you kept your word.” He looked at her and held her eyes for a moment. “Is it still there?” she said with a coy smile.” “Yep.” He said with a more open smile. Anne looked at them both in confusion. She pulled Alianna close and whispered. “Is what still there?” Alianna looked at her and smiled and whispered in her ear. “The large space I have for him in my heart.” She said very sincerely and simply. Anne blushed but didn’t say anything as she realized she had intruded on a special moment between them. They all stopped at Mr Reies’s room. Jaius looked at her. “You okay?” “Yeah, just nervous. I’m not sure if I know anyone here. I think most everyone went on to Endless Mountain.” “It will be okay Anne, and if it’s not, I’m just a text away.” Said Jaius as he waved his phone at her. She took a deep breath and then waved at them. They waved back and then they headed down the hall towards Mrs Carson’s room. They heard the door open and close behind them. Then they were alone. They walked in silence for a few moments then Alianna looked at him. “Jaius, what did Pete mean when he called me “Milk carton Girl?” Jaius shrugged and held his phone up to his lips and said. “Seri, what does the phrase Milk carton Girl mean?” He heard the synthesized voice respond that it had found results. She looked at him and she could see him get angry. “What is it?” “They used to put the pictures of missing kids in the back of milk cartons to help get their pictures out in the hopes someone might see them and find them.” He said. He then took a deep breath and let it out and looked at her. “Sorry, I just can’t stand bullies.” She stopped and rested her hand on his and gave it a squeeze. “I know you don’t and I don’t like them either, but you also kept your word and didn’t go charging off looking for Pete.” He looked at her and squeezed her hand. “I told you I’ll always keep my word with you. Thanks for keeping me accountable.”

He thought back to two days ago while they were sitting by the creek where they had originally been swept away by that wind. Olivia, Jim, Trudi Keri and Anne had been off at the top of the hill talking and getting to know each other and giving them some space to talk. He had been troubled the whole week and it finally had made its way to his face. “What’s eating at your heart?” She had asked him. He looked at her for a long moment then he sighed. “I’m just worried about going back, about running into Steve or some of the other guys.” She looked at him quizzically. “Jaius, you faced down Maleric and didn’t run away, how could those guys worry you?” He shook his head. “I’m not afraid of what they might do to me. I’m afraid of what I might do to them.” Jekk’s face had floated before his eyes and he shut them and looked away from her. She reached out and grabbed his hand. “Oh, Jaius, I’m sorry. I didn’t think about that. Jaius, look, I know you, and I know that God is with you and so I totally know that you won’t hurt them, but, I also promise to help you and keep you accountable.” He had looked at her and opened his eyes and squeezed her hand. “Thanks Ali.”

He shook his head and let the memory go. “So, what were you looking at on Mrs Shaffer’s bulletin board?” She said strategically changing the subject. He smiled. “Thanks.” He then started walking and she followed after him. “Father James posted an advertisement for ideas to be submitted to him for this year's winter play, and I had one.” “Really, what was it? she said excitedly. “It’s called, A Play on Words. It’s a play made up of quotes from movies, and books. I got the movie quotes down, but could use some help with the books.” He said looking sideways at Ali. “Know anyone who loves books and would want to help me write it? If I win of course.” His stress on the word “anyone” could not be overlooked. Her eyes lit up and her mouth dropped open. “No way! Jaius, that is such a cool idea.” She let the unanswered question hang in the air for a few moments as she walked on a little ahead of him not answering. He waited. She turned after a few feet and grinned, “Oh, and I do know someone who loves books, and I just know she would jump at the chance to write this play with you. I hear she plays soccer though so you’ll have some competition for time.” She said over her shoulder, her eyes smiling along with her mouth. He caught up to her and smiled back. “No worries, just let her know I can be available whenever she is.”

When they got to Mrs Carson’s room they both looked at eachother, took a deep breath and let it out. Then Jaius opened the door and held it for her. He closed it behind them and looked out upon thirty pairs of eyes turning to look at them. He saw Jim and Trudi sitting near the front with their bags in two empty chairs behind them. They reached behind them and removed their bags. Alianna mouthed the words “Thank you” To Trudi and Jaius gave Jim a salute. Jim nodded and looked back to the front of the room.

Jaius saw Mandy Ferlon lean forward and whisper to Tiffany Lockman as he went to sit down behind Jim. Alianna sat behind Trudi next to Jaius. Mrs Carson waited till they sat down before speaking. “Mr McFarland, Ms Oaksen. We are very, very glad to have you both back with us, aren’t we class?” She said, and from around them they heard a mixture of claps and cheers, but also some bored or strained “yays”. Some of the kids, like Mandy and Tiffany, merely waved briefly, but others seemed to genuinely mean their expressions. Alianna blushed and sunk down in her chair a little. Jaius gave everyone a salute and smiled. Trudi reached back and held her hand open. Alianna reached out and grabbed it and squeezed it and gave her a smile. Trudi smiled back at her over her shoulder. They got through homeroom without anything stressful, and then the bell rang for the first period. They both went out to their new lockers and switched out their books. When Alianna opened her locker there was a folded up note in blue construction paper that was taped to the bottom of the top shelf. She looked next to her at Jaius who was just shutting his door. He turned to see a concerned look on her face. “Everything okay?” He said moving closer to her. She stepped back and he looked at her locker. Jaius looked and saw the note. He reached out and grabbed it and opened it. On the inside, in a weird handwriting was : “ Let out of here now or you goes.” He said aloud. She got a confused look on her face. “That doesn’t make any sense.” She said, taking the paper from his hand and looking at it. Jaius took out his phone and took a picture of it. “I’ll try to check it out later, it sounds like someone is just being weird. I’m more concerned about how they got it in there.” She seemed to get a bit nervous so he looked at the locker again. He saw the slits in the door and tapped them. “There it is, they probably slipped it through there.” She looked and let out her breath. “Yeah that’s probably it.” “Let’s go, we got Algebra.” He said. She grimaced. “Math first period, I forgot. Not the best way to start the day.” He grinned and placed her books on top of his. “Look at the bright side, at least it gets it out of the way.” She laughed and walked next to him as they headed toward the other end of the hall to Mr Osaka’s room. “Did you want to start writing the pitch for the play tonight?” He said. She looked at her calendar on her phone and sighed. “I don’t know, it’s beef stew night.” She said with that smile in her eyes. He laughed. “I’ll stop by at 5, then we can walk back to my house.” “Me and my notebook will be waiting.” Jaius smiled and nodded.

A few periods later they were sitting at their new lunch table. Jaius had always sat at a desk in the corner by himself, now as he watched Alianna talking to Jim and Trudi he had the most surreal moment. He drew it in, savored it, and this is where it really hit him that he had friends again, after three long years, he wasn’t alone. A bag plopped down next to Alianna. Alianna smiled and stood up and gave Anne a hug. Anne returned it with a smile. “How was your first morning in middle school?” Jaius asked her. “It was good, I.I think I made a new friend…” she cut off as if she hadn’t wanted to say that much. She nervously glanced over to the A table at a blond haired girl that looked like she was a sixth grader. She had pink highlights at the ends of her blond hair. Jim and Trudi both looked at eachother and Jim was just opening his mouth when Olivia and Keri joined them. He clamped it shut, but Jaius filed it away in his memory to ask Anne about it later. The events of lunchtime were a spectacle that Jaius had never seen in any school before. The school itself must be okay with it because they allowed the seniors and juniors to come down outside of their lunch time, his brain swirled the rest of the day though, about what Olivia and Keri said about the masks and that note that was in Alianna’s locker and his hunch that they were connected.

That night he was sitting down in his basement at the game table with his laptop in front of him and typing possible quotes from movies that might be useful into a spreadsheet. He was labeling the quote and the movie and who said it. He heard feet on the steps and a moment later Anne plopped herself down a cross from him. Her hair was still wet from a shower but she seemed lighter than she had since he had gotten home. “Hey.” She said with a slight smile. He looked up at her over the rim of the computer and returned the smile. “Hey” “So, was it a good first day?” She looked down for a moment but then raised her head and nodded, her smile widening. “Yeah, I almost went outside after the second bell before I realized there was no reces in Sixth grade.” Jaius smiled and nodded. “I did the same thing, except I actually went outside, I caught a lot of laughs on that one.” He laughed a little at his mistake. Anne looked at him with shock in her face. “What?” He said a bit apprehensively. “You, you usually get really sad when those memories come up, the ones about them making fun of you.” He looked confused for a moment but then grinned and shook his head. “I guess I got a harder skin while I was in that other time we went too.” She nodded her head and before she could change the subject, he beat her to it. “So, whose this friend you mentioned?” She fell very silent, and looked down. She stayed that way for a minute or so, and right when she raised her head with her mouth opened to respond Sis yelled down from upstairs. “J! Your friends are here.” Anne breathed a sigh of relief when she realized she wouldn’t have to tell him now. He kept looking at her as if still wanting an answer. After a few moments she nodded her head toward the stairs. “You don’t want to keep them waiting right?” She said with a sheepish smile. He still looked at her for a moment more then sighed and got up and shook his head. “I’m gonna keep asking you till ya tell me, ya know that right?” “I know, but at least it isn’t now.” She said turning his laptop around to study it. She pulled out her poetry journal and opened it up and began looking through the pages.

He went upstairs and Sis was talking to Olivia and Jim in the front hall. He waved at them and they smiled and waved back. Then a sinking pit opened in his stomach. “Ali.” He thought as he remember he said he would walk her home. Jim must have noticed his distress cause he stopped waving and looked at him. “You okay J?” Jaius shook his head and smiled. “Yep, I promised Ali I’d walk her over here, I got a little sidetracked downstairs with ideas for the play. I’ll be right back.” He said as he waved again and ran out the door.

As they walked back from Ali’s house Jaius gently placed his hand in hers. She gripped it firmly and smiled at him. He smiled back but then it faded. “You okay ?” She asked. He looked at her and smiled again. “Yeah, just been thinking about all the things that happened today, and how a year ago I would’ve been completely petrified, but today Steven and his buddy didn’t get the best of me. They didn’t hurt you or Anne. I’m just also worried about that note in your locker, and what happened to the others. I want to protect you, Ali I just can’t protect you from what I can’t see.” She smiled and put her arm through his arm and pulled herself closer next to him as they walked. “ Jaius you are most excellent night and you protect me every moment of the day. And when you can’t be with me, just trust that God is looking out for me.” Turn a little grin and nodded and gripped her arm, just a little tighter with his.

They got back to his house and headed downstairs. Ali started writing down quotes from books she had read and Jim and Olivia were jotting down lines from songs. An hour later they sat down and began to try to build it all together into a coherent idea for a story. While they were doing that, Jim pulled out his guitar and started to play a song. After a few measures Olivia pulled out her iPad and pulled up a keyboard and started playing along with him. Alianna never one to be able to get away from the music since they got back, started humming along with the music. Jaius kept glancing over and watching how Jim played the guitar countless scenes from different movies playing guitars spinning through his brain Had his arms playing the air guitar. Even Trudi picked up the beat by playing the drums on the table. After a few minutes of this Anne handed Alianna a piece of paper Ali look down at it and smiled at Anne. She smiled back. As soon as a new measure began Alianna began to sing.

Oh, morning sunshine trickleing down on Golden rays, Immersing my soul in blankets warmth, and carrying my tears away. Oh moon of starkest white lighting up my tears at the mid of night bathing my soul with the pains that stay please help me find another way. Oh path of freedom, find me please. I’m lost and broken under hanging trees and when my breath escapes my mouth I am not sure if another will come out.

Oh sun and moon and stars on High bring my cries to ears on high and let me find that path tonight, oh let me find that path tonight, the path that leads to freedom's light. The path that leads to freedom's light.

After she ended everything stopped and they all looked around at each other. “Wow.” Said Olivia. “We all actually sounded just like a band.” They all looked at each other with their mouths half open. Jim shook his head and looked at Olivia. “Yep, she called that one. We sound pretty good. Great lyrics too Anne.” Everyone chimed in in the affirmative, which produced a very red face for Anne. Trudi just shook her head. “I don’t have friends for so long, then in the span of a few weeks I have friends and now we’re starting a band?” Alianna looked at everyone and smiled. “So, what do we call this band?” Jaius looked at his spreadsheet and then laughed. “Why, Playon.” It took a moment but then Everyone smiled and nodded their heads.