School Dayz II

2/18/09- I’d just like to thank my 8th grade English teacher for helping me edit this. You Rock!

This takes place after summer has ended and the Jonas triplets are back at school. Jonas triplets being me, Amy and Tyler. Plus Jason has to go back to to college which isn’t too fun for him. But, unlike the first School Dayz (which will be posted at a later time) Kristy is joining us! It makes a little more interesting. And you can read her side of the story too at:

http://kristystories.wordpress.com/school/

Chapter 1

I was walking through a darkened hall. Lights slowly flicked on behind me, one by one. Everything was white, but it was so black in emotion. Bad memories made me flinch in fear and mental pain. I started shaking with fear of what might happen in these white rooms. I swallowed nervously.

But then I heard Jason. He was screaming for help or in pain or something. I started running down the halls, the lights flickering on faster and faster. But I was stopped by a huge bulldog that looked like my jail ward from boot camp. Oh, this is going to end badly. He grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and threw me into that horrible white, padded room. I still heard Jason’s screams. Images of blood, torture and death flashed behind my eyes as I curled up into a ball next to a white wall. And I screamed.

I woke up screaming and Jason ran into my room to cover my mouth before anyone could hear. I opened my eyes and saw his face. Fear was labeled all over my eyes.

“Oh, Jamie.” Jason said, in a worried, but caring voice. He saw the memory of that nightmare from my mind. “It’s okay. I’m still alive, see? Not tortured or anything bad.”

He gave me a hug and I hugged him back, refusing to let go. “Don’t. Leave. Me.”

“It’s okay.” Jason looked at his watch. It was 3 in the morning. “Jamie, you need to get back to sleep, school starts tomorrow.” And I have to go back to college. He thought with annoyance. Jason hates school almost as much as I do.

I smiled a little, but the though of going to sleep. No. “I-I-I don’t think I can.”

“Well, I think I can make you.” Jason grinned, “I wrote you a song.”

A song? For me! “Really.” I smiled with joy.

Jason ran downstairs and grabbed his guitar. He was back with it in less than a second. Then he started playing a melody I haven’t heard before. The notes flowed through his head as I saw his thoughts. Jamie’s Lullaby…

—

“TYLER!” I screamed as the cream colored pest squashed my tail. My eyes flashed red with rage from waking me from the best night’s sleep I had ever gotten. I was about to rip his face off when I realized it was Kristy who had stepped on my tail. I took a deep breath as my eyes faded back to green.

“You really should be careful,” I snapped at her, still a little annoyed. “You’re just lucky I didn’t think you WERE Tyler.” I glared over to that hyper little fur ball as he was jumping around the room.

“WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!” I could have shot him.

You get a good night’s sleep? Jason asked me mentally,

Yes. I actually- I tried to stop myself, but the thoughts already got to Jason. I had dreamed about me and him, just hanging out, playing baseball, eating pizza and other fun stuff. I thought he would laugh, but he smiled.

I’m just letting you know, that just because I write a song for you, doesn’t mean I’m going to be any nicer. He grinned wickedly.

Will you play it again tonight?

Maybe. And then he walked in. “Hey everyone- come in here and eat, or you’ll be late for school.”

I groaned and flopped back on to my bed. I want more sleep.

Jason smirked, “A little tired today, Jamie? Do I have to start forcing you to take baths every morning?” I heard the mockery in his voice.

“You wouldn’t.” I growled into my pillow.

“You wanna bet?” Jason was hyper this morning… “Twenty? Fifty? A hundred?” He knows I love to bet against him, but not with a bath on the line. Seeing him take a step closer, I jumped up and ran down the stairs. I didn’t even trip because my claws gave me extra traction.

Kristy walked into the kitchen, as I was finishing the last bite of my bagel. I could have ate the whole thing in one bite, but I was kinda tired this morning.

“Jamie?” Kristy asked me.

“Yeah?”

“Well, I sort of don’t… have a school…”

“Oh, right, ‘cuz you’re a cute wittle homewess kitty.” I said with mockery and sarcasm in my voice. I wasn’t in a good mood today.

“The point is,” she sounded a little annoyed, “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

Amy walked in the room and heard Kristy’s dilemma. “Didn’t we tell you? You’re going with us to Diamond Leaf.”

Kristy gasp. “No way! Really? You’re not serious!” Why was she so happy about being sent to the strictest school in the known world?

“Oh, Amy’s always serious. She doesn’t even know how to be kidding about something” I laughed a little. My sister was used to me making fun of her.

“Hey! That’s not fair. I so do kid, when it’s not about… science-y stuff…”

“Yeah,” I said, laughing. “Sure.”

Jason ate a bagel in a few bites, like I did. I learned that style from him. He smiled a little.

“Come on guys, get in the car. I’ll drive you.” Jason was driving us! Awesome!

The ride was shorter than I remember, but that’s ‘cuz we didn’t have to stop every three inches to pick up some more kids. When we finally got to that dreaded school, it looked the same as it did last year. Towering brick walls and always clean glass doors.

We got out of the car and everyone else waved ‘bye’ to Jason. I just thought my See ya later and walked to the doors. Amy and Kristy were talking behind me. Tyler was running around to find his other dorky friends.

“You have to go to the office first to see the vice principal. She’ll give you your schedule and locker number with its code, then we’ll see you at lunch.”

Kristy looked nervous and Amy smiled. I just rolled my eyes. The only thing to be nervous about is the homework. And that I have Mrs. Harth third period. That women is out to get me.

I walked over to my locker, #71, and opened it up. My books from last year came spilling out. I’d need to exchange those for this years books. I sighed and mumbled to myself as I picked them up.

“Nice locker, Jonas.” I heard Shawn’s mocking voice behind me. You know what I just noticed; my life is about 80% mockery… How sad is that?

“Bet yours isn’t much better, Fredric.” That was Shawn’s middle name; he hates it when I do that. Normally, he would laugh at my middle name, Nicole. But that’s our principal’s first name; so instead, he shoved me into my locker.

I’m sure you’ve seen a kid get thrown into a locker, but it’s a little different when Shawn does it. First of all, I would have normally put up a fight, but I was a little lost this morning, from my slight lack of sleep last night… And, to make things worse, Shawn gets all the kids in the hallway to stand in a circle around your locker and give you ten seconds to find a way out. My record is 2 seconds. I would be much faster, but I don’t want to destroy my locker, and it’s hard to find a lighter-knife when you’re stuffed in a locker.

But I got out in about 3 seconds. Of course everyone laughed as more of my books spilled everywhere and my fur was a mess. This just made me a bit annoyed. My eyes glowed red and Dan, Shawn’s best friend, backed away a little. But as normal, Shawn stood his ground without fear. I was about to rip my claws into his muzzle when Ms. Geldburg grabbed me and Shawn by the ear.

“OW!” We shouted at the same time.

“My office, both of you. Now.” Ms. Geldburg put us down and cleared out the group of kids. As we were walking, I kicked Shawn in the leg. He punched me back. I lightly clawed his face. He nipped my arm. Then we heard Ms. G’s footsteps behind us and stopped. We both knew we were already in enough trouble.

In her office, Ms. Geldburg had us both sit down. I glared at Shawn and he mouthed ‘I’m gonna beat you up.’ I just grinned, knowing I could kill him if I wanted to. I almost did once, but the stupid paramedics just had to save his life.

“Jamie, Shawn. I think this is a new record for you two. A fight, the first day of school, before the first bell.”

Shawn and I grinned, knowing we would go down in the student history book with a new troublemaker record, again.

“This isn’t funny!” Ms. Geldburg said. “I should call Jason to come pick both of you up for the day. But he’s in college right now, and I don’t want to bother his studies. But I just want you to know this, if either one of you causes any more trouble today, I WILL call him.”

I gulped nervously. I knew Jason was working hard in college right now, and then his sucky job at Jewel-Osco. The last time he had to pick me up, I was locked in my cage for about 48 hours. I don’t want to make him mad like that again. Especially after last night.

Shawn didn’t look to thrilled about that idea either. He knew Jason had power over him and could make him just as miserable as me.

“Do we understand each other?” Ms. Geldburg asked in that annoying teacher tone.

“Yes, Ms. G.” Shawn and I said at the same time again. This same time thing better not become a regular thing…

“Good. Now head back to your first period classes. I’ll let your teachers know you’re excused from a tardy. Who are your first period teachers?”

“Mr. Chavir.” Shawn said. I have Mr. Chavir for Latin in 6^th.

“Ms. Keryll.” My English teacher is the only teacher that doesn’t hate me. Well, Mr. C and my science teacher, Ms. Evewind, don’t hate me, but I got a C in Latin last year. And Ms. Evewind never lets us do any real science. I’d much rather be in the lab.

Ms. Geldburg dialed the phone and waved us out of the room. Shawn looked pretty annoyed to be going to Latin late. I could have killed him for almost getting me suspended for the day.

“I’m gonna beat the crap out of you on the bus today.” Shawn threatened.

“Ha.” I sneered, “Just wait until gym class starts up. I’ll destroy you in kickball.”

“Whatever.” Shawn took a left to Latin class and I reached Ms. Keryll’s room. I grabbed my books and walked in.

I walked into the classroom, with all eyes on me. I really didn’t care, ‘cuz unfortunately, I’m used to it. I walked over to my desk from last year, right near the window. It was the perfect view of some oak trees in the woods behind the school. I could see the soccer field and the basketball courts. There couldn’t be a better seat in the whole school.

Ms. Keryll passed out a worksheet for us to do to see how much we remembered from last year. What was the point of making us do this stupid worksheet? She had us all in class last year and knows we know stuff. I hate this school. I mean, really, who cares what we know and don’t know. I’m never going to use this stuff anyway!

Even with my mental rant, which I’m sure Kristy and Jason heard, I finished the worksheet in about a minute. Ms. Keryll was my favorite teacher in this school. She’s nice, funny and I love writing so it’s the only class that interests me. I like science, but we never do anything interesting in that class. It’s stuff from 1^st grade! Then again, I am only eight… In Latin class, the teacher is sooooooo boring. I try to pay attention so I can understand some of the science stuff Amy’s always talking about. Social Studies is actually somewhat fun. I am extremely good at remembering historical facts (I know, it’s dorky) and our history teacher doesn’t know anything. I mean, really, this guy didn’t know what year the battle of 1812 took place! I have to correct him on everything. It’s just a good thing Shawn or Dan or TJ isn’t in that class.

But the worse class of all has to be math. Mrs. Harth hates everyone and she’s a total jerk. I can bet twenty bucks she going to give us homework on the first day. And she hates me especially. I’m always caught doodling or falling asleep in her class. What’s even worse is that Shawn is in that class and will never let me forget the time I feel asleep and started drooling on the desk…

Later in Mrs. Harth’s class, I sat right in front of her. And that sucks, a lot. After a quick and very boring review from last year, she said, “Alright, tonight’s homework is page 103 1-59 odd and #32.” Everyone groaned. “Do you want it to be 1-69?” We were all quiet with that threat.

UGH! Who gives homework on the first day of school? Mrs. Harth does of course! THIS SUCKS! Who even has the time to do homework today? There’s going to be a huge game kickball after school today like there is every year after the first day. ARG!

Jamie, just shut up. At least your social studies teacher didn’t give you an essay due next week. Jason mentally groaned.

Don’t think that Jason! You’ll jinx it!

Oh haha. Just stop with the rants so I can focus. There is a hot freshman sitting right in front of me-

Jason, you’re dating Shannon. Did you forget that?

No, I didn’t forget. And I’m not gonna cheat on her. Those days are sadly over… But a guy can fantasize, right?

Not while I’m listening. I was forced to pay attention in math to block out Jason’s annoying guy thoughts.

Finally we got to lunch and I grabbed a tray of…. meatloaf I think, but it might be macaroni. Cafeteria food is gross. I was halfway done with the unknown lunch when Kristy walked over to my table. The clever girl had her uncle pack her a lunch. But when I saw who she brought to my table, I froze.

Lily.

I bared my teeth and my eyes flashed red. Lily looked so innocent and surprised. That little curly blond, perfect angel, trouble making- I growled.

Kristy was coving for my ‘rude behavior’, but Lily interrupted “I’m sorry, I didn’t know you already had a reserved spot here. I’ll eat somewhere else.” She tossed her blond curls and walked away. Why hadn’t Kristy read her mind and know what a b**** she was?

“Jamie, why do you and Lily hate each other?” Kristy asked all innocent. How could she not have heard? My eyes flashed red with a little annoyance.

“Let’s just not talk about it, okay? You should be eating.” I was kinda harsh but I don’t want to even think about that little….

The rest of the day slowly passed on. We reviewed some safety rules in science, heard a boring lecture on short Latin history in Latin class, and I corrected my social studies teacher about the name of the Mayflower.

I got on the bus after school as Kristy took her bus. It was kinda weird that we were on different buses when we only lived a few blocks away. On the bus, everyone was talking about how the kickball game had been rescheduled for tomorrow. Shawn, Dan, TJ, Tyler, Amy and I walked off the bus and went home. Shawn didn’t even look at me. Dan growled once, which is weird ‘cuz he’s a deer. Have you ever heard a deer growl? It’s pretty strange. But I didn’t bother to growl back, my mind was dealing with other things. Jason wouldn’t be home to talk about it; he was working at Jewel, and Amy was starting on her science fair project, even though the fair was two months away. I went into Jason’s room and quickly did my math homework. It took about 10 minutes, which was a total waste of time. The only other homework I had was science and I wasn’t really paying attention in class, so I took the elevator into the lab.

“Hey Amy.” I said when I saw her on the other side of the gamma ray.

Something charged down and she looked up. Seeing the paper in my hand, she ran over, grabbed it and quickly finished it.

“Do you even focus at all in school?” She asked when it was done.

“I do! In English… And social studies…. so I can correct him.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “I helped you, now I need you to do something for me.” She turned a switch on the gamma ray back on. “Can you stand there and try this on? It’s a proto type for a new space helmet for NASA.”

“NASA called?” I asked her. Not that I was surprised, we just hadn’t heard from them in a while.

“Yeah, they’re working on better in-space equipment so they can fix this problem on the space station. I told them that they could just send me up and I’d have it done in a few hours. But no! I’m too young to be sent in space.”

“Stop ranting and just get the helmet on. I wanna call Kristy.”

Amy was getting a machine to set something up for my head. A thin necklace like ring was placed around my neck. Amy clicked a button and a clear bulb grew up from the necklace and surrounded my head. It was like the astronaut helmets they have now, only it was totally clear.

“Isn’t there suppose to be some computer or science thing in here?” I asked. I wasn’t sure if she could hear me. I couldn’t hear her as she mouthed something like ‘I can’t hear you.’

But then she hit another button on the control panel and a screen appeared inside the bulb. No one could see it from the outside. I smiled.

“System online.” It said in a computerized female voice.

“Can you hear me?” Amy said, her voice sounded a little static-y.

“Yeah, I hear ya. But there’s some static you might want to fix. This is so cool. What else can it do?”

“Say ‘main menu’ and you can see what it does. It uses voice technology. And about the static, I’m working on that. I’m thinking there’s a bug but I’m not sure…”

I heard the clicking of Amy’s paws as she worked on de-bugging the communication system. I could probably help with that later. I told the system Main Menu and a list of applications popped up. System check, temperatures, fuel levels, oxygen levels. And so many more. I said, “Call NASA”, just to see what would happen. An operator picked up on the other line.

“Amy?” She asked in an excited voice.

“Ummm… no, this is Amy’s… assistant. I’m just testing the helmet.”

“Oh.” She said, sounding a little disappointed. NASA must really want this helmet. “Please don’t call again. This line is only for emergencies and Project Fishtank info.”

“Project Fishtank?” Wow, NASA’s code name system sucks. “Anyway, before I go, can I just say one thing?”

“Sure.”

“Houston, we have a problem.” I grinned; I always wanted to say that.

“Tell Amy we’re waiting for her update.” She sighed like she had heard people say that line a million times. It was still awesome. “Good bye.”

The line when dead. I was about to try the application saying ‘Refreshment’ when Amy called in.

“Jamie? How do I sound now?”

“Better.” I said, there was still some static behind her voice. “I can hear you just fine but there’s a bit of static in the background.”

“Good. We’re underground and the system won’t be perfect. Anyway, I need you to say ‘Rockets Forward’. We need to test for in space flight.”

I said the words and saw a spacesuit fly up into the ceiling. You think it would crash into the ground after that, but it just kept itself on the ceiling.

“Cancel it!” Amy commanded.

I said cancel and the suit fell to the ground. Amy sighed, knowing she would have to rebuild the suit. “NASA won’t be happy about this…” She mumbled under her breath.

She pressed the button causing the bubble to shrink back into the necklace. A mechanical arm gently carried it off my head. I laughed a little at the thought of NASA being mad at her. She should be mad at them; they’re not even paying her for all this work!

“If you’re thinking I should be mad for them not paying me, your wrong.” Only Jason and Kristy can actually read my mind. But Amy is my twin sister, and it’s very annoying when she can read my eyes. “I love doing this so I don’t need to get paid. But they are paying me funding for $4 million. And the finish product will get my name carved in the moon next time they send someone up there.”

“That’s cool.” I said. Normally I would totally be jealous that her name would be on the moon forever, but I hacked into the NASA system a few weeks ago and put my name on the list to be carved in. I also threw in Kristy, Jason and the SHL logo. Sales for it will be in a few years, closer to the actually date. For about $1 million per letter.

“Well, thanks for helping me with that. If something went horrible wrong, I knew you’d be able to heal the fastest. Thanks.”

“If something went-“ I didn’t even bother to finish the sentence. My life was almost always on the line, so it’s really not that big a deal. And a few broken bones could heal in a few days.

I saw Jason driving into the garage. “Jason’s home!” I said as I ran up the stairs; the elevator was just too slow.

“Hey kiddo.” Jason said as I stopped right in front of him, “How was the first day back at school?”

A quick replay in my mind of a fight with Shawn, Ms. Geldburg’s threats, all the math homework, and seeing Lily again gave me away.  “Good.” I said looking him dead in the eye.

“You’re a horrible liar.” Well, if I couldn’t read her thoughts, she is pretty believable.

“Thank you.” I said with slight arrogance.

Jason rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen to give Shannon a kiss. What was a peck on the cheek turned into them making out, so I went upstairs to my room. I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and slid the keyboard out. I checked my email and searched online for anything interesting. Nothing new. I did have an email update from SHL saying something about a training log. I printed it to the printer in Jason’s room and decided to deal with it later.

“Sorry ‘bout that Jamie.” Jason walked in as he was whipping some lipstick off his mouth. I tried not to laugh. He growled a little. “Come on, time for dinner.”

After dinner, Jason tried make me go right to bed, which stink ‘cuz he’ll keep me awake working on his homework. We battled it out a little before he finally grabbed my tail.

“I win.” He said. I growled has he carried me upstairs. I hate losing.

“Well, even the loser gets a special prize. Amy and Tyler are already asleep. Get in bed and I’ll be right back.” And with that, he ran down the stairs faster than the speed of light. I jumped in bed and pulled part of the blanket over to me.

Jason was back in a few seconds, smiling with his guitar. He started playing that song for me, humming along with it. I had drifted to a peaceful sleep before he had even finished the first verse.

Chapter 2

When I woke up, Amy and Tyler were already gone. Jason was shaking me away.

“Okay, okay. I’m up.” I said, sleepily swatting him away with my hand.

“Let’s go, the bus is only two and a half minutes away!”

I jumped out of bed and started running down the stairs. “Why didn’t you tell me!” I shouted, already grabbing a bagel. I ate it in a few seconds and grabbed my backpack running out the door.

Good luck. The bus is already at your stop. I don’t care! I ran at least 20 mph and got to the stop just as the bus starting pulling away. I ran to catch up with it. I could see Shawn sitting in the back of the bus, watching me run. He was laughing so much he fell out of his seat. I was going to pound him into Swiss cheese.

I finally caught up to the bus doors and the driver saw me. When he stopped, I walked onto the bus. Everyone stared at me. My fur was a mess from running; my backpack was falling off one shoulder, and my eyes were tinted red to catch up with the bus. I looked totally hung over. Then Shawn started laughing and the rest of the bus joined in. I stormed to the back of the bus and took my seat next to Amy, right across from Shawn and Dan.

I put my bag down on Amy’s seat and then pushed Shawn so I could sit next to him.

“What the heck Jamie?” He asked as he got squashed between me and Dan. Dan was shoved up against the window.

“I’m going to punch you until you bleed!” I hissed, loud enough to hopefully scare him, but quiet enough so that people a few seats ahead of us couldn’t hear.

“Oh really?” Shawn said in that annoying, smart-Alec voice of his. “I think it’s the other way around Jamie. Just wait ‘til gym today, my team will crush yours in a humiliating defeat. “

I was about to punch his jaw in when Amy dragged me backwards. I fell into the aisle and Shawn and Dan laughed some more. I could have broken his jaw, but I held myself back from doing so.

“Jamie, you’re really going to let Shawn get to you?” She said his name like it was a disease. I liked that.

“I can’t wait ‘til me, you and Kristy crush his team in dodge ball.”

The rest of the bus ride passed and we waited outside the school for Kristy to show up. I was sitting under an oak tree when I saw this awesome car pull into the parking lot. WOW! This car was wicked awesome! It would be so awesome if I could, you know, accidentally drive away in it… That glossy silver paint, those two black doors. Just like the one from Iron Man. An image of me crashing it into a tree at 150 mph flashed through my head as Jason laughed out loud. I was almost mad, until I heard his teacher yelling at him.

Then Kristy walked out of the car. I almost fainted. My jaw dropped as my eyes went from the car, to her and back to the car. I saw her uncle Ryan in the driver’s seat. Ryan had been like an older brother to Jason when he was growing up. Of course, when Jason was home, Ryan was studying some science tech in Japan. And when Ryan was home, Jason was locked away at boot camp.

“Hi! What’s up?” Kristy asked cheerily as she skipped over. I was still staring at that sexy car.

“Pretty awesome, huh?” Kristy said, bragging a little. She had rights to. “It used to be a Ferrari, but he modified it so it has all sorts of cool features.”

I could tell it was a Ferrari, duh. I’m almost a bigger car freak than Jason. But I wasn’t about to crush Kristy’s spirit.

“Yeah! That car is wicked awesome!” She grinned. She must have heard my thoughts from earlier. But then her face became serious.

“So… what’s the deal with you and Lily?” I glared for a second at that name. “Why do you hate each other?”

I hesitated for a minute, not sure how to word it…

“It’s a long story.” I decided to say.

“I’ve got time.” I hate when people answer that question like that. “We have 15 minutes before the doors open.”

I paused again. “Well… a little while ago, Lily had powers like us. She worked at SHL and everything too. But she was stealing SHL’s secrets and giving them to the enemy. She would have eventually gotten me, Amy, Tyler…. And Jason… “ I flinched at the thought of my brother getting “Killed. So, you know that pink stained gas chamber in the corner of the orphanage? Well, they gave her an extended version of that gas, which erased her powers. But that stronger gas has some side effects… one of which is memory loss. Lily forgot what happened and what she had done. She even had a completely new personality. Somewhere in the back of her mind, though, she knows I got her kicked out of something important and it makes her really, really mad. That’s when some of her old personality comes through.”

Kristy gasped, “She was going to kill you?”

Well…not directly but yeah, I would blame that little traitor for my brother’s- no, I can’t even think it. Even though some of my more painful memories were flashing back, I hid my emotions.

“She has a new personality now, and remembers none of it. But she wasn’t going to, hmm, no. She was selling the secrets to the enemy, who would have killed us. She was just the first link in a chain of events to death.”

“I don’t have to be friends with her. I’m… not even sure I want to… now”

Oh, crud. I really have to stop that! Everything I say and everything I do makes her all sad, or hurts someone else. And now she’s going to give up her ‘friend’? Even if I hate Lily… no.

“You don’t have to stop being friends with her…” I said, but hmmm, I can’t be too nice. “Just sit with us at lunch from now on, okay?”

She smiled. Good. “I intend to. Oh, and if you guys ever decide you’re gonna put the past behind you, we can sit and the same table.”

“… Maybe.” Don’t hold your breath. You would probably die of oxygen loss.

“Okay then.” She said as the 8 o’clock bell rang and we walked in the school.

Today passed much like yesterday. Only we got some Latin homework to review last year. Just as much math homework. And a few pages of social studies notes. I got all of it done about a half an hour. Then me and Amy worked on the spacesuit for NASA until Jason got home. I forced myself to stay awake until he came up after Tyler and Amy were asleep.

“You know, you can fall sleep by yourself.” Jason said as he walked in a normal speed with his guitar.

“Yeah, I know. But this song is really special to me.”

“The more I play it, the less special it’ll be.” Jason remarked.

“Not true.” I replied. This song means the world to me. Jason means the world to me.

After hearing that, Jason smiled. I love that smile. He played my lullaby until I drifted into sleep.

—

“Yes, I would love another lobster dish.” I mumbled, dreaming about an all-you-can-eat lobster party.

“Jamie.” Amy said quietly. I woke up and looked at the clock.

“Five in the morning? What the-“

“Sh!” She hissed quietly. “I need to test a jetpack proto type and I thought it would be cool to try it on the way to school. Come on.”

We ran outside, with some pre-dawn chill in the grass. The sun was just barely rising about the horizon. I hate being up before the sun. But I strapped into a jetpack anyway. We flew around in circles and loops and made it to the school just as the buses did. The jetpacks were hidden in some bushes and we went to class.

The English Bell Ringer was fun. Math was a bore and when lunch finally came, I was starving. All the jet packing made me hungry. We ate quickly and talked about Uncle Ryan’s awesome Ferrari.

“Can you ask your uncle if I can maybe test drive his car sometime?” I asked Kristy at one point. Amy must have decided it was a good time to make fun of me. Peace between sisters isn’t meant to last forever.

“Jamie, I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” She said in her annoyingly professional voice. “Even if you are a good driver, you do have a loooooooooooooong history of being reckless.” Kristy smirked as flashbacks of me crashing a jet pack into a telephone pole, a mini plane into the side of a building, a hang glider into the lake (that wasn’t fun), and so many more crash whipped through my mind. Bad driving skills must run in the family ‘cuz Jason has had MUCH worse crashes than I have.

All of those things were…. “Well, that was when the things I was driving were… well, up in the air.” I shivered at my slight fear of heights. Okay, not slight but still.

“Yeah, sure, Jamie.” Amy replied sarcastically. I’ve also noticed a lot of my life is sarcasm…

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snapped at Amy, slightly annoyed. My eyes stayed in control though; she wasn’t trying to make me too mad, and I didn’t really feel like freaking out.

“Don’t you remember crashing that motorcycle Jason fixed… twice? And that time you were test driving the hover car?” Kristy was hurting herself, trying not to laugh at my flashbacks.

“Hover cars are in the air!” I protested. First of all, that hover car Amy built had some bugs in it, I could tell. And the motorcycle… well, let’s just say me and Jason spent a lot of time with broken bones and bruises before Shannon made us sell it.

“Yeah, like one inch at most! Jamie, you’ve crashed more time than I can count. THAT’S my basis for my argument that driving Kristy’s uncle’s awesome car might not be a very good idea.”

Now she was making fun of my fear of heights! “NO- But- and he- He- It- But- Why- UGH!!!!!” I stammered before I slammed my fist into the table with slight rage and made a dent. No one was looking and the teachers were busy talking, so it wasn’t a problem. I turned away from them, annoyed. Like they did have fears! Have you seen Amy when she get’s a speck of dirt on her lab coat and Jason wont let her wash it that very second? Or when we went camping and it was really really dark.

“What is it exactly that you guys do in your lab?” Kristy asked, trying to keep the peace.

“Well, all sorts of stuff. Occasionally Jason will let us use the gamma ray to experiment on a mouse or a squirrel; That’s how I got Theo, my talking lab rat. And I have so many other tools and can’t even begin to name them all.”

“Like those magnifying glasses of yours?” Kristy asked as I turned back to listen to their convo. She shivered, remembering that time we dissected a ladybug. Kristy hates bugs, what a chicken!

“Yeah!” Amy said smiling, “I’m surprised you remembered. They’re not only magnifying glasses, though. They also have computers and TV and stuff. They’re actually really cool. I designed them myself.” Well, of course Amy designed them herself! She refused to have anything in the lab that she didn’t or couldn’t build. Well with the exception of the gamma ray, which she’s working on improving.

The bell rang and startled me and Kristy. Amy smirked as we jumped a few inches off the lunch bench. I started walking towards the gym, as our first day back at PE would start. Kristy started walking to history but Amy stopped her.

“We’re not going that way. We have gym next, and I made sure we’re all in the same class.” I could have hacked, but she wanted to ‘talk diplomatically’ with Ms. Geldburg. Ugh.

“Okay, then” Kristy said, sounding interested, “Which way is the gym?”

“Follow me.” Amy said, which was my cue to take the lead.

“I wonder what we’re doing in gym…” Kristy thought out loud.

My smiled with an evil grin as I opened the gym door.

“Dodge ball.” I said wickedly.

Chapter 3

As we walked into the gym, Shawn was already standing at the half court line, waiting for me to show up as the other team captain. All the other kids were standing in a line, waiting to be picked. I motioned for Amy and Kristy to get into the line as I stood next to Shawn.

“Ready to lose, Jonas?” Shawn sneered.

“Lose?” I asked with a grin on my face, “I’m pretty sure that whatever team has me as the captain is going to win.”

Shawn mumbled something I couldn’t hear as our gym teacher walked in. Mr. Mercuad was a middle-aged man who was losing some of the hair on the top of his head. He has a small black beard, but was very in shape. He was in the Army for a few years, but decided to become a gym teacher. Watching us play is better than any spectator sport. And he almost never enforces the rules, so it’s a free for all.

“Team captains.” Mr. Mercuad said as he looked at me and Shawn. A smiled appeared on his face, knowing this would be a good game. “Coin flip for first pick.”

He threw the quarter up in the air. Shawn called out heads and I was forced on tails. It landed with our first president facing up. Crap.

“Shawn, you pick first. But Jamie gets to choose which side.”

“Yes.” I whispered. In the big gym, there was one side that had a tree fort in it so you could plan up there. The other side only had a ground fort, which is much easier to aim.

“Dan.” Shawn said as the deer ran over to his side. So predictable, but so was I

“Amy.”

“Tyler.”

“Kristy.” Everyone looked at me.  Normally I would pick Randy next, he’s one of the strongest throwers and one of my close advisors in a game. But Kristy would be much more useful.

The little brown fur ball walked over to my side. And Shawn started to laugh out loud.

“Really Jamie? You’re picking the kit?” He laughed some more.

“The kit who destroyed you in baseball?” I retorted with a grin.

Shawn didn’t say anything, but you could almost see the angry smoke coming out of his head. Kristy looked at him for a few seconds as silence fell across the gym; She was reading his mind. Shawn saw this and turned bright red.

“Aw, Shawn’s dignity is hurt.” Kristy said mockingly. I laughed, as did most of the people who would soon me on my team.

“Just wait until we win Jamie!” Shawn shouted, his face was bright red from embarrassment. “And next time in baseball, I wont stop myself for throwing the ball at her head!”

I was going to lunge at him, but Amy held me back. My eyes were red and my claws were unsheathed.

“Alright,” Mr. Meruad said, trying to act like this was bad. But you could see the smile on his face; Shawn and I fought like we were on TV or something. “Enough fighting. Pick the teams and then we’ll get to the betting.”

The rest of the teams were picked. Shawn got Randy, but I knew he would secretly help us. Kristy verified my thought with a nod of her head. I did get most of the kids on my normal team. We were faster and smarter, but Shawn had brute force. Most of the bullies and kids that had been held back were on his team.

“Okay Shawn, start the deal.” Mr. Meruad sat back in his lawn chair with some diet coke. Every time me and Shawn are team captains we make a bet against each other about who will win. Since we live in the same house, it gets pretty extreme. Mr Meruad even came over once to see what would happen. He’s got to be one of the best gym teachers ever.

“Alright Jamie.” Shawn said with an intense face, “When I win, you and 3 main people get walled.” You know how in a firing squad, the prisoners are lined up against a wall and shot at? That’s what being walled is, only with big red rubber dodgeballs.

“Sure,” I said calmly, like he could win. “But when I win, you, Dan, and a few of those other held back kids are gonna get walled.” I paused for effect, “With red eye allowed.”

Not many people in school knew exactly what my red eye is. But they do know that when I used it to wall someone, they’ll have tons of bruises and possible a broken bone or a lost tooth. This caused some of Shawn’s team mates to talk nervously.

“Hey, guys chill.” Shawn said to them, “We’re not gonna lose.” He turned back to me, “Deal, but if we capture you at any point in the game, I’m gonna run you up the flag pole.”

I swallowed nervously, but didn’t let my fear show. People like Shawn feed off of fear. “Only if we lose the game. Which we wont.”

“Whatever. You’re going down anyway.”

Amy ran up to me and whispered in my ear, “Use the bully ploy.”

“And just to make it even,” I continued, which caught Shawn off his guard, “When your pathetic team gets crushed, you can’t bully me for a month.”

“A week.”

“Two weeks.”

“Deal.”

“And don’t forget!” Randy called from the other team, “Winners get gloating rights!” Everyone cheered about that. Shawn and I took a step near each other, about to shake hands and close the deal.

“May the best team win.” I said to Shawn, trying to look like the bigger person even thought I was a few inches shorter.

“Yeah, may the best man win.” All the girls on my team booed. But the girls one Shawn’s team, who should be in 6^th grade or something, didn’t say a word.

“You sure you count as a man Shawn?” I retorted. I heard laughter and cheering from my side and even a laugh from Randy. Shawn growled but put out his paw.

We shook on it, sealing my fate if things went wrong. Fear flashed in my eyes for half a second but Shawn caught it.

“Sure you don’t want to take back that flag pole deal, Jonas? Sure you aren’t a scared little kitty?” The mockery in his voice was almost too much. I had to use all my will power not to break one of his bones right then and there.

“Oh it’s you who should be afraid Shawn.” I said, the fire back in my eyes again. Fear wasn’t an option anymore. “I don’t think your jaw can take another red wall beating.” Last time, we had to take him to Joe to get his jaw re-boned and put back in place.

“Okay, enough trash talk.” Mr. Meruad said as he picked up his chair. “Move into the field gym and you have 10 minutes for strategy. We only have 40 minutes in the period so it’ll be a 30 minute game. And the prison can be made with these cones. It must be visible from the other side though. AND Mrs. G said we can only have one spy mission at a time.” Everyone groaned at that last rule. “I know, it sucks, but I have to listen to orders. It was getting ‘too violent’.” Mr. Meruad made quotes in the air, mocking Mrs. Geldburg. He’s even better than last year. The diet coke must be giving him more energy.

We ran into the gym and met in the middle our ground. Shawn’s team was already in groups, but my classes weren’t with all the same people from last year and we had a few newbies.

“Okay everyone, I am the leader in this operation. You’ll need to listen to me, no questions asked. If you didn’t listen during the betting, I have most of my dignity on the line, so I need all the support I can get from you guys. And absolutely no mutiny or treason. Anyone who commits those crimes will be charged with red wall from me after we’re done with Shawn’s team. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am!” I got a few salutes from my older team members and the newbies looked excited to start.

“Okay, I’m gonna have me, Amy, Kristy, Lucas and Sam in the fort. For any of you newbies, they are also you commanding officers and you are to listen to them as well. Now I want Haley in charge of Attack Group 2 and Trevor on defense. William is in charge of First Attack. I want you three up here and then you can take your soldiers.”

Haley, Trevor and William walked over to where I was. We formed a small circled as I talked to them.

“Okay, first of all, William, thank you so much for being in the First Attack. I know it’s dangerous.”

“It’s in honor, general.” William replied with a quick salute. I would be great in the army…

“Anyway, I want you to take mostly newbies but have your co-leader be someone from last year, like Beth or Andy. Haley, I want you to take most of the weaker kids from last year, but make sure you have someone good as co-leader as well. And take any of the left over Newbies.”

Haley nodded, even though she looked a bit disappointed about having the weaker kids. But they were better this year, for all the practice and games last year. But I understand what she’s feeling.

“And Trevor, we’ll need your team most of all. Get as many of the kids from last year as you can. I know you’re not used to being Defense Group leader, but I know you’ve learned a ton from Randy.” He nodded. Randy and Trevor were best friend and always worked as leader and co-leader for our defense team.  It was a huge honor for him to be moved up. “That’s all,” I concluded, “But feel free to head up to the fort whenever you need to. And William, I’ll be seeing you on the field.”

They all saluted and ran back to pick the rest of the kids. When someone’s the team captain at our school, they normally spend the whole game in the fort to save their own skin. I would never, and could never, do that. I love the heat of battle and would rather go down fighting than to be safe in the fort.

I climbed up the ladder to the fort and saw Amy and Lucas talking about some a new tactic. Sam was looking out and making sure everyone was getting to work. Kristy looked like she couldn’t believe what was going on. When I walked in, they all stopped what they were doing and saluted. Well, except for Kristy but she was a newbie. I waved my hand for them to be at ease and took my seat at the head of the wooden table.

“Sam, how does everything look?” I asked.

“Everyone is almost ready for battle, but Trevor is going through some extra planning with his group. May I ask on thing Jamie?” I nodded, “Why did you take that newbie over Randy? He’s the absolute best on defense. Not to question your plan, ma’am.”

Hmmmm. Well, there’s only one way to show Kristy’s skills. “Kristy,” I said as the brown fur ball looked up. “I think my team needs to get to know you better before they trust you.”

She looked confused, “Okay… So, how does that work?”

I smirked; this will be interesting… I remember back when I had to prove I was good enough to be in the fort. The team captain’s name was Chris. I fought against Randy; he’s a grade above me. We were both so good that Chris had to call it a draw. But my skills brought me to where I am now. Right on top.

“Well… Amy, why don’t you pretend-fight with Kristy?” Amy would be a good match against Kristy.

“Yes ma’am.” She was a bit sarcastic, but that’s always been the case with Amy during gym. She never takes it seriously.

Amy stood up and faced Kristy. She lunged toward Kristy, but she was face down on the ground the next second, Kristy sitting on top of her. She did have great powers. Kristy quickly got off and prepared for Amy’s next move. Amy attacked left a few seconds after Kristy stepped right. Half a second later, Amy was on the floor again from Kristy grabbing her leg and tripping her. We’d never actually use this in dodge ball, I mean, it is only dodge ball, but it proved how skilled Kristy was.

Amy stood up, with a few bruises and walked over to her chair. “I think your point is proven, Jamie.” She smiled but was breathing heavily. She was a science geek, not a sports star.

Kristy took Randy’s chair next to me as I cleared my throat for attention, “Now that’s settled,” I looked over to Sam, who was looked at Kristy with his jaw hanging loose in admiration. But he snapped back to attention. “We need to go over our game plan.”

Amy and Lucas explained some basic plans they came up with and I had Sam send the message down to the troops. The fighting was just about to start. William’s group was going to attack the base at the right, while half of Trevor’s group was with them and the other half guarding the jail. Haley’s would be the second wave of attack. I looked out the fort window and Shawn’s team looked ready to break our bones or something. My bet with him made my hands shake a little and I almost considered staying here with Amy, Lucas, Kristy and Sam. Almost. I could never do that to my troops. Plus, dodge ball is so much fun! I hope I can get a clear shot at Shawn…

I was about to head down the ladder when Amy came up to me.

“Jamie, you shouldn’t go out there.”

“Why the hell not? I always play dodge ball, even as team captain.”

“I know, and that’s actually why we’ve been winning.” I smiled, “But that’s not the point. If you get hit, there’s a 87.895103 percent chance we’ll lose because we don’t have Randy. And there’s a 56.7793034 percent chance you’ll get hit.”

“I may have no idea what those numbers mean, but it doesn’t sound good.” I thought about hanging from my underwear on that 9 foot flag pole. But my fear didn’t show; good thing I can act. “But that just makes it more fun, right? See ya!”

I quickly climbed down the ladder and ran over to stand next to William. He looked at me in shock.

“What the heck are you doing here? If you get hit, we’re sure to lose and then you’ll be-“

“Yeah, a science freak just told me that and the odds are about 90 percent against us. But there’s no way I’m backing down on my team. And Shawn will just call me a coward for the next three months if I hid up there.” I motioned to the fort with my tail. “So let’s play some dodge ball!” I shouted the last part so my team could hear. They started cheering.

Mr. Mercuad blew the whistle and everyone ran for the middle line where the red rubber balls were. My team got most of them, but a lot of the newbies in the first attack group were hit. Trevor threw me a ball and I took out a scary looking, Goth kid. Suddenly, Kristy was on the battlefield next to me. I threw her a ball and she looked my way.

“What in the name of Hades are you doing down here? You’ll get killed.”

“You’re the one who could get flag poled, not me.” She smiled… mockingly. Does that count as treason? ‘Cuz I almost want to red wall her. But no…

“You’re not the only hero, Jamie.” She said as she used her powers for perfect aim at Dan. How she got it all the way to the back of the gym I’ll never know….

My team let out a victory cry as Shawn’s best friend walked into our jail. Trevor sent back a few extra kids to guard him. Kristy and I worked as a team for a while, taking out a ton of Shawn’s bullies. Her powers were really helpful.

Suddenly a red rubber ball was flying towards my face. It seemed as time slowed, but I couldn’t move, frozen with… with… Well, I don’t think it was fear, but it was something. Maybe shock. I saw Shawn grinning with happiness as I was about to be hit. But then a brown kitten jumped into front of me and time snapped back into place. Kristy was hit in the side, with the ball that was suppose to have hit me. Wow.

“Get over here Kristy!” Shawn shouted with annoyance pointing to the jail. He wanted me, not Kristy. Now she was gonna suffer in jail, most likely having some of those giants beat her up. Well that’s not happening under my command. I ran back to Trevor to talk to him about a spy mission.

Chapter 4

“Hey Jamie.” Trevor said as he followed me back up to the fort. I heard Shawn from down below.

“That’s right! Run, you coward!” Shawn laughed, thinking I was retreating. Yeah, so not gonna happen.

“I need to talk to you about a spy mission.” I said to Trevor, ignoring Shawn. “Kristy saved my butt out there and I’m not about to let a group of emo bullies beat her into a pulp. I’m planning on going back there to rescue her, but I’ll need back up and a safety when I get back. Can you do that?”

“Well… We have a lot of kids guarding Dan right now, but I think we can do it.” I smiled. Now it’s my turn to be the hero, instead of the villain. Wow, Kristy really brings out the best in people… But if my best is rescuing someone in dodge ball, that’s just sad.

“Good,” I said, as we started climbing down the ladder. “I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Jamie!” Amy said before I could get all the way down the ladder, “Are you crazy? Kristy saved you from being hit so we don’t lose the game and you don’t get flag poled. If you go over there and actually make it back alive, there is a 99.99998% that you’ll get hit. Plus it’s a 87.85609% chance you’ll get caught over there anyway.”

“What if we have a decoy spy team?” I asked, looking at Trevor as he nodded, “How much better would our odds be then?”

“It would be about 50% less chance… but Mr. Mercuad said it was law for only one spy mission at a time!”

“Amy, since when do I fallow the law?” I jumped off the last few rungs of the ladder and looked at Trevor, “I want you to send your best three defenders to distract Shawn’s forces to the east side. While I go towards the west and around the back of their fort to save Kristy. I’ll be back on the west side. Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Trevor said as he readied his three people. I got ready to run. A spy mission was very dangerous. If I was smarter, I would send someone else that would blend in over there. I’m the leader and Shawn has everyone on the look out for me. And it doesn’t help that I’m bright orange.

Trevor’s group quickly got moving and almost all the dumb thugs ran over to stop it. I read once that there are lives wasted and then there are lives spent. Right now, it was lives spent. I ran across the gym floor, light on my feet and I made it over to Kristy.

I looked down at Kristy as she was lying on the floor. She had a bloody nose and a black eye. There were a few bruises on her arms too. Oh my God, what have I done? If that dodge ball had just hit me instead then she wouldn’t be-

“Jamie, I’m fine.” Kristy said, annoyingly reading my mind. She grinned at the fact I was annoyed. Grrrrr… “Anyway, you came over here for a reason. Let’s go before you get caught too.”

Kristy had some trouble standing up, but I helped her to her feet and we ran back across the gym floor. The decoy was almost completely destroyed, but I knew it was worth it to save Kristy. She smiled at that.

I looked for the team that should be waiting for us. But no one was there. Everyone was towards the east, fighting to help the decoys. But Kristy and I couldn’t stop in enemy territory, so we kept running until we made it to the other side.

“Go into the fort.” I told Kristy, “I can’t have you getting captured again.”

“Fine,” She said, clearly annoyed that she couldn’t stay and fight, “But you have to come too.”

“Fine.” I said, just as annoyed. I was the captain, not her. But she had a good point, any more time out here and I’ll be hit for sure.

“SHE’S GONE!!!”  I heard one of Shawn’s Goth soldiers say. I turned around as they were scrambling to find where Kristy went. But Shawn knew. The look on his face will be priceless when he sees that I stole her back.

But suddenly, Shawn was standing in front of me again. Kristy had a dodge ball in her hand, but held my hand out for her to stay back. I felt like I almost pushed her backwards… with my mind… but no, I’m not telekinetic.

Shawn had that evil grin on his face. The one that makes me want to put him back in the hospital. Behind him, I saw Andy trying to make his escape. I almost laughed as the huge guards fell on their faces trying to stop him, but he was too quick. In that one moment I was looking at Andy, that second that my ADHD got the best of me, Shawn attacked.

He threw the dodge ball right at my face with blinding speed. I couldn’t dodge, I couldn’t duck, and Kristy couldn’t have saved me even if I were to let her. The ball crashed into my jaw, causing me to fly backwards. The gym suddenly became quiet as everyone looked to see that I had fallen. I could almost hear Amy saying, “I told ya so.”

When I opened my eyes, Shawn had sent his two closest leaders, aside from Dan, to bring me back over. I could taste blood in my mouth. How hard did that bastard hit me? The two thugs grabbed my arms and carried me back to the other side. I looked back and saw Kristy staring in shock. She ran back up to the fort to tell Sam and Lucas, though they probably saw. And that’s when I heard Jason.

That has to have been the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.

It’s not my fault! You didn’t make me take my meds this morning!

Oh, you know this isn’t my fault. But it was very noble of you to save Kristy. Good job, kiddo.

Only problem is, we’re going to lose and I’m going to get- to get- I couldn’t even finish the sentence mentally. I bite my lower lip to keep from crying.

Seeing that, Shawn’s leaders threw me into the floor of their fort. Wait, why their fort- right…. There’s that rule about capturing a leader. We just normally never use it ‘cuz leaders aren’t stupid enough to go outside their fort.

“Well, well, well.” Shawn said, sitting at the head of a small table, “Looks like it’s check mate for you Jamie.” He turned to the thugs, “Put theses on her wrists.” Power lock bracelets? Where in the world did he get those? Probably from Rick… If Rick wasn’t like a second brother to me, would have totally beat him up when I got home.

With the bracelets on, I was almost completely powerless. My red eye is gone and I can’t fight at all. Plus, I can’t heal like heroes do. Normally, when Jason or I break an arm, we can heal in about three days and be back to normal life; while, if you call our life normal… But as long as I have these bracelets on, I’m powerless. I feel like… Like a normal person. And I hate it. The only thing that’s weird is that I can still hear Jason and I’m still a criminal genius. But that’s not gonna help me now.

“So Jamie, how does it feel to finally be at my mercy? Sucks, doesn’t it?” Shawn was taunting me as his ‘friends’ forced me to my knees. How degrading…

“What’s gonna suck is that my team is going to win, even if I’ve been captured.” I retorted, fire burning in my eyes. Shawn may have one the battle, but he wont win this war.

“You sure about that Jamie?” Shawn said with that evil grin on his face. Oh, if I just wasn’t in these bracelets I could shred that sly smile right off his face! “Because I think we should make our deal a bit more interesting.”

“I’m listening.”

“I got some of this from a friend.” Shawn held up a needle, filled with a light pink liquid. I gasped. That was the gas, in liquid form! Deadly to any normal person, but painfully paralyzing to any hero. “And I’ll give you a choice with it. When you lose, I won’t flag pole you. But instead, you’ll have to stab your best friend, Kristy, with this. It wont hurt a bit. It’ll hurt a lot.” Shawn grinned again. Why did Rick give him these bracelets? WHY! “Your choice.”

I thought about it for a second. Being free of the embarrasement of being flag poled, not to mention the fear. Nine feet doesn’t seem like a lot, but once you’re up there it is. And besides all that, it’ll hurt. And the flag pole thing is the cause of all this in the first place.

But what about Kristy? She’s insanely afraid of needles. And her friends betraying her is her worst nightmare. If I did that to her, she would never forgive me and our friendship would totally be shattered. And to see her in pain like that, I could never to that to her.

“No deal, Shawn.”

“Fine,” Shawn said nodding to the thugs to pull me back to my feet, “I’d rather you suffer anyway.”

One of the thugs held me facing the other thug. He held his fist up, ready to beat the living daylight out of me.

“Any last words Jamie?”

“Can’t we talk about this Shawn?” I asked, fear poisoning my voice, “I mean, you don’t really need to do this.”

“Yes I do.”

And with that, everything went black.

Chapter 5

I heard a whistle that sounded far away. I sat up and saw I was in the jail. A ton of kids from my team where there, looked at me sadly. I stood up and stumbled around for a second, dizzy. Oh please tell me we didn’t- I looked over to our team. About three people were left standing, Trevor, William and Kristy. A few other kids were in the back but the other team had so many more still standing.

“Shawn’s team wins.” Mr. Meruad said. His voice was neutral, but his eyes looked at me with pity. He knew what Shawn had meant by flagpole.

Most of you team walked off to head to their next class, but my leaders and advisors were still here. Why did I have to be so reckless? Why didn’t I listen to Amy? More importantly, why didn’t I say yes to the deal with Shawn? Kristy would only be in pain for a few hours, plus no one would laugh at her. Everyone will be laughing at me…

“Okay, Jamie.” Shawn said, with that stupid little grin on his face. I noticed the bracelets were off, but Mr. Meraud was still in the room. “Nice job losing. You, Amy, Kristy, Trevor, Sam, Lucas, William and Haley will all be walled at recess.”

“But you only said three of her advisors!” Haley called out in protest.

“Well… I’ll let you off the hook if you join my team.” Shawn offered Haley an escape. She had to be strong enough to ignore it. Right?

“Okay!” She said as she ran over to the other side.

“You dirty traitor!” Trevor called out in fury as William and Lucas had to hold him back. Sam and Amy were glaring at her. Kristy looked like she was reading her mind…

“What is it?” I asked her, trying to keep my cool.

“She was planning on leaving the whole time. And she’s the one that told Shawn where’d you be after the spy mission.” Kristy’s eyes were almost as red as mine. Oh wait, no she’s just mad. I’m the one who’s currently able to break a brick wall.

I was about to lunge at her throat in blind hatred when Amy and Kristy pulled me back. They didn’t do a very good job. I got a few inches away from her face.

“This. Is. Treason.” I said menacingly. “And it will not go unpunished.” My eyes flashed back to green and I fell to my knees from exhaustion. It’s not that my powers were over used, but those bracelets and being knocking out left me weaker than I wanted to be.

“Aw, poor Jamie.” Shawn said mockingly. “Hopefully you wont be to tired to meet the top of the flagpole after school today. And you’ll probably be there until Jason gets home.”

I would have sliced his muzzle. I could have sliced his muzzle. But I was too weak, and there were too many witnesses. But I used the last bit of my strength to get to my feet and put a claw at Shawn’s throat.

“This isn’t the end Shawn.” I said, before falling over and blacking out again.

I woke up in the nurse’s office, with my head in Jason’s lap. Kristy, Amy and Trevor were waiting in there with him. TJ was there too.

I sat bolt upright, slightly embarrassed from my brother’s over kindness. “I’m fine. What did I miss?”

“Well,” Amy said looking at her watch, “We’re supposed to be getting walled right… now. But I’m sure Dan will understand that you were unconscious. Shawn wont, but Dan will.”

“Are you okay?” TJ asked, taking a step closer, “What happened to you?”

“I just-“ Everyone in this room, aside from the nurse and Trevor, knew about my powers. But Jason would have my head if he found out I used them in front of a huge group of people like that.

Oh, you’re just great at keeping a secret from me. Jason thought to me sarcastically. I inched away from him, just a bit, knowing I’d get in trouble for that later.

The nurse put on some bandaids, which was kinda annoying ‘cuz it’ll hurt taking them off. But at least I wont have any serious scars from the game. She wrote my name on a list for injuries today and made Jason fill out a few papers. He was slightly annoyed by that, but did it with out talking.

“Well, you’re all free to go. You should eat your lunches fast, but just in case I’ll give you passes to your 5^th period classes.” She gave each of us a yellow sip of paper. “Hurry up, now.”

We had already finished our lunch, but there was no point in going outside for our recess. Now, I wasn’t hiding from Shawn, ‘cuz if we went out there now, he would only about 2 minutes to wall us and, of course, that wouldn’t be enough so he’d beat us up again. And that’s annoying on many levels, so we just sat at the lunch table and talked about the game. And by we, I mean them. I kinda just sat there and listened. It wouldn’t matter about making us better for the rematch, we still have to suffer. And it’s all because I’m arrogant enough to bet my with my own neck on the line.

The bell rang for the end of lunch and recess. I saw Sam, William and Lucas walk in from recess, with a few bruises. Lucas was limping and Sam had blood nose. I felt bad about leaving them out there, but Shawn will be much worse with me at the wall.

Science and Latin passed quickly, bring my social death closer and closer. After the final bell, I met everyone at my locker. Everyone being Kristy, Amy, Trevor, TJ and Tyler too. I don’t know why TJ and Tyler came, but TJ will probably make sure I live and Tyler just likes to follow the crowd. We were walking out the doors when Shawn caught us. Saw that coming a mile away.

“You missed the walling at recess today.” He said mockingly, watching me like I was a mouse about to be eaten by the owl. “Were the little kittens scared?”

I growled, with my teeth flashing in the sunlight. Dan backed up a little, but Shawn just laughed.

“Well, I decided that we could make up for it now. All of you, line up on the wall.” He smiled, waiting for me to say something.

I could have said, ‘Make me, you dumb fox-hearted scum!’ Or I could have punched him in the jaw. I could have done anything. But I said nothing. I could sense TJ and Trevor’s shock to my silence. I backed up against the wall and motioned for the other three to join me. TJ and Tyler stood on the sidelines; Tyler was picking his nose while TJ looked at me nervously. Guys can be so sweet sometimes. I’m talking about TJ, not Tyler.

Kristy wedged herself between me and Amy, while Trevor stood next to Amy. Amy was fiddling with her watch, creating a shield or something. Trevor was getting ready to dodge anything that came his way. Kristy was… cowering in fear with her eyes closed. I mouthed ‘wow’ at her sacredness.

“Prepare to be walled.” Shawn said as he and Dan grabbed some dodge balls. Some other thugs and Goths from the game joined them and the beating began.

Red rubber flew everywhere, smacking Kristy in the head or hitting Trevor in the gut. Amy was being pummeled, but didn’t seem to feel anything. Lucky little science geek. I was dodging left and right, and I was actually doing a pretty good job. I caught one of the balls with my claws and it deflated in my hand. But while that happened (which was awesome, by the way) I got hit in the head really hard from Shawn’s direction. The ball crashed my head back into the wall with a force that would have any other person on the ground, most likely unconscious. But I just shock my head to clear my burred vision. Being a super hero was great.

About 50 dodge balls later, Shawn and Dan finally stopped. Amy was mostly unharmed but her shield had failed in the last minute and she got hit pretty hard. Kristy was covered in bruises and I think she had a bloody nose. Trevor was on the ground, moaning in pain. Looks like he got hit in the guy parts… Ouch. Shawn and Dan were grinning like they had just won the world championship in dodge ball. Shawn waved his hand and the thugs and Goths went back to where ever they lived.

I didn’t have a bloody nose or anything to serious, but I was weak. Weaker than I would want to be with a flag poling hanging over my head like an anvil in a cartoon. I felt something wet on the left side of my mouth. I pulled my hand back and saw blood. I’m bleeding, great. But that was the least of my problems.

“Come on.” Shawn sneered as he grabbed me by the scruff of my neck. Normally only Jason can do this, but like I said, I was weak-ish. “It’s time to get flagpoled.”

We all started walking home ‘cuz the buses were gone, Shawn partly dragging me. Randy had been waiting for Trevor and the two walked back to their part of the neighborhood. Amy and Kristy walked next to me as Shawn somewhat took the lead. Amy gave me a pity look. Normally I that would have annoyed me, but pity fit in well right now.

We got to the orphanage after a 10-minute walk from school. Shawn half threw me to the base of the flagpole, where he tied my underwear to the hock that the flag is normally on. I think he was in boy scouts or something, because that knot was really good. Shawn pulled on the rope and I was hauled into the air. I reached the top and Shawn tied the rope in another boy scout knot to a stake at the foot of the flagpole. And there I was, hanging 9 feet in the air by my underwear, with all of my friends looking up at me. Just perfect.

Amy looked up for a second, then shock her head. She walked towards the lab, I guess to work on that thing for NASA. She’s seen me in worse situations… Tyler wasn’t really paying attention to being with and he kinda wandered off towards the woods behind our house. Off to do whatever stupid Tylers do. Shawn and Dan had left to go find Jason’s video camera. That should take them a while; Jason’s room is a mess, as usual. Only TJ and Kristy were left.

“Are you gonna be okay?” TJ shouted up to me, “’Cuz I can’t really bring you down… It’s kinda against the war code…”

“TJ, it’s fine.” I said as the wind blew, shaking the flagpole. I gripped onto it behind my back and closed my eyes in fear for a second. That kinda disproved my point… “I’ll live… I think… You should probably…”

“Go?” TJ finished my sentence, sensing the fact that me being embarrassed beyond belief is not the best time for him to be here. “Yeah, ummm, see ya.” He walked back to his room and I could almost hear him practicing guitar. Now it was just me, Kristy and a 9-foot drop to my death if this knot slipped.

“Jamie, are you sure you’re okay?” Kristy called up.

“Yeah, yeah… fine…” She’s never gonna yet me hear the end of this. She sat down at the base of the flagpole and waited with me for Jason to come.

“Seriously, you don’t have to wait there.” I said after five minutes of boredom, and occasional terror. “Uncle Ryan is probably waiting or something.”

“No,” Kristy said, sounding a bit bored. I felt a flicker of guilt, knowing if the roles were reversed, I would have left five minutes ago. “He won’t be home until a few hours after Jason. And I can do my homework after dinner.”

“Thanks.” I said, smiling. The wind blew again and I dug my claws into the metal of the flagpole. Stupid acrophobia.

I waited up there, switching between boredom, undeniable horror and pain. A lot of pain actually. I was hung up there by my underwear… But after about two and a half hours of this torture, I saw Jason’s bright yellow convertible pull into the garage. I heard a few things fall over in the messy garage and mentally heard Jason complaining about how he’ll have to clean it up later.

“Hi Jason!” I said, so happy to see the guy who would be saving my butt… literally…

Jason looked up at me and laughed. I felt my pelt get hot from embarrassment. He shook his head like he couldn’t believe I was actually stuck nine feet in the air.

“Wow, Jamie. Did you even put up a fight? I don’t see any blood down by… Kristy.” Jason was mocking me until he noticed Kristy sitting at the bottom of the flagpole. “Shouldn’t you be at home? Ryan will want to know where the heck you are.”

“Ignore her! I need to get down!!! I’ve been up her for the past TWO AND A HALF HOURS!!!!!!” The wind blew again and I dug my claws further into the easily crushable metal. That wasn’t a good thought to think now…

“You know,” Jason said, looking back at me. “I don’ think I will. You need to be punished for using your powers like that. I’ll wait ‘till Shannon gets home to bring you down.” He grinned mockingly.

“BUT THAT’S TWO MORE HOURS!!!!” I looked at him, terrified.

He shrugged, like he didn’t care. “Ah, well, that’s too bad.” Jason walked down the driveway to see if we had any mail. “Hey. The SHL report cards are here…” I felt a flicker of annoyance and worry come from his direction, but he hid it. “Kristy, yours was sent to us instead of Uncle Ryan.”

Kristy laughed. How could she be so happy when I was in hell! “Really? They must have been psychic and known I’d be here.” Jason handed her the envelope with a metal seal.

“JASON!!!!!!!” I shouted. Did they forget me or something? “Can I PLEASE come down now?” I wind blew again, even harder this time. I dug my claws right through the flagpole and bit my lip to keep from crying. I hate this, I hate this…

Jason felt guilty for a second. “Fine, but only because the report cards are here.” He ran over and brought me down to the ground. “You’re lucky I’m being nice.”

I laughed. “Nice? Sure. You were gonna leave me up there for another two hours!” My fur bristled as I got a little mad. Jason just rolled his eyes.

“Just open the report card.” He handed my envelope and I opened it with the paw print scanner at the same time Kristy and Jason did.

((HA! We left you on a cliffy! Don’t worry, we’ll have the next part of School Dayz II online next weekend.))