Now you have to understand something, and that is Steve was a love fanatic.

  And I'm not over-exaggerating either. He legitimately throughout his entire thirteen years of living has had fourteen crushes.

  Yeah, that's right, fourteen.

  I don't even know how a person can have more crushes than their age but Steve broke that record a long time ago.

  Anyways, I was dumbstruck to find out the girl that just came in was Steve's crush after all. But before we continue, we first have to talk about how Steve's crush on her ever blossomed in the first place.

  ?????°? ☆ ?°?????

  It was the first day of 7th grade, and students were filling seats left, right, and center since they didn't want to be left alone on the first day back. Steve was lost and didn't know where to go. I mean this guy could get lost waiting at a food truck line for fuck’s sake.

  That was when a girl—the same girl that just walked into this classroom—decided to say hello to him and told him to sit next to her in the middle of the classroom.

  He agreed to do so and from then on they became great friends. Yet, if it was only in one day or in a few weeks, I don’t know. But Steve soon realized that this girl had this unique compassionate and caring soul throughout the school year.

  Over time, they became best friends and he saw just how kind she was with her walking home with him from school together every day, giving him her lunch when he forgot his, and encouraging him and others to be themselves. This, as with anyone else, caused him to develop feelings towards her.

  Of course, that was a year ago. There was no saying just how much this girl changed ever since then. Because even though a year doesn't seem like a long time. Trust me, it is.

  On the last day of middle school in eighth grade, he was going to tell her how he felt. Unfortunately, though, she had left earlier than expected after graduation and he didn't have the chance to tell her any longer. He complained to me the next day and I barely paid attention because I had other problems to deal with.

  Ever since then, whenever Steve has a whisk of a thought about her, his heart races one beat per millisecond. And I wish I was joking, but it seemed like it since he could barely speak once he saw her.

  So, seeing her for the first time, he naturally hid behind his backpack like a turtle with its shell. I sighed and said to him,

  "How about you go and introduce yourself to her again?"

  "W-Why am I supposed to do that exactly?!" He exclaimed back at me. This made Jack and Angel start to pay attention to our conversation. I knew they didn’t mean to listen, yet they couldn’t keep themselves from doing so.

  "Because.." I realized that they were starting to eavesdrop. I got up and pulled Steve alongside me to the front doorway of the homeroom.

  "Because if you don't, you'll look like a bumbling idiot throughout the entire school year. Just talk with her, get to know her again. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky." I said with the sincerest face I could muster up because Steve's face reminded me of a red pancake. I really couldn't laugh in this kind of circumstance.

  "I–I'm just afraid. What if I say all of the wrong things?"

  "Then too bad, too sad. She's not gonna look at you any different than she did a year ago." He looked disappointed as I realized I probably should've chosen my words a little better.

  "What I mean is, she'll look at you as a friend that she can rely on through her entire high school life. And maybe, just maybe, you can get the courage you need in four years to tell her you like her. So why not give this a shot huh?" I asked him.

  Steve, after an unnecessarily substantial amount of time, sighed deeply and decided to go and talk to her. As he went, I followed him to make sure he didn't say something stupid just in case. Since he usually says incredibly mindless stuff when he first, or in this case once again, meets someone.

  As he made his way to her, his face began to fluster. I could tell his hands were sweating profusely by the way he continuously wiped them. His mouth was quivering ever so slightly. I went ahead and told him in a whisper,

  "You got this bro, speak to her and remember to stay calm,”

  So, with his chest puffed out ridiculously, he went up to her and said,

  "Hey uh, Maurice! How was your summer vacation?" His voice cracked at 'vacation' and I slapped my forehead. Her caramelized eyes looked up at him from being engrossed in a book she was reading and said with a frown,

  “If I have to be honest Steve. Not good at all. The Redwood family of course decided now it would be a great time to observe my house."

  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention observations, didn't I? My fault, it's been a busy day as you can tell.

  An observation of a house was when federal troops seized a house for an entire day–sometimes up to a week–making sure there weren't any illegal activities or contraband in the house. But in reality, it's just a nice way of saying, "Soldiers will live in your house for a day to a week."

  However, because Maurice's house was big enough in a way that you could get lost in it. It was probably going to take a whole week for them to observe the house. Steve then responded with,

  "Man, I'm so sorry to hear that about your house. Hopefully, those soldiers will get out of there soon." What a response. Also, his voice cracked again when he said 'man'.

  "Yeah me too, Steve. It's gonna be hard living at my mom's old home for a whole week but we gotta survive somehow. Anyways, enough about me, how was your vacation? I sorta need to get my head out of the gutter from those soldiers!" Maurice exclaimed brightly. That brightness made Steve fall in love so easily.

  Steve began to sweat a monsoon, likely knowing if he answered he would have to talk about his family. And if not, he might let Maurice down.

  However, surprisingly without any more hesitation or swallowing down saliva. He said with a heavy head,

  "In all honesty, my vacation was horrible. My parents uhm, uh.." He looked towards me for any mental support. I whispered back to him,

  "Say it if you want to."

  "D-During the summer, my parents got into an accident while driving through a busy highway section. They were crossing an intersection and crashed their car because of a..."

  He started to drift off into a dream-like state as Maurice seemed to be deeply concerned for his well being with her eyebrows furrowing and posture copying that of a ruler’s. I decided to intervene before Green lost his mind and words simultaneously,

  "What he meant is his parents have unfortunately passed away due to some unforeseen circumstances. That's why he's so nervous talking to you about his vacation, it just sucked."

  "Oh my god..! I had no idea! Steve, please forgive me. I'm so sorry! I promise I will never ask you about your vacation or your parents ever again!" Maurice exclaimed. I knew she would feel bad but damn that reaction was unexpected.

  "That would be appreciated," Steve replied.

  After some time, Steve and Maurice were chatting about other things like what movies or shows they watched over vacation and other fun activities that I could care less about. Jack and I were sitting at the other side of the room talking about our plan for everyone meeting up later today, possibly at his home.

  Our plan initially was to go from Building A where we were currently at, to Building B, then Building C which we estimated would take about the entire day. Then after school, we would all go to Jack's home as aforementioned and relax over there.

  "That sounds like a good plan. But I'm wondering if my parents would allow me to do that," Jack said.

  "That makes sense, I would bet your parents are the type to not allow just anyone to walk into their home. My mom is the same way." I stated.

  "Hmph, yeah. Wait, your mom? My dad is always the one to be secure about who goes into his home. What about your dad?"

  I hesitated a tad bit. My dad was a part of the military when I was born and I never really said this to anyone, but he died during combat when the Redwoods were first gaining power. He fought for the Redwoods. I never knew why, or even how he joined their army or how he died. But I knew that he had cared for me deeply. I didn't know if I could care for him back, though.

  When this thought came to my mind, I realized that I still hadn’t responded back to Jack yet. So, I simply stated,

  "Uhm, I’d rather not talk about him." I shrugged. Jack looked a little confused and tried to ask me a follow-up question. But Steve luckily saved me from that question just in the nick of time.

  "Hey guys, I'd like you to meet Maurice! I think George already knows her pretty well." He stated.

  "Yup. Nice to meet you again Maurice." I said to her in a small greeting.

  "Right back at you." She said with a smile. Jack got up and towered over Maurice. She looked a mixture of nervousness and pure astonishment as he took his hand out for her. She shook his hand, shaky palms collapsing onto another in a hesitant welcoming.

  "Nice to meet you. I'm Jack." He said in an unusual booming voice. Angel stood still in her seat.

  "You're huge. I mean uh, nice to meet you too." She said, shaking his hand profusely before letting go with a fragile smile. Jack was confused about why she acted this way. He didn't have any common sense.

  Maurice moved towards Angel and I. She was slightly anxious about how we would interact with her. She sat down on my seat and retained a warm smile on her face, yet the cracks were apparent past her smile. She hoped for a smile back, to be welcomed into our little friend group. Perhaps she had trouble doing so, being involved with people she may have cared for.

  "Hello, I'm Maurice. What's your name?" She asked Angel.

  "Angel." She whispered back. Maurice looked at her as if she was an antique, something so precious yet vulnerable. Which sort of fit Angel in a way.

  "That's a nice name. Though, I don't exactly agree with why you have it in the first place." Angel looked at her in surprise. Who would’ve thought that she would know her story?

  "And your middle name. God, I don't even wanna imagine it. Your parents are ruthless." Angel smiled.

  "Then we move on to your last name. If I ever had a child I don't think I would name her last name as a type of food!" Both Angel and Maurice laughed so ridiculously loud that numerous other students scrutinized our direction like we were crazy. Which was fair since they were both cackling and banging their desks.

  "Can you two calm down? You're sort of making a scene." Steve said. But they both ignored him, still cackling and laughing their butts off.

  ?????°? ☆ ?°?????

  After about an hour or so, they finally stopped laughing and the teacher walked in. I was once again stunned to see that it was Mr. Foyager, Mrs. Foyager's husband.

  Wait, did I forget to mention why these two were so damn important? I did, didn't I?

  Crap.

  Welp, I might as well explain them to you. So pay attention, please?

  The Foyagers were vital figures since they were both the principal and vice principal of my old middle school. They also, in a lack of better words, despised me. I mean, it might be half my fault, half theirs. But I might as well explain why they ever hated my ever-so young, ever-so immature soul,

  During eighth grade, I was rather stubborn in my thoughts and ideas. One day, the principal at the time, Mr. Foyager and the vice principal, his wife, were surveying one of the classrooms. I sort of got ahead of myself and said something along the lines of how their jobs affected their marriage. And how Mrs. Foyager only got the job because of her husband. All because they were eyeing me specifically down for 'contraband'. Even though I proved I didn't have any, they persisted onwards.

  All in all, that was my first and only suspension from school. I think they still see me as an arrogant little asshole because Mr. Foyager was still staring at me rather rough.

  I'm not joking either. He was staring straight at me as he fixed his clip-on tie. God, this year was going to be more difficult than I had initially believed.

  "Hello class, as you may know, we are having a new teacher program. We are going to be testing it out today and as such. The B building of the school campus will be mainly composed of robotic teachers. While in the A building, it will showcase a mixture of robotic and real-life teachers. Then, in the C building, as you may know, two miles away, we've developed a system of robotic teachers that have human emotions too. The school would like to test out the results of each of these buildings to see if real life teachers are even needed." He gulped and then, as if his conscious forced him to, he continued on,

  "I may be your teacher in your homeroom for now. But you never know when that'll change. So keep your chins up, and keep rolling." That was his catchphrase back in middle school. He then asked,

  "Questions?" One of the students at the front raised her hand and he pointed at her,

  "If this program does work out, what will happen to the real life teachers?" What a heavy-hitting question for a teacher made of flesh and bone. Mr. Foyager looked around as if he expected an answer from someone else and sighed in defeat.

  "The teachers, us specifically, will be replaced." He pointed at himself and everyone else stared in disbelief, shocked that this could ever happen. I, on the other hand, already knew this would likely happen because of the robotic teachers in the cafeteria. I was just worried that people might want to do something about it…

  Because don't get me wrong, I would love to scrap and trash those robotic teachers. But knowing how bat-shit crazy the Foyagers could be sometimes, I wouldn't be surprised if they took over the school and did their experiments on us. Even without robots in mind.

  Another student raised their hand. She asked him,

  "Are they doing the program specifically here, or in other schools too?"

  "I believe this is the first school they're doing this type of program in. No other school as far as I know will be doing this program. For now," He stated, taking out a handkerchief and wiping his forehead. Steve looked rather frustrated and raised his hand. Mr. Foyager pointed at him in which he stood up. Maurice looked like she wanted to smack him in the face as she mouthed the words,

  'Don't do it!'

  "What happened to your old job as a principal of a middle school? Did they finally see through your schemes?" Every other student apart from Angel, me, and Maurice stared up at Steve in bewilderment. Then, they looked at Mr. Foyager utter confusion .

  "W-What schemes exactly are you trying to accuse me of?"

  "Oh, I'm not accusing you of it. I know it. I know why you and your wife had that job in the first place. Believe it or not, during the summer I did my research." He stated, continuing,

  "Want me to spill the truth or would you rather have a different teacher in this homeroom?" He asked him. Mr. Foyager looked him dead in the eye and then, instead of expectantly arguing back at him, promptly left the homeroom once again. Steve sat back down and twiddled his thumbs as a pick-me girl yelled out,

  "WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?!" All the students agreed and while I would've too, I knew just how crappy the Foyagers were back in middle school.

  However, that still didn't change what Steve said. Just what did he find out about them? Maurice had that same question in mind as every other student was arguing with one another. I heard her ask him,

  "What did you find out about Mr. Foyager?"

  "I uhm, might as well tell you. Remember how the Foyagers got their jobs in the first place?" Maurice shook her head. I leaned closer to Steve as he continued on,

  "Yeah, me neither. But all of a sudden after sixth grade, they popped up out of nowhere. So in retaliation for them being shitheads back in middle school, I did some research over the summer. I found out that they got their jobs because they participated in the Great War."

  "What 'Great War'? I thought that had happened a century ago, they would be dead by now." She said and she was right. The Great War was between the Redwood forces and another force called the 'Coalition'.

  To explain it in greater detail, The Great War occurred when the Redwoods—just starting to gain power in the northern part of.. well, Earth—decided to attack a much larger force called the Coalition. Both of these forces had awful people which no one could be neutral about. They either were part of the Redwoods which limited religious ideals to common people and controlled them or the Coalition which limited natural rights to specific people and banned protests and unions outright.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  Most people I believe leaned toward the Redwoods and as a result, they utilized a rebellion within the Coalition to weaken and take them out throughout five grueling years. The reason I know about this war so much was because I was a huge nerd for wars and tanks when I was younger. However, it looks like Steve's talking about a war that had never existed.

  "Listen, I don't want to say this now considering we're in a highly secured Redwood school. But there was a war that the Redwoods tried to hide from the general public by limiting internet access to only the richest of the rich since they thought they wouldn't talk. Fortunately my great-grandfather had a computer that wasn't taken during the sweep of devices that the Redwoods took. That's where I did my research and found out about the war." Steve whispered to her.

  Oh yeah. The General Sweep Act. It was an act that basically swept out any phone or computer anywhere in the Redwood Federation apart from in educational facilities. The only reason I had forgotten about that Act is because it seemed so…

  Normal now. As if I've lived without a tablet or computer for my entire life. While in reality, devices were taken away a handful of decades ago. So, not that long ago. Still though, I never really knew why that Act existed. Now it made a whole lot more sense.

  "But what was the war about?" Maurice asked him.

  "It's complicated. I'm not even sure if I can say it in full. The only thing I noticed was the Foyagers being behind a massive fire in the 'Great War', killing around six people in the process." He said. Maurice looked like her brain was about to blow up.

  "Wow." She could only utter.

  "I-It's honestly the craziest thing I've ever read."

  "But you have to confront him now stupid!? Everyone will think you're crazy! The only reason I trust you is because I've known you for a long time now. The Redwoods might've hidden this war, yet there's no telling why."

  "Maybe I can somehow make the proof concrete. Hey guys, do any of you have a printer?" He asked all of us now. Me and Angel shook our heads as Jack silently nodded.

  "Perfect. Now if there's only a way all of us could meet at the same time…”

  "Actually. Jack and I were thinking about meeting each other at his house." I said.

  "Wait, I never fully agreed to the—"

  "Excellent! It should be settled, then. I'll go ahead and talk with Fron and Robert to see if they want to go, maybe I can try to persuade them to come. Though, someone else has to tell Emily when we finally get free from this homeroom." Steve said. I nodded and said,

  "I'll do it."

  "Alright. Thank you for this by the way. I just want the truth to come out as fast as possible. And to the only real friends I have right now." He said.

  We all smiled at his statement as another teacher that I didn't recognize, and neither did Jack for that matter, came into the room. It was a woman, maybe in her late thirties, I couldn’t tell. She was wearing a red skater dress with a black baseball cap and purple shoes.

  She took off her hat and set it down on the table as she spoke in a thick Southern accent that reminded me of Emily's.

  "Hello class, it looks like your old teacher—that old man for that matter—has switched homeroom classes with me. I'll be taking over this homeroom from now on. My only rule is to just be respectful, please. I don't want another situation like my old homeroom."

  She hid her eyes behind peach sunglasses and she looked around the classroom. The way she looked around reminded me of how Mrs. Foyager looked when she was surveying classes in middle school. However, this teacher just seemed more exhausted.

  "I'm not gonna bother to tell you my name since you students will probably forget about it almost immediately. For now, though, I'll just explain the rules of the campus since we have only ten minutes." She said, checking her watch. I looked at the digital clock on the wall and noticed that it was 9:50 AM. We were supposed to leave the school at 3:45 PM.

  "I'm going to be honest with you. You're supposed to go to your first classroom then your next one and the next one, et cetera. However, you could legitimately just roam the entire school grounds without going to any of your classes and the school won't be mad.”

  “But I do have to warn you from the bottom of my heart, you may be able to explore the campus but the forest! Whatever you do, don't ever go to the forest. It has something within it that makes your skin crawl. And of course, I have to say this, but make sure you follow all the guidelines listed here." She then pointed to a set of rules on the virtual smart board that shone in clear, 5K, Ultra-HD, a wall of text.

  The pick-me girl raised her hand.

  "Yes?" The teacher asked her.

  "Why are you telling us this!? Isn't a teacher's job to be responsible?"

  "Yep. But here's the thing, I am responsible for telling you and the rest of the students the truth. I value that more than anything. And just to answer your question correctly. I'm telling you because even if the results are negative for those damn robotic teachers, they'll still implement them. Or so I've heard. Only a few teachers like me know for certain." She said in a depressing tone. Even the pick-me girl silenced herself and sat back down flat on her chair.

  "Any other questions?" She asked the classroom. Jack raised his hand and the teacher nodded in his direction.

  "What's your name miss?" He asked her. She looked a bit baffled as if she had never gotten that question throughout her entire career. She looked down at the table in front of her, clearing her throat.

  "You can call me Ms. Svena."

  "And where are you from Ms. Svena?" Maurice stated, raising her hand.

  "I'm from Sholow. A province in Redwood that's deep in the west. In that province, I was born and raised in their capital, Whomper City." Some students laughed at that name. Ms. Svena chuckled along with them.

  "Yeah it's a stupid name for a city, I know." She checked the time and instantaneously noticed that there was only one minute left. How fast time flew, am I right?

  So, sighing deeply, she clapped her hands and stated,

  "Now without further ado. Have a safe exploration and don't forget to have fun!"

  Multiple students walked out of the homeroom as soon as the bell rang, including the teacher. Before we left to go to the C building, I stopped and walked over to Ms. Svena. She noticed and stopped in front of me.

  "Hey uh, I hope you have a good rest of your life when you're eventually laid off."

  "Pfft, I prefer the word fired. But thanks, I appreciate it." She said, heading downstairs as I went back to my friends.

  "What did you say to her?" Jack asked me.

  "I just wished her luck," I responded. We made our way down the steps to the entrance of the A building.

  ?????°? ☆ ?°?????

  Once we got outside, we realized that Fron and Robert probably didn't travel on foot. How did I know this? Because of the hoverboards hoarding the bike parking area that had stickers that direct the hoverboards to travel specifically to the C building.

  Steve and Angel hopped onto one hoverboard after another while Jack and Maurice stayed behind to brief Emily about our plans. I would've stayed with them, but Steve insisted on going with him for now so I just sighed and agreed. I carried the box that Emily and I escaped with our lives on me.

  I soon realized that I didn't know how to use a hoverboard. I've never used one in my life, even though I've heard about them before. Angel was somehow able to get her hoverboard operating just fine as Steve was also struggling heavily with his hoverboard.

  "A little help, Angel?" I asked her. She noticed us and got off her hoverboard, walked over to me, and simply pressed a button that created a bar on the hoverboard.

  "That button is the accelerator, that button is the brake, and those two buttons are to boost yourself higher or lower." She whispered to me, pointing to four different buttons on the main console. I nodded and said,

  "Thanks, Angel." She nodded back and went over to Steve to tell him the same instructions.

  "Alright, that makes sense. Thanks!" Steve exclaimed, using the button to push his hoverboard higher in the air. I saw Angel start to accelerate her hoverboard at a speed that matched the tortoise, not the hare. I matched her speed, which was about 9 MPH on the speedometer on the hoverboard’s bar. I asked her,

  "How do you know how to ride a hoverboard so well?"

  "My dad's a mechanic for hoverboards. I got lucky once and he showed me the basics of hoverboards. Of course, it was probably an attempt to make me more of a guy. But I don't care, it still gave me knowledge on these hovercrafts." She whispered.

  I looked at the speedometer; a red dot had suddenly appeared, indicating that this hoverboard must only go to the C building. I wondered what would happen if I took it elsewhere. But because I've already nearly been in trouble once before, I didn't want to push my luck.

  Steve was falling behind us. This was mostly because he had been wailing like a baby since he pushed his button all the way up. This caused the hoverboard to hover so high in the atmosphere, the birds now had an unwarranted visitor.

  "HELP ME!!" He screamed out.

  "Steve, you really shouldn't have done that, you idiot!" I said, putting the brakes on my hoverboard. Angel stopped much more roughly as she just noticed that Steve was that high up.

  "Alright, just calm down dumbass! I push the button that's at the bottom of the up button!" I shouted. He could barely keep his balance as he yelled out,

  "IT'S NOT WORKING!" I sighed, mostly in bummer, but also in stress about what would happen if he fell off.

  "Angel, go below the hoverboard and make sure if he does fall off, you catch him. I'm gonna keep directing him." She nodded and ran under his hoverboard. I tried to keep his focus away from the ground and onto his balance.

  Unluckily for me and him, a random gust of wind threw him off course. He stumbled about for a moment before his balance finally slipped, forcing his feet to the air as he began falling to the ground. Angel wasn't going to be able to catch him in time.

  I ran as fast as I could, letting my mind slip past my body in fear of his untimely death. All the way until I just fortunately caught him in time. His hoverboard soon tumbled down right next to Angel in a harsh thud. She gasped lightly, touching her chest with her hands. Even when she was frightened, she was quiet.

  "Thanks, George! You saved me!"

  "Yeah trust me, Steve, that was an extremely stupid move on your end. But I might as well save you since you're my friend and you still have to tell us something about this war." I stated, dropping him on the floor. He dusted himself off and got back on his hoverboard. Sometimes people never learn, do they?

  Meanwhile, we got back on our hoverboards and floated away to the C building. However, we soon saw an obstruction; the forest cutting our pathway to the C building.

  We sighed in disappointment as our route to the building would be cut off. We couldn't exactly go through the forest, so we decided to traverse our hoverboards around the patch of forestry in our way. Hovering over the trees might cause Steve's malfunction to happen to one of us, or him again. As we drove our boards around, Steve then asked me,

  "Why didn't Maurice go with us? Wouldn't it be nice for her to meet Fron and Robert before Emily?"

  "Mhm. I hear what you're saying. But I think I also hear a message of, 'can't I just be with my crush?'. And the answer is an absolute NO." I said. That got a reaction even out of Angel as she was astonishingly amused.

  "Hey! I told you not to tell anyone about that!" He exclaimed.

  "Whoops, it slipped." I shrugged, hanging onto the hoverboard bars. He blushed slightly and tried to shake it off, but that only made it worse. Angel chuckled under her breath, driving her hoverboard in a literal sense over us and levitated down in front of us, winking at me in the process. I smiled and chortled a little myself too.

  Once we got to the C building after we passed around the patch of the forest, though. We realized why there were so few robotic teachers and guards at the A and B buildings.

  I was expecting only a little amount of guards here and there on our path. But no, instead we instantly saw a boatload of robots, mechanically engineered with rifles by their side and small daggers that could be thrown if necessary. They had on steel armor plates that covered their entire body. Their eyes were as red as their coat of arms stitched onto their umbrella-like helmets. They stood staggeringly tall next to the C building’s entrance. Yet they weren't that active and barely walked, moved, or talked.

  By the way, whoever thought dehumanizing SCHOOLS of all places was a good idea were bozos. Just an afterthought.

  Meanwhile, though, we knew Fron and Robert would be here. Sp we got off of our hoverboards and proceeded into the C building. We were intensely excited to see both of them again.

  As we went into the building and up to the second floor, we caught sight of Robert coming out of his homeroom. We greeted each other and the conversation went somewhat like this. I wasn't able to pay attention all that much. I was still curious about what all of these guards were doing here.

  "What's up?!" Steve exclaimed. Robert came over and hugged him while Angel whispered something like a greeting. Again though, I could barely pay attention to them.

  That was until Robert yelled my name,

  "GEORGE!"

  "Oh uh, hey. What's up?" I asked him, half paying attention now.

  "What do you mean what's up?!"

  "Didn't Steve just say that a second ago?"

  "Well, he gave me a response." He said. I sighed and looked at him directly.

  "Do you think you're able to come after school to Jack's house today?" I asked him, as straightforward as a sign screaming, “TURN LEFT!”.

  "Uhm, maybe? I think I can if I'm lucky with my parents, which usually happen anyway!" He exclaimed with his imperfect grammar, taking out his pen and playing with it.

  "How's the pen?" Angel whispered.

  "It's doing well! I have not telled anyone about it yet but I can just told based on our class and based on how unfocused they are, this will be a big hit!"

  "That's great to hear. But right now we should be looking for Fron." Steve said. Everyone else agreed and I asked Robert,

  "Where's Fron's homeroom anyways?"

  "I think I saw it on the third floor when I was looking through my Scruplot. Let's go!" He stated. We nodded and headed up the stairs in the middle of the hallway. Once we got to the top of the stairs, my gut screamed for me that something was amiss. The misty atmosphere combined with the eerie silence made my mind jump into overtime. Steve seemed like he was nearly crouching as he went upstairs.

  We began to hear noises, but not the ones you would expect a high school that's poorly secured to have. Like sounds of vapes boiling or voices chattering. No, these noises were way more concerning.

  It was as if someone was groaning in pain.

  As we got up to the third floor, a pencil sharpener flew right by my head and clipped my nose. We turned to our left, seeing what was happening to Fron with our own two eyes.

  "Whoa," I said breathlessly.

  Fron was in a massive brawl, with around six to seven students trying to drag him down. He was trying his best, but this was a losing battle from the start.

  I knew we needed to do something quickly, but before I could do anything, Robert ran through the hallway and sucker-punched one of them in the face, knocking him down. I could tell by the Bases on their back, which was mandatory for students of the four class years until everyone got their correct year in order, that these guys were freshmen like us (Bases were basically like lanyards). I wondered why they were beating up Fron and until I caught sight of it,

  The damn envisionary pen was in one of the guys' hands. Steve saw it too and lunged for it, grabbing it and taking on a guy twice his size. He punched him in the face repeatedly causing him to lose his grip where he snatched the pen and passed it onto me.

  The two guys that had been beaten up by Robert and Steve then fled the scene. Now there were only around five of the freshmen left. One of them, a guy that looked just about Jack's size, stood out of the five freshmen and stated in a deep voice,

  "Here's what you're gonna do. You're going to give me that pen as well as that loser's pen over there. Or he gets it!" He pointed towards Fron who was in a corner overtaken by one of the freshmen.

  Meanwhile, two of the other freshmen converged on Steve and Robert who were standing side by side. The fourth freshman stood next to the one talking to us, ready to attack whenever the huge freshman snapped his fingers.

  "Mhm. And?" I asked him.

  "And we'll attack your little girlfriend over there too. I bet she wouldn't appreciate having a black eye and a broken tooth." He walked right up to me as I put the pen in my left hand.

  "Alright, alright. I'll give it to you." I leaned down and pretended the pen was in my pocket before I curled my right hand into a fist and punched him straight up into his chin. My knuckles locking onto his underdeveloped beard.

  Blood splattered all over his white T-shirt, his throat began to instinctively choke on a broken tooth. He fell to the ground, his hands clawing his throat while Robert and Steve struggled to fend off the two freshmen. I rushed over to the student who was running towards Angel. Once she tried to guard herself up, I pushed the freshman to the lockers, slamming him with the full weight of my 110 pound body. As I noticed his fists were in prepared curls, I dodged his blow and took out my pen.

  Of course, though, I didn't expect the guy that was on Fron to attack me from behind.

  He picked me up and threw me on the ground. I screamed in pain as he stood on my leg, almost crunching it into pieces. I knew I needed to do something quick since Robert and Steve were starting to get overpowered.

  I took out my pen and shined the laser straight at one of the freshmen's eyes in a last gasp of ideas. He yelled in agony as I saw the other freshman about to punch my guts out into oblivion. I kept my hands up in surrender until Angel came rushing out of nowhere and slammed him into the ground.

  I punched the one that was blinded by the laser straight in the face, causing him to run away as the other one trampled by Angel also scurried away. Seeing as how it was a three v. five now, the two freshmen who were still struggling against Robert and Steve began backing off.

  In the meantime, Robert saw what I had done and took his pen out, shining it on one of the freshmen's eyes. He reflexively ran away from the laser as he didn't want to be permanently blinded on the first day.

  "STUPID ASSHOLES!" The main freshman screamed out. He got up from the ground and was carrying something in his left hand. Wait.

  Was that a knife?! I stood in front of Angel and I stared straight at the random student who was now carrying a knife. I didn’t know how to calm him down, if he could ever be calmed.

  "Leave my friends alone. It's the pens you want, right?" I tried to de-escalate the situation, gesturing towards Robert to give me his pen.

  "I'm not giving my pen to that monster!" He whispered.

  "Shut up and just do it. I have a plan." I whispered. He obviously still wasn't convinced by my “kind” words.

  "Please, just trust me. Do it for Fron." I whispered again. Robert looked to Fron who was holding his chest in pain and gave the pen to me. I walked forward where he looked at me, then my friends.

  "Get your loser friends out of here then. I don't want any surprises. Also, make those pens face your direction. I don't want to become blinded when I'm about to become a millionaire." He stated. I obliged and made the lasers face my direction. I saw the box that I had with me not far from where I was standing and I knew what my plan was.

  "Hand it over slowly." The box was right next to his foot. The only reason I wasn't holding it anymore was because I had to fight three guys all at once, including this asshole.

  "Do you even know how the pens work?" I asked him.

  "Pfft. That doesn't matter, it's usable! And I know exactly how to use it. Isn't that right, boy?" He pointed towards Fron and he looked down in crumbling shame.

  "Also, didn't I tell them to go already?!" He exclaimed, pointing at the rest of my somewhat beaten up friends.

  "They'll go when they want to. They don't pose any threat to you anyway." I knew that was a lie; Steve single-handedly somehow took on a guy twice his size with just his speed and fists.

  "Just hand over the pens already."

  "Wouldn't it be safer to put it in that box though? Since everyone'll notice you carrying two pens and you'll be in the exact same situation Fron was in." I said, trying to persuade him to hand me the box.

  And apparently, somehow, in some idiotic way, he threw the box at me without even checking what was inside.

  "Make it quick." He said. I opened the box, put the pens inside, and quickly turned around. I withdrew the water gun and pointed it straight at him. I placed my index finger onto the trigger, closing one of my eyes as I aimed for his abnormally large forehead.

  Just a reminder that this water gun looked like an actual gun. So when he saw it, he froze and put his hands up. His knife was still interlaced with his fingers.

  "How much do you think your life is worth? GET OUT OF HERE!" I shouted. He nodded and ran away as fast as he could, dropping the knife in the process. I picked up the knife and put it in the box, sealed it tight, and walked towards my scratched and bruised-up friends.

  "D-Dude. No way you brought an actual gun to school r-right?!?" Robert exclaimed. Everyone else looked at me, skeptical with my true intentions.

  "Can you quiet down?! No, it's not an actual gun. It's a water gun I found outside." I said.

  "Why does it look so realistic then?" Steve asked, still wary. I sighed and pulled the water gun out of my box, pointed at his head, and shot. Resulting in his head being completely soaked in water. That got a laugh out of Robert and Angel while Steve just stared at me, sore.

  "Do you believe me now?" I asked him jokingly as we had survived our first brawl.

  Together.