• -Episode 8-

    After dinner that night, Joey, Scott, Bradley, and Ethan went to bed without talking to one another. In the morning, though, Joey got up at the same time as she did the day before and got the boys up.
    “Look Sweetheart, I’m sorry for being a jerk to you last night, but you really don’t want to be in one of Mr. Hardass’s detentions,” Ethan said to Joey during breakfast that morning.
    “Its fine, whatever,” Joey said dully as she picked at her food.
    “Joey, there is something else that is wrong isn’t there?” Scott asked looking at her worried.
    “No, I’m fine. We should start heading down to our classes now,” Joey lied not looking at any of them.
    The boys didn’t push the matter any further. Instead, all four of them went down to the third floor or the second floor, in Scott and Bradley’s case. When the bell rang, they all went to their classes in silence.
    What is up with Joey this morning? Ethan asked himself as he went to his history class, I know I was a jerk yesterday when I pulled her by her fist, but something else is bothering her and I want to know what.
    Ethan pulled out his cell phone and sent a text message to Scott and Bradley.
    “What is up with Joe?” Ethan’s text message read.
    “I’m not sure,” Scott wrote.
    “I bet you two it’s the whole thing with Kara. You guys do know that Kara is in all of Joey’s classes, right? I just hope Joey doesn’t do anything crazy,” Bradley wrote.
    “You, me, and Scott all hope that. Well I’ll talk to you guys at lunch. And keep your fingers crossed that we don’t find out that Joey’s got detention with Mr. Hardass,” Ethan wrote.
    “We’ll do,” Scott and Bradley both wrote to Ethan.

    ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

    Joey walked into her math class with her head down and sat in the very back of the room. Before the bell for class ran, Jenny walked up to Joey’s desk.
    “I heard what happened yesterday afternoon,” she said to Joey.
    “Yeah?” Joey said showing no emotion what so ever.
    “I just don’t want you getting into trouble with Mr. Smith. He’ll work you till you die,” Jenny said.
    “Why does he have us call him Mr. Smith?” Joey asked Jenny looking up at her.
    “I’m not sure why. I think it’s because he wants to feel important or something,” Jenny answered as the late bell rang.
    Jenny walked back to her desk and Joey got her math things out for class. Today they were actually learning something about math. And Joey was not at all happy with it. Why do we have to learn this stuff? She was referring to some geometry problems that Jenny was working on the board. We are not going to need this stuff later in life. Joey looked around the room and saw Kara sitting five seats in front of her. I hope her and her new friend do not mess with me today.
    “Tonight for homework, I want you all to do page ten through thirteen. And you need to draw the pictures and show your work,” Jenny told her class as the bell for their next class rang.
    Joey stayed behind until Kara left the room. Once Kara was out of sight, Joey made her way to the second floor for her English class. When she entered the room, Dominic grabbed her by the arm and brought her toward his desk.
    “I’m keeping an eye on you during class,” he told her quietly as the other students were filing in.
    “Fine, you do that,” Joey said pulling out of Dominic’s grip.
    “Wright, I am serious, don’t start anything in my classroom or any where else in this school. Mr. Smith will find you and throw you in detention,” Dominic said.
    “Okay. The bell rang, I think you should start class and let me go to my seat,” suggested Joey.
    Dominic let Joey go and he began his class as Joey took her seat in the back of the room. Today the class was learning about proper grammar and such.
    “Tonight’s homework is to correct these worksheets. They are due tomorrow,” Dominic told the class as he handed out worksheets to each student. “Also, don’t forget your two page paper about yourself is due tomorrow.”
    The same kid who asked a bunch of questions from yesterday raised his hand again.
    “Yes, Tanner,” Dominic said as he made his way back to his desk.
    “Are you going to give us homework tomorrow?” Tanner asked.
    “What day is tomorrow?” Dominic asked.
    “Friday,” Tanner answered.
    “I’ll think about it.”
    The bell rang and Joey was yet again the last one out of the classroom. Joey was heading to her history class when she saw Kara and Doug meet up in the hall a few feet in front of her. Joey went up against the nearest wall to eavesdrop on them.
    “Have you talked to Wright at all today?” Joey heard Doug ask Kara.
    “No and I don’t plan on it,” answered Kara.
    “Why don’t you start something with her in your next class or at lunch?” asked Doug.
    “I ain’t starting anything in our next class because Mr. Smith is our teacher. I’ll see what I can do at lunch,” Kara said giving Doug a kiss on the cheek and she walked away from him.
    That little snot! Joey thought still looking in Kara’s direction, well if it’s a fight they want; it’s a fight they are going to get.
    “Joey, don’t even think about it,” Scott said to her.
    Joey looked at him and Bradley who were standing behind of her. “How long have you been standing there?” she asked them.
    “Long enough to realize they want to start a fight with you at lunch,” Scott said.
    “Joey, why don’t we get our lunch and eat in one of our rooms?” suggested Bradley.
    “Hey, I got an idea. Why don’t you two and that big jerk mind your own business,” said Joey, her cheeks growing hot with anger.
    “We just want to keep you safe,” Scott said feeling hurt.
    “You’re our friend and we all have to stick together,” said Bradley also feeling hurt.
    “Who was the one who saved Ethan’s fat a** the other night? Yeah, that was me. Who kicked Doug’s a** yesterday? Yeah, that’s right, me. Who do people have a problem with? Yeah, that’s also me,” Joey said turning away from the boys and she went to class without another word to Scott and Bradley.
    Scott looked at Bradley who shrugged and said, “Let’s get to class and deal with her later.”
    Joey ran into her history class and plopped down into a seat in the very back of the classroom. Mr. Smith was nowhere in sight. Then the bell rang and everyone fell silent. Mr. Smith wasn’t in his room. Where is that lunatic? Joey thought to her self. Five minutes later, he walked in and set a pile of papers he was carrying on his desk.
    “He has to make a grand entrance, doesn’t he?” whispered a dark skinned boy sitting a seat away from Joey to red haired girl.
    “I heard that, O’Neal,” Mr. Smith said to the dark skinned boy.
    “You hear everything,” said the boy surprised.
    “And that’s why I’ve been a spy for over ten years,” replied Mr. Smith, “Now everyone pass your homework to the front of your rows and the front people will bring me the papers they collect.”
    Everyone got out their homework from the night before and passed it to the front. The students sitting in the front of the rows all got up and gave their pile of papers to Mr. Smith. He then put the papers in one of his cabinets for later to grade.
    “Now before we begin, I want Ms. Wright to see me after class,” he said getting up and walking toward the black board. Most of the class turned in their seats to get a look at Joey. Kara started smiling to her self. “You all don’t have to stare at her. Today we are going to be talking about chapters three and four.”
    For the whole class period, everyone took notes as fast as they could on chapter three and four. Both chapters were long, about six sections each. Most of the students could not get done with half of chapter three.
    “For homework tonight, I want you all to do the chapter assessments at the end of each chapter and start notes for chapter five. Remember Ms. Wright to stay after when the bell rings,” said Mr. Smith once he was done with his lessons. He sat down right as the bell rang for lunch.
    Everyone got up as fast as they could to get the heck out of that classroom. Joey looked through the doorway and saw Ethan standing there with his arms folded across his chest waiting for Joey to get out. Mr. Smith noticed this, went over to him, and said, “Wright will not be eating lunch with you today, so you can go ahead.”
    Ethan nodded, gave Joey a questioning look, and then walked away to lunch.
    “You do know why you are here, don’t you?” Mr. Smith asked turning to face Joey.
    “No, sir, I don’t,” Joey said trying to control her anger. All I want to do is go to lunch and kick Doug and Kara’s butts, she thought to herself.
    “You are here because I know what Phillips and Carson want to do during lunch today. They want to pick a fight with you. And I don’t normally do this but I want to hold you here so you don’t get into a fight with them.”
    “Why, sir?”
    “Because I have a plan for you to use this afternoon in Combat Practice,” replied Mr. Smith.
    “And that would be what?” asked Joey.
    “I’ll tell you after you and I go down to the Combat Practice room,” replied Mr. Smith locking his door when they left the room.
    While Joey and Mr. Smith headed toward the Combat Practice room, Ethan met Scott and Bradley in the lunch line. Once they got their food, they sat down at their table.
    “So where’s Joey?” Scott asked dully.
    “What’s wrong with you?” asked Ethan.
    “Joey. So where is she?” replied Scott taking a bite of his pizza.
    “She’s with Mr. Hardass,” Ethan answered. “What happened now?”
    “He must have heard Kara and Doug. So he’s holding her,” said Bradley thoughtfully.
    “Someone explain to me what’s happening,” Ethan said getting frustrated.
    “Before Joey went to history she listened to Kara and Doug. They were planning on picking a fight with her at lunch.” Scott started to explain.
    “Then we caught her eavesdropping and told her not to do anything. That we could or would protect her,” Bradley said.
    “Then she got defensive and said and I quote ‘Why don’t you two and that big jerk mind your own business’. So we left,” Scott said.
    “Not before she went on and on about who saved you, who fought Doug, and who had problems with her. She also said you have a fat a**,” said Bradley.
    “This is getting out of hand,” said Ethan, “Remind me to tell Joey that I don’t have a fat a**. It’s a tight a**.”
    “Dude, we don’t want to know,” said Bradley.
    “Ever,” said Scott.

    ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

    Mr. Smith took Joey down to the Combat Practice room and she put her stuff by the door while he stood in the middle of the room. Mr. Smith motioned Joey to stand in front of him and she obeyed.
    “Now this is what I want you to do to both Carson and Phillips. You can do this at the beginning of class if they walk up to you or later. Either way if I’m near by I will not write you a detention, only them. But just this once, From then on don’t fight with them,” said Mr. Smith.
    “What am I going to do? If you haven’t noticed I’m a bit small and they’re bigger than me,” said Joey.
    “Yes, you are small, but this will help. Now this is a ready stance.” His feet were shoulder length apart and his arms were at his sides, “I want you to stand like this today, just for today. Now I’m going to show a move if someone attacks you from the front, don’t get all girly on me.”
    “I won’t. And by the way we only have thirty-five minutes left.”
    He nodded and put his right hand around her neck but not too tight. “I want you to grab my wrist with your left hand. If one of them grabs you with the opposite hand use your opposite hand.” Joey grabbed his wrist with her left hand. “Now, they’ll probably be choking you pretty hard so this might be harder to do.”
    “Just get on with it,” Joey groaned.
    “Fine, actually grab my wrist with both hands.” She did. “Okay, kick me in the stomach with both feet.”
    “What? I can’t do that. You are a teacher. Worse yet, your Mr. Smith.”
    “What’s that got…so you’ve heard of my reputation?”
    “Kind of, yeah,” Joey said.
    “Well, forget who I really am and pretend I’m Carson or Brewer or someone,” Mr. Smith said.
    “If you say so,” Joey said.
    She put all her weight on Mr. Smith’s wrists and with both feet, kicked him in the stomach. Mr. Smith grabbed one foot, her right foot, as the other leg dropped back to the floor. Then he let go of her neck. She, of course, released his wrist.
    “Well this is messed up,” said Joey standing on one leg as Mr. Smith held the other one.
    “Now from here twist your body so your back is to me.”
    “How?”
    “Just twist around even the foot I’m holding,” said Mr. Smith.
    Joey did as she was told even though she thought it was impossible. Once her back was toward Mr. Smith, her leg was now behind her rather than in front of her, “Now what?” she asked.
    “I’m going to grab your remaining foot making you head to the floor face first. I want you, as you’re falling, to put your hands in front of you and put them on the floor so you’re doing a handstand.” They did what he said and now Joey was doing a handstand.
    Good thing I tucked in my shirt, she thought as her ponytail fell into her face.
    “Good, now swing your self in between my legs and grab the back of my pants,” said Mr. Smith.
    “Gross,” Joey said making a face.
    “I know, but once you get this down you’ll do it so fast you’ll be done with it before you even know what happened. Just do it.”
    Joey swung her self between his legs and grabbed the back of his pants. Mr. Smith let go of Joey’s legs.
    “Don’t let go, not yet. Okay now pull on my pants with all your upper body strength. Once I lose my balance move away or trip me some more, then I’ll fall and you’re done,” said Mr. Smith.
    Joey pulled with all her strength and Mr. Smith lost his balance. As he was falling, Joey crawled out of the way and stood up.
    “That was so cool,” she said once Mr. Smith was completely on the floor.
    “Then you can do whatever you want. I want you to use this routine whenever you are attacked. I haven’t even taught Collins this routine and he’s four years older than you,” Mr. Smith said as he got up.
    “Then why teach me?” asked Joey as she picked up her stuff.
    “Because you’re special,” said Mr. Smith as they walked up to the lobby.
    “Special? Right. Well, I’m hungry and in like two seconds the bell’s going to ring,” Joey said as she looked up at Mr. Smith while they were in the elevator going back to Mr. Smith’s classroom.
    “I have lunch in my classroom for you. Eat it quickly and I’ll write you a pass to you’re next class,” Mr. Smith said as they got out of the elevator on the third floor.
    They entered Mr. Smith’s classroom and Joey sat at a desk in the front of the room as Mr. Smith got out two lunches from a refrigerator in the back of the classroom.
    “You’re weird, sir. I’m sorry, but you are weird,” Joey said as Mr. Smith put food in front of her.
    “Thank you,” said Mr. Smith as he sat down at his desk.
    They ate their lunch in silence. Once Joey was finished, the bell for class to start rang.
    “Don’t worry about your tray. I will take care of it. Just go to your class and don’t run into Carson or Phillips until Combat Practice,” Mr. Smith said.
    “Yes, sir,” Joey said leaving to go to the second floor for science class.
    Once Joey got to her classroom, she sat in the back of the room, quietly. Henry noticed her and started heading her way.
    “There is no need to tell me to behave or anything to do with Doug or Kara. Mr. Smith talked to me,” Joey said to Henry who did not even make it half way to her desk.
    “Good, then I’ll go back to what I was doing,” Henry said as he turned back around right as Kara walked into the room.
    She sat near the front as Henry and Joey watched her. About three minutes later the late bell rang and it was time to start class.
    “Good afternoon, students. Today we, I mean you, are taking a pre-test to see how much you already know. But first pass your homework to the front of the room,” Henry said as students got out their homework and passed it to the front. Once he collected all the papers, he passed out the tests. “Once you are finished give me your test and sit back down and stay quiet.”
    That is what they did for the rest of their class time. Joey finished twenty minutes before the bell rang, so she took a quick nap. When the bell rang, she purposely stayed behind and was the last one out of the classroom. She went down to the lobby and surprisingly Scott, Bradley, and Ethan were waiting for her to go to Technology.
    “Why are you guys waiting?” she asked, as she got closer to them.
    “We’re waiting for you, Sweetheart,” Ethan said hitting the hidden button to the hidden staircase.
    “Why? I was mean to all of you,” Joey said.
    “Because we knew you were upset. It’s understandable,” Scott said giving her a one-arm hug. “Besides, we’re too lovable for you to walk way from us.”
    They walked down to the Technology classroom and sat at the same table as the day before.
    “Hey, you were going to tell me about Zack. You said something about him coming back,” Joey whispered as the late bell rang.
    “Oh yeah, Mr. Whillington had him go on a ‘mission’. I think he sent Zack to Canada,” Ethan said.
    Scott, Bradley, and Ethan took out their laptops as Joey looked around. “Oh no, I don’t have my computer. I was with Mr. Smith,” Joey said.
    “I’m not sure what Zack is going to do with you, sorry,” Ethan said.
    “You’re no help,” Joey mumbled.
    “Good afternoon. Today you are putting a system into your computers that can help with the stuff we will be going over this year,” Zack said, “Wright! Where is your computer?”
    “I don’t have it due to the fact that I was with Mr. Whillington during lunch today,” Joey said, she was holding onto a piece of Ethan’s shirt underneath the table.
    “I’ll give him a call. If he says you were with him then I’ll give you a pass to your room to get your computer,” Zack said picking up a cardboard box. He went around and gave everyone, except Joey, a CD-Rom. After he was done, he called Mr. Smith.
    “Hey, it’s Zack Collins. I have Joanne Wright here and she does not have her computer. Her excuse was that she was with you during lunch meaning she was unable to get it before my class. Is that true?”
    “Yes, she was helping me with something,” Mr. Smith said.
    “Thank you,” Zack said and he hung up. He went into his desk, took out a pass for Joey to use, and walked up to her. “You were telling the truth. Go get your computer and when you get back I’ll give you the CD-Rom.”
    “Zack quite being a hard a**, you knew she was telling the truth,” Ethan said.
    “You be quiet,” said Zack. “Now go, Wright, and come back fast.”
    Joey stood up and walked out the door then realized she didn’t know how to get back in, so she came back to the classroom and said, “I don’t know how to get back.”
    “I’ll help her,” Ethan said as he stood up.
    “Fine, whatever. You and your friends are just messed up,” Zack said to Ethan as Ethan walked to Joey.
    “They are not messed up. They’re just…different,” Ethan said as him and Joey left.
    “What the heck was that about?” Joey asked as they reached the lobby.
    “Zack just wants to feel superior, so he acts like a hard a** sometimes,” Ethan replied.
    “Oh, okay,” Joey said.
    Joey and Ethan walked to the elevator and went up to the fourth floor. Then they walked into Joey’s room so she could get her computer, which was sitting on her desk.
    “So what did you do with Mr. Hardass?” Ethan asked as they left Joey’s room.
    “That’s for me to know and you to shortly find out at Combat Practice,” was all Joey said with a smile.
    They walked back into the Technology room and Zack gave Joey a CD-Rom to put into her computer. The class worked on their computers until the bell rang for their last class.
    Joey, Scott, and Bradley followed Ethan to the Combat Practice room. They went to the far wall and dropped their stuff to the floor.
    “Alright, it’s Combat Practice. So what did you do with Mr. Smith?” Ethan asked.
    “You’ll see in a minute,” Joey said, watching Doug and Kara walk into the room.
    “Does it have to do with the Idiot Twins?” Scott asked following her gaze.
    “Maybe,” Joey said, turning back to the boys.
    Doug tapped Joey on the shoulder and Joey turned around right into a chokehold. Doug’s grip tightened when he was sure she was in his hand.
    “Carson, leave her alone,” Scott said taking a step forward.
    “Its okay, Scott. He won’t do anything to me,” Joey gasped.
    “Then when I snap your neck it’ll be okay?” Doug asked.
    Instead of replying, Joey grabbed his wrist with both hands and kicked him in the stomach. Doug grabbed one of her feet just as Mr. Smith had done as her other leg fell to the floor and Doug let go of her neck. Joey twisted her body so her back was to Doug. Doug grabbed the leg that was holding Joey up and Joey headed face first to the floor, but she quickly put her hands in front of her so she was now doing a handstand.
    Scott, Bradley, and Ethan watched motionless as Joey did all this. “Holy crap,” Scott whispered for the other two to hear. They nodded in agreement.
    Then Joey swung her self in between Doug’s legs and he let go of Joey’s legs. Joey yanked on the back of Doug’s pants and he tripped and fell to the floor as Joey stood up.
    “Do you really want to mess with me?” Joey asked him. She caught a slight movement out of the corner of her eye. She lifted her head and Kara came running at her. Joey just stuck out a hand and nailed Kara in the nose, breaking it.
    “Carson! Phillips! I want you two outside, now!” Mr. Smith’s voice boomed from the door.
    “She broke my nose!” Kara cried holding her bloody nose.
    “So? You broke the rules, get outside!” Mr. Smith yelled.
    Doug slowly got up and went outside with Kara and Mr. Smith.
    “That was freakin’ amazing!” Ethan said coming up behind Joey and hugging her, taking her off her feet as he did so once Mr. Smith left the room.
    “Was that what you were doing during lunch?” Scott asked giving her a high five, once she was on her feet again.
    “Yep,” Joey replied.
    “You have to teach us that,” Bradley said he too gave her a high five.
    “Nice work, Wright!” the rest of the class said.
    “Thank you, thank you,” Joey said bowing.
    Then Mr. Smith walked into the room, “Joanne Wright! Over here now!”
    “I thought you weren’t going to write me up,” Joey said as she walked up to Mr. Smith.
    “I’m not. I just want to tell you…” His facial expression changed from stern to a huge smile, “That was the greatest routine I’ve ever seen one of my students do.”
    “Is that a good thing?” Joey asked with a little smile.
    “In my book…yes,” Mr. Smith said, “Now, today we are not going to learn what Wright just did. We’re going to learn how to trust our team mates.”
    “How are we supposed to do that?” asked Tanner.
    “Get into your teams and then pair up,” said Mr. Smith. The class did as they were told and separated into their teams, and then paired off. Ethan and Joey paired up. And Scott and Bradley paired up. “Has anyone ever played the trust game?”
    About half the class raised their hands including Joey, Scott, Bradley, and Ethan.
    “Good. One partner stands in front of the other. That person then falls backward, and if you trust the other person they should catch you.” Some of the students gave him a blank stare. “Fine, Collins and Wright come here to the front and show them what I am talking about.”
    Joey and Ethan went to the front of the class. Joey stood in front of Ethan and fell back. Ethan caught her before she fell very far due to the size difference.
    “That’s not an example. Collins should be the one falling,” a fifteen-year-old girl with black hair and brown eyes said.
    “And why should he?” Mr. Smith asked glaring at the girl.
    “Well he’s bigger than her. If he fell back, Wright wouldn’t be able to catch him in time,” the girl said.
    “Uh, Laura, do you not know who you’re talking to?” Scott asked taking a step forward away from the rest of the class.
    “Joey’s the one who saved him a couple of weeks ago,” Bradley said doing the same.
    “So? She was full of adrenaline. Any one who’s full of it can become Superman or Supergirl,” Laura said.
    “You know what, why don’t we prove to Laura and the rest of the class that I can catch you?” Joey said to Ethan, “What do you say Collins?” She gave him an impish grin.
    “Go for it,” Ethan said as he stood in front of Joey.
    Both of them took a deep breathe and Ethan fell back. Joey caught him way before he hit the ground. “What did I tell you?” Joey said as Ethan straightened up.
    “What this class needs to know is that…” Bradley began walking up to Ethan and Joey with Scott at his heels.
    “We learn together,” Scott said putting his hand out.
    “We live together,” Bradley said putting his hand on top of Scott’s.
    “We work together,” Ethan said putting his hand on top of Bradley’s, catching on to what Scott and Bradley were up to.
    “And we fight together,” Joey said putting her hand on top of Ethan’s with a smile.
    “Would you look at that, they’re the Musketeers,” said a familiar voice from the door.
    “Mr. Whillington, how are you doing today, sir?” Mr. Smith asked as Mr. Whillington walked into the room.
    “I’m doing fine. I was walking around the school and found myself in the surveillance room and I couldn’t help but watch Ms. Wright fight Mr. Carson and Ms. Phillips,” Mr. Whillington said.
    The whole class held their breathe and Joey slowly gripped Scott and Ethan’s pinky fingers by their sides. What is he going to do to me? I can’t get into trouble, can I? Joey wondered looking around at the boys.
    “And I would like to see you do it again to someone else,” Mr. Whillington said.
    Joey relaxed and asked, “Who would that be, sir?”
    “I want to see you and…” he looked around the room, “Collins.”
    “Repeat that, sir,” Joey said surprised.
    “Do that routine to Collins,” Mr. Whillington said leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest.
    Joey looked over at Ethan. Ethan just shrugged and moved away from the other students. Joey followed him. They faced each other and Ethan wrapped his fingers around her throat. But something in his eyes made Joey uneasy. She saw fear and something as if he did not want to look like he was choking her.
    Mr. Smith sensed the uneasiness and said, “That routine doesn’t have to start out by someone choking the other. You just have to stand there.”
    Ethan sighed with relief and let go of Joey. Joey took a deep breathe and kicked Ethan in the stomach. Ethan caught her foot and Joey twisted her body so her back was facing Ethan. Ethan grabbed Joey’s other foot and she landed in a handstand.
    “This is going to be the fun part,” Scott whispered to Bradley and they started laughing.
    Joey swung her self in between Ethan’s legs as he dropped hers. With all her strength, she pulled the back of his pants and he fell back as Joey rolled out of his way. Once Ethan was on the floor Joey whispered, “I really didn’t want to do that to you, sorry.”
    “It’s okay,” Ethan whispered back as they got up.
    “That was beautifully done, Ms. Wright,” Mr. Whillington said clapping as the others followed suite.
    “Thank you, sir,” Joey said.
    The class finished up by working on trusting each other while Mr. Whillington sat and watched with Mr. Smith. Once the bell rang, Joey ran out of the room and up to her bedroom. Scott, Bradley, and Ethan ran after her. When they reached her room, she was already inside, so Ethan knocked on the door.
    “Go away!” They heard Joey say from inside.
    “Joey, what’s up? You’ve been acting strange for like ever,” Bradley said.
    “Just go away!” Joey yelled.
    “Fine, we’ll be in my room if you need us,” Ethan said as the boys went into his room.
    “Girls, they’re always such…girls,” Scott said sitting on Ethan’s bed.
    “She was fine after she kicked Doug and Kara’s butts, then when she had to do that thing to Ethan, she went back to being depressed,” Bradley said.
    “Yeah, because I shouldn’t have to do that to him,” Joey said as she walked into Ethan’s room, “It was cool when I did it to the Idiot Twins, but when I had to do it to Ethan it was ridiculous.”
    “You didn’t hurt me too much if it makes you feel any better,” Ethan said giving her a hug.
    “It makes me feel a little bit better,” Joey said with a little smile.
    “She’s getting back to her old self, that’s good,” Scott said.
    “If you don’t shut up, I’ll kick your butt,” Joey said pointing to Scott.
    “She’s back,” Bradley said laughing.


    -Episode 9-

    “In a couple of weeks we will put our plan into action,” Michael Connors told his henchmen, Logan Connors, Stewart Clark, Nick Cameron, and Geoff Wyatt. Michael and his brother, Logan, have black hair, brown eyes, and are about six feet tall. Michael is the head of a major trade company based in Washington. Within his building, approximately forty percent of his employees are his henchmen or women. The other employees don’t know what Michael is up to half the time.
    Among those people who don’t know what Michael does is Zander and Tracey. Zander works longer days than Tracey does, so Tracey could be with Emma when she comes home from school.
    “Explain that plan again, sir,” Nick said sitting with his arms crossed over his chest. Nick Cameron is five feet, nine inches in height. He has dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. And he is very muscular.
    “This is the last time. You men need to pay attention better,” Michael said standing up and pacing the room, “Logan will get into his semi and when Mrs. Tracey Wright heads home he will drive her off the road, hopefully killing her.”
    “And why are we doing this?” Stewart asked. Stewart Clark is five feet, eleven inches in height. He has jet-black hair and green eyes. He is also very muscular.
    “Because I said so, don’t get me mad or you’ll be the one dying!” Michael yelled.
    “Yes, sir,” Stewart said leaving the Meeting Room.

    ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
    “How do you think Joey’s doing?” Zander asked Tracey during dinner one night.
    “She’s doing fine. We haven’t gotten any calls from the Academy, which could be a good thing,” Tracey replied.
    “Man, she’s probably living it up over there,” Emma said through a mouth full of Chinese noodles.
    “Emma, we do not talk with out mouths full. Swallow what’s in there, and then speak,” Zander told Emma.
    Emma finished what was in her mouth, and then said, “She is probably having a great time.”
    The house phone rang and Emma jumped out of her seat to answer it, “Hello?”
    “Hey, Em, it’s Joey,”
    “What’s going on? Are the boys cute? Are you having fun?” Emma asked excitedly.
    “Calm down, Small Fry. Put your father on real quick and when I’m done with him I’ll talk to you,” Joey said.
    Emma reluctantly handed Zander the phone and went back to the dinner table. Zander went into the living room. “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing, I have three good friends; Scott, Bradley, and Ethan. I also got into two fights in two days with two idiots,” Joey replied, she was laying on her bed.
    “What? You haven’t gotten suspended or anything?” Zander asked.
    “No, because Mr. Smith allowed me to do it, but from now on I can’t get into anymore,” Joey said.
    “Who did you get into a fight with?”
    “Doug Carson and Kara Philips, the biggest idiots of all time.”
    “How are your classes?” Zander asked.
    “Some of them are hard, but fun until I have homework. And before you ask, I’ve been doing it even though I just started two days ago,” Joey said.
    “Good, here talk to Emma, then get back to school,” Zander said handing the phone to his daughter.
    “Alright, give me the dirt,” Emma said eagerly.
    “I’ve been in two fights and won both of them. And it was against a girl and a guy. All three of my friends are guys and okay looking,” Joey told Emma with some amusement in her voice.
    “That is so cool,” Emma said.
    “Yeah, well I got to get going and go to sleep. I’ll talk to you later,” Joey said.
    “Talk to you later.” And they hung up. “I can’t wait to go to school with Joey,” Emma said putting the phone back on its base.
    “You won’t be saying that when you get there,” Zander said, but Tracey elbowed him, and he said, “I mean, I can’t wait either, darling. You’ll enjoy it very much.”
    “Now Emma, clean up the table and bed time is 8:30, that’s in two hours,” Tracey said as she and Zander stood up and went into the living room. “How’s Joey doing?” Tracey said to Zander as they sat down together on the couch.
    “She’s doing alright. She has already gotten herself into two fights. Smith was the one who was present and he didn’t write her up, which is a first for him,” Zander said putting his arms around Tracey’s shoulders.
    “Well, Jack knows her for as long as we’ve been married. Even though Joey doesn’t know,” Tracey said.
    “I guess she’s doing well with school work and stuff,” Zander said.
    “Quite worrying about her, she’s perfectly safe at the Academy,” Tracey said kissing Zander’s cheek.
    “Get a room,” Emma said stepping into the room.
    “We are in a room, and I’ve only kissed his cheek.”
    “Says you, mom. I am going to bed, good night. I love you,” Emma said kissing her parents on the cheek and went into her room.

    ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
    Logan watched Tracey walk from her car up to the building. She had beautiful brown hair that fell on her shoulders, gorgeous brown eyes to go with her hair. It’s too bad I’m going to kill her. Zander does have everything, no wonder Michael wants the whole Wright family dead, he thought. He was still watching Tracey. After a few minutes, she disappeared into the building.
    Logan sat down at his desk to wait for his secretary to tell him she’s here. About ten minutes later, Tracey walked in and said, “I’m here now, Mr. Connors.”
    “Tracey, dear, call me Logan. You have been my secretary for five years now. Please call me Logan.”
    “Yes, Logan, I’ll be at my desk,” Tracey said leaving Logan’s office.
    When I do kill her I won’t have a good secretary anymore, Logan thought rummaging through some papers on his desk, and it’s so hard to find such good work these days.
    Tracey was just sitting at her desk in front of Logan’s office when Stewart walked up. “How are you this morning, Tracey?”
    “Fine and how are you?” Tracey said looking up at him.
    “Fine, can I go in to see Logan?”
    “I don’t think he is busy at the moment, go on in.”
    “Thanks.” Stewart knocked on the door as he walked in.
    “What do you want?” Logan growled at Stewart.
    “I have a question about you-know-who,” Stewart said jerking his thumb in Tracey’s direction.
    “What?”
    “Are you going to put a tracking device in her so you know where she goes?”
    “Maybe, I haven’t decided yet,” Logan replied not looking at him, “Anything else?”
    “Not really,” Stewart said folding his arms across his chest.
    “Then good-bye,” Logan said and Stewart walked out of his office.
    “See you later, Tracey,” Stewart said waving to her and going back to his office.
    “Tracey!” Logan called from his office.
    Tracey got up and ran into the room, “Yes?”
    “I’m going to be needing some privacy, so if there is any one wanting to see me, even Michael, call me first before sending them in,” Logan told her as he hid his tracking gun underneath his desk.
    “Yes, sir,” Tracey said and she turned around. At that exact moment, Logan fired the gun and the mini-tracking device went into Tracey’s shoulder and she didn’t feel a thing.
    That was a beautiful shot, Logan thought to himself with a smile. Once Tracey was gone, he called Michael and told him what he had done.
    “Very good idea, Logan, now keep tabs on her every move,” Michael said after Logan had finished.

    -Episode 10-

    Everyday from the day of the fight on was pretty much the same with one exception: no Doug and Kara. Then the last week until winter vacation came and everything fell apart.
    Joey woke up and looked out her window and the school grounds were frozen. “I hate winters.” Then she got dressed into her pants and long-sleeve shirt and made her morning rounds. Her and the boys went to breakfast and ate like they usually did. They went through all their classes quietly. Then Combat Practice came. Today they had to do their practice mission.
    “Are you guys ready for this?” Ethan asked the other three.
    “Uh…no,” the others replied.
    They walked into their classroom and went to the far corner and started stretching. The other students walked in and started doing the same thing. After a few minutes, Mr. Smith walked in.
    “The first group to go through their practice mission is Wright, Brewer, Porter, and Collins. After you get through your mission you don’t have to come back until the start of the new semester. Am I clear?” he said.
    “Yes, sir,” the class said in unison.
    “Of course, we’re the first ones to go,” Scott whispered to Joey, Bradley, and Ethan. The others nodded.
    “Follow me, then,” Mr. Smith said with a nod as he walked out of the Combat Practice Room. They followed Mr. Smith to the Tech Room and stood outside. “Wright’s team, your mission is to get one of the statues that came from one of the hallway of the school and bring it back in one piece. This will defiantly require good team work. You will have to disable surveillance cameras and other stuff like that. There will be many laser grids, some you can disable and others you can not. On the count of three you will open that door and begin your mission,” said Mr. Smith.
    Joey, Scott, Bradley, and Ethan stood in front of the door and got ready for anything.
    “Ready, on three, THREE!” yelled Mr. Smith.
    “Hey, what happened to one and two?” Scott asked frustrated.
    “Stupid, let’s just go. We don’t have time to discuss what happened to one and two,” Joey said as she pulled Scott by the arm.
    The four of them all went inside and looked around. The room was big, but there were red laser grids everywhere. Joey looked for the surveillance cameras first. There was one in the right hand corner and one in the left right behind them.
    “There are two eye balls looking at us in here,” she said.
    “That’s just great,” Scott said sarcastically.
    “Alright, Porter and Brewer, you guys get the honor of poking that eye out,” Ethan said pointing to the on their left, “Wright and I get this one.” He pointed to the one on their right.
    The others nodded and Scott and Bradley ran over to their camera while Joey and Ethan ran to theirs. Scott dropped to one knee and put his hands out in front of him. Bradley put one foot in his hands and Scott stood back up, balancing Bradley as he did so. They did this so Bradley could disable their camera. Bradley took out his mini-laser and cut through all the wires.
    “This camera sees no more,” Bradley said as he jumped out of Scott’s hands.
    When Joey and Ethan reached their camera, Ethan bent down and Joey climbed up onto his shoulders and he stood up. Joey grabbed the camera with both hands and pulled.
    “Wright, I don’t think that’s coming down that way,” Scott said as he and Bradley watched the other two.
    “Shut up!” Joey said. She stood up on Ethan’s shoulders, “Move closer.” Ethan carefully moved closer to the camera. Joey put both feet on both sides of the camera and pulled. The camera pulled from the wall and Joey came crashing down, but she did a back flip and landed on her feet. She straightened up and threw the camera to the floor.
    “What was that, Brewer?” Joey asked, cupping her left ear with her hand in Scott’s direction.
    “Whatever,” Scott mumbled.
    “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Joey said sticking her tongue out at Scott.
    “What now?” Bradley asked ignoring the two children.
    “Does anyone see the statue?” Ethan asked.
    “It’s over there,” Bradley said as he pointed straight in front of them. The statue was behind quite a few laser grids.
    “Mr. Smith said some of these lasers can be disabled,” Ethan said.
    “We’re on it,” Joey and Scott said together.
    Scott ran to the wall on their left and Joey ran to the wall on their right. On each wall was an electrical box. Both of them took out their mini-lasers and cut through some of the wires. Once they were done only two of the six laser grids disappeared; the second and the third laser grids.
    “That doesn’t help us,” Bradley said.
    “Yeah it does,” Joey said as she and Scott walked back to Bradley and Ethan.
    “How?”
    “All four of us can slip past the first one and once we do that we have that whole space to think of what to do next.”
    “She’s right,” Ethan said.
    “Of course I am,” Joey said with a smile.
    There were three clear areas in the first laser grid for them to get past. Ethan went over to the right wall and went through by pressing himself against the wall. Bradley crawled through a hole at the bottom of the laser grid. Scott turned his back to the laser grid and put his hands together and Joey ran at him, jumped off his hands, over his body, and through a hole at the top of the laser grid. She did a front flip before landing on her feet. Scott crawled through the same hole as Bradley.
    “That was totally awesome,” Scott said to Joey as he straightened up.
    Joey gave him a ‘you’re an idiot’ look and said, “I didn’t take eight years of gymnastics for nothing.”
    “Geez, sorry,” Scott said putting his hands up to defend himself.
    “What next, Smart One?” Bradley asked Joey.
    “There’s one of those electrical boxes over there,” Joey said pointing to a box on their left, but it was too close to the laser grid that one slip would slice their arm.
    “So who’s gonna disable that?” Scott asked as he looked around at the other three and prayed that he wasn’t going to have to do it.
    “I’m not, that’s for sure,” Bradley said.
    “Neither am I,” Scott said.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Joey said as she folded her arms across her chest.
    “Fine, you little chickens, I’ll do it,” Ethan said as he took out his mini-laser and walked over to the electrical box.
    “Be careful,” Joey said.
    Ethan started cutting some of the wires while Bradley looked around. He noticed an electrical box on the ground. He thought, I knew it. It couldn’t be that easy. That’s the box we’re supposed to…
    “Oh no!” Bradley yelled.
    “What?” Joey asked looking over at Bradley.
    “Ethan, stop! Don’t finish!” Bradley yelled as he ran to Ethan to try and stop him.
    Ethan stopped, but it was too late. The laser grids that had disappeared reappeared. First the second laser grid. Scott and Joey were standing where the third one should be.
    “This ain’t going to be pretty,” Joey said as she and Scott looked behind them and then at each other.
    “Oh damn,” Ethan said horrorstruck.
    Ethan and Bradley ran to the real electrical box. It was only a matter of moments until the third laser grid appeared and there wasn’t enough room for the all four of them. If the third laser grid appeared before Ethan got a chance to disable it, only he and Bradley would be safe. There was a flash of red light from above Scott and Joey’s heads. They both looked up in panic.
    “Ethan, hurry!” Joey cried as she grabbed Scott’s hand. He gave it a small squeeze.
    “They can’t really kill us can they?” Scott asked looking down at Joey and then at Ethan and Bradley.
    “We could sue,” Bradley said, “if they do kill you.”
    “You all aren’t going to die. I almost…” Ethan began.
    Then the laser grid came down. Scott pushed Joey at an angle going forward. She landed on her back and Scott landed on top of her. Then a scream rang out.