Chapter 18 Betrayal

Lilly regained consciousness for which she didn't remember how she got knocked out. Expecting to wake up back at her old school, she was surprised to see a gentle painting of Niagara Falls.

Alyss walked in gracefully, "Someone is finally awake, how's your head?"

Lilly felt a small pain on the left side of her forehead, other than that she felt perfectly well. "I think I am pretty well-" her stomach growled so loud that the birds perched on the trees outside simultaneously flew as if a cat petrified them.

"Seems like your stomach is disagreeing." Alyss smiles brightly.

Louise prances in as well with some food, which Lilly relished at the sight of it. "Here, while you eat this
-slowly- let's talk about what happened okay?"

Already mouth full of a half-eaten sandwich, she nods. By the time she finished the plate of sandwiches, Lilly understood what happened when she was out.

"So...Will just....blew the tires of the car?" Lilly asks.

Toby answers leaning on the door, "And throwing in some dry ice in open bags of water into the car he dragged you out. Mind you, it was pretty unexpected but it worked...somehow."

"But...why? " Lilly asked persistently.

Shayna answers, "Well, probably because Will knows something we don't. But he won't tell us what it is, something related to your note Tobster found."

She was handed the paper exactly in her handwriting style. "Um... I can explain!"

Alyss assures her with a gentle voice, "Don't worry. We are judging you yet; you have all the time you need to tell us the reason."

Toby nodded, "We can't let Will's second brace action be wasted...say is anyone curious on where he gets his courage to do these kind of these from?"

There was a wave of shaking heads in the room. He shrugged indifferently, "Alright...just asking."

Shayna walks up to him and pokes him in the guts, "Seems like YOU want that trait of his don't you..."

"No-o!"

Louise shushes them, "Alright come on, Lilly is the one who's talking right now."

Lilly blinked still really confused but sighed, "Okay. I am ...well used to be a Refraincrat student."

Toby interjects, "We know that already." Which earned him a hit on the head by Shayna.

"but I didn't have much of a choice. The only reason I had to go there was the fact I have a lineage of a noble." Lilly said.

Alyss repeated, "Lineage of a noble? Burlake?"

She nodded, "Well. We aren't really that... on the ranks. My dad works for a really low position...for a noble...I think it was Loviez Corporation? Yeah."

Louise couldn't stop herself, "You mean THE Albert Loviez?"

Lilly looked at her with a curious eye, "Yeah him. Anyway, the only school which accepted me immediately was Refraincrat. At the time there were some complications...so I ended up going there."

Toby who was previously pretty riled up in his mind, settled the dust. He could see where this was heading.

"Go on." Alyss encouraged.

Nodding to herself which pain was displayed all over her face, "So...I entered and it was amazing. First few weeks were great. On the outside, it was a great school honestly...you people probably would think it would be"

Oblivious to the glances of the four, she continues with her eyes distant in her memories. "Then I joined the archery team with pure curiosity. That's when things really got down, I went in and loved it. But things began to go too fast, harassment and soon bullying. I saw the team being utterly being demons to others. Especially Tracy, she's worse than Ergol. There was a shadow kid too, named Shane Verdick."

"Shane...Verdick?"

Lilly nodded, "Yes... he was on the news not long ago. Serves him right whatever the problem was."

Louise turned to hide a knowing glance and a smug grin whispering the name Will.

"He was a bad one, wasn't really the student of Refraincrat, just the fact that the Prestigious Redmount High had to move him there with no other options until the cleared up a system problem. During the time in the archery team, I felt for the first time that it was something I really loved. It made me feel like I belonged there for the first time."

Unheard and with great care, Will slipped into the room.

" But one day, I don't remember when. They just all began to laugh at me. For everything I did, I thought it was some kind of joke so I shrugged it off. However it just got worse, they soon began pushing me around, both physically and mentally. My grades which were soaring high began to fall. They affected my life, close people that hurt the worse. Then it was too much, of the many options I could have chosen, personally, running away was the best thing I could do. So...this is where I ended up."

Lilly's eyes were filled with tears which rolled down her slight pink cheeks. Shayna sat down right beside here and puts a comforting arm around her.

Will spoke, "And the reason you were shooting those arrows that night was because you missed your old life...am I wrong?"

It froze the air and released the tension as Louise turned around and smacked him right across the shoulder with her long, ponytail hair.

"OW!" Will exclaim loudly, mostly it was SERIOUSLY surprising with a mouthful of hair whipping across your face suddenly.

"Ooops! Sorry Will!" Louise replied, but partially not really meaning it.

Lilly looked up and broke into a teary smile, "Yeah. You're right. Thanks for helping me out earlier."

Will waved his hand aside, "Right. So that's it?"

Everyone looked at him with some curiosity. "Is there...anything else?"

He stood there and then opened his mouth to speak, "Well...what do you plan to do with the Refraincrat archery team members? They are bound to do something now they know you're here, not the mention that they must've made some promises to your family to find you....might I add this might place your dad, as a noble, in some kind form of unpaid debt."

Lilly widened her eyes with terror, "Wait...no..you mean?"

Toby's face grew serious, "Will, you can't be honestly be...meaning..."

Alyss nodded, "There's a possibility there."

Lilly stuffed her face into the pillow with soft sniffles.

There was a long stretched silence in the room.

Will then asked, "How long have you been...'missing' Lilly?"

Lilly replied muffled, "fuff-ennfff"

"What?"

She turned her hair slightly and spoke more clearly, "Four months..i think."

"Four months?" Shayna said with a high-pitched voice.

Will thought for a minute, "How high were your grades?"

"Mostly A's. Once I got a B because I was sick for a couple days..." Lilly said with a small voice.

"Well. What if you were to enroll to Redmount High?" Will suggested.

Toby turned his head, "Wait... Will but she's...."

Lilly laughs a bit, "If I could, I would of long time ago."

"No, seriously. If your grades are that good, then there's a standing reason you could be accepted." Will posed the point.

Lilly sits right up and replied with a bit of sass, "Oh? What makes you say that with such assurance?"

Shayna's mouth opened with an audible 'bop'.

Lilly's face shaded red, "Oh Will! Sorry! I didn't mean that."

Toby face palms, "We forgot that she didn't know."

Alyss shook her head, "At least she would have some whiff by now...but seems like I'm wrong..." she trailed off.

Louise smiled at Lilly, "Well? I could say with such assurance too. All five of us."

Lilly looked at her dumbfounded with red puffy eyes.

"By all means, we are students of Redmount High."

Lilly looked at them with wide eyes and recoiled with a big surprise. Something she didn't expect nor she believed. She asks, "Wait just want to clear something...are you telling me...but what about the Refraincrat...?"

Will does a smug smile.

"Oh...they are probably just noticed it now...you see.. i....."

Ooo

"Okay ugly-foot. Move it. We're here. Welcome back home..." Tracy spits a toothpick out at Lilly.

By pure coincidence, the toothpick shot straight and drove right into the "head" of the figure. Everyone screamed and rushed outside. Tracy stayed frozen and in absolute shock. Slowly, a red thin liquid started to drip onto the seat.

Ergol screamed "That's the 1478's material seat you're dripping on!"

Tracy commanded, "You. Check her."

"W-what? Me?"

"Yeah you now move it!"

The girl fearfully poked the 'body'. The end of the toothpick was a dreadful area to look. In one swift and quick motion she plucked it out surprisingly it came out easily but a splotch of wet spots appeared on the cloth. Pulling it off quickly everyone shielded their eyes for the disgusting spectacle.

Gathering enough courage, they all stared completely blank look. It was a dummy from the Sewing Room. Then a Ziploc bag that is virtually empty hanged in front of the head that labeled, "Permanent Pen Red Ink"

Ergol stared open mouthed, then his flushed red with rage. "What...the H-...."

Ooo

"...-ahahaahahha!" Toby wheezed, "Oh boy that ought to make him mad."

Shayna nodded, "Permanent?"

Will brushes his cloak, "Yeah. I found some while I was searching for that dummy. Figured I might get it on something valuable."

Alyss claps her hands together, "And the best part is that they don't know who did it!"

The 5 looked at each other with enjoyment. Then they heard a sniffle from Lilly. "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing, it's just that. You guy's would go that far for me." Lilly spoke between sniffs.

Louise laughs, "Well certainly they aren't a friend of ours. I'd be happy to see that place shut down for its dark problems."

Louise spoke seriously, pulling out a tablet, "Nailing them would be pretty hard. Especially with that Lancaster as one of our prominent sponsors"

Shayna examined her tips of her hair, "That's to be expected."

"and there! I just sent a message to the President. He said he'll put a word in." Louise shouts with accomplishment.

Alyss smiles kindly at Lilly, "With that, you better go prepare to move to a new school.."

Lilly's heart swelled with happiness, something that she lost a long time ago. Thanking them with all her heart she ran most of her way home.

They all stood at the door, "Well. What now?"

Will turned and looked at Toby, "How long do we have until we go back?"

"6 months, 3 days plus 2 hours and 23 seconds." Toby tapped his watch.

"Right...Alyss..?" Will looked at her for some help.

She leaned over and whispered into his ear which then he started nod with understanding. "Oh...A season...WAIT A WHOLE SEASON?"

Shayna gave him a weird look and then stamped her foot down. "Well guys. Let's change this school to a better place."

Louise looked at her with an interested gleam, "What do you suppose on how do we do that?"

Everyone turned to Will who looked back with slight worry. "Why are you all staring at me?!"

Shayna breaks into a smile, "Well...for starters. You kick anyone's butt if they aren't in order."

Will thought. Great, this is going to go SO well.

Ooo

In fact it did go well. There were some police cruisers the next day to search for Lilly Burlake. Due to quick reactions from Chris, he suggested that she should leave as quickly as possible. To her surprise, "quickly" in his book meant right at 4am up on some building where a helicopter came and picked her up. With some reluctance, Will took care of the bullies that really caused some problems both for people learning and teachers.

Toby brought up a question, "Hey, you know in like 2 months we are going to go back to our school right?"

"Yeah...?" Louise spoke absentmindedly as she was pouring a special concoction which could result to one of Will's explosions.

Toby sets the beaker with an orange fluid in it down, "What's stopping these guys from coming back to their old selves when we leave?"

Louise pushes her goggles aside, "Hmm....we are taking care of them like they were being mean to the rest..." She turns and asks, "Alex? Mind you pass that please? Thanks"

Toby laughs then stops, "You're not listening. I asked.."

Louise dumps the whole thing into the container. "There!"

The whole room exploded, but this time it was smoke. Pink, glittery smoke. Will walked in and sniffed. "Wow, what is this smell?"

Louise turns and beams at him, "I know right? I just created a smell that resembles to what one of the famous dishes my dad makes!"

Toby whispered loudly, "So did you take any thought of my question or do I need to repeat it?"

Louise rolled her eyes, "Yeah yeah I heard you the first time. Shayna is talking to the principal of this school right this moment."

Toby's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Really"

"Yes really, now Tobster help me out will you?" Louise sighed.

Toby smacked his fist into his palm, "That girl....."

"Help me now!" Louise whined, "I think this is making everyone hungry..." She looked at everyone's eyes looking to where the Cooking class was.

Alyss leaned on Will, "Well anyway. Shayna is going to gather all everyone in the school who has some kind of martial art's training."

"She is? Why?" Toby asked with some curiosity.

"So she can get lessons from them smart one." Louise spoke with stressed words/

Toby nodded slowly, "Oh...I see..."

"That was sarcasm! Gosh, okay so if she gets the permission from the principal, she is going to create a Student Order group." Louise explained.

"Student Order group?"

"Yeah, it's something like enforces rules of the school. What the principal expects to see, but what we actually do is to eradicate these bad students in the school."

Alyss laughs silently, "I like the idea. Answers to your questions perfectly Toby."

"Yeah... I think I like the idea."

By the time the 2 months or so that passed and changes you saw were pretty obvious. The school was in better shapes and actual sport teams were formed to compete with other schools, this was a real game changer. With great discretion, they withdrew and transferred schools.

Will ushered, "Come on Silhouette!" He whistled, which the puppy perked her ears at the sound. With the tongue out and panting happily, Will closed the door.

Shayna pets her head and sighed, "Wow. I mean, like wow. You know I was planning to submit a report of what it is like to be in a normal school..."

Louise cuts her off, "Not so normal if you ask me."

Glaring at her, she continued, "...Well yeah."

Toby grabs something from his backpack, "Finally..."

Alyss squints, "Wait.. is that..."

Toby flashes the cover of the book that clearly labeled in bright, bold letters. "Just as when this "prestigious" school became really dull....you two arrive and it changed a lot of things."

Shayna ties her hair, "Yeah. I don't understand why you need a Schedule Book. But he's right."

Toby slaps the book with the side of his palm, "YOU don't understand the importance! WHEN great things happen, things get messy and out of organization!"

Shayna yawns, "Messy-shazzy. So...do you think Lilly will like the school?"

Will thought about it for a second, "I think the better question is....will Silhouette like the school..."

All of them stared down at the dog whose tail thumped the car floor sighing happily. She looked up and tilted her head with a small whimper as if questioning why they were looking at her.

Ooo

They opened the doors to hear the excited chatter of everyone coming back. Chris, who was surrounded by people barged his way through shouting in greeting.

"There they are! Last one of the groups!" He shouts

One of the guys who Will didn't recognize ran up to them, "Wow! That's them guys."

Shayna looked at Louise confused who she gave the don't-look-at-me look.

Toby nudged his glasses a bit higher, "Did everyone just get here?"

Fred broke out among the groups of people and answered, "No, we already gotten here 5 hours ago. Also that most of us just came from half away across the continent!"

Jennifer nodded, "Salut! Comment ça va?" (Hi, how are you?)

They all looked at her with some confusion. Will with the most turning his head to Alyss, whispering to her. "Wait...was that Gallican?"

Alyss shrugged with bewilderedness.

Jennifer apologized, "Sorry. Be up in Quebec and you just can't avoid joining in on the language."

Natalie bursts into the scene, "Très bien! Et toi?" (Very good and you?)

Jennifer turns and starts up a storm chatting in French with her. Chris chuckles awkwardly and pulls them along, "Let's move...now!"

Will turned his head with wonder, he mutters. "That is Gallican. I know it is, Halt spoke a bit of it and taught what he knew to me too. I mean...it comes in handy."

Alyss spoke to only he could hear, "Possibly the language was passed down?"

"That would be amazing...the resemblance is so similar." Will nodded.

Alyss laughs out loud.

"What?" Will turns with a raised eyebrow.

"N-nothing. Just that...everyone still speaks English don't they?"

Will gave her a long stare.

She shrugged, "Whaaat? I'm just saying..."and she walks in front of him. Purposefully not showing the contained laughter which, from the back looked like a cool and collected demeanor.

Ooo

Principal Terrance sighed as she sat down. Suddenly the pager rang, "Principal? The Landcaster is here."

"Send him in."

The door opened and appeared Stephen Landcaster. "Greetings. My, you look as beautiful as ever."

Hiding her disgust, Cynthia replies. "So. How was the year length of examination and things go?"

He pats down his suit and takes out a napkin from his right pocket and blows his nose into it.

"Well." –sniff-

She sits in her chair tapping meaningfully with slight impatience for a guy like him to go on.

"Everything is fine. I left it to my son to do the other things. He insisted and since he's going to be my successor, I thought why not." Stephen said putting it back into the pocket.

"I see....wait...your son..."

Mr. Lancaster finished, "Landcaster, Ergol." With some inkling of what it was pride.

"Right...you let him handle an official check? By all means, Security checks and safety checks to be more concerning?" She asked briskly.

Stephen shook his head, "Oh no, just some minor things. Yes... Minor things. Mostly observing, don't forget our school wasn't closed."

"Alright then. I must commend your efforts as the lead examiner this year...pleasure to-" She didn't finish when suddenly the ceiling fell with a large metal contraption, crushing Stephen Lancaster's legs. He screams in pain and agony. "—AHH!"

"Talk about being safe. Was that thing even here in the first place? That wasn't even here when we were constructing this building in the first place!" Principal Terrance exclaimed.

"S-stop standing there and call for help!" the injured man shouted.

"Right right..." she took out her cell phone and suddenly all the power grid went down. Only thing that illuminated in the room was from the window and the light from the cellphone screen.

"What the..."

Suddenly around the school the security systems activated and all doors and windows were blockaded with bulletproof windows, oddly no alarms sounded and this wasn't authorized by the Principal.

"Stephen, what the hell is going on. On the opening day of the school after a year of examination and everything this happens?" The principal spoke with some malice in her words.

"I...I don't know!"

She clicked her tongue and entered a number into the cell, "This is the principal speaking." Slightly relieved that PA system was still working. "Any students that are still outside, please move away from the building. Authorities will arrive shortly. Seems like we have a malfunction. Any students inside the school, go to the nearest classroom and stay in it with doors shut."

Unknown to her, every student was already inside the school. By some unknown reason everyone was ushered inside before it was locked down.

"I repeat, please-" The principal was cut off with a delirious laugh.

"We get it we get it!"

Stephen Lancaster looked up with pain and recognized the voice. With a weak voice he said, "Ergol...?"

There was a slight pause, "Sorry father. I didn't know you would be sitting there. I would have thought someone else would have been." To everyone's ears surprise, there wasn't even a hint of regret in his voice.

Toby looked around in the room and then whispered loudly, everyone heard him. "I told you. Things get interesting real fast! Never gets old!" quickly pulling out his scheduling book.

Shayna smacks the book, "Really? That's what you think of right now?"

Chris shook his head slowly, "What on earth...this is an illegal thing even a 10 year old would know that!"

Louise looked around fearfully, "You know, things involving us are really happening to us a lot lately."

"Maybe they found out who put the dummy in the car?" Shayna said in a low voice.

Will shook his head, "No. I think this was planned way beforehand."

Chris stood up, "I would agree with Will on that. No way could he have gotten control of the Lockdown protocols without some kind of pre-action."

A girl spoke, "I heard that the Landcasters was in lead of our school's examination this year."

"What?" A guy exclaims, "Of course Ergol would want to do something bad!"

Alyss murmured, "But never thought a student would go as far as this...even in revenge to hurt his own father."

Will puts a comforting arm around Alyss. "Don't worry. I'll keep you safe no matter what."

She turns and gives him a punch, "You think I can't defend myself?"

Toby hisses, "You think it's a good time to flirt right now?"

The voice, which quoting Buck, stupid annoying voice, came back on. "I declare war on this school also holding you all hostages."

Everyone looked at each other with shock. It was dead silence throughout the building.

Will spoke in a dry voice, through the vents everyone still heard him miraculously...or probably he purposefully shouted into the vent hole.

"Can you even declare war on a school? And what the blasted goat can you hold a school full of rich kids, when you are from another rich kid school anyway? I mean, why not just go hold your own school hostage? It's the same thing!"

The ranger turned around to see the large group of shocked faces and despite the situation, his blank face was too much. They all exploded into fits of laughter.

Updated section of this chapter ^.^: Small excerpt. And i mean SMALL! Of Special Chapter 19. 12/23/15

Gilan jumped at the sight of the blinking lights dancing in a circle on a board. "What is that!?"

Will sighed, "That. Is a billboard. Now can we get a move on please?"