Louise woke up extra early that day. MJ had asked him to be at school near 7 to carry all the instruments back to the terrace. And so, he did exactly that. He grabbed his electric bike and paddled to school at 6:46 in the morning. He was at school by 7 and once he parked his bike, he walked down the stairway beside the parking lot. When he reached the basement, he was surprised someone had already turned the lights on. 

Probably, MJ had reached before him. Well, he had. 

"Hey Louise! You're on time!" MJ looked at him. He was sitting on a yoga ball and staring at him.
"Yeah, I respect time," Louise walked beside MJ but once they reached the spot where they had left their instruments, they found that all their instruments had been damaged. Someone broke the guitar strings and tore the drums. 

Louise kneeled down and grabbed his broken drumsticks, "MJ... Who would do this?" He turned and looked at MJ. MJ was calm as he looked at the mess. He looked around for cameras, but there were none. He heard Louise sob, "We worked so hard to build a band, and now all our stuff is gone," 

MJ looked at Louise and the latter looked up at him, "Why don't you say something, MJ?"
Mitchelle just shrugged his shoulders, "I think we should report this to the principal's office,"
"Who do you think would've done that?"
"I have a strong gut feeling that it's Henry and his trolls,"
"What? But aren't they suspended from school? Who let them in?"

"I'll find out," MJ just left, leaving Louise behind. After a while, Louise got up and walked upstairs. Everything was bright by then. People had started coming into school; started parking their cars and their bikes. He could see teachers walk inside the classes and the janitor take the trash out from the backside of the school. 

He went towards the water fountain and watched some girls feed bread to the birds around. He reached the senior block of Kerlin County High and sat on the stairs in front of the lawn. The building was empty because the seniors had their exams soon, so nobody was coming to school that week. 

He sat there for a while and thought about what had happened this morning. He didn't feel like going to class. He was so upset that Henry had once again ruined something that he liked. How much longer would he let him hurt him? It couldn't be forever. He did not want to live on Henry's mercy for the rest of his life.

"Louise?" Louise heard his name and looked up. It was Ryan with a small mirror ball in his hand, "Ryan? What are you doing here?"
"I borrow this from Mr Wilson!" 
"Mr Wilson?"

"He is our substitute History teacher, while Mr Warren is away on medical leave because of his foot. Methinks he's nice. I told him I needed some decorations for our first performance and he gave me this mirrorball. He said he's got more stuff in the faculty room of the senior building and I could pick whatever I liked. Look, he gave me his keys! What a nice man! I love him! Non-sexually, of course"

"Yeah...What a nice man...Ryan, I don't think we should go ahead with this band stuff,"
"What?" Ryan's smile just disappeared, "Why not?"
"Because Henry and trolls broke all our instruments! And we still don't have a band room, even after I've written letters to the other principal, he doesn't care! And I'm shit at playing the drums. MJ is carrying us with his guitar"

"Hold on, one thing at a time. What did Henry do again?"
"Break our instruments,"
"That's terrible! We should report them then!"

"We don't have proof. And even if we did, he would get away with it. His parents pay after him and the principal would shut up with all those dollar bills in his mouth"
"That's bribery! I thought America stood against it!"
"Well, America stands for a lot of things that it doesn't believe in, little virtue signalling fuckers, that's what we are."

"There will always be people who would corrupt the system," Ryan sat beside Louise with his mirrorball on his lap, "We have that in Ireland, too. I wouldn't blame Ireland for it, but I would blame the people...people like Henry's parents who ignore his shortcomings. They are raising a monster"
"It would come to bite them back... But that's their problem, what have I done to be on his bad side? Why does he always pick on me? I don't understand! He always gets his way and I'm here, feeling like a loser!"

"You don't have to question yourself because he's a terrible person to you"
"But he makes my life hell!" Louise grabbed his hair and then felt a warm kiss on his cheek. Ryan kissed Louise on his cheek with the mirrorball in his hands, glowing brightly under the sun, the mirrors reflecting light like a huge diamond. 

Ryan moved away from him and smiled, "He can't make your life hell as long as I'm around,"
Louise moved away from Ryan "RYAN?! WHAT THE FUCK?! DID YOU JUST FUCKING KISS ME?"
"Yeah? Mom always kisses me when I'm down," Ryan smiled.
"Yeah, but moms are different!"

Ryan got up, "Yeah, you definitely did not give birth to me, Louise"

"Do you just kiss men randomly?" Louise looked up at him. 
"When have I done that?"
"Erm, literally just now!"

Ryan giggled, "That wasn't random. That was very thoughtful. I like you as much as I like mom,"
"Me? But I'm so very unlikeable. I'm weak, and I keep getting beaten up by Henry, and it's not like I'm doing great at school or the band,"
"Yeah, but those are little things that wouldn't matter after a while. Except for the part about Henry. I thought you were friends,"
"HE LITERALLY BEAT ME UP THE FIRST TIME YOU SAW HIM WITH ME!"
"I do not like how he treats you. I think you deserve the world,"

"Oh, Ryan..." Louise hadn't felt this terrible in a while, "I promise you, I'll get stronger!"
"Good! Now, let's go to the faculty room and grab those other decorations! I'm so excited!"
"What about the instruments Henry broke?"
"We can always get more. They were old anyways,"

Meanwhile, a girl near the fountain and hold her camera. She looked at the picture of Ralf kissing Louise on the cheek. She smiled, "Boy, that's fruity"

MJ looked at her with his binoculars while sitting on a tree, "Who is that?"
"Young man," He heard and looked down. There was man standing there, in a blue and white striped T-shirt and blue jeans, "What are you doing up there on the tree,"
"Erm, birdwatching. Who are you?"

"I'm Mr Wilson. I'm your substitute History teacher. You must know Mr Warren."
"Yeah," MJ looked at the fountains, the girl was gone. He jumped down from the tree, "Can I help you, sir?" 
"I needed someone to get a few flags from the history room. You looked like just right lad for it. What's your name?"
"Mitchelle Jibber," 

"Alright, Mr Jibber. Come with me,"

MJ walked behind him. He observed Mr Wilson, the way he walked, he definitely had to be southern. He wore sports shoes, so he must also be young, but not too young. All the old teachers at school wore those weird office shoes. MJ did not want to grow up because he wouldn't bear wearing those shoes every day.

"Are you southern, Mr Wilson?"
"Yeah, I'm from Florida,"

FLORIDA MAN!

MJ's head started going back to all the TV scenes he had seen:
"Florida man defeats alligator then fucks the alligator's mate"
"Florida man cuts his head open and eats his own brain,"
"Florida man dresses as a woman to win the local female marathon and still loses,"

"Mitchelle, are you still there?"
"Yes?" He was already carrying the flags into the history room by then. He had some small talk with Wilson, about Florida, beaches, swimming and barbecue. Mr Wilson reminded MJ of his father. Mr Wilson also had green eyes and dirty blonde hair, he just didn't have a beer belly. Or maybe he had been sucking in it really well, who knew?

Mr Wilson was the only teacher MJ could tolerate. They had almost reached class when MJ got a call from Jerome. The Chinese version of Justin Bieber's "Baby" started playing. Yes, that was his ringtone. "Sorry," MJ kept the flags down on the floor and picked up the phone, "What Jerome?!"

"MJ, where is Louise?"
"How would I know? I saw him in the senior building just like 10 minutes ago... Why? Is everything okay?"
"Boy, have you not seen the picture?"
"What picture?"
"Ryan kissed Louise. It's everywhere! I found Ryan, but I can't see Louise anywhere. Even his bike is gone. I think he went home,"

"I'll go to his place," MJ looked at Mr Wilson, "I'd have to miss the class. My friend Louise, he needs me,"
"Is everything okay?"
"I hope it is. I'll take a make-up class for this. You can give me detention," MJ left the flags and ran away. 

Mr Wilson looked at him dash through the hallway and smiled, "What a nice friend Louise got,"

-To be continued