Monday, April 21

Okay, here's why I left the word "to" half-finished. I heard someone coming over and looked up to see Keith. I closed my journal and slid it under my pillow for fear he would mock it and call it a diary again, But instead, he sat down on my bed, yawned, and draped his arm around my shoulders as if he did it every day. "Hey, Kellyn."

I was slightly taken aback. "Um, hi."

He looked at me. I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?"

I paused, then shook my head. "Nah. My best friend does--did this to me all the time."

Keith nodded. He the one who wrote the letter that's in your journal?"

"So you're treating me like a human now."

He shrugged. "I see no reason not to. You've proved your worth." He noticed my headphones and flicked the cord. "Whatcha listening to?"

"Interstate Love Song by Stone Temple Pilots."

"Never heard it."

I removed my left earbud and stuck it in his ear. His face suddenly lit up with recognition. "Oh, THIS song!" He started bopping his head to the beat and did so until the music stopped. "It's a good song." He handed me the earbud.

"It's not a good song, it's a FABULOUS song." I snapped my fingers in his face.

"Anyway..." He stood up and grinned at me. "You're not tired, are you?"

Outside the dorm, Rhythmi and two other students were waiting for us. "What took you so long?" one muttered.

"Oh, stuff and things," Keith said. "Be glad I brought him."

I raised an eyebrow. "...What's going on?"

Keith turned to me. "So Kelyn. Remember when I said you've proved your worth? Well, not to these guys and the rest of the Ranger School's student body. We've got to send you on your initiation. Your test of courage, ya know? Rhythmi, esplain how it works."

Rhythmi leaned back against a table and began reciting. "The four of us have hidden our School Stylers somewhere in the building. None outside, since that would set off the alarms. Your task is to find them and go place them in front of the door to the basement office. And since it's dangerous we've tapped Keith to accompany you."

"Why me?!" Keith whined.

Rhythmi folded her arms. "Maybe if you had brought him sooner, I wuold have come. Now begone!" Keith sighed and started down the stairs. I followed him.

The school was dark downstairs, illuminated only by the exit signs and the lights outside. "This place is hella creepy at night," Keith mumbled. "Hurry up and find the Stylers, okay?"

I grinned at him. "Aww, is widdle Keith scared of the dark?"

He blushed. "I-I dare you to say that again."

"Let's go to the library first," I suggested. I turned to the left, but before I could start walking, Keith screamed. I spun around. "Keep it down! Do you want to wake everyone?!" Then I noticed the Bidoof at his feet. I unclipped my Styler and captured it.

"A g-ghost..." Keith said, grabbing my arm.

"Keith, it's just a Bidoof. Can we go to the Library now?"

I was glad I caught the Bidoof, because there was a wooden crate between me and Styler #1. I drew a line from Bidoof to the crate. Bidoof demolished it and ran off. I went to the back of the Library and retrieved the Styler. "One down, three to go."

The next room was the Staff Room.  "Okay," Keith said. "Here's a hint: the Styler we hid in this room doesn't stay still."

I glanced around the room and saw a Pichu scampering around the room. I unclipped my Styler and started chasing it. It proved to be hard to catch up to, so I decided to ask Keith a question. "Hey, Keith?"

He was leaning against the wall near the door. "Yeah?"

"What's going on between Rhythmi and Isaac?"

He looked up. "Funny you should ask that. Since you're having a hard time with that Pichu, I can tell you the whole story. So Rhyth and I have been here, what, two weeks? We actually got here on the same day. And for a couple days I thought she liked me, so I stayed away from her. But then Kate told me she actually likes Isaac, and I started noticing how awkward they are around each other, and then I'm like 'yep, they like each other'."

"Wait, whoa. Who the hell is Kate?" I thought I was close enough to the Pichu and pressed the button on the Styler, but it ran away. I rolled my eyes and started chasing it again.

"Kate? She graduated Saturday. Good riddance, too. She's got a creepy crush on me. She's been assigned to Vientown, though. Unfortunately, since it's right around the corner." He paused. "Can you hurry up and catch that thing?"

"I'm trying!" Frustrated, I hopped up on the conference table and started drawing loops. I spent about a minute running around on the table drawing loops and accidentally hitting Keith with my Capture Disc a couple of times. Finally, a pink bubble formed around the Pichu and popped. It handed over the second Styler and scapered away.

I jumped off the table and held up the Styler. "Got the second one."

"Took you long enough," Keith said. "Let's go to Mr. Kincaid's room next." 

Mr. Kincaid's room was full of crates. I couldn't see a Styler anywhere. I sighed and looked over at Keith. "It's in one of the crates, isn't it?"

"Mm-hm," Keith said. "Start catching some Bidoof."

I ended up smashing every single crate and the Styler was in the last one I broke. As I walked out of the room, I noticed Keith smirking, so I punched him on the arm.

"The last one is in our classroom." Keith led me into Ms. April's room. "Wow, even in here it's creepy..."

I couldn't argue with that. The final Styler was on the back counter, and the path to it was blocked by Pokemon. I ducked and ran through the crowd to grab the Styler, but on my way back I was ambushed by a Zubat. I whipped out my Styler, captured it, released it, and hurried out of the room.

"Now we just have to go to the basement and leave them in front of the office," Keith said.

"How are you four going to get your Stylers back?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I dunno. it's my first time running the test. Can you hurry up?"

If the first floor of the school was creepy at night, the basement was far worse. I couldn't see a thing as I walked through it save for a dim light coming from what was probably the basement office. I started walking towards the light and saw a door that was open slightly. I placed the four Stylers in front of the door, and then I heard something move.

Keith squealed, hid behind me, and hugged me around the neck. "It's a ghost! It's a ghost!" Sure enough, four Gastly came flying at me. I grabbed my Styler and started drawing loops. It took me about three minutes to catch all four of them. They made it hard by teleporting to just about everywhere in the basement, Finally, though, I captured the last one.

Keith let go of me. "Thanks, Kellyn," he said, breathing heavily.

I grinned. "That's what Rangers do. Protect the scared little citizens."

But before Keith could smack me, the door to the basement office opened, and Mr. Kincaid was on the other side. "WHO'S THERE?!?" he hollered.

My heart jumped, and I reflexively made a run for the exit. "The basement is off limits to everyone but myself!" he called after us. But thankfully, we were already up the stairs.

*                *                *

so yeah. sorry that took so long. i don't have an excuse. i'll start working on the next chapter as soon as i can. hopefully school will start soon and i'll have my chromebook back so i can post more often.