WARNING.
Includes mentions of young carers.

"I'd definitely rather wear the same clothes every day instead of eating the same food every day", said Eloise.

"Yeah, the same food would get boring really fast", said Spencer.

It was a Tuesday, and the end of school bell had just rang. It was a rare moment where all of the group exited the building at the same time. 

"But like, wearing the same clothes would get boring quick too", said Atlas.

"A lot less boring than eating the same food though", said Eloise.

"What job do you think Mr Patel will have for us tomorrow?", asked Rowan.

"Oh, don't", frowned Elliott. "I'm still recovering from having to make all those balloon stands for the football rally."

"This year's football rally is going to be amazing though", said Eloise.

"Yeah, thanks to us", said Elliott.

"Hey, do you think we could get Teacher of The Year awards–woah!", said Spencer.

Peering in one of the nearby classrooms, the group saw shaving foam, piled on some of the chairs. Eloise stepped into the room, but Spencer stopped her. He was worried a teacher would walk in and, given Eloise's track record, assume she was the culprit. 

"They've left one desk untouched, and... oh no", said Spencer. "They left a drawing of the Pepperden logo."

"What the heck happened to all the classrooms?", questioned Aahan, approaching the group. They had never seen him so utterly perplexed. 

The group turned to each other, sharing knowing looks.

"It's pranking season", answered Eloise. 

¤¤¤

"You know how Pepperden has been our biggest rival for the longest time, right? Well, we're kind of known for our prank battles", explained Eloise. 

She and the others were helping Aahan clean as many of the tables as they could. Zee and Irene bailed, but there were enough of them to help Aahan anyway. 

"Prank battles?", questioned Aahan. "Do they usually get this... crazy?"

"It's only happened like, three times since we started here", responded Spencer. "But yeah, they kinda do."

"And Principal Rogerson is ok with this?", asked Aahan.

"Our last Principal never said anything either", said Rowan.

"Our rivalry is pretty well known, and no one has ever gotten seriously hurt, so I don't think either Principal really cares."

"To be fair, they've got better things to deal with", said Elliott. 

"Sir, did they not have prank battles when you were here?", asked Rowan. 

Aahan shook his head.

"We didn't have any sort of relationship with Pepperden school back then."

"Oh yeah, back when the dinosaurs roamed Earth", teased Elliott, making Spencer and Eloise laugh.

"Ouch", said Aahan, placing a hand on his chest. That physically hurt him. "So, what happens now?", asked Aahan. 

Eloise shrugged.
"We fight back."

Aahan's eyes widened.

"Eloise, are you sure that's the best idea? I mean, you're on your final, final warning, aren't you?"

"Not me!", exclaimed Eloise. "There are other people in this school you know. People that care about this school enough to defend it."

"I don't think anyone cares about this school more than you do", said Spencer. 

"Ok, so, what I'm understanding from this, is that it's about to get a whole lot crazier here?", asked Aahan. 

Eloise grinned. "Now you're getting it, Sir!"

¤¤¤

The next afternoon, the school bell rang, and the students had managed to survive the courtyard being filled with balloons and the soap dispensers now releasing mayonnaise.

"Those teens are menaces", said Aahan, sniffing his hands. "I can still smell the mayo on me."

Rowan and Elliott had offered to help him carry the history books to the staffroom.

Approaching them, was Eulan, his face like thunder. He glared as he pushed past Aahan.

"There was definitely space to get past you, Sir", said Elliott, looking to start drama.

Aahan sighed. "How do you make someone like you?"

He turned to see the boys' confused expression.

Right.

Remember not to overshare with sixteen year olds.

"Uh, anyway, thank you for the help boys", smiled Aahan. "Where are the others?"

"We're not all joint at the hip, Sir", said Elliott.

Aahan squinted. "Didn't I see you chase Zee with a packet of cookies last week?"

Elliott's face turned red.
"No! I didn't chase her..."

Rowan and Aahan shared an amused look.

"She had to rush off home apparently", answered Rowan. "Don't know why, Irene said it was probably something really important though."

"And we lost the others a while back", added Elliott.  "Spencer and Eloise actually are joined at the hip though, so I bet they're together."

Zee turned the corner, almost colliding with a group of boys. She recognised their uniforms as Pepperden attire. The boys circled her, like a pack of hungry wolves.

"Get out of my way, I've got somewhere I need to be", she said.

The tallest boy snorted, shaking his head. "I don't think so. We know all about your reputation around here. You're the one who knows all the secrets. So the only thing you're going to do, is tell us all of them."

Zee raised an eyebrow. "And why would I do that?"

Another boy, with dirty blonde hair, stepped closer to her. "Because if you don't, you'll regret it."

Not one part of Zee was scared. Until she saw them step closer, that is. They seemed like the entitled type—the ones who believed a fancy red carpet should be spread out at their feet, and they should be treated like royalty.  It was the intense look in their eyes that scared her.

"Look, don't you think you're doing too much? I mean, all this for a prank battle?"

"This is about more than just a prank", said the tallest boy. "It's about making sure you guys are put in your place."

The third boy, who had light brown hair, nodded in agreement. "It's just the way things are. The strong survive, and the weak don't."

"And you think you guys are the strong ones?", questioned Zee.

The boy with dirty blonde hair kissed his teeth. "Are you gonna tell us what we want to know or not?"

"I'm not telling you anything."

The trio looked at each other, waiting for one of them to give them the signal. The tallest boy nodded, making the other two smirk. Without missing a beat, the boys grabbed Zee.

¤¤¤

"So, the Inspector wasn't really real?", asked Spencer. He and Eloise were talking about the book they were studying in English class, while walking through the courtyard. "Is that like, confirmed?"

Eloise shook her head. "No, but I think it's a good theory."

"Ellie!", exclaimed Ivan.

Eloise furrowed her eyebrows in confusion when she saw her younger brother outside the school gates. Every day after school, she made sure to pick him up from his school.

"Ivan? What are you doing here?"

"Kerry picked me up", he answered, pointing to Kerry, who was only a few steps behind.

"Hello, love", she smiled.

Eloise scowled. "I pick Ivan up from school."

"Oh, I know, but I figured you'd have a lot on your plate, so I took one job off your hands", said Kerry.

Spencer could see how irritated Eloise was becoming. He knew all her tells. Flared nostrils, clenching and un-clenching of fists. Soul-burning glares.

"Uh, hi Kerry", greeted Spencer, his gaze falling on Ivan. "Hey, little guy."

Ivan's face lit up when he heard Spencer's nickname for him. He beamed, his happiness distracting Eloise from her irritation. "Hi, big guy!"

Spencer and Kerry chuckled.

"Did you like the comic I got you?"

"Oh, he loved it!", smiled Kerry. "It was so kind of you to get it."

"It was great!", exclaimed Ivan. "The bad guy–"

"Woah, hey! I haven't read it yet", said Eloise.

"But you take forever to read", groaned Ivan, making Spencer chuckle.

"I tell you what. When you've all caught up with the comic, how about you go out for ice cream and talk about it?", suggested Kerry. "Oh, if you're allowed to Spencer."

Spencer smiled. "I'll have to check but yeah, ice cream sounds good."

Eloise was not happy that Kerry sorted the situation out. It just felt like, these days, she was becoming more and more obsolete.

"Eloise! Spencer!", exclaimed Rowan, running towards them as fast as he could.

"Rowan? What is it?", questioned Eloise.

"Pepperden boys locked Zee in the supply closet!", he revealed. "She tried pushing it open with her arm, but she really hurt it. We don't know if it's locked, or just stuck, so we could really use some muscles right now."

"Ok, let's go", said Eloise.

"Eloise, are you sure you should be getting involved?", asked Kerry.

"Yes!", snapped Eloise. "She needs help."

Back inside the school, Irene, Elliott and Atlas were by the supply closet door. Atlas was pulling on the handle frantically, to no avail. Eloise carefully nudged him out of the way, grabbing hold of the handle herself.

"Don't worry, Zee! We'll get you out!"

Zee exhaled in frustration, throwing her arms in the air. The last thing she wanted was attention. And with Eloise announcing the problem, other students were bound to hear. She couldn't deal with the embarrassment, on top of worrying about her mother.

And if that wasn't already the worst possible situation, her arm was really starting to hurt.

Irene felt terrible for Zee. She knew her mother wasn't doing so well, and that she had gotten a text earlier that made her want to rush out, so it must've been bad news.

"Is that Zee stuck in there?", asked another student. She cackled, her laugh hurting Rowan's ears. "That's what she gets for being in everyone's business."

"Hey, stay out of this!", called out Elliott. Before he could wait for the girl's response, his phone vibrated. Quickly, he checked to see what it was.

JACOB
Hey you know that prank I suggested?  It involved that girl you like.

ELLIOTT
What?? YOU planned to lock her in?

JACOB
Relax

Come get the key from me.  You can pretend to have found it and act like the hero

I bet she'll totally get with you then

Elliott should have been feeling guilty at the prospect of tricking Zee. Except, it wasn't really a trick, was it? He wasn't the one that locked her in there. And Jacob was right, she'd definitely be appreciative of him after finding out he found the key for her. This was the perfect opportunity for him to secure a place in Zee's good books.

"Don't worry, I'll find the key for you!", he shouted, sprinting out of the building.

"Why would the key be outside?", questioned Irene.

Inside the supply closet, Zee was literally hoping that the ground would open up and just swallow her. That her misery would end. She liked being known as the mysterious one, because it meant no one wanted to get close to her. No one wanted to pick on her. But now, she had been putting herself out there more. Doing things with the others, helping Aahan out. It broke her carefully crafted mask.

Now, she was just someone to be laughed at.

"I found it!", yelled Elliott, whizzing down the hall.

"Where did you find it?", asked Irene.

"Uh, I found the caretaker. He gave me the key", he lied.

Eloise stepped out of the way. This whole thing was really starting to annoy her. Who locks someone in a supply closet? The Pepperden students always seemed to take things too far.

"Got it!", cheered Elliott. When he opened the door, he held his arms out, hoping to get a hug from her.

Instead, Zee pushed past the group, hurrying away from them. Clutching her arm, she walked even faster when she heard the group call after her. Atlas caught up to her. "Zee, wait, your shoulder", he said, reaching out and touching her arm. He carefully steered her towards him, a look of concern on his face. "Does it still–"

"Get off me!", she yelled, shrugging his hand off her arm, groaning when she felt the aching pain in her shoulder intensify. Hurt flashed across Atlas' face, but Zee couldn't think about that right now.

Irene's face softened when Atlas turned back around, hurt still painted across his face. She knew why Zee had to go, but of course, she wasn't about to reveal the real reason.

These days, Irene caught herself wondering whether it would have been better if she and Zee never found out about each other's home lives.

"Those Pepperden snobs have gone too far this time", said Eloise. "What if she was claustrophobic, huh?"

"Even if they knew for a fact that she wasn't, it still isn't a very nice thing to do", said Irene.

"I'm sick of people thinking they can mess up our lives", said Eloise.

It could've been her anger at Kerry spurring her on, but she also hated what they did to Zee. Zee might not consider them close friends, but Eloise saw the whole group as one big familial unit now.
Bonded together by Aahan's antics.

"I understand feeling pride in your school, but this just screams elitism", said Rowan.

"Exactly", said Spencer.
"It's like they think they can do whatever they want, without facing any consequences."

Atlas was still hurt by Zee's response to him trying to help. He cared about her. But it was like she just refused to see it. He didn't think it was possible to feel so distant to someone he thought he was getting closer to.

"Zee wouldn't have done anything to them", said Atlas. "Even if she did provoke them, locking her storage room is messed up."

Eloise nodded.
"Agreed. They've gone too far. It's time someone put these smug idiots in their places", she said, looking back at the storage room.
"I guess it has to be me."

_________

Hi.

These next 2 chapters are some of my favourites so far. A couple storylines finally connect and I'm just really excited for you to see them!

I've already written the next chapter in full, so will publish it later today.

I would really appreciate it if you could leave a comment sharing your thoughts! I know commenting a lot isn't always possible, and actually, it can take away from the enjoyment if you're constantly having to write little comments.

So, by all means, comment whenever you want to, but if you could just let me know what you're thinking of the story so far, like what you are enjoying and what needs improving I would really appreciate that!

starryeyedturtle

DoodleYeet

LeMystical-Puffle

niallhoranslovebot

Tornado-Jockey