Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey, Mom, are we there yet?”

“Very funny, Jade. And to answer your question, we're about ten minutes away.”

“Why are we going all the way to Ohio for your new teaching job, anyway?” The ten-year-old couldn't help but ask, her green eyes shining inquisitively up at the woman sitting in the driver’s seat beside her. “Not that I'm complaining, just curious.”

“Well, it's for a few reasons, sweetie.” Her mother replied fondly. “First, I grew up in Piqua. There are a lot of good memories in that town for me. Second, quite a few of your uncles and aunts live there. It'd be good for us to be closer to family. And speaking of which, I know for a fact that it's a great place to raise a family.” She then nodded towards the little boy fast asleep in the backseat. “You and your brother will make some amazing new friends in no time!”

She winked as she added that last part. Her daughter looked less than convinced, however.

“How are you so sure?” Jade sighed, fidgeting in her seat. “I know Benny will have no trouble, literally everyone who meets him loves him. But you know how I get when I meet new people, Mom. I freeze up and look like a total idiot.”

The woman frowned a bit at her daughter’s statement. She understood all too well what she was worried about. Jade always had a hard time making friends her own age for various reasons.

“I know you're nervous, honey…” she started. “But don't you worry. I know you; you're sweet, and funny, and one of the most creative people I know! And I know you'll make some friends who are just as amazing as you. And if you ask me, those kids would have to be crazy not to like you!”

Jade couldn't help but smile at her mother’s comforting words. “Thanks, Mom.” Her mother winked in response. Then, a tiny yawn grabbed their attention.

“Hey, buddy!” The mother of two greeted her youngest. “Did you have a nice nap?”

“Mmm-hmm…” The five-year-old replied quietly, bringing a hand up to rub the sleep out of his eyes. “Are we there yet?”

“I already asked that, Benny.” Jade chuckled at her brother. “And the answer is…”

“Yes. Yes we are!” Their mother excitedly announced. Jade and Benny immediately perked up at this.

“Wait, really?”

“YAY!”

The woman smiled as they entered the small town.

“We’re home, guys,” She whispered fondly. “We’re finally home.”

Now you're probably asking who this woman is. Well, meet Sawyer Grayps; single mother of two, and hopefully, new art teacher. She's moved back to her hometown of Piqua, Ohio to apply for the position of art teacher at Jerome Horwitz Elementary. And little does she know, but this is gonna turn into the biggest, most amazing adventure of her family's life.

But before I can tell you that story, I have to tell you this story…

Chapter Text

“Well, here we are!” Sawyer announced as her car pulled up behind the moving truck. “What do you guys think?” Jade and Benny looked out the car windows at their new home. It was a simple red brick house on the end of the street, average in size, with a single car garage, and a sign saying, “SOLD” on the front lawn. Over to its right was a larger pale yellow house, and next to that, a house the same size as the family's new residence, with a Robin’s Egg blue paint job.

“It looks nice.” Jade mused.

“I love it!” Benny squealed, excitedly squirming in his car seat, eager to get out and explore. Sawyer chuckled at her son’s actions.

“Me too, bud!” Stepping out of the car, she quickly opened both passenger side doors, letting out Jade, and unbuckling Benny from his car seat. The five-year-old quickly scrambled out, taking in his new surroundings with the wide-eyed wonder of a kid on Christmas morning. Jade couldn't help but smile at her little brother's enthusiasm. Most kids his age would be upset about moving to a new place, especially one so far away from their friends. But like their mother, Benny saw it as a new adventure.

“Thanks again, Phil,” Sawyer said with appreciation as the moving truck’s driver stepped out. “I don't know how we would've made the move this quickly without you. Especially one in the middle of the week, and this, uh, ‘spur-of-the-moment’…”

“Hey, it was no problem.” Phil grinned. “Anything for Vinnie’s baby sister!”

Vinnie was the second-eldest of Sawyer's six siblings (she was the literal middle child), and the reason she even found out about the available art teacher position at their old elementary school before anyone else did. See, Vinnie had moved back to Piqua with his wife and twin boys almost 10 years before, after he landed the job as the high school’s new gym coach. And after hearing through the grapevine that Jerome Horwitz Elementary’s music and art programs had recently been reinstated (why they were even shut down to begin with, he didn't know), and was in need of a new art teacher, he knew just the woman to call, and just the man to call to get said woman there in record time. Phil was his brother-in-law, and a driver for one of the best moving companies in the country. This incredibly last-minute move went smoother than silk thanks to him.

“Now what's say we help you make that house your new home?” Phil continued, as he whistled to the other three movers that were with him. They quickly went into action, opening the back of the truck and unloading the family's furniture, one by one. Jade and Benny couldn't help but watch with fascination as the movers seemed to carry all that heavy furniture with next to no effort. Sawyer quickly called them over to her so she could keep a better eye on them and make sure they wouldn't get hurt in the hubbub.

“So, you guys liking the new place so far?” She asked. Both kids nodded.

“Uh-huh.”

“Yeah!”

“After the movers bring in the stuff for the living room and kitchen, we’ll go in, and you guys can pick out your rooms, how's that sound?”

“Okay!”

“Hey there!” A new voice caught the three’s attention. Sawyer looked over to see a woman about her age approaching them with a friendly smile. Her skin was a rich deep chestnut color, with dark hair in tight curls that reached her shoulders. She was wearing a sea-foam green blouse, dark grey capris, and black slip-on flats. And judging from the pearl necklace and matching earrings, Sawyer could tell that this woman was part of a family was that pretty well-off financially. Not utterly rolling in it, but not struggling either.

“I'm Barbara,” The woman kindly introduced herself. “Barbara Beard. And judging by the moving truck, I'm guessing you're our new neighbors?” Sawyer grinned.

“Well, you guessed right!” She held out her hand, which Barbara shook. “Sawyer Grayps. And these are my kids, Jade and Benny.”

“Hello…” Jade shyly greeted.

“Hi!” Benny grinned up at his new neighbor, showing off his missing tooth. Barbara was beaming at this point.

“Awwwwww, they’re so cute!” She cooed. “How old are they?” Jade inched a bit behind her mother, which was Sawyer's cue to answer for her.

“Jade’s gonna be 10 in January, and Benny just turned 5.”

“Oh, so that means she's in the same grade as my son!” Barbara stated. This peaked Sawyer's interest.

“Son?”

“Yep. His name is George. He'll be 10 this summer.”

“Awww… Only child, I'm guessing?”

“Yeah… but my husband Moses and I have been thinking about having another. But we just haven't gotten enough time for ourselves.”

“At least you two have waited a bit, Barb,” Another female voice cut in. “George is definitely old enough to not be jealous of a new baby…”

The two mothers looked over at the owner of the new voice, who was making her way over to them with an amused smirk. She had curly blonde hair that went a little past her shoulders, and was wearing a grey sweatshirt, pale blue jeans, and white sneakers. Following closely behind her, wearing a little turquoise dress and matching hair bow, was an adorable little girl with strawberry blonde hair as curly as her mother’s. She looked close to Benny’s age. The blonde ruffled her daughter’s hair, getting an adorable giggle out of her.

“Harold was only 4 when Heidi here was born, and he didn't quite understand why she was getting so much attention,” the woman said. Barbara laughed at this.

“Hi, Grace. I was just welcoming Sawyer and her two adorable kids here to the neighborhood.”

“Hi. Sawyer Grayps. Nice to meet you!” Sawyer greeted. The other mom, Grace, smiled back and held out her hand, which Sawyer quickly shook.

“Grace Hutchins,” she then motioned to the little girl next to her. “And this little angel is my daughter, Heidi.”

“Hi, Heidi! It's really nice to meet you!” Sawyer greeted, beaming as she crouched down to the girl's eye level. “And I love your dress!” Heidi smiled back.

“Thanks! I like your jacket!” She replied, motioning to Sawyer's faux leather jacket.

“Thank you!” Sawyer then stood back up and smiled at Grace as she motioned to her own children. “These two little monkeys are mine, Jade and Benny.” Grace smiled and gave them a small wave, which both returned.

“I heard you mention a ‘Harold’…” Sawyer continued with a knowing smirk. “Your eldest, I assume?”

“Yeah. He's 10 now.”

“And George's best friend,” Barbara added fondly. “The two of them have been inseparable since kindergarten.”

“Awwww…” Sawyer cooed. “I hope I get to meet them!”

“Well, you probably won't until tomorrow,” Barbara stated. “They're up in the treehouse in our backyard at the moment.”

“They go up there every day immediately after school,” Grace added with a chuckle. “And we usually won't see hide or hair of them until dinner time.”

“You guys have a treehouse?” Jade perked up at this, catching the three mothers’ attention.

“Cool!” Benny cheered.

“I had always wanted a treehouse when I was a kid,” Sawyer reminisced. Barbara smiled and nodded towards the fence leading to her backyard.

“You guys can look if you want.”

The three of them didn't need to be told twice. They rushed over and peeked over the fence, catching a view of the treehouse. It was light blue with white trim, with a folding ladder as a means of entry, and in place of a door was a bedsheet with various brightly colored dinosaurs on them. And hanging on a further branch of the tree was a tire swing.

“Oh, that is so cool…” Sawyer mused, as she managed to catch a glimpse of the two boys through the treehouse windows. One of them had a crew cut, and was wearing a white, short sleeved, button-down shirt and a red and yellow diagonally striped tie. The other was wearing a green and white horizontally striped t-shirt, and had a head of the wildest, curliest blonde hair she had ever seen. They were both reading what looked to be comic books, and were laughing so hard they looked like they were gonna fall over. Sawyer already liked these boys. Something told her that the two of them and Jade would be friends in no time.

“That is the coolest treehouse ever!” Benny squealed. Jade couldn't help but nod in agreement.

“Moses built it when we moved here.” Barbara explained. “He's very proud of it.”

“And he has every right to be!” Sawyer grinned as they walked back over to their new neighbors. “No wonder those two practically live in there!”

“Yeah, I honestly can't blame them, either…” Grace admitted.

“Speaking of whom…” Sawyer continued. “I was able to catch a glimpse of them, and I gotta say, they are adorable!”

“Thank you!” Barbara and Grace chorused.

“So, George is the one with the tie and the flat-top, right?” Sawyer jokingly asked. Barbara giggled and nodded. Sawyer grinned. “So that makes Harold the one with the t-shirt and the wild haircut.” Grace just about doubled over with laughter at that. “Okay. I can remember that.”

“Mom, the moving guys are done with the living room and kitchen stuff.” Jade said, tugging on her jacket sleeve.

“Can we go pick out our rooms now?” Benny was hopping excitedly at this point. Sawyer laughed.

“Okay, okay! You two go on in and pick your rooms. I'll be right in!”

“YAY!” The two cheered as they sped into their new home. The three mothers let out light laughter at their eagerness. That's when Sawyer noticed someone was missing.

“Hey, where’s Heidi?”

”She went back inside while you and the kids were checking out the treehouse,” Grace explained. “Sailor Moon was gonna be on soon, and she didn't want to miss it.”

“Oh, I know what that's like…” Sawyer smirked with a mix of amusement and understanding.

“Actually, Sawyer,” Barbara started. “I've been meaning to ask; what made you want to move to Piqua, Ohio, of all places? I don't mean to pry, I'm just curious.” Sawyer smiled.

“It's fine, Barbara.” She reassured. “To be perfectly honest, I grew up here, and I felt it'd be a great place for my kids to grow up. Also, a few of my brothers moved back here with their families, and I felt it'd be good to be closer to family.”

“Those are some pretty solid reasons.” Grace agreed. “So, what are you doing for work?”

“Well, my oldest brother works at the high school, and he told me that our old elementary school has an open art teacher position.” Sawyer explained. “So, I'm applying for that first thing tomorrow when I enroll Jade and Benny.”

“Oh, I hope to God you get that job!” Barbara exclaimed. “That school could use someone like you there!” Grace nodded in agreement.

“The boys were over the moon when the music and art programs were brought back! Especially Harold. He loves drawing.” Sawyer grinned at this little nugget of information. A kid after her own heart. She then frowned as an important question found its way back into her mind.

“That reminds me… Do either of you know why the music and art programs were even shut down in the first place?” Barbara and Grace shrugged and shook their heads.

“Not really.”

“Sorry.”

“It was worth a shot,” Sawyer sighed. Grace smiled, then jumped slightly as she glanced at her watch.

“Jeez, is it that late already? Sorry, but I gotta get dinner started!” And with that she headed back to her house, but not without calling out over her shoulder, “It was nice meeting you!”

“You too!” Sawyer called.

“Well, Grace may have to get dinner ready, but I have to get ours out of the oven.” Barbara stated. “Again, it was wonderful meeting you. Welcome to the neighborhood, and I wish you luck on the job interview tomorrow!”

“Thanks!” Sawyer replied. “I gotta go help set up my kids’ rooms, anyway. See you tomorrow?”

“Oh, most definitely!” Barbara grinned as she headed back into her house. And with that, Sawyer headed in to help the movers with her children's furniture.

It had taken a few hours, but the family of three was finally situated in, and was now celebrating with a large order of pizza.

“So, you two excited to check out your new school tomorrow?” Sawyer asked.

“Yep!” Benny exclaimed as he took a large bite of his slice of pepperoni pizza. Jade, on the other hand, was absentmindedly nibbling on hers.

“Jade? You okay?”

“Huh?” Jade looked up with a start. “Oh. Yeah. I'm fine.” Sawyer gave her daughter her signature ‘I’m not buying it’ face. 

“Okay, you got me,” Jade said with a sigh. “It's just… I was talking to Chance and Lance on the phone earlier, and Lance told me that the principal at our new school was mean. Like, really mean.”  Chance and Lance were Sawyer’s 13-year-old twin nephews. And while Chance was the more level-headed of the two, Lance, however, loved to freak out their younger cousins for cheap laughs, especially poor Jade.

“I'm gonna need to have a word with that boy…” Sawyer muttered to herself with a sigh, before she once again looked at her daughter. “Honey, you know how Lance is. He was probably just exaggerating to try and scare you.” Jade still didn't look fully convinced.

“But Mom, even Chance warned me that he was mean! And he never got in trouble at school!” Sawyer sighed, and did her best to alleviate her daughter’s anxiety.

“Look, I'll be meeting the principal tomorrow when I enroll you and Benny, and apply for the art teacher job. I'll even introduce you guys. If you see that he's not that mean, will it make you feel a little better?” Jade mulled over this for a moment, then nodded.

“A little…” She muttered. Sawyer smiled.

“Great. Now after you two finish your pizza, I want you guys in your pjs, teeth brushed, and in bed, alright? It's gonna be a big day for all of us tomorrow!”

“Okay.”

Soon after tucking both of her children in and kissing them goodnight, Sawyer all but collapsed into her bed, exhausted from the day’s move. She glanced around her new room at the various boxes that contained smaller things of her and the kids’. She'll unpack those tomorrow. After the job interview.

She couldn't help but think back to what her nephews had told Jade. Was the principal really that mean? She had heard from Vinnie that he was a might strict, but he never went as far to say that he was an actual monster. Not like their old principal from their days at Jerome Horwitz Elementary. Oh, but that was a whole different can of worms that she wasn't planning on opening tonight.

Taking a deep breath to try and soothe the anxious butterflies in her stomach, Sawyer soon drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

The drive to Jerome Horwitz Elementary the following day was calm but quiet. Sawyer took a deep breath. She wasn't going to lie to herself; she was nervous. It had been nearly 30 years since she set foot in her old grade school. She couldn't help but wonder how much of it had changed since she was gone. Was it still the same dull, boring, fun-draining place it was? Or had the school board finally developed more than two brain cells to rub together, and hired someone who was firm but fair to the kids? With her luck, it was most likely the former.

And if that were the case, this school really needed someone like her.

Both Jade and Benny were uncharacteristically silent during the ride as well, most likely due to being nervous about going to a new school. They spent most of the ride mainly looking out the car windows at that the new surroundings that they were eventually going to grow accustomed to.

It wasn't long before they reached the school, looking the same as it always did, albeit the bricks were a bit more faded with age. The family of three soon exited the car, and made their way up. That's when Jade and Benny noticed the school sign… and immediately burst into a giggle fit.

“Ha ha… M-Mom… look! Ha ha!”

Sawyer glanced over at the school sign, noticing some spare letters scattered on the ground, and just about burst out laughing herself when she saw what it said.

OUR TEACHERS DON’T USE DEODORANT

It was blatantly obvious that this was the work of a prankster, but boy, did it ease the tension for the mother and kids. At the sight of it, Sawyer couldn't help but fondly think back to her days as a student, and how she used to do something similar. She was happy to see the next generation keeping up the tradition of using pranks to try to fight back against this boring old school, and most likely its principal.

As the three walked in through the school's double doors, Sawyer began thinking about the current principal of the school… and how she knew next to nothing about him!

Vinnie, that damn tease. After he moved back to Piqua, he quickly dished to his little sister any dirt he had on the both the high school and the elementary school (mainly about how the principal of the high school was, as he put it, “A witch with a capital ‘B’”), but any time Sawyer asked about the new principal of their old grade school, he would cryptically dodge the question. All she knew was that the principal was a “he”, and that he was a bit on the strict side (and her nephews’ claims that he was “really mean”), but Vinnie refused to give her his name, no matter how much she persisted!

“It would ruin the surprise!” He would always tell her. “Just be happy it's not still Rhant.”

Oh, yes… Tyberius Rhant. Former principal of Jerome Horwitz Elementary, and the man who made it his life’s mission to make every student in that school's life pure HELL. He hated anything and everything fun, and Sawyer was pretty much his mortal enemy because of this. She was a regular in his office in her grade school days, mainly for pulling crazy pranks just to make him miserable. Sawyer was over the moon when Vinnie told her he was no longer principal. If he was, she would have a snowball’s chance in Hell of getting this job.

That is… if she gets this job at all.

That was another thing she wasn't going to bother lying to herself about. This whole move/job opportunity was incredibly impulsive on her part. She didn't even have a solid chance of getting the job yet! What was she thinking, packing up her family and moving to another state just on a hopeful chance that she might get a new job?

I wasn't thinking, she anxiously thought to herself as they moved down the hall, only to get launched out of these thoughts as she collided with someone.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!” A timid voice with a slight southern twang exclaimed.

“It's alright.” Sawyer assured. “I wasn't looking where I was going!”

“I wasn't either. I need to be more careful…”

“I was lost in my thoughts.”

“I need to get my head out of the clouds!” Both voices said in unison, causing Sawyer to finally look at the owner of the other voice. Standing in front of her was a woman who looked just a bit younger than her. She was a bit on the heavier side, not overweight, but healthy. She was wearing a red dress with peach pink polka-dots, a white apron and yellow rubber gloves. Her skin was on the pale side, but with a healthy rosy tinge on her freckled cheeks. And her shoulder-length dark hair covered half of her face, showing one sapphire blue eye.

Good lord, this lady was cute as a button.

The two couldn't help but share a laugh at their unexpectedly shared train of thought.

“Again, I'm sorry…” The woman started. “I was in a rush, and really should've looked where I was goin’…”

“And again, it's fine!” Sawyer chuckled. “I wasn't looking where I was going, either. So we both goofed up.” The woman giggled in response.

“I suppose that's true. I'm Edith, by the way…”

“Sawyer.”

“So, if you don't mind my askin’… what brings you here?”

“I'm applying for the new art teacher position, and enrolling my two kids, Jade and Benny.” As Sawyer explained, she gestured to her kids. Benny waved enthusiastically at Edith, who giggled and waved back.

“They're adorable!” She gushed.

“Thanks!” Sawyer beamed. “And judging by the apron and rubber gloves, I'm guessing you're one of the school lunch ladies.”

“Yep.”

“You know… I was a student here when I was a kid, and I don't remember the lunch ladies ever being so cute.” Sawyer playfully winked as Edith began to blush. Jade couldn't help but roll her eyes. Here we go…

“‘Cute’? Me? Oh, my…” Edith stammered as she pushed her hair out of her face, showing her other eye, which was just as blue. Sawyer smiled at this.

“And you're even cuter with your hair out of your face!” She complimented. “That way people can see both of those pretty blue eyes.” Edith's blush had increased tenfold at this point. Benny couldn't help but giggle. His mom always acted so silly when she met someone new. Jade, on the other hand, had a blush creeping onto her face for a whole different reason. She had watched enough romantic comedy movies with her aunt to know what was going on here.

“Moooooom!” She groaned in embarrassment. “Please stop flirting with the lunch lady! Besides, I'm willing to bet that she has a boyfriend!” At this, Sawyer blushed almost as deeply as Edith.

“Flirting? Honey, I'm not flirting! I was just trying to be nice!” She objected. Edith giggled.

“It's okay. I knew what you meant.” She assured as her blush began to fade. “And, actually, your daughter's right. I do have a boyfriend. We've been dating for a month now.”

“Awwwwwww!” Sawyer perked up at this. “I bet he's a cutie!”

“He's a little rough around the edges…” Edith explained. “But he is such a sweetheart! Not to mention a total flirt from time to time! He called my eyes ‘striking’, once.”

“Oh. He's good”, Sawyer remarked after letting out an impressed whistle.

“Yeah he is…” Edith confirmed. “And to think, he takes time out of his busy schedule for someone like me. It’s a stressful job, bein’ the principal, and all…”

“Hey, come on, why wouldn't he take time off to be with a sweetie like—” Sawyer started, only for that last bit of Edith's statement to sink in. “Wait, ‘principal’? Your boyfriend is the principal?” Edith nodded. Sawyer now had another nugget of info on this oh-so-mysterious principal; he had an adorable girlfriend.

Jade smiled a bit at this new information. If the principal was dating a sweet lady like this, he couldn't be that mean. Maybe her mom was right. Maybe Chance and Lance were just exaggerating.

“Speaking of whom…” Sawyer continued. “I need to get to his office. I got a job interview to get to!” Edith smiled.

“Go up the stairs on the right there, and it'll be right across the hall when you reach the top. You can't miss it.”

“So, it's in the exact same place it's always been. Got it!” Sawyer joked. “Forgive me, it's been a VERY long time since I've been here.” Edith giggled again as the three headed up the stairs.

“Good luck! I hope you get the job!”

“Thanks! And same here!”

The family soon entered the secretary's office, where they noticed the woman in question reading a magazine at her desk. Sawyer glanced around the room. The walls had been painted a new color since she was a student here. They used to be a faded and ugly pea soup green. Now, they were a greyish blue. She also noticed two chairs right next to the door to the principal's office, and above each chair was a plaque. One read, ‘Reserved for George’, and the other, ‘Reserved for Harold’.

“George and Harold?” Sawyer mused to herself. She knew those names. As in Barb and Grace’s boys? Looks like I'm not the only one who’s a regular at the principal’s office…

That's when a muffled, but raised enough to be heard voice came out of the principal's office. And it sounded angry. Oh, boy. Sawyer quickly noticed Jade’s growing anxiety at this, and quickly held her hand in an attempt to alleviate her fears. As soon as Jade seemed to calm a bit, Sawyer motioned for her kids to sit in a couple of the chairs against the wall. As they did, she approached the desk. The secretary didn't look up from her magazine, so Sawyer cleared her throat to get her attention. She finally looked up.

“Oh, sorry. How can I help you?” She droned. Sawyer blinked.

“Um, hi… I'm Sawyer Grayps. I'm here to apply for the open art teacher position.”

“Huh. You're the first.” That was a good sign. “Wait a moment. I’ll let him know you're here.”

“Thank you!” Sawyer leaned against the desk and took in more of her surroundings… only to nearly fall over in surprise when she finally noticed the name on the door to the office. There on the door window, in bronze lettering, were two simple words, one of which hit Sawyer like a ton of bricks.

Principal Krupp

“Mom?” Jade asked, noticing her mother’s stunned expression. “Are you okay?” But Sawyer was in such a state of shock, she couldn't hear her daughter's concerned queries.

Krupp?

No…

It couldn't be…

Oh, she was going to have a LONG talk with Vinnie after this!

“WHAT?!” A gruff voice could be heard through the door and over the secretary's speaker phone, pulling Sawyer out of her thoughts.

“Sir, there's a woman here applying for the art teacher job,” the secretary explained. “I think she'd like to speak with you.”

“Huh?” The principal’s voice replied, losing its gruff edge and sounding genuinely surprised. “But I haven't even made copies of… you know what, never mind. Send her in. Please.”

Sawyer couldn't believe her ears. She hadn't heard that voice in what felt like forever, and yet… there it was.

“Go on ahead,” The secretary told her, and went back to reading her magazine.

“Huh? Oh! Okay,” Sawyer then looked at her children. “Just wait here. I’ll tell you when to come in, okay?”

“Okay!” Benny replied.

“Mom, are you okay?” Jade asked again.

“I'm fine, honey,” Sawyer reassured with a grin. “In fact… It's been a while since I've felt this good about something.” And with that, she headed towards the office, and opened the door to see just what was going on in there.

The first thing she noticed were two very familiar boys sitting in the two plastic chairs in front of the large desk. The one on the left was wearing a tie and had a flat-top. And the one on the right was wearing a t-shirt and had a wild haircut. Yep, it was definitely her new neighbors’ children, George and Harold. Then she got a good look at the man sitting at the desk in front of them. He was heavyset, and wearing a white button-down with a brown tie, and had a blatantly obvious dark brown toupee. He looked very angry and incredibly stressed out, but despite the huge scowl on his face, she recognized him in nearly an instant.

Benjamin Krupp.

She stayed silent as she listened in on the conversation with the two boys.

“This is the third time this week that you two have disrupted your classes with your little pranks!” He scolded gruffly. “Do you two… enjoy tormenting me like this? Do you hate me?”

“On the contrary, Sir,” George stated.

“We only have the highest respect for you!” Harold added smoothly.

“That's a lie, and you and I all know it!” Ben clearly wasn't buying it. Sawyer silently giggled to herself. This scene looked very familiar.

“I have literally tried everything with you two!” The principal frustratedly continued. “Detentions, separate classes… and STILL you two manage to drive me crazy!”

Oh, that sounded WAY too familiar. Ben was clearly about to blow a gasket here, so that's when Sawyer decided to finally make herself known.

“Well, well, well…” she spoke with a smirk, catching the three’s attention. “Seems like only yesterday that you and I were sitting in those very two chairs, while ol’ Rhanty went on another one of his famous tirades! And now look at us… hopeful art teacher and principal of Jerome Horwitz Elementary. It's amazing what time does, huh?”

George and Harold looked at her in confusion. Who was this lady? Their confusion only grew as they noticed the look on their principal’s face. His jaw had gone slack, and his eyes were the size of dinner plates. They had never seen him this caught off-guard before. It felt like an eternity before he finally found his voice again.

“…Sawyer?” The woman in question couldn't stop the tears in her eyes at this point.

“Hi, Benny…”

Chapter Text

The next few seconds were a blur for Benjamin Krupp. One moment, he was at his desk, staring in shock at a woman he had not seen in years. Then it was like he blinked, and suddenly he was right where she was, laughing with her and the two of them hugging each other with such intensity, that it was almost as if they both feared the other would disappear if they let go. And why was his face wet all of a sudden?

“Awww, you big lug,” Sawyer remarked, her voice thick and eyes glistening as she reached up to brush away his tears. “I missed you, too…”

“What are you doing here?” He finally managed to choke out as they released each other from the hug. Sawyer smiled and put a hand on her hip.

“What's it look like? I'm applying for a job!” She winked. “I hear this school needs a new art teacher?”

“But I haven't even made copies of the flyer yet, let alone put them up!” He stated. “How could you have possibly…?” He trailed off as realization sunk in, and couldn't help but smirk as he shook his head with a sigh. “Vinnie told you, didn't he?” Sawyer's smile grew.

“Yep!” Then her face grew serious. “And I am going to have a long talk with him about how he ‘failed to mention’ who the principal was!” Krupp did a double take at this.

“Wait… he never told you?”

“Nearly ten years he managed to keep this from me! Ten. Years!” Sawyer continued to softly rant. “And every time I'd ask him, he'd say the same thing; ‘I don't wanna ruin the surprise!’ And if that wasn't enough, he somehow managed to get his sons in on it! You had the twins as students, and no matter how I tried to bribe them, they wouldn't tell me either! Ooooh, I'm gonna get him back SO HARD for this!”

“You know, I'm kind of impressed that he managed to keep this from you for this long!” He couldn't help but remark. “Out of all your brothers, Vinnie was the worst at keeping secrets. Especially from you. You'd always find a way to pry it out of him.” Sawyer took a deep breath.

“Well, he was right about one thing,” she admitted, a small smile on her face. “It was certainly a surprise.”

“And it's certainly a surprise seeing you,” Krupp replied, not being able to help smiling himself. And with that, he pulled her in for another hug, which she returned wholeheartedly.

“God, I missed you,” he muttered.

“Yeah, the fact that we practically tackled each other with a hug kinda gave me that impression.” Sawyer lovingly snarked, which made the two of them start laughing again.

“Um… excuse me?”

The young voice made the two old friends freeze as they remembered they weren't the only ones in the office. They slowly released each other from their hug once again as they looked at the two boys still sitting in the plastic chairs, now looking more confused than they had ever been in their young lives. The one who had spoken up was George, who had his hand up to get their attention.

“Two questions, Mr. Krupp,” he continued. “One; is this lady an old girlfriend of yours, or something?”

“And two…” Harold added in. “Does Miss Edith know about her?”

“Girlfriend?!” Ben and Sawyer repeated incredulously, as they looked at each other, then at George and Harold for a long while, and then back to each other… before bursting into hysterical laughter.

“HAHAHA—Y-you think that she and I—HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Oh-oh god, my si-hi-hi-hides! AHAHAHAHAHAAA! Oh, my ribs hurt!”

The two laughed for a few good solid minutes, leaving George and Harold in even more confusion. Finally, the laughter died down, leaving the two adults breathing heavily and wiping at their eyes.

“Oh, I needed a good laugh this morning!” Sawyer exclaimed as she looked at the two boys, still grinning. “That was perfect! And to answer your question, no, I'm definitely not Ben’s old girlfriend. He's more like a brother to me than anything!”

“Huh?” The two young friends were now completely lost at this point. Who the heck was this lady? Mr. Krupp cleared his throat in an attempt to sound more authoritative again.

“George, Harold, this is Sawyer Grayps,” he explained as he introduced her to the two. “She's a very close friend of mine.”

“‘Close’? Benny, please, don't be so modest!” Sawyer smirked with a wink. “I believe the correct term you're looking for is ‘best friend’! For Pete’s sake, we've known each other since preschool.”

“WHAT?!” George and Harold shrieked in complete shock, the latter completely falling out of his chair.

Mr. Krupp actually had a friend? Not just that, a best friend? Just a month prior, the two boys had caught a glimpse of their principal's everyday life, and just how lonely it was. Before now, the very idea of him having even one friend to speak of seemed impossible to them. And yet, here she was, in the flesh.

To further illustrate her point, Sawyer reached into the pocket of her overalls and pulled out her wallet, then opening it to reveal an old, faded photograph, yellowed with age.

“See for yourself.”

Harold got up off the floor as he and George took a closer look. In the photo were two kids about their age, a girl and a boy, with their arms around each other's shoulders. The little girl had freckles and dirty blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail. She also had a bandage on one of her knees and it was clear that she had recently lost a tooth. This was obviously Sawyer when she was young.

The boy, on the other hand, looked shockingly familiar, yet at the same time, almost unrecognizable. He was a bit on the chubby side, and had a mop of shaggy dark brown hair that nearly covered his eyes. But his smile was what really grabbed their attention. It was an innocent, friendly, but somewhat confident grin that could've outshone the sun. Not that they’d ever tell him anytime soon, but George and Harold had seen that smile many times now… usually when someone snapped their fingers.

“No way…” George breathed out.

“You had hair?!” Harold exclaimed, much to Mr. Krupp's chagrin. Sawyer let out a good natured chuckle as she closed her wallet, which was quickly pocketed. She then playfully tousled his toupee.

“Come on, you two, don't tease him. I, for one, think bald guys can be very distinguished.”

“Oh, yeah?” Mr. Krupp asked with a smirk. “Name one.”

“My grandfather.” Sawyer answered with no hesitation. Mr. Krupp blinked for a moment.

“…Damn it, that's a good answer!” He grumbled. Sawyer grinned cheekily.

“Come on, I'm sure Edith doesn't mind that you don't have hair,” she playfully teased, waggling her eyebrows as Krupp blushed. “Speaking of which, when were you gonna tell me that you have a girlfriend now?!” She was bouncing on her toes excitedly at this point. Krupp's blush only deepened.

“You… you already met Edith?” He stammered. Sawyer nodded with a smirk.

“I literally bumped into her when I got here,” she explained. “And I gotta say, Ben… you have good taste. She is a sweetheart! And cute as a button, to boot! And really, do I even need to mention those beautiful blue eyes?” Krupp let out a small laugh, his entire face a vibrant pink at this point.

“Heh, thanks, Sawyer…”

"And knowing there's a sweet gal like her working in this cafeteria, I might actually eat the food here for once!"

"Oh, here we go..." His blush finally faded as he rolled his eyes, and couldn't help but grin.

"I'm telling you, Benny, that food was radioactive!" Sawyer protested. "I saw it glowing once!"

"Radioactive?" Harold couldn't help but ask.

"When we were kids, Sawyer was convinced that the lunch ladies made the cafeteria food out of toxic waste or something," their principal elaborated. "So she refused to eat it. Always packed her own lunch."

"No way was I eating that stuff!" Sawyer stated. "I'd seen enough Sci-Fi movies to know it wasn't worth the risk of possibly growing a third arm or a second head!"

"Or who knows?" Mr. Krupp joked. "If you did eat it, it might've worked more along the lines of comic book logic, and given you superpowers!” George and Harold couldn't help but share a brief, knowing look with each other at this.

Bub, you have no idea, the two thought to themselves, as flashes of them gripping onto a familiar red cape for dear life as they sped through the night sky went through their minds.

“Hmmmm… thought about that, but I still wasn't gonna risk it,” Sawyer admitted after a thoughtful look crossed her face. She then looked at the two boys. “Would you two say that the food here has changed since then?”

“Well, it's definitely not radioactive now, if that's what you're asking!” Harold said rather hastily. Sawyer raised an eyebrow and glanced at George, silently asking him to elaborate.

“The mystery meat is unidentifiable, the burgers and hot dogs need to be drowned in ketchup and mustard if you want any flavor, the pizza is basically cheese and sauce baked on cardboard, and the chicken nuggets bounce like they were made of rubber.”

“So it's pretty much like any other cafeteria, now. Got it. Well, I definitely feel better!” She grinned, then added with a mutter, “At least I know if I do get this job, I won't have to pack my own lunch everyday…”

“‘If you get the job’?” Krupp interrupted. “Sawyer, I already decided you were hired the second you walked through that door!”

“What?” Sawyer was relieved, yet at the same time couldn't believe her ears. “I haven't even pulled out my résumé yet!”

“I don't need to see it, because I know you,” He explained. “Sawyer, I can't think of a better person in this town to be an art teacher. You were always the most creative person I know. Heck, you even tried to teach me to draw, even though my art skills suck!”

“I remember that first attempt at a self portrait…” she giggled fondly. “It looked more like a baby chicken than a little boy… but it was still cute!”

“Not to mention, I know for a fact that you're a mother,” he continued. “Who can better handle a bunch of rowdy kids than someone who has kids herself?” Sawyer smiled.

“Speaking of whom,” she started. “I need to enroll my kids here as students, since I’m an official faculty member, now. Plus, they wanted to meet you.”

“Wait... you mean you brought your kids with you?”

“Hey Jade, what’cha doin’?”

“I’m trying to hear what Mom and the principal are talking about, Benny.”

Not long after their mother had gone into the principal’s office, Jade had her ear pressed against the door, trying to hear the conversation.

“I can’t really make out the words, but I did hear them laughing a couple times, so I’m guessing it’s good. Why? You getting bored waiting for Mom?”

“Kinda...” Her little brother replied, sounding a bit sheepish.

“There’s a Superman comic in my backpack,” she whispered with an understanding smile. “I brought it just in case.”

“Thanks... but I already found one!”

“Wait, what?” Jade finally looked over from the door to see Benny reading what looked to be a homemade comic book, with a bright orange cover. “Where’d you get that?”

“Right there!” Benny pointed to the small shelf next to his chair. One of the students must’ve left it there. He then held up the comic for his sister to see. “It’s really funny!”

Jade cracked a grin at the image on the cover. It was of a bald, chubby guy wearing nothing but underwear and a red cape, fighting what appeared to be a giant toilet robot. Standing on top of the robot was a tiny old man, who bore a striking resemblance to Albert Einstein, wearing a purple suit with matching glasses. She then read the title aloud.

“‘Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants’...” She let out a very unladylike snort at the villain’s name. Whoever came up with this comic had a very interesting sense of humor. “So, what’s it about?”

Before he could answer, the office door opened, causing Jade, who was still leaning on it, to fall forward, landing at the feet of their mother. She looked up and smiled sheepishly.

“Heh heh... hey, Mom. How’d it go?”

Chapter Text

“I told you guys to wait for me,” An amused Sawyer told her daughter with a shake of her head and a grin. Jade stood up and brushed herself off, a slight blush of embarrassment becoming apparent on her face.

“Sorry, Mom... I just wanted to know how it was going,” She started as she walked into the office. “You looked really shocked when you saw the name on the door. And even though you said it was okay, I was still nervous for you.” Sawyer’s smile softened as she crouched down to her daughter’s eye level.

“Sweetie, I know you were just making sure I was okay, but you don’t have to worry about me so much,” she briefly flexed her arm, then tousled Jade’s hair. “I’m a big girl. I’m tough enough to not just take care of myself, but you and your brother, too.”

“I know...” Jade replied, her blush finally fading. She then looked up, finally noticing the rather large man standing behind her mother, and shyly inched behind Sawyer’s legs as she stood back up, almost as if trying to make herself less noticeable, yet at the same time never taking her eyes off him. Sawyer couldn’t help but giggle.

“Jade, it’s okay. This is Principal Krupp. He’s actually a very dear friend of mine. We’ve known each other since we were kids,” Jade’s shoulders relaxed a bit at this, yet she still didn’t take her eyes off of him. Mr. Krupp stared back, a bit perplexed.

“...Are we having a staring contest?”

Jade didn’t answer, and still refused to take those unblinking green eyes, that matched her namesake, off him. Despite being slightly unnerved by her constant stare, he didn’t show it as he smirked with amusement and gave her a small wink.

“Because if we are... you’re definitely winning,” At this, Jade finally cracked a smile and let out a small giggle.

George and Harold were in complete shock. When it came to Krupp, being friendly towards students that weren’t either on the honor roll or related to him by blood, was about as rare as a white tiger. In the years they had known him, they could count on one hand the amount of times that he was ever genuinely nice to them. Sure, he put up a polite front when a student’s parents were around, but this was different. There was no forced smile, no struggle to think of something nice to say... he was downright casual and actually making jokes to help this girl feel comfortable. It was like the two boys had blinked and were suddenly in a Bizarro world!

Jade finally inched out from behind her mom’s legs as Krupp surprisingly knelt down to meet her eye level. She then shyly held out her hand.

“Um... it’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” he chuckled in response as her shook her hand. After letting go of her hand, the girl tilted her head inquisitively and squinted her eyes, as if studying him. He looked back at her in confusion.

“Hmmmm...”

“What?”

“You look familiar...”

“Wait, you recognize him?” Sawyer was a bit surprised at this, as was Krupp. Jade shrugged.

“Kinda...”

“I honestly didn’t think you’d remember me,” Krupp couldn’t help but smile. “You weren’t even five yet the last time I saw you.” He stood back up and looked at Sawyer. “Not to mention it was pretty hectic that night in the hospital.”

“Hospital?” George echoed, that last word catching both of the boys’ attention.

“Why were you at the hospital?” Harold asked Sawyer, his voiced edged with concern. “Were you hurt?”

“No, no, I was fine!” She quickly dissuaded his fears. “Actually, it was a very special time that day. You see, it was—” She didn’t even get to finish her sentence, as a giggling blue-and-red blur suddenly sped into the office, and latched onto Krupp’s leg like a baby koala, much to the shock of everyone.

It was a little boy, who looked to be about kindergarten age, with freckles and unruly black hair. He was also wearing a blue-and-white jersey, with red shorts and white sneakers. George and Harold’s eyes widened at the boy’s boldness, and they tried their hardest not to laugh at the utterly befuddled look on their principal’s face as the child grinned up at him, showing the gap where one of his front baby teeth used to be. He looked at the boy attached to his leg for a moment, then looked at Sawyer, who let out a small chuckle as she closed the office door.

“It was the night that this little guy was born.”

“Hi, Mr. Benny!” The little boy greeted, beaming. Krupp did a double take at this.

“He... he knows my name?” He asked. Sawyer couldn’t help but laugh at this, and shot him a wink.

“What? You think I never told my son about the best friend I named him after?” She asked. She then walked over to him, crouched down, and tickled her son’s sides. The boy, Benny, squealed with laughter as he let go of Krupp’s leg and was lifted up into his mother’s arms. The corners of Mr. Krupp’s mouth twitched a bit as he looked at the still giggling boy in her arms.

“Jeez, you’ve gotten big.” He murmured with a small grin. Benny beamed back at him. “You were so tiny the last time I saw you. You weren’t even a day old.” He chuckled breathlessly. “Has it really been five years...?” Then, much to his surprise, Benny reached out to him with both arms. Sawyer grinned slyly.

“I think someone wants to give you a hug.” Krupp paled a bit at this.

“Sawyer, I don’t know.” He held is hands up defensively. “I’m not the best with little kids.”

“My foot, you’re not!” Sawyer lightly objected. “You honestly think I forgot that you have a nephew that you used to babysit? Which reminds me, how old is Kipper now?”

“Sixtee—HEY!” He loudly protested as Sawyer saw her opportunity and hefted Benny into his arms, him quickly moving to support the little guy. He looked incredibly awkward as Benny once again grinned up at him. George and Harold could not hold in their giggles this time, and neither could Jade.

“See?” Sawyer asked fondly. “You’re great with him!”

“...That was a dirty move, Sawyer.” He glanced back at her, unamused. A shrug and a cheeky grin was the only response from her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Jade shyly looking at the boys. Harold noticed this as well, and walked up to her, giving her a friendly smile.

“Hi, I’m Harold. Harold Hutchins,” He then gestured behind him. “And the boy over there is my best friend, George Beard.” George waved to her as he introduced him. Harold then held out his hand to her. “It’s nice to meet you.” Jade looked at his hand, then looked back at her mother, unsure of what to do. Sawyer gave her a small nod. Jade took a deep breath, looked back at the boys, and shook Harold’s hand, then George’s.

“My name’s Jade. Jade Grayps-Lymm . It’s nice to meet you, too,” She then glanced at her brother. “That’s my little brother, Benny, and...” she glimpsed Sawyer smiling at them. “I’m guessing you’ve already met my mom.”

“Pretty much.”

“I actually heard quite a bit about you two yesterday,” said Sawyer. “It’s nice to finally meet you boys face to face!”

“Wait... what?” George asked. Harold was just as confused.

“How do you know about us?”

“I met your mothers yesterday when we were settling in,” Sawyer explained. “You two were already in your treehouse.” Realization dawned on George’s face.

“Wait... you’re our new neighbors?”

“You live next door to them?” Krupp blanched at this information and groaned. “Oh, Sawyer, I’m so sorry.” She rolled her eyes at this.

“Oh, quit being such a drama king, Ben!”

RIIIIIIING!

The sudden sound of the phone ringing nearly made everyone jump out of their skin. Krupp quickly handed Benny back to Sawyer as he headed to his desk and answered.

“Principal Krupp speaking.” He barely got to finish as whoever was on the other end screeched back at him, causing him to hold the phone at a good distance from his ear, much to the confusion of the others.

“Just a moment, Sir, I need to put you on speakerphone. I’m doing some paperwork.” Before doing so, he quickly put a finger to his mouth in a shushing motion to tell everyone else in the office to stay quiet as he pulled a piece of paper from his desk. Sawyer and the four kids all nodded in compliance. While briefly surprised that even George and Harold listened to him for once, he then pushed a button on the phone and put the receiver back on the hook. “Okay you’re good.”

“KRUPP!” A gruff, older voice roared at him. “ARE THE PREPARATIONS READY FOR THIS WEEKEND?” Krupp winced at the loudness of the man’s voice, as George, Jade, and Benny covered their ears. Sawyer tensed up, as well, but more in shock and anger. She knew that voice anywhere, and she hated it.

“Yes, Mr. Rhant,” Krupp continued, confirming her suspicions. “Everything has been arranged for your retirement party this Saturday.” Sawyer let out a small breath of relief at this. She didn’t have to work with him, thank goodness.

“GOOD!” Mr. Rhant answered. “AND REMEMBER; ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY FOR BOTH STUDENTS AND FACULTY!” Krupp swallowed a groan at this, as Sawyer and Harold gave off exasperated expressions.

“Yes, Sir...”

“AND KRUPP?” He warned. “NO FUNNY BUSINESS. I MEAN IT!”

“Mr. Rhant, please,” Krupp reassured. “Those days have been long behind me, you know that!”

Maybe, but the same can’t be said for me, Sawyer thought with a smirk, the seeds on an idea beginning to take root.

“THEY’D BETTER BE, KRUPP! I TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THAT!”

“Of course you did, Sir. See you this Saturday,” Krupp hung up, and finally let out the frustrated groan he had building up the entire time as he face-planted into his desk. George, Jade, and Benny finally uncovered their ears.

“Who the heck was that hardcase?” asked Harold.

“And how is he still alive?!” Sawyer exclaimed. “He’s gotta be close to what, 75 by now?” Krupp finally lifted his head off the desk.

“78, actually. And you know him, Sawyer, he’s too stubborn to die. That’s probably why the School Board is forcing him to retire from the Superintendent position.” Sawyer put Benny down, then began to massage her temples in frustration.

“Who the heck was crazy enough to make HIM Superintendent?”

“Make WHO Superintendent?” Harold asked again, seeing as how his first question went unanswered. Sawyer looked at him.

“That, Harold, was a Mr. Tyberius Rhant”, she explained. “Or, as I liked to call him when I was your age, “The Principal from H-E-Double-Hockey Sticks”.” The kids’ eyes all widened.

“That was your old principal?!” George and Harold shrieked.

“Yikes...” Jade murmured and held Benny’s hand as he started to shiver.

“You can say that again,” Krupp agreed. “He was the scariest individual to walk the halls of this school when we were students here. When you got sent to his office, all the other kids looked at you as if you were a dead man walking!”

“He’s not joking about that last part!” Sawyer elaborated. “The first time that I got sent to his office, I passed a couple of first-graders in the hallway. One began crying, and the other started praying for me!”

George and Harold audibly gulped at this. Sure, Krupp was a real piece of work, and feared by a good majority of the student body, but being sent to his office was more like an inconvenience and a strong need for earplugs to everyone at this point. The fact that kids back then dreaded going to this guy’s office made him sound like an outright MONSTER in comparison!

“Wh-What did you get sent to his office for?” Harold couldn’t help but ask. Sawyer rolled her eyes at the memory.

“I blew a raspberry at someone. I even wound up in detention because of it!”

“That’s it?!” George and Jade exclaimed. Harold and Benny were just as gob-smacked.

“According to the teacher, I “spit in the kid’s face”,” She continued, sarcastically using her fingers as quotations on that last part.

Jade gave her mother a look that said, “Are you kidding me?”, as George facepalmed, and Harold shook his head in disbelief. The teachers here could be strict when it came to discipline, but THAT was just ridiculous!

“And while we're on the subject, if you don't mind my asking…” she continued, looking at the two boys. “What are you two in for?”

“Sawyer, you are looking at the two biggest pranksters in this school,” Mr. Krupp groaned. “For four long years, it's been prank after prank with them! I have tried everything, but they just won't stop!”

“‘The two biggest pranksters in the school’, huh?” Sawyer repeated with a chuckle. “Funny… I seem to recall that being our undisputed title.”

“Wait… what did you just say?” George gaped. Sawyer gave a Cheshire grin at Krupp.

“Do you wanna tell them, or should I?”

“Sawyer, please don’t...”

“Please tell us!” Harold said, his principal’s pleas going unheeded. Sawyer walked over to Krupp and put an arm around his shoulder as he put a hand over his face, which was going redder with embarrassment by the second.

“Gentlemen, you two are looking at one of the biggest pranksters in the history of Jerome Horwitz Elementary!” She then pointed to herself with her thumb. “And his partner-in-crime!”

George and Harold gaped at the two, especially Krupp.

“A prankster?! YOU?!”

“You’re kidding...”

“Nope!” Sawyer’s grin was practically ear-to-ear at this point. “We were a couple of the best! Heck, some of our best pranks were HIS idea!”

“Mom, tell them about the one with the lockers!” Jade intervened excitedly. “That one’s our favorite!”

“Oh, yeah... that was one of my favorites, as well,” a fond, nostalgic expression crossed her face as she looked at Krupp, who had lowered his hand from his face. “C’mon, Ben, you remember; you, me, the boys’ locker room, a couple straws, and several cans of shaving cream...”

Much to the boys’ surprise, Krupp actually smiled.

“Rhant never could prove it was us. But we still got a week’s worth of detention.”

“And grounded for a month...” Sawyer added sheepishly.

“But it was worth it.” He then cleared his throat. “So, if we’re done with this bit of reminiscing, Sawyer,” he waved a pen and the piece of paper he pulled out of his desk earlier, and she could see that it actually was paperwork. “How ‘bout we make it official?”

She smiled, and quickly signed where she needed to, as did he. He then pulled out an ink stamp and pressed it down on the paper. The word ‘APPROVED’ looked back up at her in what might’ve been the most beautiful shade of red she had ever seen. She was officially working with her best friend now, just like they had always wanted when they were kids.

Oh, Rhanty is gonna hate this, She thought gleefully. And just like that, the budding idea in the back in her mind burst into bloom. 

“Hey boys?” She asked, bringing George and Harold, who were near-catatonic from all the new information they had just learned about their principal, back to reality. “Since you two seem to know this school like the backs of your hands, think you could show my kids around while I have a talk with your principal?” They looked back at her.

“Um...”

“Okay.”

Sawyer had Krupp write them a pass, just in case they were stopped by a teacher, and out the four kids went, and she shut the office door behind them.

“So, Benny”, she started. “About this retirement party for Mr. Rhant...”

“Technically, he already retired this past week, but you know how he is. Has it make it all about himself,” Krupp rolled his eyes.

“He said on the phone that student and faculty attendance is mandatory, correct?”

“Yep.” He grumpily confirmed. “He just had to get in one last Saturday to make us all miserable...”

“Well, since you just signed that paperwork, that officially makes me part of the faculty, right?” She then gave a cheeky grin like a cat who just cornered a canary. Krupp’s face paled slightly, and he he bit his lip as he realized what she was planning.

“Sawyer... no”, he protested. “I know that look, Sawyer! Don’t even THINK about it!” Her smile only grew, making it even harder for him to keep a straight face himself.

“Aw, c’mon, Benny”, She teased. “Don’t ya think it’d be a great retirement present for Ol’ Rhanty to see his favorite student again?”

“‘Favorite student’?!” He could no longer hold in the laughter at this point. “Sawyer, you and I both know that Rhant hated you!”

“And the feeling was mutual”, her voice took on a surprisingly serious edge. Krupp raised an eyebrow at this, but decided it best not to press further.

“You heard him, Sawyer! No funny business!”

“No funny business from you, Benny. He doesn’t know about me. And since he’s no longer your boss, you have nothing to worry about!”

He opened his mouth to retort, but quickly shut it when he realized that she had a point. For the first time in what felt like decades... Rhant didn’t have power over him any more. Sawyer then held up a hand.

“So? You with me or what?”

Ben looked at her hand for a moment, then smiled and locked his hand with hers as if they were arm wrestling.

“Okay... I’m in.”

Chapter Text

It had been about ten minutes since the four had left Krupp’s office, and the two friends had managed to show their new classmates quite a lot of the school already. They had now headed downstairs for the first floor. They then stopped at the entrance to a large room with several tables and chairs.

“Here we have the Cafeteria,” Harold explained. Jade and Benny’s eyes grew wide. This place was almost twice as big as the cafeteria at their old school.

And probably twice as loud, too... Jade thought to herself with a small flinch.

“Not bad,” she then said aloud. Harold shrugged as they started to head further down the hall.

“Yeah... while the food could be better, at least Miss Edith’s nice.” He and George then got excited looks on their faces as they reached a pair of double doors.

“And this... is the Art Room!” George threw open the doors of the classroom to show the two new students what was easily his and Harold’s favorite place in the whole school. “Also known as the place where your mom’s gonna be teaching everybody!”

Jade let out a small gasp. The room was amazing! A few round tables were scattered about, with about five or six chairs at each one. There were also some easels, and along the countertops was colored paper, paints, markers, and colored pencils of every color and shade she could think of! It was so vibrant and colorful compared to the cold and rather drab hallways and classrooms. Her mom was gonna be in Heaven here!

“It’s perfect...” She whispered. Benny was beaming at this point. He excitedly began bouncing on his toes.

“Mommy’s gonna love it!” He squealed.

“And the Music Room’s down that way,” Harold pointed down the main hall not far from the entrance. “Wanna see it?”

“Yeah!” Benny took off in a blink, headed for the Music Room, with the other three kids not too far behind. He quickly opened the door and quickly gravitated to the instruments, curiously playing each one. Jade waited outside the room as George and Harold followed him in. She smiled at the different sounds of the instruments, only to wince slightly as shrill metallic dinging filled the air, followed by her brother’s giggles. She rolled her eyes and silently chuckled to herself. Benny had found a triangle. That was his favorite instrument next to the drums. It was gonna take George and Harold quite a bit to pry that away from him. So, she decided to explore a bit while they tried to do that.

She wandered closer to the main entrance and glanced out one of the large windows next to the doors, noticing that it looked like it was going to rain soon. But that wasn’t the sight that made her stop in her tracks.

She could see three older boys standing out in the front yard, their backs to her. What were they doing? They looked like they were talking... no... yelling at someone. She stood on the tips of her toes and squinted as she pressed herself closer to the window, trying her hardest to see what they were doing, or who they were talking to. Finally, a fourth boy was shoved into her view.

He looked to be about her age, with red hair and round glasses, from what she could see. He was wearing a sweater vest, a bow tie, and shorts. Everything about his outfit screamed “Nerd”, but she didn’t care about that. As he shakily stood and inched away from them, it was clear that the poor guy was a mess. He was covered in mud and his hair was unkempt. Jade could feel her face turning red. If there was one thing she hated, it was bullying.

“Jade? What is it?” George asked. He and Harold had managed to convince Benny to put the triangle back where he found it in the Music Room, and the three were now headed over to her. She was so focused on the sight in front of her to answer him. Her hands clenched into fists on the window as she continued to watch.

She couldn’t hear what the boy was saying, but it was clear that he wanted nothing to do with these three punks. But they were having none of that. The punk in the middle started yelling at the younger boy, much more fiercely this time, marched right up to him... and punched him right back to the ground, breaking his glasses. The punk’s two punky friends started laughing. The boy got up on his hands and knees, shaking... only for the punk to kick him in the side, knocking him back down.

Oh, that was it! Without a word, Jade bolted out the front doors. She could feel the rain begin to fall as she, despite George and Harold’s protests, ran towards the four boys as fast as she could, practically leap-frogged over the main punk, and placed herself between the red-haired boy and them, fists raised and eyes blazing.

“Leave. Him. Alone.”

The three older boys stared at her, clearly confused. The main punk, who had dirty blonde hair, and was wearing a black t-shirt with a skull on it and army camo shorts, glared back at her.

“What was that, girly?”

“You heard me!” Jade could now feel the eyes of the boy on her. She looked back at him and gave him a smile. Now that she could see him up close, she saw that he had a bloody nose, his pale freckled face was beginning to bruise, and his glasses were utterly shattered beyond repair. Despite all this, he looked at her in complete awe. No one had ever stood up for him like this before.

Who was this girl?

“Look, girly,” One of the punk’s two friends, a boy with olive skin in an open flannel shirt over a white tank top, stepped up to her as she glared up at him. He then blew his long, shaggy black bangs out of his eyes. “Obviously you’re new here, so here’s how things work; nobody tells Butch Thompson what to do!”

“Yeah!” said Butch’s other friend, a pale boy wearing a black beanie over his curly brown hair and a grey hoodie.

“Manny, Greg, shut up,” Butch barked.

“Sorry...” Manny and Greg stepped back behind Butch with their tails between their legs. Butch then glared daggers at Jade.

“Get lost, girly. This is between us and the freak.”

Jade could see the boy flinch at this out of the corner of her eye, which only made her blood boil. She continued to stand her ground.

“What the heck did he ever do to you?!” She demanded. The rain had turned into a downpour at this point.

“He’s a tattletale!” Butch yelled. “Do you know how many detentions I’ve gotten ‘cause of him?”

“Not to mention he’s an annoying know-it-all!” Greg added. “Always going around acting all high and mighty just because he thinks he’s smarter and mature-er than everybody else!”

Jade fought the urge to roll her eyes.

It’s “more mature”, not “mature-er”. Dingus, she thought.

“And he’s a total freak!” Manny exclaimed. “He doesn’t laugh at anything! Like, at all!”

“So?!” Jade yelled back. “That’s no reason to gang up on him!” Her fists started to tremble. If these guys didn’t back off this poor kid, she was gonna do something she’d regret.

“He’s had it coming!” Butch said smugly. “Especially after what he pulled last month!”

This caught her interest, but she was more concerned about getting the boy away from these guys.

“So you better back off, you little bi—!”

Jade’s threw her fist at his face as hard as she could before he could even finish, managing to leave a good chip on one of his front teeth. She then shook the soreness out of her hand as he stumbled back.

“You kiss your mom with that mouth?”

“YOU ARE THO DEAD!” Butch roared, the chip in his tooth causing a noticeable lisp in his voice. Manny and Greg then charged at her. Jade first elbowed Manny in the stomach, then brought her elbow up, impacting with his chin. Then as Greg got close enough, she kicked him in the nose, leaving it good and bloodied, before launching herself at Butch again, her fists flying wildly. They struggled in the muddy grass, her hair at one point coming loose from her ponytail after he yanked at it.

In retaliation, she managed to get some decent hits in before Butch’s fist connected with her left eye, knocking her flat on her back. That was gonna leave a bruise, for sure. Manny and Greg watched in horror as he stood over her and kicked her good and hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her. He then reared his fist back to bring his fury down on her once more. Suddenly, before Butch could even get a single punch in, a sound similar to a whip crack rang out, and he stopped mid-swing. He looked, and much to his shock, a red-and-gold-striped tie was wrapped around his wrist, preventing the brutality from continuing. His eyes followed the length of the tie to see its wielder glaring at him.

“Didn’t your parents ever tell you that you should never hit a girl?” George asked. The red-haired boy shakily stood up and made his way over to try to help Jade, who managed to get her breath back.

“The girl I get, but thince when are you helping Thneedly, Beard?” Butch asked. “Latht I checked, he’th tattled on you and your buddy to Krupp more than me! Ithn’t he the reathon you two got theparated?!”

“Yeah,” George confirmed, pulling his tie away from Butch’s wrist. The whole school knew about George and Harold being put in separate classes at this point. “But that doesn’t mean that you and your buddies can go gang up on him and our new friend!”

“Well, that thycho thould’ve minded her own buthineth!”

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?” an all-too-familiar voice roared, making almost everyone freeze. Butch and his friends began trembling with fear as a red-faced Mr. Krupp stormed up to them, followed closely behind by Harold, Benny, and Sawyer, whose eyes went wide upon seeing her daughter with a bruise forming on her eye and struggling to stand up.

“Oh my God, JADE!” she screamed, and rushed to her daughter’s side. Jade stood on shaky legs for a brief moment, before falling to her hands and knees and emptying the contents of her stomach on the grass in front of her. Sawyer rubbed her back comfortingly and held her hair out of her face. Krupp then glared at Butch, Manny, and Greg.

“You three. My office. Now.”

The three boys flinched in fear at the sound of his voice, before slinking away back into the school. Jade flinched slightly, as well. She didn’t dare look up at his face. He sounded so... angry. His voice was almost growling, kinda like how you’d imagine the monster hiding under some poor kid’s bed to sound. Maybe her cousins weren’t exaggerating about him, after all...

Krupp then let out a tired sigh.

“George, Harold... please take Jade and Melvin to the Nurse’s office. Sawyer, you and Benny go with them. I’ll be right behind you. I just need to take care of those other three, first.”

Sawyer cradled Jade in one arm and held Benny’s hand with her free one as George and Harold helped Melvin up. She briefly glanced back to look at Krupp as she and the five kids headed back inside.

Krupp stood in the pouring rain for a moment or two before heading in himself.

Nurse Denise Offstill was used to Melvin Sneedly being a regular patient at her office for various reasons, but when George and Harold brought him in today, this was probably the worst case.

“Oh my God, what happened?!” she shrieked once she caught sight of him. His glasses were broken, he had a black eye (amongst several other bruises on his face), and his nose was bleeding. He looked an absolute mess.

“Butch and his goons happened, Nurse O.,” George explained. “You’ll probably be seeing them later. Krupp’s chewing them out as we speak. And believe it or not, but they look WORSE than Melvin does now!”

“Wait, what?” Nurse Offstill asked, clearly confused. “What happened to them?”

“She happened,” Harold pointed behind him, and it was then that the nurse noticed three new faces; a woman and two children. In the woman’s arms was a girl who looked pretty banged up herself.

“Her name is Jade,” he continued to explain. “She was standing up for Melvin, and got into a fight with them.”

“She roughed them up pretty good,” George added. “But Butch punched her in the eye, then kicked her in the stomach. She threw up.” The school nurse winced at this, and motioned for the two injured kids to be brought over to two nearby futons so she could treat their wounds. After the two were situated, she then looked at the woman who had been carrying Jade.

“Forgive me, I didn’t get your name.”

“Oh!” Sawyer blushed. “I’m Jade’s Mom. Sawyer Grayps. I also got hired as the new art teacher today. Sorry we didn’t meet under better circumstances...”

“Denise Offstill,” she shook Sawyer’s hand. “And it’s fine. Let’s worry more about getting these two patched up.”

She pulled out a small first aid kit and two ice packs, gently putting them over Jade and Melvin’s black eyes, after the latter’s broken glasses had been removed and placed on a nearby table, of course. She then looked at Jade.

“Do you need anything else, sweetie?”

“My mouth still tastes kinda gross,” she explained as she sat up a bit. “And my stomach still hurts and feels queasy all at once...” The nurse smiled in understanding. Throwing up can do that.

“I could get you some ginger ale,” She said. “It’ll get that bad taste out of your mouth, and help settle your stomach.”

“Yes, please. Thank you.” The Nurse then looked at Melvin and sat on the end of his futon.

“Melvin, do you want me to get you some water?” He simply nodded at her in response. He seemed to have a lot on his mind. Nurse Offstill then got up and walked over to the mini-fridge next to her desk.

“Hey, um... Melvin, right?” The boy in question turned his head and squinted at Jade through his uncovered eye. Without his glasses, his eyesight was pretty poor. “You okay?”

“I will be,” he finally answered. Jade noted that his voice was a bit nasally, but she doubted that it was because of the piece of tissue that the nurse had stuck in one of his nostrils in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

“Thank you, by the way. For standing up for me, I mean... no one’s ever done that for me, before.”

Jade opened her mouth to answer, but that’s when Nurse Offstill came back, a can of ginger ale in one hand, and a small bottled water in the other. Sawyer helped both kids sit up.

“Here you go,” she handed them their respective drinks. “Now drink them slowly, okay?”

Jade nodded as she removed the ice pack she was holding to her eye to grip the can with both hands, and took small sips. The fizziness of the drink tickled her throat, and thankfully washed the lingering taste of puke out of her mouth. After a couple of sips, she let out a small burp, which certainly helped settle her stomach a bit. Nurse Offstill nodded in satisfaction at this, and after briefly checking on Melvin once more, went over to talk to Sawyer, and give them some space.

“Hey, you don’t need to thank me,” Jade finally answered Melvin after taking a few more sips. “You were in trouble. I was just trying to do the right thing.”

“But now you might get in serious trouble because of me,” he murmured, looking guilty.

“Well, yeah...” she trailed off a bit, but quickly reassured him. “But it’s not your fault! It was my choice to help you, and I wound up in a fight. It happens. But hey, we got matching shiners out of it!” She briefly pointed to her black eye in an attempt to cheer him up, but she couldn’t help but frown as she noticed him squinting again.

“Sorry I didn’t step in before your glasses were broken. Maybe I could’ve prevented that...”

“Oh, don’t worry!” Now it was Melvin’s turn to reassure her. “I actually have a few spare pairs at home in case of emergencies like this.” He then blushed. “With my hobbies, it happens more often than I’d care to mention...”

“What are your hobbies?” She tilted her head in interest. He looked at her in surprise. He wasn’t expecting her to actually ask.

“Oh. Well... I’m a bit of an inventor in my spare time.”

“Really? That’s so cool! What kind of stuff have you made?”

“You... actually wanna know?”

“Yes, please!” He couldn’t help but smile at her excitement. It’s not everyday that someone his own age was actually interested in his Inventions.

“Well, one of them is a prototype of an automatic robotic sock-matcher...”

While the two injured children were bonding, the two adults in the office were, as well.

“So, you come from a big family, too?” Sawyer asked. Nurse Offstill nodded.

“Yep. I’m the baby of 5 kids, and the only daughter, to boot!”

“Yeah, I came from a predominantly male family, too,” Sawyer said with a laugh. “I’m the middle child of seven kids, myself. 2 girls, 5 boys. And two of ‘em are twins.” Nurse Offstill let out a low whistle.

“That must’ve been one hectic household.”

“You have no idea,” she then sighed. “And with a perfectionist like my father... it wasn’t easy.”

The nurse was about to ask more about it, when a knock rang out. They, along with the five kids with them, looked up to see Krupp standing in the doorway.

“Hey, Offstill. How are Melvin and Jade holding up?”

Nurse Offstill raised an eyebrow at him. It was a rare occurrence for him to not be yelling his head off whenever he came to her office. In fact, he was rather uncharacteristically quiet. He must’ve used up all his energy chewing out those sixth graders. And with the injuries the two kids she was treating had, it seemed to be pretty justified.

“Well, they have a couple scrapes here and there, quite a few bruises, and a bloody nose in Melvin’s case... but thankfully, they’re gonna be just fine.”

“Thank goodness,” Krupp sighed in relief.

“Mr. Krupp... please don’t punish Jade!” Melvin spoke up, surprising everyone. Krupp looked at him.

“Melvin...”

“It was my fault she got into that fight with Butch and his friends!” Melvin continued to plead.

“Melvin.”

“She was only trying to help—!”

“Melvin!” Krupp said sternly, finally getting the bruised boy to stop rambling. “I know. Don’t worry. She’s not in trouble for fighting them.”

“She’s not?” Melvin, George, and Harold asked, all three of them sounding rather relieved.

“I’m not?” Jade was astounded. He had sounded so angry earlier, she had thought for sure that she was in trouble, too.

“No, you’re not,” he reassured her. “Like Melvin said, you were only trying to protect him.” He then smirked. “And may I say, you did a pretty good job of doing it. Butch, Manny, and Greg somehow look worse than you and Melvin do! You’re quite the little Bruiser.” Jade gave a small smile in return.

“Ben, don’t encourage her!” Sawyer scolded, though it was clear that she was just as proud of her daughter. Nurse Offstill couldn’t help but smile, herself. This was an even rarer occurrence; Krupp actually complimenting a student for basically breaking the rules.

“Thanks...” Jade quietly answered. Then a serious look crossed her face. “But still, I got into a fight and beat up three guys pretty bad. You’re really gonna let me off for that?” Krupp was surprised at this. Normally, a student would beg not to be punished.

“Well, normally you’d be suspended, just as Butch and his friends have been now,” he explained. “But since you were just trying to protect Melvin... Three days’ detention starting Monday sound fair?” Jade smirked at him.

“You drive a hard bargain Mr. K.,” she said with a wink. “Yeah, I’d say it’s fair.” She then held out her hand. Krupp couldn’t help but grin as he shook it. This kid was Sawyer’s daughter, all right.

And speaking of children and their parents...

“Offstill?” He asked. The nurse looked up at him. “Maybe you should call Mrs. Sneedly; let her know that Melvin needs a new pair of glasses.”

“Already on it,” Nurse Offstill quickly picked up the phone on her desk and started dialing.

“Wait... did you say... ‘Sneedly’?” asked Sawyer. She stared at Melvin. Now that she got a good look at him, he did strongly resemble someone from hers and Krupp’s childhood. “Ben, don’t tell me...”

“It’s exactly what you think,” Krupp confirmed, trying not to laugh.

“GAYLORD REPRODUCED?!” She exclaimed. Melvin looked at her.

“You know my Poppa?”

“His Dad’s name is Gaylord?” Harold whispered to George as they, Jade, and Benny tried to suppress their giggles.

“I’ve known your father since preschool,” she continued. She then stared at him again. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. You look so much like him! And no offense, but when we were kids, he was the last person I ever expected to get married, let alone have kids of his own! He was always so absorbed in his science stuff.”

“None taken. And yeah, that sounds like Poppa,” Melvin said with a small smile. “Mommy, too, now that I think about it...”

Huh. So Gaylord actually managed to meet his match, Sawyer mused to herself.

“Alright, Thank you,” Nurse Offstill hung up the phone, then looked at Melvin. “Your mom’s on her way here with your spare glasses. Apparently she and your dad finished their latest project earlier than expected, so I wasn’t interrupting anything when I called.”

This day just seemed to be full of rare occurrences...

“Where is he? WHERE’S MY BABY?”

Cindy Sneedly had grabbed her son’s spare glasses and gotten into her car practically seconds after she had received Nurse Offstill’s call. Almost everyone jumped when she came bursting into the nurse’s office not even five minutes after Nurse Offstill had hung up the phone.

“Hi, Mommy...” Melvin said quietly. Mrs. Sneedly covered her mouth upon catching sight of her son.

“Oh, Melvin!” She was at his side in an instant, handing him his spare glasses, which he put on. She then glared at Mr. Krupp. “What happened?”

Sawyer noted that the woman’s gentle, almost airy voice quickly took on the sharpness of knives. Krupp was quick to explain about Butch and his friends ganging up on Melvin, and that they’ve already been suspended for their actions. Mrs. Sneedly’s features softened as she looked at Melvin again.

“Oh, my poor baby...”

“I’ll be fine, Mommy,” he reassured. “Besides, I might’ve been hurt much worse if it hadn’t been for her.” Jade blushed as she felt several pairs of eyes on her.

“Hey, it was nothing…” she tried to brush it off, only for Mrs. Sneedly to stop her.

“My foot, it was nothing! You helped my baby when no one else would. Thank you so much, Miss...?” She trailed off a bit. Jade quickly realized what she was asking and smiled.

“Jade. My name’s Jade Grayps-Lymm. Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. And again, thank you, Jade.” Jade’s blush increased at the praise. Nurse Offstill then cleared her throat.

“I just wanted to let you guys know, it’s almost gonna be time for the kids to head home.”

The adults in the room gave her a confused look, then noticed the time on the wall clock. It was almost ten minutes to three. Everyone, sans the nurse, gaped. Where the heck did the time go?!

“I’ve missed so many classes!” Melvin shrieked, scrambling off the futon. “My teachers are gonna think I skipped!”

“Melvin, calm down,” Mr. Krupp was quick to reassure him. “I’ll talk to your teachers and tell them what happened. Now breathe.” Melvin took a deep breath and smiled, silently thanking him.

“Whelp, we’d better head out!” Sawyer said, taking Benny’s hand. She then looked at Nurse Offstill. “Thanks again, Denise. So, I’ll be seeing you Saturday, right?”

“Saturday?” She was confused for a moment, then realization dawned on her face. “Oh right, the retirement party. Yeah, you’ll see me there.” Sawyer smiled, then turned around as she felt a tap on her shoulder. It was Mrs. Sneedly.

“You’re Jade’s Mother, aren’t you?” She asked. Sawyer nodded in confirmation. “I wanted to thank you, as well. You’ve raised a very kind little girl.”

“Thanks. My name’s Sawyer, by the way.”

“Cindy Sneedly. Pleasure to meet you,” she then took Melvin’s hand. “Come on, honey. Let’s get you home and in a nice warm bath.” As they left, Melvin waved at Jade, who waved back.

“Bye.”

“See ya later.”

“So, me and the kids will be starting first thing Monday, right?” Sawyer asked Krupp, who nodded.

“Yep.”

“And we still set for Saturday?” She then whispered. He rolled his eyes, but smiled.

“You know we are.”

“Just double checking,” she winked, then looked at George and Harold. “Hey guys, want me to give you a ride home?” They looked at her in surprise.

“Really?”

“You’d do that?”

“Hey, we live next door to each other now, so why not?” She shrugged. The boys looked at each other, then nodded at her. “Okay then! Come on, Jade!” Jade hopped off the futon and walked over.

“See ya soon, Mr. K!” She said to Mr. Krupp, who, much to Nurse Offstill’s further surprise, actually smiled.

“See ya, Bruiser,” he said, ruffling her hair. Jade grinned at the nickname, then looked at the school nurse.

“And thanks, Nurse Offstill. I’ll see you Monday!”

“Please try to stay out of fights,” Nurse Offstill winked, then plucked two lollipops from a mug on her desk, and handed them to her. “Give one of those to your brother, okay?”

“Okay,” Jade giggled, then she and the boys quickly followed Sawyer and Benny into the hallway. Soon they were at the car, and Jade quickly climbed into the front passenger seat, and Sawyer helped Benny into his car seat. But before George and Harold could enter the car themselves, Sawyer stopped them.

“Hey, guys?”

“Yeah?”

“I was wondering; if you two aren’t busy, I’m gonna need help with a little...” A sneaky grin crossed her face, and she winked. “Surprise that your principal and I have planned for Rhant this Saturday. You interested?”

George and Harold looked at each other, then back at Sawyer with grins that mirrored hers. Something told them that they were really gonna like having this lady for a teacher.

Chapter Text

Saturday had come pretty quick that week. Almost too quick for Benjamin Krupp’s liking.

Today was the retirement party for the now-former superintendent (and his former principal) Mr. Rhant. And frankly...

He was terrified.

It was bad enough that both the entirety of students and staff were required to show up to school at 7 in the morning on a Saturday, but he had been placed in charge with making sure that the retirement party reached Mr. Rhant’s near-impossible expectations. Not to mention, it certainly didn’t help that while Sawyer had given him a few details, she had been keeping what exactly she had planned for the old man under wraps. And once he found out that she had also managed to rope George and Harold into her little plan, he knew this wouldn’t end well.

Breathe, Benny. Breathe, he thought to himself. Sawyer’s smart. She knows what she’s doing— 

He then suddenly jumped when a hand touched his shoulder.

“Ben?” Oh, thank Heaven. It was Edith. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he answered shakily. “Just a bit nervous...”

“‘A bit’?” Edith couldn’t help but giggle. “As my Mom would say, you’re sweatin’ like a sinner in church!” Her smile then turned sympathetic. “This Rhant guy’s a real hard-case, huh?”

“You have no idea,” Benjamin sighed pitifully. “The man was in the military, and pretty much acted like a damn Drill Sargent around us when I was a student here. It was a wonder that nobody’s ear drums got messed up by his yelling!” Edith rubbed his back comfortingly.

“Don’t worry, hun,” she assured. “You only have to put up with him for just a few hours today, then you’ll never have to see him again.” He smiled and held her hand.

“I know. Thanks, Edith,” he then gave her a quick peck on the cheek, which got a small gigglesnort out of her, much to his delight. He always thought she had the cutest laugh.

“Awwwwwwwww!” An overjoyed voice cooed.

Blushing, the two turned to see Sawyer, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree. Jade and Benny were giggling, and even George and Harold were genuinely smiling at them.

“Please, don’t mind me,” she said, casually leaning on the school sign. “I’m just enjoying how adorable you two are.” Benjamin’s blush deepened as Edith smiled.

“If you’re done giggling like a schoolgirl, Sawyer, Rhant is gonna be here any minute!” he said, clearly trying to change the subject. “Do you really want to ruin your own plan?” Sawyer rolled her eyes and grinned.

“Fair point... Casanova.”

Edith couldn’t help but giggle again at Sawyer’s playful jab. Benjamin looked at his best friend pointedly.

“Alright, alright, I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone!” Sawyer said, getting the hint. She then glanced at the school sign, noticing that it read, ‘HAPPY RETIREMENT, MR. RHANT! WE’LL MISS YOU!’ She couldn’t help but smirk as yet another idea formed in her head.

“One quick question; where are the letters for the school sign? I’m gonna need ‘em.”

“They’re in the supply closet near my office...”

“Thanks!” She quickly gestured for the four kids with her to head back into the school, which they quickly did.

“Sawyer, why do you need them?” Benjamin asked as she turned to head inside herself.

“You’ll see~!” she said in a sing-song voice, and skipped into the school like an excited child, the doors shutting behind her.

“I can see why you’re friends with her,” Edith whispered with a smile. “She seems to be a lot of fun!”

He sighed, but couldn’t help giving a small smile back.

“Even after all these years, she hasn’t changed a bit.”

Suddenly, the sound of screeching tires penetrated the air, making many of the kids outside either scream or cover their ears. The source of the noise was an old, black convertible (a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado, to be exact), pulling in front of the school. After it came to a complete stop, a much older man stepped out. He was shorter and much stouter than Mr. Krupp, with thinning white hair styled in a bad combover, and an equally white mustache. He wore brown pants with matching shoes, and a vomit green polo shirt. The frown lines on his face were incredibly prominent, as was the scowl he was currently sporting. Old wire glasses framed his cold, dark eyes, which were now staring right at Krupp, making a chill go down the younger man’s spine.

And neither has he, Benjamin thought to himself fearfully. No matter how old he got, one look from those eyes made him feel like a terrified little boy all over again. He then cleared his throat in an attempt to make the chill go away.

“Mr. Rhant,” he said as bravely as he could. “On time as always, sir!”

“Krupp,” Mr. Rhant responded gruffly. He then glanced around the front yard of the school. "I see you actually managed to pull through for once.” Krupp responded with an anxious chuckle.

“Of course, sir! When have I not?”

“You want me to list ‘em?” Rhant didn’t see it, but Edith was giving him an uncharacteristically dagger-like glare. How dare he? Benjamin Krupp was the hardest-working man she ever knew. He lost much-needed sleep, stressed over, and put his all into planning this stupid retirement party for a man whom, from how he had been described to her, had done nothing to deserve it!

“Ha ha!” Benjamin let out another nervous laugh. “Good one, sir!” Rhant’s expression remained unchanged.

“Who’s joking?”

Edith had half a mind to head back into the kitchen and spit in his serving of that stupid tapioca pudding she had to make for him. Which reminded her...

“If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, I need to head back in. That tapioca pudding for our... guest of honor here isn’t gonna finish itself!” And with a quick reassuring grip to her boyfriend’s hand, she headed inside.

“Oooooooh, that man is INSUFFERABLE!” Edith said as she frustratedly stirred the large bowl of tapioca pudding in front of her. “I was only around him for a minute, and I wanted to slap him silly!” Sawyer watched as she continued to violently stir, pudding spilling over the edges of the bowl.

“Um, Edith...?” Sawyer finally spoke up. “You better slow the stirring, or there won’t be much pudding to serve.”

“Huh? Oh, shoot!” Edith stopped stirring and grabbed a dish rag to mop up the mess. Sawyer picked up a roll of paper towels, ripping off a few sheets so she could assist.

“However, you might be doing the kids a service, here,” she joked. “I’m pretty sure that aside from a few of the older teachers, Ol’ Rhanty is the only person at this party that even likes tapioca pudding.” Edith smiled a bit at that, but it quickly turned into a concerned frown.

“How did you and Ben even stay sane with a principal like that?” Sawyer gave a small shrug.

“Simple; we had our pranks, and we had each other... at least until my family moved to Boston when I was 12.”

“So Ben had to deal with that awful man alone?” Edith asked. Sawyer nodded somberly. “No wonder he’s so scared of him...”

“And it’s also why I hate Rhant’s guts…” Sawyer muttered to herself. Edith tilted her head questioningly.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” Sawyer quickly said with a slight defensive edge in her voice, which faded as she added, “I-I’ll tell you later.” Edith was about to question further, when George and Harold came into the kitchen, carrying a cardboard box, with Jade and Benny not too far behind.

“We got spare letters for the school sign!” George said.

“Perfect,” Sawyer said with a grin, and rummaged through the box, picking out four tiles and handing them to Harold. “Now, I want you two to head outside, just act natural, and when Rhant’s not looking, change the message on the school sign. Then, as soon as you’re done, I want you to come back and meet me right inside the main entrance.”

“Sure thing!” Harold said, pocketing the extra tiles.

“Got any requests?” George asked. Sawyer grinned.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” She then knelt into a huddle with the two boys, and whispered something to them. But George and Harold looked a little confused by her choice of message.

“Really?”

“That’s all?”

“Trust me, boys,” Sawyer said with a wink. “It’s simple, but it’ll be effective.” The two boys simply shrugged in response and headed out.

“What can we do to help, Mom?” Jade asked. Benny was bouncing on his toes next to her, just as eager to help. Sawyer thought on this, and smiled.

“I want you and your brother to head outside, too.” She said. “It’ll be a good opportunity to get to know your new classmates. But I don’t want you guys to draw too much attention to yourselves, okay? Especially not Rhant’s attention.”

“Okay. C’mon, Benny,” Jade said, taking her brother’s hand and heading out, as well.

“You headin’ out, too?” Edith couldn’t help but ask. Sawyer gave her a smile.

“In a bit,” she said, and held up some more paper towels. “But first I’m gonna help you clean up this pudding!”

George and Harold were finally at the party, and quickly blended in with their classmates, who were more than happy to see them.

“Where have you guys been?” asked Todd, a boy from Harold’s class. “We’ve been bored to death out here!”

“Yeah,” agreed Todd’s friend Harvey Monicker, a fifth-grade boy. “At this rate, I’d prefer another Invention Convention instead!”

“Please tell us you’ve got something good planned,” said Mary, a girl who sat next to George in science class.

“We can’t indulge any details,” George said. “But yes, we do.” The kids all grinned.

“Knowing you guys, I bet it’s gonna be awesome!” Harvey said.

“But...” spoke up Tommy, who couldn’t help but overhear. “What if Melvin figures out what you’re up to, and tattles on you again?” The mood quickly turned somber at this.

“Good point,” said Todd with a small scowl. “I mean, hasn’t he ruined your lives enough?” Harold couldn’t help but flinch at that.

“Maybe... you guys shouldn’t be so hard on him,” he said, thinking back to the harsh bullying Melvin had gotten from Butch and his friends the other day. “He didn’t know it was gonna end up with me and George being put in separate classes.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying it, but Harold’s right,” George said. “Melvin didn’t know what Krupp was gonna do. He was just doing it for extra credit, like he always does.” The kids looked unsure at this, but were willing to listen.

“Okay...” Todd muttered.

“One thing I still can’t figure out, though,” Mary spoke up. “What is it with him and extra credit, anyways? It’s not like he needs it. As much as I hate to admit it, he’s one of the smartest kids in school! He’s in almost all of the same classes as me, and I’ve never seen him get anything below an A+!”

George and Harold shrugged, because honestly, they could never figure it out, either. And they’ve known him since kindergarten! Harold put his hands in his pockets, reminding him why they were there to begin with. He nudged George and nodded towards the school sign. George nodded back then looked at their classmates.

“Okay, the coast looks about clear, so we’re gonna get this goin’. See ya later!”

“Good luck, guys,” said Tommy. The two friends gave him and thumbs-up, and they headed slowly and quietly towards the school sign. They were just a few more steps away from it, when...

“There you two are!” While they knew that he was in on their prank this time, the boys still stopped dead in their tracks at the sound of Krupp’s voice, purely out of habit. They both took a deep breath, then looked at the two adults staring at them.

“Yeah, Mr. Krupp?” George asked, sounding as innocent as he possibly could. Krupp kept his usual stoic look.

“A moment, please?” he asked. George and Harold quickly walked over to him and Mr. Rhant. “Boys, this is Superintendent Rhant, our guest of honor for today’s party.”

“Nice to meet you,” George and Harold chorused politely, even though they didn’t mean it in the slightest. Krupp then glanced in Rhant’s direction.

“Sir, this is...”

“George Beard and Harold Hutchins,” Mr. Rhant said, making the boys in question and Krupp tense up slightly. “I read up on their files. I know all about you two and your... shenanigans.” He then shot a look at Krupp. “Surprised it took you four years to finally put them in separate classes, Benjamin.” Krupp chuckled anxiously.

“Well, it was hard to pin it on them, Sir. These days, people want proof. I was finally able to catch them in the act, though!” The old man gave a small huff, then suddenly looked back at George and Harold, quite literally cracking a cruel grin.

“If we still did things my way, here,” he said darkly. “...You two would’ve been put in separate schools altogether.”

The boys froze at this. Separate schools? He could actually do that? Harold’s eyes went wide as he began to tremble. George sensed his friend was on the verge of a panic attack, and quickly gripped his hand in support, glaring back at Mr. Rhant, who continued to give them that twisted grin.

Benjamin looked on, stomach twisting as he clenched his jaw. The sight of Mr, Rhant taking cruel pleasure in Harold’s panic made his blood boil all of a sudden. He could handle the old man’s mental warfare; Hell, he had done it for decades. But he was drawing the line at it being directed at his students.

He slightly shook his head in confusion. Where was all this coming from? Just a month ago, he had taken the same twisted delight when telling the two pranksters he was putting them in separate classes, but now he was having the overwhelming urge to protect them? What was with him today?

“Pudding’s up!” Edith’s voice rang out as she exited the school, a large bowl of tapioca pudding in her arms. Krupp, along with the boys, let out a small relieved breath at the distraction. Mr. Rhant straightened up.

“If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen,” he said. “That pudding’s calling my name.” And with that, he headed for the snack table, allowing Krupp and the boys to let out the shudders they’d been holding.

“I had almost forgotten how unnatural it was when that man smiled...” Krupp muttered.

“When YOU smile like that, it makes any room you’re in 10 degrees colder,” George said.

“But when HE smiles?” Harold shuddered again. “I’m pretty sure both a puppy and a kitten somewhere just died.” Krupp couldn’t help but agree at that. Harold was shaking at this point, which gave him an odd, tight feeling in his gut that made him wince. Then he noticed that Mr. Rhant’s back was to them.

“Look, whatever Sawyer wants you two to do,” he whispered to them. “You better do it now while he’s not looking.” George and Harold nodded, and quickly went to work on the school sign. Krupp couldn’t help but roll his eyes a bit when he saw the new message.

Typical Sawyer...

Harold was still trembling by the time he and George had met with Sawyer back inside the main entrance. This didn’t go unnoticed by her, and she kneeled down to meet his eye level.

“Hey, are you okay?” She asked. He didn’t answer her, as he was more focused on taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down.

“Your old principal is a monster,” George said angrily.

“What happened?”

“He said that he would’ve put us in separate schools if he were still in charge,” he explained, glaring out the window at Rhant.

Sawyer clenched her fists at this. Hadn’t he caused enough misery today just by making everyone waste a perfectly good Saturday by coming to this stupid “party”? Now he had to go and give a poor kid, who had done NOTHING to him, a panic attack. She looked at Harold, her anger temporarily fading, and slowly pulled him into a hug.

“It’s okay, shhhhhh. Rhanty’s retired now. He can’t do anything to you guys,” she rubbed his back as she tried to reassure both him and George. “And even if he does try something, I won’t let it happen. Not in a million years.”

He’s ruined enough lives, she thought to herself. Harold finally managed to calm down and he looked up at her gratefully.

“Thanks,” he said. She grinned back.

“No problem!” She then stood back up, and reached into a duffle bag she had brought with her, pulling out two kid-sized black leather jackets, that matched the one she was currently sporting. “Now here, put these on.”

“What are these for?” George asked.

“If we’re gonna do this, we’re doing it in style!” she winked. The boys couldn’t help but smile as they put the jackets on. Sawyer then handed them each a pair of sunglasses, which they put on.

“Got the boom-box ready?” she asked. George nodded, and she handed him a CD. “Track 6. I’ll let you know when to press play.”

Looking out the window once again, she saw Rhant walk back over to Krupp, a bowl of tapioca pudding in his hand. They seemed to engage in small talk, albeit uncomfortably on Ben’s part, for a few minutes. Then, just as Rhant had another spoonful of pudding, he glanced at the school sign briefly before doing a rather hilarious double-take, spitting out the pudding he was eating and dropping the bowl in his hand. His eyes were huge at this point as he stared at the school sign, his face going pale.

He saw it. That was her cue.

“You boys ready to do this?” She asked, slipping on her own pair of sunglasses.

“Yeah!”

Oh, she was gonna enjoy this way more than she should.

Mr. Rhant’s face was now several shades whiter as he continued to stare at the school sign. He had seen the message on the that sign as soon as he got there. He knew what it had read. But now, the message was different. It was a message that, for the first time in the cruel old man’s life, made his blood run cold.

DID YA MISS ME, RHANTY?

Mr. Rhant slowly backed away from the sign before bumping into Krupp.

“Sir?” He asked. “Something wrong?”

The longer Mr. Rhant stared at that message, the more his fear quickly turned to anger. He then turned and glared up at his former student.

“...Where is she, Krupp?” He growled. The younger man looked at him, seemingly oblivious.

“What are you talking about?”

“YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT!” Rhant shouted, getting the attention of everyone, staff and students alike, and pointed at the new message on the school sign. “Only one person ever called me that. And you know EXACTLY who I’m talking about! So you are going to tell me right now; Where. Is. She?”

Krupp opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, the front doors of the school swung open to the sounds of... AC/DC? Everyone turned in the direction of the sound to see George and Harold, wearing matching leather jackets and sunglasses. The music was actually coming from the boom-box George had hoisted onto his shoulder, turned up to full volume. Then the two stepped aside, and up strolled a woman with short, light brown hair, wearing jeans, high-top sneakers, and the same leather-jacket-and-sunglasses combo as them. Underneath said jacket, she wore a bright red t-shirt that read in white letters, ‘I Don’t Know How to Act My Age. I’ve Never Been This Old Before’. Most of the people in attendance had no clue who this woman was, but the two boys with her, the lunch lady, the school nurse, the principal, and the now-retired superintendent, did.

Benjamin was trying desperately not to laugh, while Mr. Rhant had tensed up in anger. The woman gave him a defiant Cheshire Cat grin and began to strut in his direction as the music played.

Back in black

I hit the sack

I've been too long, I'm glad to be back

Yes, I'm let loose

From the noose

That's kept me hanging about

The teachers continued to watch on in stunned silence, several questions running through all their minds. Who was this woman? What was she doing here? Did Krupp know her? He certainly seemed happy to see her.

I've been looking at the sky

'Cause it's gettin' me high

Forget the hearse, 'cause I never die

I got nine lives

Cat's eyes

Abusin' every one of them and running wild

The woman briefly stopped to glance at the students looking at her. She then smiled, lowered her sunglasses, and gave them a friendly wink, before slipping the sunglasses back on and heading towards her targeted destination, George and Harold following behind her. It was at that moment that unlike their teachers, the students of Jerome Horwitz Elementary all agreed on one thing; whoever this lady was, George and Harold seemed to like her. And therefore, she was COOL.

Mr. Rhant, on the other hand, couldn’t be thinking more oppositely. His face now resembled a ripe tomato, and he was trembling with fury at this point at just the mere sight of her. She grinned smugly, knowing that even though she hadn’t even said anything to him yet, she had successfully gotten so deep under his skin, he looked ready to burst a blood vessel. It was then that she finally came to a stop just a few feet from him and Krupp.

'Cause I'm back

Yes, I'm back

Well, I'm back

Yes, I'm back

Well, I'm back, back

Well, I'm back in black

Yes, I'm BACK IN BLACK!

She made a quick signal to the boys, who turned off the boom-box. She then took off her sunglasses, and looked right at Rhant, whose face went even redder.

“Sawyer Grayps…” He growled through clenched teeth. Sawyer grinned smugly.

“Hello, Rhanty. Told you I’d be back.”

Chapter Text

It had been raining that late summer’s day in 1964. A torrential downpour that matched the turbulent feelings in the frightened minds and broken hearts of two young friends. They would never forget it... no matter how much they wanted to.

One of them was moving away.

12-year-olds Sawyer Grayps and Benny Krupp held each other’s hand as tightly as they could as they watched her family pack up their car, a horrible confirmation that this wasn’t just a bad dream that they would wake up from any minute now.

Martha, Sawyer’s mother, couldn’t help but briefly stop to look at the two sadly. All 6 of the Grayps children had made many wonderful friends here in Piqua over the years, but none of them were as close as their youngest daughter, Sawyer, and Benny, the eldest son of their neighbors, the Krupps. 

The two of them had met on their first day of preschool, and were practically joined at the hip ever since. You rarely ever saw one without the other, be it playing around in the backyard, setting up a blanket fort to watch TV or read comic books, or helping out with chores on the Krupp family farm.

But now? It seemed there were forces determined to tear them apart. 

And one of them was Sawyer’s own father.

Vincent Grayps Sr. had gotten a promotion at his work just the previous month. Unfortunately, it meant he also had to transfer all the way to Boston, which meant the family had to move hundreds of miles away before the end of the summer.

Naturally, the rest of the Grayps family were stunned and outraged at the short notice of them having to just up and move, especially the children. But two of them in particular were the most upset.

Their second-eldest, Vincent Jr. (or “Vinnie” as he’d always preferred), briefly stopped packing the car with a huff.

“This is bullshit,” he said angrily. Martha quickly covered the ears of 5-year-old twins Hunter and Herbert, the two youngest of the family.

“Vinnie!” she chided. “Language.”

“At least for Sawyer and Alex, starting a new school won’t be as jarring”, Vinnie continued, ignoring his mother’s scolding. “And the twins haven’t even started school yet! But it’s gonna be my senior year of high school, Dad! And you want me to start at a different school all the way in Boston when I’m this close to graduating?!” 

Martha couldn’t help but agree with her son there. Forcing Vinnie to start at a new school this late in his high school career was positively ludicrous. She even tried convincing her husband to let him live with a friend until graduation, but Vincent Sr. wouldn’t hear of it. Even more out of the question was her older sister, who had been at odds with Vincent from the day they met.

“Vinnie’s right, Dad. This isn’t fair!” Sawyer protested for what had felt like the millionth time, stomping her foot for emphasis.

Ah, yes, Sawyer; the second-youngest of the Grayps children at the time. She and her father never really had seen eye-to-eye. He was a perfectionist to the highest degree, always so prim and proper despite his middle-class upbringing and lifestyle, and she couldn’t have been more his polar opposite even if she tried. She was a rebellious and rambunctious tomboy; always winding up dirty, getting into trouble, and preferring to wear her older brothers’ hand-me-downs over the expensive, itchy, frilly dresses her father always bought her. While Martha adored their daughter’s free spirit, it drove Vincent Sr. up a wall!

So yeah, Sawyer and her father were always at odds with each other. And to say that she was against his intentions to move the entire family away from the only home she had ever known... would be an understatement.

Mr. Grayps simply rolled his eyes at, what he at least considered to be, his daughter’s immature behavior.

“Life’s hardly fair, Sawyer,” he said stonily. “You have to fight tooth and nail to get where you want to be in life, and that’s what I’ve been doing for this family!” Sawyer’s hazel eyes glared back at him from under the hood of her yellow raincoat as she tightened her hold on Benny’s hand.

“And besides”, Martha interjected, trying her best to make light of the situation as she discreetly scowled at her husband’s insensitivity. “Sunny's college is closer there. We’ll be able to visit her more often.”

The sound of a car pulling up cut through the air and the pouring rain, catching everyone’s attention. A chill went down both Sawyer and Benny’s spines as they immediately recognized the car, and their stomachs sank when the driver stepped out. It was none other than their principal, Mr. Rhant.

“What the heck is HE doing here?” Sawyer heard Alex ask. She, and every other kid present, were wondering the same thing.

“What? A principal can’t stop by to see off his old students, especially one of his favorites?” Mr. Rhant asked, but it that wasn’t what immediately set the kids, Sawyer and Benny in particular, on edge. 

It was the fact that he was smiling. 

In all the years that the two had known their principal, he never, EVER smiled, especially at them.

Sawyer’s stomach twisted. Something was up.

“That’s very kind of you, Mr. Rhant,” Martha said politely, even though like her children, she liked the man about as much as she liked getting skin rash.

“Indeed it is, honey,” Mr. Grayps chimed in, suddenly uncharacteristically chipper, as he added the last few bags to the car, and then walked over, giving Mr. Rhant’s hand a firm shake. “Always a pleasure to see you, Sir.”

“Oh, believe me, Vincent,” he chuckled coldly. “The pleasure’s all mine. And congratulations, by the way. Glad to see the hard work you’ve done for your family is finally paying off.”

“Thank you!”

Sawyer’s grip tightened on Benny’s hand, who returned the gesture.

“I will say though,” Mr. Rhant continued. “It’s certainly going to take some adjusting to not having your children in my school next month. It’s going to be much… quieter than what I’ve grown accustomed to, especially regarding young Sawyer.”

This earned the young girl a quick, sharp glance from her father.

“Yes, she always has been rather rambunctious,” Vincent Sr. responded tersely. “I… I mean her mother and I are hoping that a change of scenery will help smooth out those rough edges of hers.”

“I’m sure it will. The Boston area has some of the finest private schools in the state. If anyone can straighten her out, it’s them.”

Sawyer froze a bit at this. Private school? She’d heard nothing but horror stories about them from her classmates. Those schools were so uptight and strict that they made Jerome Horwitz Elementary look like a walk in the park. “Places like that eat kids like you alive”, they would tell her. Not to mention the fact that the students are all made to dress exactly the same. It was bad enough that her dad made her wear those awful dresses, now there was a possibility that she was gonna be forced to wear a stuffy uniform? This day just kept getting worse and worse.

“While it’s very considerate of you to think of what’s best our daughter’s education,” Martha’s voice cut in as she gently put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “I prefer that it’d be mine and my husband’s decision of what school she’ll go to.” 

Sawyer let out a small sigh in relief as she smiled up at her mom, which was returned in kind. She was always in her little girl’s corner, no matter what. 

“BENNY!” A loud, raucous voice with a southern twang suddenly rang out, making everyone (even Mr. Rhant) jump, the boy in question especially. They all looked to the source and Sawyer’s eyes narrowed. 

If only some other moms were as supportive, she thought.

Bernice Krupp strode in their direction, a frown on her face, toddler in one arm and a young boy quick on her heels.

“Haven’t you said all yer goodbyes to them yet?” She barked. “Ya still got chores to do!” Benny flinched and tightened his grip on Sawyer’s hand.

“Sorry, Mom,” he mumbled.

“‘Sorry’ doesn’t milk them cows any faster!” 

“Please, Mrs. Krupp,” Sawyer spoke up. “Just a few more minutes. Alex hasn’t even gotten to say goodbye to Jasper yet! And we all wanna say bye to him and Jo-Jo!” She motioned to the two children with the older woman, who sighed.

“Alright, but make it quick. Both Benny and Jasper still need to help tend the cows!”

Jasper and Joey (“Jo-Jo” for short) were Benny’s younger siblings, who the Grayps children had grown to consider family over the years. Jasper was even more timid than Benny, and the same age as Alex. And while the two of them had gotten themselves into their share of trouble before, they weren’t quite as close as their respective older siblings. That fact didn’t stop the middle Krupp child as he ran to Alex and nearly tackled him with a hug, the two quietly sobbing their goodbyes as Vinnie affectionately ruffled his hair.

“See-Saw,” Joey warbled, toddling towards Sawyer, who choked up a bit at the nickname. The youngest Krupp child always had the hardest time pronouncing Sawyer’s name, accidentally calling her “See-Saw”, which ultimately stuck. Out of all the Grayps siblings, Sawyer had quickly become the baby’s favorite playmate, which made it even harder for her to say goodbye to the little tyke.

“I love you, Jo-Jo,” she said, hugging the toddler close. “I hate that I won’t be there to see you start kindergarten. The teachers won’t stand a chance against you.”

Joey giggled in response as Martha and the twins came over to give their goodbye hugs as well, quickly joined by Vinnie and Alex. Jasper, however, walked up to the two best friends.

“Bye, Sawyer,” he said, eyes still misty as he moved to hug her. “We’re all really gonna miss you guys.”

“I’m gonna miss you guys, too,” she replied, returning the hug full force before whispering, “You and Jo-Jo help Benny keep Ol’ Rhanty on his toes for me, okay?”

“You got it.”

Mr. Grayps tapped his foot impatiently. The car had been finally packed up ages ago, and the kids were still dawdling with these goodbyes. 

“Yes, yes, we’re gonna miss you all,” he stated almost dismissively. “All right, everyone, wrap it up! We’ve got a schedule to keep if we want to avoid the worst of traffic!”

“Oh, of course,” Mr. Rhant said, that slimy, unsettling grin returning full force. “Don’t let us keep you.”

While the rest of the Grayps family reluctantly shortened their goodbyes and trudged their way to the car, Sawyer stubbornly stayed put, hugging Benny as tightly as she could.

“Sawyer, come on,” her father sternly ordered.

“No,” she responded sharply.

“Excuse me?”

“Not yet!” She shouted. “I’m still saying goodbye to Benny.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Sawyer! You had all this time to do it!”

“I don’t care! He’s my best friend!”

“Sawyer Eileen, stop being so ridiculous and let’s go!” Vincent Sr. stormed up to the two of them, grabbing Sawyer’s arm in an attempt to pry her off.

“Let go of me!” She shrieked. Benny tightened his hug on her, which only made Mrs. Krupp step in, grabbing her son.

“Benny, stop bein’ such a baby!” She barked. “They need to hit the road, and you need to finish your chores!”

“NO!” He shouted back. The two parents gripped harder on their respective children, determined to get them apart. 

“Vincent, stop it!” Martha shouted, getting out of the car and running up to her husband. “You’re hurting her!”

“Mom, let him go!” Jasper cried out, holding the now sobbing Joey close. Vincent and Bernice ignored them all as they continued to pull. Benny and Sawyer had been brutally forced out of their hug and were now grasping onto each other’s arm with all the strength they had, in spite of the pouring rain.

“DON’T YOU TOUCH HIM!” Sawyer suddenly roared.

She could see Benny flinch at the sudden contact of Mr. Rhant’s hand on his shoulder, helping Bernice in her attempt to loosen the two’s grip. Then the older man then leaned close and whispered something to him. 

She couldn’t hear what was said, but Benny expression said it all. His eyes were wide with heartbreak and fear as he froze at whatever words had been spoken to him, grip beginning to slack in his frightened daze. 

This was all the opening the adults needed to rip the two friends away from another.

“No!” Sawyer yelled as she fought against her father’s grip, futilely reaching for Benny. This seemed to break him out of his trance as he tried to make a break towards her, only to be lifted by the strong, cow-herding arms of his mother.

“LET ME GO!” Benny shouted and struggled, face turning red as tears streamed down. 

“BENNY!!!”

Vincent continued to drag his defiant daughter towards the car, ignoring her kicks and screams along with the frantic pleas of his wife. Benny meanwhile continued to struggle in his mother’s grip, which remained vice tight. Managing to wiggle one arm free, he reached for her in spite of the steadily growing gap between them.

“SAWYER!!!”

Sawyer kicked, screamed and clawed even as her father opened the back car door and shoved her in, fastening the seatbelt on her and locking the door before swiftly shutting it. She furiously banged on the window, Vinnie restraining her so she wouldn’t hurt herself.

“Vincent, that was too far,” Martha objected.

“It’s not my fault she’s always being so difficult!” Vincent snapped back at her. Sawyer continued the pound her fists against the car window as she watched outside. Benny’s struggling became less and less frantic, until finally he slumped in his mother’s arms, sobbing. With an emotionless face, Bernice turned on her heel and carried him back towards the Krupp family farm, her two younger children slowly following, equally in tears.

It was at that point that the dam broke. Sawyer crumpled into Vinnie’s arms, crying loudly as tears flooded down her face. Alex began to rub circles on her back as he choked back tears. The heartbreak in their sister was quickly picked up by Hunter and Herbert, who also began to cry. Martha was quick to enter the car in an attempt to console her children, while Vincent looked dismissive and inconvenienced by his children’s emotions.

“Let’s head out, shall we? We were supposed to be on the road long ago!”

Martha glared at her husband as she entered the passenger’s seat, the sounds of the kids’ subdued cries breaking her heart. Vincent remained stone faced as he started up the car.

“Dad?” Vinnie finally spoke up. “Can I roll down the window? Sawyer looks like she’s gonna get sick.”

“Oh for the love of—! Fine. But make sure she doesn’t climb out of it.” He really hadn’t needed to worry about that. All the fight had seeped out of Sawyer as she continued to sob. Vinnie reached over her with his free arm and rolled down the car window, letting the cool air in. 

It was then that Mr. Rhant walked up to the car, still with that disgusting, cruel grin on his face.

“It is certainly going to be a shame not having you with us anymore, Sawyer,” he said. “We will all miss you dearly.”

Sawyer slowly lifted her head and shot one last ugly look towards her former principal, tears furiously continuing to stream down her cheeks.

“I’m gonna come back one day, Rhanty,” she swore to him, her voice hoarse. “And when that day comes... you’ll be sorry.”

Mr. Rhant shook his head with a condescending laugh and a small wave.

“Sure you will. Enjoy private school!”

And with that, the family car drove off, out of Piqua, for what seemed to be the last time.

Back then, Tyberius Rhant had simply dismissed those words as the idle and empty threats of an angry and defeated little girl. But now, seeing that same girl, now a grown woman, standing in front of him over 30 years later... he was beginning to shockingly regret underestimating his former student’s ability to not only keep a promise, but apparently hold an impressive grudge. 

Sawyer smugly grinned. She was enjoying watching the now-retired Superintendent squirm way more than she should.

“What’s wrong, Mr. Rhant? No ‘hello’ or ‘welcome back’?” she asked, her attempts at sounding innocent badly masking her pure mischievous glee. “And here I thought I was one of your favorites.”

“What the Hell are you doing here?!” Mr. Rhant demanded.

“What, a girl can’t stop by to see her favorite principal off when he’s retiring?” She grinned at the older man’s slight flinch as his words from all those years ago were thrown back at him.

“This party is students and staff only,” he tried to excuse. “You have no business being here!” A deep sense of foreboding came over him as her smile only grew. He tensed with both anger and anxiety, beginning to feel like a mouse trapped in the coils of a hungry snake.

“Oh, but I do, Rhanty,” she explained. “I wanted to give you your retirement present personally.” She then looked at Benjamin. “I thought you would’ve broken the news to him by now, Benny.” Mr. Rhant froze.

“What news?”

“I wasn’t gonna take this from you,” Benjamin replied, his grin eerily matching hers. “You were so looking forward to telling him.”

“Tell me what?” Mr. Rhant asked, but once again went ignored.

“Ben, you big sweetie!” said Sawyer. “But I know you’re just as eager as I am, so why don’t we compromise and both tell him?”

“That seems fair…”

“YOU TWO OVERGROWN BRATS BETTER TELL ME WHAT YOU’RE UP TO RIGHT NOW!!!” Mr. Rhant finally screamed. The two friends looked at him, still smiling. Benjamin put a hand on Sawyer’s shoulder.

“Mr. Rhant,” he started. “I am proud to introduce to you…”

“Jerome Horwitz Elementary’s new art teacher!” Sawyer announced, flourishing with a small bow. Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd of students. Did they hear that correctly? This awesome mystery woman was gonna be their art teacher?

Maybe this Saturday wouldn’t be so bad, after all.

“…What?” Mr. Rhant’s face went white. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. They had to be joking! Another one of Sawyer’s sick little pranks, just to get back at him. But his heart sank when Sawyer held up a piece of paper. It was paperwork for a job application, with both hers and Benjamin’s signatures. The ‘APPROVED’ stamp almost glowed a hellish red at him.

“I hired her just a few days ago,” Benjamin said with a smirk. “The day after your retirement was made official, actually.”

“Also, I had it laminated so you can’t rip it up,” Sawyer added. “One can never be too careful. Especially around you...” 

“It’s also fireproof!” A small, nasally voice piped up. The three adults and the rest of the students glanced over in the direction of the source. Melvin Sneedly felt a little overwhelmed at the sudden multitude of eyes now on him, especially the pleasantly surprised looks of George and Harold’s, but he squared his shoulders with a deep breath. “I, um, I saw to that myself.”

“I didn’t know you did that,” a sudden whisper from his right side made him jump, but he quickly relaxed once he saw that it was Jade, with her younger brother— Benny, was it?— not too far behind her. “That’s pretty cool of you.”

Melvin was unsure how to respond to that. It wasn’t often that one of his classmates complimented his work.

“Oh, well, thank you,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “It was just a simple matter of marinating the lamination plastic in a flame-retardant solution of my own design.”

“Thank you, Melvin,” Sawyer said with a smile. Benjamin also grinned, and made a mental note to give the kid a little extra credit come Monday. The two of them didn’t think it was possible for Mr. Rhant’s face to go any paler, but it did. But his now paper-white face then quickly turned blood red.

“You planned this,” he growled at Benjamin, glaring daggers at him. “I know you did!”

“How do you know? Do you have any proof?” Benjamin asked with a smirk. “I mean, this is a country of laws, after all.” At that last bit, he discreetly winked at George, who looked surprised for a moment, then gave a small amused smile, remembering a similar exchange between the two of them not too long ago.

“I got all the proof I need in my gut!” Mr. Rhant responded. Sawyer grinned. It was too easy.

“Looks like you gathered quite a lot of proof over the years,” she quipped, glancing at his stomach. This sent the entire student body into a fit of giggles, especially George and Harold, who exchanged quiet fives. Even some of the teachers couldn’t help but laugh. Benjamin had to bite his lip to keep himself from snickering. 

Mr. Rhant’s face was so red at this point, you would think every blood vessel he had was about to burst.

“No… no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!” He yelled. “The last thing this school… no, the last thing this town needs is YOU TWO together again!”

“Well, that’s too bad,” said Sawyer. “Because Benny and I are gonna be working together every single day from now on. We’ll be able to finally do what we love as a team and enjoy every moment of it!” Her expression suddenly darkened.

“And that just burns you up, doesn’t it? So much for you and dear ol’ Dad’s plan working.” 

He only glared in response. Benjamin, however, looked confused at the mention of her father.

“Sawyer,” he said. “What does your dad have to do with this?” 

“...Benny,” she said with a sigh. “You remember why my family had to move all those years ago, right?” Her best friend was still confused, but answered her question regardless.

“Yeah, your dad got a promotion.”

“Yes, he did… but didn’t you ever wonder how he got that promotion?”

“Sawyer, what are you talking about?” She didn’t answer him. She only looked at the elder man, her eyes blazing.

“Do you wanna tell him, Rhanty… or should I?”

Mr. Rhant only glared at her in response.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong. It was a surprisingly brilliant plan to try and break my spirit,” she continued. “Heck, for that first month, I’m ashamed to admit it actually worked…”

It had been a month since the Grayps family had moved into their small home in Boston, and they were obviously still adjusting to their noisier, busier surroundings. It was during that time that Martha discovered that the family was now expecting their 7th child, and while the children were happy about their new sibling, the happy feeling was noticeably less considering the current circumstances.

Vinnie was still bitter towards his father for having to finish high school in a completely different state altogether, Alex had his own problems due to an older classmate targeting him for his lunch money, and Martha had to ultimately buy the twins earplugs just so they could get a full night’s sleep due to all the hustle and bustle of their rather active neighborhood, especially at the late hours of the night.

But none of them were having a harder time than poor Sawyer.

Being quite literally ripped away from her best friend and taken almost 850 miles away from everything she’d ever known had done no favors for her emotionally. Sure, she was able to write him letters and was granted a phone call whenever long-distance costs were allowed in the family budget, but it just wasn’t enough to fill the void within her. And that wasn’t even breaching the subject of the private school her father shipped her to, in spite of her mother’s objections. She never thought there was a school out there that was even more of a prison than Jerome Horwitz Elementary, but she’d been proven oh so wrong. 

Charles Ernest Lee Nash Academy was a cold, repressive, uptight facility that dished out the harshest punishments for the slightest transgressions. Even so much as a single thread out of place on their itchy, gray uniforms was enough to warrant a ruler strike to the wrist or back of the head. And speaking out of turn would easily get you a public humiliation at the front of the class in the form of whatever punishment the teacher took the most cruel delight in. Pretty much all of these had happened to her within just the first two weeks of attending.

Sawyer Grayps was no longer the happy, energetic child she had once been. Now she barely spoke even when spoken to, left the confines of her room to eat or use the bathroom when absolutely needed, and cried herself to sleep nearly every other night. It had reached a point that her mother and siblings were seriously beginning to fear for the young girl’s health.

But did her father care? Ha! You’d be giving him far too much credit.

“Well I, for one, am thankful to see you’ve been staying out of trouble,” he had said once as she was finishing her breakfast before school. “I knew moving here was a good choice.”

“You call this ‘good’?!” Vinnie snapped back at him. “Dad, look at her! If she keeps going on like this, she’s gonna end up in the hospital!”

“You’re overreacting Vinnie,” their father dismissed. 

“OVERREACTING?!” Vinnie exploded. “You’re the one who packed us all up and shipped us out here with little to no notice! Ever since you got that stupid promotion, you’ve been next to nonexistent! You haven’t even helped out Mom ONCE since we found out she’s having a baby! I’ve been the man of this house because you’re so busy with your head up your own ass, that you don’t even bother seeing or caring how WE feel!”

The ensuing argument between father and son was like static in Sawyer’s ears as she continued to eat, only to jump slightly at the touch of someone’s hand on her shoulder.

“Come on, Sweetheart,” Martha said quietly. “I’ll drive you to school today.” Standing up and grabbing her backpack, Sawyer walked towards the door, not fully noticing the cold, venomous glare her mother shot at her father. 

This had become like clockwork this past month. Go to school, make it through the day, come home, and try to drown out the constant confrontations within her family. That’s how it had been since they moved here, and this was how it was probably gonna be until she eventually moved out.

She was all but resigned to the fact that she was gonna have to try to survive this shell of a life until then.

But all of that changed one fateful night.

After another particularly grueling day at school, Sawyer went through the usual end of the day routine almost robotically; attempt to do homework she barely understood, eat dinner, brush teeth, put on pajamas and get into bed.

However, there was a deviation in that routine this particular night, as she had downed a glass of water before bed to help soothe a suddenly dry throat. And at quarter past eleven, she had to go to the bathroom.

After doing what she needed to, she began to head back to her room. That was when she heard a sound. It was someone talking. 

“…She’s been so much better,” she heard the voice of her father through the barely open door of his study as she silently trudged past it. “Especially after getting her away from bad influences like that Krupp boy.”

That made her stop dead in her tracks with a scowl. Benny Krupp was a lot of things, but if anything, she was the bad influence on him!

“I beg to differ on that, Vincent,” Sawyer’s stomach turned as she inched closer to the door, and the all-too-familiar voice of Mr. Rhant could be heard loudly on the other end of the line. “Benjamin’s been perfectly behaved ever since your family moved away. Didn’t take too long for him to be put into line.”

“Still, I cannot thank you enough,” Vincent continued. “If you and Mr. King weren’t such good friends, I might’ve never gotten this promotion!”

Sawyer froze at her father’s words. What did he just say?

“It’s amazing what the right connection and one phone call can do, eh?” She could hear Mr. Rhant bark with laughter, which made her feel more sick to her stomach than she already was. 

Clamping a hand over her mouth to keep from making any noise, she slowly felt herself back away from the door, bile rising in her throat as she stumbled back towards the bathroom. 

But over the sound of her heart pounding in her ears, something else rang in her head. A memory; of what she had been told the day they left Piqua.

“You have to fight tooth and nail to get where you want to be in life, and that’s what I’ve been doing for this family!”

Those words echoed in her head as she closed the bathroom door behind her… and she promptly emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet until there was nothing left to empty. 

After a few minutes of occasional gagging mixed with muffled sobs, she shakily stood up and flushed the toilet before leaning in front of the sink. Running the faucet at its lowest so as not to attract noise, she splashed the icy cold water in her face a few times before putting her mouth under the faucet to rinse out the remaining sour, acidic taste.

She brushed her tangled, disheveled hair out her face. Looking into the mirror, she saw her reflection; a pale, sallow face, red eyes still brimming with tears. She didn’t look like herself anymore. She hadn’t for quite some time now. All she saw was just a shell of a girl who had her heart shattered like cheap porcelain several times over.

The longer she stared at her reflection, the more she grew to despise it… along with her father.

She clenched her fists at her sides, biting down on her lip so she wouldn’t scream and cry and call him every bad word she ever learned from Sunny and Vinnie. 

Her father had lied through his teeth that day. He didn’t fight for this promotion, like he had said. He just sucked up and kissed every single one of his superiors’ butts at every opportunity, and had to rely on a connection between his boss and her old principal to get what he wanted. 

She was still absentmindedly brushing her hair with her fingers before suddenly grasping it furiously. 

Much like her mother, she had been cursed with fast-growing hair. They usually had to go to get it cut every other month. It was then that she noticed it had grown quite a bit since the move, and now reached her shoulder blades. 

She always hated having long hair. It always got in the way and tangled so easily. But she had never hated it more than in that very moment. 

She hated her long hair, and she hated him. She hated both of them.

Whipping open the medicine cabinet connected to the mirror, she grabbed the scissors on the second shelf.

He always made her keep her hair long, but no more. 

Never again.

She began to chop away at it erratically, each honey brown clump she chopped away bigger than the last. Each chop seemed to bleed into the next, and by the time it had fully sunk in what she was doing, she was finished. All she could see was a large pile of hair— her hair— sitting in the sink. She then gathered the courage to look in the mirror once again.

It was completely uneven, several strands cut at bizarre angles. Half of her bangs were completely gone. There were large patches where she had unknowingly cut almost completely to her scalp.

It was, in every sense of the word, a disaster.

It was the freest she’d felt in what felt like an eternity.

Tears began to stream down her cheeks, and yet couldn’t stop herself from smiling. The smile gave way to a chuckle. Then a giggle. Finally, she was laughing. She had almost forgotten the last time she had done so. It was like an entire mountain of pain just evaporated off her shoulders in an instant. She laughed for what felt like ages, before she had to stop herself in order to breathe.

Her cheeks hurt as her reflection grinned back at her. Despite how angry and hurt she was, she was smiling.

Because now, that fire in her heart that was once thought finally stomped out, was now an unstoppable blaze.

Vincent Grayps Sr. was nothing more than a damn hypocrite. And both he and Mr. Rhant tried to ruin her life by taking her away from Benny.

This revelation filled Sawyer with a new resolve. 

If her father and Mr. Rhant had thought she was difficult before... oh, she was gonna make both their lives HELL.

Teachers and students alike startled at the sudden sound of rolling thunder in the distance. Harold flinched as George plugged his fingers in his ears. Not too far from them, one girl in particular jumped at the sudden noise, clamping her hands over her ears and slightly curling into herself as her younger brother clung to her for protection. 

Something you should know about Jade Grayps-Lymm is that she loves rainstorms, and even enjoyed watching whatever flash of lightning she was lucky enough to see dance across the sky. But she hated the sound of thunder. It was always so loud and unexpected. 

She looked up in that moment to see that the clouds above them all had steadily grown darker as the confrontation between the three adults went on, and now the weather itself mirrored the oncoming storm that was brewing between them. 

But Mr. Krupp wasn’t aware of this, nor was he of the growing wetness on his head as it had started to rain. As his mind and ears rang, his focus was completely on the older man in front of him. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He didn’t want to believe it. But deep down, a tiny, begrudging part of him suspected it for a long while. 

Red slowly began to seep into his vision as his hands tightened into fists. 

“It was you?” he growled, eerily quiet as he began to tremble with restraint. “You’re the reason they moved away?”

George and Harold’s blood just about turned to ice at the barely held back rage in their principal’s voice. The last time they had seen and heard him this angry was when the whole Carnival fiasco happened. As much as they would like to pretend that whole mess never occurred, they’d never forget the fury in his eyes that afternoon. 

Jade, meanwhile, squinted her eyes tilted her head curiously, despite her own growing anxiety. Either her eyes were playing tricks on her, or Mr. Krupp’s teeth had suddenly changed shape. They looked much… sharper.

Mr. Rhant took a deep breath, the redness in his own face fading.

“Now, Benjamin,” he said, almost condescendingly. “I think both you and Sawyer are overreacting, here. I owed her father a favor. He had a rather large family to provide for! 6 kids, a surprise 7th on the way… he needed that promotion. It was going to double, even triple his previous salary! Out of the goodness of my heart, I was able to pull some strings.”

“That may be the biggest pile of bullcrap I’ve ever heard!” Krupp said. “And I grew up on a cattle farm, so I would know.” He then pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a frustrated growl. “All these years… how did I not see it?! You tried everything to get Sawyer and I to stop our pranks. Detentions, suspensions, even putting us in separate classes!” 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw George and Harold flinch at that. It made him feel a dull pain in the back of his mind as small threads of guilt seeped in. His eyes squinted a bit in discomfort, but he pushed forward, still glaring at the older man. 

“You did everything shy of outright expelling us, because you could never prove we were involved in even half the pranks we did,” he continued. “But our families were practically next door neighbors. You could only keep the two of us apart for so long. But then you saw an opportunity to get Sawyer as far away from your school, and me, as possible. And you took it. ‘Out of the goodness of your heart’, my foot. You weren’t thinking of them. You were only thinking of yourself! And as always, you did it to make our lives miserable!”

Sawyer nodded in agreement, and shot her old principal a cold, hard glare. 

Jade anxiously hugged her brother closer to her. She had seen their mother mad before, but it usually only happened whenever the two of them had done something reckless. That anger stemmed from her getting scared or worried… but this? This was something entirely different. This anger came from something more dark. More ugly. More hateful.

And if the combined looks of the two friends could kill, the old man would’ve been a pile of ash almost instantaneously.

“Did you really think I was gonna let this slide?” She demanded. “After what you did? Do have any idea what your little scheme put either of us through?!” 

“WELL, IT WORKED, DIDN’T IT?!” Mr. Rhant snapped, the crimson in his face returning full force. “It was PERFECT! You two little monsters weren't going to be together anymore! You weren't going to be able to keep causing chaos in my school, enjoy each other’s company, and--”

“Ruin my life...”

Mr. Rhant surprisingly stopped his tirade as he and Sawyer looked at Mr. Krupp, who had uttered those three words. 

At those all too familiar words, Harold clung to George as the memory of the day their principal told them he was going to separate them came rushing back. George rubbed small circles on Harold’s back as a means to comfort him. 

What the boys didn't expect, though, was the look on their principal's face as he said those words now. He was white as a sheet, his eyes wide and almost glossed over. It was like he was a million miles away and going to be sick all at once. 

“Benny?” Sawyer asked, concern clearly etched on her face. This snapped him to attention.

“Uh, I-I meant “ruin your life”,” he stammered out a correction, but the ghastly look on his face was still there. “Y-Yeah. That’s what I was gonna say…”

The teachers and students watched on, their expressions a mix of confusion and unease. Edith took a step toward her boyfriend, worry clear as day in her blue eyes.

In that moment, gone was Mr. Krupp; the stern, short-tempered and monstrous principal the student body of Jerome Horwitz Elementary had grown to fear. Gone was even Benjamin Krupp; the tired, lonely man George and Harold had discovered him to be before they set up him and Edith with their “Prank for Good”. 

In his place, was simply Benny Krupp; the terrified and heartbroken young boy who had his last shreds of emotional support ripped away from him one rainy summer morning, by the person he hated and feared the most.

His breathing became shallow as he slowly began to back away. His heart pounded in his ears. Without even a word, he turned, almost scrambling as he ran back into the school.

“Ben!” Sawyer called after him. Everyone was stunned, but none more so than George and Harold. They had never seen their principal so rattled before. 

The rain really started to come down now. A few kids screamed at the sudden downpour as they all began to scatter.

“It’s gonna ruin my haar!” One girl with an impressively sized beehive hairdo shrieked. The teachers were quick to herd the kids into the school before the storm got worse. Jade made sure that she and Benny stayed close to Edith and Melvin amongst the hustle and bustle of the crowd as the filed in through the doors. 

But as the door closed, she took one last look at the four people who remained outside, the elder of the two continuing to glare daggers at each other.

Ben slammed the door behind him to the best of his ability once he reached the first floor boys’ bathroom and stumbled to the nearest mirror. He stared at his pale, near-hyperventilating reflection, knuckles turning white as he gripped the edges of the dripping sink for support. 

“You see? You won’t be together!”

Twisted, gleeful echoes of his voice went through his mind as the memory of that one fateful Saturday afternoon came back full force. 

The day he finally caught George and Harold red-handed. 

“You won’t be able to enjoy each other’s company and ruin my life!” 

He twisted his eyes shut, clamping his hands over his ears as the memory of his laughter at watching them squirm echoed, practically surrounding him as he felt the walls begin to close in.

Pins and needles shot up his back as his brain flashed to the first severe punishment Mr. Rhant had given him and Sawyer all the way back in 3rd Grade. 

Separate classes, just like he had done to George and Harold. 

His chest constricted at the memory of the panic and fear his 9-year-old self had felt in that instant. But Sawyer, bless her, remained steadfast. All it took was a simple reminder that they lived very close to each other to dissolve that fear. 

And if anything, being in separate parts of the school only strengthened their bond as friends, much to Mr. Rhant’s ever-growing anger. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all.

But all that changed the day the Grayps family moved away. 

In that instant, he was 12 years old again, standing in the front yard of what once was the Grayps family home. He could feel the rain as it poured down on him. The tightness of his mother’s grip as her arms pinned him to her body. The coldness of Mr. Rhant’s hand suddenly on his shoulder.

All these years, he’d never forgotten the words the old man hissed into his ear that day, and he doubts that he ever will.

“Your friendship is…”

“NO MORE.”

At those two words, Benny’s blood ran cold. 

That wasn’t just Mr. Rhant’s voice anymore. 

His surroundings changed. Gone was the dying lawn and the small house. In its place… a wrecked carnival and a half-destroyed school. 

The rain continued to pour as thunder rolled, the sky now an eerie red.

Not too far ahead of him, he saw two boys. Their backs were to him, but the way they were holding themselves, it was plain to see they were terrified. 

He froze when he saw why. 

A large… thing stood in front of them, hunched and shaking, but the look on his face told it was not from any chill in the air. Its green eyes shone with fury and hatred, teeth bared in an ugly, all-too-familiar scowl.

It was himself.

Or rather, part of it was.

Benny equally trembled in fear and backed away at the sight of the crude Rhant-Krupp amalgamation as it growled inhumanly. 

“No…” he whispered quietly.

It began to advance towards the two boys, who were now hugging each other, small sobs wracking their frames.

“No.”

He felt himself start to stand.

Its claws began to encircle the two.

He didn’t feel his feet touch the ground as he ran.

The sobs grew louder as the boys could feel its breath on them.

“NO!”

He jumped towards it, rearing back and—

Ben’s eyes snapped open. He wasn’t entirely sure when he wound up with his back against the opposing wall of the bathroom. What he did know, however, was that one of the mirrors was shattered, the knuckles of his right hand were bleeding, and he was now thoroughly drenched thanks to what remained of the somehow completely destroyed sink. 

Echoes of Mr. Rhant’s voice, crudely mixed with his own, words not even intelligible, pounded in his head as he sunk to the floor. At this point, he could care less about his clothes growing wetter by the second.

Shaking from the cold water, he wrapped his arms around himself as he curled in slightly. His whole body hurt as his heart pounded and his breathing became more ragged. It was only when he choked out a sob that the realized that the droplets of water streaming down his face weren’t just from the broken sink.

It was all too much. 

Gripping his head, he lowered in face into his knees, the running water drowning out the sound of his cries.