I stumbled out of the room after everyone had already left and I pushed between a couple of friends before running down the hall. I clutched my books to my chest and held Ann's pencil tight in my grip. I could see my locker down at the other end of the hallway. I gripped my supplies a bit tighter and then I started running down the hallway. I jumped to the side to avoid others coming down the hall. I spun around, barely able to swerve between chatting friends. I lost my balance, falling forward, but I was able to regain some of it...unfortunately, Sally Tamas, a long time rival of mine, was right there when I lost my balance. I saw her at the very last second and she smiled deviously and she stuck out her foot. I stumbled over her foot and I fell flat on my face, my books skittering everywhere. Sally cackled.

     "I heard you went on vacation," She said. I looked up at her with a confused expression.

     "What are you talking about?" I asked.

     "Well, did you have a nice trip?" She asked with a sneer. I stared at her, unamused. She laughed and walked away. I started to push myself up when my friend, Ben saw me on the ground. He rushed over and helped me up.

     "Dude, are you alright?" He asked as he helped me gather my books together. I had managed to hold on to Ann's pencil and I tucked it away safely into my pocket. I got all of my books together and I stood up. Ben and I hurried down the hall to my locker, pushing between the crowds of people all rushing to get to their next class. I glanced at my watch and I hurriedly scrambled to turn the lock on my locker. I spun it to the first number then I twirled it to the second number. I twisted the knob onto the third number and I heard the click signaling that it was open.

     "Rally, watch out!" Ben tried to warn, but it was too late. I had opened my locker, but the instant I had, someone had come up and slammed it shut again. I looked from the hand on my locker door and saw Sal's smiling face.

     "Clumsy me," he said, his smile broad. I knocked his hand away and put my combination in again as Sal walked away, once more triumphant. I unlocked my locker and I flung it open.

     "Ben, you can go on ahead, I'll catch up in a second," I called back to my friend. Ben shrugged and hurried forward. I finished getting my books together and I slammed my locker shut. I turned and I shot off down the hall again. I swerved and ducked between the crowd of kids. I flattened myself against the wall as a big group of friends went by, still able to keep my step. I saw another two groups on either side of the hall and right in the middle was a boy and a girl and they were holding hands and staring into each others eyes, not paying attention to me as I rushed towards them. I gritted my teeth and when I came upon them, I tossed my books up so that they flew over the conjoined hands and then I tucked and rolled on my shoulder on the ground, barely edging beneath the young lovers' hands. I finished my roll and caught my books, somewhat unsteadily, but I still caught them. I stood up and glanced back.

     "That was awesome," I murmured with a grin before shooting off down the hall again. I continued running and I saw a kid in a wheelchair wheeling his way down the hall and I immediately knew who it was. It was one of my other good friends, Will Yam. He had lost his legs in a car crash a few years before hand, hence he was wheelchair bound. I ran at about the same speed, if not faster, than Will. "Hey, Will, how's it going?" I asked, trying to stay close to him because of the massive invisible force field he was able to create.

     "Oh, not too bad, just trying to get to class," he said.

     "Whoa, crazy, same here," I said, slightly out of breath. My strides were like splits as I tried to keep up with my friend.

     "You know, it's kind of unfair, you being able to have wheels and all," I mumbled to him.

     "I don't have legs, what do you want me to do?" Will asked, slightly annoyed at my comment. I snickered to myself. This was the whole reason I was friends with Will. He wouldn't get upset if you made jokes about his rather serious problem. I cut around a corner and Will expertly turned sharply, but then we both stopped dead. Lying before us was a staircase. I looked over at Will.

     "Uh...I don't suppose you could ramp down it?" I asked sheepishly. Will scowled at me and he wheeled his chair into me, crushing me against the wall. "Ow, sorry, it was just a suggestion. We need to find Ben," I said. "Come on." Will and I took off down the hallway again in search of Ben. I checked my watch again and swallowed. We only had five minutes to change classes. We had to find Ben fast if I wanted any hope of making it to class on time. We rounded the corner again as I thought about how I couldn't be late again. We shot off down the corridor glancing left and right, searching for our friend.

     "Why can't this school get elevators?" I said in between breaths. All of this top speed sprinting was getting me tired. Will started to pull away as I stopped to catch my breath. I leaned against the wall for a second and I watched as students and other people walked on by. I watched one of my teachers walk by and then suddenly I realized that he was Mr. Toth, the teacher who taught my next class. I looked in the direction he was walking and a glimmer of hope presented itself. If I could get to the classroom door before or at the same time as him, I wouldn't be considered late. I looked down that hall in the other direction and I saw that Will had found Ben and they were both rushing in my direction. I stood up off the wall, my second wind caught and then I started sprinting with them towards the staircase that was stunting our progress. We all turned the corner at a break neck pace and Ben and I grabbed Will's wheelchair with him in it and we carried him down the first set of stairs onto the small platform. We turned and then we started down the second set of steps. Ben and I had often helped Will down the steps and we were pretty much used to it by now. We could get Will up or down the steps in about thirty seconds. But then I heard Ben speak up.

     "Uh, my hands are slipping." Ben said. My heart skipped a beat as I realized he was right. I could feel an increase of weight on my side of the wheelchair. I tried to hold it up, but my hands began to slip too. I hefted the wheelchair up to get a better grip and wrapped my wrist around a peg on the wheel. But when I lifted the wheelchair, it caused Ben to completely lose his grip and he dropped Will. He hit the stairs and gravity threw the wheelchair forward...with my trapped arm with it. My left arm twisted painfully the wrong way and I heard a crack. I winced in pain as both Will and I were thrown down the remainder of the steps. The wheel spun and with each turn it wrenched my arm forward and backwards and up and down and it just killed my arm with each twitch of movement. We hit the ground hard and Will was alright. I couldn't say the same for my arm. I squirmed and finally managed to free my left arm. I thought it was ironic that my left arm would get injured, given I was one of the only left handed people in the entire school. Ben rushed down to us.

     "Will, I am so sorry and, Rally, is you're arm alright?" Ben asked, concerned for me. I tried to rotate it in its socket. I was still able to move it, but I figured that I would be missing basketball practice that night.

     "I'll live, I'll be fine. Just work on that grip, would you?" I said to Ben. Still holding my shoulder, I snuck a glance at my watch and nearly had a heart attack. "But I'll kick your butt later, now I have to get to class," I said. "We don't have much time left." Ben glanced at my watch and realized I was right. He apologized to Will and me again and then he went off sprinting up the steps. Will wheeled off down the hallway and I rolled my shoulder again. I sprinted up the steps, taking it two stairs at a time. I left the ground when I reached the platform, swinging myself on the railing. I landed on the first step of the next set of stairs and I bounded up them. I reached out my good arm to scoop up my books as someone else started down the stairs. It's a shame that I didn't see who it was. At the very last moment, I recognized the person as Sal. Sal rammed into my shoulder, mumbling a fake apology, causing me to cry out in pain as my injured arm was pushed back. I moved my right hand to grab my shoulder and I felt something fall out of my right pocket and then I heard a faint clatter come from the bottom of the stairs. I looked over the railing and I saw Ann's pink pencil lying on the ground.

     "Oh bother, wasn't that your ONLY pencil? I am so sorry," He said, a demonic grin on his face. "Let me go get it for you."

     "Don't even think about it," I warned. He leaped down the stairs and I followed him, landing hard on the platform. I allowed my legs to slide and hit his, causing his to fall. I held onto the rail to support myself, but Sal grabbed my ankle and pulled me down to the ground with him. I lashed my leg out and kicked him in the thigh causing him to yell.

     "That was a mistake." He growled. I reached out my hand and grabbed the edge of the stair and pulled myself forward out of Sal's grasp. Sal clamored to his feet as I flipped down the steps for a second time. I hit my head and hurt my spine as flipped over on the steps. I was able to gain my footing by the bottom of the stairs and my tennis shoes screeched to a stop as I rapidly changed directions and dove for Ann's pencil. Meanwhile Sal had jumped over the railing and he was also going for the pencil at the same time. I wrapped my fingers around the pink pencil and relief flooded over me...or it did for about half a second. Sal ripped the pencil from my grasp and he held it up, once more triumphantly.

     "I got it," He said with a psychotic smirk. I snarled and got to my feet. Instead of going right for the pencil that was too far for me to jump and grab before he could jerk it away, I executed a different plan. I jumped up the first three steps and snatched the pencil away before he knew what was happening. I landed on the platform and twirled the pencil around in my fingers looking at Sal's bewildered look.

     "Thank you for getting it for me," I smiled back. Then I was back up the stairs and I had my books back in my grip in one swift movement. I shot off down the hallway beyond the staircase, darting in and out of the crowd. I glanced down at the pencil and I saw that during the battle it had a small crack going down the middle of it. I frowned, but at least I still had it. I switched it to my right hand so I could keep a better grip on it. I rounded the other corner and I went off again, sprinting even faster. I was in the hallway where my class was, but of course it had to be at the very end.

     Lockers and people blurred by and I acted on instinct to avoid collisions. I saw a congested crowd coming my way and I didn't see anyway through it. I glanced ahead and I formed a plan. The group neared me and I darted off to a wall between some lockers and I used my grippy tennis shoes to run up the wall two or three steps, just high enough for the people on the outside to duck and for me to make it over them. I stayed airborne for just enough time before landing behind them successfully. I straightened up, proud of my epic abilities once again. I took a single step forward, but that's when Sal reappeared. He swatted all of my books on the ground and he shoved me into the lockers, causing me to crash my face into them and fall to the ground along with my newly scattered books. I looked up angrily as Sal danced away.

     "Don't be late Mr. Strange!" He laughed and hurried towards his and my class. I slammed my fist on the ground and I grabbed all my books and put them into a small pile in front of me. I really wanted to kill Sal at that moment. Luckily I had managed to keep my white knuckled grip on Ann's pencil. I heard footsteps approaching and I turned to look but then I rolled my eyes at who it was.

     "I heard you took another vacation?" Sally snickered. I bounced to my feet and pointed a finger at her.

     "Shut up, just shut up! I don't want to hear anything from anyone right now, especially you!" I snapped. Sally grimaced and she reached out a forceful hand, trying to push me back into the lockers. Luckily I reacted fast enough and caught her arm. I swung her around and I forced her against the lockers.

     "Dude, what's your deal? Why is it so important for you to get to class on time?" Sally asked squirming out of my hold. I motioned for her to follow me.

     "Walk with me," I said, grabbing my books and hurrying along. "I cannot be late because there was another time I was late, it was that time where I turned in the wrong paper for my homework, if you remember. I was also late another time, a few weeks ago actually. That makes two and you know the rule that if you're late to class three times you get a detention." I explained as I hurried briskly down the hall.

     "Yeah, so what? It's just a detention. What, will your mommy and daddy be disappointed in you?" Sally asked in a mock baby tone voice. I waved my hand at the remark.

     "No, it's not that. It's the fact that last Friday, Sal was the one who vandalized the boy's bathroom on the first floor." I said. "He has to serve detention this whole week. I cannot be stuck in a room with a guy who hates me for no odd reason for an entire hour!" I said, my voice involuntarily rising. Sally glanced at me.

     "You seriously don't know why he doesn't like you?" Sally asked starting to pull ahead of me. I shook my head. "Wow, you must be really oblivious." I rolled my eyes.

     "Get on with it," I snarled.

     "Sal hates your guts because he likes Ann Dria too and he sees you as a threat because Ann likes you over him," Sally said. I stumbled over my own feet, almost falling once again.

     "Really?" I asked trying and failing to hide my smile. Sally made an exasperated sound.

     "I said she likes you more than him. That doesn't mean you're the guy she likes," Sally said, a bit disgusted by my reaction. She hurried off, apparently finished talking with me. I looked down at the pink pencil in my right hand and smiled. Then my gaze fell to my watch and I almost screamed. I only had 6 seconds left. I looked up and I saw the door to my classroom just ahead of me. Sally slipped inside and my jaw fell open when I saw who was standing there holding the door knob.

     Sal stood there grinning. I looked again at my watch and saw only three seconds till the bell. I dove for the door, stretching out my good arm to try and catch the door. Sal was pulling it shut and he was using force. I landed on the ground and my hand and the pencil gripped in it landed either perfectly, of just shy of the doorway. The door slammed onto the pencil and crushed it up against the door frame. I heard a horrible shattering sound as the force of the door obliterated Ann's pencil, splintering it into two neat halves.

     The bell's high pitched sound was ringing continuously in my ears as the door slammed shut, trapping Ann's pencil inside and trapping me outside. I dropped my head on the ground defeated. A single tear rolled down my cheek.

-o-O-o-

     The door shut as the school bell still echoed in everyone's ears. Sally slipped into her seat at the back of the classroom and set down her books, flipping open her notes for the class. The other students took their seats and Mr. Toth stepped to his desk and sifted through the papers, finding the schedule for that period.

    "Now, is everybody here today?" Mr. Toth asked, setting a pile of papers on top of his planner. Sal laughed.

    "Nope, it seems that we're missing one person." Sal smirked and nodded towards an empty chair next to Ann Dria.

    Ann looked from Sal to the door and gasped at what she saw. Lying right in front of the door were the two halves of the pencil she had just given to me five minutes before.