"Naomi, are you listening to me?"

I blinked and looked up to Declan. I shook my head. "No, sorry Declan, I wasn't."

He looked at me then looked back to the office. "Is something wrong? What's happening in that office? What will happen to those idiots?"

"I-I don't know," I said. "I can only guess. One time a kid chewed gum right in front of Principal Barnes and she suspended him for a month."

"Seriously? A month?"

"Yeah," I said glumly, "a month."

Declan frowned at that and leaned against the wall. He sighed and scratched his neck, and looked back at me. "Hey Naomi, why do you look so sad?"

I shook my head, looking at the ground. "I'm worried. Aren't you?"

He snorted. "Why should I be?"

I stared at him. "What they did will get them suspended, even worse, expelled."

He raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Ooh, I'm so scared, they won't go to school for a month. Do you think they'll actually care? Really, no school for a week is like a present to them for being idiots. C'mon Naomi, even I know you're smarter than that."

"But..." my voice faltered.

But Raymond was right. Strike one and strike two. School has barely started and already two of the three of them were dragged to the principal's office. Now I only have one guard to defend me. When Declan is gone, I mean if Declan is gone, the tower is left defenseless. That'll be strike three. Then Raymond will be right there to comfort me. Notice the sarcasm in that sentence? 

But then I thought of how selfish I must sound. I'm too busy being scared for myself and not for my... c'mon Naomi, you can do it... f-f-fr... Try again... f-f-f-r-r-i... It's just one word... f-fr-fr- Friday, no, not that, fridge... fr-fried chicken, not that, okay, one last try... fr- fr- friends. There I said it. The Three Musketeers are my... friends. Phew, that was tougher than it looks. Even with Declan's assurance, I'm still worried for them.

"But what?" There was a slight pause before it finally dawned to him. "You're scared."

For some reason I blushed at that. "Yeah, yeah I am."

"Now that you know you shouldn't be worried about them, you're worried about yourself," he said in realization, everything he said was right.

"Y-yeah."

He was a silent for a moment. I looked at the ground in shame. He probably think I'm some selfish little- Suddenly Declan burst out laughing. 

"What's so funny?" I asked him.

"You think I can't protect you by myself?" He asked, challenging me.

"What? I never said-"

"I don't need those two idiots for help," he told me, crossing his arms like a stubborn kid. "I'm fine all by myself."

"No, it's just-"

"Besides, I got these babies." Declan started to flex his muscles like some body builder. Girls passing by swooned, one I think was drooling, the rest were just glaring at me. What? It's not my fault Declan is showing off his muscles to me.

"Okay, you do have a point there, but still-"

"Naomi, listen to me," he said, grabbing my shoulders to face him. "It'll take a lot more than punching someone or making a sarcastic comeback to send me to the principal's office like those two idiots. I promise you, I'm going to stick to you like glue to whole day until they come back. Once they do, they'll buy us pizza for being idiots. Do you understand?"

"I only heard the words glue and pizza," I said, kidding but making him smile.

"Close enough, now let's go to class."

"But we have different schedules," I pointed out to him.

He grinned, his brown eyes gleaming. "You think I care about that? I'm stalking you the whole day, Lorraine. Let's go."

He grabbed my hand and dragged me the hall. He walked in a quick pace but it was difficult since I was slowing him down. "C'mon, you don't want to be late, do you little miss goody-two-shoes?"

He had a point, so I started to run. This time people didn't try to trip me, threw things at me, or called me names. They could accidentally hit Declan or he would think they were talking to him. So instead of having to burrow my way through the crowd just to reach my next class with bruises and hurt feelings on the way, the kids in the hall parted like the Red Sea, having Declan and I arrive to class just in time. 

Declan opened the door to me, which was a first. Literally, it was a first. No one has ever opened a door for me. Sure they close the door on my face, but never open it. I walked into the classroom smiling, but it instantly vanished when I saw what was waiting for me.

"Ugh, I was sure she was absent today."

"Yeah, I didn't see her on the bus, people are usually waiting for her there."

"Waiting with water balloons, that is."

The whole class laughed at that. I ignored it, I was used to this. But suddenly the laughter stopped and everyone was staring at me. I blinked, what are they staring- oh, never mind.

"I-is that Declan?"

"What is he doing here?"

"He's in our class? Since when?"

"I don't care, I just want to know where I can meet him after class."

I looked at Declan who just rolled his eyes at the comments, ignoring them. He was probably as used to the comments as I am used to my insults.

I began to walk towards my desk, which was at the middle of the classroom. You must be asking, why is your desk in the middle of the classroom? Do you have some sort of death wish? Why don't you sit in the back or sit at the front like your nerdy self you are? Well that's a good question. I'll answer it like this.

Alphabetical order.

It will be the cause of my early death someday. Not that it already has. 

So I was walking towards my desk. And I actually went quite a distance, a new record of I think three maybe four feet. Until someone decided to stick their foot out, making me trip. I could have fall on the floor face first if it weren't for Declan once again. He grabbed my collar and picked me back on my feet. I gained my balance and noticed the stares I was getting. Everyone stared at the two of us, jaws unhinged, just speechless. 

"Did you just see that?"

"I think he just helped her up."

"Please tell me he was trying to choke her or something."

"Are these people serious?" Declan asked me.

I shrugged. "You'd be surprise."

"Are they talking to each other?"

"I think they are."

I continued walking until I reached my seat. I noticed the graffiti on the desk of insult about me. I remembered when someone even put glue on my seat. Let's just say I was stuck for a while, having one group of kids make fun of me after the next until the janitor finally help yank me out. I really liked those jeans, they were a good pair of jeans. I sat down on my seat, sighing in relief there was no glue this time. 

Declan looked around the room. He then looked at the guy, Noah, sitting in the desk next to me. 

"Move."

The guy nodded, then accidentally fell off his chair. Then he got up, composed himself, and walked to the back of the class. Declan calmly sat down on the seat and yawned.

"What class is this again?" He asked me.

"Mrs. Davis, history," someone answered immediately, his name's Aden I think, as if this was some pop quiz question.

Declan turned to the kid and glared at him. "I wasn't talking to you."

"S-sorry," the kid said weakly.

"Let me ask again," he said facing me. "What class is this again?"

I could help but chuckle. "Mrs. Davis, history," I answered.

"That was the same thing I said!" The kid exclaimed.

Declan and I turned to the kid and glared at him. His cheeks flushed and he looked away.

"Hey Lynch, why are you with Nerds over there?"

I turned to see some other guy, it's either Michael or Mitchel. You can't blame me for knowing every person who bullies me. Even kids in other schools bully me. Yeah, I'm that famous.

"Excuse me?" I asked. "I have a name." Though now that I think about it, I don't know his name either. But he knows my name, everyone does.

"Excuse me?" Declan asked. "She has a name."

"Okay whatever. Why are you with Nerdy Naomi?"

"What's it to you?" Declan growled.

"Just curious, bro."

Declan's eyes narrowed at Michael/Mitchel, I could see him gulp. "I'm not your bro."

Michael/Mitchel nodded, getting it, but continued to press on. "But why are you in this class anyway?" 

He turned to me. "This guy is pretty nosy, huh?"

"He is, isn't he?"

"Is everyone in this school like this?"

I shrugged. "You'd be surprise."

"Hey, why are you talking to her? I'm talking to you here," Michael/Mitchel, who has a death wish I may add, said.

Declan abruptly stood up from his desk. Everyone looked up at him, eyes wide and mouths closed. They were all watching him.

"I'm talking to Naomi here because I was talking to her first. I'm not talking to you because you're pissing me off with you being all nosy. I don't talk to people who are rude to both me and my friends. You hear me?"

Michael/Mitchel nodded, understanding it clearly this time.

"Now how about you shut your trap and let me talk to Naomi? I was having a nice conversation, but you kept on interrupting us. Now apologize to her."

I have to stop this before it gets out of hand. "Declan you don't have to-"

"Apologize. To. Her."

"I-I'm sorry Ner- I mean, N-Naomi."

This was a first. "Uh, thanks, I guess."

"Parking lot. After school," Declan said, before sitting back down.

"Yeah, sure, of course," he said weakly.

"What's with that anyway?" I asked Declan. "Parking lot? After school? Do you do that all the time?"

Declan grinned and just shrugged. "You'd be surprise."

The door opened and someone walked into the room. And the thing that surprised me along with everyone else except Declan is that it wasn't Mrs. Davis.

"My name is Mr. Norman," he said with a blank face almost as good as Bennett's. "I'll be your substitute teacher for Mrs. Davis who is currently unable to be here right now."

Normally, when there was a substitute teacher, everyone wouldn't be listening to him. They would be chewing gum, cussing that would make a sailor blush, listening to music, using their phones or all of it together. But because of Declan's little show, they were still trying to process what happened and was listening to Mr. Norman here. So he should be thanking Declan right now.

"Well let me take attendance," he said, picking up the attendance sheet.

"Mason Adams, Chloe Archer, Allison Bailey, Cameron Burner..."

He continued calling out kids names one by one, each other them saying "here". Mrs. Davis had the seating chart in alphabetical order. Everyone was organized from the last name. I turned to Declan, and from the look on his face he was thinking the same thing. Then he called my name.

"Naomi Lorraine?"

"Here," I called out.

"Noah Lucas?" 

Noah, the kid who sits next to me and Declan kicked out, was about to say he was here, but Declan beat him to it.

"Here," Declan said calmly, wearing a blank maybe even bored look on his face.

"Okay..." Mr. Norman said, marking his attendance. 

"Linus Martin, Sarah Mitchell, Caleb Morgan, Jodie Norman..."

 I looked at him. "So Noah..."

Declan looked at me and smiled. "Yes Naomi?"

"You look different today," I said. "New haircut?"

He ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I wanted to try something new. Thanks for noticing."

"You're welcome," I said sincerely.

"You know it was pure luck that there was a sub today," Declan said. "I don't think all of your teachers will be absent today. And I'm pretty sure they know all of their students."

I frowned. "Yeah, you're right." I paused for a moment and said. "I don't want you to get in trouble. But I also don't want you to leave me. If you're gone for even one second, Raymond will be there."

He leaned back at his chair. "Well I can't hang outside the classroom. That stupid hall monitor will get me first chance he gets," he said, referring to Bobby, the hall monitor who takes his job way to seriously.

"Well unless you found a way to change your schedule to match mine that could work," I said. "But you don't have Jordan's computer skills and even if you do know what to do, they're going to... catch... you..."

I looked at him. "Why are you smiling?" Then it dawned to me. "No, no, no. You are not going to do that. You are going to get caught, and I'm going to get killed. If not getting caught myself, then by Raymond. So don't you dare-"

"Oh, Naomi," he said, chuckling to himself. "Who said I was going to get caught?"

-

"We are so going to get caught," I muttered to myself.

"We are not going to get caught," Declan said.

"Yes we are. You are going to get expelled. This will be put in my permanent record and-"

Declan grabbed my shoulders so I could look at him right in the eye. "Naomi, we are not going to get caught."

I held out my hand between the both of us.

"Five bucks," I said.

He smirked and shook my hand. "You're on."

Declan then looked away and peered over his shoulder to the corner of the hall. I sighed and ran my fingers through my brown hair, which I noticed I need to comb properly later.

"We're going to die."

It was lunch. We had enough luck to survive to lunch. My next four classes which were: AP literature, AP calculus, and my elective. My AP literature teacher, Ms. Dawson, was still in a huge hangover from a party over the weekend, so just made everyone do class work and didn't call attendance. My AP calculus teacher, Mr. Roberts, actually has Declan for fourth period and he is absolutely terrified by him. When Declan briefly explained why he was there, which was because he felt like it, Mr. Roberts accepted it and marked him as here for his other class.

My last class was my elective, service. I took service for all of my electives because I don't have to be stuck in another room with kids who hate my guts. It's much better being stuck with an adult and deal with kids one by one then a whole classroom of them. The nurse, Mrs. Matthews, was pretty nice, I know her pretty well given the number of times I went to her office after getting beat up by a bunch of kids, especially Raymond. Though, I don't think she still believes I accidentally ran into a pole after the first couple of times. Sometimes I try other excuses like running into a door, just to keep things interesting.

Declan pretended that he was having a headache, having him lie down at one of the beds. Wanting to avoid the other kid who was stationed with me at the nurse's office, I hung out with him in the secluded room. The kid wanted to tell Mrs. Matthews about what I was doing, but one of Declan's signature glares made the kid shut up. Mrs. Matthews turned with a blind eye, saying I was only keeping the lonely patient company.

Now it was lunch, and instead of Declan and I heading to the cafeteria. We hid at the middle of the stairs until all of the teachers and staff left for lunch, and I wish I were one of them right now.

"Have a little faith in me, will you?"

My stomach grumbled. "You're going to die if I don't get something to eat," I threatened before adding, "Unless the teachers catch us before I could do so."

"We're still on for the bet?"

"Why? Are you chicken?" I challenged.

"No, I thought you were," he retorted back.

I smirked. "Let's just get this over with. Then I can check this off my bucket list."

He raised an eyebrow. "You have this on your bucket list?"

"Yeah, changing something in a school computer is right next to staying in a jail cell overnight," I told him.

Declan let out a chuckle. "I'm just glad you still have your sense of humor."

He looked around the corner again. Declan turned back to me and nodded.

"Coast is clear. Let's go."

Declan stood up from his squatting position, I followed him. He looked once more then turned around the corner and started walking down the hall. I peered over the wall and watched as we walked in a calm pace, his breathing even, not at all nervous. It almost seemed as if this wasn't the first time he did this. I didn't like that though at all.

I hesitated for a second. Just for a second. I'm a good girl. I have a perfect attendance, a clean record, good grades. I never dreamed of doing anything like this except when I'm watching cop shows. I took a deep breath and followed right behind Declan. He was already at the main office door. He turned and had a blank look on his face, as if he wasn't surprised that I wasn't behind him and hesitated to follow him. 

Cautiously, he grabbed the door knob and slowly turned. It was a 50-50 chance that the door was locked or not. But in this case, it was the other 50 because the door opened with a small click.

"Lucky it was open," Declan whispered. "Jordan is usually the one who picks the lock."

"Usually?" I asked.

He chuckled nervously then put a finger to his lips. Declan slowly pulled the door open. The door making an agonizing creak as it did. When he opened it far enough, he peered inside. Curious, I looked over his head and looked in as well. The main office was deserted. But then I heard the distinct sound of shouting, more accurately, the shouting of Principal Barnes. I gulped, we're going to die, we really are. 

I was going to slowly back away and run away to the cafeteria where my lunch is waiting for me. It may have a bunch of kids who hate my very existence with food to throw at me. But it still has food. I was awkwardly leaning over Declan when I was looking over his head. I tried to get up, but I accidentally lost my balance. I crashed on top of Declan, making him fall onto the floor.

"Oomph!"

Suddenly the shouting stopped. Declan cursed under his breath, and scrambled into the room. With the instinct to live, I followed him and entered the room on all fours. The both of us put our backs against the huge receptionist desk. Declan looked at me, telling me to shut up or we really are going to die. Just as we got there, the door slammed shut. Another door opened inside the room.

I looked from over the counter and saw Principal Barnes face peering outside the office. Her eyes glared at nothing, but she was looking at something. I held back a yelp and sank back to the ground.

"Hello, is anyone there?" Her voice demanded into the empty room.

Suddenly the door creaked, being opened up. I heard the distinct taps of Principal Barnes's too high high heels. The footsteps stopped. I couldn't breathe, so just stopped breathing. Beads of sweat rolled down my face. My sneakers accidentally made a squeak against the tiles from the weight I was trying to hold myself up against the desk. Declan shot me a glare. Principal Barnes head whipped around in our direction. The footsteps started again, coming closer. I closed my eyes and started to pray to whatever is watching over me but was doing a really bad job doing it. Just once do something for me after you screwing up for 17 years.

"Hey Barnes, you sure it wasn't your imagination?" I heard Jordan's voice call out from inside the principal's office. "Cause you what they say, the older you get, the more senile you become."

"Who says that?" Bennett's voice asked in disbelief.

"Me, I say that," Jordan retorted back.

"Silence!" Principal Barnes ordered.

"Yes master-" Jordan started but there was a grunt, letting me guess Bennett punched him in the arm.

Principal Barnes glared at them from the other room. "Once your parents arrive here, you two will wish you never set foot in this school."

"I already do-" Jordan said, then there was another grunt.

One more time, Principal Barnes's eyes scanned the room. Then she shrugged and turned on her heel, walking back to her office. The door slammed shut and Declan and I let out a sigh of relief.

"We almost died," Declan said.

"Yeah."

"We could have gotten caught."

"Yeah."

"If it weren't for those two, we would have."

"Yeah."

"You almost got us caught."

"Yeah- No I didn't, okay fine I almost did. Almost."

"C'mon, let's just finish doing this and get out of here," Declan said, getting up.

I followed him as he went behind the desk. He turned back to me and told me I'm the look out. I gave him a nod and went to my station at the front desk. Declan went to one of the main computers, took a seat and turned it on.

I was starting to feel a bit like a spy like James Bond. I sneaked around in a high security place. There's an evil person who's the enemy. My partner and I are hacking into the main computer to steal back the stolen file in this case changing my partner's schedule. 

I mimicked my hand into a gun and started to shoot random targets. Door. Die. Trash can. Die. Computer. Die. Dog calendar. Die. But suddenly, a thought came over me.

My head whipped back to Declan and I asked him. "Do you even know the password?"

"No-" before I could start yelling at him, plus blowing our cover, he added "- but Jordan does. The first thing he did when we all came to this school was hack into the school network while the secretary wasn't looking and found out what was the school password for Wi-Fi and other things..."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Good."

Declan began typing in the password. "The password to this school is barnes_rocks314," he said as he typed.

"That's sad," I said, turning to him.

"What is?" A voice asked behind me.

"That Principal Barnes is will actually make the school password is actually barnes_rocks314. I mean really?" I said, turning around. "Who does that?"

Raymond cocked his head. "I don't know. You tell me."

"Oh shoot!" I exclaimed, backing up.

"What?" Declan asked, looking up. Then he groaned and rolled his eyes. "Nice work, look-out."

"I'm sorry!" I said to him then turned back to Raymond.

I put on the most sincere smile I could muster to him. "Welcome to the main office of Dartwell High. Is there anything I can do for you?" I asked him, batting my eyes for effect.

"Yeah," he sneered, leaning in close. "Can I see Principal Barnes? I need to report two kids who are hacking into the school's computer."

I innocently pouted. "I'm sorry. But Principal Barnes is currently unavailable at the moment. Can you make an appointment? If not, please leave a message after the beep. Beep."

"No need," Raymond reassured. "I'll see her myself."

He looked towards the principal's office. I had a confused look on my face. What is he going to- My eyes widened when I realized what he was going to do. But before I could lean across the counter and clamp my hand over his mouth, he yelled towards the door.

"Principal Barnes!" He exclaimed.

I looked back at Declan who had a grim look on his face. "I guess I owe you five bucks."

The door burst opened and Principal Barnes stormed into the room. Before she could exclaim what was going on she stopped and looked at the three of us. The three of us stared at her. Bennett and Jordan peered out of the principal's office and stared at the four of us.

"W-what are you three doing here?" She demanded. "You should all be in lunch."

"I-I'm here doing unfinished work," I said, which was the first thing that came to my mind.

All eyes were on me now.

I decided to just go with it and continued. "You see, I have service as my elective, and I wasn't able to finish my filing, so I decided to finish it now."

Principal Barnes stared at me for what seemed like an eternity before she turned to the other two. "Well what about you two?"

Raymond smiled. "Well I was very concerned with my fellow classmate, Lorraine here, that she is skipping lunch to do her work. So I decided to bring her a sandwich to fuel her for her hard work."

"Sandwich?" Principal Barnes asked.

"Sandwich?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yes, a sandwich."

He opened his backpack with one swift move and pulled out a sandwich. It was a good looking sandwich. Ham and cheese on french bread, wrapped in plastic wrapper. My mouth watered and stomach growled as soon as I saw it. He placed it on the counter and smiled at me.

Oh, he's good.

"And what about you?" Principal Barnes asked, turning to Declan. "I'd like to hear your reason why you're behind a school computer."

Before Declan could say something, I interrupted him. "Well, I had a lot of filing to do. So I asked him for-"

"Are you sure, Naomi?" Raymond asked, grinning from ear to ear. "Declan isn't at all in service like you, and if its filing you're doing, why is he behind the computer? If it's up to me, I'd say he used you to use the school computer."

"What? No, he didn't!" I said, telling Principal Barnes.

"Yes, I was," Declan said grimly, standing up from the chair. He turned to me with a sad look on his face. "Naomi, it's true. I used you to be able to access to the school's computer and change my grades to all A's."

I looked at him with wide eyes. Why is he doing this? This isn't part of the plan. This never was. He's not supposed to turn himself in. Especially to a lie Raymond came up with.

"He's lying!" I told her. "It isn't true!"

"Naomi, don't," Declan said, shaking his head.

Principal Barnes was glaring at Declan. Her face was turning bright red. Everyone backed away a few steps, even Jordan and Bennett inched away from the door.

"Lynch, get into my office!" She roared.

Declan gave me one last look and started walking towards the principal's office. Jordan and Bennett opened the door for the last of the Three Musketeers. They both nodded to him, patting him on the back.

"NO!" I exclaimed. "This is wrong! He didn't do any-"

"Lorraine, Myers, get back to lunch." Principal Barnes ordered, not even looking at us.

Raymond smiled. "With pleasure Principal Barnes."

"No!" I kept on repeating. "No, no, no!"

Declan had a faint smile. "I actually owe you $2.50, since only one of us got caught."

"What? No, you don't! No you don't!"

I started running towards the principal office. I don't know why. I was willing to beg Principal Barnes. Who cares about my perfect academic record? Who cares about any of that? I don't! I would offer to take Declan's place. I don't care. He doesn't deserve this. It wasn't his fault.

But I felt Raymond's huge arm snake around my waist. I screamed and kicked, but he was able to lift me off the floor. He started to walk me towards the main office door. Dragging me by the waist. He was able to open the door with one hand and still hold me with the other. I kept on screaming at Declan and only Declan.

"You promised!" I told him. "You promised that you'll stick to me like glue! You promised me pizza! You promised me, Lynch! You promised!"

Principal Barnes was walking back to her office. She was ignoring my screams of protest. The three of them parted for her to walk in. When she did, the door began slowly close. Jordan's face vanished, then Bennett's. Now Declan's face was the only one I could see as Raymond pulled me away from the main office.

He wore a grim look on his face. "I'm sorry."

"No!" I kept on screaming at him. "You promised me! You-"

The door slammed shut on my face. I choke out a gasp. I stopped struggling, it was no use now. But it was then I felt something wet on my face. Water? Salt? Tears? That's stupid. Why would I be crying? I have no reason to cry. It's not like all three of my friends are in the principal's office. Or that one of them turned themselves in for me. Or even that Raymond, my worst enemy, is holding me captive. Probably thinking of a list of things he could do with him and his goons.

I fidgeted from his strong hold, struggling once more to get away. My nails dug into his arms, wanting him to let go. But he ignored all of it. Despite my struggling, he managed to lean very close and whispered something into my ear.

I went limp in Raymond's arms. What was the use anyway? I'm dead, so dead. So Declan was wrong. We both owe each other $2.50, he got caught and so did I. Now the words Raymond whispered to me repeated over and over again like a broken record. I tensed at them, his arm still gripping me tightly.

"Strike three," he whispered into my ear. "You're out."

This was the saddest chapter I wrote so far. It was so intense, it got me pretty teary eyed. 

But the question on everyone's mind must be: What happens when you're out?

And I don't think it's going to be in baseball terms...

RubixCube89201