Kingdom of the Lost

Two teenagers named Malek and Blue find themselves in deep trouble when they get blamed for tying the new kid to a bridge, who ends up being a very important person and they're brought to the castle.

Kingdom Of Lost
Malek Chapter

    At only 15 years old it really should’ve been easy for me to lay low and stay out of trouble but I guess that just wasn’t my forte.
    Hey, my names Malek Skulnex, I’m 15 and I live in a kingdom called Zerenta, which is currently ruled by a 52 year old nut head named Shen. From the research that I’ve done on him for my tech class and everything that I’ve heard from the night guards by the castle when they walk by my house at three a.m. he’s an absolute a*s and doesn’t care about anyone but himself, I’ve also heard that if it wasn’t for his Queen, Veana, we’d all be imprisoned and working for him to build whatever the hell he would want built. In other words, we’d all be slaves.
    Veana basically rules over the land, luckily for all of us, she’s the only one that can control and talk to the King since he’s such an a*s. I wanted to leave the kingdom, even though I loved the Queen and she treated us all equally it wasn’t going to take long for something to happen to her, leaving King a*s-whole in charge to kill us all...
“Malek…. Malek.. Malek!” I flinched and looked up at my teacher, who was standing in front of me with the most annoyed look on her face.
“Sorry Miss Amaiya, I uh… wasn’t listening” the class started laughing under their breath a bit and I smiled innocently at her.
“You need to quit daydreaming in class or next time I won’t be so nice about getting your attention” she crossed her arms and I gave her a nervous smile, the class silenced as she walked back to the front of the room. It honestly wouldn’t have been the first time she’d hit me, there was one time that I had actually fallen asleep in class because I’d stayed up all night doing homework and she actually hit me in the head with a book, which hurt for a bit but at least I didn’t fall asleep for the rest of the day.
“Yes ma’am” I whispered quietly.
“So returning to where I was before we had to wake up your classmate, the hierarchy works like this…” this again? Really. I sighed and leaned back in my chair. After about twenty-three minutes and six seconds the whistle went off letting us head off to lunch, except for me, because Miss Amaiya stopped me at the door before I could leave, letting me know that I needed to stay until everyone else had left, which I did.
“I need to stop daydreaming in class and focus more on the world around me before I daydream myself to death and follow the lead of every enemy in the kingdom and get myself killed in a horrible accident from not paying attention to my surroundings, right?” I smiled at her and she crossed her arms.
“You’re such a smart kid Malek, I don’t understand why you waste all your talent on rebelling against your kingdom” she shook her head, I hadn’t really been expecting her to compliment me, but whatever works.
“I know Milady, but I already know this stuff, in fact it’s been engraved in my head so much that I could actually recite it from memory. I don’t care about this stuff and it’s hard to not doze off” I shrugged and she proceeded to give me the famous ‘I can’t believe you’re my student’ sigh. “So if it’s alright with you Miss, I’m going to eat lunch” I smiled and waved to her as I headed toward the door, luckily for me she hated violence most of the time, any other teacher probably would’ve hit me, I smiled.
“Alright Mr. Skulnex, please just think about it” I turned the corner and almost rammed into Blue.
“Awe you waited for me” I smirked and she rolled her eyes, usually I’d go to her but since I was late I guess she ended up heading to me, luckily we got lunch together this year, unlike every other year of midlife school. She rolled her eyes a bit.
*psh* “You wish, I was heading this way anyway.” she tried to shake it off but coincidentally forgot that the caf is in the opposite direction.
“Yeah ok” I laughed and she walked at my side to the caf, which unfortunatally was guarded by like three teachers.
“Late to lunch? There’s a surprise, being late to your classes is usually your thing Mr. Skulnex” Mrs. Carmela crossed her arms and I smiled.
“Sorry, I had a date with death, I won’t be late again”
“Ignore him, Mrs. Carmela, Mr. Shannen, Mr. Gim, have a good lunch” Cam took mine and Blue’s arms and pulled us into the caf, past the teachers.
“Hey what was that for, I can handle myself you know” I looked him in the eyes but sighed, giving in. This kid, Cam Keenen, straight A, perfect, teachers pet, and the only kid in the school that ever tries to keep the teachers out of my way, or as he says, ‘at a polite distance.’
“Sorry, Mr.Shannen looked like he was about ready to smack you” Cam looked down at his feet and I glanced at Blue.
“R...right.. Thanks… Cam..” I smiled down at him. “What do you say we get lunch?” I looked from Blue to Cam and they both nodded. We walked to the line and the lunch man glared at me as I walked by. “Do you think they’re upset about something? I never did anything to the lunch people right?” I leaned toward Blue and whispered in her ear.
“You’re different, people don’t like things that are different, for the most part anyway. Also the lunch people are kind of mean.” She shrugged.
“R..right.. I guess I’m just on edge” I smiled but for some reason I was nervous. I took my tray of school slime and followed Cam to one of the empty lunch tables.
“So what happened this morning?” Cam looked from me to Blue quickly and his face went a bit red for some reason.
“What do you mean?” Blue tilted her head as she attempted shove an entire bread roll into her mouth. I nodded in a ‘yeah, what are you talking about?’ kind of way.
“I mean, about the new kid… someone apparently tied him to the side of the school’s bridge this morning after first period” I flinched.
“You’re kidding… wait, there’s a new kid?”
“Yeah, his name’s Matt.” Cam shook his head and Blue looked at me.
“I think I actually heard something about it in the hall after second” she crossed her arms but then uncrossed them to shove another spoon full of food into her mouth.
“What’d you hear?” I picked up my role and took a small bite off the end, it tasted stale, and… with a hint of yesterday’s fish…
“That there’s a new kid… and he was tied to a f****n’ bridge.” Blue said obviously.
“Right, we just said that, but I was asking if you knew why they did it, or who for that matter” I rolled my eyes.
“Oh, no, I don’t know anything.” She leaned back in her chair.
“Oh...ok… I just kind of figured you two would know…” Cam put a spoon full of corn into his mouth and Blue shoved more food into her mouth.
“Don’t choke” I rolled my eyes and laughed a bit, “but no, we didn’t really hear about this until just now, I’ll probably be able to figure it out by the end of sixth if you really want to know though” I smiled and his face went red again.
“I mean… I just want to know if he’s ok” Cam shook his head and stood up, “I uh… I think I should go.. Your friends are here” he smiled and I waved as he left.
“Well that’s weird” I looked at Blue as three of our friends walked over and sat down.
“I guess.” She shrugged again and proceeded to examine her nails.
“What’s weird” Aaren slammed his tray onto the table and Tanner flinched a bit as he sat down.
“Have you guys heard anything about the new kid, and the bridge?” I took another bite of my bread roll as Kiara sat down.
“I heard it was Kilen and Ash but other than that I haven’t heard much” Kiara shook her head, she actually looked pissed about the topic, which wasn’t unexpected, considering she hates bullying.
“Those dicks again?” Blue scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“I hate them so much! If I ever got the chance I’d tear their heads off and blend them so that no one would find the remains because they’d be in the stomach of the other” Aaren grumbled as he shoved food into his mouth.
“That’s a wonderful image Aaren” I pushed my tray towards Blue, “and suddenly I’m not hungry anymore” I sighed.
“I was actually talking to the new kid this morning before it happened” Tanner shifted in his seat and put his arm on the table, “he was saying something about a new start, new experiences and stuff” he shrugged.
“A new start? Nobody comes to this school for a new start” Aaren laughed.
“Right, what else did he say? Did he have any idea who Kilen and Ash were?” I crossed my arms and learned them on the table.
“He didn’t really say much, I was just trying to be nice but he didn’t seem like much of a talker and he didn’t want to make conversation” Tanner sighed.
“That explains it” Kiara grumbled, “Kilen and Ash will go after anyone who doesn’t say much, if the kid looks small and target-like then they’ll use their chance. He poor kid probably didn’t do anything” she sighed and I stared at Blue.
“What do you think?” I nodded to Blue,
“I feel like findin’ the new kid.” She smirked and stood from her chair, which she then stood on in order to survey the room..
“Don’t bother Blue, if he was really tied to the bridge by those two a******s then he’s probably at the hospital, or at least on his way there” Kiara shook her head.
“Ooor, maybe he’s over there.” Blue pointed to the other side of the cafeteria where an unfamiliar character was talking to one of the teachers. “Kilen and Ash might be losing their touch.” she snickered.
“I’ll go with her, you three should stay here, if Kilen and/or Ash come here to finish what they started then I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I didn’t plan on going anyways” Aaren smirked and then shrugged.
“I’ll stay with him, it takes an army to keep this kid in check” Tanner smiled lightly and held Kiara down before she could join us.
“Alright Blue, let’s go” we walked up to the kid, who had luckily walked away from the teachers.
“Hey there.” Blue smirked and slung an arm around the new kids shoulders, he flinched a bit, but didn’t pull away from her “Name’s Blue, yes, like the color.”
“I uh… I’m Matt…” he looked extremely nervous and uncomfortable.
. “Hmm, nice to meet ya Matt.”
“I’m sorry to be the rude one here but… what do you two want?” Matt gently lifted Blue’s arm off of him and stepped a bit to the side, away from her. She pouted a little and put her hands on her hips.
“Just being curious a******s is all” I shrugged and he glanced over at me.
“That was bland”
“Did you expect me to sugar coat it?” I shrugged and Blue rolled her eyes, looking to Matt.
“Well, my lovely friend Mal here may have come over to be an a*s, but I just came to meet the kid who survived one of Kilen and Ash’s attacks” She smiled smugly, and was now sliding her arm around my shoulders.
“Haha, funny” I rolled my eyes.
“Well Mal and Blue… I didn’t survive unscathed, I have to go to the ER later to get my arm checked to make sure it’s not broken, my mother won’t let me leave to do it during school cause it’s not that bad” he looked over at me and I glared at him.
“First of all kid, let’s get something straight right here, Blue’s the only one that get’s to call me that, to you it’s Malek or just don’t say my name” I crossed my arms and Blue laughed a bit. “Second thing, what kind of a*****e mother doesn’t let her kid out of school after they get attacked by some asswhole bullies, they literally tied you to a bridge” I lifted my eyebrow in questioning.
“That’s not really her fault, I’ve already missed enough school, I didn’t want to leave either so her telling me that I had to stay was beneficial” he shook his head defensively and I looked at Blue.
“Well then, Matt, would you like to join grumpy and I at a table full of more a******s just like us?” She smiled, over dramatically gesturing to our table .Matt looked between me then her, then the table hesitantly.
“Don’t worry, at least we won’t tie you to a bridge” I smirked.
“That’s not really funny but fine. It’s not like I have anywhere else to sit” he mumbled.
“Lighten up man, we don’t bite… most of the time” She patted his back and cackled as she lead us back to the table.
“Sup newbie!” Aaren smirked and then winked at me, “so kid, what’s the story? How did someone like you end up in the hands of Kilen and Ash, they usually go after the small and weak but you’re actually pretty well built and decently charming” I rolled my eyes.
“Seriously Aaren? He’s probably traumatized and you’re being a dick” Kiara punched him sideways in the chest and he curled in half.
“Right…. Yes ma’am” he choked
“Come on hun, why don’t you sit and eat something, I’m sure you’re starving” she held her tray in front of him and smiled, he sat down next to Blue and I sat on her other side.
“T..thanks” he smiled back at her and set the tray in front of him.
“I thought you were going to keep him away so that Kilen and Ash don’t kill us all?” Tanner looked around and I swear I saw him shiver.
“He has to get through Malek first” Aaren laughed.
“And me!” Blue chimed in a little too loudly. A couple of the other kids at the other tables looked over at us and her face went a bit red, but she laughed it off.
“Great.. Yeah right” Matt rolled his eyes.
“Excuse me!?” Aaren stood up and slammed his hands on the table, “you think she can’t?” he growled and I stood up.
“Leave him alone Aaren” I glared down at Matt, “that wasn’t really nice for someone who should’ve learned not to speak against certain kids at this school, no wonder Kilen and Ash got to you” I crossed my arms and Aaren sat back down as I did.
“Sorry, It’s just that she doesn’t really look like the fighting type” he crossed his arms and Tanner spit out some of the milk he’d been drinking. Aaren, Kiara and Tanner all burst out laughing, “what’s so funny?” he flinched.
“Oh sorry bub, we didn’t mean to laugh but it’s just too precious, ‘not the fighting type’” Aaren laughed again.
“She’s a black belt in Karate, and she’s already put two kids in the hospital for trying to touch her” I smirked, “it’s not wise to judge before actually getting to know someone, she’s a lot stronger than she looks” I crossed my arms and he flinched.
“R...right… sorry” Blue smiled,
“Awe don’t worry ‘bout it, besides ‘black belt in karate’ is a bit of an exaggeration, I learned street fighting from a gang member my mom's friends with, though I have hospitalized a few guys in my day” She smirked and Matt somehow managed to look both terrified and amused at the same time.
“But she would be a black belt in Karate if she took the class” Aaren confirmed.
“I uh… I think I’m going to go to my class now” Matt stood up and Tanner looked at him awkwardly.
“Are you sure? Just be careful” Tanner smiled and so did Kiara.
“Uh.. yeah..” Matt picked his bag up and basically speed walked out the door, towards the gym.
“He’s odd” Aaren shrugged and continued to eat.
“Ya think we scared ‘im off?” Blue sighed and watched him leave.
“Yeah… and he never did tell us what he did to annoy Kilen and Ash..” I squinted my eyes and Blue punched my shoulder.
“Don’t worry too much, we should get to class too, we have spanish with Mr. Donate after this, and we all know how much he loves having you as a student, he’ll hit you if you give him a reason, let’s go” Blue dragged me to the food bin where we left our extra food and continued to our next class.
Blue Chapter

    My next class was the only one I had with Mal. So naturally it was in that class that I got in trouble most often. Mostly I got in trouble for passing notes and s**t like that, though there was one time where I decided to stand on my desk and start singing and dancing. I almost got suspended for that, it ended up just being detention for a week.
    Right now, I was staring down at the little notebook lying inside my history book. I was trying to think of something to write to Mal. Maybe something about Matt, or maybe something about hanging out after school, or skipping our next classes. Yeah, skipping sounded nice. I scribbled that down and discreetly tossed the note a few seats over.
Hey you wanna skip the next class w/ me? I smiled and hit his wrist with the note. He smirked and took it discreetly. I watched him open the note and smile as he picked up his pen. He wrote something and handed the note back to me.
Hell yeah! He continued doing his math work like nothing had been said or written, I smiled. I shoved the note in my pocket and continued to pretend I was doing work until the end of class.
“Hey nerd.” I smiled and slung my arm around Mal as we left the classroom.
“Hey psycho.” he smiled, “I’m surprised, I didn’t get smacked once during class this time” he laughed in complete seriousness.
“I know right. Hey so, where you wanna go?” I took my arm off him and pulled a lolly pop out of my bra.
“Actually I was thinking about confronting asswholes one and two about the new kid, there’s something off about him and I feel like they might know something. Though I dread having to go anywhere near them.” Mal sighed.
“No that sounds fun! Let’s take ‘em down!” I laughed maniacally and Mal hit my lightly in the shoulder.
“This is why we’re friends” I laughed and she took my arm as we headed for the back courtyard of the school where Kilen and Ash always were during this particular period.
“Hey!” I called to them and glared. I saw at least one of them roll his eyes.
“Great. These burnouts.” They stood up strait and bared their teeth a little.
“Did you say something?” Mal crossed his arms and glared at them.
“What the hell do you want?” Ash squinted as we approached.
“The usual” I smirked and quirked an eyebrow. “We have a couple questions before we beat you down.” they growled a little.
    “Please, the two of you can’t touch us.” Kilen grinned and I snarled. I hated it but he was right, they were the sons of noblemen, while Mal and I the children of, for lack of a better word, peasants. There were a few dire consequences if people like Mal and I did anything to Kilen and Ash, but ugh, they suck and the rules in this kingdom are fucked up.
“Oh yeah!? Wanna bet your life on that one?” Mal smirked, even through everything, even though Mal knew he’d probably be beaten to death or tortured if he touched Kilen and Ash he just didn’t care and they knew that.
“Yeah how ‘bout I do that.” They stood a little taller and growled at us. There was a minute of tense silence, as the four of us glared at each other.
“So what were you a*****e’s doin’ with the new kid?” I piped up and tightened my fist a little.
“Just having some fun, the kid was just asking for it” Kilen shrugged and Ash nodded
“F****n’ a*****e was being a stuck up snob and actin’ like he owned the place” Ash put his hand up and then swung it down. “So we just taught him a little lesson on who’s the boss ‘round here” he smirked.
“You tied him to a bridge” Mal gripped his arm with his hand as if trying to keep from charging and pounding them to death before getting all his answers. “I wouldn’t exactly call that a ‘little lesson’”
“Well he deserved it!” Kilen growled.
“Oh yeah? How? What exactly did he do?” Mal smirked and I smiled too.
“First of all no one ‘round here dresses like that, what makes him think he’s all high and mighty comin’ here in that fancy s**t! Second, the way he talks, he wanted to be in control the little brat and then he even stayed in school after our lesson! Who does that!?” Ash grunted and Mal looked at me.
“Oh hey! I was talking to Mal about how people hate things that are different earlier! And you are just a bunch of pretentious dicks.” I scoffed and flipped my hair a little. They growled and balled their fists, stepping forward.
“B***h!” Kilen growled “are you trying to pick a fight!? We’ll tie you to a bridge right along with the new brat!” he scoffed.
“You mean you’ll try!” I glared and wrinkled my nose a little. Kilen made a kind of disapproving angry noise and Mal made an unnoticeable tilt in his figure, clearly ready to attack if proven necessary.
“Oh now you’re asking for it.” Ash snarled and threw a punch at Mal, missing him by a hair. I cackled and went for Kilen. I hit him in the balls and he growled in pain, but recovered quickly, while Mal started wrestling with Ash.
All four of us got in some good punches in before the whistle sounded. When it did Mal and I ran out of the courtyard breathing heavily and laughing as we left the school grounds. Ash and Kilen probably wouldn’t turn us in, they were in the wrong a little too, nothing bad would happen to them, but nothing good either. Unfortunately we still didn’t know why they tied Matt to the bridge.
“Is my face bruised?” I lightly ran my fingers across my jaw and glanced over at Mal.
“Not really, I didn’t notice until you pointed it out” He shrugged. I sighed but smiled a little.
“Cool, you on the other hand, that is one hell of a shiner.” I nudged him a little and he smiled shyly.
“Did he actually end up cutting me?” Mal tried to look at the back of his neck but it didn’t really work, there was a nasty little cut directly across where his spine was and under his neck. “That hurts like hell” he grumbled and then laughed.
“Yeah, it looks like it hurts.” I sighed. “Those guys suck, but hey, at least we hurt them back, right man?” my lips curled into a smug little smile.
“Hell yeah.” he smirked but it faded quickly as his hand fell over the wound on his back and he winced, “I’m just pissed that I didn’t get the answers I wanted” he sighed.
“Yeah… come on, let’s just skip the rest of school. I have first aid stuff at home.” I furrowed my brows worrisomely. “I’ll text Kiara and the guys to meet us there later.” I pulled out my phone.
“Yeah that’s probably a good idea” he smiled. It wasn’t a very long walk to my house from the school which was both good and bad, good because my mom was never home and we could just sneak off whenever, bad because everyone in the school knew where I lived and they always stop by to say hello, thinking that it’s ok, plus the noise level is always obnoxiously high.
“Mom?” I called when I opened the door. She’s pretty chill most of the time and probably wouldn’t care that I wasn’t in school, but she would totally freak if she saw Mal and I’s bruises. No one called back so I gestured for Mal to follow me to my room. “K, she’s out. I have med stuff under my bed.” I made my way through my disaster of a room to the bed.
“I’d offer to do it myself but I’m not sure I’d be able to clean that cut properly considering it’s out of my line of sight” he laughed a bit and then winced as he sat down, the cut probably hurt a lot more than he was letting on.
“Alright, just relax, I got it.” I reached under the bed and grabbed my cardboard box full of loose medical stuff. I used a wet rag and gause.
“Am I ever not relaxed?” he joked.
“*pff* please.” I laughed and finished up. “Ok, that’s the best I can do, it’s not too bad anyways” I shoved the box back under and flopped onto the bed. “So um, my mom has another new boyfriend.” I laughed a little. She went through men like tissues, but every time she said ‘this is the one, for real this time!’ but of course they all ended up breaking her heart, and it broke mine to watch. I only ever told Mal about this sort of thing, because I don’t think I could bear telling my mom how I felt about it.
“Who is it this time?” He leaned against the wall, since my bed doesn’t have a head board. I sighed.
“I only met ‘im once, he owns a convenient store. Totally sleazy and gross, but he was nice I guess.” I frowned and picked at the cheap nail polish I bought… ok shoplifted, the other day. Mal wrapped one arm around my shoulder, and sighed.
“It’ll be fine, your mom’s tough.” He smiled reassuringly and I groaned.
“Ugh, I know, but I just wish she would know hows this ends by now…” I looked over at Mal and he made a reassuring expression, we sat quietly for a minute. “I wanna do something, I’m bored.” I sat up and turned so I was facing him.
“Like what?” he smiled questioningly.
“Hmm, maybe go to the treehouse?” the treehouse has been Mal and I’s place since we were like six years old, and now we go there for a safe place to b***h about the hierarchy, or anything really.
“Sounds like a good idea” he smiled and stood up, he looked a little pale but clearly wouldn’t show that he was in pain.
“If you’re not feelin’ great we can just head to your place?” I stood and stretched my arms.
“No! I’m fine really.” he smiled lightly, the first part was harsh but he calmed down, probably shouldn’t have mentioned it.
“Ok liar, let’s head to the tree house.” I rolled my eyes and we headed out. The treehouse is about a mile away, in the woods behind the school. No one ever goes back there, except for me, Mal and the rest of our crew.
“You told the gang we’d be here, not at your house right?” Mal started to climb the side of a tree and I rolled my eyes.
“I’ll do it when we get up, they still have like half a period left.” I grunted as I lifted myself up into the little wooden structure.
“Sure” he gripped onto one of the branches and continued up toward the treehouse. I plopped onto the ratty loveseat I had found by the side of the road and pulled a cigarette out from under the cushion. I lit it, and pulled out my phone.
“Kiara says she’s skipping class and will be here in five.”
“Oh sweet. What about T and Aaren?” I looked back at my phone.
“Aaren has detention again, and T will be here after school.” I sighed but smiled when I carefully blew out a smoke ring.
“That’s so bad for you” he laughed and sat down at a little desk in the corner.
“I know” I rolled my eyes. “But I do what I want.” I smirked at him.
“I know you do” He sat next to me and I nodded. Just then I heard Kiara huffing as she tried to climb into the tree. When she stood in the doorway she looked a little out of breath but recovered within a second.
“Heeeyyyy” She smirked and sat down in front of us.
“Hey” Mal smiled and Kiara gave him a weird look.
“Woah did you guys get in a fight again?” She sighed.
“Haha…. Yeah” He smiled slightly, “a little worse than usually, f*****g Ash never fights a fair fight, he pulled a knife out on me in the middle of it” Mal shrugged and Kiara grumbled as she sat down.
“Are you surprised?” she laughed, knowing the answer. “Also, what have I told you two about fighting without me! You are less likely to get stabbed if it’s like three to two, or five to two if T isn’t scared and Aaren isn’t in detention.” She laughed and I rolled my eyes but smiled.
“I didn’t get stabbed” Mal mocked, “It’s just a tiny scratch, it doesn’t even hurt. We did just fine” I rolled my eyes again, knowing he was lying.
“Suuure.” I laughed again. “So Kiara, what did Aaren do this time?” He was the only person who got detention more often than Mal and me, and the reasons varied every time.
“Oh nothing too big, he just ‘accidentally’ threw at apple at the teacher…” she laughed.
*psh* “Really? That’s a new one.” I let out a short laugh and shook my head.
“It was actually a dare from the kid beside him, but that wasn’t exactly the dare itself, Aaren said that the kid told him to, ‘either eat the apple and chuck the core at the teacher or jump through the window yelling I’M ACTUALLY A GIRL!’ So Aaren decided to just throw the whole apple at Miss. Halen” she laughed a bit.
“Oh of course.” I blew out more smoke.
“I’m literally not surprised anymore” Mal laughed a little more and leaned back against his chair.
“Me neither.” Kiara leaned back but was farther than the wall than she thought and fell on the floor. Mal and I just burst into laughter. “Shut up.” She snapped and sat back up. “You guys suck.” but she was laughing too.
“I know.” I smirked and flipped my hair.
“Oh! I meant to tell you, I ran into the new kid, um, Matt, again. He was acting kinda weird.” She made a face and sighed a little.
“What did he do?” Mal quirked an eyebrow and Kiara shrugged.
“Dunno, he just seemed all jumpy, kinda like at lunch, but more so. New kid’s definitely weird, I mean did you see his clothes? That’s some rich kid stuff if I ever seen any.” She lifted one of the boards in the floor and pulled out a little pocket knife, she fiddled with it and started scratching something into the wood. It was a tell of hers, when Kiara is troubled by something she likes to carve things into the hideout.
“What kinda person do you think he is?” Mal shifted and leaned back in his chair letting the front legs of it hover off the ground.
“I’m not really sure, but I don’t trust him.” Kiara sighed and looked between Mal and I.
“I guess we should talk to him tomorrow.” I smirked. “When is T supposed to get here again? School’s out by now right?” I checked my phone and craned my neck to see out the door.
“He probably stopped at his locker or stayed after with his teacher for a few minutes, you know him” Mal shrugged and pulled a piece of gum out of his pocket.
“Ugh I know.” I blew a perfect smoke ring.
“Oh don’t complain, shouldn’t you be used to T by now, you have most of your classes with him” Mal laughed.
“True that.” I laughed and Kiara did too.
“Anyways… back to the new kid, I was listening to the teachers talking in one of my morning classes and they were saying something about a new kid in my class and that there’s going to be trouble or something. I just remembered cause I was only half listening.” he shrugged and stood up, coming over and plopping down in the love seat next to me.
“Huh.” Kiara stood. “Sleuthing around the new kid should be fun.” She smiled and attempted to sit in between Mal and I, even though the loveseat really isn’t big enough.
“Hey!” I laughed. “There’s no room!” I tried to shove her off, but to no avail.
“Shut up, yes there is!” She giggled as she shoved me back, Mal made a face when Kiara ended up half on top of him. Naturally it was that moment that Tanner pulled himself into the tree house.
“Um… nevermind” he shook his head and laughed a bit, “I don’t want to know” he set his bag down gently in a corner and sat in a chair across from us.
“Ha, yeah.” I sighed and put out my cigarette.
“Seriously Kiara, you’re a*s bones are digging into my thigh” Mal growned.
“Ugh fine.” Kiara grumbled and moved to sit on top of me instead, I let out an *oomph* sort of sound.
“Seriously?” I shoved her onto the floor.
“Rude” Kiara laughed and I could see T trying to hide his laugh but failing and making a more squeaky-ish sound. In an attempt to distract himself he dug through his bag and pulled out a notebook and pencil case.
“So T, how was class?” Mal laughed, a little serious but mostly joking.
“It was fine, Aaren got in trouble again.” He shook his head and sighed.
“We know, Kiara told us.” I smirked and shrugged a little. “Any way, we were talkin’ ‘bout the newbie. Have you encountered him since lunch?” I tilted my head, I kind of wished I had another cigarette but I just used my last one, Mal probably would have gotten mad at me for smoking a second one anyway.
“Not really, I saw him in the hall but only because his locker is near mine” T shrugged.
“Oh! That’s perfect! You have to gather intel!” I grinned and Tanner frowned at me, he’s incredibly shy and probably hates what I just suggested.
“Why me?” he grumbled and opened his notebook on the little table that Mal had been sitting at before joining me on the loveseat.
“Because you’re locker is close to his! You’ll be able to eavesdrop so easily! Come on man, please!?” I jumped up and made the best puppy eyes I could manage.
“But… what if I get caught?” He glanced at me for a second before looking away in an attempt to avoid my stare. Mal leaned on the side of the couch and propped his feet up onto my lap with a smirk on his face.
“Then fake it” he laughed, “you’re not gonna get caught listening to someone talk bro. It’ll be like a fy on the wall, unless of course you want to just talk to him.” Mal shrugged I pushed his feet off of me.
“But…”
“No, you have to! Dude, it’s not that hard.” I smirked. Kiara, Mal and I were all grinning and staring right at Tanner.
“Uggghhh… fine, you win.” He made a face at me.
“Yes! I knew you’d come around T!” I jumped up and hugged him, he cautiously pushed me off.
“You’re the worst Blue.” He growled but there was the smallest hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“You bet she is” Mal teased and I elbowed him in the chest.

Malek Chapter

    We had all passed out in the treehouse, Blue had called everyone’s parents after and told them that we were fine, even Aaren was here now, the morning…. Morning… school!. I sat up and yawned, pulling my phone out of my pocket, it was Eight already.
    “Guys… I think we’re late for school” I laughed and shook Blue, “Blue, Blue, Blueberry, hello! Mockingbird, BlueJay! You awake?” I continued shaking her until she jumped up in surprise, only to settle down in realisation that it was just me. I chuckled a little.
“I’m up… I’m up! ...*yawn* what time is it?” She sat up and stretched, digging around her pockets for her phone.
“Eight thirty-six” I stood up and shook Aaren, “dude, wake up” he grumbled ad then shot up.
“What happened!? Who died!!!!?” he looked around, eyes wide and then he focused on me and calmed down… “sorry” he smiled slightly and looked around, there was sunlight pouring in from the window on the side.
“Everyone’s alive, but we’re late” I laughed a bit, he always did this, which is why I woke him first. Everyone else heard him scream and were sat up, yawning and moving in very zombie-like motions.
“F**k, ok, I have to go.” Blue jumped up and headed for the door. “I’ve been late too many times, I can not get suspended… for my mom’s sake I mean” She scrambled down as fast as she could until I couldn’t see her. I looked around, a little surprised to find Tanner laying on the floor.
“T…?” he sat up and stared at me. He looked sick, his face was pale and he didn’t look like he got much sleep, “you ok man?” I tilted my head and walked up to him, placing the back of my hand on his forehead, “dude! You’re hot…” I flinched and pulled my hand away from his face, he looked at me confused for a second before smiling.
“Thanks” he laughed a bit but instantly started coughing after.
“Stop it! I think you have a cold” I shook my head and pulled my phone out of my pocket, dialing his father's phone number. It rang for a moment and T layed back on the ground, he definitely was sick. “Yes, mister K, this is Malek, Tanner doesn’t look well, I think he’s sick actually” I looked down at him and I heard his father sigh.
~“He’s been getting sick a lot lately, I’ll be there as soon as I can Malek, please take care of him for now” the phone hung up and I shoved it back into my pocket.
“Hey, your dad is on his way.” I took off my sweater and placed it over T.
“What happened to him? We weren’t in here that long, it’s not even that cold either” Kiara asked, suddenly next to me. Aaren stared at us and knelt next to T.
“I’m not really sure, his dad said it’s been happening alot lately though…” I shifted into a criss-cross sitting position and felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck. “You two should get to class, I’m gonna carry T down and bring him to the nurse to wait for his dad” I shook my head and Kiara frowned.
“Not by yourself you’re not” she nodded at Aaren and he sat on the other side of T.
“I can carry him myself but thank you” I smiled and Kiara helped me pick him up to put him on my back in order to piggy back him down the ladder. It was weird that he had passed out but not too weird, with him it seemed to happen a lot.
I walked towards the outside of the treehouse and started climbing down, luckily for all of us it wasn’t to abnormal for me to have to carry someone out of here, Blue had gotten drunk one day and I had to get her down before she walked out the opening and hurt herself on the fall down, and Aaren had broken his leg once so I had to be his personal ride for a week.
“Hold up” Kiara climbed at my side and Aaren had gone below us just in case I forgot how to climb. I laughed a bit at the thought and staggered down more. It didn’t take too long for all of us to get down from the treehouse.
“His dad just texted T that he’s around the corner” Aaren said after he pulled T’s phone from his back pocket.
“Ok” I carried him out of the woods and they followed. “T, how you doin’ back there man? Is he awake?”
“Nope” Aaren was holding his phone, he hadn’t even looked at Tanner, but I could tell that he was right.
“Alright, we shouldn’t take him inside, if we do that then we’ll have to deal with the school system, let’s just carry him to the line where parents usually pick up kids, all the teachers have their windows closed over there anyways, so we won’t have to worry about being seen because I feel like that wouldn’t go too well.” she laughed and I nodded, continuing down the little path that led to the parents pick up line. Our school was definitely strict but they aren’t as bad as some of the others that I’ve seen, heard and read about.
*bzzzzt* *bzzzzt* I flinched and Aaren grabbed my phone from my pocket as I went to reach for it.
“Hello sir this is Mr. Aaren, messenger for Malek may I be of some service to you?” I sighed but hid my laugh. “Oh… It’s T’s dad… he says he gonna be here in about a minute, like he’s around the corner now” Aaren covered the speaker on my phone with his hand so that T’s dad couldn’t hear us.
“Nice, tell him we’re by the parking lot”
“K” Aaren lifted the phone to his ear again, “sir, we’re by the school parking lot” as he spoke a dark blue car started pulling into the little turn around thing where the buses always came and left.
“Mr. K” I smiled and opened the door as he drove and stopped next to us.
“I’m going to take him to the hospital, they said that the meds should’ve helped to stop it but they haven’t done anything” he shook his head, “thank you Malek, Aaren, Kiara. I appreciate it” he got out of the car and shook my hand, “do I need to talk to the teachers for him?”
“No, it’s fine we’ll get all his stuff for the classes, you just go make sure he’s ok” I smiled and he buckled the sleeping T into the car.
“Why don’t you three get to class before you get in more trouble then you already are.” he laughed a bit and we nodded.
~
“Why are you late young man!? This is the third time!” Mr. Ameken grabbed my wrist and pulled me out the door, shutting it behind him.
    “I had to help my…. Nevermind, just hit me and get it over with” I laughed and he growled.
    “Why is it that you always get halfway through telling the truth and then you suddenly give up, a simple explanation could do you a lot of good just so you know” Mr. Ameken crossed his arms and sighed.
    “Cause even if I actually told someone the truth, which I have by the way, it’s not like you teachers actually care anyways” I shrugged.
    *sigh* “Blue spoke to me earlier, or rather I spoke to her.” I flinched a bit, what the hell does he mean by that?, “she got here late and apologized, as per usual. Yet when I asked where you and all of your weird friends were she lied and said you were here. Probably not realizing that I didn’t know you weren’t?” Blue doesn’t usually talk to this guy unless it’s to talk to me.
    “Ok yeah, and…?” I shrugged and looked at him, a bit curious. “Friends’ll do that” sometimes Blue would do this thing where she told someone else something, knowing they’d come to me, and the lines would hide some kinda message in them for me. “She say anything else?” I smiled.
“She said something about her mom being late.. And that there was a bad accident in the road… she felt bad about it.. She was actually telling me to tell you about it.” he shook his head, “but, that’s besides the point, you’re a good student Malek, so much potential that you waste, why? Do you think it makes you ‘cool’?” he actually looked concerned and it was freaking me out.
“No. I just don’t really think school is worth my time… sometimes” I smiled, “shouldn’t we get back to class?” I smirked and he sighed, opening the door and hustling me in. We sat there for a moment and I pulled out a notebook.
‘She said; she got here late, and she apologized’ = Sorry I had to go.
‘Her mom being late, bad accident on the road, she feels bad about it’ = she had to leave for her mom, and she has a bad feeling…? Or she was feeling bad about leaving….?
I put my pencil down and looked up at Mr. Ameken, who was writing something on the board about math. What on earth could she have a bad feeling about? Her mom? Or did she just feel bad about having to leave? Probably not, she’d already explained that like three times. I was about to start jotting down the notes when the loudspeaker suddenly started buzzing, like it always does before someone starts to speak.
~ “We have a few students that need to hustle to Mr. Stelts’ office so please listen for your names. Will Blue O'Connor, Malek Skulnex and Matthew Harmony please come to the office immediately” ~ I flinched at the sound of my name and the entire class looked at me as I stood up.
“Guess I’m headin’ out teach” I nodded and walked through the door, I could hear him sigh behind me but at this point I really didn’t care. I turned the corner toward Mr. Stelts’ room and almost walked into Matt as he exited one of the other classrooms.
“Oh Matt… Matthew? Wait….” I flinched “your last name is Harmony? Your full name is Matthew…? Hold on…” Harmony… weren’t they the really powerful people that worked under the Queen and King?
“Yes.” he rolled his eyes and started walking at my side, “no, I’m not who you’re thinking of” he grumbled, it sounded so forced and planned, like he actually was but didn’t want me to know, which would be weird.
“Right… Ok”
“Mal!” Blue ran up behind me and jumped, using my shoulders as platforms for her hands as she did so.
“Do you know what this is about?” I looked at her and she shrugged, we both then looked at Matt, who wasn’t even looking our direction anymore, and was actually quite a ways in front of us.
“Mr. Harmony!” A soldier ran out of the office as we turned the corner to go into the office, A.K.A; Mr. Stelts’ office.
“I’m fine” Matt rolled his eyes and shoved past the soldier, my jaw dropped and Blue walked at my side, past him, into the room.
“Please close the door Alfred. Boys, Blue, please sit down” Mr.Stelts gestured for us to sit and we did so, all the while ‘Alfred just glared at me and Blue.
“What’s this about?” I crossed my arms after setting my folder down onto the floor.
“We heard that you two were the ones who tied Mr. Harmony here to the bridge, do you have any idea how high of an offence that is, how much trouble you’re in?” he crossed his arms and suddenly I realized why everyone had been glaring at us.
“Bullshit! Who told you that?” Blue narrowed her eyes.
“Kilen and Ash were both witnesses, they came to me with this information this morning, they said they waited for the officers to show up because they didn’t want to suffer the same fate.
“Are you kidding me!?” I looked at Matt as he spoke, “these two weren’t the ones who did that!” he crossed his arms.
“You must of bumped your head Mr. Harmony. Please sit down” Alfred pulled a seat out and I flinched.
“What the hell?” I stood up and put my hands on the sides of the seat I’d been sitting in.
“You can tell the truth here Matthew, they can’t hurt you as long as you’re in here” Mr. Stelts glared at me and looked at Matt sweetly.
“But they didn’t” Alfred put his hand on Matt’s shoulder and pushed him down gently so that he was sitting in the seat.
“I know you’re probably still hurt but we have solid witnesses. These two have been causing trouble for years, I don’t have a doubt in my mind that they were the ones who did this to you” he sighed and shook his head.
“Excuse me! Do we even get a say!?” I looked around the room and then down at Mr. Stelts.
“Why should you? You’re only going to lie about it, poor Kilen and Ash knew that you would.” my jaw dropped and I growled a bit.
“And of course you believe them! Why? ‘Cause they’re older? ‘Cause they’re of richer families? What the hell!?” The cut on my back was starting to ache and the idiots really weren’t helping the fact that I was still unstable from taking the medicine for pain relief last night. It may mess with my head but I’m not stupid!
“Mr. Skulnex!” I flinched back as he lifted his hand. “Please stay in your seat and calm yourself, I will not speak to a madman” he threatened. I sat down and crossed my arms.
“I believe we have enough to go on, look at his temper, he could easily take out my fragile student, knock him out and force him to believe that it wasn’t him and his little girlfriend” I growled.
“What did you just say!?” Blue growled and started to stand but the guard made her sit.
“Stop it! She has nothing to do with any of this!” and she’s not really my girlfriend either…
“See look at that, they make it so obvious. I say we take them in now” he growled.
“That’s enough! I’m not your fragile little student and I l know that it wasn’t them!” Matt shot at Alfred but the man just stood there and stared at him with pity in his eyes.
“Oh what they did to you sir was horrible, they will pay for their crimes I promise” he glared at me and I looked at Blue. I’m not sure what’s going on, but this is not going to end well.

Blue Chapter

This is so fucked up. Of course Mal and I would be accused of tying whatshisface to the bridge. It’s what we get for being poor, as if it’s our fault that we are “inferior.” And of course, even when Matt tells the principal that it wasn’t us, and that it was Ash and Kilen, they just don’t care and we get in trouble anyways. And apparently Matt is the son of someone incredibly important, and the penalty for messing with him is far more grim than usual.

“You can’t punish us for somethin’ we didn’t do!” I yelled, even though, technically they could and my resistance was futile.

“Shut your mouth. We have statements from the sons of very important men saying you're guilty. And you’re the daughter of a poor trashy ditz.” The principal leaned forward on his desk menacingly, and I scowled at him, ready to fight if I had too. Mr. Stelts looked up at the tall men, guards, who walked into the office with us. “You may take them away now.” The guards grabbed Mal and I forcefully, we tried to break free of their grips and Matt was spewing complaints and pleas about how ‘it really wasn’t them!’ but it was worthless, no matter how much we tried they were still stronger than us.

After a moment of struggling Malek stopped and decided it wasn’t worth it. Me on the other hand, there was no way I was letting them take me without a few bruises.

“Where are you taking us anyway” Mal flinched as the guard tightened the cuffs around his wrists, pulling them behind his back, “easy!” he growled and they made a kind of tsh noise.

“Would you two stop struggling?” The guard yanked my arm as he pulled me down the hall. I bared my teeth and growled like a dog in response.

“No! And I’ll say it again, it wasn’t us!” I shrieked, the guard rolled his eyes as we left the school grounds. Mal was being extremely quiet, and calm, it was actually starting to freak me out.

“Get in the car.” The guard pushed me into the back of his creepy sleek black van, I huffed and snarled. To be honest I don’t usually like getting angry but right now was a major exception, Mal was shoved in next to me.

“This blows.” I mumbled angrily to myself.

“Shhh” he glared at me for a moment as the guys got into the van. I pursed my lips and eyed the guards angrily. Oh god, what would I tell my mom? Would I even get to tell her anything?

“Hey. Do I get a phone call?” I said out loud to the men sitting across from Mal and I.

“No. Stop talking.” The guy snapped. And that was how the unbearably long boring car ride continued. I mumbled angry profanity under my breath, Mal kept telling me to be quiet and the men sat in quiet anger. Until we got to our destination, beleive it or not, the castle.

“Wow” Mal stared up through the window and the guard in the front turned around and glared at him, “dude it’s so much bigger than I ever though” he smiled and the guy reached back.

“If you talk again, I’m going to hit you with something” he growled

“What kind of something?” I smirked a little, I’m not sure why but I thought it was funny how vague the threat was.

“None of your goddamn business, I will hit you too” He snarled, and I snickered a little at how angry he was getting. Of course it was a bad move because, like he said he would, he hit me. All he did was slap my face, but it still hurt like a b***h.

“Ow, f**k you.” I held my hand over my cheek which was practically glowing red from the slap. I saw Mal tense and his brows furrowed, he’s very protective.

“Next time she says something, hit me instead it works better” he smiled, hoping that they’d actually listen.

“You don’t have to do that.” I whispered to him, even though the guards could probably hear me.

“Yes.” he smirked and then looked back at them.

“Alright, get out of the car” they both opened their doors and got on the sides waiting for us to come out, which we did, hesitantly. The weird thing was the fact that they had chained Mal’s hands behind him but they hadn’t tied me up…

When we got out, we stood at the end of a long stone path leading up to the castle gates. I didn’t totally understand why they had an actual castle, seeing how much technology has come. When I was younger, people talked about ‘the castle’ and I thought it was just a code word or something. But here we stood. Starring up at large stone towers and flags waving on top.

“Damn…” I mumbled under my breath in slight awe. Mal and I are in way more trouble than I thought if we were brought here of all places.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up!? Clearly you two are friends, maybe I’ll take this brat up on his offer. So next time you speak I’ll punch him instead” the guard glared back at me and Mal smiled back at me, winking. I shook my head a little, but this time I actually kept my mouth shut. “That’s what I thought.” Mal rolled his eyes and continued walking forward.

“How’s the kid?” a girl in full armor came running around the corner and smiled at the guards, “who are these two?” she pointed to us and stopped in front of the two guards, walking backwards as they continued walking.

“These are the two who tied the masters kid to the bridge” one of the guards growled

“Actually, we didn’t but we’re poor, low class people that get blamed for everything” Mal shrugged and the guy turned around, punching him in the gut. Mal fell a bit but regained his composure quickly.

“Hey!” the girl crossed her arms and walked up to Mal, “maybe he’s telling the truth? Do you people actually have any proof?”

“Yes, two witnesses” the guard cracked his knuckles.

“You mean dickhead one and two? The ones who actually tied Matt to the bridge? Oh right, it was me, sorry… must of forgotten” Mal grumbled and the girl looked down at him.

“Please move, this kid needs to learn how to keep his mouth shut” the other guard suddenly spoke up and walked in front of Mal but the girl stepped into the way.

“Now now Dr. dramatic, how’s about we bring these two to the King and let him decide, or would you rather get into trouble with royalty” she smirked and they growled.

“Whatever, fine” they turned around and she turned around to look at Mal, who was standing up straight now, hands still tied behind his back.

“Mal are you ok?” I whispered and bent down a little, putting my hand on his back.

“Yup, I’m fine” he smiled.

“Forget it, they’re jerks” the girl laughed and then looked at me, “how come he’s tied up?” she asked, directed at me for some reason, why the hell would I know.

“I don’t know, it was those guys.” I squinted a little. The girl seemed nice enough, but I don’t think I trust her.

“Right, you poor teens, getting stuck with those two”

“We can hear you Remi!” they growled from further up the walkway, near the door, she laughed.

“Oh I know” she yelled back and smiled down at us, “come one” she walked behind Mal and next to me, starting to walk us towards the door.

“Why are you being so nice to us?” I raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged a little.

“It’s not a common opinion, but I don’t think you’re guilty just because you happen to be at the bottom of the pyramid with no money.” she gave me a shy smile. “I think you two are innocent until I get some physical proof” she smirked .

“I appreciate that, but how’ll you convince wingus and dingus of that?” I gestured to the direction where the other guards had gone.

“Hopefully I won’t need to” She smiled at that and I just rolled my eyes, because obviously she would need to. The girl lead us into the castle entrance, where we walked down a hallway, that was just slightly more modern than the outside of the structure. The halls were lit by electric ceiling lamps and the floors were made of polished wood, pictures of the royal family hung on the walls. However the interesting part, was the fact that none other than Matthew something-or-other was right there in the photos. Standing as stiffly and uncomfortably as the King, Queen, and their daughter.

“Mal! Do you see this?” I hit him lightly in the arm. What are the odds that the new kid would be one of the richest people in the country.

“Am I blind?” he rolled his eyes and continued walking.

“Master Matthew and Mistress Selena wanted to have the ability to travel the land and have the chance to be free, so in an effort to do so, the two of them ran away when their parents voted against the idea. We still haven’t found Milady Sea, but as you’ve probably figured out, we just found master Matthew” The guard in front of us grumbled, “wingus and dingus, as you like to call them, were assigned to find Milady Sea, but they ended up finding the three of you instead. I was the one assigned to find Master Matt, so they’re sending the two of them back out after we’re finished here.” she paused for a moment

“Where did they go anyways?” Mal mumbled.

“They probably went to find the Queen and tell her that her son has been found, we actually thought they’d be together but I guess it can never be that easy” she shrugged.

“Right” I walked at Mal’s side now, this girl seemed a lot better than the two that had been escorting us before but I still didn’t trust her.