Here we are again guys and gals. The next part in the Alone Series.

I got the idea for this fic while writing the Epilogue of So Long, and Goodnight. I thought it would be funny and cool to write it.

Hope you enjoy, and please R&R if you wanna. Picture used is Milky Way rising over a dead tree in Banks Peninsula, New Zealand.

Anyway, on with the story.

T.C

PS: Fun Fact - I met Jamie Anderson (Gerry's son) a couple months back, and he signed my notebook. I told him about my Thunderbirds writing, and he wrote "Wishing you luck with the fan fiction." on my autograph.

~oOo~

It was our first day back at school - Jodie's first day since living with us and getting out of the toxic environment she was living in before - so all of us were sitting in the car being driven to our respective schools. Virgil and I had agreed to keep a close eye on the both of them, even if it caused us to be laughed at or ridiculed in the corridors. It would be worth it, if it meant that they stayed safe.

Gordon and Alan were dropped off first, before our father made his way to Kansas High to drop off the rest of us.

Uneventful is what I'd call the journey, but everything else about this day was anything but. In fact, I wished our first day was as uneventful as the beginning of the day.

As we got out of the car, I spotted John and Jodie squeeze each other's hands briefly, before getting their bags and following us towards the entrance of the school. There was nothing romantic between them, it was just something they did. I think it was just their way of saying 'everything is going to be alright.'

"Are you two going to be okay on your own for a little bit?" I asked, stopping at the top of the steps, "I need to take Jodie to the office to get her schedule, locker number and all that. We shouldn't be more than five minutes at most."

They both nodded, and I started to lead her through the crowd of people that seemed to be everywhere. Come tomorrow, there probably wouldn't be as many students milling around, but the first day back, parents wanted their kids at school early.

Thankfully, we weren't in the office for too long, and soon enough, the four of us were meeting up again.

"Okay, so you two -" I pointed to the two gingers, "- are going to be in the same classes. Dad sorted that out. And we all have the same break times it seems, but free periods, we're not together."

"It's going to be fine, Scott." Jodie told me, standing on her tiptoes to put her arm round my shoulders, "I'm sure we can manage a couple of hours by ourselves. There's nothing to worry about."

"I'm not worrying."

"Yes, you are." The three of them said in unison.

"Okay, maybe I am. But it's my job as your big brother to look out for you. It's a big brothers prerogative to do so."

"Whatever you say, Scott." John commented, looking at his schedule, "Looks like we have Biology and then a free period. What a great way to start the day."

He pulled Virgil and I into a hug - the same as what Jodie did just after him - before he led her down the hall to her locker and their homeroom.

"You worry to much, Scott. Like Jodes said, it's going to be fine. How much trouble can they get into at school?"

I shrugged, before hugging Virgil and walking off to my homeroom, and Virg to his. I mean, how much trouble could they get into?

~oOo~

It was my second period of the day, when some shouting from the corridor caught my, and most of the classes, attention. I couldn't hear exactly what was said, but it sounded a little like the word 'shit swizzler' was used, before there was a loud thud of something, or someone, hitting metal and falling onto the ground.

"SON OF A BITCH!"

There were a couple of sniggers at the shout, but I wasn't laughing. I recognized the voice, and it just wasn't clicking with me about who it was. It was going to bother me until I knew who it was.

"Okay, here's what's gonna go down. Two choices. You stay here and I crack one of your nuts, right or left, that's your choice. Or you walk away and live to be a douche bag another day."

"Option two is never going to happen." A voice answered, before there was a grunt and some coughing.

"Listen here, you wheezing bag of dick tits…"

Then the voice clicked. It was Jodie. And I was out of my seat and the door before anybody could try and stop me. And it looked as though I wasn't the only one to exit my classroom to see what was going on.

Teachers and students alike were in the corridor, and I had to push my way through them to get to the front of the crowd.

It was hard to tell who was who, apart from Jodie; who's long ginger hair made her very recognizable and easy to point out. John was standing awkwardly on the sidelines with Virgil, a bruise forming around his eye and he was holding his side. I made my way over to him, checking him for any other injuries.

"What's going on?" He gave me one of his 'are you kidding me?' looks, "Apart from the obvious. What happened to you?"

"I was waiting for Jodie. She'd gone to the bathroom, and the usual bullies ambushed me. They started pushing me, hitting me, and then Jodie came. She said they weren't being fair, and it wasn't right to do what they were doing, so they started on her." He told me, his hands starting to shake.

"It's okay, John. We just need to stop the fight before anybody gets seriously hurt."

Just as I said this, one of the fighters was thrown to the floor, quickly followed by another, and then another; each one of them looking like they wanted to get back into the fight, but not daring to do it. Then it was only Jodie, and a boy I recognized as Eddie French.

Eddie and his 'friends' were the ones that always gave John trouble. Everybody knew it, it could just never be proven. John wouldn't tell on them out of fear, and what bully was ever going to admit to their crimes?

"Do you want give up?" Jodie asked, wiping the blood from her nose and mouth onto the sleeve of her shirt, "Cause I think we all know I can kick your ass, on any day of the week. So how about we call it even, and you leave John and I alone. You stay away from us, and we'll leave you be."

There were no words uttered by Eddie, he just lashed out; throwing her into one of the lockers with a loud bang, before surging towards her; his fist raised to strike her again.

That's when a couple of the teachers grabbed him, but not before Jodie could kick him in the crown jewels. You could hear the intake of breath from every male who was watching, and a few of them even winced.

I rushed forwards with John and Virgil as soon as Eddie and his friends had been taken away from the scene. She was trying to stand up, but we managed to convince her to stay on the floor until she had been checked over by the school nurse.

She happily talked with us, while the sea of people were slowly herded back into their respective classrooms. Apart from looking a little pale, she seemed fine, and that was confirmed by the school nurse, Greg and Lindsey, who had been on duty when the call had gone out for a couple of ambulances to come to the school.

"You should see the other guys." She joked, as we helped her from the floor and walked towards the principles office.

~oOo~

"And in local news, police and paramedics were called to Kansas High School today when a fight broke out between a couple of the students. A video of the incident has been posted online, and it shows a group of students ganging up on another, until a new student decided to help her friend. Here's Chris, with more on the story."

Our father shut the Holo-TV off at that point, and I handed Jodie yet another icepack to the growing number she already had. While John had escaped the fight with only a couple bruises, Jodie hadn't been so lucky. The bruises she had got from Catrina looked like nothing compared to these.

This time, she had two black eyes, a split lip, a mild concussion, swelling, her knuckles were scabbed, most of her body was littered with newly forming bruises. She had been lucky not to have broken anything.

"All I wanted was for you to have an uneventful first day at school." Dad said, nursing a scotch, "Why couldn't that have happened? Just one day was all I was asking." I don't think he was actually talking to anybody in particular, he was just saying it to anybody who was listening.

"Sorry, Mr. Tracy. I just couldn't stand around and watch them bully John. I just did the only thing I could think so they would leave him alone."

"I know." He said, touching her left shoulder lightly before walking towards the kitchen, "But was one day just too much to ask for? Hasn't this family been through enough?" And he was back to talking to himself.

But he did have a point. Was one day without anything major happening just too much to ask for? Probably.