Unfortunately, I can't claim as much originality for this story as I would like to. Somewhat to my distress, I have discovered that at least two other writers here have already written stories about Jesus in high school. If you enjoy this story, then you may want to check out Judea High School: The Judas Chronicles by TrenchcoatsAreSexy and The Way of the Lord by StarXEnoch—both of which are well-written and interesting in different ways.

Preface

Early in July of 2011, an American fan fiction writer made an amazing discovery: a lost gospel, written by an unknown hand, describing the high school career of Jesus of Nazareth. The manuscript represents a momentous leap forward in biblical scholarship, preserving a text of which, until now, not so much as a fragment has come down to us. Indeed, the gospel seems to have been systematically suppressed by early church authorities, for no reference to it occurs in the writings of the church fathers, who do not even mention it in their condemnations of heretical works.

Rather ominously, this pattern of suppression appears to have continued within the modern academic community. The vast majority of biblical scholars have not even mentioned the manuscript. Those who have mentioned it have dismissed it with such nitpicky arguments as "Radiocarbon dating indicates that this manuscript is only 10 days old" and "This is written in modern English and contains the word 'mofo'".

What is it about this gospel that is so threatening to both the early church and modern scholars alike that the former does not mention it at all and the latter declare it a hoax? The manuscript's discoverer has decided that evaluation of the manuscript's authenticity is too important to be left in the hands of ivory-tower academics who have spent their lives doing nothing but studying ancient manuscripts. Hence, he has decided to share this exciting discovery with researchers the world over by posting it on FanFiction,net.

Here at last is a gripping account of one of the least-documented periods in Christ's life—high school!

Prologue

In a small Nazorean suburb, a young girl stood outside her house, scanning the road anxiously. She broke into a hopeful smile as she saw two boys about her age approaching down the sidewalk.

"Jesus!" the girl shouted, running toward them. "You're good with animals, right? I have to show you something!"

"Just a minute," said Jesus, who was supporting the other boy on his shoulder. "Lazarus tripped and sprained his ankle. I'm helping him get back into your house."

The girl rolled her eyes. "He just scraped his knees. He's fine!"

"I can taste blood," Lazarus whimpered between coughs. "Guys, I'm scared. I think I'm bleeding internally."

"He always does this to get attention," the girl said, tugging at Jesus' hand. "You know that. Now, please, Jesus, come on!"

Jesus turned to Lazarus. "Are you okay going the rest of the way by yourself?"

"I … I think I can make it from here," he replied.

"Okay, Martha, I'm coming," Jesus said, acquiescing to the girl's tugs.

He followed Martha into her back yard. There Martha's twin sister, Mary, stood beneath one of the house's windows, holding a small, feathery lump in her hands.

"Is it still alive?" asked Martha.

Mary shook her head. She burst into tears when she saw Jesus standing beside Martha. "Jesus, if you had gotten here sooner, this bird wouldn't have died!"

"We don't know that for sure, Mary," Martha said gently, putting a hand on Mary's shoulder. "Maybe the bird's wounds were hopeless."

"Waaaaaaahhhh!" Mary sobbed.

"Crap. I'm not very good at this, am I?" Martha said, turning to Jesus.

Jesus stepped forward, lifting Mary's chin with his hand.

"I know things like this are sad," he said. "But don't worry. It's all part of our Father's plan. Believe me, not even a single bird falls to the ground without a reason."

"I know that," Mary sniffed, "but why did it have to be this bird? Couldn't God have made his plan so that someone else's pet bird died?"

"Pet bird?" said Martha. "Mary, you found this bird just fifteen minutes ago."

"So? I can make it my pet if I—"

"Could I see the bird for a moment?" asked Jesus.

Mary hesitated for a moment before transferring the tiny corpse to Jesus' palms.

"Can you two keep a secret?"

Martha and Mary stared blankly at Jesus for a moment, then slowly nodded their heads.

"Promise?" he said.

They nodded again.

"Okay, then."

A combination of wonder and joy filled Mary's tear-streaked face as chirping began to emanate from her next-door neighbor's hands. Both girls gasped as the bird flew away.

"You remember what you said, right? You won't tell anyone?"

Martha nodded.

"Mommy, mommy!" Mary shouted, running into her house through the back door. "Guess what Jesus can do!"

"Do you want me to break her legs?" asked Martha.

Jesus sighed. "No, it's fine. As long as Mary's the one spreading the news, I'm not too worried about people believing it. But Martha," he said, staring directly into the girl's eyes, "you can't tell anyone about this, okay?"

Martha stared back nervously. "O—okay," she said.

A/N: This prologue is loosely based on a legend that Jesus resurrected a dead bird as a child. (According to a different version of the legend, Jesus molded a bird from clay and brought it to life.) The legend appears in some gospels that didn't make it into the canonical Bible and also in the Quran.