And now, Fillmore
Today's Episode: Bullies of the Night
Act 1: The Dog That Ate the Homework
Fillmore looked at the golf ball carefully, analyzing the bumps on the ball. He planned how he could mold them to the green, and giving the ball a smooth transition to the hole. He decided quickly, and struck the ball cleanly. It ambled across the green half way to the hole, before the wind picked up. The ball curved its path, so it ended half an inch to the right of the hole.
"Snap," said Fillmore with a laugh. "And I was having such a good day, too."
He pulled his cap over his eyes, strolled over to his ball, and prepared to swing again. It was then that his partner, Ingrid Third, found him. She walked up to him, and although he knew she was there, he never looked away from the golf ball.
"Morning Ingrid," he said. "I didn't expect to see you here."
Ingrid nodded. She wasn't in the same position as him. Fillmore had been working overdrive on a recent case for the past couple of days. In fact, he'd been working so hard that Vallejo, the chief of the safety patrol at X Middle School, had forced him to take a vacation after solving the case.
"Vallejo assigned me to guard you," Ingrid explained. "Vacation or not, you're still our best safety patroller. And that reputation has worked up some enemies."
Fillmore hit the golf ball into the hole. Leaning over, he took the golf ball out of the hole and started walking toward the next green.
"What are you doing here today Fillmore?" asked Ingrid.
Fillmore set his golf ball down at the beginning of hole 5. "New kid challenged me to a game of Golf. Claims to be hot. Hasn't shown yet, though, so I started kicking butt in advance."
Fillmore set up his stance so he'd be ready to hit the golf ball. With one swing, he sent it bouncing off banks and missing traps, and directly into the hole.
"Nice shot," said Ingrid.
"Thanks," Fillmore replied.
Just then, Ingrid's walkie-talkie emitted a jumble of static, followed by Vallejo's voice. "Ingrid, we need you back at the office," said Vallejo. "Tell Fillmore to come, too."
"Sounds urgent," said Fillmore.
They arrived at the office ten minutes later. Vallejo was not immediately visible. "We came as soon as we could," said Ingrid. "What's up?"
"Bully victim came in today," a girl at a desk said. "Vallejo's in the questioning room trying to calm him down."
"Thanks Tehama," said Fillmore. He and Ingrid went into the questioning room, where they found a boy sobbing, and Vallejo patting him on the back.
"It's okay," Vallejo was saying to him. "We can make it so it doesn't count against your grade."
"I worked for five whole hours making this assignment perfect," the boy sobbed into his hands. "It's not the kind of thing you can just blow aside, and have everything be okay!"
"Don't worry," said Vallejo. "We'll look for your stolen homework, and get you an extension until we find it."
"Vallejo," said Fillmore. "Bring me up to speed. I thought we'd cleared out all the bullies."
"We had," Vallejo responded. "Every last person with bullying on their record had been straightened out, or sent to another school. But apparently, with the lack of competition in brawn, someone new has emerged."
The sobbing kid pulled his face out of his hands. He swallowed his tears and spoke.
"He calls himself 'the Dog,'" He said, referring to the bully. "This isn't the first time I've had a run in with him. In fact, I've had a roe with him all year. In the past he'd only done the normal bully thefts: lunch money, baseball caps, those kinds of things. But then he moved on to homework about a month ago, taking math assignments, vocab definitions, science lab reports, etc. He said if I told anyone, he would beat my face in every day from now until graduation. But when he took the creative story that will count for thirty percent of my grade... I..." He returned to his sobbing. Vallejo finished his story. "The new kid found him crying near the golf course, and brought him in. It took us half an hour to get that much out of him. This 'Dog' kid sounds like a tough one."
"Well, that's just the way I like 'em," said Fillmore. "Hard boiled."
"Hold it," said Vallejo. "You're still on vacation. I only called you in so we'd know where to get started."
"Sorry chief," Fillmore responded. "But I'm choosing to end my break a little early. I'll let you know when I've caught this guy."
Fillmore walked out of the room toward his desk, leaving Ingrid, Vallejo, and the sobbing kid. Vallejo sunk his head into his hand, saying, "Ingrid, there's nothing I can do to stop Fillmore. So, I'm going to need you to keep an extra sharp lookout on him. Any signs of him losing his cool, do what you have to. Folsom's been watching us too closely after the art class incident."
"Don't worry," said Ingrid. "I'm on it." Vallejo smiled.
"His name's Chase Kristofer," Ingrid said about the sobbing boy. "He's a ninth grader, attending school for his final year, he said."
"But he hasn't been in the school paper enough to have enemies," Fillmore said. "This must be some sort of random pick."
"Wait," Ingrid said. She sat down at her computer and started tapping mildly. Fillmore grabbed the hot cocoa that he'd put on his desk earlier, just so he'd have something to hold while watching Ingrid. It didn't take long for her to find what she was looking for. On her monitor, she pulled up an article from a previous issue of the school newspaper. The headline read, "Chase robs former champion of creative writing championship." Fillmore sipped his got cocoa, then read aloud:
"Eighth grader Chase Kristofer took the title for best creative writer this year, just barely beating Bruce Storm: the previous X-middle school champion. 'I can see why he won,' Bruce said in an interview. 'He clearly wrote the better story. But I don't think that will happen next year."
"Crackers," said Ingrid. Fillmore agreed, "Sounds a little close to a threat to me."
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Author's Notes: Hope you all liked my Fillmore story. This is the first time I've done a mystery! I'm trying to do it like an episode, but the acts are too long to do one whole act per chapter, otherwise I'd never get these released. Look for more of act 1 in chapter 2! Anyone wanting to audition for the role of the new kid, review and tell me what you think! Anyone can be chosen, so keep submitting until chapter 2 is up. I'm trying to keep this from being a Fillmore/Ingrid romance fic. Too many of those! But, if that's what you people really want, just tell me and I'll see what I can do.
Today's Episode: Bullies of the Night
Act 1: The Dog That Ate the Homework
Fillmore looked at the golf ball carefully, analyzing the bumps on the ball. He planned how he could mold them to the green, and giving the ball a smooth transition to the hole. He decided quickly, and struck the ball cleanly. It ambled across the green half way to the hole, before the wind picked up. The ball curved its path, so it ended half an inch to the right of the hole.
"Snap," said Fillmore with a laugh. "And I was having such a good day, too."
He pulled his cap over his eyes, strolled over to his ball, and prepared to swing again. It was then that his partner, Ingrid Third, found him. She walked up to him, and although he knew she was there, he never looked away from the golf ball.
"Morning Ingrid," he said. "I didn't expect to see you here."
Ingrid nodded. She wasn't in the same position as him. Fillmore had been working overdrive on a recent case for the past couple of days. In fact, he'd been working so hard that Vallejo, the chief of the safety patrol at X Middle School, had forced him to take a vacation after solving the case.
"Vallejo assigned me to guard you," Ingrid explained. "Vacation or not, you're still our best safety patroller. And that reputation has worked up some enemies."
Fillmore hit the golf ball into the hole. Leaning over, he took the golf ball out of the hole and started walking toward the next green.
"What are you doing here today Fillmore?" asked Ingrid.
Fillmore set his golf ball down at the beginning of hole 5. "New kid challenged me to a game of Golf. Claims to be hot. Hasn't shown yet, though, so I started kicking butt in advance."
Fillmore set up his stance so he'd be ready to hit the golf ball. With one swing, he sent it bouncing off banks and missing traps, and directly into the hole.
"Nice shot," said Ingrid.
"Thanks," Fillmore replied.
Just then, Ingrid's walkie-talkie emitted a jumble of static, followed by Vallejo's voice. "Ingrid, we need you back at the office," said Vallejo. "Tell Fillmore to come, too."
"Sounds urgent," said Fillmore.
They arrived at the office ten minutes later. Vallejo was not immediately visible. "We came as soon as we could," said Ingrid. "What's up?"
"Bully victim came in today," a girl at a desk said. "Vallejo's in the questioning room trying to calm him down."
"Thanks Tehama," said Fillmore. He and Ingrid went into the questioning room, where they found a boy sobbing, and Vallejo patting him on the back.
"It's okay," Vallejo was saying to him. "We can make it so it doesn't count against your grade."
"I worked for five whole hours making this assignment perfect," the boy sobbed into his hands. "It's not the kind of thing you can just blow aside, and have everything be okay!"
"Don't worry," said Vallejo. "We'll look for your stolen homework, and get you an extension until we find it."
"Vallejo," said Fillmore. "Bring me up to speed. I thought we'd cleared out all the bullies."
"We had," Vallejo responded. "Every last person with bullying on their record had been straightened out, or sent to another school. But apparently, with the lack of competition in brawn, someone new has emerged."
The sobbing kid pulled his face out of his hands. He swallowed his tears and spoke.
"He calls himself 'the Dog,'" He said, referring to the bully. "This isn't the first time I've had a run in with him. In fact, I've had a roe with him all year. In the past he'd only done the normal bully thefts: lunch money, baseball caps, those kinds of things. But then he moved on to homework about a month ago, taking math assignments, vocab definitions, science lab reports, etc. He said if I told anyone, he would beat my face in every day from now until graduation. But when he took the creative story that will count for thirty percent of my grade... I..." He returned to his sobbing. Vallejo finished his story. "The new kid found him crying near the golf course, and brought him in. It took us half an hour to get that much out of him. This 'Dog' kid sounds like a tough one."
"Well, that's just the way I like 'em," said Fillmore. "Hard boiled."
"Hold it," said Vallejo. "You're still on vacation. I only called you in so we'd know where to get started."
"Sorry chief," Fillmore responded. "But I'm choosing to end my break a little early. I'll let you know when I've caught this guy."
Fillmore walked out of the room toward his desk, leaving Ingrid, Vallejo, and the sobbing kid. Vallejo sunk his head into his hand, saying, "Ingrid, there's nothing I can do to stop Fillmore. So, I'm going to need you to keep an extra sharp lookout on him. Any signs of him losing his cool, do what you have to. Folsom's been watching us too closely after the art class incident."
"Don't worry," said Ingrid. "I'm on it." Vallejo smiled.
"His name's Chase Kristofer," Ingrid said about the sobbing boy. "He's a ninth grader, attending school for his final year, he said."
"But he hasn't been in the school paper enough to have enemies," Fillmore said. "This must be some sort of random pick."
"Wait," Ingrid said. She sat down at her computer and started tapping mildly. Fillmore grabbed the hot cocoa that he'd put on his desk earlier, just so he'd have something to hold while watching Ingrid. It didn't take long for her to find what she was looking for. On her monitor, she pulled up an article from a previous issue of the school newspaper. The headline read, "Chase robs former champion of creative writing championship." Fillmore sipped his got cocoa, then read aloud:
"Eighth grader Chase Kristofer took the title for best creative writer this year, just barely beating Bruce Storm: the previous X-middle school champion. 'I can see why he won,' Bruce said in an interview. 'He clearly wrote the better story. But I don't think that will happen next year."
"Crackers," said Ingrid. Fillmore agreed, "Sounds a little close to a threat to me."
-----------------------------
Author's Notes: Hope you all liked my Fillmore story. This is the first time I've done a mystery! I'm trying to do it like an episode, but the acts are too long to do one whole act per chapter, otherwise I'd never get these released. Look for more of act 1 in chapter 2! Anyone wanting to audition for the role of the new kid, review and tell me what you think! Anyone can be chosen, so keep submitting until chapter 2 is up. I'm trying to keep this from being a Fillmore/Ingrid romance fic. Too many of those! But, if that's what you people really want, just tell me and I'll see what I can do.