Alright, this is sort of a test run. I want to see what kind of response this sort of thing would get. Everyone has read where a girl, or a boy, or some of their friends get sucked into Lord of the Rings, but I don't think it's ever been done on this scale, with 60 kids all popping into LOTR simultaneously. There will be absolutely NO LegolasxOC romances, or anything absurd of the sort. This will focus on the characters, the interactions, and their ability to cope and adapt.
This chapter is just setup, but I'd appreciate comments, ideas, and so on. I've gotten some written out, and I've got their purpose there and how they get back also planned, but I'd like to see where you think this story should go, and if you're interested in the idea.
Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings. Classmates are based on real people, with certain traits exaggerated or changed for the purposes of this story. Should any of them stumble across it, I apologize if I portray you in an unflattering light, I do not think ill of any of you, but for the purposes of the story, I need some antagonists and quirky people, and thus have taken some parts I see and blown them out of proportion.
Without further ado:
,.;vVv;.,
"What's with the towel, Liz?" Trevor asked. Liz laughed.
"It's towel day," she said, plucking at the pink floral towel slung over her shoulder. It didn't't exactly go well with her striped shirt and jeans, but that was perfectly alright.
"What," Trevor asked, raising an eyebrow, "is towel day?"
"It's a wake-thing. It's in honor of Douglas Adams—the guy who wrote the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
"Oh… I see." He didn't, but Trevor knew Liz well enough to know that she was possibly crazy. Everyone in her class did, actually. Liz smiled a bit at the rest of the graduating class of 2007, all 67 of them. Four years ago, when she was at her first high school, she would have laughed off the concept of knowing the names of her entire (500-student) graduating class, but here she was, at least familiar with them, if not friends with about a quarter of the group.
The entire class was gathered outside by the rock—a boulder in the front yard of the school that was constantly being repainted in the middle of the night—it was tradition. At the moment, it was blue and silver, with "Class of 2007 wuz here" on the flattest part in yellow. It was around the rock that they gathered for their class picture.
"Miss, would you please take the towel off your shoulder?" the photographer asked. Liz groaned, but pulled the corner securely through her belt loop and pinned it with a safety pin to itself, so it wouldn't be in danger of falling off. It was heavy, because she had folded over one end and stitched it shut to form a makeshift purse for the day—one that held a notebook, a few pens, her copy of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and her copy of Lord of the Rings, among other various and sundry. She arranged it so that the weight wouldn't pull her pants off and looked back up. "Thank you. Alright now, One… two… three—Cheese!"
There was a click of the shutter, and a hush. The principal stared at the rock. The superintendent did as well. The photographer fell off his ladder.
The students were gone. All 67 of them.
