Early in the morning, Jaime Pike followed her three best friends, Brayli Jones, Cassey Down, and Yvonne Reed down the school hall and toward the English classroom. They stood patiently outside the door, waiting to be let in. Their other best friend, Justin Morrison, was there, knocking on the door.
The bell rang. Where the hell was Mrs. Perry? All five of them had English, but they couldn't start English until they got into the classroom. The door opened a crack. Julie Meyer stepped inside, squealed, and jumped back. "EW!" she cried. On the floor was a large pile of vomit.
Jaime gagged. Disgusting! "Um, class, I really don't think I'm well enough to teach today, so if you could just proceed to the..." Mrs. Perry dry-heaved and rushed to the washroom.
Justin glanced at Jaime, Brayli, Cassey, and Yvonne. He chuckled. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Free period!" He fist-pumped the four girls.
"I got my socks on!" Cassey screamed, making Justin, Jaime, Brayli, and Yvonne jump. Jaime realized that Cassey had her in-ear headphones on. "I got my argyle socks on!" Justin yanked the headphones out of her ears.
"Hey!" Cassey fought for the headphones. "I'm trying to listen to music!"
"And sing horribly," Justin said. "We've got a free period! Mrs. Perry is sick. Want to head to Coca Loco?" Coca Loco was the school's coffee shop.
The girls all nodded. They walked alongside Justin, down the hall and into Coca Loco.
"Hello, there," said the lady at the counter. From her name tag, Jaime saw that her name was Alison. "What can I get for you?"
"I'll have a Frappucino," said Cassey, snatching her headphones from Justin and putting them back in. "You know I look hot in my argyle socks! When I step in the spot, you know it's time to rock!"
"Shut up!" Justin yelled. But Cassey still didn't hear him.
"What is she singing, anyway? I caught something about argyle socks," said Jaime.
"The Socks Song, by Shay Butler," said Justin. "It's her latest obsession, and I'm getting sick of it."
"Hobbit, Dwarves, Elves, and Men, Kings and Queens!" Cassey cried.
"That and Lord of the Rings in 99 Seconds, like we just heard," said Justin. "I'm working on getting her to stop, but she's really stubborn. Every time I take her headphones away, she all but tries to claw my eyes out."
Jaime laughed. "That sounds like Cassey, all right," said Jaime.
"Aragorn fights off the nine evil Ringwraiths! The Fellowship forms! Saruman's a jerk, Gandalf's torn from the group! YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" Cassey yelled. Cassey's singing made Jaime jump.
"All right, that's it," said Jaime. She plucked Cassey's headphones from her ears and snatched her iPhone from her pocket. Cassey screamed and lunged at Jaime, who slid the phone and headphone set into her purse. She bowled Jaime off of her seat and scratched at her.
"All right, all right, I give up!" Jaime cried. She handed Cassey back her iPhone and headphones.
"Uruk-Hai's beheaded, like a boss! The Fellowship is broken, thanks for that, J. R. R. Tolkien! Frodo's gone! And Sam's coming with you!" Cassey squealed
The ground rumbled. Cassey took her headphones out and slid her phone and the headphones into her pocket. "What was that?" she asked. The ground rumbled again. This time, it didn't stop. The shaking just got harder.
Justin clutched Cassey's hand. Jaime gripped the stool. People started screaming. The ground started to split open. The walls crumbled. Cassey lost hold of Justin's hand and fell into the abyss.
Brayli tried running away, but was sucked into the abyss, as well. As she did so, she caught hold of Yvonne's leg and pulled her down with her. They all screamed as they fell.
Justin slipped on a rock and fell away into the blackness. Jaime clutched the stool even tighter. She felt its legs ripping from the floor. It tipped dangerously over to one side... the side that faced the abyss. She scrambled to the side furthest away from it and held on for dear life, screaming as she fell to her death.
