Hi y'all! Hope everyone enjoys this, and that it is as much fun to read as it was to write. Like I said, this story is entirely co-authored by feministkendra, so send love her way for all this, too.

Chapter One: Bowling For Soup Was Right All Along

"Binders?"

"Yep."

"Schedule?"

"Right here."

"Folders."

"A couple."

"Sparkly gel pens?"

"What?"

"Sword?"

"Seth, seriously-"

"Throwback 90s playlist on your phone?"

"If you aren't going to help, beat it." Kendra sighed as she crammed the last of her binders into her backpack. "I want to be asleep by 10:30, and you are not helping. Don't you have to pack, too?"

"I have everything all ready!" Seth leapt off the bed, hauling his red backpack onto his mattress. "Get on my level, dude!"

"Ugh. You are literally twelve."

"I'm fourteen, thanks."

"Whatever. Go help Bracken. We don't even know if he has the right school supplies."

"Actually," a lightly accented voice drifted in from just outside the playroom door. "I am also completely ready for tomorrow."

"Are you sure?" Seth asked, flopping down once again. "Butterfly post-it notes? Unicorn printed folders? Glitter pens? Life alert? You know, cause you're older than dirt?"

Bracken scowled at the younger boy, chucking a pillow from Kendra's bed at him. Seth snickered as he caught it, and before it could escalate, Kendra maneuvered herself between them.

"Neither of you two are helping my focus. Go downstairs, and see if any of our 'professors' need any help. Bracken, try to stay out of Vanessa's way. I'm not in the mood to break up any arguments tonight."

"Yes, ma'am." Bracken chuckled, shuffling out of the room after Seth, tossing a wink over his flannel clad shoulder.

Kendra sighed, collapsing onto her bed once the door shut behind the boys. They'd had little over a month to prep for this mission and she was still so anxious at the idea of it. Grandpa had called them all into his study on a sunny Tuesday morning mid-July. As the newly instated Captain of the Knights, he had received word of disturbing events in Cranford, a small yet typical New England town about 30 minutes away. 20 with Vanessa's driving. Kendra sighed, closing her eyes and letting her mind drift back to the meeting.

"A contact and close friend of mine in Cranford just called," Grandpa steepled his fingers in front of his face, concentrating on the wood of the desk. "We have a mission to undertake."

The adults shifted into noticeably less relaxed positions, realizing this wasn't a minor fix-it mission. Kendra, Seth, and Bracken, newly back from his mother's realm, stiffened nervously. The last huge mission they had gone through had nearly caused the apocalypse, and they were loathe to repeat the trauma so soon. Grandpa pressed on.

"The younger side of Cranford's population has been acting strange lately, according to our friend. Teens from Briarside Preparatory High School have been vandalising, stealing, causing general havoc, undermining the authorities, and so on-"

"Wait," Warren interrupted, looking genuinely confused. "You called us in here, because a bunch of snotty rich teens are acting like less-rich, still snotty teens? Stan I know you're older but you've gotta remember what being a 16 year old hormone machine was like. I'm sure this is nothing."

"Alas," Grandpa's smile was wry and rueful. "I don't think setting a soccer field on fire and burning clothes from the local thrift store with no definable reason is all that typical. Nor is stabbing a fellow classmate in broad daylight over a lost chess match. Or coating the walls of the Rec Center with formaldehyde."

"Ok, solid points," Warren spoke slowly, as if thinking incredibly hard for another explanation. "But how do we know these kids aren't just fed up with the same shit day in and out? High school sucks, maybe they're just realizing early."

"At the scene of every incident, trace amounts of this substance," Grandpa pulled out a bag of dried leaves and sooty, sparkly powder, "were found. Tanu? If you would be so kind."

The hulking Samoan leaned forward, taking the proffered bag from Stan's outstretched hand. "I'll see what I can find."

"So, what do you want us to do?" Vanessa spoke up, a finely groomed eyebrow raised in curiosity. "Skulk around the town until something turns up?"

"I would hope you would have more faith in my plans by now, Ms. Santoro," Grandpa raised an exaggerated eyebrow back, and Vanessa paused, smirking at his humor. "No, what I have in mind will require much more tact, and no small amount of secrecy and espionage. From all involved."

"And just who will be involved?" Bracken asked, apprehension in every word.

"All gathered here, not to mention Trask, Elise, and Mara. We are going to need as many eyes as possible, and a small circle of those we trust. They'll be staying here, and while we should have the room, some may need to double up last minute."

Kendra smothered her smile with her hand as she witnessed Warren and Vanessa make eye contact, blush, and give themselves whiplash from looking away with "subtlety". She purposely kept her eyes trained on her grandfather to avoid making the same mistake with Bracken in front of Seth.

"Wait," Seth spoke up loudly from her right, dusting his cheese-dust covered hands on his black pants. "Do you mean we're going to be included on this? All of us? Me?"

"Yes, Seth, that is exactly what I mean."

Seth whooped, punching a fist in the air.

"Now hold on Seth, you might want to hear what the mission is first before you get all excited."

"If you're calling in so much help, I'm sure it's gonna be death-defying, with monsters and deception and fighting and secret handshakes and late nights."

"Well, you aren't wrong." Grandpa was now actively trying to hold back his laughter.

"Stan," Warren sounded worried, an emotion Kendra didn't know he was capable of. "Where are you sending us?"

"High school."

Kendra opened her eyes, looking up at the ceiling of her bedroom.

High school.

In all honesty, she was terrified beyond belief. The last high school she had attended now thought she was dead. She hasn't interacted with anyone in her peer group in over a year. She hasn't lived in a world without magic for months.

How was she going to do this?

"Kendra!" Warren's voice drifted in through the open door. "Come on downstairs. You can finish packing after dinner."

"Coming!" Kendra shouted back, pulling herself to her feet. By the time she reached the dining room, her plate had been made and everyone had started eating.

"Sorry," she blushed as all eyes turned to her, most with inquisitive looks, some with amusement. "Feeling kinda run down."

"No one blames you, mija," Vanessa spoke up from her seat between Warren and Seth. "I think we're all pretty on edge."

"Nothing like facing the gates of hell for round two." Tanu muttered around his salad. The rest of the adults nodded their agreement.

"Wait," Kendra paused in cutting her chicken, looking up to meet the eyes of her older friends. "You all hated high school?"

"Eh, maybe not hated-" Warren tried to start.

"No, hated." Trask interrupted him. He, Mara, and Elise had just gotten to the preserve about 4 hours ago.

"It was ok, sometimes." Vanessa tried to mediate.

"I loathed it. Not sure about the rest of you." Tanu spoke up, glancing around to see Mara, Trask, and Dale nodding with him.

"My high school was small, so it wasn't as bad as it could've been." Mara finally spoke.

"Warren made life difficult for me-" Dale started.

"You were the older brother!" Warren exploded from further down the table, nearly showering Vanessa and Bracken in asparagus. "How did I make it hard for you?"

"Well maybe if you showed up-" Dale snapped back, but before he could go any further, Stan stopped the brewing, apparently age-old, argument.

"We left that disagreement behind when you graduated, don't you drag it up out of the grave."

"Hold up!" Seth hollered from down the end by Ruth. "I for one, would like to know who you all were in high school."

"Come again?" Elise asked.

"Like, who was the nerd, the jock, the quiet kid, the band geek, etcetera." Seth explained, shoveling more chicken into his mouth. For a minute, the table was silent as the adults thought this over. Then Dale spoke up.

"Warren was a jock. Football star all four years and then some. Baseball, too, in the spring." Dale actually sounded pretty proud of his younger brother, Kendra noted. Then Warren opened his mouth.

"Hell yeah, man. Chicks were into the baseball pants." Dale scowled at Warren, and Kendra felt obliged to throw a piece of chicken at him.

"Pig-headed man." She swapped high-fives with Vanessa and Elise.

"Wait," Seth once again interrupted. "You played football? What positions?"

"Running back first year, then line-back, then quarterback."

"Injured?"

"What do you think?" Warren and Dale spoke at the same time, and the table's laughter filled the room.

"What about you?" Seth turned to Dale.

"Eh, I wasn't much for sports. I hunted in the mornings, then helped the agriculture or earth clubs after school. I was happy all the same."

"Ugh, a science nerd? Dale, c'mon man." Seth whined, but he was smiling.

"Hey now," Tanu said. "This science nerd is always patching you up, so I'd watch it."

"Let me guess," Vanessa looked over at him. "Chemistry?"

"How'd you know?" Tanu smiled. "Biology?"

"How'd you know?" Vanessa fired back, smiling as well.

"Did you do sports?" Seth asked her.

"Soccer, for a while, but I quit before varsity. Between drama club and AP courses and family life, I didn't exactly have a lot of free time." Seth went to dig further, but Kendra cut him off when she could see Vanessa didn't want to follow that conversation up.

"Vanessa," Kendra caught her attention. "You played soccer?"

"Yeah, from when I was about 3 to junior year. Looking back I wish I had kept doing it. Why?"

"I played soccer!" Kendra let herself smile as the other woman's eyes lit up. They had so little in common that any small thing was a miracle. "For like, 10 or so years! I had to stop when this all started, but I'd bet I'm still pretty good." Vanessa laughed, warm and happy.

"You're probably much better than me now, I haven't played in about 8 years now."

"We'll just have to start practising." Vanessa winked at her as Seth directed his prior question to Elise.

"Me?" She looked away from her conversation with Mara. "Oh. I was an art kid. Spent most of my free time in the studios, or media centers. And I didn't do the whole sports thing. Skating was my thing, not to mention the school nurse never would've cleared me."

"Why-" Bracken opened his mouth to inquire, clearly concerned that Elise was ill, but Trask swept up the conversation before Stan or Ruth could catch on. Mara and Warren covered their laughter behind their napkins.

"I was into hockey, in terms of sports, but like Vanessa, academics and family obligations took up my time. I had a lot of scholarships dependent on my honor roll status, so I hit the books pretty hard."

"Preach." Vanessa snorted from behind her wine glass, Tanu raising his own in camaraderie. The table was quiet for a bit as everyone digested both food and information. Stan cleared his throat to call everyone's attention back to him.

"I assume the kids' backpacks are all set, but have you all made up your lesson plans and gathered the supplies you will need?"

While she, Seth, and Bracken were going in as students, most of the adults were going in as teachers. Stan would be interim principal, Vanessa and Tanu were AP science instructors, Warren would be a history teacher, Trask a criminology teacher, Elise an art teacher, and Mara a gym coach. Ruth and Dale would be holding down the fort at the preserve.

"As ready as possible with a month's notice," Trask muttered.

"All set, Stan." Warren covered the agent's voice with his own. "Should be a good first week."

"Excellent," Stan nodded. "And for the record, I was a greaser."

And as the table once again dissolved into laughter and incredulous shouting, Kendra felt light and happy and more confident than ever. No matter what the coming year was going to bring, they would all have this to come home to every night. They'd made it through worse than the American education system, and they still had each other.

Hopefully, it will be enough.