A Jack of All Trades (Aberthol High School Abduction)
Quick disclaimer: While I've spent several years contributing to the Survival of the Fittest roleplay, and served as the forum's administrator for many years, Survival of the Fittest was not my creation. Credit for the name, the game's design, and many crucial plot characters - Mr. Danya and Sydney Morvran in particular - belong to Kaishi, the original founder of the Survival of the Fittest roleplaying website. For bringing such a long-running and well-designed roleplaying forum to us, and for the creation of many of these wonderful characters, she deserves credit.
Mrs. Barnabee had talked about doing something like this for many years, and finally, with lots of help from the Aberthol student body, thousands of dollars in parental and community donations - and a little miracle from God, she silently reminded herself - she had finally managed to pull it off. During her youth, she and her husband had traveled the world. Europe, Asia, South America... she had seen it all. Helena Barnabee had that to thank for becoming the person she was today, or so she had always said. When her husband had passed away ten years ago, those trips had ceased to be, and she settled down again and started teaching school. Ever since that day, she had wanted to revisit those countries, and to help bring her students into the same sort of cultural diversity that she had achieved through travel. But, up until recently, she never quite knew how to do it.
Then, last year, it came to her - school-sponsored out-of-country trips. She'd gone through a lot to pull it off and spent nearly a year working with Aberthol's freshman class to raise the money, but she'd managed to do it. She'd even managed to raise a little extra to pay for several of the less-fortunate students to attend a trip they'd never be able to afford otherwise. All in all, she - and the entirety of Aberthol's sophomore class - was very proud of what they had managed to accomplish in such a relatively short time. This was to be the first year of her sponsored trips, and, hopefully, the first of many trips to come.
The students were beginning to arrive in the small section of the airport. During her travels around the world, she and her husband had become close friends with a small aircraft pilot - Jacques Matthis, or "Jack", as he called himself. When he'd heard about her plans, he'd offered his services for their transport - and had kindly offered to charge considerably less than one of the airport's typical passenger planes would have been. Jack had been in the interior of his plane for several hours now - probably going over his pre-flight checklist, she imagined.
Her attention turned to the line of students filing into the small area and she pushed her glasses up as she scanned the room. Vanessa Reed was in the front of the pack - no large surprise there. Vanessa, or Nessa as she preferred to be called, seemed to act as the head of everything when it came to Aberthol's sophomore class. Student Council, Yearbook, the school paper, Nessa had a hand in it all. Sharp as a tack, she was a shoe-in for class Valedictorian in a few years. Nessa smiled and promptly entered the small aircraft, taking a window seat near the middle; crossing her legs and adjusting her blouse before peering out the window at her fellow classmates.
Coryn Richards, Dru Wakefield, and Michaela King weren't far behind. The three girls - along with Nessa and several other members of Aberthol's sophomore class - had formed quite the large female clique, and could frequently be found roaming the halls or gossiping at the school gazebo together. Coryn and Michaela were cheerleaders, though they were hardly the vicious, top-of-the-totem-pole cheerleaders often seen in mass media. In fact, Michaela was one of the nicest girls in class. Coryn wasn't particularly outwardly friendly, but neither was she malicious nor rude. Drucilla, or Dru, was a dancer, and had actually met the other two girls when she'd joined the school's Colorguard this year. All three girls sat next to Nessa and began talking amongst each other.
Jonathan McDaniel - resident sportsman extraordinaire - boarded next, casting a lingering gaze toward the girls as he walked toward the rear of the plane. He was quite the athlete - one of the best in the high school, even though he was only a sophomore. Jonathan didn't particularly stand out in a crowd - though he was a rather good looking guy, with buzzed blondish-brown hair, dark green eyes, and maroon and white braces (matching the school's colors) - but his name was well-known throughout Aberthol High, and at many surrounding high schools for his athletic prowess.
Kirsten Rhodes - his girlfriend since last year - followed in tow, seating herself next to him. Kirsten was one of the prettiest girls in their class. Her hair was long and straight, and a very pale, almost platinum blonde in color, and her eyes were an intoxicating shade of light blue. In truth, her appearance was why Jonathan had initially asked her out. It might have sounded shallow, and he never made any attempt to deny that fact. Still, they'd been together for over a year now, so, at least in his mind, things had worked out pretty well.
One of the only girls to rival Kirsten's looks, at least in the sophomore class, was Paige Alexander, Kirsten's best friend. Paige was a little too bubbly, and a little ditsy, but she made up for it thoroughly with her appearance. Much like Kirsten, Paige had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, though Paige's facial structure made her look older than Kirsten... or at least it would have, if she didn't have overly large, childlike eyes. The most noticeable thing about Paige, at least to Jonathan, was the hourglass figure she boasted. That, and the fact that she had legs for days, had managed to distract more than a few of his fellow football players during games. Paige came prancing into the plane behind Kirsten, pulling her boyfriend and Jonathan's best friend - Colton Sevenstar - behind her.
They were sort of the odd couple in terms of appearance. It wasn't that it was odd to see them together - a cheerleader dating a football player wasn't exactly uncommon, after all... it was more that the two were like night and day. Paige was slightly tall for a girl and very Aryan in appearance, while Colt towered over even the 5'6" Paige at somewhere around 6'3" and was of Native American descent, making him very dark skinned and dark haired. Colt and Jonathan had been best friends since grade school, along with Chris Staton, who entered just behind Colt. The group sat down near Jonathan and he closed his eyes momentarily as Paige and Kirsten began chattering.
Jonathan found himself watching the plane entrance quite intently. He wasn't sure who all had signed up for this field trip, or which welfare students Mrs. Barnabee had oh-so-kindly paid for. He couldn't help but smirk slightly as Tonya Palafox and Hannah Lockhart boarded the plane. Much like Colt, Tonya was of Native American descent and was, in Jonathan's opinion, pretty hot. The same could be said for Hannah - a "sizzling", as he'd have described her, redhead with big blue eyes who just looked way too innocent. It might have been mean, but many of the jocks had often cracked jokes about which of them would get to hit it first. In fact, several of them were in a serious competition over it, with most of the football team having placed bets on the outcome.
Some of the homely-looking girls came on board next - Cybil Ryans, a heavy, Gothic chick; followed by Ashley Treadway, a very outspoken tomboy who Jonathan was convinced was a lesbian, and Natalie Summers, who Jonathan could only describe as a mouse. Unattractive and uninteresting. His eyes moved past them to the boys entering behind them. Alex Knight, Parker Lee, and Derek Vaughan were sort of the social middle at Aberthol. He'd hung out with them a time or two, and they were okay guys, but not the type of people who fit in well with most of the school's popular crowd. However, they weren't lame enough to warrant shunning, and in Jonathan's mind, that said something about them.
Anthony Elmore boarded the plane next - an obvious charity case from Mrs. Barnabee. She was definitely doing him a favor by sponsoring him on this trip - someone like that could stand to learn about cultural diversity and social graces, Jonathan mused. He looked like a hillbilly right out of the deep south - messy hair, odd features, snaggle teeth, and dense acne. Then again, Jonathan supposed Elmore served some sort of purpose. He'd made the boy his personal punching bag a few years prior. Anthony must have seen Jonathan looking at him, and shot him a dirty glare before taking a seat near the front of the plane. Tyler Eastwood, class fat kid, had followed in behind Anthony, and took the seat next to him. Jonathan was surprised that Tyler managed to fit in that seat. The kid was quite the blimp.
Jamie Carter slunk in next, though Jonathan nearly overlooked her. Petite and thin, barely hitting 5'0" and weighing somewhere around 90 pounds, Jamie was pretty easy to miss. Her hair was done in two braided pigtails and that, combined with the eyebrow length bangs and complete lack of makeup, made her look like she had escaped from the nearby grade school. How or why someone who was nearly sixteen could manage to look like she was seven was beyond Jonathan. Then again, Jamie was a strange case - a sheltered kid who had made friends with some of the... Jonathan didn't want to refer to them as "trash", but there it was - in Aberthol. People like Eugene Myles and Ralph Riggs. People that any sort of normal person wouldn't dare be caught with, Jonathan speculated.
Micah Bradshaw towered in after her, providing quite the stark contrast to the short girl. Micah was a monster - 6'4" and about 250 pounds at fifteen years old. They called him the Tank, because when it came to their football team and defense, the Mulatto boy was a force to be reckoned with. Off the field, though, Micah was a quiet, awkward kid who often seemed to struggle with his size. It wasn't overly surprising that the guy was so huge - Jonathan had met his father; some retired football player from somewhere or another; and the guy was absolutely massive.
Luke Andrews boarded the plane once Micah sat down. At least, Jonathan thought that was his name. He'd seen him in various classes and occasionally around campus, but he knew absolutely nothing about the guy. Shaggy blondish-brown hair, green eyes, braces... just another face in the crowd, Jonathan supposed. He was followed by Amber Lewis who, Jonathan scoffed, rivaled Tyler Eastwood in sheer size. Amber's level of homeliness made someone like Ashley Treadway look hot. He and several of the football players had nicknamed the brunette "Big Bertha". It might not have been overly clever, but it definitely fit the bill.
It looked as though the majority of his class had boarded the plane by now, but a few students were still filtering in. Jonathan was somewhat surprised to see Gina Evans poke her head through the door of the plane. He couldn't help but wonder if she'd used her drug money to pay her way onto the trip, or if Mrs. Barnabee just felt really sorry for her. Either way, so long as the strawberry blonde-headed girl was on board, this was guaranteed to be a very interesting week. Gina was known for two things - getting around and getting into tons of trouble. It made things interesting, and typically pretty fun.
A head full of curly brown hair appeared in the doorway after Gina, his eyes staring intently at the floor. Martin Douglas was one of the class's smart kids, but Jonathan couldn't help but think he was a weirdo. Whereas Nessa redeemed her nerddom through her social abilities, Martin definitely didn't. He'd tutored Jonathan a few times via the request of teachers to help keep him playing sports, and suffice to say, the two didn't exactly hit it off. However, Martin had helped him out in doing that, and that was the only reason Jonathan had never really felt inclined to shove his head in a toilet.
The entourage that followed Martin, his "friends", were the last to board the plane, and the sight of them made Jonathan groan.
"Heads up boys," he stated overly loudly to Chris and Colt, "Looks like the plane might be shot up."
"Jonathan!" Kirsten reprimanded, putting quite a bit of emphasis on his name.
"What?" Jonathan smirked egotistically, "I"m just scared for my life!"
Kirsten sighed quietly, looking toward Sydney Morvran with a sympathetic smile. Syd was a genuinely nice person and a decent athlete, being point guard for Aberthol's basketball team. Unfortunately, Syd was one of the most unpopular kids in school. Why? Several years prior, when Syd's older brother Dwayne attended Aberthol High, a series of unfortunate incidents had caused the boy to snap, killing several students and teachers on campus before taking his own life. Because of that, most students feared and shunned Syd, even though he'd never so much as given anyone a dirty look.
That wasn't to say Syd had no friends at all. In fact, at that moment, he was surrounded by them. Jonathan sneered as he looked over the ragtag group of losers. Harvey Nash would've been an okay guy, if not for the fact that he'd chosen to hang out with freaks. Harvey and Syd had been friends since grade school, and Jonathan found it kind of surprising that Harvey had chosen to remain Syd's friend even after his brother had gone postal. It was commendable, he supposed... or maybe Harvey was just as messed up in the head.
Ralph Riggs - commonly referred to as Ralphie - seemed just the type of kid that would be friends with a guy like Sydney Morvran. Dull and dimwitted, at least in Jonathan's mind, Ralphie seemed immature for his age. Jonathan had always referred to the boy as a "special needs case", although whether or not that was actually true, he didn't know... or care. Eugene Myles was much the same - a weirdo with bowlcut hair that made him look like he was twelve. The only one who really stood out in their little group of misfits - at least, besides Morvran, who parted hallways when he walked through them - was Jess Bright. Not overly pretty, but not completely unattractive, Jonathan had always thought Jess an odd sight alongside one of the most shunned crowds in school. Her face was a bit homely, but the brunette had pretty eyes and an okay body. Jonathan smirked slightly. Maybe if you put a bag over her head...
Mrs. Barnabee lumbered in behind Jess and took her seat. A moment later, the pilot came on overhead, joking around and making the typical seatbelt and safety precaution announcements. Jonathan found it slightly odd that they'd go through the trouble on a private airplane, but he supposed it was a precaution they'd deemed necessary since it was technically a school field trip. The plane took off with little trouble, and as they ascended into the air on what would surely be a long and tedious flight into London, Jonathan couldn't help but feel weary. His eyelids began to droop, and he could feel his whole body getting heavy. It was strange, he couldn't remember having been that tired only minutes ago. Had they really been flying that long? He glanced sleepily at his friends. Paige was passed out on Colt's arm, and the Indian boy looked drowsy himself. Kirsten and Chris were both sleeping soundly. Strange, Jonathan thought before drifting off into a deep slumber himself.
Behind the closed door of the cockpit, Jack smiled to himself. "Sorry kids..." he muttered, traces of a smile still playing across his lips, "But it had to be someone. Look at it this way... maybe you'll be famous one day."
Jack gently steered the plane away from their initial destination, and, unbenowst to its passengers, they traveled closer and closer to their doom.
