I followed Emma through the village, greeting the villagers that were out. Emma and I walked by tons of houses. I remember when my mom had told me about a time when villages were so much smaller long ago. Apparently, villages used to be small and more primitive, rarely having more than a dozen houses and rarely having iron golems to protect them. They were constantly attacked by zombies, until they began to build more houses, and iron golems came from far-away lands to protect them. At least, that was what my mom had told me.

Soon, we arrived by the school. The school was a huge building nearly twice the size of my house. It was made of wooden oak planks, with oak log blocks on the corners like pillars, and had a flat roof like any other house. Being here, I felt a sense of dread. I wanted to do everything I could to avoid this place. Because I knew they were here.

"Let's just go inside and meet the teacher," I said, "then leave."

"What're you talking about? We just got here!" Emma said gleefully. She went over to the oak doors and opened one. I followed her inside.

The interior of the school was pitch black, which shocked me. Normally, buildings were lit up, even when no one was in them. This was to prevent monsters from coming. Fortunately, I couldn't hear any of the monsters. The building's inside was a hallway with two oak doors and one open doorway-which led to the bathrooms. Emma skipped across the hall and opened the door of one room, then frowned and opened the door to another. I took a look through the first, but couldn't see anyone in the darkness.

"Why isn't anyone here?" Emma mumbled.

"Maybe they left early." I suggested, a growing suspicion in my mind. The new teacher was supposed to be here planning out how the school system would work here with the new principle. Both of them had supposedly come from out of town. "Look-let's just go. This place is giving me the creeps." I shivered. Did I mention that I was afraid of the dark?

"Alright…" she groaned and we left the building. We were just about to leave the school premises when a mocking voice called out to us.

"Well, where do you think you losers are going?" I stiffened. I couldn't believe my luck-just when we were about to be safe, trouble came and found us at last.

"Oh great, it's the Bad Bats…" Emma growled as we turned around. Sure enough, standing by the right corner of the school were the village bullies: Michael, Jack, and Drake-who was the leader of the three. They wore matching leather jackets with the image of a bat's face imprinted on them. Together, they were the Bad Bats, a group of bullies that picked on other kids-me in particular.

"What are you losers doing on our turf?" Drake asked, his voice filled with smug hostility. I tightened my jaw.

"We were just leaving…" I answered, trying to look tough.

"No, you dorks weren't!" Michael grinned.

"Yes, we were." I repeated sternly, then grasped Emma's hand and began to walk away, pulling her with me. Suddenly, we ran into a tall hulking figure that stood in our way. He was a large kid that looked like he could've been around twelve, yet was almost the size of an adult. He was built like a cow-a huge muscular cow that towered over us. He grunted and slammed his massive fists together.

"You're not going anywhere." Drake laughed. I felt sweat beginning to form around my face. I began thinking hard for a way out of this situation.

"I see you have a new grunt." Emma growled.

"Heck yeah!" he agreed, "You think the teach is the only who came from out of town to live here? Ralph's parents moved in from TN-Town yesterday. And you know how rough it is there…" I turned back around and glanced at him with an uneasy look.

"Just let us go, Drake. Please." I tried.

"Why are you still holding her hand?" Jack noticed and began to mock, "Is she your girlfriend?"

"What-no!" I shot my hand away from Emma, feeling my face flush red with embarrassment. The others began laughing.

"David has a girlfriend! David has a girlfriend!" Michael mocked.

"Shut up!" I stammered, "Emma is not my girlfriend!" Even the big cow-man behind us started to laugh, though it sounded more like howling. I was starting to panic internally, I wanted to get out of this situation immediately, but I couldn't see how.

"David and Emily sittin' in a tree…" Jack started, and the rest of the kids joined in. "K. i. s. s. i. n. g!"

"Hey, jerks!" Emma yelled, an angry look planted firmly across her face, "We are not boyfriend and girlfriend! But of course, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between anything-much less between being friends and being in love-because you're stupid!" Suddenly, they all stopped laughing and stared at her.

"I'm sorry," Drake started, "at least I don't sleep with a toy creeper head like a little baby!" Everyone gasped in mock surprise. I realized it was about to get heated. Emma always felt nervous over telling others about her items.

"You jerk!" Emma surged forward, but I grabbed her just in time. "Take that back! TAKE THAT BACK!" she screamed furiously.

"Can't. Wouldn't." he jeered. She struggled even harder.

"Emma, as much as I would like for you to kick his butt," I muttered to her, "we're still outmatched."

"Let go of me, David!" she screamed murderously, "I'm gonna KILL him!" At this, the Bad Bats continued to laugh at us. Drake gave us a smug grin.

"Look at David-holding back his girlfriend! How cute!" he mocked.

"Shut up!" I yelled. I was so angry at him for making Emma act this way, and for continuing to taunt us even after this.

"You're pathetic. Why don't you go back to your pigs? Who knows, maybe someday you'll turn into one. Then, you can finally live like them!" Jack chuckled.

"You're the pathetic ones!" I shouted, but couldn't think of a good comeback.

"Ha! You're so weak!" Drake taunted, "I can't wait for tomorrow when school starts. I'm gonna wipe the floor with you in training!" He gave us another smug grin, then looked over at his goons. "Come on guys, let's leave these losers." he ordered and they walked away, still laughing. Emma began to calm down, but glared at them hatefully.

"Sorry about that, David." she said, "About… you know… getting angry…"

"It's fine. No need to apologize. I hate them too." I assured, eyeing them down as they left, laughing to themselves.

"I didn't know we were going to have training on the first day." she noted.

"Me neither."

"What're we going to do now? Drake with a sword on his own is already a bad thing, but he's probably going to target you."

"I don't know what to do…" I murmured. How could Drake have known about sword training? I was scared now. If we really were going to train with swords tomorrow, I didn't trust Drake to play without hurting anyone, especially me. Suddenly, an idea came up. "Wait, we should train on our own, so we can be ready for tomorrow." I said.

"Wait-what?" Emma gasped, "You mean… with like, real swords?" I nodded. "David, you know your parents are going to kill you if you use a sword for any reason other than training in school! And Auntie's gonna kill me if I do, too!"

"Come on, they won't find out! Just train with me for a little bit?" I pleaded. She seemed conflicted for a minute before nodding.

"Okay. But we have to find someplace where they won't find us. Follow me-I know a place." she said and began to march towards the border of the village.

"Wait-you want to leave the village?" I gasped. Emma looked back at me with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Of course!"

"But, you know that's where the… monsters… live, right?" I pointed out, remembering the black creature from last night.

"Only at night. Let's go!" she cheered, leaving the village. I sighed and followed her.