This chapter is absolutely ridiculous. I'm just saying.

NOTE: This chapter has been edited as of June 25th, 2010.

Enjoy!

The students sat at their desks, eyes trained on the clock. One student swallowed nervously, another clenched his fist. The only sound is the ticking of a clock as it slowly counts down the last day of school. All is quiet. A pin could be dropped and it would sound like an explosion.

One student in the back shifts uncomfortably in her seat, and everyone turns to glare accusingly at her as the squeaking of the legs against the floor fills the room. The girl glances at them apologetically and looks down. One boy looks up at the clock, his eyes practically begging it to move faster. Instead, it seems to move even slower.

The teacher sits at the front of the room, eyeing them all accusingly, daring one student to step out of line. Every student in the room feels singled out as his eyes rest on each of them individually for a moment before moving onto the rest.

One girl wrings her hands restlessly, a boy wipes the sweat from his forehead. The seconds keep ticking, and students all begin giving each other wary glances.

Shouldn't the bell have rung by now?

I was right, they're going to keep us here forever, and they won't let us leave.

That teacher is looking at me weird! Did I do something wrong? Do I look suspicious?

They froze time. We're stuck in time. Oh God, I can't take this…

Did the second hand on the clock just stop moving? It stopped moving!

It's official. The bell should have rung hours ago.

My God, I'm going to die...I'm too young to die!

Just as nearly half the class was about to start hyperventilating out loud, the chime of the mechanical bell rang through the hallways, the best noise they had ever heard. Instantly the hallways fill with screams and shouts of joy from more than a thousand kids exiting the school. But the students in this class remain in their seats, staring fearfully at the teacher. He calmly stares back, pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and then opens his latest casual read, War and Peace.

"You are dismissed."

The kids all leap out of their seats, practically sprinting for the doorway, joining the hoard of students stampeding down the hallway. They made it.

School was over, making way for another glorious summer of no teachers, books, homework, or getting up early.

Matthew is one of the last students to stand up. He hadn't realized how badly his legs had been shaking as the teacher had gazed at them all like a hawk. Grabbing his bag, he makes his way for the door.

The last day had been a half day, leaving Matthew stuck in his fourth period class with his History teacher, also better known as one of the scariest humans to have ever walked the earth. Everyday of the school year, when the teacher was done with the class, they had to sit at their desks in absolute silence, and not move until he dismissed them. Even on their last day, the teacher had showed no mercy toward them. Not a student dared step out of line against the man that still believed in corporal punishment.

Matthew made the mistake of looking over at the teacher as he made his way out the door.

"Have a good summer, Matthew Williams."

Matthew's heart practically leapt out of his chest as the teacher offered what he believed was an attempt at a smile. Or whatever it was.

The teacher never smiled once. Ever.

Matthew had never been more scared in his life.

"Y-yeah, you too!" And he shot out of the door, thanking everything holy that the teacher only taught freshmen and sophomores.

The doors leading outside were like the gates of heaven. Light flowed in through, causing them to glow as if they are from another world.

Matthew was practically shoved out the doors as students around him frantically reached for the exits, as if they were running out of time. Eventually, he makes it outside, and moves around a group of ninth graders all celebrating in the doorway. Standing on top of the school's staircase, he stretches, bringing his hands high above his head, anticipating the warn sunlight. He watches as a junior runs toward a group of his friends and engulfs them in a hug. Another student is joyfully throwing away all of her school papers, relishing as she viciously tears each page out of her notebook, one at a time.

By the way the students were acting, someone would think they were just released from prison.

Well, not that it didn't feel like prison or anything…

"Mattie!" Matthew stumbles forward as a very heavy person tackles him, almost sending him cascading down the staircase.

"Alfred!" Matthew exclaims, trying to calm his nerves. "Seriously? You've got to be over five hundred pounds!"

Alfred beams at him, and Matthew grins back slightly. He can't help it, the mood's too addicting. He looks over to see Arthur walking up behind Alfred, wearing the same irritated look as always.

"Holy shit! School's over! YES! We're free!" Alfred then away from both of them, and lets out a cheer as he throws his fists into the air. Several students actually cheer back.

"Would you stop that, Alfred? The principal is staring at you." Arthur hissed at him, pointing toward Mrs. Bolden, who is standing a few feet away.

Alfred grins and turns toward her. "Have a great summer, Ms. Bolden!"

Mrs. Bolden does something like a mix between a grimace and a fake smile. As Alfred turns away, her face drops to a frown, and she shakes her head in disapproval.

"Oh great, now you're on her list." Matthew whispered as if he's horrified. To be honest, he actually is a little. Rumors flew through the school that before Mrs. Bolden had become principal, the school was actually a pretty decent place. But when she was elected, the place had turned into a hell hole. She made punishments harsh if anyone dared to step out of line, and people that had been in her office and managed to make it out alive had claimed that she had a list of student's names that she would constantly keep an eye on to catch them if they dared suggest at the smallest hint of trouble.

Did Matthew believe all this? Yes, yes he did.

"Haha, list shmist. She can't resist me." Alfred claimed as they started making their way down the steps.

"Now see, this is why most idiots don't live past twenty." Arthur pointed out and Alfred punched him on the arm.

"Are you coming home with us, Arthur?" Matthew looked over at him and before Arthur could reply, Alfred threw his arms around Arthur's neck and hugged him.

"Yes, yes he is! He agreed because he wanted to hang out with me!" Alfred exclaimed.

Arthur just stared at him.

"Get the hell off me."

Alfred ignored Arthur's demand and turned to Matthew, his face serious. "Mattie, are you doing anything tomorrow?"

Matthew shrugged. "Um…sleeping in?"

"Do you think we should fill up the pool tomorrow?"

Matthew thought about it. In their backyard, they had an in-ground square pool. It was always drained before wintertime so that scum wouldn't grow on the sides, and also so that the water wouldn't freeze and mess up the pipes.

"Is there something going on tomorrow?"

"Umm…" Alfred acted like he was thinking for a moment, and Arthur made an attempt to get out of his grasp. "Well, you see, I kind of want to hold a party tomorrow."

Matthew's jaw dropped. "Seriously? One day after school's over?"

"Well, you know, we have to start sooner or later." Alfred replied with a grin.

Matthew sighed. He wondered if their parents knew that Alfred held parties at their house practically every day during the summertime. They always did try to clean up the ending result the best they could. Matthew didn't like to hold parties at their place, it always made him nervous. He wondered if Alfred did it as an act of defiance.

"Fine, I'll help. What time is everyone going to start coming?"

"I told them about four. So that should give us, what? Five hours to get ready tomorrow?"

Matthew had a pretty good idea that it would be more like three hours, considering neither rarely got out of bed before noon on weekends.

"Okay, now that we have that figured out…" Alfred continued, suddenly becoming excited again, "What should we do now? Should we get a pizza? Damn! We should drive around and throw rocks at people's windows! I can totally punch someone in the face, and they can't give me a detention for it! School's out, this is so fucking amazing! I can do whatever the hell I want!" And Alfred jumped into the air pumping his fists. Matthew and Arthur continued to just stare at him.

"Alfred…" Matthew said nervously, "I think I should drive…"

One hour later, Matthew, Alfred and Arthur were all sitting in the living room, three boxes of pizza on the table in front of them. Matthew had thought he was joking when he said that he wanted to smash someone's windows with a few rocks, but when he saw the way his face fell when Arthur eventually convinced him that it would be smarter if they just got a pizza and watched a movie instead, Matthew wasn't so sure.

Alfred had agreed to Arthur's conditions as long as he was going to watch The Children with him, joking that he should like it because it was filmed in his home country. Matthew was working on his third slice of pizza while Alfred was wolfing down his fifth. Arthur was indifferently still eating his first slice.

"Wow, I keep thinking there's going to be school tomorrow…" Matthew mused as he reached for another piece of pizza. Alfred and Arthur both agreed.

They had gotten to the part in the movie where the children had pushed a grown man down a hill on a sled, which caused him to get penetrated in the head with a pitchfork.

"Oh, if my kids did that to me, they would be so grounded." Alfred huffed out, unaffected by the vast amounts of blood that spilled everywhere on screen.

"Alfred, knowing you, you'd be the first to go." Arthur grinned when Alfred looked offended and flipped him off.

Matthew laughed as he picked up one of the empty pizza boxes and took it to the kitchen with his dishes.

The phone in the kitchen lit up and began ringing. Matthew reached over and picked it up. The caller ID read 'Beilschimdt' and his eyes widened. No way. It couldn't possibly be…

He didn't want to answer it. He knew that this would only cause him trouble. How many times had things turned out fine when he got involved with Gilbert? No way was he answering it.

Wait, no. No, he did not want to answer the phone! Matthew glared at his thumb as it pressed the answer button, then watched as his hand moved on its own, bringing the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?" The words came out of his mouth, and his brain pleaded at it to stop, but the two were no longer connected.

"Shortie!" Gilbert's voice came joyously from the other end, right at the same moment several screams came from the living room. "Wow, are you murdering someone? Is this a bad time?"

"No, my brother's watching a movie with a friend. How did you find my number? I don't remember giving it to you, you creep."

"Call me a creep all you want, but you see when there's only one number listed under the last name Jones-Williams in the phone book, it's pretty damn easy to find their number, you know what I'm saying?"

Matthew thought back to Gilbert asking him if Alfred were his brother, despite their last names. The sneaky bastard.

"Wow, that's still pretty creepy."

"Yeah, well say whatever you want. Anyway, I can't stay on long, I'm not even supposed to be on the phone, but I need your help with something."

Matthew rolled his eyes. He had been through this before. "I'm sure."

"No, seriously. No lie. Me, Antonio, and Francis did this every year on the last day of school, but because they're not here…"

Matthew didn't need him to explain, "Is this going to get me in trouble?"

"It depends. Do you want to get caught?"

"If I say no, are you still going to make me come along?"

"Hell yes I am." Gilbert voice stated triumphantly. The sound of a door opening on the other end caused Gilbert to suddenly speed up, "Anyway, meet me in the school parking lot at six tomorrow, and bring some paint. You know the kind you put on the walls?"

Matthew wondered if he had caught it all. Gilbert was speaking a million words per minute. "Ummm…a.m. or p.m.?"

Gilbert snorted, "I don't even get up till noon. What do you think? Anyway, be there or I'll kill you. I can't do this alone. Later." And the line went dead just as Matthew heard a voice on the end ask Gilbert who he was talking to.

Matthew slowly hung up the phone and stared at it. Paint? Why would they need paint?

And more importantly, what had he just gotten himself into?

What they do in the next chapter is something I have always wanted to do.

And about the movie The Children, my friend convinced me to watch it. It's about this virus that makes little kids go crazy and kill their parents. All the way up until the last scene, I stayed with it. And then all these little kids came out of the bushes, and there were…hundreds.

My reaction was, "Oh look at the little ki…Eeeeeeeuuuughhhh…"

Please read and review! Thank you everyone for reading!