A School Morning

Kairi gawked at the building that rose four storeys high in front of her. It was a great, red brick building with a concrete staircase leading up to large double doors, each decorated with a large pink bow and a red heart, that opened into an enclosed hall lined with doors and lockers. Youngsters who all appeared to be within Max and Monnie's age traversed through the hall casually, in absolutely no hurry to be anywhere soon. Seeing that, Max and Monnie sighed with relief.

"We're not late," Max said.

"Wow, this is your school?" Kairi asked with awe. "It's so different to mine."

Suddenly a bell chimed. It was projected throughout the school building and schoolyard via speakers and its shrill warning caused all of the students in the hall to panic and speed up.

"Okay, now we're late," Max observed. "There's no way I'm going to get to my English class on time! My locker is on the other side of the school."

"Well I don't want to waste any more time," Monnie declared, already walking off. "I'm going to my locker. Bye."

"See you after school," Kairi replied.

Max blew at a lock of hair hanging limply over his forehead, annoyed because he had spent ages that morning styling it to make it look as though it just naturally fell a certain way, only to get involved in a tussle that ruined all of the hard work. "Yeah, I'd better go too. Who knows, maybe having a long walk to my locker will give me time to think about what I'm going to tell the teacher."

Mir giggled. "Good luck, Max. I'd better go with Monica. Even if you're the princess, you still need a good reason for breaking the rules." She waved to the two teens and jogged to catch up with Monnie before she disappeared around a corner.

"Hey, that's a great idea! Max, I can help you explain to the teacher," Kairi said.

Max had started walking but Kairi's offer made him stop and turn around. "What? You'd do that?" he asked with a smile but then quickly he added, "I mean, you don't have to. It'll probably just be more trouble for you…"

"But I'm sure it'll be easier to make a valid explanation when you've got somebody to back you up," Kairi continued. "And besides, I don't really have anything else that I have to do. Everyone's so busy around here so I'm willing to help in any way."

"Well, okay," Max agreed, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking a bit sheepish. Truth be told, he was glad Kairi had decided to insist. "Just try not to be too intimidated by my English teacher. She's a tough nut to crack."

"I swear it, chief, I really ain't got nothing to do with it this time," Pete tried to argue to the two police officers sitting across the interview table from him.

A slightly overweight, middle-aged senior officer sighed and rested his cheek on his fist. The junior officer, fresh from the academy, glared at the cat across from him, tapping the end of his pen listlessly against his notes.

"Then how do you explain several witness accounts that say you transformed from that dark monster – possibly a Heartless, based on the descriptions – after being defeated by an employee of the Royal Family and a teenage girl?" the junior officer enquired.

"Hey! When you say it like that it makes me sound really lame!" Pete protested. Grumbling, he continued. "I don't know. The last thing I remember was coming back into town after my old boss fired me," he whined the last bit, sniffing sadly. "I don't want any more trouble, honest! I just wanted to get me-self a new boat and go back to being a ferry captain."

"And what about the ingested objects and property damage, both public and private?"

Pete stared at the junior officer blankly. "Now look here, I don't know anything 'bout stuff like that."

The senior officer sighed again, making a mental note to lecture his junior about using police jargon in interviews. "What he means is: there were a number of objects that the monster ate before turning into you. What happened to them?" he rephrased for his junior.

Pete scratched behind his ear. "I dunno… but maybe that's why my tummy doesn't feel so good…"

His stomach churned and gurgled audibly, cuing a smelly burp and a loud fart. Both officers cringed and wrinkled their noses as the smells quickly spread throughout the small room. The junior officer packed up his things quickly.

"Okay, I think we're done here Pete," the senior officer announced, standing up quickly. In a low warning tone he added: "for now."

The senior officer knocked on the door to be let out and to signal to the two police officers waiting that they were to take Pete to a holding cell. When the door opened, the waiting officers tried to lean away from the offensive smell that was subsequently released, scrunching up their faces. They let the senior officer and his junior pass before hesitantly entering the interview room to retrieve Pete. The junior officer flicked through his notes for a moment before turning to his mentor to ask:

"So… what do we do now?"

"We have enough information to charge him; the evidence is pretty undeniable," the senior officer decided, gesturing for the junior to keep up with him as he walked briskly through the halls of the station. "Although I suppose that the King might want a copy of this."

"The King! Why?"

"The Royal Guard is conducting their own investigation into a number of similar incidents that have occurred at the castle. Any extra info they can get, they'll appreciate." The senior officer stopped at his office door and turned around. "I'll leave that responsibility to you."

He opened his door and shut it quickly behind him. The junior officer sighed, realising that he'd been set with the most menial task (again) and turned to go and do his appointed job.

Max's English teacher really was as difficult to deal with as he'd suggested. When Max walked into the room with nothing but the spare stationery and notepad that he kept in his locker and Kairi standing beside him, she'd narrowed her eyes at them suspiciously and snapped at Max for being late. It took a great deal of persuasion from Kairi to get the teacher to let the teenage boy off on this one and the mere five minute ordeal had seemed to have somehow drained a day's worth of energy. On the teacher's orders, Kairi left the school. She stepped out onto the steps leading up to the building and sat down on them, heaving a big sigh that turned into a cloud of mist and wondering why Max's teacher thought visiting a public school with a friend was trespassing.

It had somehow gotten colder than it was in the morning. The clouds had gathered thickly. The island girl knew that big dark clouds like that meant bad weather, usually rain or, as she now knew, snow. However, she still got that feeling sometimes that she'd known that all along and something in her gut told her that there was no chance that it was going to rain today. She leaned back against the steps behind her and blew out more air, watching the cloud of steam it formed in front of her lips with amusement. If there was going to be bad weather on the way then she ought to move. Since it had gotten so cold that even her coat and scarf were losing their effect she stood up and dusted herself off.

"Okay, we should go home now Plu…to…" she trailed off. She'd completely forgotten about Pluto. The lanky dog hadn't followed her after she and Max fled from the park. She clapped her gloved hands over her mouth as she drew in a sharp gasp. What if Pluto had been eaten? She hoped that hadn't been the case and hurried down the steps, forgetting about Max's uptight teacher and running down the street, calling for the lost dog.