Renee was surrounded by a tower of books in the school library when Michael came to find her, carrying a large hand made card, covered in signature.

"What's up?" Renee asked while the boy pushed the books around as to see her better from where he took his seat.

"I want you to sign this." Michael said handing the card over, "It's a get well soon card for Mr. Martins."

"Who?" Renee asked even though she still went ahead and placed her signature in sparkly green ink among the others.

Michael gave the red head a funny look, "Mr. Martins, the custodian."

"Oh yeah."

Michael rolled his eyes at Renee's obliviousness, "I just found out he was in a car accident over the weekend. So I figured I'd make a get well soon card for him and get as many people to sign it as possible. Just to cheer him up ya know?"

"Why do you care?" Renee asked, "He was just the janitor."

"Well yeah, but he was really friendly and helped me out with a lot of things. Like he was the one that taught me the basics of shooting a slingshot. Stuff about trajectory, power, aim and whatnot."

"Isn't that something a physics teacher would tell you."

"Yeah, but I was in grade8 and no physics then. Anyways that's not the point!" Michael shook his head clear, "The point is that he's stuck in a hospital bed and I want to make him feel better. He's a real nice guy, and he deserves our support!"

"Whoa there boy. No need to get defensive. I'm sure he does. Okay how about this, I'll come with you when you go to give the card, just to so my support as well. Sound good?"

"Yeah," Michael smiled sheepishly, "That'd be great!"

The boy abruptly stood up, "Anyways I have to get back to Socials. Unlike you I'm still in grade 11 and don't have a study."

Renee laughed as Michael crept back off to class. The boy was hoping not to get caught by any teachers for skipping but with the way he was slinking about, he was failing miserably at it. Rolling her eyes Renee returned to the text she was reading. It was a book on the basics of cartography and she found it fascinating.

Ever since her conversation of sorts with Robin, Renee became more and more interested in navigation. Everything about the field appealed to her. Renee knew it was just a fanciful dream, no way was she really going to be a navigator. There just weren't many stable opportunities for a job like that in society, but it was still a worthwhile hobby. And it was a lot more interesting to do than studying for her marketing test.

SPSPSPSPSP

It was a little after the school bell rang signalling the end of the day when Renee finally met up with Michael at the front entrance. The boy was pacing nervously and looked as if the world was facing the apocalypse.

What's the problem?" Renee voiced her concerns as she drew near.

"They don't know where he is!" Michael cried. He looked just about ready to burst into tears.

Renee gasped, she really didn't want the boy breaking down with her anywhere near him. That'd just be too awkward. "Calm down, no need to cry."

"I'm not crying." Michael snapped, but wiped his eyes nonetheless.

"Of course you're not, now tell me what happened." Renee snorted.

Michael replied, "I asked the office but they don't know where Mr. Martins is. He never checked into the hospital."

Renee gaped, "What? How could he not be in the hospital after a car accident?"

"I know!" Michael wailed, "It doesn't make any sense. But the hospital never saw him. The school's just called the police, to report him missing, since he's been gone for two days now."

"Well...if the police are on this they're bound to find him." Renee comforted.

She never realized that Michael would be this anguished over the school janitor. Maybe they were closer than she first assumed. Odd since he was a sixteen year old boy and he over thirty. Renee was about to comment on this when she was interrupted by Robin.

"They've found him!" Robin had a smile on her face while cradling a cordless phone in one hand.

"They have!" Michael exclaimed, "Where is he then? Is he okay? What happened!"

Robin chuckled, "One question at a time Mr. Sharpshooter. First, yes he's fine. They found out he was checked into another hospital out of town. Down in the lower mainland to be exact. Apparently his family has connections to the hospital there and wanted him to get treated as fast and efficiently as possible. So they had him transferred. There was a bit of a mess with the paperwork and employee shifts which is why the hospital didn't know where he was. But we know where he is now and that he's in safe hands. So you needn't worry anymore."

Which was exactly what Michael was doing at the moment. He let go of the worry as his breath slowed down to a normal pace, "Thank God." he smiled weakly, "I guess that means I can't get his card to him then."

Renee smiled, "No you can't. But I don't think he'll mind if you give that to him when he's discharged. Along with a welcome back party of course."

"Yeah, that'll work," Michael agreed then addressing Robin asked, "Do you know when he'll be coming home."

Robin frowned, "No I'm afraid not. We haven't even been told how serious the injuries are. But I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Probably," Michael sighed, "and me worrying about it isn't going to do anything."

"No it isn't." Renee said, "So instead of that, why don't you tell me more about Mr. Martin's over ice cream."

"Are you paying?" Michael smirked, cheering up already.

"No, you are." Renee stated, "You wanna come too Robin? Michael's treat."

"No. I'm afraid I have too much paperwork piled up," Robin pointed to the office regretfully, "But why not ask Laith? I'm sure he'd love to join you."

"Laith?" Michael was confused for a moment before he remembered, "Oh that's his new name. No! You can't ask him! I don't have enough money! He's going to make me go broke and in debt before I'm even out of high school!"

Renee took pity on her friend, "Alright, alright. We won't ask him. Now c'mon before he gets here and tags along uninvited."

She dragged Michael by the arm out of school as she waved behind her. "Bye Renee! See you tomorrow! And don't tell Laith where we are, no matter what!"

SPSPSPSPSP

The two friends were seated face to face in the ice cream parlour, both nursing a chilling cup of ice cream sundae, courtesy of Michael. Renee was the first to break to silence. "So how did you ever get to be friends with Mr. Martin's anyways?"

"I was in grade 8." Michael began to answer, "I was going home one day when I found that my bike was completely ruined. Some idiot bullies who were bothering me that year did it. Anyways Mr. Martins found me trying to fix it, and failing, so he took it himself and put it back together in a matter of minutes with no trouble! In fact he made it even better than before! Like he added an engine to it and a little button that, when clicked, would sound like police sirens. That one really worked against the bullies."

Renee gaped. The bell thing was pretty smart but adding an engine to a 12 year old's bike...not normal. Renee voiced her astonishment.

"Yeah well, whatever. I never got hurt. Mr. Martins knew what he was doing. He always does. He can always fix something and always makes it better than before."

"Alright then," Renee shook her head in bafflement, "whatever you say Michael. But I still think that you being friends with the school janitor is weird."

"I'm also friends with a school secretary. And so are you as a matter of fact." Michael pointed out, "If that's not weird I don't know what is."

Renee raised her hands to admit defeat, "Yeah. Yeah. We both have weird friendships. That's that. Now answer me this, Laith? Why the hell would he choose a name like that?"

Michael laughed, "As if I know what's going on through his head. I mean. He's actually looking for a ship you know!"

"He is!" Renee laughed alongside Michael. "Why?"

"Laws-Laith really does want to go out on an adventure on sea apparently." Michael giggled, though he'd never admit to doing so, "Which we both know is impossible, but the idea is pretty cool."

"It is." Renee agreed, thinking about her dream of being a navigator.

The two friends grew silent, thinking about the futile possibilities of just running out to sea and screwing their lives and responsibilities on land. Michael had a far off glaze in his eyes, that just spoke of endless desires, when he said, "It'd still be pretty nice for us to have our own ship. We probably couldn't go anywhere far, but we'd be able to take it out around the bay and stuff."

"Yeah," Renee said dreamily, "We could just hang out there, and let loose. It'd be our own special place. Yours, mine, Laith's, Greg's, Charles', and Robin's. It'd be just for us."

"You can't forget about the other four." Michael pointed out.

"The other four?" Renee repeated, confused.

"Remember?" Michael urged, "Laith did say we needed ten crew members in total. And there's only six of us now."

Renee laughed, remembering Laith exclaiming that during the soccer try outs, "Yeah I remember. Okay then. The ship will be for the six of us and the other four as of yet unknown members of the crew. How does that sound?"

"Pefect." Michael grinned, "Just perfect."

Renee giggled at the stupidity of their conversation. Honestly, buying a boat of their own? None of them even had a boating license. But still...it was a possibility. Unreasonably happy, Renee returned to finishing her melting chocolate sundae. It was sweeter than she preferred but Renee really didn't mind for once.


Sorry for the late (very late) update. I've been busy, lazy, uninspired and a lot of other things. But I'm back and I haven't given up. I'll update again tomorrow. So please bare with me, I'll get the hang of writing consistently. I promise.