/Author's Note: Hi again! This chapter's a bit on the short side because it was originally part of a much longer one – however, the second half needed to be worked on, so I decided to split it and give you guys a much-needed update. The next chapter, which is technically already written, just needs to be reworked, and will therefore be out in probably a few short days. Hooray, this story lives! Enjoy, and drop me a review to let me know you're still around :) End Author's Note/

Chapter 51: Out of the Frying Pan

Despite the humidity and the glare of the sun overhead, there was undoubtedly an air of excitement pervading through the grounds as the students gathered by the soccer field, waiting to hear just what had happened. No flames were visible, and, in fact, their precious school looked the same as it always did: pristine, if not for the thickening haze of smoke slowly surrounding it. The glare of the sun hit the Lunch Dome brilliantly, making it resemble a newly-changed lightbulb, light bursting through its glass confines. The atmosphere had everyone buzzing around excitedly, injected with adrenaline by this momentary instance of danger.

"S'probably a drill, let's not get our hopes up." Ray claimed, putting his hands on the small of his back and stretching lazily. Lloyd, Eve, Gwen, and Sacchun stood with him; Sacchun was on the balls of her feet, eagerly scoping out the grounds for any signs of chaos, and Eve was lazily fanning herself with the girly pocket folder she had had with her in class.

"A drill," Eve repeated dryly, "With smoke. And heat. Right."

"Hey, y'never know..." Ray trailed off, and Eve muttered something that sounded vaguely like Ray being 'lucky he was so good looking'.

Lloyd found himself staring at the pocket folder in her hands, which sported the face of a very pretty blonde pop star of some sort, whose sienna eyes had a most distracting quality…

"You'd think the firemen would be here already!" Sacchun swung around wildly to look in the direction of the street parallel to the school, "How long's it gotta take anyway?"

"Heh, it'd suck for Mr. Wallace to come back to a pile of ashes in place of a school," remarked the brown-haired soccer player.

"Maybe he knew it was gonna blow and high-tailed it out of here with a briefcase full of insurance money!" Joe proposed enthusiastically.

"Yeah, and I'm sure he sprouted a diabolical curly moustache to twirl as he made his getaway," countered Eve.

Clearly having thought about this already, Sacchun replied, "If only we could find some way to blame it on Nami, and get her kicked out," Proceeding to imitate the teacher's dry, unamused voice, Sacchun said, "Oh, I'm so very sorry, Theodore! My big, stupid, flaming head was too big for the doorway, you see, and while trying to squeeze it through, the school caught fire. Oops! Please don't fire me, pleeeease!"

Instinctively, she wheeled around just to make sure that Nami wasn't behind her.

"Darn, I kind of wanted her to hear me."

"Strange, isn't there some kind of cosmic law of comedy that dictates that she should've?" asked an amused Eve.

The raillery continued, though two members of the party showed no inclination to join at all; Lloyd and Gwen were both looking off in seperate directions, each unwilling to meet the other's eyes. The fire, though sudden, had been to the both of them a blessing in disguise - a welcome distraction. Now, however, they were out in the airy fields of the school, under the searing heat of the sun, free to talk as much as they wanted, free to touch upon any topic...

'Maybe It's not too late to run back into the school. Right. I'll trap myself in the bathroom, inhale as much smoke as I can, pass out, spend a few blissful weeks in the hospital, alone...'

Had the teen been blessed with the self-awareness one only seems to acquire in the later years of life, he might have realized how pathetic the entire thing was. Gwen, however, felt equally eager to do anything but talk to him. Entirely too fascinated with the grass around her feet, Gwen shuffled from side to side, pretending to be looking for someone off in the distance.

'Maybe another day... or another lifetime; both work, really...'

Each other's presence weighed on the other like a sack of rocks, and both wanted nothing more than for the group to disperse and head their separate ways – but this didn't seem likely to happena nytime soon. In fact, as students continued to fill the field, the group ended up swelling as Sacchun managed to wave down a few familiar faces belonging to Ann, Joe and Carl.

"Sacchun! High-five!" Joe cried loudly as he bounded over in their direction, hand outstretched. Slapping it without hesitation, and as hard as she possibly could - as was tradition between them - Sacchun asked, "What's up?"

"I've always said that I wanted to witness a real school fire before I graduated."

"Now who's been filling your cute little head with delusions of graduation?" sniped Eve, earning her a scoff from her victim. Carl treaded over to Sacchun and greeted her with a light peck on the cheek.

Ray remarked, "There isn't much to see, though. I dunno, it's kind of dull. Are we allowed to go home?"

"Yeah! Half-day!" exclaimed Joe, thrusting his hand out for another high-five (Sacchun was quick to respond, as always).

"I don't think so," Ann started, "Pretty sure we have to wait for further instructions. Goddess knows I wouldn't complain, though, Mr. Barette was about to grill my ass about Napoleon's Battle of Whatever."

"Way to sound like Mia," grumbled Ray, "Well, minus that last part. Man, what does it take to get a day off around here? Do I have to shoot myself in the foot or something?"

Ann, for some reason or another, looked deeply disturbed by this remark.

"Or just piss Mr. Barette off enough and he'll do it for you," suggested Joe.

"They definitely won't let us back in after this fiasco. They'll have to at least give us the rest of the day off." Carl said, attempting to mask his hopeful tone in what sounded like facts.

"That's the spirit, kids!" laughed Parsley as he walked by with –

"Louis!" called Ann gleefully, subconsciously flattening her already straight hair.

"Ah, er, that'd be Mr. Bennett, Ann…" Louis corrected her, perhaps only because they were in the presence of one of his colleagues. Ann was noticeably put out by this.

"Mr. Frampton, what's… going on?" Carl enquired.

Tipping his feathered expedition hat – an accessory he donned as consistently as Mr. Barette and his rifle – Parsley took a sip from his mug of coffee before answering, "Looks like a fire in the vents, or in the walls – it's not terribly uncommon, especially in a building as old as our school's. It might be a while before they locate it and put it out, though… But hey, as you said, all that means for us is a day off!" He laughed again.

The students gawked at him collectively.

"C'mon kids, you look like you've just seen a Kappa! Everyone's been evacuated and no lasting damage should be done to the school," – there was an audible groan that seemed to come from Joe's direction – "So there's really no need to worry."

"Let's just hope the, uh, the firemen get here soon…" Louis adjusted the glasses that were sliding off his nose in the mid-day heat and peered over to the street.

"I think that's them now, Louis!" Parsley announced, and the gaggle of students wheeled around. The blaring of sirens was confirmation enough.

Sure enough, brick-red fire engines were speeding around the corner, lead by an old, rusty brown car, which managed to keep up the pace in spite of its aged appearance. Coming to a stop at the street right outside the school, the door swung open (a little too hard – it was a surprise it didn't swing right off its hinges) and ejected a girl whose deep blue hair struck a sharp contrast against the backdrop of two fire trucks.

"M… Mia!" Carl uttered. The entire grounds – and the civilians in the surrounding areas - seemed to have turned its attention to the vehicles now spewing firemen. It was the next figure to exit from the old brown car that rightfully earned the most attention.

"…And Mr. Wallace!"

It was oddly triumphant seeing Theodore exit the car, running as fast as his portly body could carry him, passed the chalk-white walls surrounding the grounds and over to his beloved school, the school he had been away from for far too long. Mia followed at a brisk run, the two of them yelling orders at the firemen and directing them into the school's many entrances. Though neither were well-rested, both worked and yelled with the passion only a Wallace could muster.

"Aw yeah! And Theo's back just in time!" Sacchun gave the air a well-deserved fist pump, "Look at him go!"

"And…" Ann mumbled, "And Mia…"

A strange sense of pride fell over the students of Flowerbud High for the moment, as their principal – known to the point of infamy for his fixation on waffles, among other things – stood before his school and ordered firemen and staff members alike in an attempt to contain the chaos that had unfurled. Parsley and Louis had scurried off to join the teachers, and the students – more captivated by the scene before them than anything – remained surprisingly still, for the most part.

Shortly after the firemen had entered had the front doors swung open again, releasing a scurrying Mary who, after a momentary daze following her emergence, scuttled towards the crowded field. They saw Mr. Frampton hurry forward to ensure she was okay. It wasn't much longer when the doors opened again, this time ousting a small group of people: Gina, the secretary, walked forward supported on one side by Alex and aided on the other by a fireman. To the students' further interest, however, was the scarlet-haired Nami behind them, looking none too pleased – not that she ever was.

"I almost thought her head was on fire," mused Joe.

"She really needs to dye her hair," thought Sacchun aloud, "It just gets peoples' hopes up."

The less vindictive Carl remarked, "Ooh, I hope Gina's okay, she really didn't look good."

Rather than joining the ranks of the staff, Alex had steered Gina away from the fireman and towards the parking lot, clearly intent on taking her somewhere she could rest. The blue-haired secretary held on to Alex as they sluggishly made their way to his car, leaving Nami standing in the middle of the school's courtyard looking very much so like a fish out of water. Not a single staff member beckoned her over or hurried over to make sure she was okay, leaving the disgruntled teacher to stalk off herself.

Everyone outside was now fixated on the events taking place before them. Granted, there wasn't much more to the rescue mission; only old Mr. Barette had to be ushered outside, for he had apparently dozed off in his classroom at the most inopportune of times, and was now yelling at the fireman aiding him for 'wakin' me from the best darned nap I've had in years, dernit!'. The fireman looked very much like he was having second thoughts about rescuing the old geezer. Out of the corner of his eye, Lloyd spotted Dan across the field, gesturing to a few of his friends and cocking his head to the entrance. The small group – Katie among them – exchanged smirks as they detached themselves from the throng of students and slowly made their getaway. As it turned out, Lloyd hadn't been the only one who noticed, as both Joe and Ann's eyes were following the rogue students dart out of the school grounds.

"Uh, guys, I just gotta… uh…" leaving her sentence hanging (and without any real intention of finishing it), Ann tossed her red hair over her shoulder and set off at a sprint in their direction.

"Ann? Ann!" Lloyd called.

"Hey! Who does she think she is, speeding off like that after lecturing us?" Sacchun exclaimed indignantly with arms akimbo. "Bye Pot, thanks for calling us black and all, see you around; sincerely, Kettle!" she yelled after her. Ann either did not hear or did not care enough to turn around, as she turned the corner and disappeared behind the white walls.

Joe inched over to Lloyd and Sacchun before asking, "Think we should make a break for it too?"

"Naw, I wanna see the rest of Super Theodore's moment of awesome," Sacchun said, all too impressed with Theodore's grand entrance.

Eve, having overheard them, said, "I could go for some lunch. Anyone down for lunch?"

"Is it on you?" asked Joe hopefully.

"Keep dreaming, babe."

An uneasy Lloyd asked, "Are you sure we won't get in trouble?"

"Well, Dan went and skedaddled." Joe pointed out.

"Right, and that's just the person we want to be emulating…"

"Mr. Frampton seemed all too keen on the idea of a half-day, we'd be terrible students to disappoint him like that!" Eve reasoned, "Do you really want to disappoint him, Lloyd? Do you?"

"…Crafty."

"We could always head down Azure Street to my folks' café, I'm willing to bet I can round us up some free food. Just – just nothing too extravagant, guys." Carl added, spotting the glint in Joe's eyes after the mentioning of 'free food'.

"Oh Carl, I could fall in love with you all over again!" Sacchun spun around, clapping her hands together with a grin of massive proportions.

With a tone as sarcastic as they come, Joe deadpanned, "Carl, do you take Sacchun's Stomach to be your lawfully wedded wife…", earning his stomach a jab from Sacchun's elbow.

With the group still rooted to the spot in uncertainty, Ray made the first move towards the entrance, saying, "Yo, if there's ever a reason to skip out on school, it's free food."

"I'll drink to that. And eat. Let's go." Eve followed suit, linking arms with her boyfriend.

Shrugging, Lloyd followed suite, "The man makes a good point."

"I hope they have fish…"

As the rest of the group walked as inconspicuously as possible, Eve looked over her shoulder, only to see Gwen rooted at the ground, sheepishly playing with a bracelet around her wrist.

"Oh no, sugar, you're coming too," Eve stalked back over to Gwen, dragging Ray with her, and decisively linked her other arm with hers. She shushed her captive as she attempted to say something about not being hungry, ensuring her with the advice, "Trust me, you're a teenage girl – you're always hungry. Food is like porn for the stomach."

"Especially the café's!" Carl said a little too enthusiastically, not quite registering that last part, "I… I think."