TJ's Perspective

Recess came way too slowly. The minutes inched by as I fidgeted in my chair. The worst thing was that none of the three Creepypastas were in my second hour, so I didn't get a chance to observe them.

After what seemed like forever, it was finally recess time. I walked to the office, where Mr Paul, Sophia, James, and the creepypastas were waiting for me.

I walked in the door, and stood next to my friends. Mr. Paul addressed us. "Now, you three, is there anything you wish to say to these boys?" He asked.

We didn't bother to answer the obviously rhetorical question. We just began with our apology.

"We're sorry we made fun of you guys. It was inappropriate, and we regret it, and hope we can be great friends in the future. We're sorry," We said, trying to sound sorry or regretful.

"It's cool," Said BEN, trying to hide a smirk.

I saw Sophia clench her fists in anger. I could tell that she was ready to fly at those three. I elbowed her in the side. She looked at me innocently, and I glared at her. My message was clear, Don't do anything stupid.

She gave me an annoyed look that read, Speak for yourself, Potato Boy!

Shut up, Four Eyes!

Spud head!

Loser!

Tater Tot Brain!

Nerd!

Tuber Face!

Our silent exchange of silent insults could've gone on all day if Mr. Paul hadn't announced, "Alright. Now that's settled, Tobias, Jeffery, and Benjamin need a tour of our school. Sophia, James, TJ, I trust that there'll be no more incidents?" He asked.

James spoke first, "No, sir. I mean, yes sir! I mean we won't do- There won't be any-" Sophia cut him off before he could make an even bigger fool of himself.

She shot Mr. Paul her most dazzling smile and dragged all five of us out of the office and into the hallway. The secretary didn't even notice us leave. I kinda felt bad for the old lady. I should get her a nice gift if I lived to see Secretary's Day.

We all walked down the hallway until we were well out of earshot of the office.

"So where are you going to show us first?" Jeff asked, casually.

Without answering, Sophia pulled us all into the Janitor's closet.

She turned on the lights and stared grimly at the three murderers.

Toby frowned in confusion, "W-what are we d-doing in here?" He asked.

Jeff smirked, "This where you make out with your little boyfriend?" He asked.

I felt my face grow hot, and started to open my mouth in indignation.

Sophia beat me to the punch (again), she pinched the bridge of her nose and slowly exhaled. After a second she spoke, her voice sounding like she had just heard the stupidest question in the world, "What the hell is wrong with you? I'm not even going to answer that." She said.

This answer seemed to mollify them for a second, which Sophia took as an invitation to interrogate them.

"Drop the act," She ordered, "We know who you are. Your little disguises didn't fool us," She said.

Jeff raised an eyebrow in a challenge, "Oh? Who are we then?" He asked.

"You're Jeffery Woods, Benjamin Lawman, and Toby Erin Rogers. Otherwise known as Jeff the Killer, BEN Drowned, and Ticci Toby. I could go on," She said, cooly.

Jeff was impressed, "Not bad, you know who we are. What are you going to do about it?" He asked.

Sophia was immediately ready with an answer, "We know you work for the Slenderman. We want in," She said.

Jeff looked at her carefully, slight fear flashing in his eyes, "We can't just recruit anyone, you kids don't know what you're getting yourselves into. You don't know what you're talking about." He mumbled.

She continued with her questioning, "Don't I? Thinking about it, we saw through your disguises pretty easily. I've seen the Slenderman, I've felt his power. If he wanted to, he could easily make a nearly impenetrable illusion. If I were to bet, you're here against his orders," She said.

Then she seemed to observe BEN's expression, and nodded like she could read him like a book, "In fact…" She paused for dramatic effect

"You're not even in the same alliance," She finished.

I was in awe, if she was right, she was a genius (Even though she's always late to class). Even if she wasn't right, the way she could read people and logically think things out was incredible, even a little scary.

I looked at their faces, which looked genuinely dumbstruck.

She smiled at the look on their faces, "I hit the nail on the head, huh?" She asked, smugly.

"H-Have you been s-s-spying on us?" Toby asked.

"Seriously, freaky," Said BEN sounding more than a little impressed.

She continued, "So tell us, why are you here?"

"W-well..." Toby trailed off.

Jeff continued for him, "The three of us sensed your stupid little summoning ritual, so we went to check it out. All three of us had clear orders, which we're physically unable to disobey, kill any trespassers. But for some reason, we weren't forced to follow them. We were in control of our own bodies for once. We just created an illusion of the Slenderman to get you to run for your lives. We hoped you'd move to Bangor Maine, or something before he noticed you, but it was too late. We sneaked out to warn you three to get out of here. It shouldn't have worked, we can't disobey him. He can posses our bodies and minds to do his bidding. Though it wasn't nearly as powerful as the Slenderman's, you shouldn't have been able to see through that illusion. For some reason, you three are different, you have a similar feeling as those who Slendy marks to make his proxy…" He trailed off, as if realizing what he said.

Jeff's eyes widened in anger, "That bastard! Of course!" He said.

To Toby, he said, "He wants to initiate Stage Two of Operation Cat and Mouse," He said.

Toby's eyes widened, "W-what?!"

BEN looked as confused as we were, "What are you talking about?" He asked, utterly mystified.

Jeff seemed to give a silent message to BEN as to what he meant, his blood streaming eyes widened, "Oh…" He said.

Toby's eyes filled with pity, "Those p-poor kids," He said mournfully.

I looked at Sophia, but she looked as lost as I felt, "What in the name of God are you talking about?" She asked, frustrated.

Jeff looked at her, "Look, we can't give you all the details right now, meet us at TJ's house, after school," He said.

I wanted to ask how they knew where I lived, but in all honesty, I didn't really want to know.

Sophia scowled, "How do we know that you're not just luring us into a trap?" She asked.

Jeff sighed in frustration, "You said it yourself, we're not here on his orders. In fact, I'd give anything to kill that son of a-" His body contorted, and his mouth clenched shut.

He writhed for a couple of seconds, before he took back control. He gasped, "You see? We're punished if we insult him, or do anything against his orders. Usually I can take back control faster than that. This stupid dimension is weakening us," He said.

She nodded, "Alright, TJ's house, ASAP," She said.

We left the Janitor's closet, James lead the way. He didn't seem to want to be anywhere near the three killers.

"Do you guys still need the grand tour?" Sophia asked, with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Jeff smirked, "I think we'll be fine," He said.

We turned down opposite sides of the hallway and headed for lunch. The walk was quiet and uneventful, which was becoming a more rare thing these days.

Sophia was the first to find her voice, "Did we just do that? Did I just make friends with Jeff the Killer?" She asked, in slight awe.

My head snapped up in alarm, this was getting dangerously cliche, "Don't tell me you have a crush on him!" I said.

She looked at me and burst out laughing, "Are you serious, TJ?" She asked, once she could speak again.

"A: Cliche. B: He's not exactly a looker. And most importantly, C: I'm a Lesbian," She said.

James was the first to speak, "Wait, you're a lesbian?" He asked.

I mean, it wasn't news to me. She told me last year, but begged me to keep it a secret. I never told anyone, even James, in respect of her privacy. She never mentioned it afterwards, but by the way she so casually said it now meant that she was probably over the secretive stage.

"Yeah," I said.

"Why was I not told about this sooner?" James asked.

She shook her head, "Never mind. It's not that big of a deal, is it?" She asked.

He frantically shook his head, "No! No! Of course it's not! It's just I'm surprised. I mean, not in a bad way. You do whatever you want to do. I just, you know, wish you'd told me too," He said.

A look of hurt and guilt flashed on Sophia's face, and a sudden surge of anger filled me, "She wasn't obligated to tell you! She was dealing with a lot!" I defended her.

She sighed, "It's fine, TJ. I really should've told you sooner. I'm sorry," She said to James.

He shook his head, "No, I'm sorry. Really you don't need to apologize. I shouldn't have been such a jerk about it," He said.

A slightly uncomfortable silence fell on our trio as we made our way to the lunch line. We waited in silence as we got soggy broccoli, grainy pears, and what I really hoped was tuna casserole.

We still didn't talk as we walked to the cafeteria and sat at our usual table. I raised my fork, but really hoped the need would never arise for me to actually eat whatever was on my tray.

Then I got an idea to get rid of the awkwardness, I took a bite of the Casserole. It wasn't deadly, but it was pretty awful. I made a face, and set down my fork.
"Ugh! Where do they get this stuff from?" I demanded.

Sophia and James laughed.

I continued, now grinning myself, "Seriously. If I don't start bringing bag lunches, the creepypastas will be the least of my worries," I declared.

Sophia tried a bite, curious. Her face contorted in a grimace, "That's, wow, Jesus Christ," She choked.

James, also curious, tried some of the slop. His face also twisted in disgust, "Good lord. Did this stuff come from a nuclear wasteland?" He gagged.

For the first time in a while, we laughed. It felt good to be like normal eighth grade students that weren't being hunted by the Slenderman. We laughed and talked about things we haven't talked about in months. It was almost carefree.

It was nice, but the bell brought us back down to Earth. As we through our lunch trays away, and headed to our separate classes, I knew that the next time we carefree discussion like that would be a long time from now. We had already been through too much.

And I had a nagging feeling that the worst was yet to come.