FRODO AND THE FACULTY
Author's Notes : This is supposed to be just for fun. I have only just revisited Elijah Wood's movie "The Faculty" and while my mind was taken over, had the idea to write something humorous involving the Fellowship and the movie characters.
As I watched I was thinking, he gets into these roles where he is supposed to save everyone else and decided to take the fun out both.
This is a one off thing - just for entertainment and I hope that people who read this and think that the author has lost her marbles will still continue to read my other stories for LOTR which try and stick closer to the original story line.
The Fellowship can see and hear everything that is going on at the school, including making some interesting comments about the new image for Frodo and his use of colourful language. They cannot interact with him and he doesn't know they exist. Gandalf is only along as purely an advisor for the rest of the Fellowship on some of the more modern things about the human world that they encounter.
Where I can I have chosen a more appropriate method of using such colourful language - i.e. "F.k" and "Sh." where they are needed. I wanted to be mindful that a lot of people might be offended - others not and will make others up as I go along as needed.
I have exaggerated the personalities of all slightly but please don't be offended - just mean as a poke in fun at them all. You don't need to understand why it happens that Frodo is now a high-school kid, just believe it and read and ignore anything that doesn't usually fit our beloved hobbit.
The story begins after ROTK where Frodo is supposed to be famous for his deeds. Gandalf comes rushing in to tell them about Frodo's sudden disappearance and that he now dwells in a new world of humans that needs him to save the day again.
If you haven't read the first chapter or even if you have - it has had some changes done to it so you might want to go back and revisit it before continuing on with this chapter.
NEXT PART -
About half way through the day, it appeared time for students to sit down and eat. This is where Zeke and Casey parted company for a time, Zeke headed towards his car to meet a few future clients and Casey headed towards the sports oval with a small brown paper bag in his hand and his camera slung around his neck.
The Fellowship were now gathered silently around Casey as he sat on the very top row of the grandstand, eating his lunch on his own and gazing out at the sports ground surrounding him.
"It looks as though not everything about our young ring-bearer has changed," Gandalf commented.
"He still seems to enjoy his solitude," Legolas noted.
"At least he is eating," Sam chimed in, happy to see his master with food and a drink in his hand.
"He does seem to have that strange looking thing around his neck most of the time," Merry said in reference to the camera.
Casey now got up from the grandstand, and started to descend the rows as he continued to drink his carton of juice.
"I can't believe I am seeing my master wearing shoes on his feet," Sam said, looking rather interested at the dark coloured sneakers that currently adorned Casey's feet.
Casey was now walking along the running track and changed direction to the grassy sports ground. He was looking down at the ground as he went, looking for any opportunity to use his camera if something presented itself.
As it so happened, something on the grass did catch his eye, but his curiosity was heightened too much and he had completely forgotten about the camera slung around his neck.
"What does he see?" Aragorn asked, trying to stand behind Frodo.
Casey whipped his head around as if he heard somebody say something. He looked directly behind him and then either side, searching for the person who could have spoken.
"Now you're hearing voices," Casey berated himself, once again turning his attention to the strange looking object on the ground.
"He heard me!" Aragorn said in astonishment, not having any other explanation for the teenager making such a statement.
"It would seem so Aragorn, but lets just play it safe for a few minutes before in case you scare him," Gandalf advised.
Casey now stood up but was still examining the small, ear shaped thing resting in the palm of his hand.
"What are you doing here," a voice demanded from behind him.
Casey turned around startled, hiding his hands behind his back as if to conceal what he held. "Um, I was just eating my lunch Sir," the boy answered.
The Fellowship could now see a man standing in front of Casey, wearing dress shorts and a polo-necked shirt. He had a strange look on his face but didn't look particularly threatening.
"This isn't the school cafeteria son," the coach said, walking up closer to Casey.
"Sorry," Casey mumbled and turned as if to walk away. He didn't know why but something made him feel very uncomfortable in the man's presence all of a sudden.
"I've seen you around school, but I forget your name," the coach now asked, his question making the teenager turn around and answer.
"Casey" he replied simply.
"You're not much into sports are you?" the coach said, making it sound more like he was a second class citizen or something because of it.
"I don't believe a person should run unless they are being chased Sir," Casey answered truthfully. Running was just something he had never been good at and he would rather just stay away from the track and sports fields than to make an even bigger fool out of himself than normal.
"Unless being chased," the coach repeated, his face suddenly turning into a smirk. "I like that."
"You just remember that Mr Casey. Next time I feel the need to chase someone, you had better be ready to run!" the coach said, widening his smirk into a grin that seemed to bore right through.
"I don't like this," Merry stated, seeing the look on his cousin's face that was almost fear.
"Go on get out of here," the man now barked at Casey.
The teenager didn't need any second invitation and started heading back towards the school buildings, briefly glimpsing back towards the coach for a few seconds and wondered at the statement he had made.
The first session after lunch was sports, so Casey was in the football locker rooms, going through some of the stuff in his locker.
The large black kid that the Fellowship had seen give Casey a hard time earlier that day, now walked into the room with a group of larger boys behind him.
"Your breathing my air dickwad," came the comment towards Frodo. Once again the Fellowship wanted to tear this person limb from limb. It seemed that the ring-bearer was to be taunted at his every turn.
"How the f..k can you tell that your breathing at all," Casey muttered under his breath.
"What did you say you little weasel?" Gabe now said with a snarl, hearing the comment.
"You heard me," Casey said, knowing that he was going to get punched anyway. He might as well have his say before he went down in a screaming heap.
The Fellowship were a little awed at this open display of strength by Frodo when he faced those bigger and stronger than himself. They had seen it many times back in Middle Earth and it seemed that he had brought some of that strength with him here as well.
Casey was now looking back towards the larger boy with defiance flashing from his blue eyes. Just before he felt the first punch thrown, another large boy came into the room, halting proceedings momentarily.
"Leave him be Gabe, he's not worth it," Stan said as he passed by.
Gabe looked back at Casey again and suddenly lost the urge to cream the wimp. "Yeah your right Stan, not worth it," he repeated and shoved Casey roughly into the lockers and walking away with his followers not far behind.
Aragorn and the others couldn't help but sigh in relief that nothing had happened to Frodo in the end.
"Thanks Stan," Casey mumbled to the other teenager in the room as he sat down on one of the benches in the room.
"Hey, I didn't do it to save your skinny butt," Stan poked in fun. "I just don't want to hang around and explain to the coach about the messy puddle on the floor when he finished."
Stan and Casey both laughed before Stan headed into the showers, leaving Casey sitting on the bench still.
A few minutes later, Casey heard Stan yelling from the showers.
"Did you get too much soap in your eyes or something Stan?" Casey said getting to his feet to investigate. He couldn't hold back a gasp of horror at what he was seeing.
At some point during Stan taking a shower, Mrs Brumel, an elderly teacher had wandered into the boy's shower room, completely naked. She was know grasping out towards Stan with her long thin arms and bony fingers.
"Get away from me," Stan shouted, wrapping a towel around himself and then trying to back away from the teacher. He and Casey both ignored the fact that she was naked for the moment.
"They are here, they want to get us all," Brumel screeched at Stan as she put her hands on his shoulders.
Stan found himself trying to pull the hysterical old woman away from her, as he did so, a large chunk of her scalp and hair came away in his hand, leaving a large, gaping and bloody wound on her head.
"ARHHH," Casey and Stan both screamed together, scrambling over each other to get out of the shower room.
About half an hour after this, Gandalf and the group now watched on in silence as one of the other teachers from the school addressed Casey and Stan about what had happened to the other woman.
Stan was standing up talking to the teacher, whilst Casey was sitting down against a window, trying hard to listen to the conversation, but his attention kept being drawn outside towards the sports oval.
"Very old....has been diagnosed with cancer....on a lot of medication," were about the only words Casey caught out of the whole thing.
"I would appreciate it if you can both keep this as quiet as possible," the teacher now said to Stan and Casey. "Casey?" she repeated, looking towards the boy who was still looking out the window.
Casey couldn't be sure that his eyes were deceiving him or not so he lifted his camera to his eyes and looked through the lens, adjusting the zoom so that the image came closer.
Coach Willis was out on the sports oval, standing under the school's massive sprinkler getting soaking wet. "Why the hell is he doing that?" Casey asked himself, thinking that he had witnessed not only one strange thing today.
"Casey do we understand each other?" the teacher repeated for the third time, a little louder this time to bring his attention back to her.
"Yeah sure," the teenager commented, looking at Stan for an explanation to what was going on. He didn't know either and shrugged his shoulders at the questioning look on Casey's face.
"What do you think that woman meant Gandalf?" Gimli asked, noting the same level of strangeness going on that the ring-bearer had, just not being able to do anything about it at present.
"I can feel the evil of this place beginning to grow," Gandalf replied. "Even this woman here does not speak the truth," he added, not having any reasonable explanation for what they had seen.
Casey didn't appear any worse for wear at having seen such a horrific thing as the woman and the blood.
"Um, I have to got to go to Mr Furlong's class now, there is something that I want to show him," Casey said, hoping it was enough of an excuse to escape.
"Yeah, me too," Stan said, just as grateful as Casey to be out of an awkward situation.
The Fellowship weren't too sure where they were headed now but they followed Frodo down the corridor to a doorway. Just before they saw Casey enter, Stan had accidentally bumped into the girl with dark make-up that Gimli had mentioned earlier.
"Get a f.king eye dog," she said to Stan walking away shaking her head.
"Hey I said sorry for walking into you beast," Stan said as he watched her go.
"They have the most charming way of talking to one another in this world," Legolas commented as the group now turned to follow Casey. They had heard him swear as well, but he didn't use it in every sentence as others did.
"Mr Furlong, I found something on the sports oval, I thought you might want to take a look at it," Casey said as he approached the teacher's desk.
Casey now pulled out the small object from his pocket and handed it to the teacher. "I was hoping you could tell me what it is. I have never seen anything like it before."
The teacher took it from the teenager but had a sceptical look on his face. He had seen the same scenario played out too many times before. But he had to admit that Casey Connor would rarely come to him with curiosity on his mind. The teenager was certainly above most of his classmates when it came to his grades. Unlike most of them, he saw the eventual benefits of an education.
Aragorn and the other Fellowship members noted that Casey seemed to be a lot more relaxed around this teacher than any of the others from earlier in the day. The man was probably closer in age, but his face wore a genuine smile rather than one that was forced by years of being through the education system that some of the older teachers offered.
There were a few familiar faces amongst the other teenagers that were gathering around the teacher's desk to try and get a look at the new thing that Casey had found. There was the black kid who had been threatening earlier, Stan and the girl with black make-up that they learned was called Stokeley.
"Well it certainly looks weird Casey, I must admit," Furlong said as he looked through the microscope to get a better understanding of the organism.
"It looks like some sort of seed bearing pod, but the surface tissue is definitely something I have never come across before," Furlong commented, giving his best description as he went.
"So can you identify it?" Casey asked, his interest suddenly sparked even more when Furlong couldn't give an accurate answer.
"No, Casey I think you might have really found something here, maybe even a new species or something," Furlong said, barely able to hide his own excitement.
"Yeah right, this dweeb found something new," Gabe said, thinking it hardly
possible that the geek could find his way out of a wet paper bag.
"Hey it happens every day Gabe, new species are discovered all of the time," Furlong said, coming to Casey's defence.
"It looks and acts like Casey though," Gabe shot back, looking directly at him as he spoke. "You know, not moving very much, and pretty God Damn ugly."
If the dark-skinned teenager could only see the angry looks and threats that he was receiving from Frodo's invisible friends he would have been cringing at the sight of raised bows and axes.
"So what do we do now?" Casey asked, ignoring the comments hurled at him and turning his attention to what he had found.
"Well, we can send it to a University and see if they can tell us what it is. Maybe get in on some of that federal grant money," Furlong said with a little hope in his voice. If it meant doing some worthwhile research rather than teaching a bunch of kids that didn't want to be taught, he was all for it.
Furlong took the organism and placed it on a tray. "It looks kinda cool," Stokeley commented, standing to Casey's right.
"Yeah it might be just from your planet too," Gabe said, giving the girl a slight shove forward. Her arm caught the side of a beaker of water sitting on the table, which in turn split over the tray and the organism.
Everyone gathered around, watched in stunned silence as the organism moved at the now moist conditions.
"Did you see that?" Casey asked in shock, keeping his eyes on it the whole time, waiting for it to move again. Everyone else was watching in stunned silence along with him.
"Let's test it out a little shall we," Furlong said as he picked up the tray and walked towards the middle of the room where a large fish aquarium rested on a big table.
"Do you think it is amphibious Sir?" Casey asked, thinking back at the reaction that the water seemed to have.
"Maybe, it reacted to the water," Furlong said in answer. He now tipped the organism into the tank of water and everybody gathered around the tank to watch it slowly submerge to the bottom.
It wasn't until a few seconds later that everyone jumped back in amazement and a little fright as long red tendrils immerged from the organism, as though it was taking in the water.
"Whoa, what just happened?" Stan asked, continuing to look at it.
Furlong now placed a latex disposable glove on one hand and reached into the tank.
"What are you doing?" asked Stokeley.
"Well the surface tissue has changed, so I want to feel it," Furlong explained.
At first there seemed to be no change in what was going on with the creature. All of a sudden, from one organism, there was then two swimming around almost as soon as the teacher's gloved hand touched it's outer surface.
"Jesus, it replicated itself," Furlong said in utter amazement that such a thing could happen right before their eyes.
There were now two of the organisms floating around in the tank with the red tendrils protruding from themselves. Furlong was about to pull his hand away when one of the creatures beared it's razor sharp teeth and clamped down on the unsuspecting finger nearby.
"F..K" Furlong exclaimed as he hastily withdrew his hand, now bleeding from the incision. "Jesus, the thing bit me," he said, trying to stem the flow of blood.
"How did it get teeth?" Casey asked, confusion and a little fear now showing on his face.
"This doesn't go outside these walls," Furlong now said, realising the implications that such a discovery could mean not only for the organism itself, but also the school and the students themselves.
All in the room nodded their heads, but they could all feel the uneasiness beginning to form in their minds and their stomachs about what had just taken place.
"What do you think it is Gandalf?" Merry asked, now a little afraid too as he saw the nervousness on his cousin's face. Somehow he and the others knew this was the beginning of something much larger and more dangerous to come and there was nothing they could do to help Frodo.
"I don't know Merry, but I don't like it. For Frodo's sake I hope nothing is going to happen to our friend," the wizard said.
"I will let you know what they say Casey," Furlong said, wrapping a band- aid around his finger as the students started heading out the door. There wasn't much school time left in the day.
"Sure, see you later," Casey said, giving a brief smile in appreciation, but then frowning again as the images ran back through his mind over what he had just witnessed.
Casey had just walked back into the corridor's and was rifling through his locker when a well-dressed woman approach him.
"Casey, can I have a word with you please?" Principal Drake asked, pausing and waiting for him to follow her.
"Yeah sure Ms Drake," Casey answered, a slight frown of confusion on his face as to what he might have done to draw her attention to him. Maybe he was going to get a chewing out for Tate's class earlier that morning.
When he got to her office, he could see another student sitting on a chair in her office as well. It was only when the girl turned around that he recognized who it was.
"Delilah," Casey said, surprised to be invited into the same company as the head cheer-leader.
"Hello Casey," she replied politely, but the teenager couldn't help but feel like she was looking him up and down with an air of distaste. She then turned her attention to a pocket sized mirror and fixing her hair, knowing that he was still looking at her.
It wasn't that Casey didn't like Deliliah, hell he might have been considered a loser and a geek, but he wasn't dead. With a set of boobs like that and an ass to match, who couldn't look at her and not know he was an American teenager.
But it was an almost written school law that the likes of him and her dwelled in two separate worlds at the school. He could look all he wanted, but touching was out of bounds so he was just left with his own thoughts.
"You shouldn't be thinking about such things Mr Frodo," Sam now said, a little embarrassed that his master was having thoughts of other pleasures.
Casey had heard a voice again, sounding different from before but it definitely didn't come from Drake or Delilah. He looked nervously around the room, searching for the source before trying to hide his uneasiness as best he could.
Sam immediately saw the startled look from his master and refrained from making any further necessary comment. However it was happening he couldn't be sure. Maybe Gandalf had been wrong about the amount of intervention the Fellowship might have in helping his master. Whatever the reason, it was clear that Frodo could at least hear them from time to time.
"Could we just get this over with please," he said out loud to the two women.
"Okay Casey, I won't keep you two long. As you know Delilah hear is the Chief Editor of the school's newspaper. She came to me asking for some help with gaining someone's help who might be good with cameras. Your name came to mind," Drake explained.
Casey now looked down at the camera still slung around his neck and knew that he seemed to be getting used again. Never really wanted for who he truly was, just to use whatever he was good at and then toss him away again until the next time.
"Sure what do you want me to do," Casey replied, keeping his thoughts to himself.
"Just take a few pictures when I need you to," Delilah said, hating the idea that she had to ask for help at all in the first place. She knew Casey was good with cameras. Hell you even took away the geeky clothes and the startled look, he wasn't too bad looking once you looked hard enough. His big blue eyes seemed to stand out the most and he had a handsome face in a geeky sort of way.
"When do you want to take the pictures?" Casey asked, forcing away the words When do you want to do it that were echoing in his head.
"How about tomorrow right after school for just a few minutes? The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can both get on with our lives," Delilah suggested.
"That suits me fine, whenever you want," Casey answered. "Sorry to interrupt, but it's home time, see you tomorrow," he announced and prepared to leave. He had already spent enough time at this place today.
Casey went back to his locker and paused long enough to grab a small backpack. He put his camera inside and zipped it up and slung it over his shoulder. He then pulled out a pair of dark sunglasses and a pair of roller-blades from his locker.
Normally he caught the bus in the mornings and sometimes got a lift home with his parents, but today, a different mode of transport was called for.
The Fellowship watched on curiously as they saw Casey remove his regular sneakers and replace them with larger boots with small wheels attached to the bottom of them.
"What does he do with those on his feet?" Sam asked, perplexed by the mere notion of anybody having to wear anything on their feet. He was glad he wasn't human, he liked walking around with his over-sized hobbit feet just the way they were.
Casey now placed a small walkman in his pocket with a compact disc inside it. He pulled out the small pair of earphones and held onto them loosely in his hand as he walked out of the school building. He now put the sunglasses on his face and slowly skated his way towards the school's front gates.
"Hey Casey, I'd stop and give you a ride man, but I am going the other way," Zeke said as he pulled his car along side the teenager.
Aragorn and the others couldn't believe the amount of noise that this strange looking vehicle was producing. There was noise coming from the large wheels as well as from inside where the other young man was sitting.
"That's okay Zeke, I have been in your car when you have been driving before remember," he said, indicating that he had been scared witless last time with the over use of speed.
"At least in this they won't have to scrap you off of the sidewalk," Zeke shot back, noting the roller-blades on his feet.
"Later man," Casey said and now placed the earphones in his ears and pushed the play button. Now oblivious to any voices that he might have heard earlier, and with the wind blowing in his face, he now darted out onto the road and caught the rear of a jeep that was just pulling out of the parking lot.
"Surely he doesn't mean to use those strange looking things on his feet as a mode of transportation Gandalf," Aragorn said, a little worried at the acceleration that Casey had already gotten thanks to the skates and the vehicle that he was holding onto.
For the next ten minutes though, the members of the Fellowship were drawn along with the teenager as he made what they considered nothing short of a hellish ride towards home.
No sooner had he travelled a short distance holding onto one vehicle, then he would simply and quickly let go and grab hold of the tailgate of another vehicle, without giving any thought to his safety or that was he was doing was entirely dangerous.
On one occasion, the driver of one of the vehicles had turned around when Casey made contact with the back of his vehicle. Casey had given the man a quick wave with his hand and a big smile and continued to hang on until the next time he needed to change direction.
Sam had blanched white on one occasion when it seemed that Casey was going too fast to be able to stop and it looked as though his face was going to connect with a side-mirror.
Casey had not even blinked though and at the last minute, turned his face away just in time to avoid the impending collision. Once he let go of this vehicle, his journey seemed to take him down some more quieter streets without too much traffic and the teenager now bladed along the side-walk on his own steam.
About halfway down this street, Casey came to a complete stop and undid the buckles of his skates, removed them and walked across the grass towards a house.
"Not much but it's home," Casey said to himself and dumped the skates outside the backdoor before opening the screen and going inside.
"This should be rather interesting," Aragorn said as they silently followed the ring-bearer inside. They were actually going to get a chance to see how their friend Frodo was living in this world.
"Mom, I am home," Casey shouted from inside the back door.
"Mr Frodo has parents!" Sam said surprised. He wondered whether they would be anything like Master Bilbo, but then answered his own question and said probably not.
The Fellowship now saw a blond woman coming out of a different room in the house. She looked nice enough. All of them had known that apart from Bilbo and Gandalf for the past twelve years, Frodo had very little memory of ever having real parents.
"So I hear from your shouting," the woman said with a smile on her face. She now approached Casey and gave him a quick embrace and kiss on the cheek to greet him.
"But I have a bone to pick with you young man," she warned, now brandishing a wooden spoon she had been holding in her hand.
"Hey I am innocent until proven guilty," Casey said in his own self- defence.
"I have heard nothing coming from your room all day but whinging and scratching, do something about it or you and your little furry friend will be sleeping outside tonight," his mother said in mock sternness.
"He's just missing me mom," Casey reasoned. "Just give Sam some time, I am sure he will not be any trouble."
"Sam?" Merry said at the name. None of them knew what this furry little friend was, but there was no mistake in the name that Casey had called.
"I really wish you would pick another name son, surely you could have picked out a better name than Sam," came the voice of a man now walking into the kitchen. This must be Casey's father the group assumed.
"I like the name Sam, it's simple and it suits him," Casey declared and now started heading towards his bedroom to find his little friend.
"More than just a coincidence I would wager Samwise," Gandalf commented as he saw the awed expression on the stout hobbit's face.
Sam was just overjoyed that something with his name was still an important part of Frodo's life. He was very flattered that his master would think the name the most suitable out of all the possible choices. Maybe there really was something more than fate at work here.
"You will have to go pizza for dinner tonight Casey, your mother and I have got classes tonight," his father said, handing him a twenty dollar note.
"Classes?" Casey asked, with a confused look on his face until he remembered. "Oh yeah, okay whatever," he said, as if trying to avoid the subject altogether. He didn't even want to admit that his parents were going to marriage guidance classes, but if it helped them stick together, then he wouldn't say anything against it.
Casey now walked into his bedroom and slung the bag on his shoulder onto a chair near his computer table. The Fellowship were amazed at all of the strange looking electronic equipment and other things that adorned his room. They all walked about exploring the room and its contents with their eyes, hoping to learn more about it's young inhabitant.
"It is certainly much different to the room he has back at Bag End with Master Bilbo," Sam commented. Perhaps he was too used to seeing Frodo's possessions treated with the utmost care and responsibility. Here now, he could be mistaken for thinking that there was very little if no sense of order at all to where everything fitted.
"SAM," Casey called, going to a cupboard and looking inside. There was a small basket inside that look like where this little friend slept during the day. The teenager looked around when he saw it empty.
Casey now laid down on his stomach and explored underneath his bed with a hand. "Sam, are you under here?" he said.
"Yeow," he exclaimed out of fright more than pain when he felt a small pair of teeth nip the back of his hand. "Why you little," he said with a grin and as he withdrew his hand from the bed, held a small, honey-coloured dog close to his chest.
"You weren't going to bite me know were you?" Casey said to the little dog. "I thought you were supposed to be my friend," he said, not caring in the least how silly it looked for him to be talking to a dog.
"Gee, the dogs in this world are a lot smaller than the ones back in Farmer Maggot's fields," Pippin said, remembering all too well about being chased on a number of occasions by such large and vicious beasts.
Watching Casey and his dog now though, the Fellowship couldn't help but smile as they watched the two interact so well together.
Because the dog was so small in size, Casey now proceeded to place it inside his shirt, allowing the dog's small head and pleading eyes to protrude through.
"Come on boy, time to order some food," Casey announced and grabbed his cordless phone by the bed.
Aragorn watched Casey push a few buttons on the thin black object in his hand and proceed to place it next to his ear as if listening to something.
"In this world, people are able to communicate over very long distances with such devices," he said.
"Yeah, this is the Connor residence, 107 Caulfield Drive. I want to get a large pizza with everything on top, hold the mushrooms," Casey ordered. 'Yeah you heard me, don't put any mushrooms on there. I am allergic to them. Just the smell of them makes me want to puke my guts up for a week. Okay, see you in 30 minutes."
"Frodo, allergic to mushrooms," Pippin squeaked, not being able to think of a worse punishment for a hobbit then not being able to eat mushrooms.
"Casey we are leaving now," his mother said from the other side of his bedroom door.
"Okay see you," Casey said and plopped himself down on his bed and fiddled with the remote control for his VCR and TV.
"Well Sam, looks like it's just me and you again tonight," he said with a sigh. He just wished sometimes he and his parents could spend more time together like a family.
In response to the comment, the little dog licked Casey's face, making the Fellowship laugh at the resulting face he gave. "Yeah I now you care, but do they. Sometimes I think not my friend."
Twenty minutes later, the front door bell rang and Casey answered, paying for his pizza and grabbing two cans of soft-drink from the fridge downstairs before heading back to his room again.
Pippin watched his friend and the strange looking food. It looked okay to eat. He would have to get Frodo to show him how to make it once they were back together again. But then he remembered that Frodo probably wouldn't remember even having even if they all did make it back.
Casey now walked over to his video library and picked out a couple of tapes to watch. He didn't seem to pick up on the fact that he picked out titles that were related to the events he had experienced earlier that day.
The boy and the dog ate the pizza, Casey seemingly happy enough to share his meagre meal with him. He opened one of the cans and after clearing away the pizza box, reclined back against his pillows, waiting for the movie to start.
Legolas and the others watched the TV screen, awed that such an invention even existed. Gandalf had assured them that there were not any little people trapped in the screen itself, but merely like Casey's camera where they were pictures that had just been made bigger and were able to move.
The images before them were mostly of giant fireballs from explosions and people dying from gunshots and knife wounds. Looking back at Casey's face though, he didn't show any fear or concern, he seemed to be enjoying the action thoroughly.
Towards the end of the second movie, Aragorn looked over towards the bed and smiled at the heart-warming sight. The others too looked and couldn't help feel a lump in their throats.
At some point, Casey had fallen asleep whilst watching the movie. The little dog was also asleep, curled up in the crook of his arm. The teenager was still fully dressed and without shoes but other than that looked completely relaxed and poised in peaceful slumber.
The video had finished and now the TV was still switched on, showing all the late night programs. Obviously the noise wasn't disturbing Casey, he didn't even stir at the loud voices or the sharp sounds of gun fire.
The Fellowship were determined to watch over their young friend as he slept. They decided to learn as much as possible about this world by using the TV in front of them. Maybe they could find a way to help when the need arose.
Aragorn looked back over at Casey close to dawn, noting that the teenager hadn't even turned over in his sleep during the night. "I have not seen him sleep through a whole night undisturbed for a very long time. Even after Mount Doom, his sleep was anything but restful or free of nightmares."
The others nodded their heads in acknowledge, knowing all too well that nightmares and bad dreams had plagued their young friend almost from the time he had left the Shire and long after the One Ring had been destroyed.
"I think that little dog has a most calming effect on him," Gandalf pointed out. "It a truly remarkable friendship between them."
About 7.30am the next morning, Casey's mother walked into the room, and smiled at the sight of her son sprawled on his bed still sound asleep. He hadn't even heard her come into the room.
Something else did though and Aragorn couldn't help but suppress a laugh when the little dog looked up and gave a small growl towards the woman.
"Okay okay, I am not going to wake him up, but you had better make sure he gets to school on time," she said and gently kissed her son on the forehead before leaving the room again.
She knew that the dog was the best thing that had happened to him for a long time. With very few friends, it had just been what he was looking for. She hoped and prayed that it wouldn't be too long before Casey found some human friends to associate with though.
"It would seem that Sam is still guarding his master while he sleeps," Legolas commented, looking towards Samwise as he spoke.
About half and hour later, Casey began to stir on his own, slowly at first. The little dog took this as his cue to hurry the process along a little. Frodo's friends watched in amusement as the dog now moved down towards the end of the bed where his toes were.
Casey startled to giggle with his eyes closed as the little dog now licked his master's toes. The dog persisted until the boy sat up and tried to grab at the animal.
"You little...' Casey said and chased the little dog until he had him cornered. The dog now leaped at the teenager who caught him and then licked his face in an apologetic gesture.
"Okay, I am up," Casey said and soon disappeared into the bathroom with some fresh clothes and a towel over his shoulder.
While Casey took his shower, the Fellowship members discussed the various things they had learned overnight about this new world. They discovered that people in this world used guns of varying shapes and sizes to kill others. Sometimes the guns were used by good people to shoot the baddies, but basically guns were seen as a weapon much like their bows and swords. They had learned that guns were not to be used by those considered young like Casey.
They also learned that apart from guns, the next biggest problem most young people faced was something called "drugs". From watching various snippets of the TV the group found out that there were many different sorts and all had both positive and negative effects.
Some of them even seemed to take the place of herbal remedies when treating illness and disease. But there apparently were others that were taken recreationally that could alter one's personality. They saw various photographs on the screen of people using needles to inject the substances into their own blood streams.
Then there were others that were sniffing at a white powdery substance with hollow tubes. All of it seemed very strange, but the people giving the information told of the side-effects of doing such harmful acts. They included headaches and dizziness whilst also having false sense of feeling exhilarated. The TV told them that if these substances were over used or badly made, then they could result in permanent injury or even death in a lot of cases.
"So to everyone out there that still haven't got the message, stay away from drugs and if you know of anybody close to you or in your family that is having problems, then please make sure you help them and support them enough to make them see what they are doing is wrong," a black woman said just before the closing credit began rolling.
Casey now walked back into his room, dressed in the clean clothes but his hair still wet from the shower. He dumped the still wet towel over the unsuspecting little dog, engulfing him in the fabric and laughing out loud when the towel began moving around on the floor.
The teenager now proceeded to start pulling his socks and shoes on, glancing at the time on the clock and grimacing slightly already knowing there was next to no chance of making it in time for the bus.
As if to extract his own revenge, the dog now decided it was a good time to play tug-o-war with Casey's sock. The two wrestled for a few minutes before both gave up.
"Oh sh.t, going to be late," Casey swore. "Tate's going to have my butt in a sling," he continued to grumble, trying to get himself ready even faster.
Casey put the walkman back into his pocket and grabbed his shades and bag on the way out his bedroom door.
As he walked passed the kitchen, he saw that his mother had left some breakfast out on the kitchen counter for him. He looked at the toast for a minute and then put the plate on the floor, much to the little dog's delight who greedily accepted.
"Sorry boy, have to skip breakfast this morning," Casey said, pausing briefly to put back on his roller-blades. He placed the sunglasses back on his face and was about to begin heading in the direction he had come from yesterday.
The little dog Sam gave a little bark as if to disapprove of being left home alone yet again. "Sorry, you can't come with me. Have to face the demons at school on my own," Casey said and started off down the sidewalk.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Notes - okay - so there are a lot of things happening here that never happened in the movie. Oh well - just wrote it that way. The roller- blades is taken from Back to the Future where MJFox used a skateboard behind the vehicles.
The whole parents splitting up idea is made up as well as the dog and the pizza and the mushrooms. Not much happened in this chapter and everything that was from the movie might have been written in a different order in my story.
Going to take two days to take over the school rather than just 1.5. The next chapter will have the scene with Delilah and Casey in the closet and then his confrontation from his parents about the drugs.
The drugs idea isn't meant to insult anybody - I don't know enough about any of it and don't want to. If I said anything in error - it is purely fiction and out of my own head. I wanted the Fellowship to become aware of why guns and drugs were dangerous so that they freak out later on back at Zeke's place when they see the gun and then Casey taking the drug.
There are going to some pieces that happen shortly that are totally made up, for example a run in between Casey and the Coach (of course, that's why I gave the hint) and one between Casey and Tate once they are the aliens. I am going to do the scene with Furlong's hand around Casey's neck, but then add a bit to it. (You can all imagine what the Fellowship would be trying to do when they see that !!! LOL).
Hope you like - please let me know what you think and thanks to those who have already been supportive and encouraging.
More soon - if you want to..
JULES
Author's Notes : This is supposed to be just for fun. I have only just revisited Elijah Wood's movie "The Faculty" and while my mind was taken over, had the idea to write something humorous involving the Fellowship and the movie characters.
As I watched I was thinking, he gets into these roles where he is supposed to save everyone else and decided to take the fun out both.
This is a one off thing - just for entertainment and I hope that people who read this and think that the author has lost her marbles will still continue to read my other stories for LOTR which try and stick closer to the original story line.
The Fellowship can see and hear everything that is going on at the school, including making some interesting comments about the new image for Frodo and his use of colourful language. They cannot interact with him and he doesn't know they exist. Gandalf is only along as purely an advisor for the rest of the Fellowship on some of the more modern things about the human world that they encounter.
Where I can I have chosen a more appropriate method of using such colourful language - i.e. "F.k" and "Sh." where they are needed. I wanted to be mindful that a lot of people might be offended - others not and will make others up as I go along as needed.
I have exaggerated the personalities of all slightly but please don't be offended - just mean as a poke in fun at them all. You don't need to understand why it happens that Frodo is now a high-school kid, just believe it and read and ignore anything that doesn't usually fit our beloved hobbit.
The story begins after ROTK where Frodo is supposed to be famous for his deeds. Gandalf comes rushing in to tell them about Frodo's sudden disappearance and that he now dwells in a new world of humans that needs him to save the day again.
If you haven't read the first chapter or even if you have - it has had some changes done to it so you might want to go back and revisit it before continuing on with this chapter.
NEXT PART -
About half way through the day, it appeared time for students to sit down and eat. This is where Zeke and Casey parted company for a time, Zeke headed towards his car to meet a few future clients and Casey headed towards the sports oval with a small brown paper bag in his hand and his camera slung around his neck.
The Fellowship were now gathered silently around Casey as he sat on the very top row of the grandstand, eating his lunch on his own and gazing out at the sports ground surrounding him.
"It looks as though not everything about our young ring-bearer has changed," Gandalf commented.
"He still seems to enjoy his solitude," Legolas noted.
"At least he is eating," Sam chimed in, happy to see his master with food and a drink in his hand.
"He does seem to have that strange looking thing around his neck most of the time," Merry said in reference to the camera.
Casey now got up from the grandstand, and started to descend the rows as he continued to drink his carton of juice.
"I can't believe I am seeing my master wearing shoes on his feet," Sam said, looking rather interested at the dark coloured sneakers that currently adorned Casey's feet.
Casey was now walking along the running track and changed direction to the grassy sports ground. He was looking down at the ground as he went, looking for any opportunity to use his camera if something presented itself.
As it so happened, something on the grass did catch his eye, but his curiosity was heightened too much and he had completely forgotten about the camera slung around his neck.
"What does he see?" Aragorn asked, trying to stand behind Frodo.
Casey whipped his head around as if he heard somebody say something. He looked directly behind him and then either side, searching for the person who could have spoken.
"Now you're hearing voices," Casey berated himself, once again turning his attention to the strange looking object on the ground.
"He heard me!" Aragorn said in astonishment, not having any other explanation for the teenager making such a statement.
"It would seem so Aragorn, but lets just play it safe for a few minutes before in case you scare him," Gandalf advised.
Casey now stood up but was still examining the small, ear shaped thing resting in the palm of his hand.
"What are you doing here," a voice demanded from behind him.
Casey turned around startled, hiding his hands behind his back as if to conceal what he held. "Um, I was just eating my lunch Sir," the boy answered.
The Fellowship could now see a man standing in front of Casey, wearing dress shorts and a polo-necked shirt. He had a strange look on his face but didn't look particularly threatening.
"This isn't the school cafeteria son," the coach said, walking up closer to Casey.
"Sorry," Casey mumbled and turned as if to walk away. He didn't know why but something made him feel very uncomfortable in the man's presence all of a sudden.
"I've seen you around school, but I forget your name," the coach now asked, his question making the teenager turn around and answer.
"Casey" he replied simply.
"You're not much into sports are you?" the coach said, making it sound more like he was a second class citizen or something because of it.
"I don't believe a person should run unless they are being chased Sir," Casey answered truthfully. Running was just something he had never been good at and he would rather just stay away from the track and sports fields than to make an even bigger fool out of himself than normal.
"Unless being chased," the coach repeated, his face suddenly turning into a smirk. "I like that."
"You just remember that Mr Casey. Next time I feel the need to chase someone, you had better be ready to run!" the coach said, widening his smirk into a grin that seemed to bore right through.
"I don't like this," Merry stated, seeing the look on his cousin's face that was almost fear.
"Go on get out of here," the man now barked at Casey.
The teenager didn't need any second invitation and started heading back towards the school buildings, briefly glimpsing back towards the coach for a few seconds and wondered at the statement he had made.
The first session after lunch was sports, so Casey was in the football locker rooms, going through some of the stuff in his locker.
The large black kid that the Fellowship had seen give Casey a hard time earlier that day, now walked into the room with a group of larger boys behind him.
"Your breathing my air dickwad," came the comment towards Frodo. Once again the Fellowship wanted to tear this person limb from limb. It seemed that the ring-bearer was to be taunted at his every turn.
"How the f..k can you tell that your breathing at all," Casey muttered under his breath.
"What did you say you little weasel?" Gabe now said with a snarl, hearing the comment.
"You heard me," Casey said, knowing that he was going to get punched anyway. He might as well have his say before he went down in a screaming heap.
The Fellowship were a little awed at this open display of strength by Frodo when he faced those bigger and stronger than himself. They had seen it many times back in Middle Earth and it seemed that he had brought some of that strength with him here as well.
Casey was now looking back towards the larger boy with defiance flashing from his blue eyes. Just before he felt the first punch thrown, another large boy came into the room, halting proceedings momentarily.
"Leave him be Gabe, he's not worth it," Stan said as he passed by.
Gabe looked back at Casey again and suddenly lost the urge to cream the wimp. "Yeah your right Stan, not worth it," he repeated and shoved Casey roughly into the lockers and walking away with his followers not far behind.
Aragorn and the others couldn't help but sigh in relief that nothing had happened to Frodo in the end.
"Thanks Stan," Casey mumbled to the other teenager in the room as he sat down on one of the benches in the room.
"Hey, I didn't do it to save your skinny butt," Stan poked in fun. "I just don't want to hang around and explain to the coach about the messy puddle on the floor when he finished."
Stan and Casey both laughed before Stan headed into the showers, leaving Casey sitting on the bench still.
A few minutes later, Casey heard Stan yelling from the showers.
"Did you get too much soap in your eyes or something Stan?" Casey said getting to his feet to investigate. He couldn't hold back a gasp of horror at what he was seeing.
At some point during Stan taking a shower, Mrs Brumel, an elderly teacher had wandered into the boy's shower room, completely naked. She was know grasping out towards Stan with her long thin arms and bony fingers.
"Get away from me," Stan shouted, wrapping a towel around himself and then trying to back away from the teacher. He and Casey both ignored the fact that she was naked for the moment.
"They are here, they want to get us all," Brumel screeched at Stan as she put her hands on his shoulders.
Stan found himself trying to pull the hysterical old woman away from her, as he did so, a large chunk of her scalp and hair came away in his hand, leaving a large, gaping and bloody wound on her head.
"ARHHH," Casey and Stan both screamed together, scrambling over each other to get out of the shower room.
About half an hour after this, Gandalf and the group now watched on in silence as one of the other teachers from the school addressed Casey and Stan about what had happened to the other woman.
Stan was standing up talking to the teacher, whilst Casey was sitting down against a window, trying hard to listen to the conversation, but his attention kept being drawn outside towards the sports oval.
"Very old....has been diagnosed with cancer....on a lot of medication," were about the only words Casey caught out of the whole thing.
"I would appreciate it if you can both keep this as quiet as possible," the teacher now said to Stan and Casey. "Casey?" she repeated, looking towards the boy who was still looking out the window.
Casey couldn't be sure that his eyes were deceiving him or not so he lifted his camera to his eyes and looked through the lens, adjusting the zoom so that the image came closer.
Coach Willis was out on the sports oval, standing under the school's massive sprinkler getting soaking wet. "Why the hell is he doing that?" Casey asked himself, thinking that he had witnessed not only one strange thing today.
"Casey do we understand each other?" the teacher repeated for the third time, a little louder this time to bring his attention back to her.
"Yeah sure," the teenager commented, looking at Stan for an explanation to what was going on. He didn't know either and shrugged his shoulders at the questioning look on Casey's face.
"What do you think that woman meant Gandalf?" Gimli asked, noting the same level of strangeness going on that the ring-bearer had, just not being able to do anything about it at present.
"I can feel the evil of this place beginning to grow," Gandalf replied. "Even this woman here does not speak the truth," he added, not having any reasonable explanation for what they had seen.
Casey didn't appear any worse for wear at having seen such a horrific thing as the woman and the blood.
"Um, I have to got to go to Mr Furlong's class now, there is something that I want to show him," Casey said, hoping it was enough of an excuse to escape.
"Yeah, me too," Stan said, just as grateful as Casey to be out of an awkward situation.
The Fellowship weren't too sure where they were headed now but they followed Frodo down the corridor to a doorway. Just before they saw Casey enter, Stan had accidentally bumped into the girl with dark make-up that Gimli had mentioned earlier.
"Get a f.king eye dog," she said to Stan walking away shaking her head.
"Hey I said sorry for walking into you beast," Stan said as he watched her go.
"They have the most charming way of talking to one another in this world," Legolas commented as the group now turned to follow Casey. They had heard him swear as well, but he didn't use it in every sentence as others did.
"Mr Furlong, I found something on the sports oval, I thought you might want to take a look at it," Casey said as he approached the teacher's desk.
Casey now pulled out the small object from his pocket and handed it to the teacher. "I was hoping you could tell me what it is. I have never seen anything like it before."
The teacher took it from the teenager but had a sceptical look on his face. He had seen the same scenario played out too many times before. But he had to admit that Casey Connor would rarely come to him with curiosity on his mind. The teenager was certainly above most of his classmates when it came to his grades. Unlike most of them, he saw the eventual benefits of an education.
Aragorn and the other Fellowship members noted that Casey seemed to be a lot more relaxed around this teacher than any of the others from earlier in the day. The man was probably closer in age, but his face wore a genuine smile rather than one that was forced by years of being through the education system that some of the older teachers offered.
There were a few familiar faces amongst the other teenagers that were gathering around the teacher's desk to try and get a look at the new thing that Casey had found. There was the black kid who had been threatening earlier, Stan and the girl with black make-up that they learned was called Stokeley.
"Well it certainly looks weird Casey, I must admit," Furlong said as he looked through the microscope to get a better understanding of the organism.
"It looks like some sort of seed bearing pod, but the surface tissue is definitely something I have never come across before," Furlong commented, giving his best description as he went.
"So can you identify it?" Casey asked, his interest suddenly sparked even more when Furlong couldn't give an accurate answer.
"No, Casey I think you might have really found something here, maybe even a new species or something," Furlong said, barely able to hide his own excitement.
"Yeah right, this dweeb found something new," Gabe said, thinking it hardly
possible that the geek could find his way out of a wet paper bag.
"Hey it happens every day Gabe, new species are discovered all of the time," Furlong said, coming to Casey's defence.
"It looks and acts like Casey though," Gabe shot back, looking directly at him as he spoke. "You know, not moving very much, and pretty God Damn ugly."
If the dark-skinned teenager could only see the angry looks and threats that he was receiving from Frodo's invisible friends he would have been cringing at the sight of raised bows and axes.
"So what do we do now?" Casey asked, ignoring the comments hurled at him and turning his attention to what he had found.
"Well, we can send it to a University and see if they can tell us what it is. Maybe get in on some of that federal grant money," Furlong said with a little hope in his voice. If it meant doing some worthwhile research rather than teaching a bunch of kids that didn't want to be taught, he was all for it.
Furlong took the organism and placed it on a tray. "It looks kinda cool," Stokeley commented, standing to Casey's right.
"Yeah it might be just from your planet too," Gabe said, giving the girl a slight shove forward. Her arm caught the side of a beaker of water sitting on the table, which in turn split over the tray and the organism.
Everyone gathered around, watched in stunned silence as the organism moved at the now moist conditions.
"Did you see that?" Casey asked in shock, keeping his eyes on it the whole time, waiting for it to move again. Everyone else was watching in stunned silence along with him.
"Let's test it out a little shall we," Furlong said as he picked up the tray and walked towards the middle of the room where a large fish aquarium rested on a big table.
"Do you think it is amphibious Sir?" Casey asked, thinking back at the reaction that the water seemed to have.
"Maybe, it reacted to the water," Furlong said in answer. He now tipped the organism into the tank of water and everybody gathered around the tank to watch it slowly submerge to the bottom.
It wasn't until a few seconds later that everyone jumped back in amazement and a little fright as long red tendrils immerged from the organism, as though it was taking in the water.
"Whoa, what just happened?" Stan asked, continuing to look at it.
Furlong now placed a latex disposable glove on one hand and reached into the tank.
"What are you doing?" asked Stokeley.
"Well the surface tissue has changed, so I want to feel it," Furlong explained.
At first there seemed to be no change in what was going on with the creature. All of a sudden, from one organism, there was then two swimming around almost as soon as the teacher's gloved hand touched it's outer surface.
"Jesus, it replicated itself," Furlong said in utter amazement that such a thing could happen right before their eyes.
There were now two of the organisms floating around in the tank with the red tendrils protruding from themselves. Furlong was about to pull his hand away when one of the creatures beared it's razor sharp teeth and clamped down on the unsuspecting finger nearby.
"F..K" Furlong exclaimed as he hastily withdrew his hand, now bleeding from the incision. "Jesus, the thing bit me," he said, trying to stem the flow of blood.
"How did it get teeth?" Casey asked, confusion and a little fear now showing on his face.
"This doesn't go outside these walls," Furlong now said, realising the implications that such a discovery could mean not only for the organism itself, but also the school and the students themselves.
All in the room nodded their heads, but they could all feel the uneasiness beginning to form in their minds and their stomachs about what had just taken place.
"What do you think it is Gandalf?" Merry asked, now a little afraid too as he saw the nervousness on his cousin's face. Somehow he and the others knew this was the beginning of something much larger and more dangerous to come and there was nothing they could do to help Frodo.
"I don't know Merry, but I don't like it. For Frodo's sake I hope nothing is going to happen to our friend," the wizard said.
"I will let you know what they say Casey," Furlong said, wrapping a band- aid around his finger as the students started heading out the door. There wasn't much school time left in the day.
"Sure, see you later," Casey said, giving a brief smile in appreciation, but then frowning again as the images ran back through his mind over what he had just witnessed.
Casey had just walked back into the corridor's and was rifling through his locker when a well-dressed woman approach him.
"Casey, can I have a word with you please?" Principal Drake asked, pausing and waiting for him to follow her.
"Yeah sure Ms Drake," Casey answered, a slight frown of confusion on his face as to what he might have done to draw her attention to him. Maybe he was going to get a chewing out for Tate's class earlier that morning.
When he got to her office, he could see another student sitting on a chair in her office as well. It was only when the girl turned around that he recognized who it was.
"Delilah," Casey said, surprised to be invited into the same company as the head cheer-leader.
"Hello Casey," she replied politely, but the teenager couldn't help but feel like she was looking him up and down with an air of distaste. She then turned her attention to a pocket sized mirror and fixing her hair, knowing that he was still looking at her.
It wasn't that Casey didn't like Deliliah, hell he might have been considered a loser and a geek, but he wasn't dead. With a set of boobs like that and an ass to match, who couldn't look at her and not know he was an American teenager.
But it was an almost written school law that the likes of him and her dwelled in two separate worlds at the school. He could look all he wanted, but touching was out of bounds so he was just left with his own thoughts.
"You shouldn't be thinking about such things Mr Frodo," Sam now said, a little embarrassed that his master was having thoughts of other pleasures.
Casey had heard a voice again, sounding different from before but it definitely didn't come from Drake or Delilah. He looked nervously around the room, searching for the source before trying to hide his uneasiness as best he could.
Sam immediately saw the startled look from his master and refrained from making any further necessary comment. However it was happening he couldn't be sure. Maybe Gandalf had been wrong about the amount of intervention the Fellowship might have in helping his master. Whatever the reason, it was clear that Frodo could at least hear them from time to time.
"Could we just get this over with please," he said out loud to the two women.
"Okay Casey, I won't keep you two long. As you know Delilah hear is the Chief Editor of the school's newspaper. She came to me asking for some help with gaining someone's help who might be good with cameras. Your name came to mind," Drake explained.
Casey now looked down at the camera still slung around his neck and knew that he seemed to be getting used again. Never really wanted for who he truly was, just to use whatever he was good at and then toss him away again until the next time.
"Sure what do you want me to do," Casey replied, keeping his thoughts to himself.
"Just take a few pictures when I need you to," Delilah said, hating the idea that she had to ask for help at all in the first place. She knew Casey was good with cameras. Hell you even took away the geeky clothes and the startled look, he wasn't too bad looking once you looked hard enough. His big blue eyes seemed to stand out the most and he had a handsome face in a geeky sort of way.
"When do you want to take the pictures?" Casey asked, forcing away the words When do you want to do it that were echoing in his head.
"How about tomorrow right after school for just a few minutes? The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can both get on with our lives," Delilah suggested.
"That suits me fine, whenever you want," Casey answered. "Sorry to interrupt, but it's home time, see you tomorrow," he announced and prepared to leave. He had already spent enough time at this place today.
Casey went back to his locker and paused long enough to grab a small backpack. He put his camera inside and zipped it up and slung it over his shoulder. He then pulled out a pair of dark sunglasses and a pair of roller-blades from his locker.
Normally he caught the bus in the mornings and sometimes got a lift home with his parents, but today, a different mode of transport was called for.
The Fellowship watched on curiously as they saw Casey remove his regular sneakers and replace them with larger boots with small wheels attached to the bottom of them.
"What does he do with those on his feet?" Sam asked, perplexed by the mere notion of anybody having to wear anything on their feet. He was glad he wasn't human, he liked walking around with his over-sized hobbit feet just the way they were.
Casey now placed a small walkman in his pocket with a compact disc inside it. He pulled out the small pair of earphones and held onto them loosely in his hand as he walked out of the school building. He now put the sunglasses on his face and slowly skated his way towards the school's front gates.
"Hey Casey, I'd stop and give you a ride man, but I am going the other way," Zeke said as he pulled his car along side the teenager.
Aragorn and the others couldn't believe the amount of noise that this strange looking vehicle was producing. There was noise coming from the large wheels as well as from inside where the other young man was sitting.
"That's okay Zeke, I have been in your car when you have been driving before remember," he said, indicating that he had been scared witless last time with the over use of speed.
"At least in this they won't have to scrap you off of the sidewalk," Zeke shot back, noting the roller-blades on his feet.
"Later man," Casey said and now placed the earphones in his ears and pushed the play button. Now oblivious to any voices that he might have heard earlier, and with the wind blowing in his face, he now darted out onto the road and caught the rear of a jeep that was just pulling out of the parking lot.
"Surely he doesn't mean to use those strange looking things on his feet as a mode of transportation Gandalf," Aragorn said, a little worried at the acceleration that Casey had already gotten thanks to the skates and the vehicle that he was holding onto.
For the next ten minutes though, the members of the Fellowship were drawn along with the teenager as he made what they considered nothing short of a hellish ride towards home.
No sooner had he travelled a short distance holding onto one vehicle, then he would simply and quickly let go and grab hold of the tailgate of another vehicle, without giving any thought to his safety or that was he was doing was entirely dangerous.
On one occasion, the driver of one of the vehicles had turned around when Casey made contact with the back of his vehicle. Casey had given the man a quick wave with his hand and a big smile and continued to hang on until the next time he needed to change direction.
Sam had blanched white on one occasion when it seemed that Casey was going too fast to be able to stop and it looked as though his face was going to connect with a side-mirror.
Casey had not even blinked though and at the last minute, turned his face away just in time to avoid the impending collision. Once he let go of this vehicle, his journey seemed to take him down some more quieter streets without too much traffic and the teenager now bladed along the side-walk on his own steam.
About halfway down this street, Casey came to a complete stop and undid the buckles of his skates, removed them and walked across the grass towards a house.
"Not much but it's home," Casey said to himself and dumped the skates outside the backdoor before opening the screen and going inside.
"This should be rather interesting," Aragorn said as they silently followed the ring-bearer inside. They were actually going to get a chance to see how their friend Frodo was living in this world.
"Mom, I am home," Casey shouted from inside the back door.
"Mr Frodo has parents!" Sam said surprised. He wondered whether they would be anything like Master Bilbo, but then answered his own question and said probably not.
The Fellowship now saw a blond woman coming out of a different room in the house. She looked nice enough. All of them had known that apart from Bilbo and Gandalf for the past twelve years, Frodo had very little memory of ever having real parents.
"So I hear from your shouting," the woman said with a smile on her face. She now approached Casey and gave him a quick embrace and kiss on the cheek to greet him.
"But I have a bone to pick with you young man," she warned, now brandishing a wooden spoon she had been holding in her hand.
"Hey I am innocent until proven guilty," Casey said in his own self- defence.
"I have heard nothing coming from your room all day but whinging and scratching, do something about it or you and your little furry friend will be sleeping outside tonight," his mother said in mock sternness.
"He's just missing me mom," Casey reasoned. "Just give Sam some time, I am sure he will not be any trouble."
"Sam?" Merry said at the name. None of them knew what this furry little friend was, but there was no mistake in the name that Casey had called.
"I really wish you would pick another name son, surely you could have picked out a better name than Sam," came the voice of a man now walking into the kitchen. This must be Casey's father the group assumed.
"I like the name Sam, it's simple and it suits him," Casey declared and now started heading towards his bedroom to find his little friend.
"More than just a coincidence I would wager Samwise," Gandalf commented as he saw the awed expression on the stout hobbit's face.
Sam was just overjoyed that something with his name was still an important part of Frodo's life. He was very flattered that his master would think the name the most suitable out of all the possible choices. Maybe there really was something more than fate at work here.
"You will have to go pizza for dinner tonight Casey, your mother and I have got classes tonight," his father said, handing him a twenty dollar note.
"Classes?" Casey asked, with a confused look on his face until he remembered. "Oh yeah, okay whatever," he said, as if trying to avoid the subject altogether. He didn't even want to admit that his parents were going to marriage guidance classes, but if it helped them stick together, then he wouldn't say anything against it.
Casey now walked into his bedroom and slung the bag on his shoulder onto a chair near his computer table. The Fellowship were amazed at all of the strange looking electronic equipment and other things that adorned his room. They all walked about exploring the room and its contents with their eyes, hoping to learn more about it's young inhabitant.
"It is certainly much different to the room he has back at Bag End with Master Bilbo," Sam commented. Perhaps he was too used to seeing Frodo's possessions treated with the utmost care and responsibility. Here now, he could be mistaken for thinking that there was very little if no sense of order at all to where everything fitted.
"SAM," Casey called, going to a cupboard and looking inside. There was a small basket inside that look like where this little friend slept during the day. The teenager looked around when he saw it empty.
Casey now laid down on his stomach and explored underneath his bed with a hand. "Sam, are you under here?" he said.
"Yeow," he exclaimed out of fright more than pain when he felt a small pair of teeth nip the back of his hand. "Why you little," he said with a grin and as he withdrew his hand from the bed, held a small, honey-coloured dog close to his chest.
"You weren't going to bite me know were you?" Casey said to the little dog. "I thought you were supposed to be my friend," he said, not caring in the least how silly it looked for him to be talking to a dog.
"Gee, the dogs in this world are a lot smaller than the ones back in Farmer Maggot's fields," Pippin said, remembering all too well about being chased on a number of occasions by such large and vicious beasts.
Watching Casey and his dog now though, the Fellowship couldn't help but smile as they watched the two interact so well together.
Because the dog was so small in size, Casey now proceeded to place it inside his shirt, allowing the dog's small head and pleading eyes to protrude through.
"Come on boy, time to order some food," Casey announced and grabbed his cordless phone by the bed.
Aragorn watched Casey push a few buttons on the thin black object in his hand and proceed to place it next to his ear as if listening to something.
"In this world, people are able to communicate over very long distances with such devices," he said.
"Yeah, this is the Connor residence, 107 Caulfield Drive. I want to get a large pizza with everything on top, hold the mushrooms," Casey ordered. 'Yeah you heard me, don't put any mushrooms on there. I am allergic to them. Just the smell of them makes me want to puke my guts up for a week. Okay, see you in 30 minutes."
"Frodo, allergic to mushrooms," Pippin squeaked, not being able to think of a worse punishment for a hobbit then not being able to eat mushrooms.
"Casey we are leaving now," his mother said from the other side of his bedroom door.
"Okay see you," Casey said and plopped himself down on his bed and fiddled with the remote control for his VCR and TV.
"Well Sam, looks like it's just me and you again tonight," he said with a sigh. He just wished sometimes he and his parents could spend more time together like a family.
In response to the comment, the little dog licked Casey's face, making the Fellowship laugh at the resulting face he gave. "Yeah I now you care, but do they. Sometimes I think not my friend."
Twenty minutes later, the front door bell rang and Casey answered, paying for his pizza and grabbing two cans of soft-drink from the fridge downstairs before heading back to his room again.
Pippin watched his friend and the strange looking food. It looked okay to eat. He would have to get Frodo to show him how to make it once they were back together again. But then he remembered that Frodo probably wouldn't remember even having even if they all did make it back.
Casey now walked over to his video library and picked out a couple of tapes to watch. He didn't seem to pick up on the fact that he picked out titles that were related to the events he had experienced earlier that day.
The boy and the dog ate the pizza, Casey seemingly happy enough to share his meagre meal with him. He opened one of the cans and after clearing away the pizza box, reclined back against his pillows, waiting for the movie to start.
Legolas and the others watched the TV screen, awed that such an invention even existed. Gandalf had assured them that there were not any little people trapped in the screen itself, but merely like Casey's camera where they were pictures that had just been made bigger and were able to move.
The images before them were mostly of giant fireballs from explosions and people dying from gunshots and knife wounds. Looking back at Casey's face though, he didn't show any fear or concern, he seemed to be enjoying the action thoroughly.
Towards the end of the second movie, Aragorn looked over towards the bed and smiled at the heart-warming sight. The others too looked and couldn't help feel a lump in their throats.
At some point, Casey had fallen asleep whilst watching the movie. The little dog was also asleep, curled up in the crook of his arm. The teenager was still fully dressed and without shoes but other than that looked completely relaxed and poised in peaceful slumber.
The video had finished and now the TV was still switched on, showing all the late night programs. Obviously the noise wasn't disturbing Casey, he didn't even stir at the loud voices or the sharp sounds of gun fire.
The Fellowship were determined to watch over their young friend as he slept. They decided to learn as much as possible about this world by using the TV in front of them. Maybe they could find a way to help when the need arose.
Aragorn looked back over at Casey close to dawn, noting that the teenager hadn't even turned over in his sleep during the night. "I have not seen him sleep through a whole night undisturbed for a very long time. Even after Mount Doom, his sleep was anything but restful or free of nightmares."
The others nodded their heads in acknowledge, knowing all too well that nightmares and bad dreams had plagued their young friend almost from the time he had left the Shire and long after the One Ring had been destroyed.
"I think that little dog has a most calming effect on him," Gandalf pointed out. "It a truly remarkable friendship between them."
About 7.30am the next morning, Casey's mother walked into the room, and smiled at the sight of her son sprawled on his bed still sound asleep. He hadn't even heard her come into the room.
Something else did though and Aragorn couldn't help but suppress a laugh when the little dog looked up and gave a small growl towards the woman.
"Okay okay, I am not going to wake him up, but you had better make sure he gets to school on time," she said and gently kissed her son on the forehead before leaving the room again.
She knew that the dog was the best thing that had happened to him for a long time. With very few friends, it had just been what he was looking for. She hoped and prayed that it wouldn't be too long before Casey found some human friends to associate with though.
"It would seem that Sam is still guarding his master while he sleeps," Legolas commented, looking towards Samwise as he spoke.
About half and hour later, Casey began to stir on his own, slowly at first. The little dog took this as his cue to hurry the process along a little. Frodo's friends watched in amusement as the dog now moved down towards the end of the bed where his toes were.
Casey startled to giggle with his eyes closed as the little dog now licked his master's toes. The dog persisted until the boy sat up and tried to grab at the animal.
"You little...' Casey said and chased the little dog until he had him cornered. The dog now leaped at the teenager who caught him and then licked his face in an apologetic gesture.
"Okay, I am up," Casey said and soon disappeared into the bathroom with some fresh clothes and a towel over his shoulder.
While Casey took his shower, the Fellowship members discussed the various things they had learned overnight about this new world. They discovered that people in this world used guns of varying shapes and sizes to kill others. Sometimes the guns were used by good people to shoot the baddies, but basically guns were seen as a weapon much like their bows and swords. They had learned that guns were not to be used by those considered young like Casey.
They also learned that apart from guns, the next biggest problem most young people faced was something called "drugs". From watching various snippets of the TV the group found out that there were many different sorts and all had both positive and negative effects.
Some of them even seemed to take the place of herbal remedies when treating illness and disease. But there apparently were others that were taken recreationally that could alter one's personality. They saw various photographs on the screen of people using needles to inject the substances into their own blood streams.
Then there were others that were sniffing at a white powdery substance with hollow tubes. All of it seemed very strange, but the people giving the information told of the side-effects of doing such harmful acts. They included headaches and dizziness whilst also having false sense of feeling exhilarated. The TV told them that if these substances were over used or badly made, then they could result in permanent injury or even death in a lot of cases.
"So to everyone out there that still haven't got the message, stay away from drugs and if you know of anybody close to you or in your family that is having problems, then please make sure you help them and support them enough to make them see what they are doing is wrong," a black woman said just before the closing credit began rolling.
Casey now walked back into his room, dressed in the clean clothes but his hair still wet from the shower. He dumped the still wet towel over the unsuspecting little dog, engulfing him in the fabric and laughing out loud when the towel began moving around on the floor.
The teenager now proceeded to start pulling his socks and shoes on, glancing at the time on the clock and grimacing slightly already knowing there was next to no chance of making it in time for the bus.
As if to extract his own revenge, the dog now decided it was a good time to play tug-o-war with Casey's sock. The two wrestled for a few minutes before both gave up.
"Oh sh.t, going to be late," Casey swore. "Tate's going to have my butt in a sling," he continued to grumble, trying to get himself ready even faster.
Casey put the walkman back into his pocket and grabbed his shades and bag on the way out his bedroom door.
As he walked passed the kitchen, he saw that his mother had left some breakfast out on the kitchen counter for him. He looked at the toast for a minute and then put the plate on the floor, much to the little dog's delight who greedily accepted.
"Sorry boy, have to skip breakfast this morning," Casey said, pausing briefly to put back on his roller-blades. He placed the sunglasses back on his face and was about to begin heading in the direction he had come from yesterday.
The little dog Sam gave a little bark as if to disapprove of being left home alone yet again. "Sorry, you can't come with me. Have to face the demons at school on my own," Casey said and started off down the sidewalk.
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author's Notes - okay - so there are a lot of things happening here that never happened in the movie. Oh well - just wrote it that way. The roller- blades is taken from Back to the Future where MJFox used a skateboard behind the vehicles.
The whole parents splitting up idea is made up as well as the dog and the pizza and the mushrooms. Not much happened in this chapter and everything that was from the movie might have been written in a different order in my story.
Going to take two days to take over the school rather than just 1.5. The next chapter will have the scene with Delilah and Casey in the closet and then his confrontation from his parents about the drugs.
The drugs idea isn't meant to insult anybody - I don't know enough about any of it and don't want to. If I said anything in error - it is purely fiction and out of my own head. I wanted the Fellowship to become aware of why guns and drugs were dangerous so that they freak out later on back at Zeke's place when they see the gun and then Casey taking the drug.
There are going to some pieces that happen shortly that are totally made up, for example a run in between Casey and the Coach (of course, that's why I gave the hint) and one between Casey and Tate once they are the aliens. I am going to do the scene with Furlong's hand around Casey's neck, but then add a bit to it. (You can all imagine what the Fellowship would be trying to do when they see that !!! LOL).
Hope you like - please let me know what you think and thanks to those who have already been supportive and encouraging.
More soon - if you want to..
JULES