Chapter 1 - Surprise!
Josie and the other four sat in English class, bored out of their minds. The sun shone brightly outside with little breeze for the first time in a while it was near perfect weather. So of course they had to be stuck in one of the most boring classes they took.
"I'm going to die if this goes on any longer!" Lucas complained. "I have so many better things to do."
"I'm going to kill you if you don't stop complaining, Lucas," Josie muttered angrily. "We've only got—" she counted up the time on the clock. —"Oh god, we've still got an seventy-five-ish minutes. This makes no sense! How could time drag on so slow?"
Marshall stared ahead, ignoring Josie and Lucas, like a zombie. He was barely even blinking. Vaughn slept silently on the desk next to Marshall and Corrine was busy writing something down in her notebook.
Suddenly, the teacher stopped talking and opened the door. "We have a new student. He's joining us from... where was it again?"
A well-muscled boy of medium height stepped in the room, pushing up his glasses. He brushed some of his unkempt blonde hair from his eyes. "I'm from Australia."
"Well, why don't you tell us about you life there and why you've decided to join us at Blake Holsey High." She glared at some of the students. "Maybe you can keep them awake."
"Sure, why not." He glanced around. "Uh, hey, I'm from Australia. My names John Angus. My parents and I moved here after they received a promotion with their jobs. But they wanted me in boarding school due to their large amounts of travelling. So here I am."
"Ooh, I have a question!" Josie called out, trying to place the boy in her mind. He seemed so familiar to her... The best way to find out would be to play innocent, she guessed.
"Go on," he replied smiling at her.
"What do you like to do? Do you have any interests?" She asked.
"Sure. I like sport of various kinds. Soccer, AFL—I mean, Australian Rules football—tennis, surfing, mucho sport interest. And then we have the geeky side of my. The one that does well in school, loves sci-fi, writing, drawing, computers and has an IQ of one-seventy." He flashed a smile at Josie. "That answer your question?"
She blushed slightly. "Yeah."
"Any others?"
Lucas raised his hand. "Wars or Trek?"
Most of the class groaned at the question, but he ignored them and waited eagerly for the answer.
"Wars. Definitely. Trek is so of the not good," he replied.
Lucas dropped back in his seat deflated. Marshall sarcastically comforted Lucas about John's answer. "Shut up Marshall."
"Are there any other questions?" He asked, anxious to get out of the spotlight. "No? Good."
He picked his bag up and slipped into the seat next to Marshall. He waited until the teacher resumed her lesson before he began to talk to Marshall. "Hey, you are?"
"Marshall Wheeler. Do you want to know what we're doing?"
He shook his head. "Not really. You all looked bored out of your minds when I came in, and after hearing how smart some of you are that seems really hard to do."
"Thanks. I hope. I think. You come from Australia didn't you say?"
"Yeah, Melbourne. It's what should be the capital city," he replied. "I liked it there. I didn't want to leave. But now I have. And I'm not sure how much I'll like it."
"Have you ever been in a school like this before?"
"Boarding school? No. Never."
"Well that's one of the many things I meant by 'like this.'" Marshall muttered, debating silently whether to tell him or not.
"Sounds like this school has some secrets," John noted innocently. "What do you do for fun around here?"
"There are some sports you could take up, but Vaughn would probably be better to talk about that to. I'm not of the sporting persuasion," he said pointing to Vaughn who was dozing off again.
"What persuasion are you of then?" He asked Marshall smiling.
Marshall almost choked on his breath and continued on swiftly. "There is a science club you could join, I guess."
"Science club? Sounds... how do I say this nicely? Boring? Sorry, I tried something like that in Australia. It didn't work out well. Neither did the drama club, or taking up an instrument, or trying the after school sports, or the—I'll stop now." He said cutting himself off and blushing.
"You've tried a lot."
"What can I say, I like to try new things," he whispered. "Don't worry, I might show up at the Science Club. You never know."
John intrigued Marshall. His comments and flippant attitude coupled with the fact he was not ashamed of his abilities. John leaned back in his chair, stifling a yawn, while Marshall tried to look forward. He couldn't help looking back at him.
The rest of the class dragged on—though not as slow as it had—before the bell rang loudly signaling freedom at last until the next class. The five walked around for a while before finding somewhere to relax and unwind.
"Marshall, what's John like? I saw you talking to him," Josie asked.
Vaughn glared at Josie. "You really seem interested in this guy."
"Jealous, much?" She teased.
"I'm not jealous!" He exploded louder than he thought he would. He continued, "I am your friend. I'm meant to look out for you."
His anger started to rise when he saw John standing over them smiling.
"Hey, can I join in?" He asked politely.
Vaughn went to say something, until Josie elbowed him painfully in the ribs and snarled in his ear, "don't event think about it." Vaughn gasped for air but motioned for John to take a seat.
"Was I the topic of conversation? 'Cause that'll just feed my ego. I have no problem with that, but others might," he said positioning himself between Josie and Marshall.
Lucas and Vaughn exchanged annoyed glances.
"Marshall tells me this science club thing is interesting. Is it?" He asked bluntly, taking a bite from his apple.
"Yeah," Corrine replied. "But it's really not for you unless you're dedicated. Things can get pretty hairy in there."
"Actually, we haven't had any problems with too much hair on anyone yet. The closest would be that wooly mammoth in the pool," he added something off everyone's glances. "I'll shutup now."
"Don't ask," Josie whispered into his ear. "He'll try and get you involved in his conspiracy theories about alien abduction and all that bull. It's easier to just—"
"I can still hear you Josie," Lucas said looking through his book. "You're pretty damn loud. Must be because of your crush on John!"
Josie turned red and laughed nervously. "What crush?" She asked, poorly concealing it. "I've only known him for an hour I can't have a crush on him..."
"Oh, sure, so why were you staring at him for the entire class?" Lucas asked, looking innocent.
Vaughn interrupted before Josie could do anything to Lucas. "Kill him later Josie. It'll be fun, and we could do it together. But right now I have to go."
This piqued John's interest. "What for?"
"What don't you like?" Vaughn asked shortly.
"What is it for?"
"What an activity you don't like?"
This argument continued on for about five more minutes, with Vaughn and John becoming increasingly angry with each other. Corrine muttered something to Josie before they'd finished and the two left for drama. Lucas was enjoying the fight though; hoping it would turn into something more than words. Maybe a fistfight—or a wrestling match. That could sell for a bit of money.
Marshall grabbed him by the back of the shirt. "Don't agitate them anymore." He whispered, pulling Lucas to his feet and pushing him away.
"Close much?" Lucas muttered as he was dragged away.
"I can get closer," Marshall countered.
Lucas sighed in disappointment and they left for class.
Josie and Corrine sat talking in the drama classroom. They'd come to class early just to get away from Vaughn and John's argument. Corrine was grilling Josie about her constant staring at John. Did anyone not notice it?
The bell rang. No sign of Lucas or Vaughn. Or Marshall. Only John. That creeped Corrine out. He was new and he didn't know his way around. How did he get to the drama room with no guidance? Josie shrugged off her wiggins. He must have just asked for help.
"Hey, girls," he said flashing his smile. "And what are we doing in this class?"
"It's drama. What do you think we do?" Josie countered.
"I'm going out on a limb and saying acting," he sat down next to Josie. "What sort of acting though? Theatre? Realism? Television style? Or are we doing something like screenplay writing. The technical side of it?"
"I'm not sure, Corrine, do you know?"
"I think we're going over those scripts from last time," Corrine replied pulling out a script sample book. "Here, you can look through mine."
He took it from Corrine. "Thanks. I hope you don't mind me slotting myself into your group like this."
"I don't mind you slotting yourself in," Josie told him, before blushing immensely. She slapped herself on the forehead and waited for someone else to speak. Who is this guy—I mean, really? Where have I seen him before?
"Where's Marshall?" Corrine asked breaking the uncomfortable silence. "And the rest of the class? And the teacher?"
"Good question," Josie murmured. "I was hoping for a normal lesson for once."
"Should we—"Marshall Lucas and the rest of the class walking through the door cut off Corrine. "Where were you?"
Marshall looked different. He wasn't smiling. He was brooding. And he was wearing eyeliner. Corrine didn't say anything. She was too shocked to. Lucas walked through next. And Vaughn. All of them the mirror versions. Everyone was. She spun around to face Josie—thankfully, she was still normal. She had at least one ally.
John cocked his head to the side. "When did Marshall put on some eyeliner and get all bad and moody? And Lucas grow his hair like that and stop wearing his glasses? Also, what's with the stoner 'tude—I just want to apologize for the use of the word ''tude'. And Vaughn become Clark Kent- ish?" He stopped. "Or is this some kind of drama production thing?"
"At least Lucas isn't insane in this guise," Corrine said to herself.
"What? What do you mean, 'in this guise?'" Josie asked. "Besides he looks fairly insane to me."
"He's not paranoid insane though. They're from an alternate reality. Everyone was the opposite of what they were here," Corrine paused for a moment. "I wonder is Marshall still remembers..." She trailed off embarrassed to finish what she was saying.
Marshall apparently did remember as he sat close to Corrine and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "It's been a while. Nice to see you're back. Is it because of me?" He said to her slowly, caring more about if she was there for him rather than why she was actually there.
"What? Back?" Josie repeated. "Corrine, what's happening?"
Corrine ignored her, and started talking to Marshall. He was the complete opposite of normal Marshall, and she was more attracted to him than ever. And he wanted her. Normal Marshall apparently didn't. Maybe if she had have stayed in the mirror world...
"This is not good, John. We need to leave," she told him, wanting to add on, and you need to tell me who you are and where I know you from.
"Right," he agreed. "Let's go."
The teacher was busy answering questions from the students, while Marshall and Corrine continued talking. Vaughn sat alone reading, and Lucas sat alone. Sucking on a lollipop. Possibly asleep.
"Even when he's from another reality he's still weird," she said in slight disbelief when she spotted Lucas. "He is kind of cute when he's not Lucas- like though. I wonder what he..."
"Is Lucas trying to meditate?" John asked. "Or is he sleeping?"
Josie swiftly pushed him out of the room. "I don't want to know. Let's go."
"What about Corrine?"
"I'll get her later."
Josie pushed John inside her room and locked the door behind her. John sat down on her bed, trying to process what had just happened. It was a lot to take in when it was his first day. At a new school. At a boarding school. After only half a day.
"What's going on Josie?" He asked.
"I don't know, John," she replied taking a seat next to him. "We probably should have grabbed Corrine. She could have explained it to us."
Without warning John put his hand on Josie's shoulder and leaned in. Rather than kiss he asked her, "do you remember me yet?"
"Ah-ha!" She cried.
He cocked his head to the side wordlessly.
"I just mean, Ah-ha! I knew it! I know you!" She said excitedly.
"Well done. You have a memory. Where do you know me from?"
She went quiet. "I don't know that."
"Exactly." John took his hand from her shoulder and placed it on the bed. "I don't expect you to remember me. We only went to the same school for a year or so. Year seven I think. Then I had to move back to Australia. Then Victor Pearson contacted my parents last month. Offered them a job."
Josie had to stop herself from laughing. It would have been an ironic laugh though. "Victor Pearson? Why am I not surprised he's involved with this?"
"It doesn't really matter how surprised you are, Josie," A voice said from the bathroom. An eerily familiar voice. "Because nothing will top the surprise you're about to get."
The bathroom door opened, and a female figure stepped out of the darkness.
Josie's eyes went wide with shock. John just stared at the ground, unable to do anything.
Josie and the other four sat in English class, bored out of their minds. The sun shone brightly outside with little breeze for the first time in a while it was near perfect weather. So of course they had to be stuck in one of the most boring classes they took.
"I'm going to die if this goes on any longer!" Lucas complained. "I have so many better things to do."
"I'm going to kill you if you don't stop complaining, Lucas," Josie muttered angrily. "We've only got—" she counted up the time on the clock. —"Oh god, we've still got an seventy-five-ish minutes. This makes no sense! How could time drag on so slow?"
Marshall stared ahead, ignoring Josie and Lucas, like a zombie. He was barely even blinking. Vaughn slept silently on the desk next to Marshall and Corrine was busy writing something down in her notebook.
Suddenly, the teacher stopped talking and opened the door. "We have a new student. He's joining us from... where was it again?"
A well-muscled boy of medium height stepped in the room, pushing up his glasses. He brushed some of his unkempt blonde hair from his eyes. "I'm from Australia."
"Well, why don't you tell us about you life there and why you've decided to join us at Blake Holsey High." She glared at some of the students. "Maybe you can keep them awake."
"Sure, why not." He glanced around. "Uh, hey, I'm from Australia. My names John Angus. My parents and I moved here after they received a promotion with their jobs. But they wanted me in boarding school due to their large amounts of travelling. So here I am."
"Ooh, I have a question!" Josie called out, trying to place the boy in her mind. He seemed so familiar to her... The best way to find out would be to play innocent, she guessed.
"Go on," he replied smiling at her.
"What do you like to do? Do you have any interests?" She asked.
"Sure. I like sport of various kinds. Soccer, AFL—I mean, Australian Rules football—tennis, surfing, mucho sport interest. And then we have the geeky side of my. The one that does well in school, loves sci-fi, writing, drawing, computers and has an IQ of one-seventy." He flashed a smile at Josie. "That answer your question?"
She blushed slightly. "Yeah."
"Any others?"
Lucas raised his hand. "Wars or Trek?"
Most of the class groaned at the question, but he ignored them and waited eagerly for the answer.
"Wars. Definitely. Trek is so of the not good," he replied.
Lucas dropped back in his seat deflated. Marshall sarcastically comforted Lucas about John's answer. "Shut up Marshall."
"Are there any other questions?" He asked, anxious to get out of the spotlight. "No? Good."
He picked his bag up and slipped into the seat next to Marshall. He waited until the teacher resumed her lesson before he began to talk to Marshall. "Hey, you are?"
"Marshall Wheeler. Do you want to know what we're doing?"
He shook his head. "Not really. You all looked bored out of your minds when I came in, and after hearing how smart some of you are that seems really hard to do."
"Thanks. I hope. I think. You come from Australia didn't you say?"
"Yeah, Melbourne. It's what should be the capital city," he replied. "I liked it there. I didn't want to leave. But now I have. And I'm not sure how much I'll like it."
"Have you ever been in a school like this before?"
"Boarding school? No. Never."
"Well that's one of the many things I meant by 'like this.'" Marshall muttered, debating silently whether to tell him or not.
"Sounds like this school has some secrets," John noted innocently. "What do you do for fun around here?"
"There are some sports you could take up, but Vaughn would probably be better to talk about that to. I'm not of the sporting persuasion," he said pointing to Vaughn who was dozing off again.
"What persuasion are you of then?" He asked Marshall smiling.
Marshall almost choked on his breath and continued on swiftly. "There is a science club you could join, I guess."
"Science club? Sounds... how do I say this nicely? Boring? Sorry, I tried something like that in Australia. It didn't work out well. Neither did the drama club, or taking up an instrument, or trying the after school sports, or the—I'll stop now." He said cutting himself off and blushing.
"You've tried a lot."
"What can I say, I like to try new things," he whispered. "Don't worry, I might show up at the Science Club. You never know."
John intrigued Marshall. His comments and flippant attitude coupled with the fact he was not ashamed of his abilities. John leaned back in his chair, stifling a yawn, while Marshall tried to look forward. He couldn't help looking back at him.
The rest of the class dragged on—though not as slow as it had—before the bell rang loudly signaling freedom at last until the next class. The five walked around for a while before finding somewhere to relax and unwind.
"Marshall, what's John like? I saw you talking to him," Josie asked.
Vaughn glared at Josie. "You really seem interested in this guy."
"Jealous, much?" She teased.
"I'm not jealous!" He exploded louder than he thought he would. He continued, "I am your friend. I'm meant to look out for you."
His anger started to rise when he saw John standing over them smiling.
"Hey, can I join in?" He asked politely.
Vaughn went to say something, until Josie elbowed him painfully in the ribs and snarled in his ear, "don't event think about it." Vaughn gasped for air but motioned for John to take a seat.
"Was I the topic of conversation? 'Cause that'll just feed my ego. I have no problem with that, but others might," he said positioning himself between Josie and Marshall.
Lucas and Vaughn exchanged annoyed glances.
"Marshall tells me this science club thing is interesting. Is it?" He asked bluntly, taking a bite from his apple.
"Yeah," Corrine replied. "But it's really not for you unless you're dedicated. Things can get pretty hairy in there."
"Actually, we haven't had any problems with too much hair on anyone yet. The closest would be that wooly mammoth in the pool," he added something off everyone's glances. "I'll shutup now."
"Don't ask," Josie whispered into his ear. "He'll try and get you involved in his conspiracy theories about alien abduction and all that bull. It's easier to just—"
"I can still hear you Josie," Lucas said looking through his book. "You're pretty damn loud. Must be because of your crush on John!"
Josie turned red and laughed nervously. "What crush?" She asked, poorly concealing it. "I've only known him for an hour I can't have a crush on him..."
"Oh, sure, so why were you staring at him for the entire class?" Lucas asked, looking innocent.
Vaughn interrupted before Josie could do anything to Lucas. "Kill him later Josie. It'll be fun, and we could do it together. But right now I have to go."
This piqued John's interest. "What for?"
"What don't you like?" Vaughn asked shortly.
"What is it for?"
"What an activity you don't like?"
This argument continued on for about five more minutes, with Vaughn and John becoming increasingly angry with each other. Corrine muttered something to Josie before they'd finished and the two left for drama. Lucas was enjoying the fight though; hoping it would turn into something more than words. Maybe a fistfight—or a wrestling match. That could sell for a bit of money.
Marshall grabbed him by the back of the shirt. "Don't agitate them anymore." He whispered, pulling Lucas to his feet and pushing him away.
"Close much?" Lucas muttered as he was dragged away.
"I can get closer," Marshall countered.
Lucas sighed in disappointment and they left for class.
Josie and Corrine sat talking in the drama classroom. They'd come to class early just to get away from Vaughn and John's argument. Corrine was grilling Josie about her constant staring at John. Did anyone not notice it?
The bell rang. No sign of Lucas or Vaughn. Or Marshall. Only John. That creeped Corrine out. He was new and he didn't know his way around. How did he get to the drama room with no guidance? Josie shrugged off her wiggins. He must have just asked for help.
"Hey, girls," he said flashing his smile. "And what are we doing in this class?"
"It's drama. What do you think we do?" Josie countered.
"I'm going out on a limb and saying acting," he sat down next to Josie. "What sort of acting though? Theatre? Realism? Television style? Or are we doing something like screenplay writing. The technical side of it?"
"I'm not sure, Corrine, do you know?"
"I think we're going over those scripts from last time," Corrine replied pulling out a script sample book. "Here, you can look through mine."
He took it from Corrine. "Thanks. I hope you don't mind me slotting myself into your group like this."
"I don't mind you slotting yourself in," Josie told him, before blushing immensely. She slapped herself on the forehead and waited for someone else to speak. Who is this guy—I mean, really? Where have I seen him before?
"Where's Marshall?" Corrine asked breaking the uncomfortable silence. "And the rest of the class? And the teacher?"
"Good question," Josie murmured. "I was hoping for a normal lesson for once."
"Should we—"Marshall Lucas and the rest of the class walking through the door cut off Corrine. "Where were you?"
Marshall looked different. He wasn't smiling. He was brooding. And he was wearing eyeliner. Corrine didn't say anything. She was too shocked to. Lucas walked through next. And Vaughn. All of them the mirror versions. Everyone was. She spun around to face Josie—thankfully, she was still normal. She had at least one ally.
John cocked his head to the side. "When did Marshall put on some eyeliner and get all bad and moody? And Lucas grow his hair like that and stop wearing his glasses? Also, what's with the stoner 'tude—I just want to apologize for the use of the word ''tude'. And Vaughn become Clark Kent- ish?" He stopped. "Or is this some kind of drama production thing?"
"At least Lucas isn't insane in this guise," Corrine said to herself.
"What? What do you mean, 'in this guise?'" Josie asked. "Besides he looks fairly insane to me."
"He's not paranoid insane though. They're from an alternate reality. Everyone was the opposite of what they were here," Corrine paused for a moment. "I wonder is Marshall still remembers..." She trailed off embarrassed to finish what she was saying.
Marshall apparently did remember as he sat close to Corrine and kissed her lightly on the cheek. "It's been a while. Nice to see you're back. Is it because of me?" He said to her slowly, caring more about if she was there for him rather than why she was actually there.
"What? Back?" Josie repeated. "Corrine, what's happening?"
Corrine ignored her, and started talking to Marshall. He was the complete opposite of normal Marshall, and she was more attracted to him than ever. And he wanted her. Normal Marshall apparently didn't. Maybe if she had have stayed in the mirror world...
"This is not good, John. We need to leave," she told him, wanting to add on, and you need to tell me who you are and where I know you from.
"Right," he agreed. "Let's go."
The teacher was busy answering questions from the students, while Marshall and Corrine continued talking. Vaughn sat alone reading, and Lucas sat alone. Sucking on a lollipop. Possibly asleep.
"Even when he's from another reality he's still weird," she said in slight disbelief when she spotted Lucas. "He is kind of cute when he's not Lucas- like though. I wonder what he..."
"Is Lucas trying to meditate?" John asked. "Or is he sleeping?"
Josie swiftly pushed him out of the room. "I don't want to know. Let's go."
"What about Corrine?"
"I'll get her later."
Josie pushed John inside her room and locked the door behind her. John sat down on her bed, trying to process what had just happened. It was a lot to take in when it was his first day. At a new school. At a boarding school. After only half a day.
"What's going on Josie?" He asked.
"I don't know, John," she replied taking a seat next to him. "We probably should have grabbed Corrine. She could have explained it to us."
Without warning John put his hand on Josie's shoulder and leaned in. Rather than kiss he asked her, "do you remember me yet?"
"Ah-ha!" She cried.
He cocked his head to the side wordlessly.
"I just mean, Ah-ha! I knew it! I know you!" She said excitedly.
"Well done. You have a memory. Where do you know me from?"
She went quiet. "I don't know that."
"Exactly." John took his hand from her shoulder and placed it on the bed. "I don't expect you to remember me. We only went to the same school for a year or so. Year seven I think. Then I had to move back to Australia. Then Victor Pearson contacted my parents last month. Offered them a job."
Josie had to stop herself from laughing. It would have been an ironic laugh though. "Victor Pearson? Why am I not surprised he's involved with this?"
"It doesn't really matter how surprised you are, Josie," A voice said from the bathroom. An eerily familiar voice. "Because nothing will top the surprise you're about to get."
The bathroom door opened, and a female figure stepped out of the darkness.
Josie's eyes went wide with shock. John just stared at the ground, unable to do anything.