No Time to Waste
by TheRealXenocide
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Note: In this story, the trio are 16, and Matt is 13. You can do the math for the rest.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, settings, or anything else you recognize from the show Lizzie McGuire. The plot, at it's base, has been around since Homer, and this variant since Henry Ford. However, this is the first I've seen it applied to Lizzie.
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A/N: Two things to address.
First, the name of this chapter was inspired, in part, by a little-known fact. The movie "Return of the Jedi" was originally titled "Revenge of the Jedi". Lucas changed it late enough into the project that there were some theater posters send out with the "Revenge" title.
Second, there's going to be an aside connected to this chapter. It will include an explanation of things hinted at last chapter and this one. It will also include a rather . . . descriptive conversation that will cause me to give it an R rating.
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Epilog Two
Revenge of the King
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Matt had expected to feel anxiety about Miranda going to school without him. But what he hadn't counted on was how strongly he'd feel Lanny and Melina's absence. He felt lost without them. It had become tradition for them that the first day of school was for organizing the first big prank of the year. While he was still thinking like that, it just wasn't the same. Reggie was good for a lot of things, but he wasn't into pranks. Added to this was the fact that Matt had to make sure that, whatever he did, he couldn't get blamed. With his record, it wouldn't take much for him to be thrown off the team for disciplinary reasons.
Lanny and Melina's absence did not go unnoticed by the other students. This, combined with their long grounding, quickly sparked questions and rumors. This had been expected, however, and Matt had been given a cover story by Melina to use. Taking advantage of their reputations as troublemakers, Matt told those who asked him this story:
"I was spending so much time with Miranda, I wasn't in on this, but they got caught in a stunt that was the last straw for her mother. So this time, Melina's spending this year in military school." After letting the listeners react, he continued. "Lanny's folks weren't sure what to do with him, until they heard what Melina's mom did." At this point, most listeners looked like they could tell what came next, but needed to hear it to really believe it. "So, they've put Lanny in military school, too." After reaction to that faded, he added. "In fact, their going to the same one." He deflected any requests for details by reminding the questioner that he hadn't been in on what they'd done.
Of course, the questions he was fielding most often weren't about Lanny and Melina, but about he and Miranda. Most of the guys who approach him joked and teased, but the underlying sentiments were envy and, to Matt surprise, admiration. He became increasingly annoyed that they had a hard time getting past Miranda's obvious beauty, and found it tough not to slug them as they needled him for details about how far he'd gotten.
Reggie managed to put it into perspective for him when he complained about it. "Man, you know how it is with guys our age. My interest in girls used to be the exception, but now I'm nothing next to a lot of these guys in the horn-dog department." That made Matt snort on amusement. "Just take that stuff as a complement. They wish they had girlfriends as pretty as your's."
The girls were a whole different matter. One part of this was, of course, the ring. There were the predictable reactions, particularly when he told them that Miranda wore its partner, of amazement and various forms of 'oh, how sweet'. But what he began to notice as the day wore on were the looks he was starting to get from them, looks he was at a loss to describe. The nearest word he could come up with to describe them was curious, but that didn't seem to fit right somehow. He'd have to ask someone about it, but he wasn't sure if he should ask Miranda first. He'd tell her, no question, but he wondered if it would be better to have somebody else's opinion first.
~~
The first day of school was more interesting than any of the trio had expected.
While word of the crash had obviously gotten around long before then, news of Lizzie and Gordo's kiss at the Digital Bean had done a good job of shocking away most crash related questions during the summer. Now, however, that had worn off, and the questions about what happened and how they were began from almost the moment they cleared the parking lot. Gordo's walking stick, which he still used at times, was of particular interest. But the most complete reaction came when he explained the medallion. The crowd around them grew quieter when he said the word 'operation', almost as if they could tell where he might be going with it. They fell to near total silence when he said the phase 'I died'. Thankfully, the bell rang soon after he finished.
Word of that story traveled fast. Most of the students seemed to decide that it was a subject best avoided. They only had vague questions about Gordo's health, and none about the medallion, for the rest of the day.
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Miranda's day was . . . interesting.
In addition to the questions about the crash, she fielded several questions about she and Matt. They hadn't been together in public much, except in groups, and their show at the mall on Independence Day weekend had raised a lot of questions that had yet to be answered. While she had Lizzie and Gordo in first period History, she wasn't with either Lizzie or Gordo again until last period, when they all had English. So she had to deal with the questions by herself most of the day.
The ring proved very useful, especially with the girls, in helping them understand how real the relationship is. What they had more difficulty with was how she fell for somebody so much younger than she was to begin with. But, as the day wore on, she began to realize that she didn't care that much what they thought of her. It would be nice if they were more accepting, but she discovered that it wasn't that important.
Some of the boys had a harder time with it, and she spent much of the early part of the day fending off several variations of the 'why have a boy when you can have a real man' line. But an incident on the way to lunch helped with that.
A particularly stuck-on-himself boy was hassling her all the way from class to her locker. Although she was trying hard not to blow up at him, her frustration was such that she opened her locker so the door came within an inch of his nose. Just as he started to protest, she heard the unmistakable sound of something hitting lockers, hard, and just on the other side of her open locker door. Looking around it, she saw her nuisance being pressed against the lockers, feet dangling, by a VERY large boy in a letterman's jacket. Standing next to him was Kate.
"I think it would be a good idea to leave my friend here," she motioned her hand to indicate Miranda, "alone. Wouldn't you agree?" She said it in her most venom-sweet voice.
Mr. Nuisance moved his lips, but nothing came out. His rapid nodding, however, seemed to show he agreed. The big guy released him, not caring as he thudded square on his tail bone. Mr. Nuisance scrambled, gingerly, away.
Miranda looked at Kate and the big guy for a moment before managing a "thanks, you two."
"I saw that guy bothering you, and I thought I'd help. Oh," Kate suddenly remembered her manners, "Miranda, this is John Schrader."
He put out a hand, which Miranda was sure could hold her head with no problem. An offensive lineman, John stood 6'4", and was a very well muscled version of huge. "You've met my brothers, Mark and Paul." His voice was a deep bass.
Miranda had though the last name sounded familiar, and now it clicked. "Oh yeah, the guys that talked Matt into joining the team."
"Yeah, that's them. I'm the oldest."
The rest of Miranda's day was noticeably more peaceful. As news of this incident spread, it made the warnings from the team seem more real to some than they had before. As a result, Matt and Miranda had far fewer problems than they had expected.
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Kate was very busy her first day. In fact, it was only by luck that she'd seen Miranda's obvious problem.
By now, most of the students had heard about the engagement, and a number of girls wanted to see the engagement ring. Their disappointment at not getting to see it quickly turned to amazement at the sight of the wedding ring. While this got the obligatory 'wows' and 'congratulations', it didn't take long for people to start asking the uncomfortable questions.
'Why so soon?' 'Where are you living?' 'Your parents are okay with this?'
She managed to artfully avoid telling them about her pregnancy and being thrown out by her parents. She knew she needed say something, as it would be obvious soon enough, but there were some things she wanted to take care of first before doing that. Although she admitted that she and Ethan were staying with his parents, she managed to phrase it so as to sound like it was all the elder Crafts' idea without actually saying so. This gained the elder Crafts the title of 'cool'. That discussion, however, also drew attention to her husband's absence from school.
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When Mr. Craft enquired into Ethan staying in public school, he was surprised to learn that while Hillridge had a mainstreaming program in place for the visually impaired, it didn't include braille! (A/N: I was surprised when researching the subject by how common this is.) Not agreeing with their theory about this, he began making some calls. He quickly found a private school about 20 miles away that had decades of experience with disabled students, and that taught braille to it's visually impaired students. While the younger Crafts didn't like the idea of separate schools, they realized that it made sense for Ethan to go. Besides, as close as the school was, he'd still be living at home. So, Ethan was going to go to this new school.
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While she tried to convince him, and herself, she'd be fine, Kate was nervous about going to school without him. After helping Miranda, she realized that, with Matt going to the Junior High, they were in a similar situation in school. Maybe it would be good to talk about it?
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As the week wore on, things began to settle into a routine for all of them.
Miranda was going to begin looking for the replacement car agreed to in the settlement (A/N: Chapter 35) the coming weekend, and she'd drive the four of them to and from school once she found it. For now, Jo was driving.
While the mornings were easy enough, the afternoons meant waiting for Matt to get out of practice, which usually took about 45 minutes after they got there. While this meant Jo had to bring something to occupy herself with, the wait proved a benefit for the trio. They only had two classes as a group, first and last periods, and Lizzie and Gordo were on a different lunch than Miranda. So they used the time to tell each other about their days.
When Matt finally arrived, it was review time again, but none of them minded. It was all part of keeping the group together.
~~~~
Saturday was when they searched for Miranda's replacement car. While it had to be used, the limit in the settlement allowed for a good quality car. They found one at their second stop that seemed right. Three years old, it had been a police cruiser, but budget cuts caused the county to retire it early. It had been repainted solid midnight blue to help its resale value. While its looks weren't particularly good or bad, the reinforcements common to police cruisers grabbed the kids' attention, particularly the passenger compartment.
During the test drive, Miranda remarked that it was the safest she'd felt in a car since the crash, in a tone that suggested that it was a surprise to her. That settled it.
After it passed inspection by the family's mechanic, they needed to wait for the paperwork to clear. She was able to pick it up Thursday after school.
~~~~~~~~
While Miranda didn't share lunch periods with Lizzie and Gordo, she had the same lunch as Kate, so she would often join her. While it was awkward at first, they soon found a piece of common ground to start from. This, of course, was their men not being with them at school, and all that went with that. It was from these talks that their second friendship truly began. It was in this that Miranda learned, before anyone else, Kate's plan for revealing her pregnancy to the other students.
The administration had to be told for legal reasons, but those same legalities kept them from saying anything to the students until Kate chose to. After seeing what Parker and Larry went through when Parker's was revealed before they were ready, Kate was determined to make hers known on her terms.
Before she would do it, however, she needed to arrange a few things.
First, she took care of the cheerleaders. Although a junior, Kate was made captain, as the three seniors on the team were very close to being academically ineligible. The first thing she did was name her assistant captain, a fellow junior. At tryouts, she surprised the team by having them select one more girl for the JV team than they thought there was room for. She easily dismissed that by reminding them of her freshman year, when three girls dropped off the team in the first two weeks. "I don't want this team caught like that again, so I got permission to select an alternate. She won't perform unless she's needed, but she'll know the routines, just in case." They reluctantly agreed to that logic. The real reason was because Kate had already decided to resign from the squad once her Pregnancy was known.
That done, she prepared herself for the probable reactions. Most notably, she knew that her enemies, like Clair now was, would love to use it to attack Kate's position in the school hierarchy. While Kate was changing, she was still prideful, and couldn't stand the thought of letting Clair get that win on her. So, Kate spent about a week preparing her counter-offensive.
Kate's idea for how to announce her pregnancy came to her while she and Ethan were talking it over with the trio. They were trying to figure out where to do that would let her tell as many people they could in a controlled way, hoping that would reduce the effect of anything Clair or those like her could do.
Gordo, getting a little bored with the girls shooting down every idea so far, said sarcastically "It's too bad you can't call a news conference."
Lizzie was about scold Gordo when she saw Kate's expression. "Kate?"
Kate's grin told all who saw it that she had an idea she loved. "We can't have a press conference, but we can have a party."
And so it was that Kate chose to make her pregnancy public by having a party that Friday, in the Craft's expansive back yard. The real reason for the party would be kept secret until it was time, but everyone agreed that any party with both Ethan and Kate's names on it should be a big draw. The elder Crafts' were unsure of such a public forum, but not being as familiar with the Hillridge H.S. rumor mill as Kate, they felt they had to trust to her judgement.
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The trio were all at the party. Even Matt was 'there', although he and the others agreed he should keep out of sight, as his visible presence would likely distract attention from the announcement. He managed this by watching from the flat roof of the garage.
The crowd was larger than anyone except Kate had expected. There were a large number there who almost never went to parties, but the promised 'big announcement' intrigued them enough for them to come. It became apparent that this could be a problem, however, as some of them were uncomfortable around the regular party crowd, and visa-verse. So, as soon as they thought enough people had arrived, and before anything could happen, Kate took the microphone that had been ready, and she and Ethan began.
They had decided to make this telling as short as possible, then expanding it when they were inevitably asked for details later. The main points they wanted to make were to explain why Ethan proposed so soon after they got back together, and the fact that the proposal came before they thought she was pregnant. The reaction to the actual announcement of the pregnancy, while congratulatory, was more subdued then Kate had hoped for. This was unintentionally explained by the first person to congratulate her, who remarked how she'd thought that might be the big news. It seems that several people had made that guess.
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While Ethan had kept his word and not mentioned him in the main announcement, Matt was annoyed to learn that Ethan had mentioned him in his later, detailed version. Between Kate's power and the incident with John, things had been fairly easy on Miranda so far. He was already worried about how Kate's revelation might change things, and he didn't think Ethan talking about him would help matters.
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As expected, Clair and those loyal to her since the split with Kate tried to turn the news of the pregnancy against Kate's reputation. However, Clair was surprised by the results. Not only had the public announcement succeeded in limiting the impact of Clair's efforts, but she started to hear her own name in whispers. It wasn't until Thursday that she heard any of what was being said, when she managed to listen in on part of a story. The speaker was a boy of no standing in the school she'd screwed early in the summer. Despite agreeing not to tell anyone, on threat of Clair using her influence against him, he was now talking about it.
When she heard him say "I swear, she was terrible! If I'd have rolled us over so she was on top, you could have built a house of cards on her back", she lost her temper. But instead if calmly denying the liaison, her fury caused her to start taunting him about his shortcomings in bed, which was as good as admitting to the encounter. She stormed off to their laughter. It didn't take long for her to figure out that what was happening had something to do with Kate, and she redoubled her efforts to get Kate.
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It was a week later she decided that her efforts on Kate weren't hurting her fast enough. So, in an effort to make Kate suffer emotionally, Clair started in on Kate's new friends. At lunch Friday, she sauntered up to the table where Kate and Miranda were eating. "Isn't this interesting." She said it more as a statement than a question.
"What are you talking about?" Miranda replied.
Clair smirked, then spoke just loud enough to let the neighboring tables hear. "I mean it's interesting how often you two eat together, talking so quietly. I mean, I have to wonder what a prego and a pedo talk about."
The shocked intake of breath by those trying to listen in was cut off when Miranda leapt for Clair. Just as with Kate, the presence of a table was all that saved her target. Kate grabbed Miranda's arm to try to hold her back. Miranda relented, but didn't sit.
Before either could speak, Clair had a follow-up ready. "Could it be your little boy got you knocked up too?" Feeling movement in the ground at her feet, she turned to see big John Schrader closing in fast. "Bye." She walked off as if she didn't have a care in the world.
~~~~~~~~
"I'LL KILL THE BITCH!" Matt way standing in the doorway joining the McGuire living room and hallway, and he delivered a palm-strike to the doorframe when he said that.
Jo, Gordo, Lizzie, Kate, and Miranda's mom Daniella were all sitting in the McGuire living room. Jo swallowed back the reflexive admonishment of her son's outburst. Not only because she was smart enough to know that it would be a bad idea with him raging like this, but also because she thought his anger was justified. While Jo had been uncomfortable with their age difference, she'd never compared Miranda to a pedophile. For Clair to do that, and in public . . . Jo felt that her son's choice of epithet was less than Clair deserved.
Despite her feelings about Clair, however, Jo knew they had to find a way to channel Matt's anger that wouldn't land him in prison. Even as she thought that, she noticed that Miranda was now standing with Matt, trying to ease him down from his rage, at least enough so they could talk to him. She was the only one who could do it without making things worse.
After what felt like an age, but was really only a couple of minutes, Jo saw Matt doing what looked like some breathing and focusing exercises from his anger management training. Finally, Miranda guided Matt back to a seat. Jo saw that he was still visibly upset, but unless they wanted to wait forever, this was as good as he was likely to get until SOMETHING was being done.
But before she could say anything, Gordo spoke. "Why kill when you can torture?" That gained him Matt's, and everyone else's, surprised attention. The look on his face was something none of them could recall seeing there before. "I don't mean physically. She went after Miranda emotionally and socially. Let's hit her there, and give her back ten fold what she gave Miranda."
Now Matt's face had changed at hearing Gordo's idea. While it was similar to the one that they knew meant that The Prankster King was at work, there was a hatred in it that made the others almost felt sorry for Clair.
Almost.
"Daniella, let's go to the kitchen for some coffee." Jo said as she stood. "You haven't told me yet how Lily likes pre-school."
Daniella looked confused for a moment, then stood. "Oh. Alright."
The two adults left the room, but Jo leaned back in. "Matt." He turned to her. "No physical injuries, nothing they could put you away for." She left without getting his answer, deciding that it was better for all concerned if she and the other adults were as far away from this project as possible.
~~~~~~~~
The next week was nothing short of hell for Clair.
It started Sunday, when her car dead in the way home from the mail. Of course, being Sunday, it took forever to even get it to a garage, and nobody was going to be able to even look at it until Tuesday. So Clair was stuck either bumming rides, or taking the bus.
On Monday, the campaign began in full. A bucket of water, set up near where workers were on the roof, 'accidently' dumped on her as she was entering the school. She went to her locker for her spare clothes, and was greeted by six white rats.
Matt and his conspirators were just warming up.
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Once her paranoia was high enough, they began mixing in feints with the real pranks. This allowed them to do things to work on her mind without actually using any resources, and thus allowing more things to be set up. They also made sure that some of the early pranks LIGHTLY caught some bystander, this was to make people start to consider her unsafe to by around.
For each thing Matt didn't do himself, he left explicit instructions on how to leave zero evidence. Much to her annoyance, Miranda was prohibited by all the others from taking part in the sit-ups. It was a precaution that proved wise. When she was brought in by Miss Ungermeyer for questioning, she was able to honestly say that she hadn't done anything to Clair. Indeed, although both Matt and Miranda were under heavy suspicion, everyone managed to escape without being blamed.
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By Friday, Clair was walking around alone, twitchy, jumping at noises that weren't there. Lizzie was starting to wonder if her brother had crossed the line, but Matt had insisted that the campaign would last one week, then somebody would meet with Clair with terms to end it. Lizzie hoped that Clair didn't suffer a breakdown before then. She didn't think even Matt, pissed-off as he was, would want that.
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The finale of the campaign was something Matt insisted on keeping to himself. The only clue they had was his insistence that they be at the High School football game that Friday night, yet making sure he couldn't be there, arranging to be in a study group after his game earlier that day. While he wouldn't say it, the others believed it was because he would need an alibi.
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Miranda, Lizzie, Gordo, and Kate arrived at the high school's football field before the JV game, not wanting to miss whatever was going to happen. The JV game finished without incident. When the Varsity cheerleaders made their appearance, Clair was clearly not performing up to standard, but she didn't seem any more distracted than she had been earlier that day. About midway through the first quarter, Kate spoke. "Something's going on."
The trio turned to see what she was looking at. It was Clair, who was at the far end of the cheerleaders. "What is it?" Lizzie asked. Just as she finished, Clair adjusted the crotch part of her uniform.
"Did you see that?"
"Crude, but . . ."
"She's done that too much the last couple of minutes for it to be natural."
Now that Kate had drawn their attention to her, Clair did seem more antsy than usual, looking very much like a little kid who needed to use the bathroom. The sight might have been comical, if they all didn't suspect that whatever was up was Matt's doing.
A moment later, Clair said something quick to the new head cheerleader, and took off from the field in the direction of the small locker room the cheerleaders. The four friends looked at each other. "What do you think he did?" Kate whispered.
"Ex-Lax, maybe?" Miranda whispered in reply.
"That wouldn't explain the problem she seemed to be having with her uniform." Gordo pointed out in a whisper.
~~~~
When Matt got home from his study group, he found the trio, and all the parents, in the McGuire living room. "Hi." Miranda patted the open space next to her, and he took the invitation. "What's up?"
"We just got back from being questioned by Miss Ungermeyer for whatever it was that happened to Clair at the game." Miranda answered.
"She couldn't prove anything, we couldn't give her anything, and she wouldn't give anything away." Gordo added.
"We know it was you, Matt. What did you do tonight?" Sam asked.
Matt was silent for a moment, then answered. "Something I saw on an old movie on Comedy Central a few weeks ago. You ever see "Revenge of the Nerds", dad?"
"Yeah." Sam said, clearly puzzled for a moment, then he got it. "Liquid Heat?!?"
When Matt nodded, everyone winced. They all knew the scene, where the nerds got revenge on the jocks by bathing their jock straps in Liquid Heat. They now knew that Matt must have done that to the crotch of Clair's uniform. "That explains why she had trouble with her uniform." Gordo remarked.
Jo came in here. "I know I've given you a lot of room with this, because you needed it. But it has to stop, now. From what little Miss Ungermeyer did tell us, it sounds like Clair was an emotional wreck."
"That was already going to be the last one." Matt replied. "Reggie's 'convinced' her brother to let him in to see her noon tomorrow, and he'll give her our demands for an end. She'll agree. I can't see anyone risking more of this."
"The others roughly described what you've done to her this past week." Mr. Gordon was in his professional voice. "I know you were angry, and I'm glad you found a nonviolent way to deal with your anger. But this level of attack is beyond what's acceptable. You've pushed her to the breaking point. What I need to hear from you is why you took it this far."
"To end it. All of it. Forever."
"I don't understand."
"It wasn't just about this time. As bad as it was, if we did nothing, things would get even worse." He looked the man in the eyes. "I can't let that happen. This was about winning the battles to come, before they're ever begun. This week, it will be made clear to the other students who led this, and why. They'll also know that if it happened to Clair, as powerful as she was, it can happen to them."
None of them knew what to say to that. Finally, Miranda embraced him. "Thank you." She gently made him look at her face. "But promise me, whatever happens, you won't take it this far again."
Everyone held their breath for the second it took Matt to say. "Alright."
`
In the end, Matt was grounded for a month, although Jo did make an exception for football.
~~~~~~~~
Clair agreed to the terms Reggie brought to her. This meant both sides stopped attacking each other, but there was something Clair had to do to seal it. Clair had to apologize to Miranda during Monday's lunch, in a voice loud enough to be heard clearly. She did it, and while she was obviously nervous, she managed to sound sincere. Which, Miranda realized, she probably was in a way. Sincere about wanting what was happening to her to stop.
`
Her parents were also in the school Monday, and they were livid. But for all their outrage, Ungermeyer wouldn't budge. After a successful lawsuit against a nearby school district the previous year, Hillridge had a policy in place that wouldn't allow for anything stronger than detention without evidence that would stand up in a civil case. She also wouldn't give them the names of the suspects, citing the district's privacy rules.
For the rest of the week, Clair was a shell of her former self. Her power, and 'friends', had all but evaporated. The few times people deliberately walked with her, it looked uncomfortable for all. Even though the truce had been agreed to, she was still jumpy. On Friday, she informed the head cheerleader that she was leaving the squad because she was starting a private school the following Monday.
So ended the reign of Clair Miller at Hillridge High.
`
As expected, once leaked, word of the who and why about Clair spread like wildfire throughout all the schools in Hillridge. It didn't take long for Matt's prankster reputation to gain a new, ominous addition: Cross the line with those Matt cares about, and there are no limits he won't cross to make you suffer.
The Revenge of The Prankster King was now something to be greatly feared.
~~~~~~~~
A/N: More to come. Hopefully MUCH faster than this one!
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One last note: If anybody reading this is giving Hacen a hard time about "The Road To Where We Are", let me reprint here a message I left as a review of that story:
"My professor in Theater class had a favorite quote, which he always started a semester with: "There are only six truly original stories in all of history. Everything else is a derivative of at least one of those." I'm not sure who the quote belongs to, but the idea stuck with me. That's why my disclaimer for "No Time To Waste" has the line: "The plot, at it's base, has been around since Homer." After having read through chapter 16, it's clear to me that what similarities there are in our two stories has more to do with sharing similar roots among the 'original six' than anything else. So, to you I say please continue. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. And, to any who happen to read reviews, I say this: As the writer of "No Time To Waste", I have no problem with this story. So please, get off the guy's back."
by TheRealXenocide
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Note: In this story, the trio are 16, and Matt is 13. You can do the math for the rest.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, settings, or anything else you recognize from the show Lizzie McGuire. The plot, at it's base, has been around since Homer, and this variant since Henry Ford. However, this is the first I've seen it applied to Lizzie.
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A/N: Two things to address.
First, the name of this chapter was inspired, in part, by a little-known fact. The movie "Return of the Jedi" was originally titled "Revenge of the Jedi". Lucas changed it late enough into the project that there were some theater posters send out with the "Revenge" title.
Second, there's going to be an aside connected to this chapter. It will include an explanation of things hinted at last chapter and this one. It will also include a rather . . . descriptive conversation that will cause me to give it an R rating.
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Epilog Two
Revenge of the King
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Matt had expected to feel anxiety about Miranda going to school without him. But what he hadn't counted on was how strongly he'd feel Lanny and Melina's absence. He felt lost without them. It had become tradition for them that the first day of school was for organizing the first big prank of the year. While he was still thinking like that, it just wasn't the same. Reggie was good for a lot of things, but he wasn't into pranks. Added to this was the fact that Matt had to make sure that, whatever he did, he couldn't get blamed. With his record, it wouldn't take much for him to be thrown off the team for disciplinary reasons.
Lanny and Melina's absence did not go unnoticed by the other students. This, combined with their long grounding, quickly sparked questions and rumors. This had been expected, however, and Matt had been given a cover story by Melina to use. Taking advantage of their reputations as troublemakers, Matt told those who asked him this story:
"I was spending so much time with Miranda, I wasn't in on this, but they got caught in a stunt that was the last straw for her mother. So this time, Melina's spending this year in military school." After letting the listeners react, he continued. "Lanny's folks weren't sure what to do with him, until they heard what Melina's mom did." At this point, most listeners looked like they could tell what came next, but needed to hear it to really believe it. "So, they've put Lanny in military school, too." After reaction to that faded, he added. "In fact, their going to the same one." He deflected any requests for details by reminding the questioner that he hadn't been in on what they'd done.
Of course, the questions he was fielding most often weren't about Lanny and Melina, but about he and Miranda. Most of the guys who approach him joked and teased, but the underlying sentiments were envy and, to Matt surprise, admiration. He became increasingly annoyed that they had a hard time getting past Miranda's obvious beauty, and found it tough not to slug them as they needled him for details about how far he'd gotten.
Reggie managed to put it into perspective for him when he complained about it. "Man, you know how it is with guys our age. My interest in girls used to be the exception, but now I'm nothing next to a lot of these guys in the horn-dog department." That made Matt snort on amusement. "Just take that stuff as a complement. They wish they had girlfriends as pretty as your's."
The girls were a whole different matter. One part of this was, of course, the ring. There were the predictable reactions, particularly when he told them that Miranda wore its partner, of amazement and various forms of 'oh, how sweet'. But what he began to notice as the day wore on were the looks he was starting to get from them, looks he was at a loss to describe. The nearest word he could come up with to describe them was curious, but that didn't seem to fit right somehow. He'd have to ask someone about it, but he wasn't sure if he should ask Miranda first. He'd tell her, no question, but he wondered if it would be better to have somebody else's opinion first.
~~
The first day of school was more interesting than any of the trio had expected.
While word of the crash had obviously gotten around long before then, news of Lizzie and Gordo's kiss at the Digital Bean had done a good job of shocking away most crash related questions during the summer. Now, however, that had worn off, and the questions about what happened and how they were began from almost the moment they cleared the parking lot. Gordo's walking stick, which he still used at times, was of particular interest. But the most complete reaction came when he explained the medallion. The crowd around them grew quieter when he said the word 'operation', almost as if they could tell where he might be going with it. They fell to near total silence when he said the phase 'I died'. Thankfully, the bell rang soon after he finished.
Word of that story traveled fast. Most of the students seemed to decide that it was a subject best avoided. They only had vague questions about Gordo's health, and none about the medallion, for the rest of the day.
`
Miranda's day was . . . interesting.
In addition to the questions about the crash, she fielded several questions about she and Matt. They hadn't been together in public much, except in groups, and their show at the mall on Independence Day weekend had raised a lot of questions that had yet to be answered. While she had Lizzie and Gordo in first period History, she wasn't with either Lizzie or Gordo again until last period, when they all had English. So she had to deal with the questions by herself most of the day.
The ring proved very useful, especially with the girls, in helping them understand how real the relationship is. What they had more difficulty with was how she fell for somebody so much younger than she was to begin with. But, as the day wore on, she began to realize that she didn't care that much what they thought of her. It would be nice if they were more accepting, but she discovered that it wasn't that important.
Some of the boys had a harder time with it, and she spent much of the early part of the day fending off several variations of the 'why have a boy when you can have a real man' line. But an incident on the way to lunch helped with that.
A particularly stuck-on-himself boy was hassling her all the way from class to her locker. Although she was trying hard not to blow up at him, her frustration was such that she opened her locker so the door came within an inch of his nose. Just as he started to protest, she heard the unmistakable sound of something hitting lockers, hard, and just on the other side of her open locker door. Looking around it, she saw her nuisance being pressed against the lockers, feet dangling, by a VERY large boy in a letterman's jacket. Standing next to him was Kate.
"I think it would be a good idea to leave my friend here," she motioned her hand to indicate Miranda, "alone. Wouldn't you agree?" She said it in her most venom-sweet voice.
Mr. Nuisance moved his lips, but nothing came out. His rapid nodding, however, seemed to show he agreed. The big guy released him, not caring as he thudded square on his tail bone. Mr. Nuisance scrambled, gingerly, away.
Miranda looked at Kate and the big guy for a moment before managing a "thanks, you two."
"I saw that guy bothering you, and I thought I'd help. Oh," Kate suddenly remembered her manners, "Miranda, this is John Schrader."
He put out a hand, which Miranda was sure could hold her head with no problem. An offensive lineman, John stood 6'4", and was a very well muscled version of huge. "You've met my brothers, Mark and Paul." His voice was a deep bass.
Miranda had though the last name sounded familiar, and now it clicked. "Oh yeah, the guys that talked Matt into joining the team."
"Yeah, that's them. I'm the oldest."
The rest of Miranda's day was noticeably more peaceful. As news of this incident spread, it made the warnings from the team seem more real to some than they had before. As a result, Matt and Miranda had far fewer problems than they had expected.
`
Kate was very busy her first day. In fact, it was only by luck that she'd seen Miranda's obvious problem.
By now, most of the students had heard about the engagement, and a number of girls wanted to see the engagement ring. Their disappointment at not getting to see it quickly turned to amazement at the sight of the wedding ring. While this got the obligatory 'wows' and 'congratulations', it didn't take long for people to start asking the uncomfortable questions.
'Why so soon?' 'Where are you living?' 'Your parents are okay with this?'
She managed to artfully avoid telling them about her pregnancy and being thrown out by her parents. She knew she needed say something, as it would be obvious soon enough, but there were some things she wanted to take care of first before doing that. Although she admitted that she and Ethan were staying with his parents, she managed to phrase it so as to sound like it was all the elder Crafts' idea without actually saying so. This gained the elder Crafts the title of 'cool'. That discussion, however, also drew attention to her husband's absence from school.
`
When Mr. Craft enquired into Ethan staying in public school, he was surprised to learn that while Hillridge had a mainstreaming program in place for the visually impaired, it didn't include braille! (A/N: I was surprised when researching the subject by how common this is.) Not agreeing with their theory about this, he began making some calls. He quickly found a private school about 20 miles away that had decades of experience with disabled students, and that taught braille to it's visually impaired students. While the younger Crafts didn't like the idea of separate schools, they realized that it made sense for Ethan to go. Besides, as close as the school was, he'd still be living at home. So, Ethan was going to go to this new school.
`
While she tried to convince him, and herself, she'd be fine, Kate was nervous about going to school without him. After helping Miranda, she realized that, with Matt going to the Junior High, they were in a similar situation in school. Maybe it would be good to talk about it?
~~~~
As the week wore on, things began to settle into a routine for all of them.
Miranda was going to begin looking for the replacement car agreed to in the settlement (A/N: Chapter 35) the coming weekend, and she'd drive the four of them to and from school once she found it. For now, Jo was driving.
While the mornings were easy enough, the afternoons meant waiting for Matt to get out of practice, which usually took about 45 minutes after they got there. While this meant Jo had to bring something to occupy herself with, the wait proved a benefit for the trio. They only had two classes as a group, first and last periods, and Lizzie and Gordo were on a different lunch than Miranda. So they used the time to tell each other about their days.
When Matt finally arrived, it was review time again, but none of them minded. It was all part of keeping the group together.
~~~~
Saturday was when they searched for Miranda's replacement car. While it had to be used, the limit in the settlement allowed for a good quality car. They found one at their second stop that seemed right. Three years old, it had been a police cruiser, but budget cuts caused the county to retire it early. It had been repainted solid midnight blue to help its resale value. While its looks weren't particularly good or bad, the reinforcements common to police cruisers grabbed the kids' attention, particularly the passenger compartment.
During the test drive, Miranda remarked that it was the safest she'd felt in a car since the crash, in a tone that suggested that it was a surprise to her. That settled it.
After it passed inspection by the family's mechanic, they needed to wait for the paperwork to clear. She was able to pick it up Thursday after school.
~~~~~~~~
While Miranda didn't share lunch periods with Lizzie and Gordo, she had the same lunch as Kate, so she would often join her. While it was awkward at first, they soon found a piece of common ground to start from. This, of course, was their men not being with them at school, and all that went with that. It was from these talks that their second friendship truly began. It was in this that Miranda learned, before anyone else, Kate's plan for revealing her pregnancy to the other students.
The administration had to be told for legal reasons, but those same legalities kept them from saying anything to the students until Kate chose to. After seeing what Parker and Larry went through when Parker's was revealed before they were ready, Kate was determined to make hers known on her terms.
Before she would do it, however, she needed to arrange a few things.
First, she took care of the cheerleaders. Although a junior, Kate was made captain, as the three seniors on the team were very close to being academically ineligible. The first thing she did was name her assistant captain, a fellow junior. At tryouts, she surprised the team by having them select one more girl for the JV team than they thought there was room for. She easily dismissed that by reminding them of her freshman year, when three girls dropped off the team in the first two weeks. "I don't want this team caught like that again, so I got permission to select an alternate. She won't perform unless she's needed, but she'll know the routines, just in case." They reluctantly agreed to that logic. The real reason was because Kate had already decided to resign from the squad once her Pregnancy was known.
That done, she prepared herself for the probable reactions. Most notably, she knew that her enemies, like Clair now was, would love to use it to attack Kate's position in the school hierarchy. While Kate was changing, she was still prideful, and couldn't stand the thought of letting Clair get that win on her. So, Kate spent about a week preparing her counter-offensive.
Kate's idea for how to announce her pregnancy came to her while she and Ethan were talking it over with the trio. They were trying to figure out where to do that would let her tell as many people they could in a controlled way, hoping that would reduce the effect of anything Clair or those like her could do.
Gordo, getting a little bored with the girls shooting down every idea so far, said sarcastically "It's too bad you can't call a news conference."
Lizzie was about scold Gordo when she saw Kate's expression. "Kate?"
Kate's grin told all who saw it that she had an idea she loved. "We can't have a press conference, but we can have a party."
And so it was that Kate chose to make her pregnancy public by having a party that Friday, in the Craft's expansive back yard. The real reason for the party would be kept secret until it was time, but everyone agreed that any party with both Ethan and Kate's names on it should be a big draw. The elder Crafts' were unsure of such a public forum, but not being as familiar with the Hillridge H.S. rumor mill as Kate, they felt they had to trust to her judgement.
~~~~~~~~
The trio were all at the party. Even Matt was 'there', although he and the others agreed he should keep out of sight, as his visible presence would likely distract attention from the announcement. He managed this by watching from the flat roof of the garage.
The crowd was larger than anyone except Kate had expected. There were a large number there who almost never went to parties, but the promised 'big announcement' intrigued them enough for them to come. It became apparent that this could be a problem, however, as some of them were uncomfortable around the regular party crowd, and visa-verse. So, as soon as they thought enough people had arrived, and before anything could happen, Kate took the microphone that had been ready, and she and Ethan began.
They had decided to make this telling as short as possible, then expanding it when they were inevitably asked for details later. The main points they wanted to make were to explain why Ethan proposed so soon after they got back together, and the fact that the proposal came before they thought she was pregnant. The reaction to the actual announcement of the pregnancy, while congratulatory, was more subdued then Kate had hoped for. This was unintentionally explained by the first person to congratulate her, who remarked how she'd thought that might be the big news. It seems that several people had made that guess.
`
While Ethan had kept his word and not mentioned him in the main announcement, Matt was annoyed to learn that Ethan had mentioned him in his later, detailed version. Between Kate's power and the incident with John, things had been fairly easy on Miranda so far. He was already worried about how Kate's revelation might change things, and he didn't think Ethan talking about him would help matters.
~~~~~~~~
As expected, Clair and those loyal to her since the split with Kate tried to turn the news of the pregnancy against Kate's reputation. However, Clair was surprised by the results. Not only had the public announcement succeeded in limiting the impact of Clair's efforts, but she started to hear her own name in whispers. It wasn't until Thursday that she heard any of what was being said, when she managed to listen in on part of a story. The speaker was a boy of no standing in the school she'd screwed early in the summer. Despite agreeing not to tell anyone, on threat of Clair using her influence against him, he was now talking about it.
When she heard him say "I swear, she was terrible! If I'd have rolled us over so she was on top, you could have built a house of cards on her back", she lost her temper. But instead if calmly denying the liaison, her fury caused her to start taunting him about his shortcomings in bed, which was as good as admitting to the encounter. She stormed off to their laughter. It didn't take long for her to figure out that what was happening had something to do with Kate, and she redoubled her efforts to get Kate.
`
It was a week later she decided that her efforts on Kate weren't hurting her fast enough. So, in an effort to make Kate suffer emotionally, Clair started in on Kate's new friends. At lunch Friday, she sauntered up to the table where Kate and Miranda were eating. "Isn't this interesting." She said it more as a statement than a question.
"What are you talking about?" Miranda replied.
Clair smirked, then spoke just loud enough to let the neighboring tables hear. "I mean it's interesting how often you two eat together, talking so quietly. I mean, I have to wonder what a prego and a pedo talk about."
The shocked intake of breath by those trying to listen in was cut off when Miranda leapt for Clair. Just as with Kate, the presence of a table was all that saved her target. Kate grabbed Miranda's arm to try to hold her back. Miranda relented, but didn't sit.
Before either could speak, Clair had a follow-up ready. "Could it be your little boy got you knocked up too?" Feeling movement in the ground at her feet, she turned to see big John Schrader closing in fast. "Bye." She walked off as if she didn't have a care in the world.
~~~~~~~~
"I'LL KILL THE BITCH!" Matt way standing in the doorway joining the McGuire living room and hallway, and he delivered a palm-strike to the doorframe when he said that.
Jo, Gordo, Lizzie, Kate, and Miranda's mom Daniella were all sitting in the McGuire living room. Jo swallowed back the reflexive admonishment of her son's outburst. Not only because she was smart enough to know that it would be a bad idea with him raging like this, but also because she thought his anger was justified. While Jo had been uncomfortable with their age difference, she'd never compared Miranda to a pedophile. For Clair to do that, and in public . . . Jo felt that her son's choice of epithet was less than Clair deserved.
Despite her feelings about Clair, however, Jo knew they had to find a way to channel Matt's anger that wouldn't land him in prison. Even as she thought that, she noticed that Miranda was now standing with Matt, trying to ease him down from his rage, at least enough so they could talk to him. She was the only one who could do it without making things worse.
After what felt like an age, but was really only a couple of minutes, Jo saw Matt doing what looked like some breathing and focusing exercises from his anger management training. Finally, Miranda guided Matt back to a seat. Jo saw that he was still visibly upset, but unless they wanted to wait forever, this was as good as he was likely to get until SOMETHING was being done.
But before she could say anything, Gordo spoke. "Why kill when you can torture?" That gained him Matt's, and everyone else's, surprised attention. The look on his face was something none of them could recall seeing there before. "I don't mean physically. She went after Miranda emotionally and socially. Let's hit her there, and give her back ten fold what she gave Miranda."
Now Matt's face had changed at hearing Gordo's idea. While it was similar to the one that they knew meant that The Prankster King was at work, there was a hatred in it that made the others almost felt sorry for Clair.
Almost.
"Daniella, let's go to the kitchen for some coffee." Jo said as she stood. "You haven't told me yet how Lily likes pre-school."
Daniella looked confused for a moment, then stood. "Oh. Alright."
The two adults left the room, but Jo leaned back in. "Matt." He turned to her. "No physical injuries, nothing they could put you away for." She left without getting his answer, deciding that it was better for all concerned if she and the other adults were as far away from this project as possible.
~~~~~~~~
The next week was nothing short of hell for Clair.
It started Sunday, when her car dead in the way home from the mail. Of course, being Sunday, it took forever to even get it to a garage, and nobody was going to be able to even look at it until Tuesday. So Clair was stuck either bumming rides, or taking the bus.
On Monday, the campaign began in full. A bucket of water, set up near where workers were on the roof, 'accidently' dumped on her as she was entering the school. She went to her locker for her spare clothes, and was greeted by six white rats.
Matt and his conspirators were just warming up.
`
Once her paranoia was high enough, they began mixing in feints with the real pranks. This allowed them to do things to work on her mind without actually using any resources, and thus allowing more things to be set up. They also made sure that some of the early pranks LIGHTLY caught some bystander, this was to make people start to consider her unsafe to by around.
For each thing Matt didn't do himself, he left explicit instructions on how to leave zero evidence. Much to her annoyance, Miranda was prohibited by all the others from taking part in the sit-ups. It was a precaution that proved wise. When she was brought in by Miss Ungermeyer for questioning, she was able to honestly say that she hadn't done anything to Clair. Indeed, although both Matt and Miranda were under heavy suspicion, everyone managed to escape without being blamed.
`
By Friday, Clair was walking around alone, twitchy, jumping at noises that weren't there. Lizzie was starting to wonder if her brother had crossed the line, but Matt had insisted that the campaign would last one week, then somebody would meet with Clair with terms to end it. Lizzie hoped that Clair didn't suffer a breakdown before then. She didn't think even Matt, pissed-off as he was, would want that.
`
The finale of the campaign was something Matt insisted on keeping to himself. The only clue they had was his insistence that they be at the High School football game that Friday night, yet making sure he couldn't be there, arranging to be in a study group after his game earlier that day. While he wouldn't say it, the others believed it was because he would need an alibi.
`
Miranda, Lizzie, Gordo, and Kate arrived at the high school's football field before the JV game, not wanting to miss whatever was going to happen. The JV game finished without incident. When the Varsity cheerleaders made their appearance, Clair was clearly not performing up to standard, but she didn't seem any more distracted than she had been earlier that day. About midway through the first quarter, Kate spoke. "Something's going on."
The trio turned to see what she was looking at. It was Clair, who was at the far end of the cheerleaders. "What is it?" Lizzie asked. Just as she finished, Clair adjusted the crotch part of her uniform.
"Did you see that?"
"Crude, but . . ."
"She's done that too much the last couple of minutes for it to be natural."
Now that Kate had drawn their attention to her, Clair did seem more antsy than usual, looking very much like a little kid who needed to use the bathroom. The sight might have been comical, if they all didn't suspect that whatever was up was Matt's doing.
A moment later, Clair said something quick to the new head cheerleader, and took off from the field in the direction of the small locker room the cheerleaders. The four friends looked at each other. "What do you think he did?" Kate whispered.
"Ex-Lax, maybe?" Miranda whispered in reply.
"That wouldn't explain the problem she seemed to be having with her uniform." Gordo pointed out in a whisper.
~~~~
When Matt got home from his study group, he found the trio, and all the parents, in the McGuire living room. "Hi." Miranda patted the open space next to her, and he took the invitation. "What's up?"
"We just got back from being questioned by Miss Ungermeyer for whatever it was that happened to Clair at the game." Miranda answered.
"She couldn't prove anything, we couldn't give her anything, and she wouldn't give anything away." Gordo added.
"We know it was you, Matt. What did you do tonight?" Sam asked.
Matt was silent for a moment, then answered. "Something I saw on an old movie on Comedy Central a few weeks ago. You ever see "Revenge of the Nerds", dad?"
"Yeah." Sam said, clearly puzzled for a moment, then he got it. "Liquid Heat?!?"
When Matt nodded, everyone winced. They all knew the scene, where the nerds got revenge on the jocks by bathing their jock straps in Liquid Heat. They now knew that Matt must have done that to the crotch of Clair's uniform. "That explains why she had trouble with her uniform." Gordo remarked.
Jo came in here. "I know I've given you a lot of room with this, because you needed it. But it has to stop, now. From what little Miss Ungermeyer did tell us, it sounds like Clair was an emotional wreck."
"That was already going to be the last one." Matt replied. "Reggie's 'convinced' her brother to let him in to see her noon tomorrow, and he'll give her our demands for an end. She'll agree. I can't see anyone risking more of this."
"The others roughly described what you've done to her this past week." Mr. Gordon was in his professional voice. "I know you were angry, and I'm glad you found a nonviolent way to deal with your anger. But this level of attack is beyond what's acceptable. You've pushed her to the breaking point. What I need to hear from you is why you took it this far."
"To end it. All of it. Forever."
"I don't understand."
"It wasn't just about this time. As bad as it was, if we did nothing, things would get even worse." He looked the man in the eyes. "I can't let that happen. This was about winning the battles to come, before they're ever begun. This week, it will be made clear to the other students who led this, and why. They'll also know that if it happened to Clair, as powerful as she was, it can happen to them."
None of them knew what to say to that. Finally, Miranda embraced him. "Thank you." She gently made him look at her face. "But promise me, whatever happens, you won't take it this far again."
Everyone held their breath for the second it took Matt to say. "Alright."
`
In the end, Matt was grounded for a month, although Jo did make an exception for football.
~~~~~~~~
Clair agreed to the terms Reggie brought to her. This meant both sides stopped attacking each other, but there was something Clair had to do to seal it. Clair had to apologize to Miranda during Monday's lunch, in a voice loud enough to be heard clearly. She did it, and while she was obviously nervous, she managed to sound sincere. Which, Miranda realized, she probably was in a way. Sincere about wanting what was happening to her to stop.
`
Her parents were also in the school Monday, and they were livid. But for all their outrage, Ungermeyer wouldn't budge. After a successful lawsuit against a nearby school district the previous year, Hillridge had a policy in place that wouldn't allow for anything stronger than detention without evidence that would stand up in a civil case. She also wouldn't give them the names of the suspects, citing the district's privacy rules.
For the rest of the week, Clair was a shell of her former self. Her power, and 'friends', had all but evaporated. The few times people deliberately walked with her, it looked uncomfortable for all. Even though the truce had been agreed to, she was still jumpy. On Friday, she informed the head cheerleader that she was leaving the squad because she was starting a private school the following Monday.
So ended the reign of Clair Miller at Hillridge High.
`
As expected, once leaked, word of the who and why about Clair spread like wildfire throughout all the schools in Hillridge. It didn't take long for Matt's prankster reputation to gain a new, ominous addition: Cross the line with those Matt cares about, and there are no limits he won't cross to make you suffer.
The Revenge of The Prankster King was now something to be greatly feared.
~~~~~~~~
A/N: More to come. Hopefully MUCH faster than this one!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One last note: If anybody reading this is giving Hacen a hard time about "The Road To Where We Are", let me reprint here a message I left as a review of that story:
"My professor in Theater class had a favorite quote, which he always started a semester with: "There are only six truly original stories in all of history. Everything else is a derivative of at least one of those." I'm not sure who the quote belongs to, but the idea stuck with me. That's why my disclaimer for "No Time To Waste" has the line: "The plot, at it's base, has been around since Homer." After having read through chapter 16, it's clear to me that what similarities there are in our two stories has more to do with sharing similar roots among the 'original six' than anything else. So, to you I say please continue. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next. And, to any who happen to read reviews, I say this: As the writer of "No Time To Waste", I have no problem with this story. So please, get off the guy's back."