Chapter 2: The Macabre World Of High School

"All right," Gandalf said slowly. "We go through those doors, and we find out where we are. But," he paused, looking at Pippin, "Do NOT touch anything."

Pippin's eyes enlarged in innocence. "Why are you looking at me? I didn't ---"

Gandalf interrupted him. "No reason, Master Hobbit. No reason at all."

The wizard then walked past the others and cautiously opened the door. He almost fainted when he heard a sudden ringing from above him. It repeated five times before there was only silence and the beating of hearts.

Aragorn, who had reached instinctively for a weapon, had instead found a card inside his pocket. His eyes widened, and he pulled Gandalf back inside while the others crowded around him.

"Look!"

He pointed to a picture on the hard plastic card that looked exactly like he did. Beside the photo was a description of him: 165 lbs, 5' 11", and 45 years old.

It wasn't long before the others soon found similar cards in their own pockets. But Gandalf found something else.

His voice was low when he said, "I know whose devilry this is." He paused for emphasis as the others looked to him in awe. "The CCC Ball..."

He looked slowly from person to person until Merry said innocently, "Umm, what's that?"

Gandalf's eyes widened. "You do not know?" He swallowed. "The revered Confusion Creator Crystal Ball has been passed down for ages now, different ones for every ruler's personality." He shuddered. "We are under its spell..."

Silence.

Finally, Sam asked, "Umm, how do you know?"

Gandalf gravely handed a piece of paper to Frodo, his hands trembling.

"Read it, my lad. I cannot."

Frodo nodded and grimly read aloud:

"Congratulations! You are recipients of a current spell cast by the "Good Wizards Turned Bad Confusion Creator" crystal ball. Have fun!"

Sam burst into tears while Boromir patted him on the back, trying to hold them back himself.

"What can we do?" Legolas asked, his voice trembling.

Gandalf was silent for a moment. "We have but one choice: to survive in this evil place until our time is over. The CCC Ball never fails." He paused. "We must take on these new identities." He held up his own card. "Our names are no longer known here."

"But Ga---," Aragorn's voice was muffled before he could finish saying the wizard's name.

"You see? We cannot even speak of our past. It is part of the spell."

And so it began. Gandalf became Mr. Isaac Grey, Aragorn was John Rauling, Boromir was Thomas Davies, and Gimli was Herbert Nerry. Legolas became Luke Greene, Merry was Nicholas Dane, Pippin was Peter Daniels, Sam was Mark Garnerre, and Frodo was Christopher Cory.

Finally, they were ready. Before they left the room, Gandalf turned to them.

"At the end of the day, we meet here. Watch for any ways of escape." He looked at Pippin. "Don't mess anything up."

As they filed slowly out the door, the group found the hall to be empty. There were more doors and more hallways in every direction. Every step was taken with precaution. Well, almost every step. Pippin was soon getting bored of simply walking endlessly though the halls, when he spied a bright red object on the wall. It read in smooth, white letters: PULL. He shrugged, and pulled it.

.

Four former hobbits, a former elf, and a principal sat in a small office with no windows and only one entrance.

"You do know why you gentlemen are here, don't you?" The older lady said slowly, eyeing them each suspiciously. "Pulling the fire alarm is a disturbance in schools and creates unwanted chaos and commotion, as well as consequences for those pranksters who think it a funny joke." She tapped her foot impatiently on the floor. "So who is it? We know it's one of you. We caught it all on tape and are giving the culprit one last chance before ---"

Legolas interrupted her, his face turning red with anger. "You have no right to threaten me, old woman! I am a prince of ---"

Frodo stood up quickly and stepped on the former elf's foot, coughing loudly to silence him. "We are sorry, my lady. It is just ---"

"My lady?" She stared at him. "Are you mocking me?"

Frodo hastily shook his head. "Oh no, I just...umm...I uhh...." He trailed off.

The principal sighed in exasperation. "All right. If none of you will confess, then all of you have detention until further notice." She began to stand until Pippin finally let his head fall into his hands, a sob escaping his throat.

"Fine. Fine! It was me!" He sniffled. "It's always me." He looked up. "It's not my fault! It said 'pull'! I was just following directions! For once I follow directions, and now it's all over!"

There was silence, while the principal stared in awe at the whimpering student before her. Never, in all her years in being principal, had she ever met such an odd group. First it was the prince, then the 'my lady', and now a student claiming he had pulled the fire alarm by following directions?

She was in the midst of pondering these questions when three men burst through the door, looking anxious and flushed.

"Are you the...leader here?" Gandalf asked, choosing his words carefully. He eyed the principal and found it odd that the teachers had directed him to a woman.

But she nodded, and paused before remembering something.

"Oh yes, are you the substitute teachers here? You are just in time --- we have temporary substitutes filling in at the moment." She smiled politely. "Could you wait just a moment before I have you signed in?" She coughed, looking down at the suddenly fidgety group of students before her. "I have some other matters to attend to."

Gandalf merely gaped at her until Merry suddenly blurted, "Them? Teachers? Yeah right!"

The principal looked at them incredulously. "How dare you be so disrespectful!" She had become angry now. "I want all your names! Now!"

They all stared at her in question until she finally scowled, "Well? Get out your IDs!"

"Oh yeah, those..." Sam muttered as they all fished into their pockets to retrieve their only just found plastic cards of identification.

When Pippin had gotten his out, he read hesitantly, "My name is...uhh...Peter Daniels." He paused, leaning over to see Frodo's card. "Is that how you pronounce it? I've never heard it before."

The principal gaped at them, not for the first time that day. Aragorn coughed, stirring her attention.

"We are actually here to uhh...excuse these...students..." He trailed off, attempting to find words that he couldn't say.

Gandalf interrupted him. "They are new here, as are we. I believe they have come from...very far away. Their culture is quite different."

The principal nodded, though still doubtful. She turned to a file cabinet and began looking through the papers.

"Well," she announced after a moment, "they seem to have no past records, so perhaps you are right." She turned back to the group. "But that does not mean you will be excused completely from the consequences. You will all serve a week's detention for your first period teacher."

She sighed as they simply sat there, waiting for her to finish, although she already had.

"Well? Do you not have your schedules then?"

They all shook their heads, and she sighed again. Beeping the call button to her secretary, she quickly asked for their schedules, which were promptly brought in and distributed.

As they filed out, she sighed in relief, shaking her head. She turned again to the file cabinet for the papers for the teachers, only to find that they too, had left. She sighed again before rushing to the door.

"Excuse me? Uh, excuse me!"

They all turned around in response, and she sighed. "Just - just the teachers please."

The students looked in question at the oldest looking teacher, and he muttered something to them. The students shrugged and kept walking until they reached the bathroom and went in.

Meanwhile, the principal, now impatient, handed the teachers their assigned classrooms. It wasn't long before they were each separated as a teacher led them to their appointed rooms. Gandalf stood uncertainly in front of a group of students, speechless for the first time in his life, while four former hobbits and a former elf decided to leave the bathroom and venture out into the macabre world of high school... A/N: Hehe...I had fun with this...can you tell? Oh yeah, and uh, sorry about the name changing [I tried to make them fit them! sniffles]...but you can't have an Aragorn walking around in school and you not notice, right?