AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, this is Lord Of The Rings. Honest. Just be patient.

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Prologue

"ARRG!" Jessica growled. How she hated C-SAP's. The 'Colorado Student Assessment Program' Which was a state requirement, right this week, it was being held in her home town of Colorado Springs. It was near the end of her sophomore year, and it had been horrible.

Her younger brother, Jason, had been sent porn from a friend. Unfortunately for Jessica, he had opened it right in front of their seven year old sister, Faith. Being a normal little sister, she immediately told their mother, who automatically pulled them out of their public schools and made them do an online school, and put strict parent control units on all of the computers

Jessica, who was the oldest of three children, did nothing to deserve this insufferable school. She hated this school with a fiery passion; A passion that would never die. There always seemed to be too much work for someone to do in just a week, and that meant that it cut off most of her weekends. It also meant she could do nothing…fun.

It had been like this since the beginning of this school year, and stayed that way.

During a math workshop that she was forced into last semester, she had made two dear friends, Jake and Paige. It seemed like they talked on-line, day and night. They always helped each other. Always. They suffered together, and now through the annual C-SAP. They were best friends.

"I hate C-SAP's," Jessica moaned

Jake sighed and put his ball cap on while the teacher wasn't looking. "I know, I do to. I just know I failed it!" He was pretty tall and gangly looking, and was always wearing that ugly cap of his. He had light brown hair, that had bleach blond tips to it.

"Me, too!" chimed in Paige as she put a tie in her blond hair having noticed the cute guy three rows ahead of them kept looking back at them.

"How were your tests? Paige, was yours any easier than ours?" Jessica asked.

Paige looked at her in disbelief. "I doubt it."

Paige was just a grade behind her friends, and had the same problems they did. The teachers had divided up the classes into different rooms, meaning they put ninth and tenth grades together because they were the two smallest classes of the year.

Jessica flipped her long curly brunette hair, causing Jake to roll his eyes. He had noticed the guy that was looking at the girls and found their flirtations to be absolutely ridiculous. "Jake, how is that comedy book you're reading?" she asked.

"Fine. It's kind of like that movie 'Christmas With the Kranks' that came out a couple of years ago."

Jessica batted her long eyelashes at the guy who was looking at her. "I think I will read that next."

Paige started giggling. Her friends followed her gaze, seeing that she had finally caught the guy's eye. He was giving her a half smile and then winked, making her giggle all the more.

Jessica looked at Jake, seeing a look of utter disgust on his face. She almost fell out of her chair, laughing.

The annoyed Paige dragged the still laughing Jessica towards the bathroom. When they got arrived, Paige crossed her arms and tapped her foot, glaring at Jessica and giving her look that clearly said, "Well?" She received a cheeky grin in reply. Her eyes narrowed even more and her friend finally gave in upon receiving the "death glare of doom."

"It's Jake's fault. You should've seen his face when you were flirting with that guy who kept looking at us!" Jessica snorted at the memory.

Paige thought for a minute and then an evil grin spread across her face, "Maybe he was jealous. Let's get payback for embarrassing me, by flirting with him!"

They left the bathroom with a wide smile plastered across their faces. When they walked back into the room, Jessica whispered, "Let the fun begin!" They went on to sit on either side of Jake. Jessica put one arm around him and put her hand on his knee. Paige forced his arm over her shoulders and pressed herself against him, laying her head on his shoulder and drawing invisible circles on his chest with her finger. He shifted uncomfortably for a minute before finally breaking the silence. "Umm…what are you doing?"

After a couple of minutes, the girls became bored with their prank. Then Jessica's stomach replied, causing the girls to giggle. "I saw a McDonalds down the street," she said. "Let's feed my stomach before it starts making louder demands." Her friend's laughed. There were times when her stomach sounded as if it were scolding someone.

The trio walked into the fast food restaurant, and ordered. Jessica wanted to sit at a window seat, so she could watch the sky. She was fascinated with the clouds that were brewing so thickly overhead. Then she realized she had the new digital camera that her father bought in her over-sized purse.

"Come on, guys! I wanna take some pics outside!" Pictures were always rather interesting when taken at the edge of a weather front.

Jake mumbled something that sounded like, "Unn Ommeenn eeen oo ann."

Jessica looked at Paige for a translation, which was apparently, "He said, 'One moment, then you can.'" She raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. "You can come out when you're done stuffing your face," she suggested with a grin.

"I'll go with you," piped up Paige, and left before Jake could swallow his food.

Once outside, Paige pointed pretty scenes out for her friend to photograph. Jessica made sure to take at least a couple of pictures of Pikes Peak. Despite the many disadvantages that Colorado Springs had, the mountain overlooking it was not one of them.

Just then, Jake burst out of the resturant looking exteremely annoyed.

Jessica and Paige just smiled innocently. He crossed his arms, and Paige gave him her renowned puppy dog look, lip and everything. He rolled his eyes then smiled. Jessica felt happy, she was always happy when she was with her friends. They each had tough lives, and yet somehow lived through them. She sighed contently, I wish that we could go elsewhere. To a more simple world, without having to worry about school or their siblings.

Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the three, killing the trio istantly.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please remember, this is an AU Lord of the Rings and is only the Prologue. More chapters to follow.