Barry Jun (Rowlets and Oshawotts)
Simon Colon (Singofffan)
Markus "Mark" Watson (CDW)
Janet Hill (CDW)
Wendell Adams (CDW)
Matthew Kazan (Pikamatthew)
Thank you to all who have or will submit an OC to this story! Let's get it started!
Gavin's POV
Hi there! Although me and my friends will all be cycling through telling this story, I got the honor of starting it. Hopefully I won't mess it up too badly.
(Muffled noises in the background)
Zoe! You're supposed to be encouraging, not confirming my doubts! Ugh, sorry about that. Alright, so this story is going to be pretty unbelievable. In fact, I have a hard time believing it myself sometimes. But I'll tell it all the same.
First, let's establish our setting. It all started in an unremarkable city that you won't ever see on a map. More specifically, it started at a school known as Perrington Elementary High.
I don't know if the first principal was crazy or what, but that's the name of our high school. We've already heard all the jokes, so please spare us. But believe it or not, that's one of the least weird things about this school.
Let's start with the principal, Mr. Billy Joe Bob Smith. Every year, the principal changes, but his name is always Mr. Billy Joe Bob Smith. None of them look the same, but they're always named that. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the wall of pictures in the hall leading to his office. Every principal all the way back to 1799 is named Mr. Billy Joe Bob Smith.
The rich and fascinating story behind these identically-named teachers could fill its own book. But that's not this one. Our adventure was even crazier and more fascinating than that.
Next, if you ever pay a visit to Perrington Elementary, don't EVER open the thirteenth door. Doesn't matter which one it is - don't open a school door for a thirteenth time. Otherwise, you'll disappear mysteriously never to be seen again.
Naturally, this means the entire school has been infected with the superstition that thirteen is an unlucky number. No other combination of thirteen has been proven to be extra unlucky, but it's a rampant superstition all the same.
Thirdly, our sports team, the Perrington Elementary Pigeons, have a perfect win record. Now, this might not sound as weird as some of the other things, but just wait for my elaboration.
One, the team has a perfect win record at every single sport we participate in. Doesn't matter if it's soccer, football, basketball, baseball, tennis, figure-skating, or even creepy-puppet-strangling, we've won every game. And the team members stay the same no matter what sport it is, which if you think about it makes no sense. No one's good at everything!
Two, the team says it's our coach, Mr. Vernon, who lead them to victory. He's a mysterious fellow; no one's ever seen him around town, and he has no background from before he became coach as far as I've seen. Also, he never seems to age at all. He looks twenty-one, yet according to school records he's been coach for forty-two years. Very mysterious.
Three, whenever he's around, no one ever seems to get tired and can do things they'd normally never be able to on their own. I for one am not really strong enough to even choke a creepy puppet, yet somehow when he was near me I successfully strangled one to death! I don't know if it's his fantastic charisma or what, but something seems off about the whole thing.
Anyways, I could go on and on all day about the weirdness of our school, but I have a story to tell. I'd say it all started when we met our new arts teacher...(-o-)
I had only just arrived at school that day. I was just chilling by the lockers and chatting with my best friend, Simon, when suddenly the intercom buzzed on, and the voice of Mr. Billy Joe Bob Smith was heard.
"-and I'd like three Hawaiian pizzas with extra toppings! Be sure to "ham" it up with the meat, heh heh! Bye! Oh shoot, I sat on the intercom button!".
There was an awkward silence. Then he muttered, "At least I had an important announcement to make anyways." He cleared his throat, and declared, "Ahem! Students of Perrington Elementary, I have an important announcement to make! As I'm certain you all know, our wonderful arts teacher Mrs. Faraday has been expecting a child for nine months. This morning, she called me to let me know that she has gone into labor and will be on maternity leave for the rest of the school year. First, a round of applause for her new baby!"
Everyone, including me, burst into clapping. There was a loud "Woot woot!" from a boy named Eddie Cooper, renowned for his comedy and impressive achievements.
Once the applause died down, Mr. Billy Joe Bob Smith grumbled, "Ouch. Stupid hearing aid. Anyways, as you all know the arts class is our most important subject, so I wasted no time in finding a suitable replacement for the remaining week of this semester! And indeed, I do believe she is satisfactory. You'll meet her soon enough, once you all GET TO CLASS! That's all for now, Billy Joe Bob out."
The intercom shut off. Simon glanced over at me, and said, "Well, arts class is our first class. Shall we meet our new teacher?"
I shrugged. "Give me a second to get my creative project. I don't know if she's accepting submissions since she only just got the job, but no harm in being prepared, right? I'll catch up with you in a second."
Simon replied, "Sure, no problem."
He started walking off towards the class. I put in the combination of my locker backwards, and opened it up. I pulled out a stack of papers neatly stapled together, then hurried to the classroom.
I recognized several people as I ran along. Last year, two senior students had conducted a rather interesting survey for their science fair project. They had declared that they were trying to identify "Pokemon nerds", and came up with a description for them. According to their description, a Pokemon nerd was someone who would: willingly cosplay as a Pokemon on a daily basis; carried at least one thing related to the games around; and could name at least 151 Pokemon when asked to on the spot.
Among several others, Simon, my seven siblings, and I had all been deemed Pokemon nerds. The two students went on to win first prize for their dedication and/or bribery of Miss Genius with copious amounts of chocolate.
I could see several of said "Pokemon nerds" as I raced down the halls, and I smiled slightly at the knowledge of their existence. Then I reached the end of the hallway, and opened the door to the arts classroom. Mentally, I marked it off as the second school door I had opened today.
Now, I did not know what I was expecting our new teacher to look like. But it certainly was not who I saw when I entered the classroom.
She was rather short, only about four and three-quarters feet tall. She had sparkling blue eyes that had a hint of mischief in them, which I had only seen so far in Eddie Cooper and the school prankster, Zoe Shade. Her hair was unnaturally smooth and was styled into a ponytail that reached all the way to her ankles. Oh, and it was dyed bright pink.
She currently wore a blue shirt with the slogan "It's nice to meet Mew!", with a winking Mew beside it. Although the pun was awful, I was happy to see that our new teacher was also a Pokemon fan.
As I made my way to my desk, the teacher smiled and said, "I'm glad to see everyone's here on time! My name is Miss Melody, and I'll be your substitute teacher for the rest of the school year!"
I sat down at my desk, which was in-between Simon's and my sister Brianna's. Brianna smirked at me, as if reminding me I'd very nearly been late.
Brianna was seventeen, same as me. Like literally every two kids in my family, she and I were twins. We both had hazel-colored eyes and long hair, but hers was black and mine was dark brown. Today she was wearing her favorite shirt, an Umbreon one she'd made herself. It had the words "I am watching from the shadows." written on it, and the Umbreon seemed to be staring fiercely into your soul. Unnerving, but that was just the way it was with her.
We were both wearing a silver star necklace. They were one of our most precious possessions, and all of my siblings wore one. I fiddled with mine unconsciously, waiting to see what Miss Melody was going to do next.
Miss Melody said, "Now, Mr. Billy Joe Bob Smith told me that you all had a creative project assignment due today. If you would like to turn it in, I am very curious to see what you did."
One by one, my classmates turned in their various projects. Some had made paintings, or had cooked a recipe of their own, or had written a short story. One student had made a how-to guide on the best ways to strangle a creepy puppet.
Simon turned in a collage featuring pictures of him and his beloved Black Labrador, Kipper. I smiled, remembering how I has helped him with some of those. Kipper was a really friendly dog.
Brianna turned in a hand-knitted scarf, which had been made to look like an Ekans. I did not feel that my project was nearly as unique, but I turned in a short story I had written myself. I was a writer by trade; every project I had ever done was a story of some kind.
Once all the projects had been turned in, Miss Melody smiled at us. "These all look really good! I'm anticipating high results all around!"
Everybody looked happy about that.
"Now then...", said Miss Melody, "For my one week here, I will do my best to try to create all sorts of fun moments. After lunch, you can expect to see some forms on the bulletin board, related to various extracurricular clubs and summer activities. I hope you will enjoy them!"
I was rather curious to see what they would be. Judging by the looks on my classmates' faces, so were they.
"Since we've got a full forty-three minutes until class is over, I think it would be a good idea to do some games. Let's see what we can do!", declared Miss Melody. (-o-)
As we left the class, Simon said, "I had no idea that this would be today's class."
"Me neither.", I replied, "I wish I would have known we'd end up doing a Pokemon battle tournament. I was totally not prepared for that."
Eddie did a little jig near us. "She's my new favorite teacher!", he declared, "I can't wait to show her my disco-shoe trick!"
That was one of his most famous moves. His shoes would magically light up and play music, and he'd do a fully-fledged breakdance act. That had won him the talent show a few years back.
"Yeah, uh, she'll certainly be impressed.", I said, and speedwalked as fast as I could away from Eddie. He was a bit too odd for my tastes.
Since I was looking behind me to make sure he wasn't attempting to follow me, I ran right into a tall thick surface. I looked up and shuddered.
Standing in front of me was a four-feet wide, seven-feet tall man. His face was completely covered by his thick messy gray hair and beard, which reached all the way to his waist. He wore a dark muddy blue uniform and humongous black boots, and he stood there looking down at me. In his meaty hairy arms was a large mop.
Backing away carefully with my hands raised, I stammered, "Uh, uh, hi, Mr. Janitor. Didn't see you there."
"Murrrrp.", he grunted. He strode past me, and continued mopping.
Shuddering from my close encounter with the Janitor, I prepared to head towards the English class. But as I headed there, I spotted a tall girl from my class looking snootily at a boy wearing a blue shirt (featuring all the water starters from Squirtle to Popplio), blue pants, and a thick blue scarf. He also had dark blue hair, blue-tinted sunglasses, and blue eyes behind them.
As for the girl? She was wearing a black polo shirt (with two pens stuck purposefully into its pocket to attempt a smart, bookish look) and a black-and-yellow striped skirt. She had a Pikachu headband and false tail on, but still managed to look scary. Her long black hair was smooth and shiny via expensive hair products, and her green eyes looked haughty and distant. Slung over her shoulder was a black leather handbag.
"What kind of an outfit is that?", she stated, a hint of rudeness in her voice, "You look like a giant blue stain. It's not even winter, what's the point of that scarf?"
The boy, who could scarcely be sixteen, shuddered and seemed kind of scared by the girl. "I like it.", he whispered, looking like a cornered animal.
"Well, it looks kinda dumb. Maybe we should call you Blue from now on. You certainly look it.", the girl stated.
I didn't want to let this just happen, so I strode over, saying, "That's enough, Janet. It's bad enough when you pick on people your own age."
Janet glared at me. "Well well, if it isn't little Mr. Genius. You should know that I can say what I like, "free speech", and all that."
"You still shouldn't talk so rudely to random people. Can't you see how hurt you made this kid?", I replied.
Janet gave a haughty "Hmph!" Then she strode off, saying, "As you insist, wise guy. But remember: my parents are FAR more important and rich than yours."
Once she was gone, I checked to make sure the kid was okay. "Sorry you had to deal with that. I don't know what is up with Janet, but for some reason she seems to think that because she's rich she can do whatever she likes."
The kid seemed to smile, although his mouth was hidden by his scarf. "Thank you for helping me out."
"No problem.", I replied, "What's your name?"
"Um...Markus. Most people call me Mark.", he answered.
"Nice to meet you, Mark. My name's Gavin.", I replied.
"Hey!"
I turned to see Simon hurrying over to me. "Looks like Janet was at it again.", he said, "Who's this kid?"
I introduced the two of them, but before we could talk further, the bell rang.
"Ack, got to hurry to math class.", I said, "See you later?"
Markus nodded. "Yup."
Simon and I then hurried to class, not eager to risk being late and angering Mrs. Crabb. (-o-)