A/N: Thank you so much to those who had reviewed on my story so far! Please feel free to tell me how you think about this chapter, too!

Fern had no idea what was going on.

Caine was running around Coates like a madman, throwing orders at people and dissing them even if they did so much as move a finger before he could finish talking. Everyone was running and some of the kids were yelling, but Fern didn't understand the reason for any of this.

Diana was somewhat following Caine as he ran around like his rear was on fire, but his weird, frazzled pace was far too quick for Diana⎯ who usually moved at a saunter⎯ to keep up. So instead Diana had just gone up to kids every once in awhile and stared or laughed or make a stupid, snarky comment about something that the kid was being forced to do until she found Caine again. Of course, Diana wasn't the one that had to do the work. And of course, Caine didn't care.

Eventually, Fern got tired of seeing all the sad faces and the little kids who were on the verge of tears, so she walked up to each one and said something little like, 'good job' or 'you're doing good.' Sometimes she would even help with whatever 'chore' Caine had assigned them. Some of those things would included mixing wet cement inside of a giant wheel barrel (Fern had no idea what it was for, but she helped anyway) or washing extremely expensive cars.

The kids seemed to all glow a little brighter when Fern was around.

But Fern couldn't keep encouraging kids and helping them with whatever duty Caine had tasked them with. She had a duty of her own to fulfill. A stupid duty, really.

Fern sat on a rusty bench that was painted red and had thin, yellow cursive words reading 'Coates Academy' strung across the back. Fern thought it looked kind of hideous, but maybe that was why the bench was stuffed away behind the school⎯ a place no one ever really looked.

Caine had told Fern, "Your job is to open your mind and to dig deep when you're needed," exactly word-for-word. That was Fern's task.

What's that supposed to mean?

Fern cracked her knuckles and then laid her back against the bench. She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, her fingers wrapping around the yellow fabric and just then she remembered she didn't like this shirt. The shirt wasn't green.

Fern wanted to hang out with Jasmine right now, because Jasmine was Fern's best friend and they knew each other way before all this crazy stuff had happened. But Jasmine had to patrol the front gate to the school to make sure no people from Perdido Beach came in. But it's not like Fern cared if they came in, the Perdido Beach kids, and placed a nuclear bomb on the top of the school anyway. In fact, it would probably just be a relief. Because maybe, just maybe, she'll be able to get out of this school of crazies and be free to do whatever she wanted without someone breathing down her neck every waking second.

Fern turned her head slightly to the left.

She heard a quiet thump.

"YOU IDIOT! I TOLD YOU TO PUSH THE BRAKE PEDAL! NOT THE GAS!"

Fern was taken by surprise when she heard loud yelling and quickly stood up, running around the outside of the school to get a better look. Once she came to the front of the school, she could see many people standing in the parking lot and many of those kids were hopping into the cars that had sat vacant since the disappearance of the adults. Were they driving?

From where Fern was standing, she could clearly see a very, very infuriated Drake and many kids that looked up at him with beyond scared expressions.

Fern sighed.

Drake started yelling again, but Fern couldn't hear him anymore because he was quieter than before. Drake then moved closer to a kid who sat in the driver seat of a black car, and talked to him slowly and softly, which Fern guessed was not a good sign based on his odd smile and wide eyes.

Fern stepped out from her little spot she was viewing from, and made her way over to the parking lot, walking relatively slow.

No one in the parking lot noticed Fern⎯ the girl with fluffy, dark blonde hair and hazel eyes⎯ as she walked towards them. But after a while, when Fern was only thirteen feet away from the crowd of kids, a few smiles started to flicker onto the faces of the children, like smiling was some type of contagious disease.

For someone reason, Fern couldn't help but think she was some sort of celebrity.

One by one, all the kids in the parking lot fixed their eyes on Fern, many of them happy that there was someone else there that could possibly defeat Drake if it had come down to a fight.

"Drake," Fern said serenely, her arms crossed over her chest loosely. She was only an arms length away from Drake and, well, she wasn't getting any closer than that.

Drake turned around⎯ no, more like, he whipped his head violently in the direction of Fern⎯ and glared at her with his cold, lifeless, grey eyes.

"What?" He hissed.

Fern cocked her head to the left and picked at the lint stuck to her yellow shirt. For some reason, Fern couldn't help but notice the disbelief looks on the kid's faces. Why that face?

"What are you doing to all the kids?" Fern questioned Drake, flashing a quick smile at a kid in the parking lot who was staring intensely at her.

"What do you think? I'm teaching them to drive, idiot."

"By screaming at them?" Fern looked at the children and kind of raised an eyebrow, as if she were asking them did he actually scream at you?

The kids nodded their heads yes.

Drake saw and he let out an inhuman animal growl. Everyone seemed to take a step back.

"Fine," Drake snapped. "If I'm doing such a terrible job teaching them to drive, then you can teach those idiots yourself."

Drake stepped closer and closer and closer to Fern until he couldn't move one step more.

Suddenly, a little alarm in Fern's head went off saying arms length away, arms length away, Drake.

But she managed to keep a straight, unperturbed face as Drake talked in a very eerie voice.

"Just so you know," he started. "If you can't teach these suckers how to drive, you're dead to Caine."

Fern rolled her eyes and then pushed her way passed Drake, realizing he was much sturdier than she thought.

Suddenly a very, very strong hand wrapped itself around Fern's bicep, stopping her midstep. The hand pulled her backwards, nearly knocking her off her feet, but he held her in place so he could finish talking.

"You think I'm joking? If you can't teach those little snowflakes how to drive by the time we go to Perdido Beach, Caine isn't cutting you slack anymore. He's gonna get rid of you, like a piece of garbage." Drake smirked.

The sides of Fern's mouth turned down into the shape of a frown. "Wait. . . . We're going to Perdido Beach?"

Drake seemed to stand a little taller. "I guess Caine didn't tell his faithful pet everything."

The kids standing in the parking lot stared at Drake and Fern like they were a movie, a movie that they were watching but they had no idea what was actually happening at all.

The boy sitting inside of a black car⎯a very expensive one by the look of it⎯was sitting in the parking lot, waiting for his turn to be "taught" by Drake. But with one look at Drake, it seemed he wasn't going to be taught by him. Maybe Fern instead? Fern was much nicer.

The boy relaxed in his seat and called down to his twin sister, who was standing just outside the car.

"What?" His sister called back, her voice high and squeaky.

"D-do you think it's possible that Sam Temple can save us?"

By now, everyone in Coates Academy had heard about the amazing Sam Temple and how brave and selfless he was. Some of the Coates kids⎯though they would never tell this to Caine or even Drake⎯had some hope that if there were a fight to spike up between Caine and Sam, Sam would win.

The boy's sister glanced up at her brother with eyes that were filled with sadness. "I doubt it," She said.

A/N: Please feel free to tell me how to feel about my story so far!