Victor was in the canteen, having set up an impromptu party to celebrate his victory…before the game was even played! None of the other kids seemed to mind much that the game was scheduled for lunch time and he was already celebrating a little before 10AM, most of them were just there for the festivities. Victor was going around, shaking hands and taking selfies with 'fans' whether they really wanted them or not, while Monty just sat sulking in a corner. He noticed his friend wasn't enjoying himself and came over sitting down with him.
"Come on Monty, don't look so glum." He told him. "This is a party! Go get some appetisers and have a good time!"
"I don't feel much like partying." Monty said morosely.
"Is this still about that Viera girl?" Victor asked him. "Come on Monty, just ask her out for goodness sake!"
"That's easy for you to say!" Monty grumbled. "She…found the note."
"She did?" Victor asked. "That's perfect!"
"How is that perfect?" Monty asked him. "It's…it's humiliating it's…"
"Did you say anything in the note that wasn't true? That isn't what you really feel?" Victor asked him.
"Well…"
"Then at least she knows you're on the level." Victor told him. "So, she knows you think she's gorgeous, what girl wouldn't want to hear that?"
"One that thinks I'm a pathetic loser?" Monty asked him.
"Well, it didn't seem like she thought you were a pathetic loser when you had lunch with her that time." Victor reminded him. "In fact,…there she goes now. Why don't you go ask her now?"
"She's with her friends." Monty told him. "And…the music teacher…and also the shop teacher."
"So?" Victor asked him. "If it's numbers you're worried about, I'll go for moral support." Victor told him.
"But this is your party." Monty reminded him.
"What's more important than my best friend?" Victor asked him. "Come on Monty, let's go ask out your dream girl!"
They followed the group, seeing them head into the Shop Class, at which Monty just stopped for a moment to catch his breath.
"Just remember, forget the others, just stay on message." Victor encouraged him.
"Viera, will you go out with me. Viera, will you go out with me." Monty repeated a couple of times to get it straight in his head. "OK, I think I'm ready."
"Then let's go!" Victor said as they both headed into the Shop Class. They both looked around in confusion as they found the room completely empty.
"That's weird, I could have sworn I saw them come in here." Victor stated.
"Something like that happened the other day too." Monty told him. "I saw them go in, but then the room was empty!"
"It must be one of Preston's tricks." Victor replied with a shrug as they turned to leave, heading back out into the hall.
"But…what's the point?" Monty asked him. "There's no one else around to see the trick."
"How the hell would I know? That Preston kid's always been a weirdo." Victor said as Principal Hastings approached from the end of the corridor.
"Excuse me." She said, brushing past them. They saw her heading for the Shop Class and headed after her.
"Um…Principal Hastings, Mr Kanik isn't in right now." Victor told her. "We were just in here and…"
They both fell silent as they arrived in the Shop Class, finding Principal Hastings had also disappeared.
"That…just happened right?" Victor asked.
"I definitely saw Principal Hastings come in here." Monty agreed.
"Something really strange is going on here." Victor said, stroking his jaw. "And we are going to find out what."
Inside the Ranger base, Principal Hastings was standing beside Mick, her mouth hanging open as she observed the scene before her. She'd seen a number of strange and unusual things in her career. Kids seemed to have an unending talent for finding unique and unusual situations to find themselves in. However, this was beyond anything she had ever encountered.
Hayley was sitting on the table, but the only way anyone was able to tell was because at Mick's insistence, she was wearing Calvin's hoodie, an item of clothing that hadn't been hit when Preston's spell went off. It had confirmed that only Hayley and the clothes she was wearing at the time had been affected. Her cell phone was hovering in the air, and by the sounds of things Hayley was talking on the phone.
"Well…this is new." She commented. "So, let me go over this again to see if I have this right. Preston was practicing magic, REAL magic on school grounds."
"Yeah." Preston said rather uncomfortably. "I'm…not going to get detention, again am I? My dad flipped last time."
"How exactly do you expect me to write up a report for this?" She asked him.
"I…thought it would be best to tell you about this." Mick told her. "You know...because we thought…"
"Because although I have a whole hamper of lost and found clothes, you figured other students might just notice a headless student walking around." She replied, face-palming as she tried to make sense of the situation. "So, I guess first thing's first. Can we change her back?"
"I'm working on it, I'm working on it." Preston told her as he flipped through the spell book.
"Yes, mom that's right, I'm working on a school project and it's probably going to take most of the night." She said as she spoke on the phone. "We're all going to be working on it all night. Brody's agreed to let us stay at his place."
"Guys, I'll probably have this figured out if you give me…"
"We're erring on the side of caution." Mick interrupted Preston. He turned towards Principal Hastings. "Hayley obviously can't go to class like this…"
"Alright, so let me get this straight." She sighed. "You want me to lie to her parents, lie to each of her teachers to explain her absence and all the while make sure no one questions where she was at all."
"That's about the size of it yes." Mick said. Jennifer just smiled.
"You're lucky you are unbearably cute." She answered, taking his hand in her own. "You know you're going to have to make this up to me, right?"
"I look forward to it." Mick replied with a wry grin as she headed for the exit. He turned back to the Rangers who were all giving him knowing looks.
"If you could see my face, you'd see I have the biggest heart-eyes right now." Hayley stated.
"Ahem, well, yes. Back to the matter at hand." He stated. "Until we…and by that, I mean Preston…figures out that undo spell, there's really not much else we can do."
"So, Hayley and Preston just have to stay in here until Preston figures out the spell?" Calvin asked. "How long will that take?"
"Each of these chapters is preparation for the spell and the final part of the chapter is the spell itself. There are ten spells in the book…"
"That whole book is just TEN SPELLS?" Brody asked him. "It's bigger than most phone books!"
"Preparation and mental discipline are vitally important in magic." Viera told them. "Otherwise…you know…things like this happen."
"You're really not helping do you know that?" Preston huffed as he found the chapter. "Alright, I've got the beginning of the chapter, it's a couple of hundred pages but I should be able to get through it before…"
"Before lunch time?" Hayley asked him. "I've worked all year to beat Victor! I have to show up for this match!"
"Hayls, maybe…maybe you just have to let this one go." Calvin suggested.
"I've had to put up with knowing how badly I got beaten all year! I've been practicing so hard for this comeback!" She told him. "If I don't show up, I will NEVER hear the end of it! Victor will go around telling everyone I'm scared of him!"
"And the alternative is you have to explain why people can only see a floating tennis racket." Mick reminded her. "I'm with Calvin on this one I'm afraid."
"Guys, I'll read the chapter!" Preston assured them. "I'll be able to cast the spell."
"Alright, in the meantime that is the bell!" Mick said, hearing the bell ringing. "The good news is, all of you have Shop Class, so you don't have far to go!"
As the others left, Preston started to get to work on reading the chapter.
"Man, this guy really was all about prep work." Preston sighed. "Don't worry Hayley, I can read pretty quickly."
"Well, you better." Hayley grumbled. "Because if you don't fix this, you'll never see me coming!"
Preston just gulped and got back to reading.
A little while later, in the middle of Shop Class, the students were working on various projects for extra credit. Victor and Monty's idea, as per usual, was more of a get-rich-quick scheme than just a project. Victor had taken Monty out on the beach with a metal detector a few times to look for valuables. It was a hobby he had picked up from one of his dad's old military friends who had been a minesweeper, but after a few visits, Monty had started to notice that the whole process seemed a little inefficient for his liking. After finding metal objects, they still had to dig them out of the sand, which sometimes took a fair amount of time, depending on the size of what had been found and how deeply it was buried. That was when Monty suggested the idea of combining a metal detector with a powerful magnet!
"You know, we could try using a Master Magnet." Monty suggested. "By using AC, it could attract not only ferrous, but also non-ferrous metals."
"None of the main windows open in here." Victor said as he looked around the room. "Only the top ones do and they're way too small for anyone to climb out of."
"Victor, can we concentrate on this?" Monty insisted.
"The alarm would have gone off if they'd gone through the emergency exit." Victor said, scratching his head. "They must have all gone out the roller door into the yard."
"The roller door was closed when we came in." Monty reminded him. "It'd have taken too long to close and we'd have heard it."
"The paint room!" Victor concluded. "The must have went into the paint room!"
"The paint room's been closed since we blew it up." Monty reminded him. "Besides, why would they want to go into the paint room? It's not like there's anything in there other than what's left of the compressor. Besides, the chain on the door is still there."
"Darn it, they're up to something I just know it!" Victor stated. "Everything weird that happens around here happens around them have you noticed that?"
"Weird stuff happens to everyone around this city." Monty reminded him, before getting a love-struck look on his face. "Except for her!"
"My good man, you have got it bad!" Victor replied with a smile. "Tell you what? How about you ask her out at the game?"
"At the game?" Monty asked him.
"Of course!" Victor answered. "What better chance to ask her than when everyone else is paying attention to me!"
"You know…you have a good point there." Monty said with a little smile. "I…I think I can do it!"
"I believe I you my man!" He replied, clapping him on the back. "Alright, now how do we build one of those magnet things you were talking about?"
Later in the day, coming towards lunchtime, Preston was just about finishing up the chapter. He wasn't taking any chances with the spell this time. This time he wanted to go through the whole chapter to get every detail right. It wasn't the first time that he had messed up a spell, but it was to date the worst mishap he'd had. It was only made worse by the fact it was one of his friends that had gotten hit. If he had turned himself invisible and it was only him that was put out, he would have been able to take that, but since someone else had to deal with the consequences, that just made it worse. Hayley hadn't even spoken to him now for about half an hour.
He rubbed his eyes as he tried to relieve the tiredness. Preston was a prolific reader and he was also pretty quick, but it seemed the sorcerer who wrote the grimoires did not believe in truncating instructions. The entire book was larger than most phone books and he'd already read far enough ahead to know it only contained ten spells. Each spell was a chapter in and of itself which was hundreds of pages long, and he was trying to get through the chapter for the undo spell before lunchtime!
"Alright, I think I have it now." Preston said, looking around as he took up the wand. "Right, so just a quick practice, the motion is a little like this…up, down, over the shoulder and point. Right, got it."
He looked over to the bench where Hayley was sitting and he gulped as he squared up to her.
"Alright, I'm really, really sorry about all of this, but this should only take a minute." Preston said as he stretched out his neck and rolled his shoulders. "Alright, here goes nothing. Cigam Odnu!"
He watched as nothing happened. He checked his wand, and performed the motion again.
"Cigam Odnu!" He uttered again. He could feel power in his wand and in his hand, but he couldn't see anything happening. He just sighed and growled in frustration, kicking a table and painfully stubbing his toe.
"I'm so sorry Hayley, I thought I had it!" He complained, putting the wand down on the table and shaking his head. "I…I don't know what I'm doing wrong!"
He didn't get an answer. He turned around and looked to the bench.
"Hayley, I know you're mad, but I'm trying I promise I really am!" Preston assured her. He still didn't get an answer. "Hayley, please talk to me."
He became concerned when he still didn't get an answer. He was sure that Hayley was angry, and quite understandably so, but without her talking to him he was quite literally blind as to how she was feeling. It wasn't like he could see the look on her face.
"Hayley, please talk to me!" Preston begged her. "Swear at me, yell at me…hell, hit me if you have to! Just…please, do something."
Still no response. Preston approached the bench, wondering if perhaps while she was waiting Hayley had maybe taken a nap.
"Hayley?" He asked, going to the bench and reaching out a hand, slowly and gently. He kept it low and went to the end of the bench so that he didn't accidentally touch anything that would create an awkward moment in their friendship. He panned his hand around trying to find her. When he still couldn't, he started to explore more frantically, sweeping his hands around all over the bench.
"HAYLEY!" He called out. "Oh…that's not good!" Just then, he heard the lunch bell ringing.
"She wouldn't…would she?" Preston asked.
As the lunch bell rang, people started to file out of the school, heading for the tennis court. Even kids that didn't really care about tennis were filing into the area. So many remembered Hayley's embarrassing performance the previous year that many wanted to see if they would get a repeat performance. Others wanted to see if Victor would get knocked down a peg or two and throw another tantrum if he didn't get his fiftieth trophy like he wanted. There were even some starting to take bets, though they were being careful not to get noticed by the teachers.
Mick was with Principal Hastings just inside the school as she prepared. He just looked to her.
"I don't understand, why can't you just cancel the game?" He asked her.
"If I do people will ask why." She reminded him. "This way, at least we can say Hayley forfeited the game and no one will think the school had anything to do with the game not going ahead."
"But instead Hayley looks like she chickened out." Mick reminded her. Principal Hastings just sighed.
"It's not ideal, I know that but it's all I've got." She answered. "Look, if another kid challenges, we can play the match. Believe me, NOTHING would give me greater pleasure than seeing that blowhard throw another tantrum, but if he's the only one competing then he's kind of entitled to the title as the defending champion."
"I suppose there were always going to be sacrifices." Mick agreed. "I guess Hayley just has to put up with a little hit to her reputation."
"Alright, then here we go." She said, before stopping for a moment. Reaching behind his head, she pulled him in, kissing him softly. "For luck."
"Glad to be of help." Mick said with a grin as they headed out to the court. Mick found the others and sat with them, while Jennifer headed out to the court, where Victor was already warming up. She rolled her eyes seeing him gazing longingly at the trophy that she would soon have no choice but to give him.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Summer Cove High Championship Tennis Match." She announced to the crowd as she forced a smile. She saw no sign of Hayley, so she didn't feel like there was going to be a last-minute save. "Last year's champion, Victor Vincent will play…Hayley Foster!"
The crowd started to look around, unable to see Hayley. All but the Rangers and Viera who knew that she wasn't likely to show up.
"Hayley Foster?" She called again. There was a murmur from the crowd, one or two were even starting to cluck like chickens. Principal Hastings hated having to do this to Hayley, but there wasn't really any other way. "Alright, are there any other challengers?"
"It doesn't look like it." Victor stated, giving the principal a toothy grin. "We all know what that means."
"Alright, then without further ado, I have no choice but to award this trophy to…"
"WAIT!" Hayley called out.
"Hayley?" Sarah asked. "Did Preston manage to…"
"Oh my God!" Levi gasped.
"This is…such a bad idea." Mick commented. Coming onto the court, they could see Hayley, or at very least what they could only ASSUME was Hayley. She was wearing coveralls, leather gauntlets and a welding helmet from Mick's workshop, covering her from head to toe. They all knew how desperate she was to take part in the game, but was she really desperate enough to try and play like that?
"Hayley?" Principal Hastings asked. Hayley just nodded her head.
"The school doesn't have a dress code for tennis." She stated. "I could play wearing a catsuit if I wanted."
"Um…alright." She conceded, not really seeing a way to get out of this. Hayley just took her place on the court.
"What are you wearing? Is that…is that protective wear?" He asked her. "Oh, you're going to need it today, because I'm bringing the heat!"
"You talk a good game, let's see if you play a good game!" She said, taking up her stance. Victor wound up a serve and drove it home, sending it whistling straight past her. One of the big drawbacks of the welding helmet was that she didn't have a wide field of vision. Hayley cursed herself as she set up again. Since she couldn't see the ball very well, she had to concentrate on Victor and take her cues from him where he was going to serve the ball. The second serve came quickly and she was able to return it, but as he fired it back, she dropped another point.
"We can end this embarrassment any time you want." Victor told her.
"Just shut up and serve!" She snapped.
"Alright, but the next one is going to be a screamer!" Victor warned her. He threw the ball up and fired off a huge, serve which came straight for her. In fact, it quite literally hit right between her eyes, knocking her head backwards. She threw down her racket in a fit of temper.
"What the HELL!" She screamed. "You almost took my head off!"
It was then that she noticed Victor was standing, staring at her, pointing and mouthing incoherently. Looking around, everyone was staring at her. Then she realised, her vision wasn't tinted…the helmet! She reached up, realising that Victor had knocked her welding helmet off her head! It was now clear why everyone was staring, they were watching a headless student walking around!
There was a puff of smoke and Preston appeared right next to her.
"Aha! Another mystical feat from the amazing Presto Chango!" Preston said, striking a pose. Hayley took her cue from him and copied the pose. Principal Hastings came over to them, whispering.
"You two are REALLY not making my job easy!" She whispered to them. "Unacceptable! You're clearly trying to distract Victor with your magic! I'm sorry Hayley but you're disqualified!"
Hayley and Preston couldn't argue, they both knew that Principal Hastings was doing her best to cover their asses in front of an audience who likely had a hell of a lot of questions! Victor just went to the edge of the court where his bag was, along with the trophy. He started pointing to it, at which Principal Hastings rolled her eyes and came across. Reluctantly, she picked it up.
"Your winner, still champion, and now new school record holder for most trophies, Victor Vincent!" She announced as she handed it over to him. Victor smiled and waved for the crowd.
"Thank you, Hayley, that was an entertaining game." He said, picking up his bag. "Now, I have some classes to get to."
As he picked up his bag though, something fell out. Victor looked at it curiously as Principal Hastings bent down to pick it up. She looked to it and her mouth hung open as she showed him it was a clear bag. Inside there was a syringe and a vial of some kind of chemical.
"Somatotropin." She read off the side of the vial. "This is human growth hormone."
"I've…I've never seen that before in my life!" Victor stammered out.
"Victor, this came out of your bag." She stated.
"I swear I have no idea where that came from!" Victor pleaded with her.
"Victor, go to my office!" She said in a low, cold tone, ripping the trophy away from him.
"But that isn't mine!" He yelled. "You can't take my trophy I won that fair and square!"
"You really do have no idea how much trouble you're in do you?" She asked him in disbelief, pointing again. "Go and wait in my office NOW!"
Levi came across, taking Victor by the arm and leading him away.
"But it's not mine!" Victor protested again.
"Victor, you have a right to remain silent." Levi said to him. "Given the amount of trouble you're in, if I were you, I'd exercise that right until your parents get here."