Present 23: TRENT


Six…

Seven…

Eight…

"Nine!" Trent declared happily as he finally pressed the talk button on the handheld phone. Smiling he answered it. "Hey this is Trent-"

TRENT!!!! Trent! It's me!!! GEOFF!!!!

Geoff's sudden yell on the other end caused the dark haired musician to loose his grip on the phone. Desperately Trent lunged for the black device which to his dismay was now like butter in his hands.

Trent? Trent? You there man?

"Yeah…hold on!" The musician yelled out as he juggled the slippery phone in his hands. Finally after several attempts the elusive device landed in his hands. Trent gripped it tight as he responded.

"Hey...Sorry about that man…lost my grip on the phone there." Geoff laughed on his side and Trent smiled. "I take this is about whether or not I received homeschool's package or not."

So did you get it?

Absently the dark haired male studied his cookie cutter and smiled. "Yeah…brown box with green trees and metal musician Trent is sitting down and holding a guitar in his lap." Trent paused and picked up the letter again reading it aloud.

Two plates. One foor the person I met on the island and the other to share with friends and family eh.

Happy Holidays, Trent

Ezekiel

So that's it? Just the standard Ezekiel thank you letter? Nothing else?

Trent raised an eyebrow. "Uhh…yeah pretty much." The dark haired male quickly moved the phone away from his ear at the sound of the Geoff's scream.

OH COME ON!!!!!

The raven haired male chuckled. "What were you expecting? A phone number? An address? An invitation to visit his house?" Trent shook his head. "This is Ezekiel we're talking about here."

I know. I know. And now that I know more about the real him…well almost all that stuff that happened to the Zeke dude was heavily uncalled for.

"You think?!" Trent scowled. "Gwen, LeShawna and Harold filled me in on the COB book on the ride home. Or should I say Ezekiel's diary! And you guys should be ashamed!"

Which is why we need to find Homeschool! We HAVE to make this RIGHT. And the only way to do this is to connect all the dots! Miss a few dots and the picture comes out all weird and lopsided.

Trent let out an amused snort before responding. "Uhh…correct me if I'm wrong, but out of the 8 weeks Ezekiel was at Playa des Losers only Izzy and Noah befriended him. You were one of the others."

When Geoff didn't answer he continued. "The know-it-all who's too cynical for his own good and the psycho girl who's just…well…psycho…they were the only ones who actually gave him a chance."

The musician sighed. "Let's face it. Even if you knew where to find Ezekiel what makes you think he'd be willing to hear you out? Out of all of us Noah and Izzy would be the only ones able to get through to him."

Which is why it's wickedly awesome that Izzy and Owen ended up at Ezekiel's pad for the holidays! Sure it was by accident, but hey! It's a start!

"Those two are at his house?" Trent shook his head. "Between Owen's gas leaks and Izzy's wild spirit, Ezekiel will be lucky if a day goes by without something breaking or exploding. Or catching on fire..."


Traveling Cam

By the Old Shed

Ezekiel is covered head to toe in soot and dough. So much that only his eyes, mouth and hat can be seen. Oddly enough his hat has remained unharmed with the exception of the brim.

Ezekiel-The good thing aboot being Izzy's friend is you learn to expect the unexpected eh. So when Izzy wanted to make her super duper Izzy pancakes and used up an entire bag of yeast foor one batch, I set up a bonfire ootside and far far far away from the house so she could cook them.

Izzy appears her body also covered in blackened ashes and pancake remains.

Izzy-That was soo awesome! That was an even bigger explosion then the one I made with my homemade fire starter! I think half the area is still covered in pancakes! Or snowy dough. Yay! Izzy can't wait for Zekey's next cooking lesson!

Ezekiel-And right before lunch Owen tripped and broke the T.V. in oor house right when my dad came home eh.

Owen-I'm Sorry I'm Sorry I'm Sorry!

Ezekiel-Lucky foor him my dad's been wanting a new television foor weeks. Mom said noot unless the old one stops or breaks or something eh.

Static before it shows an emotional Owen staring with starry eyes at Ezekiel.

Owen-Does that mean I'm NOT in trouble?!

Ezekiel-Uh…no…

Owen-So let me get this straight. I tripped, broke the family TV and earned mega guest points with your Dad since we now get to go to the store and pick out a new one that's not black and white, has more then a 12 inch screen and one that can play DVD's ?!

Ezekiel-Yep. Ummm…what's a DVD?

Owen doesn't answer as he grabs the prairie boy in a tight hug lifting him off of the ground in the process.

Owen-WOO HOO!!!!! THIS IS AWESOME!!!

Ezekiel gasps for air as the 297 pounds of joys hugged him tight. His pale skin was starting to develop a blue tint when Izzy dove under the curtain. Looking at her boyfriend hugging Ezekiel she grinned.

Izzy-ZEKEY SANDWICH!!!!!!

With that cry, she hugged the brunet from the other side. After a few more seconds of hugging Owen and Izzy let the homeschooler go. Dazed and dizzy Ezekiel fell to the ground with the couple looking down at him.

Owen-So…what happens next?

Ezekiel-Shoowers. Shoowers.

Owen lets out a moan as Izzy dragged him out of the Traveling Cam. Ezekiel in the meantime drags himself up to the old wooden chair and looks weakly into the camera.

Ezekiel-Help.

Static.


"Add all that and we still have at least 9 gazillion possible scenarios. And after how Ezekiel took the whole Downfall of the Wawanakwa Witch party this could be the very thing that could drive Homeschool over the edge." Trent concluded.

Dude that's right! You're the only one who knows what happened!

The dark haired teen sighed. "Alright I'll tell you. See on the ride home Harold figured out I was withholding a crucial piece of information. Only I didn't know just how crucial it actually was until then…"


Izzy no.

Zekey yes.

No No No!!!

Yes Yes Yes!!!

No! Not this toime eh.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" Izzy then smirked at the fuming prairie boy. "You know Izzy can do this allll night long."Ezekiel scowled back and crossed his arms in defiance. "And so can Ezekiel."

At the bottom of the hotel stairs, Justin groaned. "Oh great. Crazy girl's got another person speaking in third person." The pretty boy jumped as the arguing pair suddenly turned their heads and glared down at him venomously. "Stay oot of this pretty boy eh!!"

With that both continued to argue. For a few seconds the male model stared in disbelief. "Not only is Homeschool talking like Izzy we've got Izzy talking like Homeschool! It's not contagious right? Please tell me it's not contagious."

Next to him Trent chuckled as he continued to watch the battle of wills taking place above them. "Well Ezekiel has a strong accent. And it does tend to rub off a little." Trent smirked. "Boot I doon't think it's ah contagious eh."

Justin scowled at Trent's badly accented words. "That wasn't funny." The model deadpanned before pulling out his hand mirror. After carefully examining his visage for several seconds Trent himself scowled.

"A few hair strands out of place?" Justin in response smiled. "Mock all you will, but I have a photo shoot today and I need to look my hottest." The musician shook his head. "As much as I hate to ask…what is it this time?"

Justin grinned broadly at his mirror. Oh pretty much the usual. Me, me and more me. Oh and having to pose with a few girls for comparison… and a few oh so rare kiss shots. Beth, Eva, Katie and Sadie already agreed. You know just to cover all the bases."

Trent looked at the model in disbelief. He was so taken aback by the audacity of Justin's statement that he didn't hear the yells of Ezekiel and Izzy fading in the distance. If he had he would have noticed the shocked and crestfallen expression on Ezekiel's face. Izzy on the other hand raised her arms up in triumph.

YES!!! IZZY WINS!!!

Startled both males turned to see Izzy bouncing down the stairs dragging Ezekiel behind her. The homeschooler doesn't speak and doesn't seem to be aware of anything as he stares unseeingly into space.

Justin turned to Trent with a raised eyebrow. "What was THAT all about?


Oh man…did Ezekiel see any of those shots?!

Trent looked thoughtful for a moment. "No. Well at least not that I know of. I mean for most of the party Izzy was dancing on the floor and Ezekiel was well…sitting by himself near the exit. People walked right past him without even noticing he was there."

Oh no…did anyone say…you know…him being a sexist or anything like that?

The musician's solicitous smile faded off his face.


Quit being such a girl!

DUNCAN STOP IT!!!

Okay…sheesh stop being such a girl!

OWWWW!!! My hand!

You arm wrestle like a girl.

Oh yeah…enforce the helpless girl stereotype why don't you.

With each comment Ezekiel felt himself starting to tremble more and more. From pain, from rage, from the coldness suddenly gripping his heart with its icy fingers…

The homeschooler whimpers went unheard over the loud booms of the stereo…his huddled form going unnoticed by all, yet he was still aware of everything. The words that condemned him were used all by all and brushed under the rug just as quickly.

Finally he couldn't take it any more and quickly left the restaurant where the party was being held. With every step his strides became longer and longer until the homeschooler was racing down the hallway.

The daze Ezekiel was in was broken the moment he collided headlong into someone. "Woah…Ezekiel man…where's the fire?" Looking up to see the kind eyes of the Wawanakwa musician the prairie boy lost it.

"Why am I different?!!" Trent stared back at him in confusion. "Excuse me?" Ezekiel glared back. "Oh she's such a girl; oh you fight loike a girl, girl girl girl ha ha ha! It's all joikes to you all eh!!!!"

"Zeke man… aren't you taking this a little too harshly? I mean it's all in good fun. No one means anything by it." Seconds after he said that Trent wished he could take it back at the hard gaze the brunet gave him.

For several moments the prairie boy shook and he gave out a shuddering sigh as he inwardly fought to keep his anger in check. Finally he opened his mouth.

I know I've been mistaken

But just give me a break and see the changes that I've made

I've got some imperfections

But how can you collect them all and throw them in my face

Letting the song end, Ezekiel walked off without another word.


Trent's memory ends as he heard the tell tale sound of someone dialing another number. "Geoff? What are you doing?"

Trying to get hold of Owen! You'd think after 30 calls, and 14 messages he would have picked up the phone by now!

The musician's eyes widened. "30 calls and 14 voice messages?! Isn't that a little much?"

Nothing is too much. I'm going to keep on calling and calling until I reach Owen! And hopefully I'll be able to reach Zeke.

Trent shook his head as he heard the phone on Geoff's end ring again and again. The brief pause of rings was filled by the sounds of buttons being pushed. He sighed again. "Geoff I know your upset…but the odds that Ezekiel will talk to you is 9999 to 1!"

Merry Christmas and Happy Hoolidays to you eh!

At the sound of a cheerful accented voice, both Geoff and Trent froze.

Hello? Anyone there eh?

After a few seconds Trent spoke. "Are you…Ezekiel's mom?"

srtty 2008-12-22 . chapter 11

Iam amber from chicago and my favorites are Beth Ezekiel and Izzy Merry Christmas!


Imagi's Ramblings: 22!!! I have now done 22 present chapters! Now all that is left is to finish Owen's chapter! :D

Not to worry, the crush girl is coming, chaos is coming, and Izzy and Owen will still cause more chaos in the meantime! And Imagi STILL has more surprises in store. :D

And the song that Ezekiel sings is from the group Staind and the song Right here. ;)

Thanks to my reviewers! It is now JUNE and while I am still not done, I am stubborn enough to keep going until I am! :D

In the meantime…I'll work on the last part of Owen's chapter and Commandeers of Wawanakwa. Hope you guys have been enjoying both! :D

Laters!

Imagi