Well damn. I expected shocked responses, but damn. I guess I better not do filler chapters as I would hate to torture my readers. Perhaps a few at the end, but definitely not now.

All the hate for Ralphie and Tommy! Great. Hold on to that hate for a minute and put it in a jar because it's going to explode soon.

Read On!

~*~Randall's POV~*~

I ran my hand through my hair as a leaned back in my chair. Letting out a tired breath, he turned his chair around and looked at the two separate piles of tapes and recordings. One pile, the one I picked tapes out of to watch, had finally dwindled down to only a few. Enough to cover in one day. The other pile where I sat the tapes he had already watched had grown to impressive amount. I smiled. It took him an entire week to go through those tapes, and I was close to finished.

But my smile faltered and turned into a frown. A weeks' worth of tape and nothing that would show who actually started the fire. Plenty of them showed the fire spreading to where ever it was recording. Maybe I'm getting close.

What time is it? I looked at my digital clock on my dresser and it read 2 am. I've been making a bad habit of staying up late. So much so that this is early for me. The video I have paused right now only has about 30 minutes left. I'll watch that, and then call it a night.

Who the hell am I trying to fool? I'm going to be up until the sun rises. Good thing it's Saturday.

I turned back around to face my desk and put the headphones that were plugged in. I honestly work better without the headphones, but I don't want to wake Espion up. I pressed play and the video continued. This one is from a camera I have placed at the bottom of a staircase. All I've seen were students going to class, the occasional couple skipping class to make-out behind the steps. Nothing unusual so far.

I need to find something soon; Detweiler's trial has already started. I've watched it on TV, they're all just itching to put him away.

Hmm…..

What's Ralphie doing? I watched as he paced next to the staircase after it emptied. He paced for another few minutes and stopped when Detweiler came down the stairs and out of view. It doesn't look like Ralphie was noticed, but then Detweiler came back into view. I paused, pressed a few buttons to focus in on their conversation and pressed play.

"Going somewhere, Freckles?"

What do you want, Ralphie?"

"We need to talk."

"About?"

"Life, and how yours is going to go up in smoke if you don't do what I'm telling you."

"FOR FUCKSAKE, I DO NOT AND WILL NOT BE YOUR FRIEND. GET IT IN YOUR HEAD!"

"That's too bad. Now your world is going to have to burn, just like last time.

"You're the one who set the Elementary school on fire, aren't you?"

"It's about time you figured that out. Took you long enough. Of course I did! And I'd do it again."

"Why the hell would you do that? You could've killed someone!"

"I don't care. The job got done, pretty damn successfully, too."

"And what would that be?"

"Getting you out of the picture. Do you know how infuriating it is to always be compared to you? 'Hey, you look like that kid who saved Summer vacation,' 'Wow! You must be related to that Detweiler kid, the one who saved summer,' and 'Hey, you must be the guy who took down Benedict!' IT'S MADDENING. Always YOU. AlWAYS. What the FUCK is so special about you? You had to go. Honestly, I didn't think it was going to work. But then you came and found me, on accident nonetheless. Good thing too. Students saw you coming from around there, where the fire started. So yes, I set Third Street Elementary on fire so you would get blamed, and put away and everyone stopped comparing me to you. And everyone was so eager to get rid of you, and once they did, I came in, and made my ass at home."

"You're sick. All of that because people thought you were me? You don't do that! You tell people to stop! That was overkill! What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"I'm a sociopath. Really I am. Diagnosed at age ten. I tell you this because your life is going to end soon, and no one is going to believe you anyways."

"What? You're going to set this place on fire, too?"

"Smart boy. And then you'll get blamed, and sent away to prison for 15 years, on top of the rest of your parole, rotting away in a cell as your brother grows up without you and everyone else tries to erase any memory they have of you."

"It won't work. I've gotten my friends back, and I haven't caused any trouble since I came here. They'll believe me when I tell them about you!"

"Are you sure about that Freckles? Are you really sure?"

"Yes. You're not going to set the school on fire, and you know they'll believe me too."

I watched Detweiler walk away from Ralphie and out of view. I might not have found the source of the fire yet, but this is something. I'm getting somewhere.

Here it is. Ralphie confessing that he's the one who started the fire at Third Street, and threatening to burn the high school. And he might've.

I better get a Red Bull; I'm going to up for the rest of the night.

~*~TJ's POV~*~

They're going to throw the book at me, I know it. I can see it in their eyes. They're going to throw it at me, beat me onto the floor with it, and stomp it into my face.

I would prefer that to literally happen than to be put in jail. Too bad for me, huh?

My trial was over before it started. How are they able charge me without any evidence? That's bullshit! They shouldn't blame me just because I was falsely charged the last time.

Goddamn you, Ralphie. You too, Tommy, you sick bastard.

I'd kill you two, if I could get away with it, but I'd get caught. I'd get put away and wouldn't see Zack ever again. I'm not going to put that at risk. I'm more willing to take my chances with this corrupt trial.

I hope Zack is okay. Principal Prickly said he asked him where I was. No doubt he's asking other's too. I don't want to worry the little guy. I miss him. I hope I get to see him before I'm sentenced.

I bumped into Ashley and hour before the trial began a week ago. She hugged me and said she believed me. Now I know for sure she's on my side. Knowing that made the first day bearable. Still, I wanted to strangle everyone on the jury who looked at me with all the hate in the world.

Assholes.

I managed to call JoJo, Bandit, and Specs, too. They'll be down here by tomorrow. Hopefully I can see them before the trial continues.

….

Have you ever gotten the feeling that something bad is going to happen? I've had that feeling for the last couple of days and I can't get rid of it. Maybe it's me knowing I'm going to be put away.

Yeah, that's it.

~*~V~*~

The next day came too fast for my taste. Here I am, sitting outside the courtroom, waiting to be called in for the trial to continue. They were generous enough to give me a suit to wear for God knows what reason. The rest of my life is on the line, but I have to look good for it! Right.

The sarcasm is oozing out of my thoughts. I need a drink. A nice long, stiff drink.

At around 2:30, it's time for us to go in. Fantasic.

~*~Meanwhile~*~

Running down the street while clutching a video tape in his hands, Randall asked himself why he didn't have a car. It would be very useful in his current situation. Currently, he was trying to get to the courthouse as fast as he could to show what was on the tape he was clutching so tightly. After hours of searching through the remaining tapes, he found where the fire had started and how.

And it was all Ralphie's fault. It was Ralphie who found a hole in the wall in one of the art rooms. It was Ralphie who stuffed paper soaked in some sort of accelerant. And it was Ralphie who pulled out a match, and lit it on fire. Turns out the fire was able to spread so fast because it went through the empty space in the walls, burning through the old insulation.

He needed to show this to everyone in court.

~*~V~*~

"You better not back out on this, Ralphie."

"Look, I've told you a thousand times before, I'm not backing out."

Across the street from Tater Tots Daycare, Ralphie sat on a bench with his cellphone against his ear. He was waiting, waiting for his time came for him to casually go inside and take Zack to his house. He had to be patient; going in too soon would raise suspicions and the whole plan would fall to shambles. No, he couldn't, wouldn't, let that happen. Tommy was having those same thoughts at the moment, the only difference being between the two was that Tommy was more willing to vocalize his opinion.

"Where the hell are you anyways?" Ralphie asked his cousin.

"I'm outside the courthouse, idiot. This case is taking longer than….than I expected…." Tommy's voice trailed off. Ralphie listened as he heard his cousin talk to someone else. "I'll call you back, Ralphie. Don't forget the plan."

~*~LET'S SEE WHAT'S GOING ON WITH TOMMY OKAY~*~

Tommy ended the phone call with Ralphie and turned to who had caused him to cut the conversation short. He put the phone in his pocket and maintained his calm composure.

"Is there anything you need, Jojoba?"

"What the hell are you doing here Thomas?" JoJo asked, crossing his arms. Behind him stood Specs and Bandit, and all three were dressed in suits for where they were heading. Tommy couldn't see through JoJo's shades, but was damn sure JoJo's glare could kill him where he stood.

Like he gave a damn.

"I'm just visiting my cousin. Is there anything wrong with visiting family?"

"And you just so happen to be in front of the courthouse of the person you've tormented in juvie."

"Oh, is Freckles in there?" He said in faked surprise. "I didn't know."

"Bullshit."

The two of them stood there, looking at each other in silence. It was only briefly interrupted by a curly redhead rushing past them and into the building.

"Stay away from him," JoJo said before turning and walking away. "He doesn't need any more of your shit."

Tommy smirked with no intention of listening to JoJo. Instead, he looked at his watch.

'Oh look,' He thought. 'It's about time for kids to leave school…'

~*~across town~*~

Ralphie stepped inside of Tator Tot's Daycare, keeping a look out for a toddler who hasn't found their parents. He had no clue what the kid looked like, so it was all he had to work with. He walked around a little bit, hoping to get spotted by the kid he was looking for and that he would run up to him on his own.

"TJ! TJ!"

Bingo.

Ralphie turned just in time to see a black haired, blue eyed little boy run up and give him a hug.

"Hey….Zack." Tommy learned his name from the confrontation he had with TJ months ago. "I missed you, buddy."

"I missed you, too TJ. Where'd you go?"

"I uh, had to go visit someone very far way," He said, picking him up. "But I'm here now, okay?" Ralphie waited for Zack's response. He was surprised when Zack didn't answer right away. The little boy looked at his face as if he was examining every detail.

"Did you get a new eye, TJ?" Zack asked him.

"Uh….yeah. While I was gone I got a new one. Do you like it?"

"I guess…."

"Ready to go home, Zack?" Zack nodded.

"Can I sit on your shoulders?"

"Sure." Ralphie lifted him on his shoulders and left the daycare, succeeding in his mission.

"You lost a lot of your freckles, TJ."

"Oh? I didn't notic-"

"Your hair is shorter and darker, too."

"I got a hairc—"

"I liked it before, when you make it blonde or the color it was before that."

"But I like it like tha—"

"Why are your eyes darker? That's weird. I don't like this, TJ. Change it back."

"I can't change it back, Zac—"

"Why are we going home this way? We don't go home this way. The ice cream place isn't this way either."

"We're going somewhere new, Zack. We're going to go see a friend of mine."

"No."

"No?"

"No. I don't want to go! TJ take me home or I'll tell mommy and daddy!"

"It'll only be for a little bit—"

"NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO!" Zack screamed as he pulled and tugged at Ralphie's hair. "I DON'T WANT TO!"

"Stop that, you little brat!" Ralphie quickly took Zack off of his shoulders and held him by the back of the collar of his shirt.

"You're not TJ!"

"Yes I am, Zack! Don't you recognize me?" He tried.

"You're not TJ! TJ looks different! You're different! Your voice is different! TJ wouldn't hold me like you're doing! Let me go before I beat you up!"

'Damn kid figured me out!' Ralphie screamed internally. He looked around for anyone who might spot him. Seeing no one, he covered the boys mouth and ran home.

Little kids are smarter than we realize. They notice little things that a lot of adults don't pick up on. We really shouldn't be surprised that they pick up on so much. They're constantly learning. CONSTANTLY.

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