The next morning, Ralphie got up early and began preparing for the day. After 22 years, he would finally be back in his old classroom, where so many memories began. If only it was under better circumstances. He still couldn't believe that the first time he would be stepping inside of the classroom in many years would be the last. It wasn't made easy by the fact that he had to clear everything out so that someone new would take the class once the school year started. The room would no longer be the Frizz's room. It wouldn't be the same room where so many memories were born. It would just be a room. The more Ralphie thought of this, the more he felt like he was gonna be sick.
However, now was not the time to focus on that. He needed to keep himself together if he was going to help clear out the room. Once Ralphie got dressed, brushed his teeth, and made the bed, he went down to the kitchen, where Dr. Tennelli was busy making breakfast. Upon hearing Ralphie come down the stairs, she turned around to look at him.
"Hey Ralph." Dr. Tennelli now referred to her son as "Ralph" since he was grown up. Ralphie did not like being called that as it made him feel old, but that didn't stop his mother from calling him that all the time.
"Hey mom." Ralphie responded.
"Sleep well?"
"I guess, but I had trouble due to the way you redecorated my old room." Ralphie's childhood room had been converted into a guest bedroom. With everything colored beige and not much furniture in the room, Ralphie felt that it was too bland for his taste.
"Well, I tried my best to make it enjoyable to any guest."
"I know. I just feel like it could use more color" Ralphie suggested.
"I'll keep that in mind. Now, breakfast will be ready soon."
"I'm old enough to make my own breakfast, you know."
Dr. Tennelli shot Ralphie a look. "I'm sorry. Would you like to make your own and make me throw this out."
"No, no. It's fine."
Ralphie went to the living room, where Alexis was watching TV. When he walked into the room, she turned to look at him.
"Hey Ralphie."
"Hey Alexis, how was your day? Or, at least, the beginning of it?"
"It was fine." Alexis giggled.
"Good. So, are you staying for breakfast?"
"Yes. I'll probably leave soon after. I need to get home for work."
"Alright."
"Are you okay with me leaving so soon?"
"It's fine. I've got a busy day anyway."
"I remember. You must be excited to see your old classroom again."
"Well, I guess... I mean, I wish it wasn't like this."
"I know. I'm sure you miss her a lot and are sad to say goodbye by getting rid of her stuff, but don't worry. You'll be okay."
At that point, Dr. Tennelli poked her head in the living room and said that breakfast was ready. While the three of them ate, Ralphie explained to his mom that he would be at the elementary school to help Malcolm Rhule. As soon as breakfast was done, Ralphie left to help clear the old classroom. Dr. Tennelli and Alexis bid him goodbye, and he drove off.
Meanwhile, Tim, Wanda, Keesha, and Phoebe had met up at the local IHOP to hang out and catch up on what everyone had been up to. They tried to stay positive and not let the sadness of Ms. Frizzle's passing get to them. Now was the time for happiness and comfort in each other's presence. The four of them spent a lot of time talking about their college years and how much they loved their careers. Of course, this led to Phoebe telling Tim and Wanda about her unsureness of being a vet in college.
"...and I thought of studying environmental science so I could possibly help more animals by studying the environment."
"Wow," Wanda said, "I'm surprised that you even thought of not becoming a vet."
"That's was pretty much my exact reaction." Keesha stated.
"I'm also surprised at this," Tim said, "but I kind of understand. I mean, I kind of went through that in college, too."
"Really?" Keesha and Wanda asked.
"Yeah, I thought of giving up a career as an engineer to try and get back into art. I know I talked about going for something that had more chances of success, but I miss making art. I wanted to try and establish a career in art again, but the rational side of my brain steered me away."
"Oh, so you regret becoming an engineer now?" Wanda asked.
"No, no. Don't get me wrong, I love my career, but it's so much work," Tim ranted, "I spend many hours going through every single plan, checking every single detail to make sure nothing is wrong. I have to walk around the site and make sure it is being built the right way. All of this inspecting and thinking makes my head hurt. I know the chances of being a successful artist are really slim, but there is still a chance, and taking it would certainly not cause me to have so much headaches and tiredness."
"I get it," Keesha interjected, "I love being a psychologist, but it's so much work. I have to deal with so many clients and have to listen to all of their problems. On top of that, I feel like my PhD education caused permanent damage to my head, especially with all of the work involved. I know the journalism world isn't what it used to be, but a career in it could still be fun."
"So, it appears that I am the only one that doesn't regret their career." Wanda joked.
"None of us said we regretted our careers," Phoebe responded, "but we can't help but wonder how things could have been different if we went for something else. Something that maybe interested us more."
"Besides, you haven't had anything planned since you were little, so it's not like you have some career you regret not pursuing." Tim argued.
"I'll admit that I didn't have anything planned when I went to college, but that doesn't mean I don't regret how I ended up." Wanda declared.
"Really?" Keesha asked.
"Yeah. I'm guessing you guys didn't hear since I was away for so long."
"Hear what?"
"Well, you guys do know that I joined the Air Force, right?" Everyone nodded, "Well, a large part of me regrets doing that."
"Why?" Phoebe asked.
"Well... let's just say that Iraq might have permanently affected me. I saw many things that no human being should ever have to see. It was no fun. All of that was enough to make me feel depressed and hardened. I left the Air Force to make sure I would not be changed completely. Even after almost a year, I still don't know if the fun, adventurous side of me still exists."
"Wow, Wanda. I had no idea that could happen to you." Phoebe put her hand on Wanda's shoulder, "I'm sorry."
"Yeah, war changed me. War changes anyone. For a few months after I quit, I had been feeling really weird. I was a lot more paranoid that something would happen to me, and anything involving fire triggered some weird flight response. Even a small lit match was enough to cause me to scream."
"Wanda, it sounds to me that you have a classic case of PTSD." Keesha remarked.
Wanda turned to Keesha, eyes wide. "No! I do not have PTSD! There is no way! I'm not a wimp!"
"Wanda, as a clinical psychologist, I can tell when someone was PTSD. The paranoia and reactions to fire are classic signs of it."
"No!" Wanda glared at Keesha. "I do not have PTSD! I'm Wanda, a tough, daring, courageous, adventurous woman! I am not a weaselly wimp who allows something like PTSD get to her!"
Tim turned to Phoebe. "I haven't seen her like this since high school. Remember how defensive she got whenever we called her out for trying to act perfect and flawless?" Phoebe giggled at this question.
Wanda turned towards Tim and Phoebe, glaring at them both. "I am not defensive!" This outburst caused a few people in the tables around them to turn towards her. "And I was perfect and flawless in high school! You guys were just jealous of me!"
"Sure, tell yourself whatever you like." Keesha laughed.
At this point, Wanda's patience was now lost. "That's it! The next person who ticks me off will earn themselves an ass kicking! I mean it!"
With that, everyone quickly fell silent and returned to finishing their breakfast. The silence may have been awkward, but at least Wanda had not completely changed. She was still defensive as hell, even if she wouldn't admit it. She had always been like that so that she could protect her reputation whenever someone said she was not something she thought she was. Unlike what Wanda was worried about, maybe she was still the same girl that she was in high school. She just couldn't see it.
If only Wanda wasn't so pissed right now, everyone would be happy to point out she was still the same girl they knew and loved.
Once Ralphie made it to Walkerville Elementary, he looked up at the large building, nostalgia creeping in. The building had changed greatly since he had last seen it. It was older and a bit decrepit. The bricks were now faded red and some windows were dusty and unclean. Despite the poor state of the building, Ralphie couldn't help but smile as he approached the school.
Once inside, Ralphie walked through the all too familiar hallway that led to Ms. Frizzle's classroom. It wasn't well lit, possibly due to the fact that the school was still closed for the summer, but he could still tell that the hallway was different now. The hallway looked really empty and barren and there was a large sense of dread coming from it. It was almost as if it was trying to tell Ralphie that he shouldn't be there. He couldn't tell what gave him that feeling, but he felt like he needed to get out of there. The foreboding sense that came from the hallway did not stop Ralphie, and he continued walking through it, reminding himself why he was there.
Once he reached the door to Ms. Frizzle's classroom, he reached for the doorknob slowly and opened the door. Inside was Malcolm, finishing up a phone call.
"...I'll be right there." Malcolm hung up and turned to see Ralphie walking in. "Oh, hey Ralphie. Glad you could make it."
"Sure. I'm happy to help."
"Great. Now, I'm sorry about this, but something really important just came up, and I need to go. You'll have to finish clearing this room without me."
"Oh, well... I guess I could do that."
"Awesome. And don't worry. There's not much stuff left. It shouldn't take too long to pack up everything else."
"Okay. So, what do I do with everything?"
"Well, some stuff could be thrown out since they're pretty old. Others could be kept as keepsakes or donated. Just do whatever you feel is right."
"Okay, I can do that."
"Great. Now, I need to go. I'll see you later." With that, Malcolm left the room to take care of the emergency.
Ralphie looked around the room. Indeed, most of the stuff that was in the room was now gone. There were a few boxes that were already filled, and there were others that were empty, waiting to be packed. The whole room felt weird, different. It was no longer the same room that Ralphie remembered. Maybe it was the fact that the room was almost devoid of everything, or maybe it was because of the knowledge that Ms. Frizzle was gone, but the room no longer had the magic feel to it. It just felt like any other classroom. With Ms. Frizzle, the magic was gone. Ralphie knew that he would not have an easy time being in the room, but he didn't expect it to feel like this.
Ralphie then heard something coming from the other side of the room. It sounded like movement. He turned to the source of the sound, which was a glass terrarium. He immediately knew what caused the sound. He went over to the terrarium, and sure enough, a green chameleon was inside, walking around. It was Liz, who seemed very sad and appeared to be pacing back and forth. Once Ralphie reached the terrarium, Liz turned to him and gave a small smile.
"Hey old friend." Ralphie said. "Long time, no see."
Liz appeared to nod at this, only slightly.
"You look pretty sad. I guess you know what happened, too."
Liz hanged her head low.
"I figured. You miss her too, huh?"
Liz gave another small nod.
"Well, I guess now it's time for us to give a proper goodbye." Ralphie turned to look at the room again. "I bet you are going to miss this room a lot. Do you have anywhere to go?" Liz shook her head. "Well, I guess you can stay with me. How does that sound?" Liz gave another small smile, which Ralphie took as a yes.
Once that was settled, Ralphie began cleaning the room. True to Malcolm's word, there wasn't much stuff left to pack. Most of the stuff that was still there was a large number of folders, binders, and papers. As Ralphie cleaned the room, it gradually felt less magical. The room used to have so many awesome and magical objects, such as the rainbow pinball machine and the vampire outfit that caused him to think the Frizz was a vampire. Now, all of those things were gone. It just made the classroom feel more like a regular classroom and nothing more.
After about an hour, Ralphie was packing up the final few objects in the final box. As he was packing up the last box, he couldn't help but start feeling down. This was it, the last box before he left the room forever. It made him feel like Ms. Frizzle was now completely gone. The last piece of her had been removed from the room. There was no part of her in the room left. This thought had Ralphie sort of hesitate to place the final few things in the box. It was almost as if he wanted to stop himself from removing Ms. Frizzle from the room completely, but he had no choice.
So Ralphie was already in a bad mood, but things were about to get worse. Suddenly, Ralphie heard something on the other side of the room. He looked over and saw that the sound came from a box that had been packed when he got there. The sound was almost like something was trying to get out to the box and was moving around inside. The box was giving off a strange and ominous red glow, which creeped Ralphie out. The sound then stopped almost as quickly as it started and the glow also disappeared.
Ralphie didn't know what to do. Should he check out the sound, or should he leave it? He wanted to leave it. It seemed like the rational thing to do. However, morbid curiosity got the better of him, and he walked over to the box slowly. Once he got to the box, he hesitated to open it, but eventually, he opened the box and prepared for what he would find. When he looked inside the box, all he could find was some papers and folders. He searched the entire box, but there was nothing that could have made the sound. That was certainly strange. When Ralphie thought about it, he figured that maybe he was just seeing and hearing things due to all of the emotions that had overcome him. He was so sad to remove Ms. Frizzle from the room forever that he made something up in his mind to distract him.
Now that that was over, he finished packing up the last box and began moving all of the stuff to his truck. The last thing that he removed from the from was Liz and her terrarium. As they were leaving, they took one last look at the room. The room that was now devoid of anything related to Ms. Frizzle. The room that housed so many memories for them. The room where they had the best times of their lives. Both of them were overcome with emotion at the thought of never seeing this room again. Ralphie even shed a tear at seeing the room one more time. Once they were done reminiscing about the room, Ralphie turned off the lights, and they both left the school. They were both silent on the way to Ralphie's house, not in the mood to chat.
Later on, Carlos and Dorothy Ann met up with each other at 3. They met up at an old burger place that the gang used to hang out at a lot in high school. Actually, Carlos and DA hung out there by themselves a lot more than everyone in the gang. Anyway, as they sat there together, they felt this incredible sense of nostalgia from the very familiar place they were in, as well as from the fact that they were hanging out by themselves. They did that a lot in high school, when they weren't bickering over every little thing.
As they hung out, they spent time catching up on life, with DA opening up about her problems at work.
"... and I'm already feeling like I'm going to burn out. I was excited to become a doctor, but I didn't think it would feel this hard." DA sighed.
Carlos couldn't help but feel concerned for his friend. "Wow. It sounds like you don't like being a doctor."
"No, I do. Really. It's just so much work, and I have to do it for 7 years. You don't get what it's like to try and be your best every single day."
Carlos then understood why work was so stressful for DA. She was trying to be perfect in all her work. He hoped that she had realized that perfection is practically impossible since high school. Setting impossible standards for herself was definitely causing her to feel this way.
"DA, don't you think that you're putting too much pressure on yourself?" Carlos asked concerned.
"No. I am just trying to be the very best that I can." DA said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, but it seems like you are trying too hard. You might need to take some time to rest and relax."
"I can't. My work is too important. I have to live up to my expectations if I want to be happy."
"No, you don't. Remember junior year, when you started freaking out about college because you thought you weren't doing enough?" DA nodded. "Well, you thought that you had never done anything truly impressive and tried spending way more time working or studying. You walled yourself away for quite some time. We were all worried about you and tried to help you, but you kept saying you were fine, even though you were not. In the end, we were able to get you to see that you were hurting yourself. You decided to work hard, but not too hard, and you stopped worrying about whether you were good enough or not. It all worked out in the end, and you still made it to Harvard." Carlos then leaned forward and put his hand on DA's. "This is just like that. You don't need to worry about whether you are doing perfect or not. Just do your best and give yourself time to relax."
"Thanks, Carlos." DA smiled at Carlos, and he smiled back. They did nothing but simply stared at each other for some time. Eventually, they both realized that Carlos's hand was still on DA's. Carlos quickly pulled back and blushed slightly.
"So, how has your life as a lawyer been?" DA asked, changing the topic.
"Oh, it's been good. I mean, the pay is good, and I love protecting the environment, but I always find myself wishing the weekend would come sooner. The work is pretty stressful, but I can manage it pretty good."
"That's good. Do you still play guitar?"
"Sometimes. I find it helps me relieve stress after particularly bad days."
"Cool. I bet you still sleep with as many girls as possible, too." DA wasn't sure why she said this. She didn't want to know about this any more than she wanted to identify Evan's dead body.
"What? Who says I slept with so many girls?" Carlos asked, confused.
"Um... you. You were always hooking up with as many girls as possible in high school."
"Yeah, but I never slept with them."
DA looked at Carlos, shocked. "You didn't?" Carlos shook his head. "But why did everyone say that you hooked up with them? That basically means you had sex, right?"
"Not necessarily. When people said I hooked up with a girl, they pretty much meant that I went out with them and made out a lot."
"Wow. It's just... you were so popular in high school. You were a soccer player, played guitar, had great hair, and... um," DA blushed slightly at this. Carlos didn't notice, "a great body. I always assumed that you had lots of sex."
"Yeah, I guess I can see why you would think that, but I never had sex. I mean, it's not like I wanted to."
DA cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I always wanted to save myself for marriage."
DA's eyes widened. "Really?"
"Yeah. I believe that waiting until marriage is a great thing. I mean, there will be no pregnancy scares, or STD scares for that matter, and I feel like waiting gives me time to get to know a girl and see if she is good for me or is my soulmate. Plus, I have heard about a lot of people who fight all the time and have make-up sex, but that's all they do. I feel like waiting would give me the opportunity to work out issues with a girl and actually solve them instead of using sex to put a bandage over it. All in all, I just think that waiting is a beautiful thing."
DA was shocked at what Carlos had just laid out, to say the least. "Wow. I didn't think that you would have so many morals like that."
Carlos playfully shoved DA. "Hey, I'm a pretty moral guy."
"Yeah, when you aren't arguing over every little thing or dating as many girls as possible." Both DA and Carlos laughed at this.
"Still, I wish I had been a little like you. You had so many girls after you. I wish I had even half as many boys after me."
Carlos looked up at her, shocked. "Are you kidding? Most of the guys in school tried to get with you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, and they were very sad when you never paid attention to them. You were always so caught up in your work that you never even noticed they were trying to ask you out."
"Wow. I had no idea."
"Exactly. Heck, I still remember the time James from computer science tried to pass you a note asking you out on Friday."
"I don't remember getting a note."
"Yeah, because he TRIED. The note never got to you."
"Why not?"
"Oh, uh... I, uh, don't really know." Carlos blushed.
DA could tell that Carlos was hiding something. "Yes, you do. Carlos, what happened to the note?"
"Nothing."
"Carlos, you can tell me."
"Fine. I threw it away." Carlos sighed.
"Why?"
"Well, I didn't want you to get it."
"Why not?"
"Well... James just didn't seem like the right guy for you."
"No?"
"No. He wasn't very bright, and he was pretty egocentric. He just didn't seem like he would be good for you."
"Oh, well, I guess you are right. Thank you, I guess."
"Yeah, no problem." A long awkward silence filled the air. Both of them wished that they hadn't brought up anything about dating.
In the evening, Ralphie was at his house, inside of the guest bedroom. He had brought out a few boxes from the car, and he brought out Liz. He still wasn't sure what to do with them, but he knew that he didn't want to throw them away. They were what remained of Ms. Frizzle. Sure, it wasn't any of the really exciting stuff, but it was still a part of her. Maybe he would figure out what to do eventually.
Currently, he was lying down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Liz did the same in her terrarium. Both of them were reminiscing about their time with Ms. Frizzle.
"I especially loved that time we got stuck in DA's book. I may not have liked it at the time, but I love the frictionless baseball game we played. Although, I could have gone without all the spinning."
Liz nodded.
"I also loved that time I tried to build RalphieBot, but it ended up being a huge disaster. I bet you were happy that your LizBot turned out pretty good."
Liz gave a smile, remembering how useful her LizBot was. She was also amused by how RalphieBot was a huge disaster.
"There was also that time I argued with Keesha over air and if it was useful or not. I guess I should have known that air could be fascinating."
Liz also remembered that, especially the part where they had to use a giant cork popper to escape.
"I guess my favorite trip was when I played Weatherman. I made a thunderstorm without knowing what I was doing, and I guess that's when I started to have a little thing for Keesha."
Liz loved that trip, too. She loved helping "Weatherman" operate the bus to make a thunderstorm.
"Man, those were the times. I guess all good things come to an end. I will sure miss her. I bet you will too, huh."
Liz nodded.
A comfortable silence filled the room. Both of them were enjoying the silence, thinking about Ms. Frizzle and all of the joy she had given them in the third grade. If only the silence lasted long.
A short while later, an ominous red glow appeared in the room. Ralphie and Liz looked over and saw the glow coming from a box, but not just any box. It appeared to be the same box that Ralphie thought he saw glow before. Only this time, the glow did not go away. There was a bit of rumbling coming from inside, and Ralphie knew he had to investigate.
Ralphie got up and slowly made his way to the box. Liz got out of her terrarium and hopped on his shoulder. Ralphie made it to the box and slowly reached out and quickly opened it. Inside, on top of all the papers and folders, were two small objects giving off the red glow.
Ralphie picked them up with caution and brought them up to eye level. They appeared to be small plastic skull and crossbones. They were giving off the strange red glow. The skulls had some kind of metal hook attached to them. It almost looked like they were earrings.
Ralphie quickly became nervous. If they were indeed earrings, whose were they? He couldn't put his finger on it, but the earrings looked kind of familiar, even though he had never seen them before. He couldn't remember, but he might have seen earrings that glow before. But where?
He suddenly remembered where he had seen them before. Before every field trip, Ms. Frizzle's earrings would glow, but never a scary red glow. And the skull and crossbones shape, what did it mean? Maybe the earrings were trying to tell him something, but what? He couldn't figure it out now, but the more he studied the earrings the more nervous he got.
"I think I'm gonna be sick..."