"Smelly, smelly, smelly." Double D said as he sprayed the inside of the dumpster with his air freshener.
"I assume you've experienced the same type of abuse back at your old school?" he asked me.
"Well, I wasn't thrown into the actual dump, if that's what's you're thinking." I replied.
"At least you got off easy." Eddy said before Double D shushed us, asking. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what?" asked Ed.
The dumpster lid opened again, bringing the bright light down on us.
"Hey!" we heard a voice call.
Looking up, we saw that it was Jonny 2x4 holding the dumpster lid open with one hand and holding his board friend, Plank in the other.
"How'd you guys get in there?" he asked.
"Go ask Hall Monitor Shovelchin!" replied Eddy.
"Dear Johnny, be a good lad and help us out." said Double D.
"Grab onto Plank and he'll pull you up." instructed Jonny, who held Plank in front of us.
Double D took hold of him, then was pulled up.
"He better not give me any splinters." Eddy said while holding onto Plank.
"Alley-oop!" exclaimed Ed as he went up as well.
When it came down to me, I was hesitant to follow along.
"Plank says 'You wanna stay in here or do you want out?'" said Jonny.
I gave it some thought, but finally, I told hold of Plank and was pulled out of the dumpster.
"Good work, Ranger Jonny." said Rolf, a blue-haired boy, who handed something to Jonny. "Here is your 'Taking Out the Trash' badge."
"Right on!" exclaimed Jonny as he took the…
"Badge? Ranger? What's going on?" I asked.
"Oh, ho." chortled Rolf. "Not familiar with the Urban Rangers, I see."
"Urban Rangers?" I repeated, when noticing Mowgli and Shanti standing beside them.
"Hey, Nathan." greeted Mowgli.
"You joined them too?!" I said with disbelief.
"Yes, they did." said Rolf. "Come, be part of the Urban Rangers, and you, too, can ease the burden of daily chores. Become the master of the mundane! The duke of duties! Earn badges! Impress your relatives!"
As he spoke, two of his rangers, Jonny and Jimmy, handed out brochures to me and the Eds.
"You do have to admire their efforts in educating the community." Double D said while looking at his brochure.
Eddy, however, just crumbled his, tossing it into the dumpster behind him, saying. "As if we wanna join you wannabe scouts!"
I kept staring at Mowgli and Shanti, saying to them. "I can't believe my only two friends from Mr. Beckwith's class would turn against him and Foster City School."
"We're not turning against anybody." explained Mowgli. "We're just trying something new, that's all."
"Shanti, talk some sense into him, please." I begged.
Shanti walked up to me slowly.
"We understand you're still upset about this." she said. "But you can't spend the rest of your life moping about it."
"Mowgli would've done the same thing!" I argued. "Remember, Mowgli? Remember how hard it was to leave Baloo for a life in the Man-Village?"
Mowgli had looked away when he heard my question, but turned back, saying. "That was just a movie, Nathan."
"Oh, come on! You can't just turn your back on him! Or Mr. Beckwith!"
"Nathan, stop!" demanded Shanti. "Don't you understand? That last chapter of our lives is over!"
I backed away from her, shaking my head while saying. "Maybe for you, but mine's not over yet!"
As soon as I stormed off into the gym, Shanti asked. "Can you believe this guy?"
"Tell me about it!" replied Eddy.
While making my way through the gym, I noticed some plastic tarp covering the row of bleachers, which gave me an idea, if it could actually work, that is.