THE SITUATION
An alarm for 7:15 buzzed on the bedside table, next to a Bible and reading glasses. It was quickly turned off as Linus Van Pelt slowly got up from his bed.
An 11 year old boy, Linus was currently in Year 6. He was innocent and reasonable, and was kind and supportive to his friends. He was also bright for his age, hence why he had been bumped up a grade.
Getting changed into casual clothing, he went downstairs to eat breakfast.
His younger brother Rylan "Rerun", was eating his cereal, and not exactly in a clean manner. Linus joined him and poured some cereal for himself.
Once finishing breakfast, he opened up his Bible and began to read. Rerun looked up.
"I've got art class for school" he said, attempting to start a conversation.
"Uh huh" Linus replied unenthusiastically, not looking up.
"What classes have you got today. Linus" Rerun continued.
Linus looked up from his Bible.
"I've got invested in this passage" he jokingly told him.
Rerun chuckled.
"As for school, I've got Maths and Science" Linus continued.
Someone was heard storming down the hallway.
"And I've got good reason to pound you for waking up late" a new voice bellowed.
Their older sister Lucy had entered the room, and she looked displeased.
"Late" questioned Linus, "What do you mean by late, I set my alarm".
"We're leaving early" she declared "I've got some important catching up to do with Violet and Patty before school".
Linus frowned, he had good reason to dislike Lucy's friends. They were all cruel and bullying people, who targeted anyone they disliked. And his sister was the worst of them all.
"I'm sorry this wasn't on your timetable" she told him "but if you'll excuse me, it seems you've finished breakfast".
She pushed him and his seat out of the way and sat down herself, thrusting his Bible into his hands.
Linus sighed as he put it in his schoolbag. Lucy was always like this.
As the Van Pelts approached the bus stop, they were surprised to see Charlie Brown and his sister Sally, already there. Linus waved at his best friend, while Lucy retained her frown and Rerun was too distracted.
"Hi Charlie Brown" he greeted.
Charlie Brown looked at him glumly.
"Hey Linus" he replied, offhandedly
Linus noticed his demeanour.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing" the older boy replied.
"No, it's something"
Charlie Brown looked away.
"It's that baseball game yesterday" he admitted "I was playing lousy. A 36-4 loss, how is it even possible to be that rubbish"
"No one on our team's perfect Charlie Brown" Linus reasoned.
"Peppermint Patty certainly made it clear I wasn't" he told Linus, "and she wasn't even playing, thankfully".
He sighed, the competitive girl had had a lot of criticism for him following the game.
"And if that's how one of my friends feels"
"The keyword there would be one" Linus explained
"Is it, I'm sure everyone else knows I'm definitely imperfect" Charlie Brown lamented.
The bus pulled up and everyone else got on the bus, except for the two of them.
"your sister, Violet, both Patty's, the lot of them all think I'm a blockhead" Charlie Brown continued.
"We sure do" Lucy suddenly yelled out.
Linus glared at the smirking Lucy as she got on the bus.
"I've finally figured it out Linus" Charlie Brown acknowledged "I'm weak, insignificant, pathetic and an all around failure, and everyone thinks that of me"
"But I"
"EVERYONE thinks that of me Linus" Charlie Brown told him, trying to drive home the point "And that, is why nobody likes me".
Feeling hurt, Linus chose to keep quiet after that remark.
They both got on the bus.
From a couple of seats back from the two boys, Lucy had stopped her grumpy demeanour.
She had heard her brother's and Charlie Brown's conversation, and found it amusingly interesting.
Of course Charlie Brown was considering himself a failure, why wouldn't he, that's exactly what he is.
And the ever naive Linus was ever so willing to throw all his eggs in that broken basket.
Well, it was about time, Lucy thought, that they finally accepted it. She had almost won.
But there was still an uncertainty, she remembered.
Lucy looked down on the school newsletter.
An annual inter-school football game was the news of the day. Scheduled for two weeks time, kids were all discussing whether to enter, get that shot at sporting glory, do themselves proud, and be a hero.
She knew one kid who would jump at the chance. After all, he'd done it before.
And if he did, she thought to herself. Then she must make him fail.
This time, it wouldn't be a stroke of genius instinct, like that Homecoming Game. No, this time, it would be a plot, conducted by her and her allies, her clique.
She would make this larger game, the largest slap to the face of that 12 year old Blockhead.
And, she would end her crusade against Charlie Brown the same way it began. A final definitive victory. A failure he finally couldn't get up from.
Because, when there was a clear loser in him, there would then be a clear winner in her. Instead of, God forbid, the other way round.
Lucy smiled, as she texted Violet and Patty about her idea.
It wasn't as if there was no reason to Charlie Brown's depression, Linus thought. His poor friend had the worst luck imaginable, not to mention some awful so-called friends.
But that hadn't made his outburst that everyone thought he was worthless sting any less.
He doubted Sally thought so, he doubted friends like Schroeder and Marcie did either. Linus certainly didn't think it was true.
The boy looked around as he walked towards the lockers, Charlie Brown was looking at a poster on the wall.
Stopping, Linus read it, "Birchwood vs Rochester Elementary, the game of the year. Players sign up now open"
Charlie Brown didn't stop looking at the poster.
"Sure will be an interesting game" he said, almost longingly "even though we're bound to lose".
Linus suddenly had an idea.
"Why don't you join in the game Charlie Brown. They could always use another player…"
"…to mess it up for the school" Charlie Brown interrupted.
"I wasn't saying" Linus tried to explain, but was cut off by him.
"You might as well, it's what the team will say"
They began walking again.
"But they might not if you're good at the game" Linus implied as they got to the locker room.
The only other one there was a kid who looked to be in 8th Grade. He was busy wiring a battery.
"Honestly Linus I doubt it, something can and will happen to mess it up" Charlie Brown lamented as he got stuff from his locker.
He went to his class, and Linus followed him.
From across the locker room, Neil Olson, the kid with the battery, looked on in curiosity.
He then noticed a familiar face walking towards him.
"Would that possibly be the lying cheating despot himself".
The incoming person laughed, "You talking to me, you low budget Einstein".
Walking toward each other, Neil and Edward smiled and embraced.
"Good to see you Edward"
"You too Neil. Maddison's looking for the others, we're meeting up after school."
"Well" Neil smiled in anticipation, "You know I'll be there".
"Wow Lucy" Violet said "are you serious"
Lucy was busy catching up with her friends, and had wasted no time in bragging to them.
"Yeah, this hopscotch kid took one look at my fist, and did a curtesy on the spot" she explained to them.
"Those third graders are all the same" Patty said "Blockheads"
"So true"
"And speaking of Blockheads", and here Violet grinned "rumour has it you've got a very special plan for a certain someone".
Violet and Lucy had similar views when it came to her schemes.
"If he falls for it again, then he falls for it again" Lucy snickered "and I mean that literally".
They all laughed and continued talking.
But unbeknownst to them, from a nearby bench, Maddison Freeman had briefly overheard them.
And the 13 year old girl was looking over to the table, intrigued.
"Hmmmm, well that's not suspicious at all, is it" she sarcastically mumbled.
"Hi"
Maddison almost jumped in surprise, as another girl came up to her.
"So we're getting together after school eh" her friend Henrietta Corden asked her.
"That's what I said on the phone" Maddison replied, she sounded uptight.
"Another rough day?" Henrietta asked curiously.
"Yep"
"At this point, why don't you just try recording your rough days in a journal?" she joked "Do the Mondays in advance"
Maddison rolled her eyes, "I actually like Mondays".
As school finished, Samantha Lesley left her last music class of the day, and was about to head home for some more music practice. However, her plans were interrupted when her phone buzzed with a new message. Looking down, she saw a text from Neil.
"We're meeting up at the park at 3:30"
She smiled, music would have to wait.
Arriving at the park, she saw Maddison, Henrietta and Neil sitting at the table.
"You're all here" she said happily, then blushed as she realised her mistake in forgetting someone.
Neil patted her on the back "How was your day Sam. Anything interesting".
Samantha looked at him dead in the eye.
"I saw a dog dressed as a fighter pilot".
Neil was taken aback by her claim, but he was the only one.
"Don't look so shocked" Henrietta told him "You've seen a six year old play with a tiger"
The groups conversation was then interrupted by a new arrival.
"Well well well, it appears Kingmaker has come to join the common folk" Maddison teased.
Edward Black walked up to them.
"I suppose I have" he said with a smile "Now, what's this about a fighter pilot".
Linus was standing at the wall at the park, and Charlie Brown came up to him.
He didn't know he was there until he passed him a sheet of paper.
Linus picked it up, and smiled.
"Yes, I did decide to do your football game idea" Charlie Brown told him "you don't lead me wrong often"
"That's really good Charlie Brown, thanks"
But what his best friend told him next was shocking.
"But this is the last try"
"Sorry"
"If I don't succeed at this, then I give up on succeeding at anything"
Linus was dumbstruck, Charlie Brown never gave up.
"I know you're depressed Charlie Brown, but don't think like that" he pleaded.
"I can only take so much Linus" he responded "if we lose the game, then I'm a worthless failure, and I'll accept it, once and for all."
Linus stared at him. He knew this was concerning.
But if this was the last chance, he would support him.
After all, he didn't think his best friend was a failure.
"So, Samantha" Edward asked "how's our song coming along"
Samantha had been hard at work writing music.
"I worried you'd ask" Samantha said frowning "I've got no inspiration"
"Don't worry" Neil said "It's only a social club anthem". "Which is trying to incorporate six different people" he continued "And their different styles"
He paused "actually that is pretty worrying".
"Everything I've played's been bad" Samantha sighed.
Meanwhile, Neil reached into his bag.
"Do we all have our club sashes on us" he asked out off curiosity. All of them present were part off a social club.
They all showed their respective sashes
Henrietta had a mustard yellow sash.
Neil had a forest green colour
Samantha had cyan blue
Maddison had amethyst purple
And Edward just had black.
"Can we go back to the "everything I've played's been bad". Edward addressed Samantha "we regularly use your music for SOJAS and it all doesn't disappoint, so why would the anthem".
The typically shy Samantha beamed.
Maddison also smiled.
"I told him yesterday Birchwood could use someone like us" she said and bent down "The atmosphere, it's tense, it's, like people will be victim to a tirade of bullying and cruelty at a moments notice".
She paused "I should let you know I saw some Grade 6 girls laughing"
"Uh oh" Samantha joked.
"Girls laughing, that's gotta be something Maddison will make illegal" Neil joined in the teasing.
But both Maddison and Edward remained serious, they hated anything to do with bullying and cruel behaviour.
"I'm serious guys" Maddison told them "this definitely wasn't gossip or anything".
All five of them began to listen.
"They were saying that they "had a plan for a certain Blockhead" and "he'd fall for it again".
They thought about it for a moment.
"That is kinda suspicious" Neil admitted.
"No wonder everyone walks on thin ice if that's the conversations that go on" Henrietta added.
"It sounds like they do it often" Samantha told them.
They then all turned to Edward for his input. He was both the eldest, and the leader of their social club. Each of them were passionate about change. But even Maddison's courage could not come close to Edwards raw ambition.
His ambition had led him to many a victory. And his alias, Kingmaker, had become associated with his relentless and decisive methods.
"If we are to be a positive force for change here" he finally stated "then this sort of antagonistic behaviour must be quelled".
"Hear, hear" Henrietta said
"So who is this "certain Blockhead", cause it's something we need to find out" Edward asked them.
A voice suddenly rang out.
"HEY CHARLIE BROWN, YOU BLOCKHEAD" a kid called out, as Charlie Brown and Linus were leaving the park.
The group looked over.
"Well, that was easy" Edward said.
But he had a trace of anger in his voice. This only made him become even more determined to deal with whoever was responsible for this antagonistic behaviour.
As they were leaving the park, Linus briefly paused and looked at Edwards table. He could partially make out what they were saying.
"So with that out of the way, are we all in agreement to renew the club?" Henrietta asked.
The rest all agreed. They were all willing to still be members of the Society of Justice And Security, otherwise known as SOJAS.
"You know we're in, Henrietta" Samantha spoke up.
"Well, I guess, after 2 days on the road, that SOJAS is back" Edward enthusiastically declared, brief anger gone. They all quietly cheered.
"SOJAS?" Linus thought, he had no idea what that even meant, let alone what that new group used it for.
He followed Charlie Brown outside the park. Whatever it was, it probably didn't concern him.