This episode, along with the next two, wouldn't have happened had not been for our third member of the Sodor High School writing team; DaveMan1000. Thanks buddy for the wonderful idea. Episode 50 is in the works right now.
Sodor High School: Thomas & Friends Tales
Written by: ThomasZoey3000/Idea by: DaveMan1000
Based on the Railway Series by: The Rev. W. and Christopher Awdry
Based on the Television Series by: Britt AllCroft, David Mitton, Hit Entertainment and Mattel
Episode 49: James and Molly
To say James was miserable would be putting it mildly. Ever since his trick that nearly got Percy killed, he had been turned into an outcast by teachers, staff and students of the high school. Whenever he came into view, conversations would stop and all eyes would look at him angerly. Even Edward, who usually sought out forgiveness over hate, avoided James.
At home, his step-father and mother kept him locked up in his room except for when he needed the washroom or when he needed to eat. He was allowed to go to school, but he was always picked up once the last bell rang, meaning he would have no chance to do anything else.
He soon gave up on trying to talk to anyone and would keep himself to himself. Though in his depression, he didn't notice one person trying to get his attention.
It was the end of another day. James waited till everyone had left the classroom before leaving himself.
"Young James, a moment if you please," called Mr Brandon the teacher.
James turned and walked back to the teacher's desk, "yes Sir, did I do something wrong again?"
"Not at all, I just want to make sure you got all the notes you need. The only reason I'm asking that is because it looked like you weren't paying attention to the lessons I was giving out."
"Oh I was paying attention, I just...well, I try to keep my eyesight away from everyone else."
"Why is that?"
"We, well, we had a falling out recently. Didn't you hear about what I did to Percy?"
"I'm well aware of that, but I didn't think it would result in you and your friends not talking to each other. Try and patch that up okay? I hate seeing my students miserable."
"I'll give it my best shot Sir," he said, though in reality, he wasn't going to try.
"Very good. That is all young James."
James turned and left the classroom. Outside in the halls, he kept his head down and said nothing as he went to the front of the school.
When he arrived, he gasped to see the front doors were closed off.
"What happened here?" he asked.
One of the repairmen spoke without looking, "winter weather is what happened. It rained earlier, and froze the doors. Some students used the disabled buttons to open them, but only broke them. You'll have to use the side doors to leave."
James sighed and walked off.
Outside the school at the door James was heading to, Molly was waiting there. She had seen how James had been treated lately, and while she wasn't happy with his actions, she felt that enough was enough and wanted to talk to him.
"I hope he comes this way, it's been so hard to just get his attention," she thought to herself.
"Hey there little girl, what are you doing out here?" sneered a voice.
Molly jumped and spun round to find 'Arry and Bert standing there. The two had just exited the school and saw Molly standing around.
"Oh, it's you two, what do you want? I'm waiting for a friend."
"Oh are you now? Care to tell us who this friend is?" Bert asked slyly. But Molly refused to speak. "Nothing? Well maybe we can get the answer out of you. What do you say 'Arry?"
"Quite right Bert," snickered 'Arry. "Now the only question remains is; how are we going to do this? Minor or super slam?"
Molly gulped and started to shiver with worry. She does have a bit of a back bone, but sometimes the meek shy side of her comes back and prevents her from defending herself. Today just happened to be the time it came back. 'Arry and Bert cracked their knuckles and were about to strike when suddenly, they heard;
"Get away from her you brutes!"
'Arry looked behind him, only to get shoved and fall into the snow face first. When he looked back, he saw the person who pushed him was James.
"Get out of here loner, nobody wants you!" 'Arry snapped.
Bert prepared to shove James, but James moved at the last second, making Bert fly past, trip and land face first into the snow. 'Arry got back up and charged at James, but the same results happened again. This went on, making them forget about Molly. The yellow hair girl could only watch on as James stood his ground, all the while, not laying another finger on them.
Soon, the twins were worn out and looking worse for wear. James smirked and stomped his foot down. This scared the twins and they ran away.
"Yeah that's right you idiots! Run!" James shouted and chuckled. "Feels good to do that." He looked back to Molly and said, "have a nice day." And he walked away.
Molly stood dumbfounded at first, then came back to reality, "oh great. I didn't even get a chance to speak to him. Tomorrow, for sure, I have to."
The next day, James walked into school only to be greeted by the nastiest glares ever given. He shrugged and continued on his way to his classroom. It's only when he got there that he was greeted by Mr Brandon.
"James, what were you thinking?" he asked firmly.
James opened his mouth, but didn't get a word out as an announcement came out of the intercom, "would James please come to the office?"
He sighed, "oh great, what did I do wrong this time?"
He walked off to the office and soon got the answer as Sir Topham Hatt and Mister Percival were waiting for him, along with 'Arry and Bert, only now with more bruises than the last time he saw them.
"Whoa, what did you guys do to yourselves?" he asked in shock.
"You did this to us, just last night!" 'Arry shouted angerly.
"That will do Bert," Mister Percival said. He turned to James, "these two say you attacked them last night outside the school, and for no reason as they were talking to Ms Molly."
Sir Topham Hatt looked at James firmly, "I told you not to step out of line James. You were lucky I didn't expel you for what happened to Percy, and now you do this. I have to say, I am not impressed."
"But Sirs, that's not what happened, you have to listen to me." And he told them of what happened the previous night, "I was only defending Molly, but when these two ran off, they weren't as bad as this. Just check your cameras, you'll see the prove."
"Uh James, that camera hasn't worked for three years," said Mister Percival.
Unknown to everyone, 'Arry and Bert smirked at each other before returning to their miserable faces.
Sir Topham Hatt shook his head, "I'm sorry James, but I'm gonna have to exp..."
"Wait Sirs, James didn't do anything wrong!"
Everyone looked to the door to see Molly barge in.
"Ms Molly, this is a private discussion," Mr Percival said firmly, "so I'm afraid you'll have to step..."
"No Sir, I can't let you punish James for standing up for me. And for the record, while he shoved 'Arry, he did not throw a single punch," and she recounted everything. "That's not all, I saw them hurt themselves afterwords just so James would get in trouble."
"Well that's very well and good, but words aren't enough prove," said Sir Topham Hatt.
Molly reached into her pocket, pulled out her cellphone and showed a video of the twins hurting themselves and laughing that James was going to pay for standing in their way. Once the video was finished, the twins looked nervous as the principal and Vice Principal stared at them.
"James," said Sir Topham Hatt, "you're free to go."
"Uh, yes, thank you Sirs."
The two teenagers walked out of the office and as the door closed, they heard loud shouting. They didn't stay to hear more as they walked out.
"Why did you do that?" James asked.
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"Oh come on Molly, you burst into the principal's office and save me from getting expelled. Why did you do that?"
"Well I'll admit you did wrong with Percy, but not even you deserve to be alone."
For the first time in weeks, a smile came back to James' face.
At that moment, the bell rang, "oh darn it, I need to get to class. Meet me at lunch, I like to hang out with you and get to know you better. Oh and I won't take no for an answer, got it?"
"Uh, yes Ma'am," he nodded.
"Good."
Molly turned and walked off, leaving James standing in his spot and asking himself, "what just happened?" but he soon snapped back to reality and ran off to class, nearly tripping on wet floors as he did.
When the lunch bell rang, James surprised everyone as he dashed out of the classroom first.
"What was that all about?" asked Edward.
"Who knows, and who cares," grumbled Gordon. "The less we see of him, the better."
"Gordon, just shut up!" snapped Rosie.
While Rosie wasn't too pleased with James about the recent ordeal, she was another person that believed leaving him to be lonely was going too far.
When he reached the cafeteria, James bought a couple of sandwiches, chocolate milk and a bag of crisps. As he walked out of the check-out area, he found himself being surronded by Diesel and most of the other smelter class teens.
"Oh dear, what did I do to you this time?" James asked sarcastically.
"Don't be stupid you idiot!" snapped Diesel. "You got 'Arry and Bert in trouble. You need to keep your mouth shut and except the punishment!"
Obviously, James knew 'Arry and Bert hadn't mentioned that it was Molly that spoke up, but decided to take it to his advantage.
"Well maybe if you lot actually used your brains, maybe then you wouldn't be getting into trouble. But given your track record, I doubt you'll ever learn that lesson."
He started to walk away, and that's when Diesel shouted, "at least we don't have a attempted murder charge on our records!"
James stopped and looked back to see Diesel smirking. For a moment, James was considering putting his lunch down and give Diesel a firm piece of his mind, but instead, he sighed and walked away to find Molly, much to Diesel's surprise.
"I thought for sure he would snap. What gives?!"
"Maybe you're losing your touch Diesel," snickered Norman.
"Oh shut up Norman!"
James walked past the tables, but couldn't find Molly. He sighed unhappily, "maybe she decided not to meet up with me after all," he thought.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Molly standing behind him.
"Oh there you are, I couldn't find your table."
Molly looked over her shoulder, then put her finger in front of her lips. She turned and walked off from the cafeteria. James followed along behind her into the hallway, and to a door leading to the stage.
"I don't really like sitting out in the main cafeteria, so I go onto the stage to eat in privacy. No one really knows this, except for you."
"But why me?"
"Well, it's because I trust you."
"That'd be a first," but he muttered that to himself.
They soon stopped at a table with two chairs on either side of it. They put their trays down on the table and took their respective seats. They ate at first, not saying a word until Molly spoke up, "so James, I have to ask, do you have any hobbies?"
"You mean besides trying to kill my friends?"
"That was just one moment."
"No, it's more than that." He sighed and looked away, "sorry, I don't mean to talk like that. I've just been going though a rough patch lately."
"So I've heard, and I don't agree with what's been going on."
"That'd make you and only you."
They went quiet again as they continued eating. After a minute of silence, James broke the silence and began telling Molly about his life.
"My life hasn't always been good. Oh sure, I was raised by two parents, but that's not saying it was perfect. My step father, for whatever reason, has always had one issue or another with me, and as a result, we are often at ends with each other. Nothing voilent of course," he added, noticing the look of worry on Molly's face, "we just don't like each other."
"My mother is a good sort, but she expects alot from me, and sadly, I follow her advice to be better and - well, you can guess where it goes from there."
"What kind of advice does she give you?" Molly asked curiously.
"Well instead of saying 'Do your best', she often says that I have to be the best, and have to be better than anyone else, and anything less than that is not good enough. Her words excatly. So when I do that and get into trouble, she scolds me and says I'm an idiot for not doing things the way she wanted me to do it."
Molly shook her head, "that's awful. But wait, was she the reason you crashed into the station this summer?"
James rubbed the back of his head nervously, "actually, that was just me being jealous of Rosie's cheery red color. That alone was why I crashed."
"What of these recent events with Percy? I hope you don't mind me asking."
James ate a bit more of his lunch before answering her question.
"I was still in hot water from the accident, and my parents were still scolding me for what happened, so I thought, if I could get someone else in trouble, I'd be off the hook. Again, jealousy took control of me, and I lashed out the way I did. Oh and I hate being teased, which did happen. And the rest, you already know."
Silence returned as they continued with their lunch.
"I'm not making excuses for what happened. I know what I did were my actions and mine alone, which is why I'm alone, with the exception of now of course."
It was then Molly asked, "if you could take it all back, would you?"
James didn't answer with words, but he answered with a nod and a small tear in his right eye, which he quickly wiped away.
After that day, Molly would ask James to meet up with her for lunch, and he would meet up with her in the same place. At first, he was the same gloomy gus he had become, but soon, his spirits started lifting and, much to everyone's surprise, he seemed to have a spring in his step.
"What's gotten into James?" Emily asked one day.
"Probably plotting to hurt someone else, you know what kind of idiot he is," said Gordon rudely.
"Gordon, shut up!"
It wasn't just the students that noticed James' change in attitude, his mother and step-father noticed it too.
One morning, as James was getting his things ready for school, his step father confronted him.
"What are you playing at?" he demanded. "Why are you so happy?"
"I got my reasons."
"And?"
"And it's none of your business," James said bluntly.
He started to walk away. His step father was not pleased with that response, and so grabbed hold of James' left arm to stop him.
"You're not leaving till you tell me!" he shouted.
"What's going on here?" asked James' mother as she came into the room.
"James is being cheerful, and he won't tell me why. I'm telling him to tell me now, and he's still refusing." He turned back to James, "tell me now boy, or you'll be getting a good smack."
James glared at him, "do your worst then, cause I don't have to tell you anything."
His step father glared at him, and moments later, the sound of a smack could be heard as James was smacked on the face. He stumbled for a moment before regaining his composure, only now with a red bruise on his face.
"TALK BOY!" he shouted.
James grumbled under his breath. Oh sure, he could've struck back and hurt his step-father, but he felt like being the bigger man, "no I will not. As I said, it's none of your business, and I meant it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have school to get to."
As he went to leave, he heard his step father try to grab him again, but this time, he went in a different direction and his step-father went into the wall with a thud. James' mother walked over to check on her husband, then turned to James.
"Just tell him James, then we'll let you go."
But James refused, and with them shouting at him and saying he would be grounded, he walked away. But he was hardly out of sight when he shouted, "I'm already grounded!" And he flashed an 'L' on his forehead, which was meant for his step-father alone.
At school, no one really asked him of why his face was red. He sighed to himself, that was until he heard a gasp and a shout as Molly ran towards him. She had seen him and was worried, "what happened to you?"
Everyone was now looking over to James' direction as they were confused. They all knew he had no friends anymore, so why was Molly talking with him?
James sighed and whispered, "let's go somewhere more private to talk."
And so they did. They went to their usual spot, and that's when James told Molly everything.
"I guess it's what I get for being cheerful for once."
"Nobody deserves that kind of treatment. You should report your step-father for what he did, cause no parent, or step parent as in your case, should strike their children."
"Oh please, no police officer would believe me."
Molly smirked, "they will if I go with you. After all," she smirked, "we can't have you getting beat up just because you have a friend."
That cheered James up, and so they decided to go and report this incident right away. James sure was happy to have a good friend like Molly.