Chapter 16 - Restless

Lost was sitting, leaning against the wall when Sarah and Swirl came into the dorm. Their laughter and chatter stopped when they saw Lost looking shaken.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Sarah asked, her brow crinkled in concern.

"Did something happen? Are you still worried about that noise you heard?" Swirl said.

"I guess I'm still a bit spooked," Lost started shakily, "When I was walking back, I heard someone behind me! I saw them, they were right behind me!"

"Wait, wait. Someone was actually stalking you?" Swirl gulped.

"I think so." Lost stood up, her legs still weak from the fright.

For a moment, the dorm was quiet as the girls thought about what Lost said.

 

"It could have been someone going to their dorm and they just happened to be behind you," Sarah said after a while.

 

"That's possible," Swirl replied.

 

Lost nodded, still a bit unsure. "Yeah, maybe."

 

 

"Well, as much as I don't want to leave you guys, I should get back to my dorm," Sarah said. "I'll see you all tomorrow, okay?"

 

 

Sarah walked over to the door, paused, and turned around. "And Lost? Don't worry, we'll figure this mystery out."

 

 

"Thanks, Sarah. Have a good sleep!" Lost said.

 

Lost watched Sarah leave. As the door softly closed, Lost's gaze met Swirl's.

 

 

"Don't worry. We can think about this tomorrow. Try to get some rest," Swirl said reassuringly.

Lost nodded and smiled softly at Swirl before going to sit on her bed. She leaned back into the soft blanket and stared at the plain white ceiling above her.

 

A thought struck her. Rolling over, she grabbed her phone from the night table. She lightly pressed the power button and went to all of her text messages. She clicked Koolest's name and sent a quick text.

 

Lost scanned her last few texts that she had sent at school. A few of them said they had been read but the last few hadn't. And there had been no reply from Koolest.

She's probably just busy with school and stuff. She'll get back to me later.

- - -

Lost felt like an overtired zombie the next morning as she grabbed the tray and moved down the line. She stiffly held her tray of scrambled eggs and toast and gazed out at all the tables. She thought she noticed a few students glance at her and whisper something to their friends.

Everyone probably knows I ditched a class. Great.

"Lost! Over here!" Ja called from a table nearby.

"Hey," Lost mumbled as she sat down and started poking at her eggs. The smell was making her want to puke.

"Lost, you look awful! Did you not get any sleep?" Karalee asked, her eyes full of worry.

"I had a super restless sleep," Lost said.

Swirl stared at Lost from across the table. "Is this about last night?"

"Oh, Sarah told me what happened, Lost! That sounds spooky!" Ja said.

"Wait, what? Did I miss something?" Karalee said. "Something spooky happened?"

Lost ate her toast while vaguely listened as Swirl and Sarah gave Karalee the full story on what happened. Lost's mind drifted off to think about what to say to Ms. Liza and what might happen to her and if she'd fail English and-

"Wow, Lost, that sounds so weird!" Karalee said, her voice breaking through Lost's worries. "The mystery just gets more and more strange."

"Mhm," Lost said and rubbed her eyes.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Sarah asked. "You look super tired. Is there anything else bothering you?"

"Well, I haven't heard from Koolest in a long while. She hasn't replied to any of my recent texts and I'm worried," Lost said.

"Oh no," Swirl said worriedly. "I'm sure everything is fine but I'll keep an eye out for her, okay?"

"Yeah, I think we have some of the same classes so I'll try to spot her," Karalee said.

"We'll find her, don't worry," Ja patted Lost's shoulder.

"Thanks, guys." Lost forced a smile, trying to ignore the worry that was twisting in her.

- - -

"Lostfairy? Lostfairy, can you come back to us, please?" Mr. Cosmo called.

"Whuh?" Lost sat up straight quickly. Everyone in her science class turned and gave her odd looks.

Mr. Cosmo sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. "I was asking if you knew what male bees are called and if they had any job in the hive?"

"Um," Lost quickly thought back at what she had read the day before. "They are called drones and their job is to mate with the female bees," Lost said.

"That is correct but pay more attention next time, okay?" Mr. Cosmo said before asking some other student a question about female bees.

Lost slumped in her chair. Her mind was full of worry and she just couldn't think of anything else. Her gaze slipped over to her backpack.

Should I risk it?

Carefully reaching for her backpack pocket that held her phone, she kept an eye on Mr. Cosmo. She quietly slipped the phone out and turned it on. She checked her text messages.

Still none from Koolest.

Lost felt her heart drop lower as she put the phone back. Penguin, sitting next to her, caught her gaze. He looked at her, then the backpack, and then her again. He frowned and shook his head before looking back at Mr. Cosmo.

Trying to act cool, Lost felt her face turn warm as she tried to pay attention to the young teacher as he excitedly talked about the eating habits of bees.

 

- - -

 

Lost slunk into her English classroom before the bell rang, hoping to catch Ms. Liza alone so they could talk before everyone came and heard them. That would be majorly embarrassing.

 

The room was empty except for Ms. Liza who was grabbing books from a box and putting them into the giant oak shelves. She turned around to see who had come in.

 

"Ah, Lost, glad to see your feeling better," Ms. Liza smiled. "Come, help me put these books away."

 

Lost slowly walked over, feeling uncomfortable. She held a stack of books out for let Ms. Liza who grabbed the first one and searched for its place.

 

"So, what happened yesterday?" Ms. Liza asked after a few minutes.

 

Lost gulped. "I panicked, I'm so sorry. You can punish me or tell the Headmaster or fail me or-"

 

"Sweetie, calm down," Ms. Liza chuckled softly. "Nothing bad is going to happen. It was my own fault, jumping that on you at the last second."

 

"I just don't like public speaking." Lost handed her teacher a thick book. "And I know ditching class is awful but I just had to get away."

 

"I get that, Lost," Ms. Liza said, sliding another book into its place. "But in English, you will have to do public speaking but you will get better. And your in Drama, aren't you? That will also help you cause you'll have to do your lines onstage."

 

Ms. Liza turned to look at Lost and looked into her eyes. "We can't always run away from our fears. Life will sometimes make us have to face them head on. You can do that for me?"

 

Lost nodded just as the bell rang.

 

"Well, it's almost class time. Thank you for helping, Lost," Ms. Liza said with a smile. She grabbed the box and put it in a nearby cupboard.

 

"So, I'm not in trouble?" Lost asked, shocked.

 

"No, you're fine." Ms. Liza winked as if they had a special secret and walked over to her desk.

 

Breathing a sigh of relief that everything went better than expected, Lost sat at her desk and waited for class to start.

Chapter 13 - There's Something Brewing in Jamaasian High

Lost quickly opened the door to English class, panting from running. Mr. Graham had randomly decided to make his class go longer. The bell had finished ringing about a minute ago.

In other words, Lost was late.

"Good to see you, Lostfairy," Ms. Liza said as some students snickered. "Please, take your seat."

Lost scooted to her desk, sat down, and leaned back into the chair with a sigh. She tried to ignore the weird looks some of her classmates were giving her. Lost noticed Bepper give her a slight sympathetic smile.

"Today is an exciting day!" Ms. Liza declared. "Today is the day where we all find out who's wonderful report gets read in front of the whole class and then it gets read by Headmaster Clark! It's so exciting!"

"Now believe me," Ms. Liza continued, "it was so hard to decide which report should be the winner. But after much thinking, I chose the winner!"

I don't want to read my report to the whole class! Don't be me. Don't be me.

 

"And now! The moment you've all been waiting for! The winner is...

Don't be me. Please, not me. Anyone but me. DON'T BE ME!

 

"Lostfairy with the report titled "I'm Lost, Where's My Locker?" It was such a wonderful report, I'm sure you'll all love it! Lostfairy, would you please come up and read it out loud?" Ms. Liza said.

Nooooo! Not me!

Lost slowly stood up and walked up to the front of the classroom, legs trembling. Her breathing was quick and sharp, her hands shaking as she held her notes. Lost stared at all the students who were staring at her expectantly.

"You can begin," Ms. Liza said softly.

Lost nodded, took a deep breath, and began reading her report. "Have you ever been lost? Not knowing where to turn is an awful feeling. I am new at Jamaasian High and this is how I felt. I had no clue where my locker even was. Where could I put my stuff?"

Lost took a shaky breath and continued, her heart pounding. "Its not right that new students are lost, without even a place to put their books. Don't you think that no one in this school should be lost?"

"She should be lost for making us sit through this boring report," a girl whispered to her friend.

"If all of us students worked together," Lost hurried to say, blinking back tears, "we could all help out new students, make them feel at home."

"Oh gosh, she's going to cry. How lame," the girl whispered again as her friend giggled.

"I also think that when-when," Lost stammered and brushed a tear away, "new students show up, they should, um, be shown their locker right away and-"

Lost noticed more students snickering and whispering.

"I'm sorry but I can't do this," Lost said and ran out the room, hot tears running down her face as she burst into the hall.

She ran as fast as she could, ignoring Ms. Liza's calls. Lost ran hallway after hallway, not caring where she was going.Tears ran down her burning face as she slowly came to a halt.

Panting, Lost sniffled and kept on going, walking now. The halls were empty, everyone was in the classrooms, like they were supposed to.

Lost groaned as the realization hit her. She had run from class. What kind of trouble was she in?

Just as Lost was about to round a corner, she heard hushed voices from down the hall.

Curious, Lost stopped and pressed herself against the wall, trying to listen to the voices.

"This is serious! You have to take action!" a man said in his deep voice.

Is that... Mr. Greely?!

"But what could we even do?" another man replied, his voice getting louder as he spoke. "We cannot tell anyone. It could become chaotic. I'll look bad, this school will look bad!"

Huh? Is that Headmaster Clark?!

"Well, we have to do something," Mr. Greely replied calmly.

"I know that!" Headmaster Clark snapped. "But we can't just blatantly say it, now can we?"

"We must remain calm. Perhaps this problem will settled by itself," Mr. Greely said.

"Before her sister notices? I doubt that!" Headmaster Clark said.

"She's new, isn't she? Perhaps its all a big misunderstanding," Mr. Greely mused.

Lost jumped back from the wall as she heard them walking towards her. As they rounded the corner, they stopped their conversation. Headmaster Clark stared at Lost in shock while Mr. Greely just frowned.

"Now what are you doing outside of class?" Headmaster Clark asked in a fake calm voice.

"Do you even have a pass?" Mr. Greely growled, suspiciously.

"Um, no, but I was heading right to class," Lost fumbled. "Just a little, uh, lost, I guess."

"Shouldn't you be halfway done your class?" Mr. Greely glared at Lost.

"Uh, yes. But I, um, its complicated?" Lost cringed, wishing it didn't sound like a question. "Not to be a bother but what were you talking about before?"

"Nothing that should concern you," Headmaster Clark said. "Now, go along to your class."

Lost nodded and started walking back to her classroom, frustrated. Why had it sounded like they were talking about her? What was the serious problem?

What was brewing in the midst of Jamaasian High?

Chapter 9 - The HQ Appears

Lost marched into the cafeteria and took a deep breath. Halfway done school for today!

She wandered over to the lunch line and stared into space, daydreaming. Lost moved up in line without thinking.

"Hey! Lost!" a voice broke through Lost's daydream.

Lost turned around and saw Karalee standing behind her, grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, hey," Lost said. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. What was the last class you went to?" Karalee asked.

"History. With grumpy ol' Mr. Greely," Lost said, rolling her eyes. "We learnt about this ancient tribe of warriors that were called Phantoms. They apparently attacked the explorers, Mira and Zios." Lost then grabbed a orange lunch tray from the counter.

"Ah. Sounds interesting at least!" Karalee said as she also picked up a tray.

Lost shrugged. "It was okay."

Lost grabbed an apple and piece of pizza from the lunch counter. After some contemplating, she grabbed another piece of pizza.

Grabbing a juice box, Lost turned around to look at Karalee. "Wanna sit together?"

Karalee nodded and Lost lead the way over to an empty table near the middle of the room. Sighing, Lost plopped down on her chair and closed her eyes.

"You tired still?" Karalee teased as she bit into a gooey piece of pizza.

"I guess so! It's been busy. Go go go, you know?" Lost said, opening her eyes and sticking her straw into her juice box. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a girl walk over to their table.

"Mind if I sit here?" the girl said, standing close to the table.

"Sure!" Karalee said.

The girl smiled and sat down next across from Lost.

"I'm Karalee! And this is Lostfairy," Karalee said, gesturing to herself and to Lost.

"Cool. I'm Pinpun. Call me Pin for short," Pin said, biting into a sandwich. Pin had her hair dyed purple and styled into a Mohawk. She wore a dark purple jacket and a bunch of lilac colored bracelets. A spiked necklace was around her neck.

The girls chattered and ate their lunches. After a little while, Lost looked at the big clock on the wall.

"I should go," Lost said, standing to her feet.

"Why? The bell hasn't rung," Pin said.

"I know. I like getting to classes early though. I get better seats that way," Lost joked. "Well, bye guys!"

"Bye!" Karalee called.

Lost wandered out into the hallway and headed towards her math class. She sighed happily. The hallways were so much more peaceful when they weren't filled with yelling students. Lost enjoyed herself as she strolled along through the halls.

All of a sudden, a loud sharp yell shattered the silence. Lost picked up her pace and turned around the corner when she saw a group of kids all huddled around something. A few kids wandering the halls stopped and joined the huddle.

Curious, Lost kept on walking towards them. As she came closer, she listened to some of the yells.

"Hit him! C'mon, do it!"

"Punch him!"

Is this a fight?

Lost turned to a girl who was silently watching. She was leaning against the wall, twirling her black hair with her finger. Her dark eyes stared intently at the herd of kids.

"Hey, do you know what this is all about?" Lost asked as she stood next to the girl.

"No. I wasn't here when it started," she said before looking up.

Lost nodded and wondered what to do. As she looked around, she noticed that a younger looking boy was bolting down the hall, away from the fight. Lost cocked her head and stared down the hall.

What was that kid doing?!

 "I'm Lostfairy, by the way," Lost said.

"I'm Purple. Purplestarclub," Purple replied.

All of a sudden, Lost saw an adult walking down the hall. He seemed to walk with such authority. The boy Lost had noticed before trailed after him.

The man pushed past the huddle and grabbed each of the boys who were fighting each other. Both of them had blood on their face and a scowl on their lips.

"What do you two think you were doing?" the man demanded.

"He started it!" one of the boys yelled, pointing at the other one.

"I don't care who started it," the man said sternly. "Now tell me. What were you fighting about?"

Lost turned to Purple. "Who is that guy?"

"He's part of the security team. Us students nicknamed them the HQ. Headquarters," Purple said. "They always stop fights and stuff."

Lost turned back to the HQ who was still talking to the boys.

"If neither of you will tell me why you were fighting, I'm going to have to take you to the Headmaster," the HQ said.

The HQ then started walking back down the hall, pushing the boys with his arms.

All the kids who had watched the fight were silent until the trio went around the corner. Then they all turned to the boy Lost had seen before.

"Why'd you have to report them?" a girl yelled at the boy.

"Yeah! Now they're in trouble and it's all your fault!" another student shouted.

"Now, now! He didn't do anything wrong!" Lost said, without thinking.

Everyone stared at her. Lost shifted her feet. The bell rung and Lost sighed with relief. Finally, the crowd went their separate ways to their classrooms.

Lost rushed down the hall towards her math class, shaking her head. That was enough excitement for her.

* * *

Lost hurried into English just as the final bell rang. She quickly scooted into her seat and let out a sigh. Math had gone late because she had to ask Mr. Graham some questions about a problem she had in her math quiz.

Ms. Liza stood in front of the class room, with hands folded in front of her as she watched the students with her bright curious eyes.

"Alright!" Ms. Liza announced. The whole room's buzz of chatter instantly stopped.

 "Today, you will use this whole class time to work on your report on something that needs changing in Jamaasian High. Remember, this is your last time to work on it before it is due!" Ms. Liza said. "Now! Let your imagination run wild!"

Lost got her notebook out of her backpack and started writing her report. She stopped suddenly and quickly reread what she already had written. Was it good enough?

"Don't doubt yourself," Ms. Liza said gently, standing next to Lost's desk. "I'm sure it's wonderful."

Lost nodded and watched Ms. Liza move back to her desk.

I wonder how she knew I was doubting my report...

Lost shook her head slightly and began writing again.

* * *

The bell rang throughout the whole school. Lost quickly snapped her notebook shut, shoved it into her backpack, and stood up.

All the students in the class dashed through the door and into the halls. Lost walked slowly up to Ms. Liza's desk where her teacher was scrawling something down. Lost cleared her throat.

"Yes, Lostfairy?" Ms. Liza said, smiling.

"Um, I just wanted to thank you for helping me get past my doubt," Lost said shyly.

"Ah, you're welcome," Ms. Liza said. "Now you better run along! The last class for today should be starting soon!"

Lost nodded and ran out into the hall. The halls were not nearly empty and everyone was laughing and talking.

Pulling her backpack open, Lost reached past the books and grabbed her beat up schedule.

Lost beamed when she saw what her last class was. Art! Glorious art!

Lost dashed up the stairs, taking two at a time. She bolted down the hall and threw open the door at the end of the corridor.

Taking a deep breath, Lost stepped into the room. A couple of students glanced up at her and then went back to chatting.

"Lost! Hi!" a girl yelled from behind Lost.

Lost whirled around and saw Snowyclaw, the cheerleader who greeted her yesterday.

"How are you doing? Don't you totally love this place?" Snowy said cheerfully.

"Yeah, it's awesome," Lost smiled.

"And art is literally the best class!" Snowy said.

"Hey, I love art too!" Lost exclaimed.

"Yay! I have another friend who loves to draw as well," Snowy said, looking around the room and then peering out into the hallway. "Oh! There she is! Artymis, c'mon!"

A girl, who's name was supposedly Artymis, rushed down the hall and ran over to Lost and Snowy. She wore a white headband with little mini antlers. She also wore a light blue jacket and a blue necklace with spikes. White bracelets finished the look.

"I can't wait to start painting!" Artymis said to Snowy, ignoring Lost.

"Me too! Let's go get seats," Snowy said. They both walked over to two empty desks and sat down.

Lost followed and sat down behind them. As she put her backpack down, Lost looked around the room.

There were paint brushes everywhere. There all sorts of paints, brushes, and canvases all scattered around in the room on shelves and on tables. There were huge splotches of paint on the floors in bright colors. The air smelled like paint.

The door closed and a young woman walked into the room. She wore a pink skirt and a fancy purple shirt. The woman's hair was dyed purple and was styled in a cute pixie cut. Lost noticed a single earring in her ear that was a golden bell.

"Hello! I am your art teacher, Ms. Peck," Ms. Peck said, beaming. "In my art class, we are all allowed to be our artsy, creative self. In my art class, we are going to have the most fun time ever."

She sure is enthusiastic.

"So! Today, we are all going to get our creative juices flowing by all painting the same thing. But, in our own unique styles," Ms. Peck said, reaching down and grabbing a rose in a pretty vase. "So, let's start by painting this rose."

Ms. Peck walked around the room, handing out a couple of different sizes of paintbrushes and a palette with a variety of paints.

Lost stared at the beautiful yet complicated rose. She then stared at her paints. Lost sighed softly.

This will be fun.

Chapter 5 - Bumping into Other Students

Lost moved her way down the halls, looking for people she knew. Lost pushed through the crowds of students, all trying to make their way to their classrooms. The bell hadn't rung yet but it would soon.

As Lost glanced down to at the marble flooring, she heard a shout. Lost quickly looked up to see a girl with white blond hair with pink streaks running down the hall.

"Hey, move it! Coming through! Outta my way!" the girl yelled.

Kids moved aside as she ran past them. Lost jumped to the side as the girl barreled along.

"Move for me, Princessbg! Please, clear the way!" Princessbg said.

Lost shook her head and kept walking as the girl went around the corner.

The bell rang a few seconds before Lost made it to the math classroom. Lost went inside and sat at a desk, waiting for more kids to come.

As the last herd of kids came in, an old man shuffled to the front desk. The man had wild white hair with weird goggles perched on his head. He wore a brown vest with emerald buttons. An odd key hung out of his pants pocket.

"Greetings, young students. Welcome to math class. I am your teacher, Mr. Graham," the man said before clearing his throat.

"You should see a book on your table. That is your math book. Read it cover to cover. Once, twice, thrice times if you need to," Mr. Graham said.

Lost glanced around the room and saw some kids already looking bored. One had their head on their desk and Lost could hear soft snores coming from their direction.

"Open your book," Mr. Graham said. "Oh look, our first math equation. Let's see what it is, shall we?"

* * *

The bell rung. Kids sat bolt up right, awake and ready to leave math.

"Alright, you may leave now," Mr. Graham said.

Lost scrambled out of her seat and marched into the hallway. She had memorized where she needed to go next, English.

As she walked down the halls, she looked up at the big wooden clock hanging in the hall and all of a sudden, she bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Lost said as she looked down at the girl she had walked into.

"It's ok. Not much harm done," she said as she rubbed her head.

"I'm Lostfairy," Lost said, sticking out her hand.

"I'm AJKraft. Or Kraft for short," Kraft shook Lost's hand. She had brown hair and was wearing a cute grey party hat. She sported a black jacket and a black pearl bracelet.

"Well, I hope to see you around," Lost said.

"Yeah, me too. See ya!" Kraft said as she continued down the hall.

Lost wandered her way to her English classroom and went inside where she found a group of girls surrounding a girl who had a magenta hat.

"Bepper, I just love your hat!" one of the girls cried.

Who in the world is Bepper?

The girl, named Bepper, smiled and pushed up her glasses. She wore a backpack that looked like white dragon wings and had a magenta tie around her neck. She adjusted her black clunky bracelets on her wrists.

I'm guessing she's ANOTHER well known person...

Lost sat down and let her eyes wonder around the room. She noticed how there were little trinkets scattered around in various places and shelves. She even noticed a fancy looking staff with a purple gem on top.

"Hey there! Are you excited for English to start? I am."

Lost looked up to see who had spoken to her and saw a girl smiling at her in the desk beside Lost. She wore a little blue top hat that looked like it was made out of candy. She also wore a turquoise knit sweater that was almost Christmas-y but it still worked for her. She had a bright sparkle in her eyes that made you feel happy too.

"Yeah, I guess I kinda am. I'm new here so everything is exciting," Lost replied. "I'm Lostfairy."

"Oh welcome here! I'm Awesomepanda. Nice to meet you!" Awesomepanda said.

Lost thought for a minute before saying, "Are you by any chance related to a Doomypanda?"

"Nope. Why?" Awesomepanda asked.

"Just curious," Lost said.

Awesomepanda started sorting things in her backpack. Lost looked out the window, waiting for class to start.

Hearing the door shut, Lost looked to see who had closed it. It was Ms. Liza from homeroom.

"Good afternoon! As you might know, I am Ms. Liza. I teach both homeroom and English," Ms. Liza said as she walked to the front of the room.

"Let's start this year of English with a fun writing exercise! I'm thinking it should be some report of some sorts. Any ideas? Feel free to shout them out!" Ms. Liza said.

"A report about summer vacation!"

"A pollution report!"

"A report about something we feel like needs changing in Jamaasian High!"

"Aha! I hear an intriguing idea! Let's make this report about something you feel needs changing in Jamaasian High. It'll be very interesting to hear everyone's thought on change in this school," Ms. Liza beamed. "I'll let you start working these reports for all of this class. The reports will be due in two days."

"Oh, and I just thought of something. How about after I read all the reports in two days, I'll pick the winning report and get the author of it to read it in front of the whole class. And it will get shown to Headmaster Clark. Sounds good?" Ms. Liza said.

Lost started wondering. What does need change?

I've hardly been here, how am I supposed to know things that need change?

She looked around the room to see if others were getting stuck like she was. Almost every kid was bent over their page, writing.

Lost turned back to her desk and tapped her chin with her pencil. Her fingers slipped and the pencil clattered to the floor. A couple kids looked up and snickered.

Lost blushed and bent down to pick it up. As she straightened up, she noticed Ms. Liza smiling kindly at her. She quickly looked back down at her paper and started thinking again.

Hmm, maybe... A better system of getting lockers and dorms? I STILL don't have my locker and I can't carry these heavy books all the time.

With that, she started writing.