Riddle Middle Two

Chapter 17: The Ramifications

Zack (1st person)

The next day, right after home room, Lauren was being harassed in the hallway. "Hey, Highlighter!" An extremely tall kid shouted, shoving her against the face of a locker. Highlighter and Orange were the main protagonists of Toddler Funtime. I would've helped her, if it weren't for the fact that freaking giants were the ones hassling her. "Just leave me alone!" She said. There was a pretty big crowd of kids gathered around them. I couldn't tell if they were watching or trying to get by. We only have four minutes in between classes, and I had to get across campus to my visual art's class. I'd been stuck for a couple of minutes already. I knew Lauren had band next, which was right next to visual arts, so she had to go equally as far. The tall kid grabbed her backpack and tossed it on top of the lockers. "No!" Lauren cried. "Ha! Good luck getting that down, Highlighter!" He said. He pushed her onto the floor, then he shoved a bunch of other kids as he went to a classroom down the hall. That made sense, that his classroom was right there.

The rest of the crowd thinned out. I looked up at the clock on the wall. I had a minute or so, when I usually need the full four to get there. I looked to Lauren. She jumped frantically, trying to get her backpack, but it was no use. The relatively big lockers caused her backpack to be a a foot or so out of reach. I guess she hadn't already gotten her stuff from her locker, or maybe her stuff was in her backpack. Lauren looked around, and I ducked behind another tall kid who was walking down the hallway. I figured that if Lauren found me, she'd kill me before I could help. I couldn't really do much anyway, since I'm shorter than her. The bell rang. Lauren's eyes started to get a bit watery. To my relief, Pico came down the hallway. He seemed to be in a hurry. "Pico!" Lauren shouted. Pico looked over to her. "Can you get my backpack down real quick?" She asked. "Oh, yeah, sure," he said. He easily reached it and passed it down to her, then he speed walked down the hallway and downstairs. I waited for Lauren to go, then I went as well. I made it to art a couple minutes late, but my teacher didn't seem to mind that much. I hope Lauren ends up being okay...
Phil (1st person)

I had lunch with Lauren, Zack and Pico. When me, Zack, and Pico tried to sit near Lauren, she got up and moved away from us. "Hm, that's weird," I said. "Yeah..." Pico said. Zack didn't say anything. "Did something happened with Lauren today?" I asked. "Her backpack was on top of a locker for some reason, and I helped her get it down, which made us both late. Other than that, I don't know," Pico said. "Hm... Zack?" I asked. He glanced at me. "It feels like you know something about Lauren that we don't know," I said. Between now and what happened at the park, Zack was acting pretty suspicious. "Yeah, and I don't plan on telling you," he said. "Okay, okay..." I said. There was an awkward silence while we ate, then we all went to our next period.

If Zack won't tell me, I decided I'd just ask Lauren after school. Once the bell rang and we were starting to walk home, I went up to Lauren. "Hey, Lauren," I said. She glanced at me. "Did something happened between you and Zack?" I asked. "Yeah, that little ******* told everyone my secret," she said. "Secret?" I asked. "Yeah..." she said, blushing a bit. "...I'm assuming you don't want to tell me," I said. "I will, just please, don't laugh..." she said. "Alright," I said. "I... Um... Sometimes I- Or, I used to watch Toddler Funtime..." she said. "Haven't we all?" I asked. "I... No, I mean recently... As in, within a week of today," she said. "...Oh..." I said. She pulled the hood of her jacket over her head and shoved her hands into her pockets. She began running. "No, Lauren, wait!" I called. I didn't really have anything else to ask her, but I didn't want her running away. She completely ignored me and just ran faster, all the way back to her house. She went onto her porch and through the door, which she slammed quite hard. I guess me, or Zack, will just have to talk to her again tomorrow...