Back 2 School Band

Lights in the Dark

POV: Joey

"READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!!" I shout into the open gym. The only sound I can here is the echo bounce through the walls almost like in the recording studio. Except here it's bigger.

Hmmmm if I start singing maybe the girls will laugh, and THAT'S how to catch them.

"I'M SINGING AND IM IN A GYM AND IM SINGING!!! AND IT'S DARK IN HERE AND IM SINGING!!!" My voice cracked but I almost laughed. Chaddy is the only one good at the really high notes that he will never "let go" of. I tried to keep quiet, but it's really hard for me to keep a straight face sometimes.

I wonder who will be the hardest to try to find. If I try for the hardest the easiest might show up unexpected. My feet echo when I walk across the gym floor, but once I get to the hallway, my steps silence themselves.

I get down the hallway a little bit and I thought I saw a shadow. It is hard to tell. It went near the music room where I show kids how to improve their musical skills. I wonder who went in there. I took a step and I heard a scream.... Oh wait it was me. Then I realized who it was. "Shocker"

"BUBBY!!!!" I yelled I ran and gave him a giant hug. He squeezed me harder. "Owwy Bubby!!"

"Hahaha you are too easy to scare!" Chad said.

"If you are here, then who went in THERE?" I asked.

"What? Who are you talking about Joe? You must be outta your mind."

"Well yeah that is true, but I DID see someone."

"Maybe it was one of them. Let's go and see," Chad whispers as we head toward one of the many music rooms. We hear a squeak, a crash and a crack. When we reach the music room, there wasn't anybody there.

"Sounded like someone knew we were coming and ran," I say.

"How did they get away if we were standing by the door?" Chad responds.

"Wait they must be in one of the closets," I respond. There are two in the room, so they must be hiding in one of them. "You check that one, and I'll check this one."

"Nope nothing.... Hey wait there you are," Chad found Brycie and Avery. The other two girls stayed home after "school" with Alan's sister because both Alan and Brycie knew this would be late.

"Hey buddy I found the phones!" I call to Chad.

"Your not supposed to look now. It's cheating," he replies.

I didn't grab the phones for the "phone police" would come and get me. We have a force with the Grammer police and now the phone police. How would I look like in a firefigher's helmet? Hmmmm pretty "smoking" maybe? I turned around and stepped on glass... wait. "Hey Chad, Brycie, I think someone else found the phones."

"What do you mean bro?"

"Look someone must have heard us coming and dropped the evidence if we found them," I hold up the shattered phone. "Hey Brycie, did you hear anyone in here before?"

"Well, I think I might have heard something, but I thought it was you. I tried to keep Avery from laughing. I guess she couldn't help in when she saw him," she said pointing to Chaddy.

"I will take that as a compliment! My fans adore me," he stands like a superhero.

"Ok now let's see if we can find the others," I say. We go around and we find Izzy and Beth in the library across the hallway. A little too easy if you ask me. "Ok you two, do you have any idea where the other's would be?" I have a feeling the girls might be a little hard to find, but I know Alan is good at this game. He might be a gentle giant, but he can pick the best hiding spots.

"HA.... oh," I say opening a closet, but only finding towels and other stuff. I then spot near the hamper the Mags in the pile of rags. Both Kelsey's were in there too hiding in the corners. "Ok now I have you girls. We just have to find a few others including the three other guys."

"Really Joey? Where would Caleb be?" Mags asked a little sarcastically.

"The cafeteria?" I reply.

"Wow I even know your bro better then you do," she replies in the same tone. She says as we walk toward the one place she knows he will be. I know too, but I wanted to mess with her. I think I hang out with Chad too much. I KNOW I hang out with them too much. She leads us to Caleb's corners. There we not only find Caleb, but we find Elisabeth too. They were playing patty cake without the loud clapping. Caleb is still a kid inside, so everyone didn't expect anything less. Not anything more. Give me a lifetime with my bros and I will be good.

"Uhhh dude, what are you doing?" Chad asks in the same tone Mags gave him.

"What does it look like bro?" Caleb responds, "I'm having fun." Chad rolls his eyes and we all laugh including Caleb.

"Ok now where do you guys think Kyle and Izzy could be?" I ask them wondering if they would know.

"Oh they are back there bro," Elisabeth says. Caleb nudged her as if to say 'really!' I look back and they were there.

"Thanks a lot sis," Izzy says to Elisabeth. We all gather together and walk to the library to see if anybody was in there. Back in the back there were a pile of bean bags. Hmmmm
"WEEEEE!!" I yell as I fall on top of the beanbags. "JUSSST FALLLLL!!" I sing as I heard a thud and a "OUCH JOE STAMPER!!"

"How did you know it was me?" I ask the strange voice as the bags were lifted up to reveal Fallon and Beth.

"Uhhh the voice duhh!" Beth replied in a sarcastic tone, "And you are the lightest out of all five of the guys. If it was Chad we both would have been crushed."

"HEY I'm right over here!' we turn around to see Chad standing there. I think he was trying to sneak up on Joey again, but it didn't work.

"Oh um sorry Chad. I thought it was Alan in the bean bags, and I knew he could take me. It looks sort of like I had Just Fall-on into the wrong people then," I look at my Beth's shoes and realize she is wearing GREEN laces! Too cool!

"Yeah I'll forgive you this time little buddy.... this time."

"Awwww thanks bubby!"

There you go again. He says as he grabs me in a headlock and wrestles me into the beanbags. We hear a loud whistle come from somewhere. "Wait a second. Is that Alan?" Chad whispers. Everyone is standing and looking around. We still haven't found Alan or Melody yet.

"Should we split up and look for clues?" Caleb asks.

"Do you have ANY idea what happens to people in the dark who seperate?" I ask, "Don't you watch Scooby Doo?"

"He's right (cough for once cough) let's just stick together," Chad 'coughs'. We decide to walk around, but still what feels like ten minutes later (according to the creepy hand clocks on the wall) we are still trying to find them.

Beth speaks first, "How about try going back to the start and work our way around?"

"I guess it's worth a shot," Kyle replies. Everyone agrees, so we head back toward the gym. We look EVERYWHERE on the ground level, and there is not much to look behind. The stairs are empty, the floor is empty, the locker rooms were empty. Everywhere was just empty. No Alan. No Melody.

"Hey look up there," Avery looks up and spots someone on the ceiling or on the beams on the ceiling, "DADDY!!!!"

"Uhhhh hey bro! How did you get up there?" Caleb asks. Alan points to the stairs and the ledge next to the stairs. It was enough to support Alan. I guess that spy movie really got to him. He climbs across the beam and down the bleachers on the sides. He wasn't very far from the stairs, but just enough to be out of sight. Not enough though to hide from his little girl. There is something special that connects a father to his daughter. Just like Jesus. -Joey love Jesus, and Jesus Love Joey! Joey not daughter, Joey son.... Joey stop talking to himself.

"Ok now where do you guys think Melody is?" Elisabeth asks. Everyone looks a little confused about how she can hide so well in this school. It's giant, but it's also very open. We check for what seems like a looooooooooooooooong time, but still no sign of her. She is a really good hider if you ask me. The only question remains is......

Where can Melody be?