Avalon High (BXB)

4: Order Of The Bear

It's after school as we're going Track workouts, as we're lifting our legs up and down. "Timed four hundred meter! Top three make the team! Come on. Let's go!" Coach Baxter yells, as the Football players run past us, and I almost fall, and catch myself, and start walking again, and catch myself again, and get on my left foot, tying my right shoe. "Shoes all tied, Arthur?" Baxter asks, and I look up at the stands, and see Miles stand up, and walk off, and I look back to Baxter, and straighten back up, and run to the foot adjustment, and adjust it for my foot size, and stand on the angled springs, getting ready to run. "Ready! Set!" Coach Dylan exclaims, and I turn to the Football guys, as they all look like nights of the round table, holding up swords together, and I snap back into reality, and hear the gun go off, and I start running. I may be behind, but I manage to catch up with my skills and adrenaline that's pumping through my veins, and I run past everyone, coming in first, and we walk back over to the coaches, breathing heavily. "That was the fastest four hundreds I've ever seen in my entire life. You broke a school record." Baxter says, as I smile, and he offers his right hand. "Welcome to Avalon High Varsity Track." He says, as I shake it with my right hand, and we release. "Thank you." I say, giving a small chuckle. "Ok, we'll see you here tomorrow, four p.m." He says, and I look out in the distance, and see Will running. "Austin, you and Jeremiah, you also. Congratulations. Well done." Baxter says, and I jog off. I'm at home in the kitchen after getting changed, talking with Mom and Dad. "Coach said I broke the school record. In tryouts!" I exclaim, setting the plates down. "That's amazing!" Mom exclaims. "We're so proud of you." Dad says, and I smile. "I'm proud of me, too." I say, and turn around, walking back into the kitchen. "You really like it here, don't you, darling?" Mom asks. "Yeah, I do. I feel like this is where we're meant to be." I say, pouring coffee, and grab both mugs, and walk over to the table, as Mom passes by me with plates. "So. Did you make some new friends today?" She asks. "A few." I say, smiling. "What's with that smile? Did you see that smile?" Dad asks, as I say the coffee down. "I saw it." She says, and I sit down next to him. "So, did someone float your boat?" Dad asks, and I laugh, looking at him. "Float my boat? What year is this?" I ask. "He means, did you fancy anyone?" Mom asks, as I see her put her green oven mitts on, and picks up the warm apple pie. "Fancy? Really, you guys. Century up." I say. "I think he's dodging the question." Mom says. "Absouletly." Dad says, and I hear the door knock, and I quickly stand up. "Oh! I'll get it!" I exclaim, smiling, and run past Mom, and open the front door with my right hand, and see Miles, smiling at me. "Miles, what are you doing here?" I ask. "We have a paper due." He says. "In three weeks." I say. "I don't like to dilly dally. Do you want to do this or not?" He asks. "I guess." I say, and hear footsteps from behind, and see Mom and Dad. "Arthur, do you want to introduce us to your friend?" Mom asks. "Oh, yeah. This is Miles. We're doing a paper together." I say. "Oh, nice to meet you, young man. Come on in." Dad says, shaking his right hand, as Miles smiles brighter, and walks in, past us, and I give a small laugh, and Dad points behind him with his right index finger, and I shake my head, mentally groaning, as he puts his hand down, and walk off. "Miles, do you want some pie?" Mom asks. I'm in the Living Room with Miles, as he's eating pie on the couch, as we've looked through all my parents books. "Can we just find the book we're going to use and call it a night, Miles? We have a lot of time to do this." I say, walking over to the other couch, and sit down, holding a black book in my right hand. "I always do my assignments in half the time allotted." He says. "Why?" I ask. "To prove that I'm better than everyone else. And I thought you were the Sterotypical Nerd." He says. "Sterotypical, not obsessed." I say, smiling. "And more modest." I say, sarcastically, opening the book, and look through it. "That, too." He says. "That was sarcasm." I say. "How is it sarcasm if you're right?" He asks, and I look up at him. "Never mind." I say, shaking my head, and close the book. "Ok. I cannot find anything on The Order of the Bear anywhere." I say, and toss the book on the table in front of me, grabbing another one. "Can't we just ask your parents?" He asks, and I give a light chuckle. "Are you kidding? If I tell them I'm doing a paper on King Arthur, they'll never leave me alone. How do you think I got stuck with my name in the first place? No. I will find it myself." I say, looking through more pages, and throw the book down on the table. "I wonder what they ate in Camelot." He says. "Mutton, with a side of beets. Mm. And sage water, but only from the North.." I say, and blink. "What the hell? I didn't even know I knew that!" I exclaim, and groan. "It must've seeped in subconsciously while my parents were going on and on about King Arthur. And on and on." I say, and rest my right hand on my chin, and see Miles have another headache. "Miles?" I ask, as he sets the plate down. "Do you have any ice?" He asks, and sets the books down, getting up, and he runs to the kitchen. "Yeah, yeah. I'll get it for you." I say, and hit my bare right toe on the fireplace and I hop on it. "Shit!" I exclaim, sitting down in the chair. "Here we go. Back to work." Miles says, tossing the ice bag down that's in his right hand, and sits back on the couch, as I grab it with my left hand, holding it to my foot. "How did you know I was gonna need some ice?" I ask. "Coincidence." He says. "No, you did the same thing earlier with the shoelaces." I say. "It's not hard to guess. You seem pretty clumsy." He says. "But.." I say, and he I interrupts me. "Just drop it, ok?!" He exclaims. "You got it." I say, in a low voice. "Thank you. Now, can't we just ask your parents about this Order of the Bear thing and save some time?" He asks, and I sigh. "Fine." I say. Miles and I walk in to the study of where my parents are, as Miles is holding the paper up. "The Order of the Bear. Anyone?" He asks, and Mom takes her glasses off with her right hand, and she looks at Dad. "Have you heard of it?" I ask, and she stands up, smiling at me, and walks over to a bookcase, moving the books over to the side, and opens up a secret hatch, pulling out something wrapped in cloth, and runs back over, setting it down, and carefully taking a huge book out. "Woah." I say. "Jackpot." Miles says. I'm sitting on the couch next to Miles, as Mom hands us papers that's in her right hand, and we take them with ours. "The Order of the Bear is an ancient organization, which believes that King Arthur will one day be reincarnated." She says, and hands us pens. "Right. And when is this gonna happen?" I ask, waving my pen around. "Arthur will return when he is truly needed to bring the world out of the dark and into a new age of enlightenment." Mom says. "You mean, bring back Camelot?" I ask. "It's a metaphor." Dad says, walking over to us. "You can't be sure." Mom says. "I'm pretty sure." Dad says. "He can't be sure." She whispers. "But even as a piece of fiction, it's actually quite interesting." Dad says, picking up the book with both hands, and opens it. Let's see. Ah! As the keepers of the prophecy, it falls to the members of the Order to search for potential Arthurs in each and every generation. But beware the Dark Forces. Led by a reincarnation of Mordred, determined to find the next Authur and destroy him before he can realize the prophecy. What they're saying.." Dad says, and Mom interrupts him. "If Arthur isn't found soon, Mordred and his followers will send us back into the Dark Ages. Ignorance, humilation, suffering.." She says, and Miles interrupts her. "High School." He says, and looks at me, and we both laugh, and look back at Mom, as she has a serious face, and we stop. "It's no joke, Arthur. A lot of people take this very seriously." Mom says. "Some more serious than others." Dad says, nudging his head to the left to signify Mom, as she nods, and Miles and I both laugh again, and Dad stops, as Mom looks at him. "Some people are fanatics about it. Crazy. You're not. We're not." Dad says, and holds the book to her. "Here, read. There's a lot of good stuff in there. Refresh your memory." Dad says, as she's looking away, frowning, and turns back to him, and he closes the book. "Ok. Mom's mad." Dad says, and Miles and I both laugh again.