Afternoon of August 3, 2023

I waited through class all day, while Mr. Furish taught me every single subject. Most kids left the classroom after 2 classes.

But me, and three other students, stayed in his class all day. We even had lunch and Study Hall in there. Isla had left after homeroom, and I was left alone with people I didn't know. Well, sort of.

Parker stayed in the classroom all day too, along with Luke, who I still hadn't talked to.

There was also that Isabel girl. She seemed nice, but I couldn't muster up the courage to talk to her directly.

But I didn't have to, because she talked to me first.

We were waiting for the bell to ring for the end of the day, and Mr. Furish told us that we could just hang out while he went to go grab something.

Isabel sat directly to my right, so she could easily talk to me.

"Hi, you're Lauren, right?" Isabel said.

Use your brain power, Lauren.

"Um, yeah. Isabel, right?" I said awkwardly.

There we go, not as awkward as before.

"Yeah, I can't believe you haven't been to school in 2 years. What have you been doing all this time?" Isabel said quickly.

"Oh, uh." I struggled to find any hobbies that I had pursued, but I said, "Well, I've been swimming a lot, and I've gone hiking. And I've been obviously doing schoolwork."

"Cool!" she said, "Are you on a swim team?"

Good Lauren.

"Yeah" I said, gaining confidence, "I was on a swim team back in Kentucky, and I joined one here too."

I actually hadn't talked to anyone at my swim practice, and been pretty much known as the quiet one.

"Cool, I've actually never been on a sports team." Isabel said, "They didn't have extracurricular activities at my school."

I had just then noticed that Isabel was wearing a white Mexican style dress, with red lining at the top, and with sleeves. She also wore tan boots, and a crescent shaped necklace.

"You're very good with English." I said.

Well that's not very awkward.

"Oh, I've actually learned it all my life." Isabel said.

"Wow, that's cool. So you can speak fluent Spanish too?" I said.

"Yep." she said with a humble smile.

"I actually know some Spanish." I said to her.

Wow, Lauren, super humble about it...

"Wow, so puedes entenderme ahora?" she said with an accent.

"Si, lo siento, se que tengo acento americano cuando hablo." I said slowly, still making sure I was saying the right words.

Show off.

"Good!" she said, "That's pretty cool."

"You girls seem to be hitting it off, how about you guys hang out tonight?" Mr. Furish said as he walked into the room.

"Oh, I guess that sounds good." I said quietly again.

Crap, I'm being watched.

I lost my confidence again as quickly as Mr. Furish walked over to us.

"Oh, and you guys are obviously coming to practice tonight, so you guys can hang out after then." Mr. Furish said.

"Practice for what?" Isabel said.

"Oh, you know." Mr. Furish said, "Some of the other kids, including you guys, will be meeting up after school to practice."

TOTALLY NOT SUSPICIOUS...

"Practice what?" I said confused.

"You know." Mr. Furish said as he walked away.

"Well, anyway, want to hang out?" Isabel said, "After 'practice'?"

"Sure, we can hang out at the In N' Out." I said, suddenly regaining my confidence.

Smooooooooth.

"YAY!" Isabel said, jumping up and down.

I gave her a confused look, and she coughed and then said, "Sorry, I'll try to stay cool."

Dang it Lauren, you and your expressive face...

I laughed a little and said, "No, it's fine. And in that case..."

I stood up from my chair beside her, and said, "We can both celebrate."

She and I jumped up and down, and squealed.

Lauren, you're doing great here even in the situation of a code 1637747, Girl Party.

"Okay, okay, now, calm down." I said, as she hugged me.

"You guys having a girl party?" Parker said from the back row.

I can't believe he knows what code 1637747 is.

I pried Isabel off me and said, "Yes, have a problem with that?"

"No no. I was just asking. It looks fun." Parker said, smiling.

"Why don't you join us then?" I asked.

"Sure, after whatever 'practice' Mr. Furish was talking about. I love In N' Out." Parker said.

Well, there's no way you can take that back, so good luck hanging out with a boy, code YOU'RE NOT READY, AKA code 738478.

I meant that he could join us in our squealing, not at In N' Out, but a part of me said that it'd be rude to say I was talking about something else, but I thought it'd be okay if he came anyway.

"YAY!" Isabel said, jumping up and down again.

I smiled at her, and Parker laughed a little, then the bell rang.

"I'll see some of you at practice in a few minutes!" Mr. Furish said.

I grabbed my bag and walked out the door with Isabel and Parker.

As far as first days go, that was a pretty good one.

If only that I knew that the day wasn't over, and I was a few minutes away from hearing the most terrifying news of my entire life.

Mr. Furish hadn't given us much information about why we'd be meeting, but only told us where. He told us that he'd be waiting at the nearby pool, and would talk to us about what we were doing, once we were there.

Isabel and I walked 10 minutes to the pool with Parker. We ended up talking, it was mostly Isabel and Parker talking, but I contributed a little too.

I was mostly focused on Luke, who ambled behind us, and once we reached the pool area, I let Parker and Isabel talk, while I walked over to Luke.

Alright, this should be easy.

"Uh, hey." I said to him.

"Hi." Luke said, "You're Lauren, correct?"

He knows my name.

"Yeah, and you're Luke. Sorry I didn't mean to-"

Great way to be creepy.

"No it's fine." Luke said, "I feel like I've seen you somewhere before."

Phew.

"Yeah, me too." I said, "You haven't perhaps, had a dream then called me in the middle of the night, then the screen frizzed out and I didn't hear the rest of what you said because apparently we were from different years and I was still in quarantine and what we thought was a year was only a night?"

Well that totally wasn't the longest run on sentence ever.

He stopped and tried to comprehend what I had just said, mostly because I said it so quickly and didn't stop.

"Uh, I think so. You played soccer with me, right?" Luke said, slightly confused.

Well, I'm surprised that's the thing he remembered.

"Uh, yes, in the past." I said.

It felt so weird to be saying it out loud in such a calm manner. Most people would be freaking out if they saw someone from their dream three years ago.

"Are- you- really- Lauren?" he said, pausing between words.

I nodded slowly.

He ran up to me and hugged me tightly, being able to use his long arms to reach all the way around me.

Wow he's tall.

And I smiled and returned the embrace.

We were about to continue talking, when we heard Mr. Furish's unmistakable voice say, "Everyone in the pool area!"

Luke and I ran to the room with our bags and sprinted into the area, where we saw Isabel, Parker, Isla, and boy and girl I didn't know.

"Alright. How do I begin? You guys were all specifically requested for the team." Mr. Furish said, "What team Mr. Furish? You might be asking. Well, let me welcome all of you to the Followers Of Fate."

Well this is quickly escalating.

Mr. Furish watched as we all stared at him blankly, and Parker said in an annoying tone, "Excuse me, but what the heck are you talking about?"

You and me both are wondering the same thing, Cat Eyes.

Mr. Furish smirked and said, "Oh Parker, always with the attitude. See, we've been trying to get you here for years, but somehow, you always seem to get out of it."

"Can you explain what 'here' is?" a boy behind me said.

"The characters, class 41. Anywhere the Followers Of Fate meet." Mr. Furish said.

Can't he just give us a straight answer here?

"Well, who are the Followers Of Fate?" Isabel said.

"Let me answer this one." Isla said, "We're not getting anywhere with Mr. Furish's vague answers. The Followers Of Fate are a group of people who are genetically and spiritually connected to the characters from any story you can imagine."

Okay...?

We all stayed silent for a moment.

"You have powers, and your parents and grandparents are characters from stories, and you possess the powers of those characters." Isla said.

The say what?

We just gave her a blank stare.

"Seriously? You all have powers, and were recruited to become a part of us. You have to pass trials, and if you do, you're a part of the team that helps fend away villains from reality." Isla said.

"What?!" Parker said as possibly loud as he could.

Again, I agree with, Cat Eyes.

I was in shock. I hadn't been told such pressing news as fast as I did.

"That's not the full of it, guys." Mr. Furish said, "There are rules and guidelines to being a FOF."

"FOF stands for Full Of Fail, too." Luke said with a laugh.

Is it bad that I want to fall into the floor from laughter now...

"You should stop joking around, because your lives just became more pressing and important." Isla snapped.

Well that crosses off that idea.

"Your entire lives will be in danger constantly, even if you avoid any problem you can think of." Mr. Furish said, "You all charge up your power with your everyday jewelry, which is connected to one of the Destiny jewels, which basically defines your fate."

We all intently listened to him and looked at him with great interest, everyone but Parker.

"Your power, once at its full, will allow you to be unrecognizable and allow you to use your powers to the fullest. There are some powers that are connected to elements, like water, fire, earth, and air. I'll explain it more after trials." Mr. Furish said.

This is weird.

"So, then what are our powers?" the boy behind me asked.

"We're not sure. You need to live it out, and charge up to figure it out." Mr. Furish said.

"Pretty much everyone has the power of agility and speed, but my specific power is ice." Isla said.

"And mine is basically telekinesis" a girl from behind me said.

"Ah, yes, I'd like you to meet the veterans. Isla and Cassie." Mr. Furish said, pointing to each girl, "Obviously you heard me mention them in class today, but you might not have known who they are specifically."

Cassie had pitch black hair with purple tips, light skin, and dim brown eyes. It was the first time I had really seen or payed attention to her, and I noticed that she was pretty much the opposite of Isla.

"Anyway. Back to the rules.

Rule 1: Call me Captain from here on out.

Rule 2: Because your destiny is implied into your everyday life, you need to be careful what decisions you make, some could have you end up dead easily.

Rule 3: Subpart of Rule 2- No relationships, you don't want it to end up like Romeo and Juliet, no matter how strong your love may be, you'll still have a huge chance of dying, therefore, you may not date or have interest in anyone inside the FOF.

Rule 4: You are not allowed to share your powers with others, and your charged identity must remain a secret, even amongst colleagues.

Rule 5: The Followers Of Fate is a secret! No sharing with anyone you know.

Rule 6: Trust no one. You don't know when someone has the destiny of the enemy.

Rule 7: Come to practice every day.

Rule 8: No leaving candy wrappers in the locker room, they make a big mess." Mr. Furish said.

Those rules are very... interesting...

We all stared at him blankly.

"Am I clear?" Mr. Fur- I mean, Captain, said.

We stayed silent.

"I'm going to need a, "Yes, Captain." Captain said.

"Yes, Captain." all of us heartily said in unison.

Why are we acting like we're in the army again?

"Good, now go get changed into these uniforms, trials begin in 80 seconds." Captain said.

And the group of us sprinted to the locker room, unknowing of what awaited us.