1: Janitor's Pet?

We meet Reegan, and go through his day at school. He hears about the field trip and meets with his friends to talk about it at recess.

“Reegan?”The boy looked up, unknown of who said his name. The voice sounded deep at the time, but still high. Sadly there was only one voice that fitted that description.Mr. Patel.Reegan wasn’t a bad kid. Really, He wasn’t. But when it came to school, he just wanted to leave. He wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t ugly. He wasn’t annoying. He wasn’t really anything he thought should get him made fun of. However, when he was in school, he was always given a hard time. He finally decided to look around the room.On his left, was the window. He didn’t look out of it much. After all, he didn’t want to worry about getting caught not paying attention. In front of him, was Mr. Eastman. He wasn’t a mean teacher, but it wasn’t the teachers that made him dislike the environment. He was a Native-American man, who wore a suit with a bow tie. He was rather short, and had the logo of a college football team from the college he went to all over the classroom’s walls.On his right, was his best friend since First grade: Simon. Simon was essentially the opposite of Reegan when it came to most things. They still had similar interests, but had different skill levels. He was smart, pretty good looking, and was overall accepted by peers. He had dark skin, hair, and eyes. And even played for the basketball team. Simon glanced at him, and quickly looked back at the front.Simon wasn’t a jerk about having fun, if the teacher wasn’t looking, he wasn’t afraid to say something to me or maybe even play a game on the school laptops, but after the incident with Mr. Patel, Reegan was being watched like a hawk. Behind Reegan, was one of the kids who picked on him most. Ladel. Reegan wasn’t very afraid of Ladel, he was kind of short, and had a weird name. Still, everyone he didn’t pick on liked him. Reegan heard the bell ring and started picking up his things. When he got to his lunch box, he noticed it wasn’t there. Reegan frowned. He sometimes left his lunch box in the class before, but it was first period, and he remembered taking it to school that day. He looked around, and it didn’t take long to notice Ladel passing the box to his favorite goon: Barry.Barry had been one of Reegan’s friends when they were young, but slowly drifted into the territory of being a jerk. Barry looked at Reegan, almost like he was trying to say sorry. However, Reegan was beyond forgiveness. “Can you pass my lunch box dude?” Ladel looked at Barry, smirking. He replied, “What?” Reegan knew that would happen. He didn’t know why he even bothered asking nicely. He had a few options.One: He could make fun of Ladel.Two: He could tell Mr. Patel.Three: He could just get it.Every option seemed pretty unlikely, and he would have rather enjoyed his fate than go for the successful choice. But before he could even say anything, Ladel had to bother him. “Look at him! He’s too dumb to even say anything,” he said.“Ugh,” Reegan replied.“What? Am I missing something Peegan?”“Please, your name makes you sound like Yoda’s little sister.”“That doesn’t even make sense Peegan.”“Look. I can explain it to you, not understand it for you.”Ladel was normally too ignorant to understand any insults, but this time he got it. Ladel started to grab the lunch from behind Barry’s back, catching him off guard. Barry’s face turned red. He could tell before anyone when Ladel was about to ruin Reegan’s day, and he hated that he was usually involved. Ladel ran with the box to the other side of the room, where there were more windows. Simon chased him while Reegan stood frozen with anger. Ladel opened a window up, before throwing the box across the field outside. A year earlier, Reegan would have cried. But He was in sixth grade now, and was used to Ladel’s jerkiness. Reegan turned to the teacher, who didn’t seem phased. Mr. Patel apparently suspended Ladel after Reegan and Simon left. “I’m so sorry,” Simon said. “Whatever. It’s not a big deal. I got it back and now we’re done.”Later that day, the two of them went to recess. Recess was done on the field, because the playground was used by the little kids at the elementary school. Reegan always hung out with his only three friends. There was Simon, as usual, Logan, and Alice. Logan and Alice were a couple, and had been since Fifth grade. Logan was the perfect kid. He had brown hair and eyes, light skin, freckles, and was pretty popular, but nice. He was on the swim team, and was a church goer. It was no wonder everyone liked him. Even Alice.Alice had light hair, blue eyes, and liked to read. She was smart, and was usually seen right by Logan. Reegan and Simon found the couple on the track around the field. “Hey guys,” Reegan welcomed. “What’s up dude?” Logan asked, “We just got here.” Reegan filled them in on the situation with Ladel. “Sorry to hear,” Alice replied. Reegan sighed. He always liked Alice. Just as a friend. She was quiet, but very kind. The three headed over to the trees, where they spent their recess in the shade. A month before, they carved out the area to avoid soccer players and the weird kids who shoot each other with pretend guns, which were really sticks. The area was once a bush in front of a little area under some trees, but the four carved out a pathway in the bush, and never got caught. After a while of awkward silence, Logan started, “So did you guys hear the rumors? About the field trip?” Reegan and Simon exchanged looks of confusion. “Logan, it’s not confirmed,” Alice stated, breaking the new silence. “What’s the field trip?” Simon asked. Logan replied, “It’s some kind of cruise.” “A cruise?” Reegan was suddenly interested. “Where to?” “Probably somewhere boring. This is school after all,” Simon replied jokingly. The four all laughed. Who knew that what seemed like a joke to Reegan, would actually be one of the most important events of his life.