"Are you guys ready for the first day of school? Because I know I am! I've only been waiting for this all summer long!" Jasmine giggled as they entered their fourth-grade classroom. This hadn't been the first time that they came into the classroom. They'd been in here once before, about a week ago, to get ready for the first day of school. So now that it was the first day of school, they were actually ready to start. As usual, Jasmine and Monet were placed in the same class, as required by the divorce rights, and everyone knew it would be that way until middle school. And now, for the third year in a row, they were also joined by Mark, who would probably be in class with Jasmine even in middle school. The reason for that was actually pretty straightforward. Jasmine just seemed to focus better in class when she was with him, and when she was off task, Mark was the one to bring her right back onto it. Since they'd figured that out, it became a must that Mark was in her class.
"I don't wanna be going back to school," Mark frowned slightly, shaking his head and fighting back a yawn. "It's way too early to wake up. And now that we're back at school, we can't play all day either." Monet nodded her head and hung her jacket and backpack on her hook after searching for a good minute to find her name on the labeled hooks.
"You know what's sad?" Monet asked, turning to face Jasmine as the blonde girl looked for her own hook. "That they put your name as Ender now, Missy. I think Jasmine Ivory sounds a whole lot better." Ever since the divorce had been finalized, Jasmine's last name had been put as Ender, since it had been their mother's maiden name. It wasn't weird when they talked about her movies or people called her name from down the aisle at the grocery store but when they were at school and Jasmine introduced herself to people, it was a strange thing to come out of her mouth. It was just another painful reminder of what had happened a few years ago and all of the pain that they had gone through over the past few months.
"Yeah, I guess it is," Jasmine sighed and stared at her hook for a second. Then, she placed her things on the hook and grabbed a few things out of her backpack before turning to her friends and smiled at them. "Let's go find our seats again, okay?" Jasmine giggled slightly and without waiting for a reply, turned away from them, and headed over to the desks. Each of the desks had been placed into pods of four and there were four pod groups together. Considering their town size, a class of sixteen was not uncommon. That was just the way that it always had been. Once Jasmine found her seat, she placed her folder on top of her desk and sat down in the chair. Then, glancing at the name next to her desk, she patted the desk, motioning for Mark to sit down next to her. Monet wasn't at her table, much to her disappointment. Instead, she was the next pod over, just behind Jasmine, actually. That way, if both girls had turned around, they'd be able to talk face to face.
"Do you think this year is going to be fun?" Mark asked, turning to face his two friends as more children started to enter the room. They weren't the first ones in the room at all but they had been early enough to be there before most of their class. Mark and Monet lived close enough to walk to school every morning so they were always early and Jasmine got dropped off by her aunt early in the morning so that she could be there with them.
"Obviously! It's fourth grade, duh!" Jasmine replied, turning around in her seat so that she was sitting in the chair backward. She crossed her legs over each other, sitting cross-legged in the chair, and laid her hands over the back of the seat like it was the normal way to sit in one of these chairs. "Fourth graders are almost as cool as fifth graders! And then, in two years, when we're sixth graders, we get to start switching classes! Isn't that awesome?"
"That just sounds like a lot of work," Monet said with a sigh, turning in her seat to face them. She kicked her feet back and forth against the carpeted floors while brushing her two dutch braids over her shoulders. Mark only shrugged his shoulders slightly in response, leaning against the back of his seat with his arm.
"It's probably going to be both. A lot of work for sure, but it'll be exciting at the same time." Mark looked between the two of them as he spoke, agreeing with both of their statements. Jasmine only groaned and rolled her eyes, scrunching up her nose like his opinion annoyed her.
"You always have to agree with both of us, don't you Mark?" Jasmine asked, leaning forward in the seat so she could rest her head on her hands. The room was starting to fill up with more kids and everyone was either sitting down at their tables or talking to their friends about their summers. Monet looked like she was about to say something but when she opened her mouth, a few kids sat down at her table and she suddenly found that she was unable to say anything. So, instead of speaking, she pulled at her tee-shirt, pulling it lower than it already was like it had been slowly creeping up, even though it hadn't. Still, Monet continued to kick her feet under the seat and face her friends, letting them know that she was still paying attention.
"Yeah, well, someone has to make sure that you both agree on something. You two never do," Mark replied, giving Jasmine a smug look. Jasmine huffed and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.
"We agree on some things! I don't know what you're talking about, stupid!" Jasmine protested, glaring at him in a playful way as she shifted in her seat slightly. At this point, the teacher was just about ready to start the class and while they weren't the only ones talking, their conversation was obviously the most prominent one in the room. Mark and Jasmine didn't seem to mind too much, considering that the two of them didn't quiet down at all. After all, they were just like every other fourth grader. They didn't really care who heard them.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Mark challenged, crossing his arms over his chest. Jasmine huffed, puffing her chest out, and glared at him slightly again.
"Like... Like..." For the first time in her life, Jasmine Ender was at a loss for words. She and Monet had such different tastes in things, so different that it was hard to come up with even a single thing that they agreed on. They both liked different kinds of toys, different kinds of music, and very different styles of clothing. They even liked different kinds of shows and movies, so different that it was hard for them to agree on something. Jasmine struggled to find something that she and her sister even had in common. Aside from Mark, was there really anything? "Oh! I got it! We both agree that Blaten is the best. Right, Mo? Blaten is the best place in the world!" Jasmine turned to her sister, waiting for her response.
Monet nodded her head quietly and Mark looked like he was going to say something but that was when class finally started so they had to put the conversation on hold to continue later. The three of them turned around in their seats again and looked to the front of the room. The first day of school was always the most relaxed since everyone was getting back into the school schedule and no one really wanted to be there anyway. School, for most, was just an excuse to spend all day with their friends. That's how Mark, Monet, and Jasmine saw it anyway. They loved school only because they got to see each other every day and it got them out of the house. They could have been left by the side of the highway together and the three of them would find something to do and never get bored of each other. They weren't here for the learning. It was all about being together again.
By the time lunch and recess started, Jasmine had gotten in trouble at least five times by the teacher for talking in class or getting up without permission and a countless number of reminders from Mark that she needed to sit still, be quiet, and pay attention. He already knew that this was going to be a long week. Then again, as far as he remembered, that's how the first few weeks of school went while the new teacher figured out how each of the students worked, especially Jasmine, and how to handle each of them. That's why Jasmine had Mark and Monet with her. They were supposed to help keep her in line.
"We have to find somewhere to sit for lunch. Where are we gonna sit?" Jasmine said, turning to face Mark and Monet as the three of them left their classroom, heading to the lunchroom with the rest of their class. In her hands, she held her own packed lunch, just like how Mark held his superhero lunch box, but Monet was without one. That meant that she would have to get one from the cafeteria and Jasmine also knew that she would be dragged by Monet to helped her get through the lunch line. As much as Monet liked to be independent and do things on her own, she definitely couldn't make it through the lunch line by herself.
"I don't care. How about you pick, Missy?" Mark offered, shrugging his shoulders slightly as he spoke. He never really cared about where they sat and he knew that Monet didn't, so why not leave it up to Jasmine? She seemed to be the only one who really cared about it. Jasmine only sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, like she was mad, but she nodded her head anyway.
"Fine." You could almost hear the way that Jasmine rolled her eyes as she spoke. "But you'll be picking next time, okay?"
"Okay, fine," Mark said, holding his hands up in surrender. "I'll do it next time. And then the day after that, Monet can pick, and we'll all get a turn. And then we'll keep doing it like that, so no one fights. Is that okay, Monet?" Monet glanced over at them, blinking as she had only been half paying attention to what they were saying, before nodding her head.
"Yeah, okay." Monet shoved her hands into her pockets, trying to step in time with Mark, doing her best to keep their steps matched up. Mark laughed a bit and tried to help her out until eventually, they were walking at the same time. When Jasmine noticed, she fell into line with them, trying to copy them as well but her turn was cut short by them reaching the cafeteria.
Jasmine instantly started scanning the room, looking for the best place to have their lunch. She cupped her hands over her eyes like she was making binoculars and turned around the room, almost in a circle. She looked like she was scouting out the Whisper Woods, they had only just recently changed the name from Whisper Forest to Whisper Woods, rather than picking them out a lunch table.
"How about that one right over there?" Jasmine asked, taking her hands off her face and pointing to a table not too far from where the lunch line was at. Mark shrugged his shoulders and Monet didn't seem to protest at all so instantly, Jasmine giggled and made her way over to the table, setting her lunch box down in what she was now claiming to be her spot. Mark sat his lunch down as well, sitting down at the table across from Jasmine, which just left Monet the task of getting her own lunch from the lunch line.
"Hey, Jassy, can you-" Monet started to say but Jasmine was already a step ahead of her.
"Yeah! Of course!" Jasmine giggled, grabbing Monet's hand and practically dragging her over to join the lunch line. Monet groaned slightly but she followed her anyway, just like the obedient child she was. Once Monet had made it through the line and got her lunch, she and Jasmine made their way back to the table as quickly as they could so that they didn't leave Mark alone for too long, though Mark was used to having to wait around for the twins at this point.
"Oh, oh!" Jasmine said, sitting down at the table next to Monet but her attention was focused on the third graders as they entered the cafeteria. She pointed over to a third-grade girl as she passed them to get to the lunchroom, her long white hair making her stick out compared to the rest of her classmates. "Did you know that her parents died last year?" Mark glared at her quickly and shoved her hand down.
"Mom said it's rude to point at people and it's mean to talk about them like that," Mark scolded before taking another bite of his sandwich. Jasmine sighed sadly and opened her lunchbox up, digging through the contents.
"I didn't mean to be mean. I just know that because Mom knew them and she went to their funeral when they died. That was before she died though, obviously, and..." Jasmine's voice trailed off and she got really silent, staring down at her lunch still in her lunchbox. Monet froze, the spork she was using the push around the awful cafeteria food dropping from her hand as she stared down at the tray.
"So, are we playing Blaten at recess again?" Mark asked quickly, trying to change the topic before either of them could get too sad. Jasmine seemed to perk up significantly and she nodded her head eagerly. Monet didn't really respond but she unfroze at least so that could be counted as a good sign.
"Yeah, of course! What should we do today? We finished fixing the town and we completed our last quest before the town got burned down. We need something new," Jasmine said, looking between Mark and Monet as she pulled her pretzels out of her lunchbox, hoping that at least one of them had a good idea of what they should do. Monet thought for a minute, pushing her sorry excuse for a school lunch away from her, as she hummed to herself quietly. Monet only hummed when she was coming up with a good idea.
"I heard about this quest from one of the books in the library," Monet finally said before shaking her head. "Well, it's more of a legend, really." Mark looked over at her, interested, and tilted his head out of curiosity.
"Tell us more!" Jasmine giggled excitedly, clapping her hands together. Monet froze, almost as if she hadn't really thought about it all the way through yet, before taking a deep breath in and thinking through her idea completely.
"Oh, I dunno. It's got dragons and we'll have to travel super far away from the town so I dunno if you'll even want to do it." Monet shrugged her shoulders and reached over into Mark's lunchbox, stealing his bag of goldfish from his lunchbox.
"Of course we want to do it!" Mark replied, his interest only growing even more as Monet spoke more about the quest. "Come on, Miss Knight! Tell us more!" Monet smiled and nodded her head.
"Okay, okay, fine. I'll tell you." Monet smiled and put the stolen goldfish down on the table, folding her hands together. "I read this book in the library that talks about this really cool sword that the people of Blaten had made years and years and years ago that the dragons stole from them a long, long time ago. But in order to get it back, we have to go through the Whisper Forest... I mean the Whisper Woods, over the Jumpy bridge, through the old castle ruins, under the ocean, and up to the clouds in Cloud City." As Monet spoke, Jasmine frowned slightly.
"How come we have to go under the ocean and then up to Cloud City?" Jasmine asked. Monet only let out an exasperated sigh.
"Because that's where they hid the old flying machine, duh," Monet replied, shaking her head like she was disappointed. She glanced over at Mark for a second before looking back at Jasmine. "But we don't have to do that quest if you guys don't want to. It's a lot of work, I know. I just thought it would be cool to get that old sword back for the people of Blaten."
"Of course we're going to get it!" Mark exclaimed excitedly, his eyes wide like he thought Monet was crazy for suggesting that they wouldn't want to go on this quest. "Do you know how to get there, Miss Knight? Because this is gonna be awesome?" Monet giggled slightly and nodded her head.
"I do. But I'm warning you right now, this is a very, very dangerous quest. I hope you're ready."