Since it’s Friday, Jocelyn makes sure to sweep her locker clean and carry everything in her backpack—except for her science book. Rather than in the bag, she keeps the book in her hands as she looks down at the beginning of the next unit: Geology—starting at the chapter for petrology. It’s a bit more mundane than nuclear energy.

She doesn’t plan on talking to anybody on the way, so now is a good time to get started on her attempts at getting a better science grade. Almost immediately after stepping under the bright afternoon sky, she fights off an incoming sneeze before it can force her to spit all over the new chapter’s first page; she wasn’t going to start this one on the wrong foot. That in mind, she rubs the photon-driven tickles out of her nose and makes her leave for the weekend.

The near-silence she senses as she walks through the Los Abismos Middle School’s front yard is perfect for her focus—but unfortunately, there always has to be that one group of people who stay a little later than the rest of the crowd. Jocelyn doesn’t even have to pull her eyes from the pages to realize who she’s dealing with.

Things were going so well up to this point, too.

Throughout this chapter we will have lessons on the three different types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The goal by the end of this week is for you to know which kind of rocks fit into which category and why it’s important to make the disctin—

The voice Jocelyn was playing in her head immediately halted when the insufferably shrill voice of Elizabeth Robbins pierces her senses. “Your dad still doesn’t know, either?”

From behind the textbook, Jocelyn screws up her face and takes a deep breath. She keeps herself as hidden as possible, barely realizing she’s just about to come within the little brat’s eyeshot.

She struggles to keep her nose buried deep in the pages—and as such, one of Elizabeth’s friends sees Jocelyn walking by and calls, “Hey, Joss!”

And she gives up. She looks over the top of the book.

The one calling her over is Rachelle Molina: one of Elizabeth’s friends and one little step from being just as annoying. Jocelyn is surprised not to see Melanie with them, leaving just two people sitting at the bench right along the schoolyard’s fence: scrawny Elizabeth and frizzy Rachelle.

Right as she closes the book (while holding back a sneer), Jocelyn squints through the bright afternoon atmosphere and stares them down. “Hey,” she responds, her voice barely above a mutter.

Elizabeth, stepping up to her, gets right to it. “Joss, I’m…well, I’m sure you know how nervous I’ve been these past few weeks.”

Though they never spoke, Jocelyn did know what the girl was talking about. Poor Elizabeth hasn’t seen or heard from her father in almost two months at this point. The story had spread like wildfire through the neighborhood district, yet the MRF refused to talk about it—not until they had further details on what happened with Elizabeth’s father.

As much as she may like to screw with Elizabeth and give a sarcastic nonanswer, Jocelyn nods. “Yeah…I do know. I think I would be nervous, too.” She says every word with a monotone filter so thick that Rachelle can’t help but raise an eyebrow at it; Elizabeth doesn’t seem to notice, though.

The skinny girl continues, “Right, well…I know you’re friends with Martin Leigh and I was wanting to know if there was anything he has said about where my dad’s been lately.”

Honestly, Jocelyn hadn’t heard anything from Martin about the missing researcher—at least not in a few days. The last thing she had heard from him was that the MRF still didn’t know where the helicopter had gone—or even if Brian Robbins was still alive. Feeling uneasy as she stood in front of her anxious adversary, Jocelyn sighed and shook her head. “No—Martin hasn’t said anything lately. Just the same stuff he’s been saying ever since this whole thing started.”

Though she struggles as much as she can to keep from showing her discomfort, Elizabeth clenches her fists and squirms a little as she takes a seat back on the bench. She looks like she might start crying, but instead, she takes a deep breath through her flared nostrils and asks, “Well, what would the ‘same stuff’ be, then?”

Jocelyn knows she shouldn’t really feel intimidated by someone speaking to her as they sit well below her eye level, but the last thing she wants is to deal with more tension today.

“I mean...” She struggles to coordinate her words. “Martin hasn’t said anything new—that’s it.”

At that, Elizabeth mouths a swear. “Well, you sure are useful, Joss.”

That’s enough to quirk a brow. “Hey, there’s only so much I can do to help,” Jocelyn retorts. “I’m not psychic!”

“Yeah, and you’re apparently not very smart, either,” Rachelle bites back. “Just according to what the new machine said about your science grade. Why the hell do you always dress up like you’re getting an interview from a computer company when you can barely even pass a basic nuclear unit test, anyway?”

“I like to dress like this, so leave me alone!” At this point the dark brunette is really starting to regret stopping for these two when they called her over.

Out of nowhere, Elizabeth nods and agrees with her. “She’s right, Rachelle—let her dress how she likes.” The girl’s lanky frame steps up from the bench once more. “But Joss…if Martin won’t help us find where my dad is, maybe he’ll lead us to where the MRF helicopters are.”

Jocelyn can’t hide her shock after hearing something so absurdly out of left-field. “Wha—why do you care where the heli—?”

Elizabeth shushes her. “No questions; just tell us where they are.”

By the time those words escape the sociopathic girl’s mouth, Jocelyn realizes they’re standing almost nose-to-nose. One step closer and Elizabeth would be stepping on her toes; that in mind, Jocelyn steps back.

“Look, Lizzy,” she begins, knowing the child in front of her really hates being called that. “I don’t know where you heard that the MRF has helicopters, but they don’t.”

“That’s a bunch of bull!” Rachelle shouts. “They flew Brian out of here on a helicopter, so no, Joss—you’re 100% wrong when you say the MRF has helicopters. Christ—your whole family works in the government, I’d think you would know this crap.”

“Just cause my family works in the government doesn’t mean I do!” Jocelyn’s about ready to snap. “Why do you even care about the helicopters anyway, Lizzy?”

Hearing that version of her name gives again makes Elizabeth’s eyebrow twitch—as if she can feel an aneurysm sprouting. “That’s none of your business, Joss.”

Jocelyn argues, “But it is, actually.”

“Sh!” Elizabeth puts a finger to Jocelyn’s lip. “Just tell us and we’ll worry about the rest.”

With that, Jocelyn finds herself being stared down by the two girls—both of whom look like they’re expecting her to comply. It comes as almost a surprise to them when she rolls her eyes and takes a step to the side. “I’m outta here.”

Rather than argue, Elizabeth makes the snap decision to snatch Jocelyn’s textbook from her loose grip. “Ha!” she snorts. “Now I know you wanna read and all that, Joss, so I’ll let you have the book back if you tell me where those goddamn helicopters are!”

Rachelle steps in. “Talk, you little geek!”

Rather than talk, Jocelyn steps forward and attempts to snatch the book back—but Elizabeth’s height proves too much for her to overcome as the book goes over her head. Fortunately, Elizabeth’s face is well within armsreach. Jocelyn takes her chance and smacks a freckled cheek, causing Rachelle to grab Jocelyn by her backpack in an attempt to keep her from smacking Elizabeth again.

Her cheek now red, Elizabeth lowers the book a little and notices Jocelyn struggling against Rachelle—who has now grasped her by the underarms, as well as the backpack.

“You’d better tell us where they are, you little bitch!” Elizabeth shrieks, her eyes reddening by the second. “If you don’t, I swear to God, I will—”

But before she can finish, Elizabeth gets a kick to the stomach and drops the textbook—all while letting out a loud “Oof!”

The science book slams to the ground as Elizabeth and Rachelle both reel back from her kick—Elizabeth because she had just been struck and Rachelle because the added momentum forced her to fall backward, loosening her grip on Jocelyn all the while.

Now with all three of the students are separate from each other, Jocelyn picks herself up as quickly as she can, grabs her book off the dusty ground, and runs as fast as her backpack will allow. Meanwhile the two girls lay there by themselves, anxious to see Jocelyn again after the weekend.

A spark of genuine surprise crosses her mind when she sees they’re not coming back for her, even though they can very easily catch up to somebody with such a heavy load on her back. Regardless of such, Jocelyn can’t help but picture that both girls over at the front yard panting and shouting, “We'll meet again, Jocelyn!” It just comes to show how seriously she really takes them.