Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 09:47:43 -0700 From: Douglas DD DD Subject: The Puget Posse Chapter 14 Welcome back for another installment of the Posse. Thanks to all of you who have been writing me. Emails are my payment for writing and all of you have been greatly appreciated. In this chapter, the Posse becomes the Posse, but so far it is in name only. There is a lot of team building that will need to be accomplished. Please remember that all first chapter disclaimers apply. And please donate to the Nifty Archive. Thanks to all of you who wrote since the last chapter was posted. Douglas at thehakaanen@hotmail.com CHAPTER 14 ORIENTATION-DAY 2 Neville was the first member of table five to arrive at the Puget Academy on the second day of orientation. Mr. Jackson had told them the day before that they were to meet in the cafeteria in the morning, not in the classroom. "You will begin your day here in the classroom when classes start next week," he'd said. "You mean this isn't school already?" Mark had asked. "Yeah, it sure feels like it," Matthew added. Mr. Jackson silently cursed the decision to have the twins in the same core class. While it hadn't been his idea, he went along with it. He was already having regrets as he waited for the laughter in the classroom to subside. Neville sat at table five, which was clearly marked by a big card with a "5" that rose up from a plastic stand. Neville wondered what they would end up calling their team. Not that it mattered a lot to him, since he was going to request to be moved to another team as soon as possible. He hadn't bothered to come up with any names. Whatever name the team picked would be fine with him. The name is going to end up being the twins' idea anyway, he thought. Neville had been quick to gauge the dynamics of the group. It was quite apparent that everything would revolve around Mark and Matthew, one of many reasons he didn't want to be on this team for the entire school year. Patrick showed up next, taking a place a seat away from Neville. He had no desire to sit next to the snooty English boy. He was hoping that Neville didn't try to start up a conversation. He certainly wasn't going to. For his part, Neville didn't want to talk with Patrick, either. Father said Patrick might not have been born in Ireland, but he was proud of his Irish heritage, and that was bad enough. The third boy to arrive was Mikhail. Not wanting to split the twins, he looked around the table and took the seat between Patrick and Neville. He was the first one to say anything, squeaking out an awkward "Hello." "Hi, Mikhail," Patrick said with a smile. He was happy to see the cute short brunette with the interesting, if barely detectable, Russian accent. Patrick was immediately charmed by the warm smile that Mikhail flashed at him. Patrick had been thinking about a name for their team as well, but his ideas all seemed lame to him. His best idea was The Travelers, since two of them were from Europe and he had traveled to Chicago by train. He assumed the twins had traveled a lot, too, since their parents obviously had a lot of money, at least in his mind. His thoughts were interrupted by the noisy arrival of the twins, who had stopped by Curt's table to get to know their classmates better. Mark and Matthew were already working to be known by everyone, especially those in Mr. Jackson's class. Before Patrick could turn back to catch a glimpse of the twins, he saw Mikhail staring at him. Mikhail quickly blushed and turned away when it was apparent that Patrick had noticed him. "Hi everybody at table five," Mark said as the twins took their seats. "Yeah, hi to you all," Matthew said. "And thanks for giving us seats next to each other." "But you don't have to do that," Mark said. "We won't melt if we have to sit apart." "Yeah, usually we aren't even in the same class together." Neville immediately wished that was the case this year as well. "This is going to be the coolest year," Mark said. "We have a name for our team, too," Matthew said. Mikhail felt his spirits sink when he heard that. He knew there was no way his idea was going to win against whatever name the rambunctious twins had come up with. He braced himself ready to hear the name that was undoubtedly going to be better than his. But Patrick saved him for the moment. "Mr. Jackson said we'd pick our names when we got to the classroom," he said. "I think we should wait until then so we have enough time to talk about it." He pointed to the clock on the wall, which indicated that day two of orientation would begin in two minutes. "If you say so," Mark said cheerfully. "But there really won't be much to discuss. Our name should be a lock." Mikhail felt his spirits sink even lower. What little self-confidence he'd had the day before was quickly draining away. Mr. Cutler, the fifth and sixth grade dean, walked up to the podium and quickly settled down the noisy cafeteria; having a PA system was a big help. He went through the schedule for the day, made a few announcements, and then went into the topics of the day. "I know you are all eager to find out who won the scavenger hunt. The winning team and the winning classroom will be announced at our closing meeting. At that time you all should have your team names, and the winning team can hear their team name announced for the first time. Remember, each member of the winning team gets 100 credits and each member of the winning class gets 100 credits." A hand shot up. It belonged to Randy Knox, a boy who was smaller than Patrick. He wore black plastic glasses that sat catawampus on his nose. His crooked teeth were crying out for braces, and his shaggy black hair looked like it hadn't seen a comb for a month or two. Everything about him said Class Geek. He was assigned to Ms. McCann's room. "Mr. Cutler, if a team wins and its classroom wins does that mean the players on the team get 200 points in all?" Randy asked. "What is your name?" Mr. Cutler asked. "Randy." "Well, Randy, that question should have been answered by your core teacher, yesterday." "Thank you, sir," Randy said, as if his question had been answered. "But, just in case you weren't the only one not paying attention in class, the answer is yes; those students would get 200 credits." "Thank you, sir," Randy repeated. Credits were awarded for many reasons. They were good for purchases in the school store. The store accepted either cash or credits for such things as snacks, school hats, sweaters, jackets, t- shirts, and other school paraphernalia. Ten credits were worth a dollar in the store, so getting 200 credits was a really big payoff. The credits were paper credits issued to the students and were to be treated like cash. They existed in one, five, ten, and twenty credit denominations. Students could keep them on their person, or deposit them in the Academy Bank, which was in a room located next to the school store. It was operated by one of the paraprofessionals and, like the store, was open before and after school and during lunch. Students helped in the store. The student body treasurer as well as all of the class treasurers were required to work there as well as in the bank. Jeremiah was sitting at the table next to Randy's. He looked at over his new friend, Tony, and grinned. "Fresh meat," he mouthed. Jeremiah had learned during the scavenger hunt that he and Tony were kindred souls. The other two boys at the table seemed to be okay as well. Nobody had objected when he suggested cheating the day before, and nobody seemed particularly put-out when he got caught. Jeremiah thought his team might make up for having crabby old Ms McCann as his core teacher. To Jeremiah, Randy looked exactly like the kind of boy he could dominate, and he was hoping Tony saw things the same way. It was always more fun to gang up on somebody in pairs, or, better yet, in a pack. He glanced over at table five where the twins sat. He respected the twins, but he didn't fear them. He learned during baseball season that Mark and Matthew stood up for their friends, but he didn't think Randy was a friend of theirs. Meanwhile, Mr. Cutler talked about sports. The school had three fall sports: soccer, cross-country, and tennis. He explained that while every boy was encouraged to play a sport, no one was required to. He mentioned that the previous year 58 of 70 fifth graders had played at least one sport. "That is an excellent record we hope this year's class will choose to emulate." "What did he just say?" Mark whispered to Patrick. "He said we should try kicking last year's class's asses," Patrick said. Mark smiled. He liked Patrick, and decided it might just be time to remove the dork label. His thoughts were interrupted by his brother asking a question. "Mr. Cutler, how come our school always has lousy teams?" Matthew asked. "Well, son, we happen to be in a down phase as far as athletics go." He peered through the tables and asked Matthew what his name was. "Matthew," he said, going with the formal version of his name. "Matthew Kirkwood." "I hope you turn out for sports and help give the fifth graders some good seasons to look back on." "That's my plan," he said with a big grin. "It's my brother's plan, too." He pointed to Mark and Mr. Cutler realized for the first time he was talking to one of the infamous twins. The other issue that came up was student government. Mr. Cutler told the fifth graders they would have no representation until after Winter Break. In January they could have non-voting members, and by spring their representatives would have the right to vote. "Why don't we get to vote right away?" Randy asked. "Isn't that like taxation without representation?" "It would be if you were taxed," Mr. Cutler said with a chuckle. "But our goal is for you to slide slowly into the workings of the school." Somebody quietly called Randy a dumb shit. Mr. Cutler suspected which table the voice came from. He decided the voice was so quiet he wouldn't make an issue of it, especially since he wasn't sure who had made the comment. The eighth grade guides for each table entered the cafeteria from the foyer. Each guide went to his assigned table. Paul sat with the boys at table five. He greeted his charges and told them what would be happening next. "You'll be getting a fifteen minute morning break," he said. "We get one every morning once classes start." "Why didn't we get one yesterday?" Neville asked. "I guess because we were all moving around for the scavenger hunt and you guys could use the bathroom and stuff then." "So we just go out for recess?" Mark said, "Yeah, I don't even know where to go?" Mattie said. "You need to tell us what to do," Patrick said. "Calm down guys. Mr. Jackson will tell you everything. Right now, I gotta tell you something else." "What?" Mark asked. "About what happened when we met table ten during the scavenger hunt?" "You mean about making the bet?" Mattie asked. "That's what I mean." "Are we going to do it today?" Patrick asked a bit apprehensively. "No, we can't. Today your teachers will be showing you the play areas. There's no way we can get away. Curt and I just want to know if you guys really want to make the bet." The bet they were discussing was which table had the biggest average penis size, table five or table ten. It had been an off the cuff bet, and while it excited Paul and Curt, the two eighth graders weren't real sure what their charges thought of the challenge. They were three years removed from their fifth grade orientation and already felt out of touch with the younger kids. While that kind of challenge hadn't been proposed to them, both Paul and Curt were pretty certain they would have been scared shitless if it had been. What interested them as thirteen-year-olds didn't necessarily interest them as ten-year-olds. "It would be cool," Mark said. "Me and Mattie are bigger than our friends, so I bet our team would win." The comment by Mark gave everybody at the table a lot of interesting information to digest. "Yeah, we're both huge down there," Mattie agreed. "Want to see it?" Mark asked. Paul's blush matched the red faces of the other three boys at the table. A small part of his libido told him to say yes, but he managed to allow common sense to rule. "Not here," he said. "But maybe somewhere else," Mark commented. "Maybe when we measure," Paul said, although he was more than willing to see what it was the twins were bragging about at some time in the future. "I was kidding about doing it now," Mark said, although there was a look about him that said he hadn't been kidding at all. At nine, Patrick knew he wasn't all that well endowed and probably wouldn't help out his team that much. But, even at his young age, he was developing a sense of sexual adventure and was willing to go along with the challenge. "I'll do it," Patrick said. He added a caveat. "But, Paul and Curt have to be part of it, too." "Curt says he is way bigger than me," Paul said, "and you guys would be starting out behind, but he's lying about it." "You guys have measured your dicks?" Mattie asked. Paul blushed again. "A couple of times," was all he would admit. He looked at Neville and Mikhail. "But I'll do it if Curt does it." Mikhail was no stranger to sex and sexual situations. He had the most experience of any of the boys at the table, including Paul. The other boys didn't know enough about Mikhail to even think about all of the things that he had actually done, and that included Paul. Mikhail simply nodded his head, indicating that he was willing. That had five sets of eyes looking over to Neville. He could feel his face burning. He was not pleased that the final decision was his. He disliked his teammates enough as it was. As far as he was concerned they were giving him even more reason to dislike them. He thought he found a face-saving way out. "I will do it only if everybody at table ten does it, and that means Paul and Curt, since this is their silly idea. If somebody does not want to do it, then I don't have to." "Sounds fair enough to me," Paul said. He was surprised that four of the boys had agreed to the challenge, which is more than Curt thought he would get to agree. The other four boys were okay with Neville's proposal, although Mark was strongly tempted to call him a dork. As far as he was concerned Neville had his dork label plastered to his forehead. "Also, in the unlikely event I must measure my penis, I will do it myself in private." As Mark told Matthew later, his "dork meter" went into the red after hearing Neville's "snooty" comment. Before anything else could be decided, the boys were dismissed to their classrooms. When they got there, Mr. Jackson had them place their desks together so they would be seated by teams. Not long after they arrived the bell rang and Mr. Jackson took his class out to the playfield. Mr. Jackson and the other two fifth grade teachers also showed the boys the indoor play area, which was built into the new gymnasium. The class quickly learned the rules on the various pieces of equipment, the rules and etiquette of games like four-square and kickball, and were sent off to blow off steam. The five boys of table five split up on their own. Patrick, Mikhail, and Neville hung out alone. None of them knew anybody else yet, except maybe the boys from table ten. While Patrick was an outgoing boy, he wasn't used to being in a new school. He also felt a bit nervous because he knew he was the youngest boy on the playground. He wished he felt more confident so he could get to know Mikhail. Neville wished he was back in England where he never had to make new friends because he'd had the same old friends since starting school. Mikhail hadn't had to make new friends from scratch since his early years in the orphanage. He thought about following Patrick, but was afraid of being rejected. So he stood alone at the edge of the playfield, looking down at Puget Sound from the top of the bluff that the Puget Academy stood on. The twins had already gotten to know a couple of the boys at table ten that morning. They were gregarious boys and loved making new friends, which they seemed to do easily. They were quickly involved in an ongoing kickball game where the players seemed more concerned with getting to know one another than they were in keeping score. That attitude would end once lunchtime intramurals started up. Two of the boys from table ten were on the same team as the twins. The two of them hit it right off with Lucas and Will, who were both outgoing, energetic boys. When the bell rang ending the break, the four of them walked back to the building together. "Did you guys decide what to do about that lame challenge our guides made?" Lucas asked. "Kinda," Mark said. "Yeah, us too. We said we'd do it of all if you guys do it." "That's close to what we said. Neville said he'd do it only if all of you did it." "That sounds like Chase in our group." "Maybe it will just be four of us," Matthew said. "The whole thing sounds really stupid to me," Will said. "It's like Paul and Curt are gay or something." "But you're still going to do it?" Mark asked. "Why not? Curt says we got it won because he's bigger down there than Paul is." The boys were quiet as they approached the back door to the main building. "And Paul says Curt is lying. What are we going to bet?" Mark asked. "Curt said we should bet ten credits each," Will answered. "Sounds good to me." The fifth graders were quickly learning about the economics of the Puget Academy. One thing Mark noticed on the walk into the school was Jeremiah and another kid who'd been hanging around Jeremiah having a conversation with Randy. The conversation looked one-sided and Randy looked a bit intimidated. There was nothing physical happening and Mark didn't know Randy other than from his dumb questions at the orientation meeting. Mark rated Randy farther into the dorky red zone than Neville. He entered the building, unconcerned with what he'd witnessed. He and Matthew did not think it was their duty to protect the world from the forces of evil. They gave that protection to their friends. When class started, Mr. Jackson gave them more paperwork, including sign up forms for fall sports. He went over a few more items, and then told the class it was time for them to pick their team names. He informed the class that he had the power to veto any team name. "What you mean is we have to keep it clean," Mark said. "Why am I not surprised that you were the one to make that comment, Mark?" Mr. Jackson asked. "You should be surprised, since usually Mattie says the dumb things." "Only because I don't want you to be the dumb one all the time," Matthew said. "Boys, let's save your sibling squabbling for outside the classroom. In fact, outside the school would be good." Mr. Jackson wondered once again why he agreed to have both twins placed in his classroom. The frightening part of this, he thought, is that school hasn't even officially started yet. "I was also thinking about being politically correct," Mr. Jackson said. "Whatever that is," Matthew said as if confirming Mark's analysis of him. "It means you can't say bad things about people," Will told him. "Gentlemen, you will either have to learn that one of the reasons you were given an arm with a hand on the end of it is to have something to raise in class before opening your yaps, or I will have to start fining you." Mark shot up his hand and immediately said, "You mean like taking away our credits?" "I thought I'd just made a comment about raising your hands." "I did raise my hand, then I opened my mouth just like you said." Mr. Jackson thought this was the behavior the seventh and eighth grade teachers usually dealt with. "You raise your hand and wait to be called on. I assumed you'd been in school long enough to figure that out." "Sorry," Mark said. "I got excited. But, you didn't answer my question." "The answer is I am not allowed to take away credits as punishment." He then added, "As much as I would like to. What I can take away is time; if you're not careful minutes lost can pile up in a hurry." Mr. Jackson knew that except for the scholarship kids, virtually every boy in the school had gone to some kind of a private school through fourth grade. He knew the twins were among those. The North Lake School was noted for its high standards. It was obvious to Mr. Jackson that the twins were pushing the envelope to see how much leeway he would give them. He felt he was more than ready to have the answers to their preadolescent tests. Since the desks had been organized by teams, the class got started on their assigned task of picking a name for their table team. "This won't take long, since we have the absolute coolest name," Mark said. "Don't keep us in suspense," Neville said. "We all want to know what it is," he added with a touch of sarcasm. "It's the Fabulous Five," Mattie said. "If that includes you, then it would have to be the Fabulous Three," Neville sneered, the sarcasm biting a bit deeper this time. "You're funny, Neville," Mark told him, "but the Fabulous Three won't work." "It won't work because it won't be an alliteration any more," Mattie said. "And we learned in English last year that alliterations are cool. Do you have a better name?" "I do not have one at all. I have no plans to spend the rest of the year on a team with you two." "That's cool, because when you leave we can still be the Fabulous Four." "You are a chav," Neville said, exaggerating his British accent. "What did he say?" Mark asked Matthew. "I think he said we were cool," Matthew said. "That is not what I said," Neville said. "That is an insult in England." "So you mean you dissed us," Mark said. "How can he diss us if we don't know what he said," Matthew laughed. Before things could go any farther, Paul and Curt entered the room and went to their respective tables. "Nice that you gentlemen could join us," Mr. Jackson said. "Sorry, sir," Curt said. "We were discussing some things about our teams." "Well, this isn't a school day and you are volunteering your time, so I won't draw and quarter you." Paul pulled up a chair and sat next to the desks of his team. "Were you and Curt discussing our challenge?" Mark asked. "I guess you could say that," Paul said, blushing a little. All five of the boys wondered why Paul and Curt couldn't have discussed that during recess, but none of them remembered seeing them during the fifteen minute break. "What did you say about it?" Patrick asked. "Oh, me and Curt were just wondering what kind of rules we should have." Suddenly there was a presence next to their desks. "That would be `Curt and I' were wondering," Mr. Jackson said. "But you said school isn't in session," Paul protested. "Mr. Porter, I'm sure you remember that when you enter my classroom school is always in session." "Yes, sir, I forgot." "What is this about a challenge?" "Nothing," Paul said. "Me and...er...Curt and I just were talking about who would win...um...win a foursquare game between our teams." Mr. Jackson gave Paul a look that said he didn't believe a word of it and left for another set of desks. "Where did he come from?" Mattie asked. "I didn't see or hear him walk up here." "Mr. Jackson is sneaky like that," Paul said. "And you better say and do things right in here. Mr. Jackson is cool, but he's still pretty strict about a lot of stuff." "We still need to pick our name," Patrick reminded everyone. "I thought we picked it," Mark said. "What did you pick?" Paul asked. "The Fabulous Five." "Cool name." "We thought so," Mattie said. "We did not pick a name," Neville said. "Neville thinks it's a lame name," Mark said. "But everybody else likes it." "Neville's right, we didn't vote on it," Patrick said. He didn't want to dispute the twins and get on their bad side, but he agreed with Neville. While he wasn't real sure what their bad side was, he had a feeling he didn't want to be there. But he also felt they should do what's right, so he took the plunge. "We should vote on it." "Why? Nobody else has a name," Mattie said. "Yeah, we need another name for a vote. That means the Fabulous Five wins," Mark said. Throughout the discussion, Mikhail had sat quietly, listening to the back and forth banter and wondering if he should disclose his name. He couldn't help but think about the orphanage and what his status had been there. By the time he left he had two older boys, Nicky and Vasia, watching out for him. Also, because he was a good football player, he had garnered the respect of his classmates. While he could be assertive, he was also afraid to offend anyone. He worried about not being liked, about being rejected, about being alone, yet at the same time he had a willingness to stand up for himself. He had no friends here. Patrick seemed to like him, but he didn't know Patrick very well. Neville didn't seem to like anybody. The twins thought they were running the show. Mikhail felt intimidated by them, not because he was afraid of them, because he wasn't. He was not a boy who was easily intimidated physically, but psychological intimidation was another story. The twins intimidated him because he was afraid they wouldn't like him, and he desperately wanted to be liked by his teammates. But the biggest thing he remembered from the orphanage was that by the time his stay there had ended, he was not afraid to stand up for himself, as hard as that was at times. Right now he was afraid nobody would like his team name because it came from him and not from the animated, energetic twins. In spite of his insecurities, he decided to speak up. "I have a name," he said quietly. "Yeah, it's Mikhail," Mark said, giggling at his joke. Mikhail was not amused. He knew immediately the twins were not in the least bit interested in what he had to say. Instead of the matter dying there, however, Patrick came to his rescue. "I think Mikhail meant he has another name for the team," he said. "For real?" Matthew asked. Mikhail nodded yes, ready to be overridden before he could say anything. "Well, let's hear it then." "You want to know my name?" Mikhail was surprised by the request. Neville and Patrick sat quietly, wondering where this would go. They didn't think the twins would accept whatever Mikhail had to say. Paul was wondering if he should say anything since it was obvious the twins had Mikhail intimidated, but he decided to wait the situation out. "Yeah, it might even be better than ours." "Really?" Mikhail couldn't believe what he'd just heard. Did Mattie really believe I might have a better name than his? Mikhail wondered. Mattie's statement had shot his confidence up off of ground level. "Really," Mattie said. "So quit stalling and give us your name," Mark told him. "My name is Puget Posse," Mikhail blurted out before he could change his mind. "Posse?" Mark asked. "You mean like cowboys on horses chasing bad guys?" "Not like that," Mikhail said, suddenly feeling flustered again. "I will not be a cowboy," Neville said, flustering Mikhail even more. Once again, Patrick came to Mikhail's rescue. "He means a posse, like a group that is for a certain...um...a certain..." "...purpose," Mikhail said. "Exactly." Patrick grinned at Mikhail. He might have been the youngest boy in the fifth grade, but he had been accepted into the Puget Academy for a reason. "I guess we need to vote since we got two names," Mark said. "Misha's name is an alliteration, just like ours," Mattie said. "Good job, Misha." Mikhail blushed at the unexpected praise. "We need to make it a secret vote," Patrick said. "Not a problem," Paul said. "Mr. Jay said he would have paper for us if we needed it." "Mr. Jay?" Mattie asked, intrigued by the shortening of Mr. Jackson's name. "You get to know him real good you can call him that." Paul went over to Mr. Jackson's desk, picked up some small slips of paper stacked on the corner, and returned to his team. "Write an F or a P, then fold it once," he instructed. The ballots were quickly handed back to Paul. The way Mikhail saw things, Patrick was the swing vote. The twins would vote for their own name, Neville would vote for the Puget Posse because he didn't like the twins, and he had voted for his own name. Patrick was the unknown. Paul shuffled the ballots and then made a little stack in front of him. He picked the top one. "It's a P." The next one was a P, as was the third one. Everybody knew Mikhail had won. Mikhail knew the remaining ballots had to belong to the twins and would have an F on them. Paul, Patrick, and Neville were thinking the same thing. "Open the last two, anyway," Mark said. "Of course you want them open, you twit," Neville said. "You don't want to have null votes, so you want your two counted." "We're learning lots of new ways to diss people from Neville," Mattie said. "Yeah, but if we only knew what he said it would be even better." Paul ignored him and opened another P much to the surprise of all. The surprises didn't end as Paul opened the last ballot. "Wow, it's a P, too," he said. That meant that Mark and Matthew had each voted for Mikhail's word. "You voted for my word," Mikhail said, stunned by the turnaround of the twins. "Yeah. I did it because it was better than ours," Mark said. "I thought it was better, too," Matthew said. "But you said yours was the best," Mikhail said. "That was because we thought it was since nobody else had a name." "Why did you think Misha's was the best?" Patrick asked. Mikhail didn't fail to notice that Patrick had stood up for him yet again. Nor did he miss the use of the familiar form of his name. "Because his name was not the work of a pair of twits," Neville said. The twins ignored him and Matthew said," Anybody can count to five, but only the Puget Posse knows what posse really means." "That makes it our special name," Mark said. "Plus it was an alliteration...," Matthew started "...and alliterations are cool," Mark finished. Even though he was sitting down, Mikhail felt like he was walking on air. From the moment the twins had confidently announced their "winning" name, Mikhail knew his idea didn't stand a chance. But now it was going to be the name of their team by a unanimous vote. For their part, the twins gained admiration for Mikhail, not only because he had come up with a "very cool" name, but because he had stood up to them and presented the name to the group. The twins knew they liked to push hard to get their own way, and they respected anyone who stood up for themselves. Mikhail had gained their respect, as had Patrick for standing up for Mikhail. "Hey, Neville, you're the closest," Mark said. "Go give Mr. Jay," he noticed Paul giving him a thumbs down, "...er, Mr. Jackson our team name." Neville wanted to tell Mark what he could do with his request, but he got up and took the information to the teacher. Since he might be on this team for at least a few weeks, he decided he would pick his battles—and battle he would. Neville returned with Mr. Jackson behind him. "Puget Posse. That is unique. That name has never been used, which is surprising. It's a great name. Who came up with it?" The four fifth grade members plus Paul pointed to Mikhail, who felt his face burning with a combination of embarrassment and pride. "Good job, Mikhail," Mr. Jackson had been made aware of Mikhail's issues and was very pleased that he'd come up with the winning name. The achievement was magnified by his name beating out the one coming from the headstrong twins. He had already learned a lot about the dynamics of his students by quietly gliding around the classroom. "Now we have one more thing," Mark said. "We need to come up with the names we want to be called." "What do you mean?" Neville asked. "Well, sometimes Mattie is called Matthew and sometimes he is Mattie." "And today he wants to be called Mattie," Mark said. "And I am Mark. What do you want to be called, Patrick?" "My dad, and uncle, and cousin all call me Pat or Paddy." He didn't want to go into the Wombat angle, which was a name his family used. Nobody would ever learn that nickname, or so he thought. Mark looked at Mikhail. "Are you going to be Mikhail or Misha?" "Misha." Neville answered Mark's unasked question by saying, "Neville," as if anyone expected him to say anything else. The names the boys picked as their permanent ones ended up being anything but permanent—in fact they would be changing their minds within days of school starting. Matthew walked over to where the table ten group was sitting. "What's you guy's name?" he asked. "The Fantastic Five," Will said. Mattie managed not to laugh. His team had come so close to being the Fabulous Five. "What did you guys pick?" "We're the Puget Posse," Mattie said. "You mean like cowboys on horses chasing bad guys?" Chase asked. "You gentlemen can look the word up," Mr. Jackson said. Matthew noticed that once again the teacher had snuck up on a group. "But Mr. Jackson, we're not really in school yet," Will said. "That may be true, except that in my classroom..." "...school is always in session," Matthew said, flashing Mr. Jackson his winning smile. Mr. Jackson was a young teacher, but he knew kids. Matthew finishing his sentence and flashing his smile instantly changed his take on the twins. What he first saw as preteen determination to challenge his authority and two boys who would need constant disciplining to start the school year, he now saw as the behavior of two exuberant boys who, while they would need proper guidance, would also be an interesting and positive pair of boys to work with. While having both of them in his class might mean some extra work, Mr. Jackson could see it could also be a special experience. Matthew returned to his group and told them about the Fantastic Five name. Misha became even more of a hero as a result. "We gotta make the Puget Posse the best team ever," Matthew said. "Mr..," he looked over his shoulder, "...Jay says we got us a unique name." "We want everybody to remember who we are," Mark said. "This is going to be the funnest group in the class," Patrick said. "You mean the most fun group in the class," came the voice from the lurking figure near their desks. "But, Mr. Jackson," Patrick protested, "school hasn't started yet," already knowing what the answer would be. "Mr. Gardner, you will soon be learning that when you set foot into my classroom..." "...school is always in session," Mark interrupted, giving him the same bright smile that Mattie had, confirming Mr. Jackson's new take on the twins. After each team shared its team name, the class was dismissed to the cafeteria. The meeting was to announce the scavenger hunt winners, after which the fifth graders would be dismissed for the day. Only Mr. Cutler, Mr. Blowers, the headmaster, Mrs. Cross, the librarian, and Mr. Baines, the head physical education teacher, knew who the winners were. Mr. Cutler walked to the podium and quieted the group. "As some of you found out, there were two secret prizes worth 25 credits to the first group that found them. One group is table eight, the Fireballs, from Ms. McCann's room." None of the Puget Posse was happy to see that the winner was Jeremiah's team. "They must have cheated," Mattie whispered. "Did you turn them in for cheating?" he asked Paul. "Yes, but that just meant they lost points. That has nothing to do with this." "Well, they still cheated," Mark said. "The other winning team is table 11, the Super Brains from Mr. Nash's class," Mr. Cutler said. "He means Super Lames," Matthew said, causing the entire Posse to cover their mouths to keep from laughing out loud. "Only two teams found all of the scavenger hunt items," Mr. Cutler went on. "Getting a 50 credit bonus is table 10, the Fantastic Five from Mr. Jackson's room." That brought loud cheers from Mr. Jackson's tables, the loudest coming from the Posse, led by the noisemaking of the twins. "The other team is also our winner, completing their hunt two minutes faster than the Fantastic Five." Table five knew they had to be the winners and fidgeted accordingly. "The winner is table five, the Puget Posse." The twins stood up and waved and bowed, with Patrick standing right after them, bowing and waving as well. Not wanting to be left out, Misha and Neville got up, but were far less animated, even though they were extremely happy. After the Posse quieted down, Mr. Cutler finished the meeting by announcing the winning classroom. "The winning class, finding the most items, is Mr. Jackson's class." Following the lead of The Posse, the entire class stood up and yelled and bowed. Orientation was over. The boys now had four days to enjoy their freedom until the rigors of academia began on Wednesday. For Neville and Patrick, the day was going to be extended by an hour. They both had signed up to take chorus as their elective, but becoming a member of the class and the chorus was not automatic. They would have to audition for the chorus, which was the reason they were staying later. They went to the auditorium, where they were met by another eight fifth graders and a couple of older boys who had not been in chorus before and wanted to give it a try. Mrs. Bailey and her assistant auditioned one boy at a time in a room backstage while the others waited their turn. Once a boy had auditioned he was free to leave. They would be informed by phone on Tuesday if they had qualified for chorus. Those who didn't qualify would be enrolled in their second choice for elective. The boys' chorus at the Puget Academy was one of the best in the area. Orientation was over. The next time the boys entered the Puget Academy, it would be on the first day of school. Next: Riding the Wave