Prologue: Storm Clouds
A hush descended over the crowded auditorium as the red velvet curtains drew back to reveal a man. He was rather stout, with bushy brown hair and a beard that matched. He had the general appearance of a stereotypical haberdasher of nouns and pronouns; that is, a language teacher. He opened the small white envelope he held in his hand. The stout gentleman fiddled with his eyeglasses as he announced: “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls; it is my great pleasure to announced that this year’s winner of the Peterford award for Theatrical Excellence is...” he paused to add to the mounting tension; “Riverside Theatre Group.”
Some of the crowd applauded madly, but most clapped halfheartedly, glowering contemptuously at the stage.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the crowd, chaos broke loose backstage. Fists were flying as two boys fought each other. A muscular boy with curly blonde hair pinned his opponent to the ground. “You cheated!” he roared, “I saw you switch the envelopes!”
The auburn haired boy gazed calmly at his assailant “Nat, Nat, Nat, whatever are you talking about?”
Frustrated, Nat began to loosen his grip on the other boy, who, seeing his chance, flipped Nat and landed a blow to his face.
“I shredded the envelope, and there’s nothing you can do to disprove to results. Besides, does Wade Road really need another little tchotchke for their trophy case?” asked the other boy sarcastically.
At this Nat roared with anger and the fight went on.
“What’s going on? Nat! Orion! Break it up!” exclaimed a new voice.
The two young ruffians stood up and brushed themselves off. Nat had received a bloody lip, Orion a black eye, and both were very much bruised. A short, brown haired boy, the one who stopped the fight, rolled his eyes.
“Seriously! Anyone would think you were a pair of five-year-olds fighting over a crayon!" said the newcomer.
He turned to the auburn headed offender, "Orion, don’t you have a ride to catch?”
Orion nodded, glared at the other two boys, and stalked off.
Nat turned to his companion, “He cheated, Nick. I saw him.”
Nick whipped around, a fierce gleam in his eyes. They were odd eyes, one blue, one brown, “And how can you prove it? There’s no evidence, and fighting won’t solve anything!”
“He won’t mess with us again.” snapped Nat
“When will you start acting your age? What have you become? Some pugnacious rabble-rouser? It’s over. We lost. Deal with it...and not by fighting!” With that, Nick left the room.
Nat turned once more to glance back stage. At least he knew that he wasn’t a rabble-rouser, and that he could easily think of oodles of ways to “deal with it” as Nick put it...and that it was far from over.
***
A tall blonde girl sat alone in an empty bedroom at Wade Road Academy, unaware of what had just happened. Wade Road was a boarding school, but her roommates had not yet returned. There was a knock at the door.
“Who is it?” she said.
“Guess who?” said a voice.
The girl gave an exasperated sigh as she got up and opened the door. Standing there was a boy of about fifteen with brown hair and green eyes. He was a little bit shorter than the girl, and looked up at her with an unreadable expression.
“Aidan!” exclaimed Liza, “What are you doing here at this hour?”
“Did you hear, Liza?”
“About what?”
“About the competition.” the uncertainty in his voice worried Liza.
“No. Tell me.”
“Well,” Aidan began uneasily, “we kind of lost.”
“Balderdash!” exclaimed Liza, “Aidan O’Leary, I don’t believe you for one second!”
“I wouldn’t lie about this; and there’s more. Apparently Orion Hayes sabotaged the results. Then Nat and Orion started fighting and Nick had to break it up.”
Liza shook her head sadly, “Wade Road hasn’t lost this big of a competition in ages, and fewer students are joining.”
The boy nodded, unable to think of how to console his friend.
“I’d better go before Anna and Alice get back,” said Aidan, half to himself.
“ Bye Aidan”
“Bye Liza” said Aidan as he left.
Liza flopped onto her bed, sighing miserably.
We need a miracle! Thought Liza wistfully.
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