Fan's POV:

"Hello," he says. "I would like to talk to you for a bit."

I stand there a bit nervous, the principal just grabbed my shoulder after all. I start thinking the worst.

What if im in trouble? No, that cant be it, I just got here. Is he going to expell me because he doesnt like me or something? But he doesnt even know me, I dont even know his name.

After a while of staring, I agree to talk to him. He takes me to his office and sits me down at the chair in front of his desk.

"I just wanted to talk because you are new here, I would like to get to know you more! I usually like to meet with new students." He says leaning back in his chair.

I sit there silently still extremely nervous. He must've noticed that I was nervous because he then says, "no need to be nervous, you arent in trouble or anything." I nod and apologize, my old school wasnt like this so it was still all very new to me.

"Anyway, I think i should introduce myself. You can call me Principal Cobs. Or just Cobs, whichever suits you better." He says with a small grin.

"Nice to meet you," I say, i've calmed down a bit but theres still a bit of a tremble in my voice. "My name is Fan."

"I see you've made a couple friends already, I noticed you talking to a few different people today." Cobs says. I nod. "Yeah, the people here are pretty nice." I say. Cobs shifts in his chair a bit. "What kind of things do you like to do?" He asks.

"Um, well, I'm pretty big into theories and the internet," I say, now a bit more relaxed. "I have a blog and stuff."

"Hm, thats pretty interesting." Cobs says, "I find electronics pretty facinating, I actually create things such as computers and phones."

"Really?" I ask, I found the fact that he creates electronics intriguing. He nods and pulls out a phone. "Im working on my own brand of phone," he says smiling.

I examine the phone, it looks very technologically advanced. "Wow! You made that?" I say facinated. "Yep, I sure did." He smiles at me, seemingly pleased with my reaction.

"If you want, you can have it. This is only one of many." I look at him. "Wait, seriously?" I ask. He nods and hands the phone over to me. I stare at it for a bit.

"Wow! Thank you!" I exclaim. I turn on the phone and look through the different functions. I then look at him and smile. "You should probably head off to class." He says. "Just tell your teacher you were talking to me."

I nod and stand up out of the seat. "Thanks again!" I say with a smile. He smiles back and waves. I then exit the room and start walking to class, still examining the phone.

When I get to class, I notice Paintbrush. I didnt realize we were going to the same class. I decide to go and sit by Paintbrush because they are the only person I know in this classroom. I walk over and sit down awkwardly

"Um, hey Paintbrush!" I say smiling. Paintbrush just looks at me as if I had said something really stupid. I clear my throat and turn to look at the front if the classroom. "So um, wonderful weather we're having today." I stated awkwardly trying to strike up a bit of a concersation.

Paintbrush looks at me for a moment. "It's literally raining." They say. "Aha- well- the rain helps the plants and stuff, so it can be nice sometimes." I just smile awkwardly and they just stare at me for a bit, then go back to their work. My smile fades and I just look down at my desk.

"Sorry," I mumble feeling a bit embarrassed, "I just wanted to get to know you a bit better." Paintbrush continues working on their paper but says "It's... fine I guess." This was a very awkward conversation.

"Hey, um, you know Principal Cobs right?" I ask paintbrush. "Mhm." They nod. "Well, he gave me this phone and-" they turn and stare at me for a bit. "Wait, he just gave you a phone?" Paintbrush asks. "Um, yeah?"

Paintbrush looks at me for a bit longer then says, "dont you find that a little... suspicious? Who just gives out phones?" I look at Paintbrush and then the phone. "Maybe he was just trying to be nice?" I say trying not to think about it too much.

"I always found him kinda weird," Paintbrush says staring down at their desk, "let me see that phone." They then snatch the phone from my hands and start looking through it. "Wh- hey!" I exclaim. The teacher turns and shushes me, and I apoligize then turn back to Paintbrush.

"You cant just snatch it! If you wanted to see it you couldve asked!" I snap. "It looks... completely normal," Paintbrush says still scrolling through it, "I thought there might be some virus or something that could steal your information but... it seems normal."

Paintbrush hands the phone back to me and I take it and put it in my backpack. "Like I said, he was probably trying to be nice or just make me feel more welcome." I say quietly. "Just be careful, I still dont completely trust that guy, even if he is the principal." Paintbrush warns looking me in the eyes. I just nod and then start working on my assignment.

For a while things were silent. Then suddenly...

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

The fire alarm goes off. I almost fall backwards out of my seat and Paintbrush's pencil almost snapped because of how hard they squeezed it. Other people quickly stand up out of their seats and some just start screaming "Beep" along with the fire alarm. Paintbrush sets down their pencil and stands up. I stand up as well

Everyone is taken outside and they start taking role to make sure everyone is there. I look across the lawn and notice Balloon with his class. I wave to him and he smiles and waves back.

We sit out there for about an hour before Principal Cobs comes out and announces to everyone that there was a small fire in the kitchen, but that it was taken care of. I look at Paintbrush who is pretty much glaring at Cobs.

"Hey are you ok?" I ask a bit concerned. Paintbrush just nods and says, "I just still dont trust him very much."

"Oh." I say. I didnt really find him that untrustworthy, in fact, I sort of looked up to him in a way. I didnt see why paintbrush saw him as suspicious, but i just shrugged it off.

We just headed off to lunch after that, we had been out there so long that we had only been in class for a few minutes and lunch had already started.

I stood in line for a bit before I suddenly got tackled by Lightbulb, Paintbrush walking behind with their arms crossed. "Lightbulb, would you stop tackling people?" Lightbulb picks me up and dusts me off with a big grin on her face. I rub my head. "Nice to see you too Lightbulb," I say still trying to recover from getting tackled, "even though it was only an hour since I last saw you."

"Wanna sit with us Fan?" Lightbulb gleefully exclaims. "Sure." I say smiling. Lightbulb suddenly lights up. "Hey how about we make a group! We can call it... The Bright Lights!"

She looks at us for a minute and puts her hand on her chin. "We dont have enough members..." she says looking around. She then runs off and grabs a bunch if random people, one of them she picks up with two fingers and holds a good distance away from herself, but brings him over anyway.

I just stare and the people who were dragged over look either annoyed or confused. "There we go!" Lightbulb exclaims happily, "now we have enough people!"

I noticed Yin-Yang in in the group, and luckily Lightbulb had also grabbed test tube, so there were at least two other people i knew. Lightbulb introduces me to all of the people "Ok, so Fan, this is Apple, Cherries, Marshmallow, you already know Test Tube, Tissues, and YinYang, then we have Me and Paintbrush! You already know us too!"

I was a little bummed that Balloon wasn't grabbed because he seemed pretty lonely, but we could still hang out if we wanted.

We all went to stand in line again and almost immediately, Lightbulb starts talking to everyone she sees. I notice Yin and Yang arguing about soda and water, paintbrush fussing at them trying to get them to shut up, and Test Tube trying to teach Apple how to spell.

This group is pretty chaotic. I think to myself. We get our lunch and go to find a table. I sit next to Test Tube. "Sorry for how crazy this school can be sometimes." Test Tube whispers. "It's fine, I'll get used to it." I whisper back.

I look around and notice Balloon sitting alone at a table. I turn to Test Tube. "Hey, do you wanna come with me? Im gonna go sit by Balloon so he isn't so lonely." She nods and stands up. We both make our way over to his table.

"Hey Balloon!" I wave as I walk over to him. He looks at me, smiles, and waves back. "Do you mind if we sit with you?" Test Tube asks. "No I dont mind!" Balloon says smiling. We both sit down and Test Tube begins to strike up a conversation.

Suddenly a sandwich hits Balloon in the head and he falls out of his chair. I look in the direction the sanwich came from and see Nickel standing there and laughing. Balloon quickly retaliates and dumps a small carton of milk ok his head.

The next thing I know, food is flying every which way. Me and a couple other people, including Test Tube and Paintbrush, are ducking under tables. Paintbrush is trying to get Lightbulb to stop throwing food and to get under the Table.

Things only got worse from there, Nickel and Balloon got sent to the principals office and the other people who had joined in on throwing food had to clean up the lunchroom.

I went into the bathroom to clean myself up.

That was stressful. I thought while washing myself off. I start walking to class and walk past the detention room. I see Balloon and Nickel sitting in the detention room. Balloon is staring down at his desk and Nickel just looks angry.

I felt kind of bad for them both, less for Nickel, but I didnt think they deserved it. I just walked to class and sat down silently. I noticed a bunch of empty seats, probably from the ones cleaning the lunchroom.

Nothing else happened throughout the day. Everyone was silent. School finally got out and people started heading home. "Wait!" I hear someone call from behind me as I start walking home. I turn around and see Test Tube running up to me. She stops right by me and catches her breath. "I just wanted to exchange numbers really quick, so we can keep in touch."

She pulls a phone out of her backpack and we exchange numbers. "Thanks!" She says happily. "No problem!" I say. "Gotta catch the bus," Test Tube says, "I'll see you tomorrow!" I nod and wave to her as she runs off to get to her bus.

Eventually I get home. I flop down on my bed and pull out my phone. I check my texts, and see one from Test Tube.

"I missed the bus," I read. "Golly, isnt my life just great." I laugh a little and respond, "Maybe exchanging numbers during lunch before the food fight would've been better."

"Probably," Test Tube responds, "Im gonna get started on my homework now." That reminded me that I also had homework to do.

"Yeah im gonna start now too." I type. I put down my phone and pull my homework out of my backpack.

I dont really know how to describe what happened in the next two days, but eventually, picture day started. People were being called up to get their pictures taken.

"Fan!" Test Tube yells as she runs up to me. "Oh hey Test Tube!" I notice she looks a little worried. "Hey are you ok?" I ask, a bit concerned.

"Theres this rumor going around, and I think it might be real," She says in a worried tone, "some of the people who are getting their pictures taken just... dissapear!"

I look at her confused. "Dissapear?" I ask. She frantically nods. "Hey, calm down Test Tube," I say trying to reassure her that everything is fine, "im sure they are ok, maybe you're just thinking too much."

She shakes her head. "Haven't you noticed that people are missing? I havent seen them at all!"

"Test Tube, they're probably just sick. I mean, Nickel got his picture taken and he's just fine." I say reassuringly.

"I guess you're right." Test Tube sighs. "Maybe im overthinking things." I pat her back to make her feel better. "Lets just head to cla-"

Paintbrush runs over in a panic. "Paintbrush? Whats wrong?" Test Tube asks with a concerned look on her face.

Paintbrush struggles to catch their breath and begins to speak. "Its Lightbulb," they say,

"She's missing."

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