Trevor Long burst into the high school room, stumbling and gasping for breath as if he’d just run a dozen marathons. He collapsed to his hands and knees, his sides heaving as he attempted to suck in air, and his cheeks flushed red from exertion. Anthony Moreno glanced up from his pace-work and regarded Trevor with a slightly raised eyebrow. Trevor was always making dramatic entrances of some sort or another. Mostly, everyone just ignored him. But Trevor was gasping and trying to speak at the same while looking frightened—though his stuttering and stammering sounded more like an injured cat than anything anyone could understand. Whatever had gotten his red hair all tied in knots was interrupting the entire class.
“What’s wrong?” Anthony demanded, irritated. He wished Bro. Joey would come back, but all the teachers were in an emergency meeting with Pastor—something about all the staff and faculty cars being egged.
Trevor stabbed a finger out toward the east wall. “The ele—ele—” he stammered, incoherently. He tried to suck in more air, but it only made him look like a fish discovering it was out of water.
“He’s such a drama queen,” Joanna remarked, hardly looking up from what she was doing at her desk. “Someone tell him to go away.” Well, the world could be falling down around her head and she’d hardly give it much notice. She could show as much emotion as a rock when she was of a mind to.
Trevor’s brother, Robert, mumbled something under his breath and stood up. “Come on, Trevor,” he said, “get out of here before Bro. Joey comes back. If he catches you interrupting his class, he’ll give you more demerits.”
Anthony wasn’t so sure. This seemed more than Trevor’s typical attempt at getting attention. He seemed genuinely scared. Robert tried to haul his brother to his feet, but Trevor just flopped over onto his back, his chest heaving and his eyes bulging from his head. Yep, he looked just like a fish out of water.
Curious, Anthony got up and went over. “What’s wrong?” he asked again.
Trevor was still trying to point toward the east wall of the class room. “The—the—ele—elementary school!” he squeaked out.
Anthony’s brows furrowed in confusion, and he asked, “You ran over here from the elementary school?”
Trevor nodded.
Kim had come over and was looking down at Trevor like one would at a messy spill on the floor. “Boy,” she said, “you need a lot more physical education.”
Anthony shot Kim a scowl. “Do you mind?” he said.
Kim raised her hands. “I’m just saying,” she replied all innocent-like.
Turning back to Trevor, Anthony asked, “What about the elementary school?”
Trevor sucked in a huge gulp of air and bellowed, “Hostages! They’re being held hostage! All the kids—all of them!”
“What?” Anthony demanded, moving closer. “Is this one of your jokes?”
“No!” Trevor exclaimed, from his prone position. “Go see for yourself!”
Kim glanced over at Hana, who gave her the don’t-bring-me-into-this look. Shrugging, Kim asked Trevor, “Who’s holding them hostage?”
Trevor licked his lips, looking concerned. He said, “The Baker Brothers.”
Everyone in the class burst out laughing, but Anthony took a quick survey of the room. Both Dalen and Kyle were missing. Still, this had to be a practical joke. Dalen didn’t seem to be the sort of man to do something like this—his dad, maybe, but not Dalen. Kyle, on the other hand—it was always the quiet ones. Always.
Kim, still laughing, demanded, “You’re insane, Trevor!”
“No!” Trevor insisted. “They’ve barricaded and boobytrapped all the doors!”
“Yeah right,” Kim said. “Like we believe that!” She spun and marched to the door that led out onto the back porch and shoved it open. Without pausing, Kim made her way around the playground with the whole class following. Anthony figured Bro. Joey would blow his spleen out when he discovered everyone had left the class without permission, but Anthony was too intrigued to worry very much about it.
The main doors to the elementary building were closed. Through the window, Anthony could see Dalen, Kyle, and Owen talking together in the small foyer. Kim didn’t even slow down. She reached out to grab the door handle to yank one of the doors open, but the moment she touched it, there was a loud pop, a snap, and a strong electrical current caused Kim’s long hair—all of it—to shoot straight up like some sort of blond duster. Poor Kim twitched violently and fell over backwards, landing hard. She lay there, convulsing horribly. A small puff of smoke escaped her open mouth and ears.
Hana and Leah Mecklenberg rushed over to Kim. “Kim,” Hana asked hesitantly, “are you okay?”
Kim nodded. Her hair sticking straight out in all directions brushed half the porch off with that single movement. “J…jus—just fine,” Kim stammered.
Joanna had watched the whole thing without hardly an expression, but she did state the obvious, “I’d say the door is boobytrapped. Wouldn’t you?”
At that moment the door opened, and Kyle stuck his head out. He looked down at Kim with a disgustingly satisfied smile. “Always wanted to do that to her,” he said offhandedly. “Now listen up,” he continued. “My brothers and I will hold all the kids here hostage until our demands are met.” He looked thoughtful. “Though we might give you Kaiden Painter and Daniel Espinoza anyway.”
Anthony looked outraged. “There’s no need to threaten us!” he shouted back.
Kyle grinned knowingly and moved away so Dalen could take his place at the door. “Here’s the deal,” Dalen said, using a sinister bass-like voice that no one had ever heard before. “We will only talk to you. No teacher. No adult authority figures. YOU will make them agree to these demands or we won’t release our hostages.”
Movement behind Dalen drew Anthony’s attention. He saw Aaroyln Reily, Hunter Buehrer, and Gabriella Allen peeking around the hallway corner. They didn’t look scared or worried, and that bothered Anthony. Then Aaroyln did something extraordinary. She looked Anthony right in the eye and stuck her tongue out at him.
Anthony recoiled, shocked! What was going on here? Was the entire grade school in on the hostage taking? Then Jacen appeared. He reached into a bag and gave each of the kids a piece of candy. They snatched them out of his hands and retreated out of sight, grinning greedily. Jacen smirked at Anthony, hefting a large garbage bag that was likely full of candy. So that was how they were keeping the elementary school kids in line. Candy.
By this time, Bro. Matt’s class had discovered the ruckus, probably because of Trevor, and had wandered over. Anthony noticed Jordan Gieseler looking sort of longingly at the Baker Brothers. Well, who could blame him? For the moment anyway, the Bakers held all the power.
Hana straightened up from where she had hovered over Kim. She looked Dalen up and down and sniffed in disdain. “Fine,” she said, “what are your demands?”
Dalen tossed out a piece of paper. “Come back when Pastor and the staff have agreed to these terms,” he said, closing the door.
Crystal Chandler picked it up, but Anthony snatched the paper away from her. “I’ll handle this,” he said.
“Who put you in charge?” Crystal demanded. “I’m the Bakers’ favorite teenager! They’ll listen to me!”
Anthony snorted. “We want to resolve this peacefully,” he explained, “not get everyone killed.”
Crystal’s mouth popped open in a little O of pure outrage. “That’s mean!” she exclaimed.
Anthony ignored her and opened the paper. “Listen to this,” he said. “Here’s their demands. One, they want ice-cream served in class each day to every student while they’re working. Two, they want pace-work requirements reduced by half. Three, they demand that all the girls in their classes stop talking so much—especially, Kim, Crystal, Nichol, and Jazmin.”
All four girls looked greatly offended, though on Kim it looked mostly comical with her hair still standing straight up like blond peacock feathers.
Anthony continued, “Number four, they want to grade their own paces and—wait, there’s another note here, but it’s difficult to read…oh, it’s from Jacen. He wants to grade his own tests from now on too and doesn’t want to have to write so neatly.”
“Ha!” Kaya Smith laughed, “as if that will ever happen!”
Sophia was shaking her head. “There is no way anyone will agree to these absurd demands,” she said.
Victor spoke up, “I’d agree to them!”
Sophia rolled her eyes at Victor and said, “No one with any brains!”
“Besides that,” Makenna added, “it’s impossible to do everything on that list.”
Hana looked curious. “How is it impossible?”
Makenna sniffed and muttered, “Have you ever tried to stop those girls from talking?”
Despite the second round of outraged looks from the girls in question, Anthony had to agree. He looked around and asked, “Should we get the teachers?”
Hana seemed for it, but Kim shook her head, threatening to sweep away all the cobwebs that had formed underneath the porch roof. Anthony wondered if her hair would stick up like that from now on. “You heard what Dalen said,” Kim said. “We can’t bring the teachers or Pastor into this. We have to fix this ourselves.” She affected a fierce look, spoiled somewhat when her eyes kept shifting in opposite directions. “We will have to rescue the kids ourselves!” she finished.
Anthony looked around at the high schoolers and junior high schoolers. They all nodded in agreement, except for Hana who looked concerned. “I don’t think that is such a good idea,” she disagreed. “We need to bring the teachers in on this. This is serious.”
Laura Adair snorted, apparently trying to mimic the goats she was so fond of. “Serious?” she asked. “Not with those demands. Who could take them seriously?”
Hana raised an eyebrow and said, “And you don’t think taking the entire elementary hostage is serious? Or Kim nearly being electrocuted to death?”
Laura ignored Hana. She was looking down the building to the door that led to Mrs. Yancy’s classroom. “Come on!” she yelled, running toward the door. “Maybe that door is unlocked.”
Hana yelled after her, “No! Kyle probably trapped that door too!” But Laura, Andrea, and Jordan ignored her and darted down the sidewalk to Mrs. Yancy’s door. They stopped just outside, trying to peer into the little window. Anthony had a bad feeling, but he trailed along behind with the rest of his classmates.
“What do you see?” he asked the three crowding up to the window.
Andrea had the best view and said, “I see Brayden, Melanie, and both Mias.”
“What are they doing?” Hana asked.
“Looks like a food fight,” Andrea replied. “Melanie is winning, I think.”
“Melanie?” Victoria asked, perplexed. “Not Brayden?”
“Naw,” Andrea said, “he’s just laughing every time he gets hit.”
Kaya giggled, but Jordan pushed the girls aside to get more room in front of the door. “I’ll get this door opened,” he said. Gingerly he tapped the door handle. Nothing happened. Confident, he tugged on the door. Nothing happened. “It’s always locked,” he admitted, “but I found a way to force it open.” He grabbed the door handle with both hands and jerked upward and then outward with all his might. Nothing happened, unless you counted Jordan’s face turning beat-red and his veins popping out on his forehead. He relaxed taking a deep breath. Once more he jerked and pulled on the door. With a screech the door flew open, tumbling Jordan back into the bushes which cushioned his fall some.
Everyone watched in astonishment. Jordan had forced the door open! Then Jacen and Owen framed the door from the inside. Owen held a small remote in his hand. “Sorry, Jordan,” he said somewhat wistfully. “This is for all the times you’ve bullied me in basketball.”
Before anyone could stop him, he hit a button on his remote. From atop the building, something snapped, like a coiled spring let loose, and thick, black tar shot out of a cleverly designed chute to splash all over Jordan. Everyone scrambled away, trying to keep the sticky stuff from splashing on their clothing and shoes. But poor Jordan couldn’t move. The sticky stuff literally glued him to the bush. He blinked, the whites of his eyes and his teeth the only thing white on his entire body.
Then Jacen stepped forward and dumped an entire bucket of feathers all over Jordan. “You’ve been tarred and feathered!” Jacen laughed. He and Owen swung the door close and Anthony could hear it lock.
“Help!” Jordan cried. “Get me out of this!”
Everyone looked at each other, but no one moved to help. Kim shrugged and said, “Sorry Jordan, we don’t want to get that stuff all over us too. But we’ll tell your dad. I’m sure he’ll figure out a way to get you out.”
“Don’t leave me like this!” Jordan screeched.
“Sorry,” Anthony said, “but we’ve got to rescue the other kids. You’re safe for the moment.” He looked around. “Anyone else not think the Baker Brothers are serious?” No one said anything. “Alright then,” he continued. “What do we do now?”
“All the doors are sure to be booby-trapped,” Hana said. “We need another way to get in there.”
“There is no other way,” Makenna said. “There’s no windows or entrance from the roof. It is only the doors.”
Anthony nodded, thinking. “Then we need to spring one of the traps,” he explained.
“Are you insane?” Madison blurted out.
Anthony shrugged. “Probably, but look,” he said, “if someone springs one of their traps, it will lure some of the Bakers to the door. We could jump them when they try to gloat.”
Emma looked worried. “Why would they come to the door?” she asked.
“Because,” Anthony continued, “that is what they’ve done so far. Why would they stop? Kyle built all these traps. Don’t you think he’d want to see how well they worked? We spring one of his other traps and it will lure him, or some of his brothers, to us like bees to honey.”
Hana’s eyebrows kept rising. “You’re a bit optimistic, aren’t you?”
“Does anyone else have a better plan?” Anthony demanded.
“Well,” Kim said, “we could break the glass in the main doors, and someone could crawl through.”
“Too risky,” Anthony disagreed. “Kyle would have planned for that. He’s always been secretly devious, that one. I don’t think we should make ourselves such an easy target.”
“Then who’s going to spring the trap?” Hana asked. She looked around, but everyone suddenly found something else incredibly interesting in the sky or off in the distance. No one was willing to meet her eyes, lest they be volunteered—not after what happened to Kim and Jordan.
“Really?” Anthony asked, looking around, “nobody’s going to volunteer?”
Robert pointed a finger at Anthony. “Why don’t you do it? And when the Bakers come to the door, I’ll take care of them.” He flexed his muscles.
Leah laughed. “Your brawn against Kyle’s brains?” she asked, smirking. “I think we all know who wins that.”
Robert glowered at Leah. “I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “I think Leah should spring the trap.”
“Me?” Leah said, backing up. “No way.”
Anthony was thinking furiously. There had to be a way to do this without anyone getting hurt. Or at least too hurt. “I’ve got a plan,” he said at last, interrupting the other conversations. “Kim, take Leah and Makenna. See if you can’t talk some sense into Dalen. Talk to him. Distract him. If you can distract Kyle, all the better, but keep them focused on you. Okay?”
Kim’s hair had begun to settle, but now it looked more like an umbrella than a broom. Everyone had to stay well out of reach. She folded her arms and considered. “I can do that.”
Anthony turned to Hana. “Can you check out the other two doors? Don’t try to open them but check them out. See if you can figure out how they’re booby-trapped. Take Crystal and Jazmin.” He paused. “Take Kaya and Victor too,” he added. “It’s okay if you’re seen. Let them think we’re too scared to open the doors.”
“We are,” Sophia muttered.
“And what are the rest of us going to do?” Robert asked.
“We wait for Hana to report,” Anthony explained. “Then we sneak around to one of the doors.” He took a deep breath. “I’ll spring the trap. With Dalen, and hopefully Kyle, occupied at the front, the rest of you should be able to get in and get the kids out.”
Jordan, still stuck to the bush, called out, “What about me?”
Anthony looked over. “Um, you stay there. Look fierce. Maybe you can scare the Baker Brothers away from this door.”
Jordan looked anything but scary right then. Well, they’d get Jordan out later. Anthony clapped his hands. “Alright people. Let’s move!”
Joanna sniffed. “Stop trying to boss everyone around.”
“Look,” Anthony said, trying to stand up taller than anyone else and failing, “just do it.”
Kim nodded and, taking Leah and Makenna, made her way to the front doors, peering cautiously inside. Anthony listened, and soon heaved a sigh of relief when the girls started talking. Obviously, at least Dalen was still waiting there. And if anyone could talk Dalen to death, it would be Kim.
Hana took her group and slipped around the side of the building. Anthony waited. About five minutes later, Hana came back. Her quiet demeaner was broken by a worried frown. “Both doors are trapped,” she said quietly. “But we can’t tell exactly what they do. The door to the kindergarten class has several wires fixed to it. The door near the basketball court has some sort of oil coating it.”
Anthony considered. “Did you see anyone while looking through the windows?”
“Yes,” Hana replied. “We saw Ally Roper and Levi Banghart and some of the other smaller kids. They were being watched by Annalisa Alvarado and Beth Hart. Oh, and we heard Azaiah and Alex Roper laughing from the other side of the south door. There isn’t a window there, so we couldn’t see what they were doing, but Kim might be able to tell us.”
Anthony considered. “No,” he said, “Kim is distracting the Dalen and Kyle and probably Owen. We couldn’t use the south door anyway. We’ll have to try the kindergarten door.”
Steeling himself, Anthony motioned for everyone to follow him. They sneaked around the north side of the building until they came to the kindergarten door. Anthony whispered, “the door is assuredly locked. I’ll try Jordan’s trick, but I don’t know if I can do it. Be ready if something goes wrong.”
Hana held up a key, smiling. “Thought of that already. I got this from Mrs. Breanna Cowling after you sent me to inspect the doors.”
Taking the key, Anthony sucked in a deep breath. “Listen, after I get the door open, everyone run inside and get as many kids as you can out. Robert, Victor, try to delay the Bakers as much as possible.”
“You want me to fight them?” Robert asked.
“Do what you have to do, but the priority is the kids,” Anthony explained. “Get the kids out first.”
Robert looked disappointed. Ignoring him, Anthony hesitantly inserted the key into the door, careful to remain out of sight of anyone glancing out the window. He turned the key, and as he did, everyone else backed away. He didn’t blame them. Grasping the door handle, he yanked it open, trying to jump clear at the same time.
A blast of light and sound, so bright and so loud, stunned Anthony. It was like falling into the sun and a jet engine all at the same time. He staggered back, blind and deaf, fell, and hit the ground hard. He could see nothing but white and hear nothing but a sharp ring. He had no idea if his plan had worked.
Dimly, his vision and hearing began to return. He blinked tears out of his eyes and saw kids streaming out through the open door. Niko jumped over him as did Tristen and Michael Mullins. It had worked! Julio Salas came out, saw Anthony lying in the dirt, and frowned. He said something, but Anthony couldn’t hear. “What?” he shouted.
Julio shouted back, “They need you inside!”
Oh. Staggering to his feet, Anthony pushed his way through the kids, stepping around Genesis and Tristan. In the hallway, he found a sight to behold. All the Baker Brothers, except Jacen, were surrounded by the high school girls. The Baker Brothers had their hands held up in the air, looking mighty worried. And no wonder, those girls had the capacity to wring all the sap out of a tree just by glaring at it. “We surrender! We surrender!” Dalen shouted.
Jacen was running from Robert and Victor, dodging out of reach like a greased piglet. It seemed no matter what they did, they couldn’t catch the youngest Baker Brother. But the other three were safely in hand. Anthony walked up. “What happened?” he shouted.
“They didn’t dare do anything once we got in,” Hana said. She looked around in satisfaction.
“What?” Anthony shouted. It sounded like everyone was talking under water.
Hana rolled her eyes but didn’t repeat whatever she’d said. Anthony shrugged and looked at Dalen. “We beat you!” he shouted at him.
Then all the teachers arrived. Joey Diaz looked amused. “Was that what this was all about, Anthony?” he asked. “Beating them?”
Anthony shouted, “What?”
Joey laughed and repeated himself, louder.
“Oh,” Anthony said as the ringing in his ears lessened. “But we did win,” he continued. “We beat them and rescued the kids.”
“In something like this,” Bro. Joey explained, “there are no winners or losers. When someone needs help, there is only right and wrong.” Joey looked around at everyone. “None of you came to get any of us, though Hana did ask for a key. Was that right or wrong? You argued amongst yourselves and only one of you had the courage to sacrifice himself for everyone else.” He looked Anthony in the eyes. “That was the only heroic moment in any of this. Sacrifice. You were willing to sacrifice yourself for the sake of others. This is the lesson we wanted you to learn.”
“Wait a minute,” Anthony said, realization dawning. “You mean this was all planned? You put the Baker Brothers up to this?”
Dalen grinned. “Fooled you,” he said, lowering his arms.
Kim looked outraged. “But look what they did to my hair!”
“And what about Jordan?” Sophia asked.
“He’s not hurt,” Bro. Yancy explained. “No one was really. Kim didn’t know about the trap and was caught in it accidently. Jordan tried to do it on his own and was trapped. But only one of you was willing to make the right sacrifice to get in, and only by such sacrifice were you able to prevail. Such is life and the life of a Christian. If you are going to do anything for God or become influential, you will need to learn when to make sacrifices. Those moments do not announce themselves, they come unexpectedly.”
“And here’s the thing,” Bro. Joey said, “sacrifices are only sacrifices if they are made for others. Sports stars will make sacrifices to be better athletes, but is that really a sacrifice? They gained more than they lost. A true sacrifice means you lose something so someone else can gain. That is what Anthony did in the end and what you all need to learn.” He gestured. “What does the Bible says in Romans 12:1, ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.’ Learn from that.” He gestured to the door. “Okay, the lesson is over. Everyone back to their classes.”
Everyone began to disperse, but Trevor had one more question. He looked around, confused. “Wait, does this mean we won’t be getting ice-cream in class?”
The End