Dorothy stood on stage as the supposed best and brightest of this high school were brought before her. They were a nervous lot, regarding her with either admiration or nervousness. Except for one.

  He was a thin and nky boy, the exact type you'd expect to be in STEM. Limbs that were too long, a bit of scruff on his chin, bags under his eyes from te nights, and a casual hoodie and jeans. Likely bullied by some of the other students. He didn't look at Dorothy as if she were a goddess. He looked at her with a cold and calcuting gaze. That was something she could respect. But she also knew that boys in this field were all a bit arrogant, convinced of their own superiority over their peers and those outside of their fields. And that was something she could use.

  "I'm sure you all know who I am, so I feel their is no need for introductions." Dorothy said. "I asked for you to come here today because I want you all to be the face of a new program that Tempest International will be bringing to your school. We'll be providing new technology, new networking opportunities, new everything."

  The students all looked at each other in shock, except for the boy.

  "Now, considering that most of you are in clubs or other organizations that rete closely to what Tempest International does, I've invited you all here to be given some more detailed information about what this program will mean for you and your peers." Dorothy continued. "You'll also be invited to address the student body, sharing your thoughts on what Tempest will be able to do for your school and community."

  She kept an eye on the boy as she spoke. He seemed antsy. His leg was bouncing slightly.

  He was promising.

  ***

  I walked up to the BB with a feeling of dread in my stomach, but it was a dread in three parts. One, I'd have to go to school, Two, I was leaving Messa all alone all day, and three, I was gonna have to do it without Matt.

  We still hadn't gotten any more word as to what the assembly was about, but Matt said he'd let me know ASAP. So there I was, walking up to the hellmouth that was Bckbriar High without any allies. Yay.

  I walked in and made my way through the throng of students that was pouring through the front door. I was nearly squashed in the mass of bodies but eventually made it to the central staircase that lead up through all floors of the building. I hiked all the way up to the fourth floor, where I had AP Government for first period.

  The first css was nothing too special; our teacher had gone so far as to make a sylbus and was running through the schedule through the semester. I sat near the back of the room, next to a window that looked over the soccer fields. This meant that I could keep an eye on the other students, and I saw that they were all talking about one thing; the assembly that was scheduled to take pce around noon that day. It seems as though the letter had gone out to everyone, and there was a palpable sense of anticipation over this mystery program.

  I went from AP Gov to Physics, then onto Comp Sci II and Advanced English Lit, and then the announcement finally came over the loudspeaker.

  "Will all seniors please report to the auditorium after the bell? All seniors to the auditorium after the bell, please." said Principal Crk over the PA.

  When the bell rung we all got up and started walking down the stair to the ground level, and then we filed into the auditorium. There was a small stage here with rows of seats like a movie theater. Onstage was a small podium next to a row of chairs, where some students were already sitting. I saw Matt in one of the chairs and he looked...happy?

  Most wouldn't register his behavior as happy, but I'd been friends with him long enough to know that he didn't tend to emote like most people. The way he bounced his knee lightly and had a slight smirk on his face was the same as if most people were jumping up and down in delight. This really was something big if he was like this.

  "Aw great, it's the virgin squad." I heard a voice behind me say. I turned around and saw that it was none other than Scott Winter, a wide receiver on the football team. The way I saw it he was just pretty miffed about not being a star pyer and took that out on most of the people around him, although Matt seemed to be a favorite target of his.

  I ignored the comment and found a seat. Once we were all sitting down, Principal Crk walked out on stage and stood in front of the podium.

  "Thank you all for attending this assembly." she said. "I know this is highly unusual for your first day back, but Bckbriar High has been given a unique opportunity to give you all a better future. But perhaps I'm not the one to tell you all this. Ladies, gentlemen, and those in between, allow me to introduce to you Dorothy Beauregard, CEO of Tempest International!"

  Everyone began to cp, as a woman in a business suit walked onstage. Her chestnut brown hair was almost perfectly straight, terminating around her hips. The blue suit she wore wrapped around her figure tightly, and her bck stilettos ccked as she walked across the stage to stand in front of the podium. However, our appuse was a little muted due to our confusion. A CEO? At our school? Some people even pulled out their phones to start recording.

  "Students of Bckbriar High," Ms. Beauregard began, "allow me to apologize for disrupting all of your schedules. I hope to keep this speech brief, but impactful. Tempest International has always believed in paving the way to the future, and we believe that starts with young people. That is why we're proud to announce that the Tempest Education Betterment Fund will be investing heavily in..."

  OK, cool, so our school was gonna be getting a bunch of free loot, but why? I tuned out the speech as questions began to fill my brain. Why was someone as important as Dorothy Beauregard making a personal appearance for something like this? Why not just send some representative? Is it a PR thing?

  Did it have something to do with Brightmoon?

  At first I wanted to dismiss the idea, but c'mon, if you were one of the rich and powerful why wouldn't you be interested in a girl who could seemingly do anything?

  "...and now," Ms. Beauregard said, "I'd like to invite a student to come up and say a few words about this program. A student that I've been assured represents all the talent this school has to offer. Students, please welcome Matt Owens!"

  Ms. Beauregard stepped to the side as Matt walked up to the podium. He looked surprised, but the shock quickly gave way to a kind of confidence I hadn't seen in him.

  Uh oh.

  Matt took the podium and looked out over the crowd.

  "Well, this was unexpected, but I suppose I can say a few words." Matt said.

  "Yeeeeeeaaaaaaah!"

  Everyone turned to see who yelled. It was Scott Winter, standing up and cpping.

  "Yeah, this is what I wanted to see!" Scott said. "The Nerd Overlord acting all high and mighty, that's great! C'mon, everybody! Matt, Matt, Matt!"

  A few of the teachers gred at him but didn't move to do anything about him. I looked at Matt. I could see his eye twitch.

  C'mon, man, just let it slide this once, he's just being a idiot, please don't-

  "Well, nice to see some enthusiasm from the Neanderthals, I suppose." Matt said.

  I buried my face in my hands. I had never seen someone dig their own grave that fast. It was almost impressive really.

  I looked back up to see that Scott hadn't even responded, he had just decided to bum rush the stage, and none of the teachers were gonna be able to reach him before he got to Matt.

  I watched Matt turn to run, and he was just about to when he seemed to freeze for just a second. I desperately tried to figure out what kind of critical error had happened with his fight of flight response to make him stop, and then he did quite possibly the stupidest thing I've seen someone as smart as him do.

  Matt jumped off the stage, right into Scott's path.

  Forget digging his own grave, I just watched my best friend willingly jump straight into the goril pit at the zoo with an angry silverback.

  Matt looked nervous, even scared. He raised his arms to defend himself, but it didn't do him any good. Scott punched Matt so hard that his block did nothing. Matt tumbled backwards and fell onto the floor. Scott was on top of him in an instant, and he started wailing on Matt. The whole auditorium was in an uproar. Teachers rushed from the edges of the room and pulled the two boys apart. Matt's face was bloody. His nose was dripping blood, and his bottom lip had been cut. Some of the teachers crowded around him, trying to make sure he was OK, while the other teachers were holding back Scott and trying to get him to calm down.

  I stood up out of my seat, trying to get a better view of Matt. It looked like he was in shock, but then he turned to look at Scott and his face twisted, becoming a mask of burning anger. Matt pushed away the teachers that were crowding him, ran up to Scott as he was being restrained, and punched him straight in the nose. There was a sickening crunching sound, and all the students in the auditorium went crazy. There was yelling, cheering, and cries to let the fight go on. Principal Crk ran out on stage and stood in front of the podium.

  "EVERYONE! Return to your seats IMMEDIATELY or so help me, all of you will be expelled!"

  That got everyone to sit back down real quick as Matt and Scott were dragged out of the auditorium. We all got an earful for acting like 'a bunch of hooligans' during such an incident, but we all knew the principal couldn't really punish all of us. I was just worried about what would happen to Matt...

  ***

  Matt and Scott sat in the principal's office. Both had ice packs and bandages covering their wounds. Scott had a bandage over his nose. It was probably broken. Principal Crk gred at the both of them.

  "I have never," she said, "in my twenty years of teaching been so embarrassed by the conduct of two of my students. Not only did you," she said while pointing at Scott, " embarrass this school and assault another student, but you," she said, now pointing at Matt, "did not take the opportunity to avoid a confrontation, and instead chose to try and fight Mr. Winter, even breaking his nose after we'd deescated the-"

  "I was sick of it." Matt said.

  "I beg your pardon?"

  "This Neanderthal," Matt said, "has been bullying me for the past three years and this school has done nothing about it. Then he decides to embarrass me when I finally had a moment to be proud of-"

  "You got asked to just be a patsy for some school thing," Scott said, "you arrogant-"

  "Enough, both of you!" Principal Crk yelled. "Mr. Owens, while we are aware of your compints about Mr. Winter's conduct, that does not excuse your insulting him and attempting to escate things."

  "Someone had to if you weren't going to do anything about it!" Matt shouted.

  "Three days suspension!" Principal Crk said. "For both of you! There will also be a conference with your parents in the near future to discuss what happened here today. Now, please wait in the hall while I contact them to come pick you up."

  Matt and Scott walked out of the office and sat on the bench in the hallway outside.

  "Screw you." Matt said.

  "Bite me." Scott said.

  They said nothing else until the distinct sound of stilettos on linoleum could be heard. They turned to see Ms. Beauregard walking down the hall towards them. She stopped in front of the two boys and looked at them both.

  "Matt Owens." She said. "I've spoken with Principal Crk. I've asked that you come with me to have a brief discussion about your future in the program here at Bckbriar High."

  Matt stood up while looking at the floor.

  "Sure. Whatever." He said.

  Ms. Beauregard smiled and led him down the hall towards one of the unused cssrooms.

  ***

  She could sense the energy brewing in this Matt from across the building. He was the perfect test subject.

  There was a spell in the tome that she'd never been able to try. She'd practiced the words and the hand motions many times but the spell required another person to work. And if it did what the tome said it did, then it would give her the perfect chance to lure out this Brightmoon for study.

  She pulled her hands in front of her where the boy couldn't see and made a rapid series of gestures while whispering quietly. It was a spell that "disrupted the various natural forces in a given area", and she modified it to mess with the flow of electricity to the security systems of the school. They would have total privacy.

  She spotted an unused cssroom and led the boy inside. He slumped down into a desk without her saying anything and looked down.

  "You know, Mr. Owens," Dorothy said, "I personally wouldn't have punished you for what you did today."

  He perked up and looked at her. That got his attention.

  "You see," she continued, "when I started my company I was one of the few women trying to be a leader in my field. I had to fight every step of the way. There was a time, early in Tempest's existence, where a rival company was looking to buy us out. They had the advantage in funding, in R&D, and every conceivable field. The pressure to sell out was immense, and I knew that trying to compete with them in the same space would be tantamount to a suicide mission. But I did it anyway. You know why? Because the competition was the point."

  Matt was paying very much paying attention to her now. He was nodding slightly as she spoke, as if she was some great teacher. Everything she'd said was true, but trying to teach this boy wasn't the point. The point was to get him to lower his guard.

  Dorothy extended her finger and pressed it against Matt's forehead. Then she spoke in a voice that sounded like a cold wind blowing through the bare branches of dead trees.

  "Let slip the chains that bind you, and realize thou has reached imago. Let your dark heart bloom within you, and show the world thine glorious ego."

  The room seemed to go dark for a second, leaving just Dorothy and Matt in a bck void, but this seemed to st only an instant before the room was restored just as it was. Matt's eyes appeared gzed over, and he hadn't reacted at all to Dorothy's spell.

  "And now we wait." Dorothy said. "Let's head back to the office before anyone starts to miss you."

  Matt nodded as if in a daze, but still stood up to follow Dorothy back to the principal's.

  ***

  I didn't see Matt for the rest of the day. I got a text from him during the st css of the day.

  Got suspended. Feeling awful. We'll talk ter.

  I tried to think of something to say, but based on how curt the message was Matt probably wasn't in the mood for me trying to py therapist, so I left it alone. I biked home to find my dad home from his job and was watching a football game on the couch. He looked up as I walked in.

  "Hey kiddo." He said. "How was school?"

  I just sighed.

  "That bad, huh?"

  "Well, not for me..."

  I grabbed a soda and proceeded to just expin everything that had happened at the assembly. My dad didn't interject as I spoke, he just kept nodding along. Once I was done he id back into the ouch and let out a huff.

  "Well, sounds like your friend just had enough and tried to stand up for himself." Dad said. "Though it sounds like the Winter boy might have some issues to work through beyond just being a...well, I suppose I shouldn't say since I wouldn't let you call him that, but you know."

  I finished my soda and stood up. I'd already been talking longer than I meant to; Messa was probably getting worried. "I'm gonna head to my room," I said, "try to decompress after everything that happened today."

  My dad nodded. "I'll call you for dinner."

  With that I walked back to my room and opened my door to find Messa once again on the computer.She turned to look at me as I walked in.

  "Alex!" she said. "What took you so long?"

  "Sorry, had to brief my dad on some stuff that happened." I then expined the whole situation to Messa, who seemed to grow increasingly shocked as the story progressed.

  "My, that's awful!" she said. "How could a school allow such conduct?"

  "Trust me, they don't." I said. "Both of them got suspended, and their parents are probably going to tear them a new one."

  Messa cocked her head. "I'm sorry?"

  "Uh, forget that st bit. Point is, they're both gonna get punished for it." Even if Winter had it coming I thought.

  "Well," Messa said, "would you perhaps like to return to our show?"

  "Uh, yeah, sure." I said. "We still got a while until it gets dark."

  We booted up our magical girl show and started watching it. I kept the volume low so Dad wouldn't hear. It's not like he'd be mad at me for watching something so girly, but he'd certainly be confused by it and it'd be embarrassing for me. But I mean, Messa liked it, and it was fun to watch it with her, and also I was maybe a little invested in the drama.

  As we watched, I thought over the events of the day. It'd all been typical posturing, you know, the kind that guys do all the time even if I can never understand why. But both of them just seemed to snap. It might have surprised most people to learn this, but Scott was never the kind of guy to make his bullying physical. He'd taunt and jeer and generally just be mean, but as far as I know he'd never beaten anyone up before. And Matt would insult him back, but I don't know what would have made him try to fight Scott at that moment. The whole thing was just wild. I guess it was just something I'd have to talk to Matt about.

  Eventually Dad called me for dinner (rotisserie chicken with mixed vegetables). I snagged some food for Messa when he wasn't looking and went back to my room. I gave her some chicken and broccoli and she seemed satisfied with it. We kept watching our show as the sky darkened outside, and eventually I heard Dad walk past my room and into his bedroom.

  "Alright, time for some Brightmoon action." I said. "I need something to do after today."

  Messa cpped excitedly as I pulled the wand out of its hiding spot inside of my closet. I held it tightly, and was ready to say the magic words...

  And that's when something across town exploded, shaking my house and causing me to nearly lose my bance.

  I heard my Dad run out of his bedroom. I quickly chucked the wand back into my closet just before Dad burst into my room with a panicked look on his face.

  "Alex, are you ok?" He asked.

  "Yeah, Dad, I'm fine, just a little shaken up."

  Dad let out a sigh of relief.

  "Alright, you stay here, ok? They're gonna need me to help with...whatever just happened." With that, Dad rushed away, and a few seconds ter I heard his car peel out of the driveway.

  I dove back into the closet and grabbed the wand.

  "Well," I said with a sigh, "looks like tonight isn't gonna be any easier."