“Guess those weren’t so unimportant after all.” He said to himself. He took a quick glance to check the front row. There were four bodies in the seats. From what he could tell, three women and one man. New faculty. Wonder where they’ll be placed? He thought to himself, and which senior teacher would they each be assigned to shadow?“Don’t be. I’m not sad. My friends are very nice to me and are always willing to help me when I need them. They are the best. I asked mommy why you were so upset and she told me that it was hard for you to get used to not using your legs anymore.”

Kimberly nodded sadly. “It is…” She trailed off as a stray tear rolled down her cheek.        Finally, the the three mettalic Rangers found themselves in a long, low chamber. At the end of the room was a flat altar, at the top of which sat two ornate swords. One was black, the other white.

         "There they are," Myk breathed, approaching the weapons.

         "Which do we take?" Jareth asked. "We never did find out which was the good one."

         "The white one, of course," Myk replied. "Everyone knows white is the color of good."

         Jareth crossed his arms and looked over at Deacon, who just shrugged.

         Myk reached up with one bronze-gauntleted hand and removed the white sword from it's place on the altar.

         "I can feel it," Myk said, his voice almost a whisper. "The power in this sword...it's incredible."

Jayden rolled closer. “I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he said as he patted her hand.

“It wasn’t you… you see Jayden before my accident I was a gymnast. I was training for the Pan Global Games, which is this big tournament where people from around the world meet to play all kinds of sports. Now I can’t do any of it anymore,” whispered Kimberly. More silent tears fell.

Jayden didn’t know what to say. He knew he was really little, but he also didn’t want to see Kimberly cry. She was pretty, and tears were not. Instead of saying anything, Jayden leaned over and gave her a big bear hug, the kind little kids are famous for. He hugged her tightly and she only cried harder, but he didn’t care. He didn’t like her to be sad. He didn’t like anyone to be sad.

Shadowing was an arduous process. It was necessary, as new teachers always needed someone to show them the ropes. School policies, location of classrooms, teacher’s lounge, office, etc. Tommy also understood that the principal was responsible for so much already, she didn’t really have the time to acclimate every single new faculty member individually. But it was so tedious! New teachers were like lost parrots. They’d follow you around everywhere and ask all sorts of stupid questions.

“Why did I become a teacher again?” he asked himself. He tilted his head to pop his neck and crossed his legs.