Boseman High School Shenanigans: Episode 1

The Hallway

"That's my point, son," Romero says to Zach. "If I take it into my possession now, no one will be able to question the veracity of the pictures."

The principal smiles when Lily mentions CCTV footage. "Lily -- you'll get your camera back, intact," he says. "And maybe you don't know this already, but Boseman High School doesn't have a CCTV system. There are cameras in a couple of key spots in a pilot program, but the PTA and the school board... let's just say we're a long way from installing that kind of tech. Personal freedoms and all that, Ms. Palmer."

Kelly's House

The inside of M. Chandling's tent is something to behold. The man is barefoot and shirtless, and the smell makes Fred gag twice as he looks around, marveling at everything the man has dragged inside. It is a veritable junkyard of stuff. Things thrown away by campers, complex-looking electronics wired together and powered by leaky car batteries... reams of dot-matrix computer readouts... not less than about fifty old flip phones and smartphones.

It's the roof of the tent that's most special. Fred was half-expecting it, but it's literally one big tinfoil hat. It's a patchwork of aluminum, to be sure, but the bearded weirdo has full coverage. Wendy's burger wrappers. Gyro foil. Wrinkled sheets of used tinfoil, some with evidence of the cookies baked on them. Gum wrappers. Shiny, colorful foil from chocolates and a dozen other suspect sources. And in many places a mesh of wire with a few strategically placed pieces of duct tape seals the deal.

The two settle in to the disturbingly damp and humid bedding that lines the floor, and Chandling offers Fred an old pop tart.

"Delicious! I have mores if you're hungries!" the woodsman says, biting into his own breakfast pastry. "Now," he continues around bites, "you says you wants to talk about the lights, yeah? Fews nights ago, during the storms. Big light in the sky, lit up the forest likes it was day! And thens... thens it fookin' hit the ground! Somethings crashed in the woodses!"

Finishing his pop tart, the man reaches up and adjusts a few of the knobs and dials he somehow has afixed to the silver roof. "Theres we go. The Greys was trying to snoops! Anyways. And so offs I goes, the other night. To investigates, to sees what it was!"

Lowering his voice to a whisper, Chandling leans closer to Freddie and nods vigoriously. "That's rights. It was. A space ship!"

The Hallway

"Yes," Mr. Romero says to Zach and Aaron. "But come see me after school. After I speak with Mr. Gromn and Ms. Romanov -- well, I'm sure I'll want to talk to all of you again."

Accepting the SD card from Lily, the man holds it up and looks at it a little suspiciously. "You too, Lily, and Wendy." The man is good with names -- there are a lot of kids at Boseman, and he doesn't seem to struggle with knowing who's who at his school.

"Fine," he says to the hopeful girl finally, pocketing the flash card. "And since you're not soaked like Zach here, I want you to head straight to your next class, okay? And no discussing this or publishing articles in the school paper! Let me get to the bottom of what happened. And be at my office after the last bell -- all of you."

In the Woods Near the River, by Kelly's House

"Yups, yups, that's the spot!" Chandling says, nodding -- and that nodding continues as Freddie talks to him about conspiracies.

"So yous was there, but yous didn't sees it? Covered it up, I bets they did. Yup. Mens in Black!"

Outside, back towards the house (which isn't even visible through the trees), comes a man's distant but insistant voice.

"Fred Solomon! I know you're out here! Show yourself!"

The Hallway

As she does, Wendy keeps to the background as all this unfolds with the Principal, and with Zach and Aaron. The freckled girl watches Lily hand over the card, then nods at Romero when he asks them to come after school. When Zach and her best friend have their weird exchange and the two boys leave, she leans in close to Palmer.

"What is going on this week?! Things just seem... I dunno. Wacko! This stuff with Romanov and our creepy janitor? What the HECK!? And now you and Zach are like speaking in codes, Emily is running off school grounds in the middle of the day... this is bananas!"

Outside the School

Outside, Aaron catches up with Zach as the boy heads to the half-circle drop-off / pick-up lane where he can see a waiting car -- his Uber.

"Hey!" the boy says, trying to get Zach's attention. "Are you alright? That was all... something. First that jock almost pummeling that other kid, the soda, the teacher and our custodian attacking your friend. Are you just going to stay home?"

In the Woods Near the River, by Kelly's House

Chandling nods vigorously at the mention of getting the word out, and he's about to go on at much further length when Fred hears his name and decides to face the music, pay the piper, and generally fess up. At least partially.

A hundred free from the homeless man's tent, away from the water, he comes face to face with Mr. Unger, who is six two, ripped beneath his dress shirt, tie and slacks, and who has his fists balled and a vein throbbing in his temple.

"What happened with you and Kelly, Fred?" the man asks, his square jaw tightening when he sees Solomon has just a towel wrapped around him. Unger has his sleeves rolled up, and he looks mad. "You tell me, and you tell me right now, boy. What happened? Did you just fuck my daughter?"