Dresden: restart

"Don't forget to write," Roz said with a little wave of the fingers.

"Now now, it isn't nice to tease." Raphael said, walking away, "I don't even know your name."

"Wait," the principal said to Raphael, "I'd like to speak with you for a moment."

"Oh, what do you know," Raphael said to Roz, "this isn't farewell after all." He turned to the principal, "What can I do ya for?"

"well," the principal began, "we've had a few...incidences lately, and you seem to know a bit about this sort of thing...perhaps you would be interested in a new position we're putting together to counsel students who have...talent?"

Amelia, having wandered away to investigate what was happening with the res of the students can running back.
"Um...Mr...I don't remember your name, but the teachers are looking a little panicked, and the fire department isn't here yet..."

"Ouch, man, you're having a tough day." Raphael said to the principal. "You might want to deal with that; I'll wait here."

Roz looked at the principal incredulously.

"Wait, you're offering Mr. I-Hit-On-Highschool-Girls a position as a counselor?"

"Oy!" Raphael replied, offended, "I'll have you know I haven't hit on highschool girls since I was nineteen." He paused for a moment, before conceding, "At least not knowingly."

The principal glare at Roz, "There arn't a whole lot of people lining up for a job counselling people like Johnny here...or you for that matter...Gregory, could you finish up here while I see what's happening with the teachers?"

Roz did a double take.

"What do you mean, 'people like me'? And shouldn't you hire someone trained as a counselor? Johnny clearly needs it. What about the minister?"

"I have other tasks for Gregory here, but it would be good for students to have someone closer to their own age to talk to..." the principal pointed out, "and I wasn't planning on him doing one on one sessions with students right away!"

With that said he ran around the corner to see what was happening on the front lawn.

Amelia looked around at the people there, highly confused. "What did he mean by that? Why are the two of you different?"

Roz sighed. She was not going to have this discussion now, especially in front of Raphael. Preferably, she'd never have to have that discussion.

"I guess I've got a reputation as a trouble kid already."

"Oh," Amelia said quietly, "aren't most high school kids troubled?"

Johnny looked at Amelia puzzled and asked, "didn't you see the fire thing?"

Raphael, thinking it best if Johnny didn't talk too readily about what he was capable of, addressed Amelia's previous comment, hoping to move beyond what Johnny had just said. "I think she means 'source of trouble', not 'troubled individual'. Small difference, but... real."

"Oh..." Amelia said, still looking a bit confused, "and what do you mean the fire thing...did you set the building on fire? Don't they usually do more than counselling for something like that? This school is odd..."

"It was an accident." Raphael cut in before Johnny had a chance to reply, "Poor Johnny here was a little careless and caused some damage. I'm sure the counselling is for the trauma of being stuck in the fire, and to help him should he blame himself. Help him before he really needs it, that kind of thing."

"That makes sense..." Amelia said, "were you in science or something?"

"I'm more curious as to why you two came around the corner. Aren't you supposed to be out front with the other students? It's probably not safe to be this close to the building." Raphael said, before thinking about it a little. "Actually, I know I said I'd wait here, but I'm gonna move a little further away, just in case. C'mon, Johnny." He reached out to Johnny to take him to a safer distance.

Amelia shrugged and replied, "I was just following her..."

Hector flew overhead and watched the students outside the school. Definitely not going into the building he thought to himself. Watching the principal coming around the corner, he decided to fly over and see where he had come from.

The small group followed the principal around the corner and away from the fire. A few minutes later the fire trucks arrived and began spraying water on the fire. The principal set about sending students home, telling them that school the next day would be cancelled.

Roz raised an eyebrow at Raphael.

"I saw a bunch of crazy people running into a burning school. Figured I should check it out so worst case scenario, I can tell the coroner where the bodies were."

"Very responsible of you." Raphael replied, "But, we're fine. You should probably get back to your class; your teacher's probably worried."

"Yeah," Amelia said, "lets go see if they've missed us."

The field of students was rather chaotic, but Amelia and Roz were quickly able to locate their teacher. The teacher had not seemed to notice their absence. Their teacher gave each of them a note for their parents to let them know of the situation, and made sure everyone had a safe way home.