Drake's car pulled out of the driveway with his friends inside. Renn stayed nestled on his shoulder. To Drake's surprise, she could dim her eyes so much that there was no glow whatsoever inside them. That would help to hide her from the prying eyes of other students and teachers.

"So, the plan is to get through the day… right?" Mike asked. "When we get home, we need to figure out what we need to buy. If we plan on staying in the dimension indefinitely, we need to have everything we need. I don't want to have to come back for supplies."

Drake glanced at his friends before going back to the road. He was driving, so he had to pay attention to where he was going. Not that it helped the last time they tried to go to school. "I don't think we can return here for supplies if we have an open quest," he said calmly. "Once we return, it signifies we are there to do the next quest, so we can't leave until the quest is complete. From what I can tell, we can leave at the end of each quest, then return for the next one."

"Still, if we plan on trying to stay and complete them, I want to get as much stuff as we can," Chad added. He didn't want to run out of coffee. It was the only thing he was worried about. Coffee was his only addiction. It was more like an obsession.

"I want to get Nelly a new doll. One that is similar to what she has. I noticed it was getting pretty nasty and the seams were disintegrating," Drake told them, his eyes still on the road. "I got attached to her when we saved her. She's been through a lot. I want to get her something nice that I know she will like."

Chad and Mike briefly glanced at each other before looking back at Drake. "Isn't she a little too young for you?"

Drake rolled his eyes. "Why do you assume it's like that? I'm not like that. Geeze." Drake sighed. "She's like a little sister that I never had."

Both of his friends shrugged, each thinking about the time difference between the ordinary world and the dimension that would catch her age up to Drake's naturally, until he decided to stay there.

For the rest of the ride to school, they remained silent, preparing themselves for the ordinary task of attending school. Chad pondered dropping the archery team, while Mike was thinking of leaving the football team. Drake wasn't involved with any of the school's clubs or teams, so there was nothing for him to drop out of.

The boys wanted to save the extra time for preparing for their quests, which would keep them in the dimension for extended periods. Staying in the dimension would make them unreliable to their respective teams. They didn't want that. It would make them look bad. Each had games or competitions that were held on weekends. Since they would be busy completing quests, they couldn't involve themselves in their teams.

As they pulled into the school's parking structure, they signed simultaneously, none wanting to attend. They all felt it was pointless.

With a calm resolve, they exited the car, grabbed their backpacks, and headed toward their homeroom classroom; each going in a different direction. They didn't share the same homeroom.

Drake slowly walked, subconsciously stalling for time. He normally loved school, not like his friends. They only showed up and got good grades to stay on their respective teams. They hated the academic part of school.

He stepped into his homeroom and took his seat. The teacher ignored him, as usual. In homeroom, they only took attendance and listened to announcements. The teacher only cared when he called out a name and there was no answer, signifying that the student was absent.

Renn nuzzled his neck, hiding behind his long hair, trying not to be seen. She could feel Drake's discomfort, so she was trying to comfort him by nuzzling his neck.

The bell for the first period rang, and he went to his first real class, taking his seat. He didn't share this class with either of his friends either.

As his teacher droned on, he didn't even pay attention. His thoughts were on the dimension and what he needed to do to prepare to return to it. He wanted to leave school and return there so he could finish quests and get it over with. They had six more to go, and he wasn't looking forward to it. The sooner they finished, the better, so they no longer had to worry about it. He had to wait for his friends. He had driven them to school that day.

The bell rang again, bringing an end to the first period. He had been thinking the entire time, and hadn't even realized time was flying by. He stood up, not even bothering to write down the assignment written on the board, and walked out of the classroom.

To his surprise, Mike and Chad were standing outside his classroom door waiting for him. They still had five classes to attend, and neither of them shared any of the classes that he had before lunch.

"We left our teams; we want to head back home and prepare so we can leave sooner. There is no point in us staying in school if we'll be someplace else," Mike stated sarcastically. "Literally, there is no point in staying. If you can find a point, I'm all ears."

Drake smiled, relieved that they felt the same way he did. It was something he was thinking about during his class. He wasn't looking forward to sitting through his other subjects, waiting for his friends to finish their own.

As one, they turned around and headed back toward his car. "If we can finish preparing today, I want to leave in the morning," Drake stated with a smile.

"Are we going to tell our dads?" Chad asked. He hadn't thought of what to do about that. On one hand, he felt like they needed to know. In the other, he didn't fully trust them due to Renn's vision. He believed that it was a false vision, but somehow, he felt… 'what if it wasn't?'

When they returned to Drake's house, they quickly assessed what they needed for their return to the dimension, then wrote out a list so they could purchase everything they needed. Drake had added a doll for Nelly and something he could find that would blend into the dimension for Tod. He didn't want her cousin to feel bad for not receiving anything. He was trying to be fair, not wanting to hurt Tod's feelings.

As they grabbed the list and money to pay for what they needed, Drake grabbed his keys, and they headed outside to get into the car. As soon as they closed the front door of Drake's house, an annoyed voice came from behind them.

"What are you doing at home? You should be in school!" It was Drake's father.

Drake folded his arms, staring at his father. "We are preparing to head back to the dimension. We need to purchase supplies so we don't run out. We have all decided, finding no evidence to think differently, that there is no point in finishing school if we're going to spend all our time in the dimension."

"You do your quests in the dimension; you can live in the ordinary world," his father countered.

"Yet when we finish the quests, we felt like we could do more good living there," Drake shot back. "Besides, there are so many trying to kill us, we probably won't even survive the quest. Either way, we don't need to finish school."

Mike and Chad stayed quiet, while Renn stayed tucked in Drake's hair as they all listened to the argument between father and son. None of them wanted to get involved.

Drake's father stayed quiet for a long time before he spoke. "Let me see the list," he demanded.

Drake stepped forward, keeping his distance, and handed over the list of what they needed. His father took it and scanned the list. "I can have most of this delivered by this afternoon. For the toys, you can go shopping. You can fill the water tanks when the new ones get here. I'll get a few more things that you might need."

Chad gasped. "You're helping us?" He was surprised that Drake's father would help them… or any of their fathers would help them.

Drake's father nodded. "Go find your toys, I'll get the rest. I see you want multiple pallets of some items. Is there a reason you want so much?"

Drake folded his arms, with a small smirk on his lips. "We don't want to run out if we have to stay a while."

Drake's father looked up from the list. The silent 'read between the lines' comment was not lost on him. "Fine, I'll get what I can," he said, turning toward his car. The three boys watched as he got in his car and drove down the street, disappearing out of view.

"At least we don't have to get any of it ourselves. Let's get Nelly and Tod their toys," Mike said, walking up to Drake's passenger seat and getting in.

With only a short pause, Drake and Chad followed.

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