text: [Themes: family friendly, drama]
  
  "Mr. Barragan!"
  
  Mr. Barragan turned around, clearly annoyed at being interrupted. Jill looked over at Rory with a confused look.
  
  "I need to... you know..." he gestured towards the door.
  
  Mr. Barragan sighed and said, "Fine. Go on, Rory. Come right back."
  
  Rory jumped up as Mr. Barragan turned back to the board. Jill glared at him, knowing he was up to something and clearly disappointed at being left out. He grabbed the hall pass and slipped out the door, not even glancing back at her. He moved quickly down the hall, past the bathroom doors, and out the side door of the school. He slipped around the brick wall to where he could see the soccer field. Now that he was outside, he could see a little more. He could see there was a person sitting in the bleachers at the soccer field. It looked like a kid, maybe a student, but he didn't recognize the person at all. Rory looked closer at the drone, and he realized it was larger than he had thought at first. And this drone had something long attached to the bottom of it.
  
  Rory walked out towards the fields to get a better look at the drone. As he did, the person noticed him and the drone turned towards him. It flew directly towards him rather quickly. As it approached, Rory realized that the long item looked like a gun of some kind. As he stopped to consider that, the drone fired at him! Bullets slammed into the brick wall as Rory dove to the ground. The drone flew past him like a plane and then turned upwards, clearly preparing for another pass.
  
  > Rory runs for the drone operator to attempt to get control of the deadly drone.
  Rory quickly scrambled to his feet and took off at a run toward the soccer field and the drone operator. He could hear the propellers of the drone spinning around behind him and increasing in volume. Looking up, he could see that the drone operator was standing up and was pressing the controls harder, trying to will the drone to catch up with Rory before Rory catches him.
  
  The drone operator turned and twisted his body, staring down at the display in his hands, glancing up once in a while. Rory heard the gun shot from the drone and dropped to the ground again. The drone zoomed past him, not expecting him to stop so suddenly. The drone operator turned the drone around again, more quickly this time, and the drone prepared to line up on Rory for yet another shot.
  
  Rory reached the near side of the field and realized that he will be completely out in the open before he can reach the operator.
  
  He can head directly across the field and will reach the drone operator quickly, or he can run along the sides and stay closer to bleachers, making it harder for the drone to shoot him – but that will mean it will take longer for him to reach the operator.
  
  > Rory heads across the field directly towards the drone operator at high speed.
  Rory moved straight at the drone operator and he could see the drone operator smile at him. The drone slowly moved lower, waiting for Rory to approach. Rory ran, hoping to reach the operator before the drone can do anything. The drone hovered and the operator stared at his control pad. When Rory was almost there, the drone opened fire.
  
  Bullets tore into the ground all around Rory. He jumped and spun and went down to the ground again. His head hit the ground and bounced into the supports holding up the team bench. Rory heard the buzzing of the drone and then everything went dark.
  
  Rory blinked his eyes open and the sunlight streamed into his eyes. He blinked again and realized that his head really hurts. He reached up to touch his head and felt a large lump that was very tender. He suddenly remembered the drone and scrambled to his feet. He was dizzy for a second, but when he regained his balance, he looked around to find that he was all alone on the soccer field. There was no sign of the drone operator anywhere. He looked around the sky and saw no sign of a drone, either.
  
  Rory slowly walked back towards the school. He brushed some dirt off his pants and wondered about his head. As he pulled open the school door, he looked back at the sky, wondering where the drone had gone. Did it really shoot at him? Why wasn't he shot? Did he dream it all?
  
  > Continue...
  Rory stepped quietly into math class and returned the hall pass to the hook on the wall. A couple students looked up at him, but most continued to listen to Mr. Barragan droning on about algebra. As he passed Tim, a good friend of his, Tim whispered, "I want to hear all about what you were just doing. And it better not be about something you did in the bathroom!"
  
  Rory smiled as he passed Jill and slipped into his seat as Mr. Barragan said, "If you are not able to finish all the odd problems on page 133 before class ends, you need to complete those for homework. I might collect those assignments tomorrow, so you better do them." Rory smiled because he knew what was going to be assigned, so he had completed all those problems.
  
  The bell rang and the sound of chairs sliding across the floor filled the room. Everyone headed for the door as Mr. Barragan continued, "I'm not kidding, I could collect those assignments any day. I'm the teacher, you kids better listen to me. This is math, people, pay attention!" Rory was the last one out of the room and he winked at Mr. Barragan as he headed into the hallway and towards his next class: Biology.