Somehow during the past semester, Sean had fallen behind in his studies. He’d always been pretty good in years past but for some reason he just couldn’t seem to get back on top of things. Everyone had always told him how much more difficult high school was compared to middle school but he’d never really believed them. His parents didn’t know he was struggling yet but with report cards due to be sent out in just a couple weeks there was only so much he could attempt to do to bring his grades back up.

“Is it really going to be that bad?” Ewan asked during lunch after Sean had told him why he was freaking out.

“I’ve never had bad grades before,” Sean groaned, “and my dad’s always going on about how important grades are now if I want to get into a good college.”

“Your dad sounds like a jerk,” Ewan said.

Sean gave a halfhearted laugh to play down Ewan’s comment.

“Nah,” he said, “my dad’s right.”

“Well how bad are we talking? F’s? D’s?”

“Mostly C’s,” Sean admitted, “but I have a D in Life Sciences.”

“Pfff!” Ewan waved his hands dismissively. “You’re freaking out over C’s? Really?”

“And a D!”

“Man, you had me thinking you were in danger of having to retake a year. You’re not even failing!”

“Real supportive, man, thanks,” Sean grumbled.

“Hey, I’m just trying to help keep things in perspective.”

“Yeah.”

They both fell quiet for a while as they ate through their lunches. Sean had met Ewan at the start of the school year and they had quickly become friends. Ewan was the sort of guy who was fun to be around just to see the sort of things he’d do. Most of it had gotten Ewan, and occasionally Sean, into trouble, but it was never very serious and always made for a good story later on. Some others would occasionally come around to see what Ewan was up to but Sean was, as for as he could tell, Ewan’s only consistent friend.

Sean’s parents hadn’t been too impressed when he told them about Ewan and his main concern that he hadn’t yet told Ewan, was that his parents might blame his bad grades on his friendship with Ewan. He also worried that their accusation would be warranted. He certainly did spend less time studying these days.

“Oh man!” Ewan whispered suddenly and nudged Sean.

Judging from the glint in his eyes and conspiratorial tone, Sean could tell Ewan was hatching some sort of crazy idea.

“What is it?” Sean asked, matching Ewan’s whisper.

“Look over there,” Ewan said and nodded his head to the one side.

Sean glanced over but wasn’t sure what exactly Ewan was referring to among the sea of students and lunch tables.

“See that backpack?” Ewan asked, “the one all by itself, white with the flowers on it?”

Sean spotted it, sitting on the ground just beneath the next table over. Not many people were sitting at that table and no one was sitting by the backpack that had caught Ewan’s eye.

“What about it?” Sean asked.

“That’s Tracy’s bag,” Ewan told him with palpable excitement.

“Tracy?” Sean asked uncertainly, “like, Tracy Miller?”

“Yeah!”

“So what?”

“So,” Ewan said in a tone that showed he thought this should have been obvious, “she’s in Life Sciences with us.”

“And?” Sean had no idea where Ewan was going with this. “You have a crush on her or something?”

“Yeah, yeah, very funny,” Ewan said flatly before explaining himself, “she does all her homework ahead of time.”

“What? How do even know that?” Sean asked. “And besides, what does that have to do with anything?”

“She mentioned it once, early on in the class. Said she liked to stay ahead of things. I bet all those assignments are just tucked away in that backpack of hers.” Ewan gave him a knowing look and left it at that.

Sean glanced back over to the backpack. It was still unattended, though how he was suppose to get over there, take the backpack, and not be seen was beyond him.

“No way,” Sean shook his head.

“I thought so,” Ewan said before getting up and sauntering over to the table and sitting himself down right over the backpack. “Hey,” he said to the others at that table, “I keep hearing about some assembly we’re suppose to have tomorrow. Have you heard anything about it?”

While they talked, Sean watched Ewan’s hands working under the table, opening up the backpack and fingering through its contents. He seemed to steal brief glances downward from time to time that went unnoticed by the others at the table.

Sean wasn’t sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, getting some good marks on the last few assignments before report cards went out might be enough to bring him up a few grades. On the other hand, stealing Tracy’s homework was a few steps farther along the chaotic path Ewan liked the tread than he was comfortable with.

“Cool, thanks guys,” Sean heard Ewan say and before long, they were sitting side by side once more. “Here you go, friendo,” Ewan muttered triumphantly and handed him a wad of papers he’d concealed in his hands.

“Dude, I don’t know,” Sean admitted.

“Look, use it or don’t use it. At least now you have some options.”

Sean stared down at the papers in his hand, still unable to decide how he felt about the situation.

“I really should just do the homework,” he said at last and moved to return the papers to Ewan.

“We did do the homework,” Ewan countered, refusing to take back to papers. “Remember? It’s all just stupid and pointless and we’re never going to actually need any of it. It’s just like math and English and every other thing they try to shove into our heads. Seriously, I think school was made up just so parents could get rid of their kids for a few hours each day.”

There was a bitterness to Ewan’s tone that Sean had noticed whenever this topic came up but he had no desire to further complicate their conversation by dragging all of that into it as well.

“Fine,” Sean said. “I’ll hold onto them and think about it.”

“There’s my man,” Ewan said and he brightened back up immediately and clapped Sean on the back. “Now just make sure you put your name on them so you don’t forget to do it later.”

Sean did so, hardly even looking at the papers themselves. He’d probably want to rewrite everything anyway so it wouldn’t look so obvious that he’d stolen it.

“Now what do you say we cause a little chaos today?” Ewan asked as soon as Sean had finished signing and storing the papers.

Without waiting for a response, Ewan grabbed hold of his own backpack, pulled open the zippers, and tipped out the contents. Sean expected books and pencils and perhaps a few items of contraband. What he was not expecting was the cascade of small to medium plastic containers that were usually used to store leftovers.

“Here we go,” Ewan almost crowed and he popped open the first plastic container.

A mass of flies burst out and began to swarm around. Ewan’s hands flew as he opened container after container, releasing more buzzing insects into the air. With so much food everywhere, the flies were going crazy. Students cried out and began to run from the cafeteria, waving and swatting at the flies as they went.

Ewan was laughing maniacally and Sean couldn’t help but join in. The flies were harmless but certainly alarming if you weren’t expecting them.

“How did you do this?” Sean asked over the pandemonium that was still erupting all around them.

“Remember a few weeks back when they taught us about fruit flies and genetic? Had us breed our own?” Ewan asked with a wink. “Well it turns out you can do the same with house flies. Just catch a few, give them some food and a place to lay their eggs and before too long you to can be the proud owner of a plague of flies!”

“Well, should we get out of here?” Sean asked at last and Ewan nodded.

The chance of Ewan getting away with his little stunt weren’t great if they just hung around laughing and so they gathered up their backpacks and made for the exit.

“All students are to exit the school,” the principle’s voice came on over the school intercom system. “Gather in the soccer field on the west side of the building. Please move in an orderly fashion.”

“I’ll meet you there,” Ewan said and he turned into the boys restroom.

Outside was sunny and the first hints of autumn could be felt in the slight chill in the breeze. The students outside who had been in class were clustered together with their teachers doing head counts whereas those students who had been at lunch were less organized. Many of them were still flushing flies out of their hair and clothing. Sean tried not to laugh too much.

He found a patch of warm grass and sat down to wait for Ewan to come and join him. He passed the time by pulling up small tufts of grass and then splitting the individual blades, slowly tearing them down their center. It wasn’t exactly stimulating but, looking around, he wasn’t the only one who was similarly pulling up the grass.

After several minutes of this he had to shift over to a fresh patch of grass and he had to wonder what was taking Ewan so long. Maybe he’d taken this opportunity to ditch school altogether for the day, but usually he invited Sean to go with him.

“Sean O’Connor,” Principle Williams’ voice echoed across the field, “please come to the principles office.”

Sean stiffened. Why would the principle be calling him in? Or rather, how did the principle know he was involved? Even if they’d caught Ewan they couldn’t blame Sean for the flies. The few times they had caught Ewan, he had never accused Sean of being involved in any of his other stunts before. He briefly considered ignoring the principle’s summons but quickly dismissed that idea. He didn’t want to get into any bigger trouble than he might already be in.

Sean could feel the stares of the other students as he began the slow walk back towards the school. There were a few hecklers who teased him as he went but he was already so nervous that he didn’t really hear what they were saying.

As soon as he stepped back into the school he knew something else had happened. The air had a chemical smell to it that seemed familiar to him but that he couldn’t quite place. At first he thought it might be some sort of pesticide to kill the flies but as he rounded the corner to the hallway leading to the administrative offices he realized what the smell was from.

Spray paint.

All up and down the hallway were sprayed in big, dripping letters, Ewan and Sean the Lords of the Flies.

Immediately, Sean’s heart pounded against his chest and his breath got caught in his throat. What was Ewan thinking? If Sean denied his involvement, he’d risk losing his friendship with Ewan, but if he went along with it then he’d likely be expelled.

“Sean!” Principle Williams’ voice called out suddenly and Sean spun to find her standing in her doorway and looking furious. “In here, now!”

Sean obeyed, only able to stare at his feet as he entered her office. Ewan wasn’t in there and Sean wondered where he was.

“Before you say anything,” Principle Williams said, “I want to remind you that there are security cameras in the hallways, the gymnasium, the auditorium, and the cafeteria.”

Sean thought he might be sick. How stupid could he be? Of course he knew that there were cameras! The little black hemispheres on the ceiling everywhere that Ewan liked to make faces at or make rude gestures towards were virtually omnipresent.

“Vice Principle Morgan is currently reviewing the footage but I’d like to hear what you have to say first.”

All of the moisture seemed to have been sucked out of his mouth and the dry tackiness threatened to make him gag on his own tongue. For a few seconds Sean gaped and mouthed soundlessly as he struggled to make himself talk. Eventually, Sean found his voice.

“I didn’t know he had the flies,” Sean managed to say in a strangled voice. The last thing he wanted to do was cry in front of the principle and everything in his body was fighting to do just that. “He just said something about causing chaos and then next thing I knew he was letting out the flies.”

“And the graffiti?” Principle Williams pressed.

“I had nothing to do with that either,” Sean exclaimed, hoping she would believe him. “I went out of the school right after he released the flies. He said he’d meet me outside soon and then went to the restroom.”

Principle Williams pursed her lips and stared hard at Sean. He wanted to shrivel up and disappear. Most of Ewan’s pranks were harmless, just like the flies, and Sean had rarely been caught up in any of the trouble Ewan got into for his pranks. Maybe Ewan was tired of having to shoulder all the responsibility for his actions though. Maybe he was hoping to share some of the blame?

“Let me see your backpack,” Principle Williams said finally.

Sean hesitated.

“Why do you need my backpack?” he asked and he knew his voice sounded guilty.

“If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to fear,” Principle Williams said and she held out her hand for his backpack.

Slowly, Sean removed his backpack and handed it over, knowing full well that Tracy’s crumpled pages of homework, now with his name on it, were still just sitting there inside. It didn’t matter that there was no evidence for his involvement in Ewan’s flies. Stealing and plagiarizing another students homework would be punishable on its own.

Time slowed down as Principle Williams began unzipping the various pockets. She seemed to be taking her time, moving slowly, deliberately as she examined each pocket’s contents.

“You know, Sean,” she said while she continued the search, “if there is something in here, it’s better if you just tell me rather than make me have to find it.”

She paused just long enough to meet Sean’s eyes before resuming her search.

“There is something,” Sean found himself blurting out.

He hadn’t meant to say it but the pressure was so intense that he’d just spoken out loud before he could stop himself.

Principle Williams stopped going through his backpack and looked up expectantly.

“More flies?” she asked.

“No,” Sean admitted, “it’s nothing to do with the flies. And it’s not spray paint either.”

“Then what is it?”

Sean tried to swallow but his mouth and throat were still bone dry.

“Ewan stole some homework from Tracy Miller,” Sean couldn’t have stopped himself now even if he wanted. The words were tumbling out of him too fast for him to stop them. “I didn’t want him to steal them, but he thought it would help me get better grades. I put my name on them to get Ewan to drop the subject. I was going to give them back to Tracy later, I promise!”

Sean wasn’t actually sure he really would have given them back to Tracy, but at the very least he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to keep them. At most he would have just used them to check his own answers.

It was apparent from her expression that this was not what she was expecting and it took her a moment to process what Sean had said.

“And where is Tracy’s homework?” she asked when she’d finally caught back up with Sean’s rush of an admission.

“It’s there in the main pouch,” Sean said, pointing, “It’s all just crumpled and stuffed inside.”

Principle Williams carefully opened the pouch, almost as though she were still expecting more flies. She reached inside and slowly withdrew his textbooks, notebooks, and finally, the crumpled pieces of homework. She flattened them out on her desk and looked them over. For a long while she said nothing and Sean felt the sweat on his forehead and neck beginning to bead up. He wiped it away before it could start running down his face and back but it kept coming back almost right away.

“Do you know what the school policy is on stealing and plagiarizing is, Sean?”

“Like I said, Ewan was the one who stole it and I was going to return it!” Sean repeated in a rush. “I would never cheat!”

“All the same,” Principle Williams said, “you are the one in possession of Tracy’s homework, and it’s your name on them.”

“I only did that so Ewan would let it go!” Sean pleaded and he could tell the tears he had been fighting against for so long were beginning to well up in the corners of his eyes. “Please, I didn’t want them! I didn’t take them! You have to believe me!”

Principle Williams opened her mouth to speak but at that moment a chime rang softly and she looked down to her computer screen. Sean couldn’t see the screen from where he sat and so he had to wait, furiously wiping his face and neck and eyes as he struggled to gain control of himself.

For what felt like hours but was probably more like a few minutes, Principle Williams stared at her computer screen, her eyes sometimes darting from one part of the screen to another. She moved her mouse, clicked a few times, and typed something before clicking the mouse again before finally turning her attention back to Sean.

“What is it?” Sean couldn’t help himself from asking the question.

“I’ve just watched the security camera footage of you and Ewan, leading up to the flies being released,” she said.

Sean gripped the sides of his chair without meaning to. He felt like a convict about to be sentenced.

“As far as I can see so far,” Principle Williams went on, “your account of how today’s events played out has been, more or less, accurate. Though that does not absolve you of all consequences,” she added quickly. “For now I’m going to have you suspended for three days while we finish looking into the matter and we will be determining if any further punishment is warranted. I will also be meeting with your parents and informing them of the situation. You will remain in the administrative offices for the remainder of the school day or until your parents come to pick you up.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sean muttered.

He felt as though all of the nervous, fearful energy that had been coursing through him suddenly evaporated and left him deflated and empty. Instead of fear, now he just felt guilt and shame. What would his parents say when they found out? Would they believe him or would they think he was becoming too much like Ewan? Would he even be allowed to hang out with Ewan anymore?

“What’s going to happen to Ewan?” Sean asked suddenly as his thoughts turned back towards his friend.

“The full extent of his punishment has not been decided upon yet, either, though in my meeting with him he seemed intent on leaving school entirely. He was also under the impression that you would be joining him.”

“Can I go talk to him?”

“Ewan left the school grounds shortly before I called you here.”

“You just let him go?”

“No,” Principle Williams said, “he was escorted away by the police.”

“He what?”

“And there were other officers here who would have similarly arrested you had the security footage shown you to have had any part in Ewan’s actions. There is a point where a stunt becomes a crime, Sean, and I want to impress that upon you and how fortunate you are that there is not sufficient evidence at this time against you or you would also be sitting in the back seat of a police car. As difficult as your next few days may be, it could be much worse.”

Sean nodded and Principle Williams motioned that he could leave. He made his way out to the seating area by the receptionists desk and slumped down into the first chair he came to. He bent himself forward, setting his head in his lap, and wrapped his arms around his legs. He didn’t want to see anyone or anything, and he didn’t want to be seen in return. Such a wish was impossible, he knew, and he couldn’t help but imagine all of the people outside the administrative offices who would see him through the glass wall. What would they think of him? Besides Ewan, he didn’t really have that many other friends. With Ewan most definitely getting expelled, he didn’t have anyone.

“Sean?” a painfully familiar and sad voice said nearby and he shot upright, startled, and looked up into his mothers face.

The look of shock and betrayal in her expression was even worse than Principle Williams’ accusatory one and Sean burst into tears.

“I’m sorry, mom,” he bawled, “I didn’t do it, it was Ewan!”

She pulled him into a hug and held him there for some time. Sean was vaguely aware of the students on the other side of the glass wall, slowly filtering back into the school now, but he couldn’t stop crying.

“There are no choices without consequences,” his mother spoke softly, stating the phrase she and Sean’s dad often used prior to handing down some punishment.

“I know, but I didn’t do anything,” Sean cried.

“You chose to hang around Ewan,” his mom said. “You knew what he was like, saw the sorts of things he did. Now let’s go home. I think we both need some pizza and ice cream to calm our nerves. We’ll have plenty of time to talk later anyway.”

Sean nodded and managed to stop crying by the time they were leaving the school. Pizza and ice cream sounded really good. He didn’t even feel like he’d eaten lunch anymore and he was quiet the entire rest of the way home, thinking about Ewan and what would become of each of them.