They thanked Jimmy for the tour and headed out the door. The rain had stopped, and spots of blue were beginning to open up in the sky. Their time of freedom and exploration ended abruptly as they heard Miss Plunket’s screech. “There you are!” She was holding the black-and-gold school flag. “Get in line with the others or I will give you a week’s detention when we get home. I have a good mind to suspend you as it is,” she said as the other kids smirked up at them. Josie looked back, but Jimmy was gone, and the iron door appeared as though they never had opened it.

They got in line, and little Heather Elizabeth Harvey-Patel came running up to them. “Look, Plunky has rubber bands on both hands now. Where do you think she keeps them all?” she said, bounding on the balls of her feet like the little Bollywood dancer she was. Josie called her Bally for short, and for some reason she loved it. Bally bounced about most of the time; her happy spirit made up for the foulness in most of the Brierbrook students. When they’d met back at their first day of school, Bally had seemed oblivious to the Eagans’ financial situation, or anybody’s situation, for that matter.

Oh, to be oblivious to the world around you, Josie had thought when they first met. However, it turned out that Bally was hyper-smart and not at all oblivious; she genuinely didn’t care about possessions, even though her father was a surgeon and her mother an English professor. No, she just loved you for who you were, and Josie loved her for it, because without Bally, Brierbrook would have been unbearable.

“It won’t be long now,” said Seamus. “She is going to blow any minute.”

“Do you want to help her out before she has a meltdown? We sort of need her if we plan to have a place to stay tonight,” said Josie to the others. Before they could answer, she walked up to Miss Plunket. “Can I help you with anything?” she asked.

“Well, that is very nice of you, Miss Eagan. As a matter of fact, you can.” She handed Josie her beach-sized bag. Josie took it and was surprised by its weight.

What does she have in here, she thought as she hefted the bag straps over her shoulder. Probably twenty pounds of rubber bands. Seamus and Bally ran up to help, taking Miss Plunket’s clipboard and school flag.

Ruby Rose, the mean girl from the bus, rolled her eyes at them. “I always knew you would make good pack mules,” she said.

“At least we are not the full donkey, Raunchy Rat,” Seamus quietly said back to her.

“Don’t call me that, you worthless douche bag,” she retorted loudly.

“Miss Jasminawitz.” Miss Plunket chirped. “That will be two detentions for verbal bullying, and wait till I tell your father the word you just used.”

Ruby Rose scowled at Seamus, who had a knack for getting others into trouble without getting caught himself. He just smiled back and raised the school flag in the air. “Follow me, class,” he said and the students followed with disinterest.

“Okay, I admit it. This is amazing!” said Seamus as the group stood at the base of the round stone tower. It was almost 100 feet high and loomed over them like a lighthouse.

“Why is it here?” one of the kids asked Miss Plunket.

“It was built to keep treasures safe from the Vikings,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Not true,” Josie blurted. “It is a bell tower and lookout post; the idea of it being a safe house was debunked years ago.”

“Are you mocking me?” Miss Plunket asked.

“No, no, sorry. I just read about this the other day. Sorry for correcting you,” said Josie, blending back in with her brother and Bally.

“Well, it may have been a bell tower, too, but notice where the door is,” said Miss Plunket, pointing to the door 10 feet or so up the stone tower. “They used a rope ladder to get up there and would pull it up when the Vikings came to attack.”

By now, Josie was biting her lip. This was all wrong. Building the door away from the base was a stronger design. No one knew how people got up there, but evidence showed that they had wooden stairs that had long since rotted away.

“Don’t worry about it, Josie,” said Bally. “No one is listening anyway, so who cares if she has all the facts wrong.”

“I do! She’s a teacher. She should have researched the facts before blabbering,” said Josie.

That sent both Seamus and Bally into hysterics. “This is Miss Plunket you’re talking about, right? Blabbering is all she does.”

By now the tour had moved on, leaving them to catch up. They could have broken away from the group again, but worried about Miss Plunket’s mental health.

And so it went for most of the morning. They looked at the buildings and the Celtic crosses, the gravestones and stone walls. Before they knew it, they were back at the Visitor Centre and the waiting bus.

“Miss Plunket, will we get to see the lakes or the other ruins?” asked Josie, surprised at how short their visit had been. It was barely lunchtime.

“No, we are heading back to the hotel for afternoon tea,” Miss Plunket replied.

“But we just got here!” said Josie, upset.

“Oh, shut up, Eagan. This place is a waste of time,” Ruby Rose said as she pushed past.