\\The Gathering Arc;

It's your life. I'm just passing through.

The Gathering Arc is the foundation of PBIS. That song from Lambchop's Playalong reminds me greatly of PBIS. You know the one. "This is the song that doesn't end. It just goes on and on my friend. One day we started singing it not knowing what it was. And we'll continue singing it forever just because..." We started PBIS one day, not knowing what we were getting ourselves into, and nine and half years later it's still going strong.

The Gathering Arc introduces the eight main characters:
Winston Egbert, the nerdy boy who supposedly lives in a chicken coop and his own mother named him after her pet chicken, Winnie.
Lila Fowler, the pretty, rich, and spoiled daughter of a millionaire, who acts superior to everyone she knows.
Ken Mathews, a weird little boy who likes frogs and always has a smile on his face.
Bruce Patman, the rich boy who picks on everyone else whom no one knows where he lives.
Enid Rollins, an insane girl who is obsessed with Ken.
Liz Wakefield, the elder and nicer of the Wakefield twins, who always dresses conservatively.
Jessica Wakefield, the younger and more outgoing of the Wakefield twins, who always does what she wants, never mind the circumstances.
And Todd Wilkins, the dorky boy who lives next door to Winston who's mother always bakes cookies.

The story begins in the town of Sweet Valley. Though it looks normal enough, on closer inspection the town is deserted, with the exception of the occasional old person sitting in a rocking chair on the porch, brandishing a shotgun, and, of course, the eight people listed above and their immediate families.

One by one the eight of them move to the town, each attending Sweet Valley High (even at the ages of seven and eight). No one else attends the school. Any other school age children in each of their families attend Hellaina (Hell) Elementary, Jr. High, and High. Originally they are all in Mr. Collins class, but after the arrival of the twins they are split into two classes, half with Mr. Collins, half with the eccentric janitor, Mr. Fellows.

Mr. Collins class: Winston Egbert, Enid Rollins, Elizabeth Wakefield, and Todd Wilkins.
Mr. Fellows class: Lila Fowler, Ken Mathews, Bruce Patman, and Jessica Wakefield.

Mr. Collins class is dubbed "The Squares" by Mr. Fellows class. The Squares retaliate by calling them "The Babboons."

The Gathering Arc focuses on the nonconnected adventures the children have as they attend Sweet Valley High from ages seven to eightteen. It explores their character development and relationships with each other.

The rift between the Squares and Babboons is a large one, and the two groups very seldom spend anytime together. When they do, it's not pleasant.

At the age of eightteen things become more complicated and we can say our story really begins at this point in time in an episode entitled "The Square-Babboon Barrier."

Liz and Jessica decide it would be fun to dress up as each other and switch places for the day. Jessica goes to school as a Square, and Liz goes to school (getting a ride with Bruce as Jessica always does) as a Babboon. The day proceeds pretty normally. The Squares don't doubt Jessica's Liz and she learns all sorts of juicy secrets about them. However, the Babboons aren't as impressed with Liz's performance. Bruce is the first to figure out and before Lila and Ken realize who she is Bruce and Liz leave school, where they hang out and, realizing there's more to each other than they realized, fall in love.

To keep their reputations and the "peace" between the two factions in tact, they decide to keep their relationship a secret. Jessica quickly finds out and uses this juicy tidbit to blackmail them. Even with Jessica as an obstacle, they get engaged, keeping it a secret from even Jessica.

Time goes on. The final episode of The Gathering Arc: Love Conquers All? Part One.

One night after Liz returns from a date with Bruce she and Jessica have an argument. Jessica isn't acting normally. She's zoning out and talking to herself. Liz is a little bit worried. The two go to bed. Liz wakes up in the middle of the night and on instinct checks on her sister. But Jessica's gone.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Sweet Valley, Bruce wakes up in the middle of the night to see Jessica hovering above him, a butcher knife in her hand. Bruce freaks out, demanding what's going on and what she's doing there. Jessica says nothing. The phone next to his bed rings. Bruce answers it. It's Liz, asking where Jessica is. Bruce says that she's right there. Liz gets the wrong idea and hangs up.

Jessica does not know what's going on. She drops the knife, perilously close to Bruce's... most essential part ^_-, and repeats Bruce's questions back to him. What's going on? What's she doing there? Bruce starts yelling at her. Hurt and confused, she runs out of the mansion and all the way home, where Liz is in the living room crying. Jessica comes through the door and Liz starts screaming at her. Jessica takes the keys and runs out of the house.

The next morning. Jessica's still not home. Bruce comes over and after a long speech from a hysterical Liz, Bruce calms her down and explains what happened. Liz tells Bruce Jessica's been acting strangely and they start to worry about her. Then the phone rings. Liz picks it up. It's the hospital informing her that Jessica's been in a sever car accident.

The Gathering Arc - End