Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (39 page)

The sound of the car alarm shutting off and the doors unlocking broke his train of thought. Melvin hesitantly reached out for the handle and the door locked again. Hearing giggling behind him, he spun around, but saw no one. “Hello? Is someone there?” he asked, taking a few steps away from his car, the snow crunching under his feet. “If this is a joke, it isn’t funny in the slightest…hello?” he asked again into the dark. Hearing no reply, Melvin rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease the goose bumps that were rising up. Turning back around to face his car, his eyes grew wide when he saw a pale teenage girl sitting on his car’s roof, her straight black hair falling over her face.

 “Mr. Pierson, right? Are you looking for these?” she asked as she dangled the keys from her finger. Slowly raising her head, Amy flipped her hair back, her jet black eyes challenging his. “Remember me, Mr. Pierson?”

“Uh, yes…I do, but what are you doing here, Amy?”

“Do you remember how you failed me in biology, even though I had begged you not to? Oh, how the tables do turn!” Amy grinned, revealing two long white fangs. Melvin’s eyes filled with fear as Linda and Becca popped up from behind the car with their fangs bared as well. “This is the part where you run,” Amy said menacingly. Melvin took off running back toward the school’s main entrance, yelling at the top of his lungs. Pulling on the doors wildly, he realized the janitor just locked them. He could see him walking away down the hall, oblivious to Melvin’s yelling. Banging feverishly on the door, Melvin continued yelling, trying to get the attention of the janitor.
He can’t hear me! He has those damn things in his ears
! He thought before he was viciously ripped away from the door.

Early the next morning, Cat strolled into Mr. Pierson’s classroom and was surprised to find Miss Amaya sitting at his desk, flipping through his lesson planner. “Hey, you’re in here a lot, aren’t you?” Cat asked her jokingly. Miss Amaya looked up at Cat with worried eyes and a half smile. “So, where’s Mr. Pierson?”

“I don’t know. He hasn’t called in sick or anything yet, but being late just isn’t like him.”

“Huh, well if he doesn’t come in, who will take over his class?”

Miss Amaya lifted up the notebook containing Mr. Pierson’s lesson plans, “You’re looking at her.”

“Oh, I’m sure everything’s fine. He’ll be here, don’t worry,” Cat said reassuringly, placing her hand on Miss Amaya’s shoulder.

“I know, but I just have this weird feeling in my gut,” she said as she looked weakly into Cat’s eyes.

“I know what you mean,” Cat replied, suddenly concerned.

Cat hated being late to class. Even with a tardy pass in hand, she still rushed to her locker. Flustered, she misdialed her combo and had to start all over again. She heard someone walk up beside her and turned to face the person. Cat groaned inwardly when she saw it was Isaac. “What do you want? Stalking me much?” she asked snidely.

“We need to talk,” he replied with a cold stare.

“I have nothing to say to you,” she answered as she pulled her books from her locker and slammed it shut.

“It’s about Hannah.”

“I already told you that I’ll be friends with whoever I want, and so will your sister. So the quicker you get that through your thick skull, the better off we’ll all be!” Cat stated bluntly. She went to move away, but instead was blocked by Isaac’s imposing form. “Really? Intimidation doesn’t work, remember? I’m not scared of you, Isaac,” she said, staring at him and was shocked to see the usual sneer lacking from his face. In fact, he almost looked human to her.

“Cat, will you just listen for a second! I’m not here to fight, alright?”

“Okay, that’s a new one. You have five seconds, Bancroft, and that’s all you get,” she said, raising an eyebrow to him.

 “I want to…uh,” Cat waited as he fumbled for the words. She almost smiled seeing him like this…almost. She thought about teasing him, but decided against it. “I want a truce,” he blurted out.

“A truce?” she asked.

“Yeah, you know we don’t mess with you, you don’t mess with us. A truce,” he whispered quickly.

“Hey, let’s get one thing straight. You’re the ones who mess with us,” Cat stated.

“Whatever, do you want a truce or not?” Isaac asked in frustration.

“What brought this on?”

“Hannah,” he replied, looking away shamefully.

“When have you ever cared about what she thinks?” Cat asked smugly.

Isaac slammed his hands on the lockers on either side of Cat, and then brought his face right in front of hers. “Do you want a truce?” he roared.

“Sure, truce,” Cat replied, and then extended her hand for his after he backed away. Just as Isaac went to shake her hand, Cat pulled hers back. Isaac glared at her, she returned it. “What about the rest of your group?”

“I’ll take care of them, okay?”

“Alright, truce,” she said, shaking his hand. Isaac immediately stormed off down the hall, not looking back. “Wow, I can officially add that to my ever-growing list of things I didn’t see coming,” Cat mumbled. 

Sitting in her sixth period chemistry class, Kirsten began to nod off while listening to her teacher, Mr. Thompson, ramble on about the properties of water. “Blah, blah, blah, water, blah, blah,” Kirsten murmured to herself.  She stretched and yawned, leaning back in her chair. “Chemistry…most boring class ever.” Looking over to her left, she saw Tonya doodling in her notebook.
An
elf, riding a unicorn? Really?! Why do I even hang out with her?
Tonya looked up from her drawing at Kirsten and smiled, giving her a little wave. Faking a smile, Kirsten turned her attention back to the teacher, rolling her eyes.