Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (18 page)
“Cat, you okay in there?” Amanda asked from the other side of the door.
“Yeah, won’t be a minute. If you need to, you can use the bathroom downstairs,” Cat answered in a soft voice, not wanting to wake the others.
“Amanda, what are you yelling about?” Matt asked groggily, raising his head from the futon.
“None of your business, go back to sleep,” she barked back testily.
“What’s going on?” Elle asked, unzipping herself from her sleeping bag.
“Amanda, please be quiet, you’re waking everyone up,” Cat whispered urgently through the door.
“I guess I’ll just go use the one downstairs, and you guys go back to sleep,” Amanda said annoyed, opening the attic door and stomping down the old, creaky stairs.
Great, just great! Now she’s going to wake up the whole house, and I’ll never get out of here. I must concentrate on getting rid of these things before anyone else comes knocking!
Cat thought, pulling up her lips to get the full view of her pointy teeth.
“Hey Cat, are you going to be in there long?” Matt’s voice came through the door, making her jump.
“Please go downstairs, I’ll be in here for a bit,” Cat answered, trying to suppress the frustration from her voice.
“Alright, I hear Amanda stomping back up anyway. Geez, she’s going to wake the whole house making so much noise,” Matt murmured.
You think?
Cat groaned inwardly, and then closed her eyes willing her teeth to retract. Taking in a few slow deep breaths, she concentrated on her task and felt them slide back up into place.
Perfect! Now, what did I come in here for again? Oh yeah, how could I forget?
She thought moving to the toilet.
“Hey Cat, are you going to be long? I really need to pee!” Elle’s voice loudly whispered at the door.
“Excuse me. Do you know where, the biology classroom is?” a man asked distractedly while standing in Miss Amaya’s classroom doorway and fumbling with the papers in his over the shoulder bag. Miss Amaya swept back her wild curly blonde hair as she looked up from her homeroom roster. There in front of her stood a tall, handsome, young, but kind of nerdy-looking guy.
“Uhh, it’s, d-down the hall. Three doors,” she stuttered.
“Thanks,” he said, glancing down the hall and then back at Miss Amaya. Their eyes met and it was an instant connection. “Uhh, I’m M-melvin. Melvin Pierson. The new biology teacher. But you probably already guessed that,” he said, and then laughed nervously while running his fingers through his light brown hair.
“I’m Amaya Phillips,” she said. As she stood up, Miss Amaya accidentally pushed her syllabi off of her desk and onto the floor. She bent down and began picking them up in a frantic manner.
“Here, let me help you with those,” Melvin said as he crouched down to assist her.
“Thank you, but that’s not really necessary,” she began and then raised her head, almost bumping into his.
“Oh, we almost became a cliché just then. You know bumping heads and all,” he chuckled, and then proceeded to gather the rest of the papers off the floor. Miss Amaya smiled as they both stood. “Well, I best be off. N-nice meeting you,” he stuttered, handing the papers to her.
“Y-yeah, same here,” she replied as Melvin grabbed his bag, and then made his way for the door. Turning to look at her again, he bumped into the wall and then shook it off with a nervous smile in her direction. Miss Amaya giggled, muffling the sound with her hand.
The large wooden double doors at the end of the school’s main hallway flew open, and Duffie and Leif strolled through them, oozing confidence. To all who saw, they moved as if they were in a slow motion scene from a movie. As the wind blew into the hall through the open doors, it rustled their clothes and wafted their hair. Duffie walked ahead as Leif stayed close behind her. Most of the girls in the hall were instantly drawn to the gorgeous silent-type freshman, but he paid them no attention. Noticing Cat and her friends down the hall gathered at her locker, Duffie waved them down, “Oi!” she yelled at the top of her lungs. In that very instant, she tripped over the guy in front of her and fell forward. Leif reached out to catch her but was too late. Duffie crashed into Tonya, who collided with Jessica, sending her bumping into Kirsten, who landed face-first into the trash can. With Kirsten’s feet flailing in the air, the hall erupted into laughter. Her two Trifecta lackeys muffled their laughs with their hands over their mouths.
“Help me, you idiots!” Kirsten cried out to her drones. Tonya and Jessica struggled to pull her out. Duffie stood up cautiously with the assistance of her brother, her shocked gaze fixed on the mess she had made. Finally free, Kirsten began pulling trash from her beautiful chestnut brown hair as she vocally expressed her disgust with loud and annoying, “ewws!”
“I’m so sorry, my feet have a mind of their own,” Duffie said apologetically, and then stopped as Kirsten put up her hand.
“Seriously! What’s your damage?” Kirsten yelled in frustration. Jessica reached up and tried to pull a piece of trash from Kirsten’s hair. Kirsten swatted her hand away, “Stop it, Jess! Can’t you see I’m trying to be intimidating?!” Jessica backed off and began glaring at Duffie along with Kirsten. Realizing what Kirsten and Jessica were doing, Tonya stopped twirling her gum and joined the two in glaring at Duffie. Getting into Duffie’s face, Kirsten pointed her finger into her chest. Leif stood right behind Duffie, staring down Kirsten with his bright bluish-green eyes. Just as Kirsten was about to say something, Cat and her group interrupted.
“Kirsten, don’t you have better things to do than push your weight around?” Cat asked lazily.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Miss Catherine Colvin! Don’t you have better things to do than butt into other people’s business?” she spat out.
“When you mess with my friend, it becomes my business!” she replied forcefully.
“Oh look, the little kitty has her big girl panties on. I’d watch it if I were you, fire crotch,” Kirsten fired back.
“Break it up, ladies! You two are teammates, you should know better,” Coach Hutchins called out as she pushed her tall, athletic frame through the crowd that had formed around them.
Kirsten turned to Duffie, “This is far from over!” Quickly flashing a smile to Coach Hutchins, she snapped her fingers signaling the Trifecta’s exit.
“Well, that was a great welcoming. What a way to make a grand entrance,” Duffie stated while dusting herself off. “Thanks Cat, by the way.”
“No problem, Duff. I’ve dealt with her before, you could say that I’m kind of an expert,” Cat replied. Leif dropped his guard and was finally able to relax as he gave a relieved look to Cat.
Amanda laughed. “That was great! I couldn’t have planned that to go any better myself!”
Isaac and his group made their way down the hall and the sea of students parted for the sharply dressed Goth clique. Ryan walked a few steps behind the group in his letterman jacket. Even though the whole summer had passed, things were still iffy between Ryan and Isaac.
“Wow! Who’s the major hottie walking our way?” Duffie asked, motioning toward Ryan.
Breaking off from his group, Ryan waved at Cat and smiled. The rest of his group glared at him, and then at Cat, except for Hannah who also smiled and waved.
Matt put his arm around Duffie, “Well, you see Duffster, that’s Ryan. And he’s with Cat, so kind of off limits. A no-fly zone if you get my drift.”
“Oh, I see. Nice catch, Cat! Definitely a looker, that one,” Duffie said to Cat who was busy intercepting a huge hug from Ryan.
“So Cravenites, craving the new Robert Craven novel coming out soon?” Ryan dryly asked the group.
“Of course!” Amanda exclaimed and then showed off the shirt she was wearing under her jean jacket. It read:
Bite me Bartholomew Drake!
A pair of fangs framed the lettering with droplets of blood dripping from each. Ryan grinned at her, shaking his head.
“You guys are Robert Craven fans?” Duffie asked.
“Umm, in a word, yes!” Cat replied, Ryan’s arms around her waist, hugging her from behind with his head over her shoulder.
“Like his biggest fans ever!” Amanda exclaimed.
“You should all come to the grand opening of my dad’s book café then! We’re having a Robert Craven launch party that night at midnight, for the book’s release!”
“OMG! Seriously?” Cat asked excitedly. “Your dad owns that new store opening downtown, the one with the Bartholomew Drake cardboard cut outs in the windows?”
“Yep. You guys should come, it’ll be lots of fun!”
“Count us in!” Amanda declared to which everyone else agreed.
