Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (19 page)

Cat entered her third period as the first bell rang, and sat in the back of the class. Pulling out her notebook and pencil, she laid them on her desk, preparing to take notes.

“Is this seat taken?” Duffie asked, pointing to the seat next to her.

“Oh, hey Duffie! Nope, it’s all yours,” Cat replied.

“Thanks. So, English class in America, huh? This should be interesting,” she joked as she pulled her notebook from her backpack. Cat giggled.

“Hey there, lovely ladies! You two look very lonely back here all by yourself. Mind if we join you?” Matt asked with Amanda by his side.

“Really Matt, could you be any sleazier?” Amanda commented jokingly as she hit his arm. Duffie and Cat both stifled their laughter. Rubbing his arm, Matt sat down next to Cat.

“Man, Amanda, you’re definitely getting stronger, have you been working out?”

“No, Matt, you’re just getting weaker,” she remarked. Matt rolled his eyes and then saw Hannah walk through the classroom door.

“Hannah, back here!” he called out. Hannah blushed as she shyly waved. Brushing her long blonde hair from in front of her face over her ear, she made her way to the back of the class. Hannah took the seat in front of Cat and refused to look back at Matt, her blush deepening. Matt was completely oblivious to how she was reacting, but everyone else saw it clear as day.

“So, I guess our teacher is the wife of Mr. Rosenbaum, the art teacher Hannah and I had last year.” The mere mention of her name from his lips, made Hannah slump further in her chair, blushing bright red. “She’s supposed to be this very strict, and an uptight bookworm,” Matt told the group.

“Yeah, Taylor and Ryan both warned me about her. From what I hear, she’s no Mr. Crawley, but she’s up there,” Cat commented.

“Who’s Mr. Crawley?” Duffie asked.

“Someone you’re better off not knowing,” Cat replied.

The tardy bell rang, signaling the start of class. The door flew open and in walked Mrs. Rosenbaum. She looked like a supermodel. Her long black hair swayed from side to side with every step in her white patent-leather pumps. Her olive skin radiated, which allowed for her piercing hazel eyes to be showcased. Her white blouse was open revealing the slightest bit of cleavage. Her legs went on for days and lead up to a tight black mini skirt. The rumors about Mrs. Rosenbaum were proven instantly false the moment she walked into the room.
How did Mr. Rosenbaum end up with her?
Cat thought to herself. Matt, along with the rest of the male population in the class, was beside himself. There, standing in front of them was the physical representation of every one of their pre-pubescent fantasies. A little drool began to run down Matt’s chin.

“Matt!” Amanda whispered. “Matt!” she whispered again.

“What?” he slowly replied in a daze.

“Get hold of yourself. Come on, you’re drooling!”

Matt wiped the drool, his eyes still fixed on their teacher. Hannah turned to look at Matt. Noticing his reaction she slumped even deeper into her chair.
He’ll never notice me like that
, she thought to herself.

“She has to know what she’s doing wearing a getup like that. I mean honestly. In England we’d call her a scrubber,” Duffie whispered to the group.

“Well, in any language, she’d be translated to hot!” Matt interjected.

Facing the blackboard, Mrs. Rosenbaum wrote her name perfectly with equal spacing between the letters. “Class, my name is Mrs. Rosenbaum,” she announced, placing the piece of chalk onto the blackboard’s ledge, and then walked around to the front of her desk. Leaning back, she crossed her legs at the ankles and pushed out her chest, showing off her assets even more. The guys all swooned, and the girls groaned inwardly. “I know that most of you have probably heard I’m strict and mean. That I’m too hard and have never, in my whole ten years of teaching, ever given an A for a final grade. But despite popular belief, I’m not a witch with a capital B as most past students have referred to me as,” she said with a hair flip. “And if you all do your work, we should have no problems,” she said grinning. “Now, everyone take out a sheet of paper and write your name, address, phone number, cell or home, emergency contacts, and email address. This will serve as a personal database so that if I need to get in contact with you, I’ll be able to do so easily.”

All the guys in the classroom ripped out a piece of paper as quick as they could and began writing feverishly. Collecting the papers, Mrs. Rosenbaum thumbed through them, stopping on Cat’s. She looked up right at Cat and smirked. Cat didn’t notice.

 “Cat! Cat! Over here,” A female voice yelled out from the bleachers as Cat walked into her fourth period swim class with Hannah and Duffie. She looked up, startled by the young girl flailing her arms in the air and calling her name. Cat waved, not knowing who she was, but made her way up to her smiling face anyway. “Oh Cat, I’m sooo excited that I get to swim next to such a living legend as yourself!” The girl announced.

“Thanks, but I’m not that good,” Cat replied.

“Don’t be so modest, you’re totally amazing!” the girl exclaimed.

“Sorry, but I’m drawing a blank on where I know you from,” Cat said as she took a seat by the girl.

“I’m Shannon Starks! My mom’s Glenda. You know, the front office receptionist? We went to all of your meets last year! I’m such a fan!” Shannon gushed. Duffie and Hannah looked at Cat, both with an unsure look on their faces. “Will you be my swim partner when we pair up? Oh please, please, please?” Shannon asked, her eyes growing wide.

Cat groaned to herself, “Sure, I’d love to.”

“Oh look girls, there’s Catherine Colvin and her misfit friends,” Kirsten announced as she walked up the bleachers with Tonya and Jessica in tow. As she passed, she gave Duffie a slight nudge on the shoulder.

“Hi, my name is Shannon.”

Kirsten looked at her with disgust, “Like I care,” she replied and then snickered as she took her seat near the top of the bleachers.

“That girl is going to be a pain, I can feel it,” Duffie murmured.

“It’s okay you two, just ignore her. Robbing her of attention is like her kryptonite,” Cat explained as she glared back at Kirsten, who, along with the rest of her Trifecta entourage, was all grins. 

After lunch, Matt rushed to the bulletin board located by the gym. He had eagerly anticipated this moment ever since football tryouts. He was sure he had made the team. Scanning the roster with his index finger, he came upon his name. He stopped and stood still, completely motionless. His group finally caught up to him.

“Well, spaz, did you make it or not?” Amanda asked.

“Yeah, Matt, what position are you playing?” Julie chimed in. Everyone stood there patiently waiting for his response. Slowly, he turned around and met the group with a blank stare.

“Yes!” he suddenly screamed out. “I can’t believe I made it!” As he moved away from the roster, Cat and the rest of the group crowded around in disbelief, looking for his name. Next to the position,
team assistant
was: Matthew Thomas. “I’m the new team assistant! I can’t believe it!” The group turned to look at him, not understanding his current state of happiness after finding out he was basically the team’s new waterboy. Not wanting to hurt his feelings, they agreed to not ruin his moment and instead decided to relish in it with him.

“Congrats, Matt, you’ll be the best waterboy, I mean team assistant, this school has ever seen,” Cat said enthusiastically. Amanda tried unsuccessfully not to laugh at the idea. Hiding behind Cat and Julie, Amanda hid her laugh and bright red face behind her jacket.

“Can you imagine the amount of chicks, I mean women, I’ll be able to attract now that I’m on the football team?”

“Oh, they’ll be all over you for sure,” Amanda said sarcastically, laughing out loud.

“Ignore her, Matt, you’ll be great,” Julie assured him.

Jonathen, the captain of the football team, approached the group. His younger brother Brandon, an incoming freshman, was next to him. Brandon was a miniature version of Jonathen. Both had broad shoulders, blond hair, and an athletic build, with striking good looks and chiseled faces. Like Matt, Brandon had tried out for the football team over the summer.

“Hey guys, you all know my little brother Brandon, right?” Jonathen asked the group. Brandon quickly waved to them and then hurried over to the bulletin board to look for his name.