Into the Shadows (4 page)

“Thanks for your help,” Paivi said, smiling at
him.

“No problem! Just try to keep those books under
control!” He held out his hand. “I’m Jason, by the way.”

She took Jason’s hand and shook it strongly. His
brown eyes sparkled in the fluorescent lights and she noticed how
his dark hair complimented his smooth, cocoa skin.

“I’m Paivi.” She felt her heart flutter in her chest
and hoped her face wasn’t turning a bright shade of pink.

“Paivi? Well that’s one I haven’t heard before. What
does it mean?” He turned sideways in the desk to look at her.

“It means ‘day’ in Finnish,” she explained. “We
still have some cousins that are like eight times removed that live
there.”

“Finland? I heard Santa Claus lives there! Nice!” He
laughed.

She groaned. “Yeah, it’s great.”

“So, why did you take this class?” he asked as he
stuck a pencil behind his ear.

“Last spring when we were picking classes, I decided
that I wanted to take Intro to Law, but when I went to my guidance
counselor, the girl in front of me beat me to it and took the last
seat. This class was open, and it sounded kind of interesting.”

At that moment, Paivi’s friend Crystal bounded
through the classroom door and plopped herself into the seat behind
Paivi.

“Hey, P, do you think they’ll let us keep these
seats?” she asked, pulling out a tube of lip gloss.

“I doubt it — most teachers make you sit
alphabetically. Oh, Crystal, this is Jason.”

The introduction was cut short as an explosion of
bright fabrics, wild hair, and papers flew through the door.

“Hello, everyone, hello!” an older woman shouted,
sounding a bit flustered as she dropped the pile of books and
papers onto the desk at the front of the room. The woman took a
deep breath and looked around the room as she attempted to
straighten her hair and her blouse at the same time with very
little success. Little wisps of blond permed hair continued to
float around her head, making her look like she had been struck by
lightning. It almost seemed like her hair was frantically trying to
escape. Her navy and red suit was a bit disheveled and her shoes
were black. Paivi wondered if the woman had bothered to look in the
mirror before she left this morning.

It took her a few moments before she realized she
had failed to introduce herself.

“Oh! My name is Dr. Hasenpfeffer. Welcome to Current
Events.”

The students said nothing.

“There is no text for this class,” the students
perked up a bit, “I will supply all of the necessary materials. In
this class we will look at our current world and domestic problems
such as terrorism and poverty. We will learn about the media and
also about other countries that affect us daily, though you may not
realize it.”

The students were all waiting anxiously for Dr.
Hasenpfeffer to move them into new seats. She said nothing about it
and they were afraid to mention it. No one wanted to be responsible
for giving her the idea. She spent the rest of the period
discussing the outsourcing of jobs, terrorist attacks in the United
States since 2001, and her cat, Clarence. Apparently he was
suffering from a chronic hairball condition.

The bell rang, and the students jumped up, quickly
making their way out of the classroom. Crystal was shaking her head
as they exited.

“Honestly, we aren’t supposed to remember any of
that stuff, are we?” Crystal moaned.

“Well, I hope how many hairballs Clarence tosses in
a normal week and how that effects global warming is not on the
final,” quipped Jason, as they all laughed.

“I feel like my brain was just pulled in ten
directions! I can’t possibly understand what she is a doctor of!
Thank God it’s time for lunch. Anybody else have lunch this hour?”
Paivi patted her stomach.

“Not me! Later!” Crystal waved as she made her way
in the opposite direction.

Paivi and Jason wound their way through the crowded
hallways down to the cafeteria, both being unfortunate enough to
have the very last lunch hour of the day. But at least they could
finally relax; it was nearly the end of the first day of
classes.

“So, are you meeting any friends in lunch?” asked
Jason.

“Yeah, luckily my best friend, Michaela, has it too.
What about you?”

“I’ve got some friends in here too. Although I don’t
know how easy it’ll be to find them.” He looked around the mayhem
in the cafeteria. Hundreds of students wandered around aimlessly,
looking for their friends. The smart ones headed straight for the
lunch lines, deciding food was more important. Paivi saw Michaela
out of the corner of her eye. She was standing on her seat in the
far corner of the cafeteria, waving her arms wildly in the air in
order to get Paivi’s attention. A lunch monitor ran up and began
scolding her to get down.

Paivi laughed and pointed to Michaela. “I am sad to
say I found my friend. I better get over there before she gets
herself thrown out! See you tomorrow!”

“Later!” Jason headed off in the other
direction.

Paivi made her way through the maze of tables where
Michaela and Aimee had saved her a seat. Michaela was promising the
lunch monitor that she would never misuse school property again in
such a fashion. She sat back down out of breath.

“Getting in trouble already? It’s only the first
day!” laughed Paivi.

“Just be glad you didn’t have to wander around like
some idiot to find us in this mess!” She sounded mad, but Paivi
knew better. Michaela suddenly brightened. “And who, may I ask, was
the cute guy you were with?”

“I wasn’t WITH a guy — he’s just some guy from my
Current Events class.”

“What’s his deal? Does he have a girlfriend or what?
What grade is he in?” Michaela demanded.

“I just met him today. I’m sorry I didn’t manage to
get his life story. But I’ll keep you posted. Better yet, I can
introduce you and you can interrogate him yourself,” Paivi giggled.
She scanned the room, looking to see where Jason was sitting. She
hoped the others didn’t notice. No luck. She leaned back in her
seat, contemplating whether she should attempt the lunch line, when
she saw him. Unfortunately it was not Jason — instead it was the
boy she had seen earlier that morning. And he was sitting just four
tables away. She couldn’t help but look. He wasn’t so creepy when
he wasn’t staring her down. He must have felt her eyes, however,
and turned his head slowly, his eyes meeting hers. They were as
cold and icy as before and she could feel the hair on the back of
her neck stand up. She pulled her eyes away quickly, looking
towards Michaela, hoping he would look away too. But he did
not.

This is ridiculous! she thought to herself. How can
I be afraid of someone I don’t even know? This is stupid.

She stood up, still avoiding his gaze. “Are you guys
ready to get some food?”

The three girls headed to the front of the cafeteria
and joined the line.

Paivi Anderson

Current Events
p.6

Dr. Hasenpfeffer

For my assignment I read an article in the
St. Andrew Herald
by Jerome Knowles.
It was called “Moira Kelly takes the lead in the polls.” He states
that Kelly, a member of the Liberal party, is ahead in the polls
because Americans think she’s personable. That means she nice. He
also says that her policies on the Righteous Front terrorist group
are helping her. She hopes to solve the terrorist crisis by sitting
down and talking to the members of the Righteous Front. The current
administration has been fighting the RF with the military, but the
RF keeps blowing up more restaurants and shopping malls. According
to Knowles, Senator Stevens represents the same ideas as the
current President who is also from the Conservative party and will
not have much of a chance with the voters. I personally think it’s
because he’s not very nice, but that’s just because he looks like a
jerk when I see him on the news.

The full moon shone over the water creating a silver
path on the waves that disappeared into the horizon, a road
straight to the heavens. A yacht cut directly across the light and
then in a moment, it was gone, returning to the shadows.

An older man sat in a leather chair next to the
window looking out over the waves. In the distance he could see the
city of Miami glittering like so many giant candles floating on the
water. His gray hair had become a bit wavy due to the humidity. He
had long ago given up on his tie and jacket: now his collar was
unbuttoned, and the shirtsleeves on his hand-tailored dress shirt
were rolled up to the elbows. The crisp white cotton had wilted in
the steamy heat and large rings of sweat seeped from underneath his
heavy arms. In his hand he nervously clinked the dwindling ice in
his glass, pausing only to refill it from the decanter of bourbon
sitting on the small table next to him.

Taking a swig of his drink, he jumped — startled —
as the door at the end of the room popped open. A young man peered
cautiously into the room.

“Senator Stevens, we are nearly there,” said the
young man.

“Thank you Martin.” He spoke with a southern drawl.
The Senator finished his drink and took one last look at the
water.

The deckhands took no time in connecting the
Senator’s yacht to a new, larger and more brilliantly lit one. The
man and his party — consisting of Martin and a young woman by the
name of Margaret — made their way across a metal bridge. Upon
stepping onto the glossy wooden deck, they were met by two men. The
one who greeted them was rather small. His companion, however, was
quite an intimidating figure of substantial size, not to mention
the two large handguns he wore in holsters strapped across his
broad chest.

“Ahhh, Senator Stevens, how nice to see you again.”
He smiled, revealing a toothy grin.

“Follow us, please.” He led the man and his
companions along the glistening deck to the back of the yacht,
where they climbed a staircase towards the ship’s rooftop. Each
stair was lit with tiny, twinkling lights.

As the first sight of the uppermost level came into
view, torches danced along the railings, throwing brilliant light
and dark shadows across the deck. A few young ladies in sparkling
evening gowns lounged along the banks of seats under the torches.
They leaned back, sipping champagne and chatting quietly.

At the far end of the deck a man rose from a lounge
chair. He was fairly tall and wore a pair of white linen pants and
a loose-fitting white linen shirt. He was barefoot.

“Your friends can wait here — the girls will bring
you a drink.” Their escort stopped them at the top of the stairs
and waved Senator Stevens on alone. He walked across the deck,
trying not to notice the men with machine guns standing on either
side of his host.

“Senator Stevens,” greeted the man, sounding
relaxed. He shook his guest’s hand briefly. “Please, sit. Here,
have some champagne, you look like you could use it.”

Senator Stevens accepted the delicate crystal
champagne flute, but just held it, as if not quite sure what he
should to do with it.

“Mr. Lin, it’s truly my pleasure,” began the
Senator, sounding as if it wasn’t a pleasure at all. “I take it you
have the information you promised?”

“Ahh, right to the point, aren’t you? I thought we
could at least share a drink first. But here is what you came for.”
He gracefully placed a small, USB flash drive into Senator Stevens’
plump and sweaty hand.

“This is it? This will help me win?” He stared at
the little drive in disbelief.

“Please let us recall, you requested some
information, something that no one else has, that could help you
win your precious election. The information you seek is on that
drive.”

“So what is it? Dirty photos? Information exposing
bribes? What?”

“No. What you have in your hands is a list of names.
These names will be worth more than all the money in your campaign
fund.”

“Names? So what? Names alone won’t do me any good,”
Senator Stevens was getting angry, and losing his already strained
ability to be polite.

Lin smiled calmly and leaned forward.

“Your country lives in fear because of your constant
battles with the terrorists. What do they call themselves? The
Righteous Front? Ha! But all along you have had the answer to
stopping them — you just didn’t know about it. You see, these are
names of people who live in your country. You will be surprised to
find that they know more about these Righteous Front fellows than
you could ever imagine. Your staff should be able to come up with a
plan that will benefit you greatly.” He leaned back on his lounge
chair and sipped his champagne, smiling at the elegance of his own
actions.