The Childe (28 page)

The sound of light giggling echoed through Mr. Crawley’s class. Cat quickly opened her eyes, looking around. The desks were empty. Mr. Crawley was scribbling something on the chalkboard she couldn’t make out. Cat turned abruptly in her seat looking behind her as the giggling began again, but she saw no one was there. She turned back to look at Mr. Crawley but instead saw Isaac sitting on the edge of his desk. He held a bright red apple in his hand, and she watched as he bit into it. She shivered, hearing the loud crunch. Others moved into her line of sight and she realized it was Amelia and the Stone twins. They were glaring at her, hatred filling their faces. Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, Cat noticed Ryan and Hannah standing by the door to the classroom, looking at her, their eyes full of sadness. She heard a thud and turned back to Isaac, and saw the apple on the ground. Standing and pushing away from the desk, he and his group slowly walked toward her. As they moved closer, their eyes turned jet black. She was paralyzed as they encircled her like a school of blood thirsty sharks. Slowly, they began encroaching on her, eventually enveloping her in claustrophobic darkness.

Screaming, Cat awoke back in the classroom drenched in sweat. Wiping off the little drool running down her chin, she looked around, everyone was staring at her.

“I didn’t know you found Math so exhilarating,” Mr. Crawley called out from the front of the room.

“I’m sorry, sir I must have fallen…”

“Asleep!” he finished for her. “You…me…after class”, he said angrily, pushing his glasses up off his nose. She had no doubts about this request. Unlike Miss Amaya when she asked her to stay after, this was not going to be good.

The bell rang. “You…stay!” Mr. Crawley said pointing at Cat. She nodded and remained at her desk. He walked over to her. “I am going to call your mother and have her come down to the school! This is unacceptable behavior!” he said snidely. She tried to respond but her head began to ache. “I don’t want to hear any excuses! I’m calling your mother! And don’t expect me to give you pity for the I’m sick routine that your putting on now,” Mr. Crawley said walking back to his desk, picking up his cell phone. Cat rested her head on the desk trying to make the room stop spinning. Over the noise in her head, she could barely hear Mr. Crawley telling her that her mom was on the way.

It seemed like only seconds went by before Rachel was standing in the doorway to the classroom. The pain in Cat’s head had subsided slightly and she sat up as her mom entered. “Cat, honey, are you all right? You look more pale than usual!” Rachel exclaimed looking into her daughter’s face.

“I’m okay mom. I just had a really bad headache and I felt a little dizzy. But it seems to be getting better now,” Cat responded trying to smile at her.

“Ahem!” Mr. Crawley sounded like he had a frog in his throat. “Mrs. Colvin, I’m Mr. Crawley and we need to have a talk.”

“Cat honey, go outside and wait for me, okay? Here let me help you up. There you go. Now, I won’t be long,” Rachel said as Cat left the room sitting down in an empty desk out in the hallway. Hearing the door close, Cat laid her head on the cool desktop.

“Now Mr. Crawley, what’s this all about?” Rachel asked staring at the little, unkempt man standing behind his desk.

“Mrs. Colvin, your daughter’s a menace. She was late today, fell asleep and then woke up screaming, completely interrupting my lessons! I’m a firm believer that it’s not the fault of the student, but the fault of the parent as to why a child is unruly. That’s why I called you here today.” Rachel stared at him in disbelief as he continued. “This is not a private school Mrs. Colvin and we do not spoon feed and baby-sit the students here. Obviously-” Realizing that Cat had been right about him, Rachel slammed her hands on his desk. Outside the class Cat was startled by the loud noise. She watched through the frosted glass window at her mom’s silhouette talking with her hands and shaking her finger at Mr. Crawley.

S
he’s really letting him have it. I wish I could hear what was going on in there,
Cat thought, watching as Mr. Crawley’s silhouette fell into his chair. Her mother towered over him, looking eight feet tall. Standing up and dragging the desk close to the door, Cat balanced precariously on it and peered through the window above the door that she propped open. Mr. Crawley was as white as a sheet. His eyes were huge, looking stunned and afraid at the same time. She couldn’t see her mother’s face, only the back of her head was visible from her angle. Not wanting to get caught, Cat quickly dragged the desk back to where it belonged and plopped down just as her mother flung open the classroom door.

“Come along Cat,” Rachel said exiting the room and putting her arm around her. “I don’t think you’ll have any more trouble with Mr. Crawley. In fact, I know you won’t. Honey do you have a fever?” she asked reaching up and feeling Cat’s forehead. “No, but you have color back in your face, so you must be feeling better.” Cat listened as her mom talked all the way to the car. As she reached the passenger side she heard a car coming toward them. They both watched as Mr. Crawley zoomed by as if he was being chased by demons. Cat leaned back in the seat and listened to her mom humming one of her favorite songs.

What did she say to Mr. Crawley that made him so scared? If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would’ve never believed that my sweet, loving mom could have brought Mr. Crawley down. But she did, and boy does it feel good.

Cat woke up before her alarm on her birthday. She felt wonderful. No headache and no nightmare the night before. She’d been sleeping better.
Yes things are looking up,
Cat thought. Jumping out of bed, she showered quickly, got dressed and ran downstairs. Silence greeted her. Walking into the kitchen, she saw a note sitting on the table next to an empty cereal bowl.

Cat, I had to be at the flower shop early today. Tom called in sick, your dad had to get ready to give his class a quiz and Taylor had basketball practice early this morning. Sorry sweetie. There’s cereal and milk in the refrigerator.

Love you,

mom

“They forgot my birthday…I can’t believe that they forgot my birthday!” Cat said in disbelief. Her appetite had disappeared as she sat at the kitchen table, remembering all the special birthday breakfasts her mom had made over the years. Time slipped by and she was startled to hear a horn sounding outside. Grabbing her coat and bag, she opened the front door, locked it behind her and made her way to Matt’s car.

“Don’t you just love Matt’s red Corvette Cat?” Amanda uttered sarcastically as Cat approached the car. Matt rolled his eyes, sitting in the driver’s seat of the old beat up gold maxima.

“So what exactly did happen to the red Corvette Matt?” Julie asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Matt murmured and then turned his focus to Cat noticing her sullen expression. “Hey Cat, is something wrong?” he asked as she sat in the front seat.

“No,” she replied.

“Okay, nothing it is then,” he muttered realizing she was irked about something.

“You look a little dazed, Cat,” Amanda commented from the back seat.

“What? No, just a little tired, that’s all.”
Geez even my friends have forgotten. I always remember their birthdays. Oh what a great day this is turning out to be!
She thought to herself. No one said another word during the drive to school.

The day dragged on. Cat found herself staring out every window at the snow falling outside.
What a cold and miserable day
.
Yep, that’s my birthday!
She thought. The only high point had been Miss Amaya, who had whispered Happy Birthday as she passed out the results of the last quiz.

“Good afternoon, Catherine. How…are you today?” Mr. Crawley’s nervous voice carried across the room as she sat at her desk.

“Fine, thank you,” she replied. Cat still wasn’t used to the way he was treating her since the talk with her mom. The class was stunned as they watched his attitude toward her completely turn around. In fact, some made comments that he almost seemed scared of her. They all wondered whether he had lost his mind, but were grateful anyway that the treatment of her carried over to them too. After class, Cat met Matt at his car. She was surprised when he jumped in, started it up and pulled out of the parking lot, not waiting for the others. “Where is everyone?” Cat asked.

“Amanda’s mom picked them up earlier. Something about going to help her at the store. I thought I’d have to wait for you because of tutoring.”

“No, Ryan told me he couldn’t do it tonight. So I’m glad you didn’t have to wait,” she said with a grimace.

“Hope you don’t mind Cat, I’ve got to go to the Port office and pick something up from my dad.”

“No, that’s fine, just fine,” she sighed.

“Cat what’s up? You’ve been acting funny all day,” he asked.

“Matt…Do I look older to you?” she asked, hinting.

“No? You look the same…Oh crap, Cat! I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I forgot your birthday!”

“It wasn’t just you Matt! Everyone forgot!” she whined rubbing her head feeling a dull ache starting to invade.

“Man, Cat, I don’t know what I’d do if everyone forgot my birthday.” Cat tried to smile. No one could ever forget his birthday. Matt always reminded them constantly, months ahead of time.

“Won’t be a minute Cat,” Matt said pulling his car into the fire lane in front of the port office and hastily exited the vehicle. Cat watched as he ran up the ramp and disappeared through the double glass doors. Sitting back in her seat, she closed her eyes wishing she had something to ease her head.
“We are family!”
Her cell phone sang her mom’s ring tone.

“Hey mom.”

“Hello sweetie, how was your day?” Rachel asked loudly.

“Super, thanks for asking,” Cat replied sarcastically.

“Good, so glad you had a wonderful day sweet heart.”

Mom never gets sarcasm,
Cat thought.

“I’m swamped here at work, is Matt giving you a ride home?”

“Yes mom, he is.”

“Well, see if he’ll swing by your Uncle Aldon’s to pick up some exotic plants he brought back for me from South America? I need them tomorrow for a display,” Rachel continued loudly. Cat could hear people talking in the background.

“Okay mom, I’ll ask him when he gets back in the car.”

“Great sweetie, tell him I owe him one. Bye, see you at home later.”

“Mom?” Cat asked but then realized she was talking to silence. Her mom had hung up. Leaning back in her seat, tears welling up in her eyes, she saw a blurry vision of Matt running back to the car.

“Thanks for waiting, Cat,” he said as he pulled away from the curb.

“No problem…my mom called,” Cat said sniffling.

“I guess she didn’t call to wish you a happy birthday, huh?”

“No…she wanted to see if you’d swing by my Uncle’s house to pick up something for her.”

“Sure, can do. And Cat about your birthday.”

“It’s no big deal. Please drop it. It’s just another day, right?” Matt leaned over and took her hand.

“Happy Birthday to you!”
he sang off key, making her smile.

“Thanks Matt, you just made my day,” she said hugging him, causing him to swerve the car a little and making them both laugh.

“You’re not too cold are you Cat? Stupid heater, it only works when it feels like it,” he asked, pounding on the heater control.

“No, actually, can you turn it off. I’m sweating like crazy over here. I’m burning up!” Cat replied rolling down her window. The snow flurries and blasts of cold air felt good as she hung her head outside the vehicle.

“Cat, what are you doing? It’s freezing! Get back in here, crazy girl!” Matt reached across to pull her back into the car.

“I feel like my blood is boiling, like I’m on fire,” Cat moaned pulling away from him. He pulled the car over to the side of the road and put it in park.

“Cat what’s wrong?” Matt’s anxious face came into her view.

Why can’t I hear what he’s saying? His mouth is moving but no sound is coming out.

“Cat, Cat, talk to me,” he yelled. She started shivering violently and he reached by her, rolling up the window. He saw a light coating of snow on her hair and wiped it off. S he slumped in the seat, teeth chattering her flushed face suddenly turned pale. “Cat I need to call your mom, 911, or someone!”

Finally I can hear him,
she thought. “No!” Cat blurted out weakly, “I’m starting to feel better. I don’t know what just happened, but it’s going away. Let’s get going. Really, I’m all right,” she said as he watched her closely.

She’s not all right. I need to get her to Aldon’s ASAP,
Matt told himself. Starting the car again, they slowly drove up the icy hill toward Aldon’s mansion. Pushing the buttons on the security box to open the gate, Matt noticed his fingers were shaking. The gates slowly opened and they made their way up the winding, cobblestone driveway. The mansion came into view. It looked like a medieval castle complete with turrets. The only thing missing was a moat, but a river ran around the back so it was close. Matt usually felt a stir of excitement each time he viewed the medieval structure. He imagined himself as a knight, riding on a horse, ready to rescue the damsel in distress from one of the high turrets. But not today, his focus was on Cat. Parking outside the two tall heavy oak front doors, he turned off the car and raced around to help her out of the vehicle.