The Monster Within

CHAPTER EIGHT

I LUNGED to the side to get out of view of the window in the door. I had to do something. Now! I rushed to the exit door, a plan already forming in my mind. No one would recognize this guy as a student. I searched his pockets for a wallet, identification of some sort. His school ID was in his back pocket. I took it, shoving it into my jeans. I looked around for something to break the glass on the door. I had to make it look like this guy was breaking into the school.

I remembered seeing a fire extinguisher on the landing. I sprinted up to it and used the little metal bar meant to break the glass in case of an emergency. This definitely was an emergency. I grabbed the fire extinguisher, careful not to cut myself on the glass, and rushed back down the stairs. I peeked out the window. The cop was only a few doors down the hall. I ran at the emergency exit and rammed the end of the fire extinguisher into the glass. It took a few tries, but I managed to break it. And with the help of the handle, I was able to pull some glass shards so they fell on my side of the door. Maybe that would make it look like the window was smashed from the outside. I used my shoulder to open the exit door. The alarm blared in my ear. Definitely loud enough to give an old man a heart attack.

I took off back up the stairs, pausing only long enough to put the fire extinguisher back in the case. I ran the rest of the way up the stairs and waited behind the door. I was sure there would be an announcement the second the cop found the guy.

The alarm stopped, and the PA system crackled on. “Attention all students, faculty, and staff. The school is going into lockdown. Any students in the halls should report to the nearest classroom.”

The announcement repeated, and I walked to the nearest room. Oh crap! Mr. Ryan’s class. I knocked on the door.

“Ms. Smith?” Mr. Ryan looked at me like he’d seen a girl who’d committed social suicide. Even he knew I was off to a bad start here. “Come in, come in. I was about to lock the door.”

“Sorry. I was in the bathroom when I heard the announcement.”

“No problem. I guess this is turning out to be some first day for you, huh?”

The girl sitting in the desk by the door stuck her foot out and tripped me as I walked by. “Walk much?” she said with a laugh so nasty I wanted to smack her. If only she knew who she was dealing with. If only she saw my Mr. Hyde.

“You okay?” Mr. Ryan asked me after he told the class to push the desks to the back of the room and away from the door.

“Yeah.” Only I wasn’t okay. My victim count was up to three. I’d never be okay again.

I took an empty seat. Mr. Ryan looked around the room and smiled at us, probably trying to keep the class calm. Everyone was on edge since the announcement, and they didn’t have a clue that the real danger was in the room with them.

We were stranded in the room for another forty minutes. Mr. Ryan finally gave up and let us talk or do homework. Since I didn’t have a friend in the class or any homework to speak of, I sat there trying not to think about what was going on downstairs—what the police would find. I’d tried to keep my fingerprints off the emergency exit. But there was the broken glass on the fire-extinguisher case, and my fingerprints were all over that. Someone was bound to notice the broken glass case sooner or later.

The PA system crackled to life. “All students are to report to lunch. Sophomores report to the multipurpose room. Juniors and seniors report to the cafeteria. Lunch will be served in both locations. All teachers and staff not assigned to cafeteria duty, please report to the auditorium for a mandatory meeting.”

After the announcement repeated—because apparently they liked to say everything twice around here—Mr. Ryan unlocked the door. “Everyone to the cafeteria please. I don’t know what happened, but I suggest none of you cause any trouble. Do as you were instructed.”

Nods went around the room. People listened to Mr. Ryan. I was the last one to leave.

“Oh, Ms. Smith.” Mr. Ryan followed me out of the room. “I hope tomorrow’s a better day. Don’t judge us just yet, okay?”

I nodded. So far the school hadn’t done anything wrong. I had. The freak-out in class over the book we were reading, the fire alarm—they were my doing. And neither of those compared to the corpse in the stairwell.

I went to my locker, thinking maybe Ethan would meet me there before lunch. I’d grabbed a copy of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from Mr. Ryan’s class on my way out, so I actually had something to put in my locker this time. It took me a minute to remember the combination. My hands shook, and my mind was spinning. I kept trying my old combination, from my old life. Who would’ve thought I’d miss my old life? But I did. Sure, the cancer had made things rough, awful even, but right now, I would’ve taken that over whatever this was. I’d rather be the one hurting than hurting other people.

I finally got my locker open, and the first thing I saw was a silver necklace hanging from the hook. I reached for it, surprised by its weight. It looked heavy, but it wasn’t. It was a spiderweb pattern, and in the center was a ruby, just like my ring. I’d forgotten about my ring. I had to ask Ethan when he thought we could drive out to his storage box and get it. I really missed wearing it.

I looked around for Ethan, expecting him to jump out and surprise me…again. The necklace was the first surprise. But since Ethan didn’t seem to be around, I put the necklace on myself. It felt oddly warm against my skin. After all, it had been hanging in a cold, empty locker. Ethan must have had it in his pocket before he snuck it in here. He amazed me sometimes. I didn’t even think he’d seen my locker combination on my schedule. He was sneaky, and I loved him for it.

I was so happy about my gift that I almost forgot about what was going on in the school. A teacher carrying a walkie-talkie started ushering kids out of the hall. “Get to where you’re supposed to be.” His voice was stern. “Seniors report to the cafeteria. If you’re not a senior, you have no business in this wing as it is, so move!”

I couldn’t wait for Ethan any longer. Maybe he’d already been sent to the cafeteria. That would explain why he hadn’t met me. I closed my locker and followed the crowd. I hadn’t seen the cafeteria yet, so I didn’t know how to get there on my own. For once, it felt nice to feel like I was part of the crowd, blending in, even if just on the outside.

We headed to a stairwell on the back side of the school—nowhere near the stairwell where… The hall monitors had those stairs blocked off. We were like cattle being herded. I stepped down the last stair when someone shoved me from behind. I fell forward, grabbing on to the backpack of the guy in front of me to avoid falling on my face.

“Hey.” He whirled around.

“Sorry.” I regained my composure, and a girl stepped in front of me, blocking my path. I recognized her as the one who’d tripped me in Mr. Ryan’s class. Not what I needed right now.

She looked me up and down and scoffed. “You know, Mr. Ryan was only being nice to you because he felt sorry for you. He can tell a loser when he sees one.”

“I bet he’s glad you sit by the door then, so he can get rid of you sooner at the end of class.” I’d had enough. I wasn’t letting this girl walk all over me.

She let out a guttural grunt and lunged at me, shoving me hard in the chest. I fell backward, hitting my tailbone on the bottom stair. Chants of “Fight, fight, fight!” rang out. I’d thought we were among the last people in the stairwell, but apparently news of a chick fight spreads quickly. Suddenly it seemed like half the school was there.

“Hey!” someone yelled, and most of the kids scattered. I figured it was the principal or something. A trip to the office would make my horrific day pretty much complete. “Ms. Tilby, report to Mr. Snyder’s office. Now.”

I looked up to see Mr. Ryan standing two stairs behind me. Oh, this wasn’t going to ease things between me and the ultimate fighter chick over here.

“But, Mr. Ryan, she—”

“I saw the whole thing, Ms. Tilby, and I’ll be having a discussion with Mr. Snyder as well. You better make sure our stories match, or you’ll find yourself suspended for a week instead of three days.”

Suspended? I closed my eyes and sighed. This girl was going to kill me the next time she saw me.

“Ugh!”

“Shannon,” Mr. Ryan said. She calmed down at the sound of her name, and I wondered if Mr. Ryan had called her by her first name on purpose. From what I’d seen, he always addressed people by last name.

Shannon glared at me one last time before heading for the office. I used the railing to lift myself up. I never knew you could have a pulse in your tailbone, but mine was throbbing.

“Are you okay?” Mr. Ryan reached out a hand, like he was getting ready to catch me if I stumbled.

“Seems like you’ve had to ask me that a lot today. You must think I’m the weakest girl on the planet.”

“Not at all. Like I told Ms. Tilby. I saw what happened between the two of you. I also heard what you both said.”

Ugh, he’d heard me talking smack. I wondered how many days suspension that would get me. Maybe Gloria would let me work an extra shift on those days. We could use the money.

“Normally I don’t encourage students to talk to each other in that manner, but seeing as you’re having a rough first day, I think you handled yourself rather well. Most girls your age would’ve pushed her back after she shoved you, but you kept your cool.”

That was me. Cool as a corpse.

“I think you should get to the cafeteria now. I have a meeting to get to. Actually, now I have two meetings to get to.” He shook his head.

“Sorry about that.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

I nodded and walked through the doors. “Um, do you think you could tell the principal it was just a misunderstanding? If Shannon hates me, she’ll make my life miserable.”

“I can’t lie.” Mr. Ryan sighed. “But I’ll let the principal know you would rather handle this yourself. He might go easier on her.”

“Thanks. Could you tell me where the cafeteria is?”

“Turn right and go about halfway down the hall. It’ll be on your right. You can’t miss it. You’ll hear it well before you get there. It gets pretty noisy, and with the extra crowd in there at once today, I’m sure it will be eardrum-shattering.”

“Thanks again.” I headed the rest of the way to the cafeteria on my own.

Mr. Ryan was right. The noise coming from the cafeteria was intense. And without even stepping inside, I knew what everyone was talking about. The alarm, what could have caused it, who was to blame. Who knew I’d become so popular on the first day of school?

I pulled the door open and was met by the stern stare of a teacher. “What took you so long?” she asked.

“Um, I’m new.” I hoped that would work. “I didn’t know where the cafeteria was and then there was—”

“Was what?” she prodded.

“A problem in the hallway, but Mr. Ryan took care of it for me.”

“Mr. Ryan? And what’s your name, so I can verify this with him later?”

“Sam. I mean, Samantha Smith.”

She took a pen out of her pocket and jotted my name down on a small slip of paper on the table next to her. “Very well. Go find a seat.”

I moved away from her, not wanting to be within sight of her glaring eyes. I didn’t see Ethan anywhere, and the longer I roamed around, the more attention I drew. Finally, I decided to get on the lunch line. I had a little money on me from my tips yesterday. Most of it was in a shoebox in my closet, but I brought some in case lunch wasn’t too disgusting. The line was winding down at this point. That was one perk to being late. I grabbed a red plastic tray and some plasticware. I saw they had salad, so at least something was edible. I took a big serving in case the hot food item was meatloaf or something equally rubbery and inedible.

When I got to the hot food station, I was glad I’d taken the extra salad. The woman behind the counter stood there with her ladle in one hand and a glove on the other. “Meatloaf and hot biscuits?”

“No, thank you. I’m fine with a salad.” I grabbed an apple sitting in a fruit bowl by the register, but that didn’t appease her either. “I guess I’ll take a biscuit, too.”

“$2.50,” the cashier said.

I gave her the money and followed the line back into the cafeteria. Now I had to find Ethan because I wasn’t sitting alone to eat my pathetic lunch.

I decided to walk around the edge of the cafeteria, thinking Ethan would be at the end of a table, since he didn’t know anyone either. I passed six rows of tables and still no Ethan. I turned the corner and walked up the side rows. Finally, I heard my name. I turned around and saw Ethan walking toward me.

“Hey, where have you been? I tried to stop by your locker, but they wouldn’t let us go down the hall. They sent us straight here. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” He took me by the arm and led me to a table in the middle of the cafeteria.

I wasn’t sure if I should tell him about the incident with Shannon and Mr. Ryan, but I didn’t get the chance to because I was assaulted with a chorus of “hello” from a bunch of kids sitting at Ethan’s table.

“This is Sam,” Ethan said.

How had he made this many friends already? And wasn’t he in honors classes? These kids didn’t look like your typical brainy honor student types.

“I met these guys in Sculpture & Design.”

I had a hard time not choking on my salad. Ethan was the least artistic person I knew. He’d never pass a sculpture class.

I smiled at everyone and leaned toward Ethan. “How do you plan on pulling that off?” I whispered.

He took a sip of bottled water. “No problem. I told them I was big into abstract art at my old school. I made a bunch of weird-looking stuff, and they all thought it was genius. Even the teacher.”

Ethan was fitting into his new life with no problems, and really, he should’ve had the more difficult time trying to live up to the real Ethan Jones’s standards. My life should have been the easy one. Average student with no extracurricular talents. Piece of cake. But my day had sucked. Sucked the life right out of… No. I’d lose it if I thought about that guy.

I sighed, and the necklace wobbled a little, warming my skin where it touched. Okay, one part of my day hadn’t sucked. I had a beautiful new necklace from the best boyfriend I could ask for.

I leaned over and kissed Ethan’s cheek. “Thank you for my necklace. It’s beautiful. It’s going to match my ring perfectly when we get it from the storage place.”

Ethan pulled back. “What necklace?”

I elbowed him. “The one you left in my locker.” I smiled and held it up for him to see how much I loved it.

He narrowed his eyes. “Sam, I didn’t leave that in your locker.”

“Yes, you did. I found it before I came here. You must have put it there between classes to surprise me.” As I said it, I realized it couldn’t have been Ethan, or I wouldn’t have to explain this to him.

“It wasn’t me, Sam.”

“Then who?” I looked down at the necklace, the perfect match for the ring Ethan had given me.

“That’s what I’d like to know.”