by Crisp, M. L.
Scott grinned. “Aw, she was just being friendly.”
“Friendly my ass! I was a cheerleader too ya’ know?”
Scott got up and stood over Allison. “I do believe you’re jealous!”
She looked up and smirked. “Nah, just giving you shit.”
There was a knock at the door, it was Sheila. “You two settling in ok?” She asked.
“We’re fine, you think this place will work out?”
Sheila thought for a moment. “In the short term, but I can tell the vice principal isn’t too happy with our presence. He thought he was being rescued, not taking on tenants.”
“Do you think that he’ll let us stay?” Allison asked.
“Frankly, it’s not up to him, we’re staying, but I want to keep things friendly unless there’s a need to escalate the situation.” Sheila said.
“That teacher, Valerie, she seemed at her wits end. I wonder what this place was like before we arrived.” Allison mused.
“I’m kind of curious about that myself.” Sheila said.
IT’S LIKE, TOTALLY THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!
CHAPTER 11
…Turn your back on Mother Nature, everybody wants to rule the world, it’s my…Marla hit the snooze button on her clock radio and closed her eyes again. Suddenly the darkness of the room was shattered. “Get your ass up sis; you have to get to school!” Madison yelled.
Marla opened her eyes and looked at her sister, “it’s, like, six thirty in the morning on a Saturday, and I’m not going to school!”
“Come on Marla, you’ve got that Saturday detention thing, if you don’t show, they might not let you be the head cheerleader anymore.”
Marla rolled her eyes, “as if! Those retarded bitches wouldn’t know what to do without my direction. I’m the one doing them a favor anyways, half the guys that come to the games wouldn’t bother if I wasn’t there for them to ogle…some of the girls too.” Marla said with a smile.
“Do you really want to risk it?”
Marla sat up in bed and folded her arms. “I just don’t want to be around those losers, I mean, you would think they would let me hang out in a special place, not with the school riff raff. I can‘t believe Mrs. Lawson turned me in. She‘s just a jealous blue haired bitch!”
“Oh come on Marla, I’ll go too so you have someone to talk to, it’ll be fun!”
“Like, It’s just so bogus. I almost want to call their bluff and see if they have the ‘nads to punish me. All I have to do is bat my baby blues at Principal Hames and he’ll probably reprimand that bitch for fucking with me!” Marla said with a wicked smile.
“He’s on vacation, and that shit won’t work on Mr. Kane. He came up with this Saturday detention thing anyway, I think he got the idea from that movie.”
Marla pouted, “great, just my luck, our vice principal is a fag.”
“Nah, I don’t think so, I think he just likes black women, you know, sticks to his own kind.”
“Any man that can resist my charms has got to be gay.” Marla said, and they both giggled.
“Coach Wilkens will be there.” Madison said in an enticing voice.
“So?”
“So, you can flirt with him!”
“Gag me with a spoon!” Marla said, sticking her finger in her mouth.
“Come on, I’m your kid sister, don’t try and fool me.”
Marla grinned, “how do you know he’ll be there?”
“I’ve heard he’s there almost every Saturday, I guess to get away from his wife. Word is they‘re in marriage counseling.”
Marla jumped out of bed, “ok, I’m going, but I need to get ready.”
“What are you wearing?”
“My cheerleader uniform of course, Coach Wilkins has a thing for it, he always tries to sneak a peek when I bend over. Oh, I better remember to bring my purse, so I have something to drop.”
“You are so bad!”
“I also want the scumbags in detention to be too intimidated to try and talk to me.”
“Whatever, I’m just wearing my new stonewashed jeans and one of mom‘s red blazers. I don‘t want to mess with my hair, I‘ll just go with the side pony tail today.” Madison said.
Marla had showered and now sat in front of her mirror teasing her blonde hair. She applied mousse and blew dry it. She sprayed it with aqua net until it wouldn’t move. Next she put on her bright red lipstick and blue eye shadow.”
Marla stood up and admired herself in her full length mirror, that thing had gotten a lot of use over the years. She adjusted the ‘W’ on her Westlake High sweater to be on top of her breasts.
Madison stood in her doorway and whistled, “wow, Coach Wilkens won’t know what hit him.”
Marla turned around and smiled, “I know, right?”
“How do you think Lester will like you flirting with his coach?” Madison asked with a sly grin.
“I don’t care, I totally dumped his ass last night. I’ve had it with these high school boys.”
“Wow, I’m surprised you did that before the big game next week, now he won’t play worth a shit.” Madison laughed.
“Serves the school right for giving me this bullshit detention.”
“I guess we better go, try and keep it down on the way out, mom is sleeping off last night.”
As they walked past their mother’s room, Marla peeked in, “who’s the guy?”
“Just another one of her boy toys, I think this one is with the rodeo. Why bother learning their names, they’re never around for more than a week or two.”
“He looks cute; you think I should seduce this one?” Marla said with a mischievous smile.
“Fuck no, she just about threw you out for real last time. Let her get tired of him and then you can boink him.”
“Um, no thanks, it’s not worth it unless I can piss her off.”
They left the house and got into Madison’s Volkswagen Beetle. “I can’t believe she drives around in a corvette, and lets us share this piece of shit!” Marla said.
“Well, you wrecked the Mustang she got you. And I don’t know, I kind of like it, it’s cute.” Madison said.
“There’s a reason they don’t make these anymore, and it’s not because they’re cute.” Marla complained.
“Could be worse, she could have gotten you a Pinto.” Madison laughed.
Marla scrunched her face. “Oh not even! I would have totally run away if she did that!”
Madison turned on the radio and grinned at Marla. “I would say this is appropriate since we’re headed to Saturday detention. Marla tried to frown, but couldn’t help but smirk. As they drove away, they both sang along to the song, Oh baby, don’t you forget about me, I’ll be alone, dancing, you know it baby…
The red bug turned on the street leading to the school. Westlake High was located, appropriately enough, next to the lake. There was talk of developers trying to buy the land from the city. Homes by the lake would sell like hotcakes, even in the post-oil boom economy. There wasn’t much thought of that back in the sixties, when the school was built, it was just a muddy lake that nobody paid much attention to. But today’s marketers made it sound so enticing, and even though advertising a school nearby was a draw, it still took up vital real estate.
The bug came to a stop in the parking lot; Marla studied herself in the mirror, making sure her makeup was still perfect. Satisfied that she still looked like a million bucks, she slipped an almost worn out Duran Duran tape into her Walkman, carefully put on her headphones, to avoid messing up her hair, and got out of the car. The two girls entered the school, the halls were eerily empty. They found the detention room and walked in, they were met by Vice Principal Kane. “Good morning ladies.” He said, studying his clip board, he looked up, peering over his glasses, “you’re not on the list Madison.”
“Oh, I know, I just came to keep my sister company.”
Mr. Kane frowned, “I’m afraid this isn’t a social event, Marla will be busy writing a paper on the impor
tance of education. Of course, you are welcome to stay if you would like to write a paper as well.”
Madison looked at Marla with an ‘I’m sorry’ expression, “Um, no, I’ll just come back and pick her up at the end of the day.”
Mr. Kane smiled, “that’s what I thought.” Mr. Kane motioned for Marla to take off her headphones. “Now, Marla, you won‘t be needing your tape player, you can retrieve it at the end of the day, find a place to sit. And not at the back of the room, anywhere in the first three rows is fine.”
Madison left, Marla wanted to tell Mr. Kane that he would be in trouble when Principal Hames got back from vacation. But she decided to let it slide, she could only go to that well so many times, and she wanted to save it for when she would really need it.
Marla scanned the room, not even that one kind of cute thug was here today. There was some fat loser wearing a black Ghostbusters T-shirt, which even though it was extra large, looked like it was too small for him. To the side of him was Tess, very pretty girl that tried out for the cheerleading squad last year, but Marla felt she was too chubby. Marla disqualified her and teased her mercilessly thereafter, giving her the nickname Triple T. The nickname stuck. She had only been slightly overweight when she tried out, but after the relentless teasing by Marla and her friends, she had put on a lot of weight.
Marla was relieved when she saw Kyle, he was a band geek, and while she would never have anything to do with him socially, she did know him from the football games. She figured he was normal enough to sit by today and maybe even write her paper for her, if she flirted with him. It shouldn’t take much, just laugh at his lame jokes and give him her trademark smile, the one that made guys think they really had a chance with her.
She sat down next to Kyle, “hi Kyle.”
Kyle sat up, he didn’t expect Marla to know his name. “Um, uh, hi Marla.”
Mr. Kane shushed the room, “Everyone, welcome to Saturday detention, I trust that none of you wants to come back, so let this be a learning experience for you. You will all be writing a paper on the importance of education. I expect well written papers, if I don’t get them, perhaps you will be here next Saturday. I will be in my office, and Miss Carpenter will be overseeing the class. Miss Carpenter waved, and felt kind of dumb. She didn’t really want to be here either, but it was extra pay, and good brownie points.
Mr. Kane left the room and Miss Carpenter got up and closed the door. “Ok, look people, we’re all here on a Saturday, and it’s not my idea of fun either. Just write your papers, I’ll be the one checking them over, they don’t have to be Shakespeare, but half ass it enough that if Mr. Kane glances over my shoulder, he won’t throw a fit. Deal?”
Everybody laughed, except for Marla, she couldn’t stand Miss Carpenter. She was one of those average looking women that thought she was pretty. She really hated how she tried to ‘relate’ to the students, she once asked Marla for makeup tips. Right, like it would look as good on her anyway. It infuriated Marla to see her flirting with some of the coaches. These were football players for God’s sake, men that could have women that look like Marla! Not Marla herself of course, at least not permanently, she would never marry a man that was on a teacher’s salary. But still, she had a lot of nerve trying to move up the beautiful people food chain, Marla thought. If this bitch was a student here, she would have already created a vicious nick name for her, she would have everybody laughing at her. But she could get into trouble for that as a student, maybe after she graduates, she would find out where she spends her off time and do it.
Marla was smiling, thinking about this, when she heard Miss Carpenter talking to her. “Earth to Marla, everything ok?”
“Oh, yeah, um, fine.”
“I was just going to say, I don’t really care where anybody sits, if any of you want to move, feel free. You can talk as long as you keep it to a low roar, and your papers get finished.”
Marla noticed that Kyle had gone to sit with the others. Great, now she was going to have to write this stupid paper herself.
CHAPTER 12
Madison sighed, she had got up early for nothing, now she had to find something to do until it was time to pick up Marla. Now her sister would be in a foul mood, she had hoped she could keep her spirits up, now she’ll have to listen to her complain the rest of the weekend.
The bug turned out of the school parking lot, Madison realized she hadn’t seen many cars on the way here, she just figured it was because it was Saturday, and the Fair of course. But now, she saw a large crowd of people coming from the housing edition down the street. Why would everybody be up on a Saturday morning, all headed in the same direction? Suddenly the song on the radio was interrupted, …we are the children…we interrupt this broadcast for an important news bulletin. There are widespread reports of mobs of people attacking anyone they see. These reports are not confined to Oklahoma City, it appears to be happening state wide, indeed, all over the country. If you are at home, stay at home, if you are in your car listening to this, find a building to immediately seek refuge in. If that is not a possibility, keep driving, do not stop no matter what you see. We will now join our national affiliate in New York City…
Madison turned off the radio and slowed down, as she did, the group seemed to notice the red car, and broke into a mad dash. Madison’s mouth gaped open; the nearest building was still the school. She swung the steering wheel around, did a U-turn, and sped back toward the school.
CHAPTER 13
Marla sat in her chair stewing, she had no idea what to write, there was no sight of Coach Wilkens, and the school losers were probably talking about her. She saw the fat kid in the Ghostbusters shirt get up and approach her. “Hey, um, Marla, right? My name is Rodney.” He said, wiping his hair from his round face.
Marla folded her arms, “look, you’re not Judd Nelson, and I’m not Molly Ringwald, just leave me alone!”
Rodney stared at her for a moment, and then shrugged his shoulders, “I was just going to see if you wanted to sit with us. I guess Tess was right, you are a bitch.” He said, and went back to his seat.
“So I was right” Marla thought, “those losers were talking about me, I guess I better have one of the football players have a ‘talk’ with Rodney on Monday. And Triple T, I’ll take care of her.” Marla dug in her purse and pulled out her compact mirror, and checked her makeup.
Mr. Kane sat in his office going over some paperwork when Madison suddenly appeared in his office, out of breath. “Madison, I told you that you can’t be here, now please…”
“No, Mr. Kane, you don’t understand, they were right behind me! They’re on foot, but it won’t take them long…”
“They? Who’s they? Madison, what is going on here?”
“Oh my God, you haven’t heard? Turn on the radio!”
Mr. Kane burst into detention, “attention everyone, I’m afraid that there is a national emergency. I am having everybody move in an orderly fashion to the library on the second level. Once everyone is situated, I will call each of your parents and let them know you are safe, and we will determine a time for them to come pick you up. Come on, up everyone, I will answer your questions when we are in the library.
The students filed out, and Miss Carpenter approached Mr. Kane. “What’s going on sir? Is this some kind of drill?”
“It’s no drill Miss Carpenter; I’ve just heard a little bit myself. But there appears to be some kind of infection or mass hysteria making people homicidal. I have locked down the front doors, I assume the rest of the school is already locked down, but I’m going to get the custodian to help me check on it.”
Miss Carpenter’s eyes widened, “I came in through the gym this morning, some of the coaches were there. But I think they went to the field house. The door might still be open.”
Damn! Ok, I’m going to check, go to the library and keep an eye on the students. Madison Masters will already be there, she alerted me to this. Don’t let them listen to the radio or watch the TV just yet.”
Miss Carpenter nodded and left hurriedly. Mr. Kane ran back to his office and got on the intercom. “Would the custodian please report to the vice principal’s office immediately!”
A few minutes later the custodian was at his door, “hello Darryl, I’m afraid I have some unfortunate news.” Mr. Kane explained the situation, “now, we need to check all entrances to the school, and make sure they are securely locked. I have already locked the main entrance. I understand the gym entrance was unlocked earlier.”
“Sir, I need to get home, I take care of my elderly mother.”
“I can’t stop you from leaving Darryl, but these kids are the school’s responsibility, I would appreciate it if you would give me a hand locking down the school.”
“Ok, sir, I understand. I’ll check the gym.”
“Fine, take this walkie talkie and contact me if you need to.”
They both went their separate ways. Darryl made his way to the gym, a length of chain dangled from the door handle, with the padlock sitting on the floor. He opened the double doors. Sure enough, the back door was wide open. He ran toward the open door, the keys on his belt jangling. He closed and locked the door, but then heard sounds from behind the bleachers. He walked across the room, and peered around the corner and saw four people on all fours, stripping the flesh from one of the coaches, like a pack of wild dogs. One of them looked up and saw him. Darryl turned to run back toward the double doors, raising the walkie talkie to his mouth, “sir, I was too late, they’re in the gym!”
“Dammit! Get out of there, and lock the double doors, we can at least keep them in the gym!”
Darryl reached the doors, and opened them. The people were close behind him, one grabbed for him and managed to get hold of his shirt. Darryl quickly ripped the buttons on the front and let the shirt be pulled off.
He dove into the vestibule and grabbed the length of chain, pulling it taut through both door handles. He clamped the padlock in place, and as he heard the tumblers click, the people on the other side were trying to push it open.