by Zack Zombie
I didn’t know why. I felt perfectly fine.
As I approached the ice cream parlor the door was propped open. Inside it was pretty busy. It seemed I wasn’t the only person from my class who had this idea.
As I listened in on the conversations around me, it seemed that they had arranged to meet there before the dance started. It appeared that I wasn’t in on that piece of information.
I joined the back of the line for ice cream. In front of me was a long line of girls. I felt my mouth dry up and my hands began to shake with nerves.
…Because at the very front was Molly Sparklton.
Chapter 12
Velvet Mush
I hovered at the end of the line as a wave of nerves washed over me. I had gone into the ice cream parlor to try and relax, but now I felt even more anxious than before.
“Next!” screamed a bearded vendor behind the counter. “Hey, buddy. You’re next.”
I looked up. The vendor in the red and white striped shirt was looking at me.
“Oh! Sorry, sir.”
“Hey! It’s ma’am,” she said gruffly.
“Sorry, ma’am. What have you got?”
“Surprise, surprise… ice cream!” she replied, sarcastically.
“Yeah, sure, I’ll have a Surprise Surprise Ice Cream, please,” I said.
The woman glared at me and glanced at my velvet jacket and pink, frilly shirt.
“Are you some kind of joker?”
I wasn’t aware that I was a joker, whatever that meant.
I looked through the long glass cabinet at all the different colored ice creams.
“Can I have a scoop of that yellow one, please?”
The woman didn’t reply. She just picked up the ice cream scoop and dolloped a huge round ball of vanilla ice cream on top of a cone.
“Eight dollars, please.”
“How much?” I cried.
I was still getting used to prices in the human world, but eight bucks for a scoop of ice cream seemed a bit steep.
“It’s my special school dance night price. Remember you’re paying for a friendly smile and the service as well, buddy!”
I looked directly at the ice cream vendor. She hadn’t smiled once.
“If I haven’t seen a smile, do I get a discount?” I asked, feeling it was a fair question.
The bearded woman looked at me and smiled, showing off her crooked yellow-toothed grin.
“I have no money,” I sighed.
“Then you have no ice cream. Give it back.”
The woman leaned over the counter in a panic just as someone appeared beside me.
“Let me buy that for you.”
It was Molly Sparklton. She smiled at me and handed the money to the woman who grabbed it quicker than a toad’s tongue catching a fly.
“Thank you,” I said, taking a lick of this unusually cold food.
“That’s okay. Sorry you’ve been picked on at school since you’ve gotten here. I figured the last thing you need is to be picked on by the ice cream lady too!”
“Living in this world takes a bit of getting used to,” I said. “Things are a lot different here. By the way, why didn’t you like the pyramids I made you?”
“Well, that kind of thing is a bit weird around here,” Molly said with a smile.
“Actually, it’s a bit weird where I come from too,” I said. “But where I come from, I usually do it to freak people out.”
“Well, it works!”
Molly and I laughed as we licked our ice creams and checked the time. Then, disaster struck. Over my shoulder loomed a huge shadow. I could see the shadow of the person on the floor. I turned around. Just like I thought, it was Brett and he looked really mad!
“What are you doing?” he boomed as the ice cream parlor fell silent. “The sign on the door says ‘NO FREAKS’.”
I looked at the door.
“Actually, it says ‘OPEN’,” I said, as a small chord of giggles moved around the ice cream parlor.
“I’ll ask again. What are you doing in here?”
“I’m eating this cold stuff,” I replied, straightening up to stand as tall as possible.
“And what are you doing wearing that ridiculous costume?”
I looked down at my red velvet jacket and pink frilly shirt.
“The tailor told me it was his most popular suit.”
“Well, the tailor’s a bigger dummy than you,” Brett thundered and he thrust out his hand and pushed my cone topped with vanilla ice cream straight into me.
The cone crushed against my velvet jacket and the ice cream splattered all over the corsage.
“Come on,” he said, signaling Molly and the others. “Let’s get to the dance and leave this loser here.”
He marched across the street towards the school. Molly shrugged her shoulders and followed, as did everyone else.
It seemed no one could stand up to Brett Biseps. Well, I had had enough and it was time to do something about it.
Chapter 13
Tunnel to the Dance
I stood in the school parking lot as Brett led the entire class into the main hall.
It was getting dark and I was aware that my glowing eyes would give away my location. I sneaked behind a tree and began to formulate a plan.
Just then, a flashlight shone straight at me from halfway across the parking lot. I held up my arm to shield my eyes from the light, but the beam didn’t drop until the person carrying the flashlight was right in front of me.
“What are you doing lurking out here? You should be inside. The dance has started.”
It was Principal Hogwash and he looked particularly scary with the beam of light shining up from under his chin.
“Well, get moving Herobrine!” he ordered.
I moved quickly towards the main hall, but I couldn’t bring myself to go in. I had become a laughing stock all because of Brett Biseps. If I walked into the dance, I knew what would’ve happened. He’d make some nasty comment and everyone would just laugh at me.
I sneaked around the corner, took off my vanilla splattered velvet jacket and hung it on a nearby branch. I wanted to get into the dance hall to see Molly, but I needed to find a way of sneaking in rather than heading through the main door.
So I just kneeled on the ground and started digging.
I was great at digging 2x2 tunnels. This felt like being at home again.
I moved quickly underground, tunneling underneath the parking lot and then under the hall. Once I felt I was in the right position, I began tunneling upwards. Eventually I came out in the perfect spot. The tunnel emerged behind the stage.
I climbed from the tunnel without anyone noticing me and peered around the thick, red curtain. The hall was packed with kids.
I stared at the crowd, being careful not to be seen. I spotted a group of girls in the far corner. As a few of them moved away I saw Molly Sparklton.
I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to dance with her, but I couldn’t bring myself to step out of the darkness. Then, I spotted Brett.
It seemed that without me at the dance, he had found someone else to pick on. It was a small scrawny boy who was there with with his sister. Brett walked up to him with a full drink in his hand. There were several teachers at the dance keeping an eye on things, but at that moment they weren’t looking, and Brett tipped the entire drink over the poor kid.
The boy went running out of the hall calling for his Mom, and Brett started grunting and giving high fives to anyone in the vicinity.
Brett then turned on one of the girls and dropped a cake over her dress. I looked around. Brett thought he was the star of the night and seemed oblivious to the fact that no one else was really laughing. I decided there and then that the last laugh w
ould be on Brett Biseps. I jumped back into the tunnel and began digging again.
I kept digging until I was underneath the middle of the stage, right where Brett was standing. Then, I began to dig upwards.
I dug slowly until I broke the surface of the ground. I peered out. Perfect! I had dug up in just the right place. The hole was directly behind Brett. I climbed out as the hall fell silent. The music stopped. Everyone was looking at me as I walked around to confront the school bully.
Chapter 14
Herobrine the Hero
“Well, look who it is?” Brett chuckled. “It’s the Freak Show Herobrine! What happened to your velvet jacket? You should have seen it, everyone. It was hideous.”
Brett looked around for the laughs that he felt sure would come. There was nothing.
“You’ve not been nice to me since the moment I arrived,” I said, staring at him with my glowing eyes. “Just because I’m different, that doesn’t give you the right to be nasty to me.”
“Oh, look! Herobrine’s standing up for himself.”
“And for everyone else too,” I said. “No one likes you, Brett. They only laugh at your pranks because they’re scared of you.”
“Not true. I rule!” Brett shouted. “All those who think I’m awesome, come and stand behind me. Let’s show this freak who’s the best loved guy in school.”
Brett looked around, expecting everyone to run to his side. Everyone began to step forward but, to his surprise and mine, they walked straight past Brett and stood behind me—everyone except Molly Sparklton. She hadn’t moved.
“Well, Molly! What are you waiting for?” cried Brett, who was becoming infuriated. “Come and stand here.”
Molly looked at Brett, and then she looked at me. She began to walk towards the center of the room. She walked past Brett and stood at my side.
“Enough is enough, Brett,” Molly said. “Herobrine is right.”
“I can’t believe it!” Brett said, completely stunned. “This guy’s not like me! Look at him! I’m handsome with a perfect smile, golden hair and dreamy blue eyes. This guy is square and doesn’t even have eyes!”
I could feel my eyes glowing brighter. I couldn’t control them. Something was about to happen and I had no idea what!
Then, two beams of light shot from my eyes and hit Brett, pushing him backward at a colossal rate. He fell into the hole in the center of the dance floor and rocketed down the tunnel.
I ran to the door and stepped outside, followed by all the other kids.
“What are you looking for?” Molly asked.
“Wait for it…” I whispered.
We only had to wait a few seconds until Brett came hurtling out of the tunnel. He flew through the air, over the tops of the trees and began his descent toward the ground. He was heading straight for the pond.
With a huge splash he dropped into the cold pond, sending an explosion of water into the air.
The pond was shallow, and he sat there completely drenched. A couple of ducks swan past him and a frog leapt from a lily pad and jumped onto Brett’s head.
“Look!” cried the scrawny boy Brett had been bullying earlier. “It’s Wet Brett!”
Everyone began yelling, “Wet Brett, Wet Brett!”
Gradually, the yelling turned into full on laughter.
The tables had turned. Brett was now the laughing stock and he didn’t like it one little bit. He climbed out of the pond, glanced my way and then looked at all the other kids standing by my side.
Tears welled in his eyes. He burst out crying and ran to the florist shop in search of his Mom.
“That was a brave move,” Molly said, putting her hand on my back.
“You think so?” I asked.
“Well, not as brave as wearing a pink, frilly shirt to a school dance.”
Molly and I laughed and headed back inside.
I filled in the hole in the dance floor and the music began to play once more.
All the kids started to dance. They looked amazing. I tried to move like them, but my body shape meant I just wasn’t cut out to be a dancer.
I tried my best to remember what Miss Dramacueen had taught me and shuffled my feet across the floor as best I could.
“What are you doing?” Molly said, as she danced opposite me.
“Oh! You don’t like it?”
“You’re incredible!” Molly said, as everyone else watched. “I’ve never seen a dance like that before. What do you call it?”
“It’s called the Minecraft Shuffle.”
I continued to do the moves and soon everyone on the dance floor was doing it too.
And so we all danced and celebrated into the night.
* * *
As it turned out, my first days at Butts Road Middle School weren’t all that bad. Not only had I stood up to the school bully, but I made some amazing friends. On top of that, I also started a brand new dance craze.
I know I’m different than everyone else. But, maybe being different is what makes living in this world so much fun after all!
The End
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