I raced in. “Guys! Guess what?” I said excitably, “Carly kissed me!”
But my news echoed back to me. The entire house was empty.
I was alone.
They were gone.
Madame Blaise. Gone.
Mom. Gone.
Dad. Gone
Annoying brat. Gone
Jake. Alone.
I couldn’t stop the tears.
Carly
XXVII
I don’t have a clue what I was thinking when I kissed Jake. Not a clue.
A rush of emotion just flooded over me when he called me beautiful. I guess that’s why I kissed him. And I know he enjoyed it; he smiled afterwards.
I didn’t want to see him, so I opened the gate and rang the doorbell. I rang it a lot. I didn’t want Jake to think I didn’t like him, so I kind of slowed down on the ringing.
But he didn’t notice. A big smile on his face and his eyes looked everywhere. Soon he raced off. It actually looked more like teleporting. One minute he was there and the next poof! gone.
Papa opened the door. I stepped in, took of my shoes and raced to my bedroom to tell Hilde the good news. I entered our room. Hilde was flicking through a Glamour magazine, when I entered.
“You’ll never guess, what just-” I started.
“You kissed Jake.” she interrupted. “I saw it from the window. Ooh la-la.”
She sounded bored. I frowned, not the reaction I was hoping for. “Hva er i veien?” “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Ingenting.” she replied, “Nothing,”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Positive,” She said, certain and now in a better mood.
“How was your report card?” I said, changing the topic.
“Same old, same old.” she replied. “My GPA is still three point seven six.”
“Well,” I began, “Mine is now… three point seven seven!”
“So close!” Hilde said, smiling. “Gratulerer! Congratulations!”
“Thanks!” I smiled back at her. “Papa will have to take us out again!”
“I don’t think so,” said Hilde. She looked like she was struggling to hold back tears. “Didn’t you hear the news?”
“No,” I said, frightened. What had happened? “What happened?”
“Onkel Andreas…” she stuttered. Tears flooded her eyes. “He… he lost his po-position at O-CoolTech!”
I gasped. How was this possible? Mr Stevens must of gotten the third position. But with what invention? “How did he lose his position?”
“He was fired.” That was it. The tears came flooding out of both of our eyes. Hilde’s especially. I raced downstairs to find my Papa. He wasn’t there.
I looked but couldn’t find him. I started panicking. I almost collapsed. Then big strong arms enveloped me. I turned and looked at Papa’s watery blue eyes. He had been crying, but now we had each other.
Everything was going to be alright. Papa was here.
We separated after a few minutes. I wiped my tears from my face, “Papa, what happened? Why did they fire you?”
“Oh, Carls.” he said, “It was all my fault. I had lost the third place position to Stevens, and I just, I just got so angry, Carls. I ran at him and just started punching him. I don’t know what came over me, Carls. I really don’t. It was like something entered me and took control of my body. It was terrible!”
“It’s okay, Papa,” I told him, giving him a hug, “It’s okay.” But it wasn’t. Papa might think it was ridiculous, the presence that washed over him, but I knew better. My papa wouldn’t hurt a fly, literally!
But someone could take over Papa like that. The Dark One. But why? What would he achieve by ruining my fut-? Oh. Now I know. That evil guy. Saving my life, then ruining it! How could he be so evil?
I let go of Papa. “Okay, Papa,” I said, “I’m going to my room,”
“Okay, darling! You go. Ha det gøy. Have fun,”
“You too, Papa!” I said, as I climbed the stairs. I stepped inside my room, I smiled a watery smile at Hilde. “Hey, anything in Glamour?” I asked Hilde.
“Nah, some singer broke up with an actress, and is now dating a beautiful model. So nothing new.”
“I wish I was a celebrity! Jake is so lucky!” I said, wistfully.
“Actually, you wouldn’t,” Hilde said, surprising me. “According to this his mother’s business is doing badly! It says it lost like a million dollars! That’s a lot of cash!”
I gasped. “Oh no. That’s terrible! Poor Jake!”
“Oh, don’t worry!” Hilde reprimanded. Frowning at my lover girl tone. “I’m sure your boyfriend is fine!”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” I said, stubbornly.
“Whatever,” Hilde said, shaking her head. She turned the page. “Here it says they’re working extra hard to get sales up. Apparently the Dad is gonna campaign, to try to save the business.”
“I’ve gotta go!” I told Hilde, “Jake might need me!”
“Whatever.” Hilde said, bored. “Have fun with lover boy.”
I didn’t bother correcting her; it would prove to be fruitless. Instead, I yelled a ‘bye!’ and raced down the stairs. “Papa!” I yelled, “I’m going out to see Jake, okay?”
“Okay, but be back in time for dinner!” He yelled back. I checked my watch, 6:21. Dinner was at six-thirty. That gave me nine minutes. I wielded a water surf board, and manipulated it to take me straight to Jake’s house. No one looked up. No one saw me.
I nodded a ‘hello’ to Jake’s security guard and waited impatiently for him to open the gate. I sprinted up the driveway to the front door. I knocked impatiently.
“Mom? Dad? Is that you?” Jake sounded excited, even ecstatic at the possibility. He opened the door. “Oh. It’s just you.”
“You know, I can just sprint back where I came from.” I folded my arms and gave him a dirty look for his rudeness.
“No, no, Carly!” he said immediately. “I was just expecting somebody else. That’s all”
“Whatever,” I said, still angry. “Well, you won’t be seeing anyone. Haven’t you heard?”
“Heard what?” he sounded confused.
“Your mom’s company lost a million bucks, so they’re trying to get it back. They’re campaigning.”
“Oh,” he sounded sad. “That makes sense. Well, do you want to come in?”
I checked my watch. 6:28. “No,” I told him, “I have to go to dinner,”
“Oh, okay then. Bye.” he gave a pathetic little wave.
“Bye.” I turned around and started sprinting. Once his giant house was out of view, I wielded a water board again, and zipped away.
No one looked up. No one saw me.
Darryl
XXVIII
I punched again and again. I pounded the pillow with my furious blows.
Tomorrow was Friday. Or as it was more commonly known as here, Wrestling Day. Or Wrestday, for short.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a fighter. But now here was the perfect opportunity for me to pound Sanjit’s smug smile into the floor! I’ll make him pay for what he did to Carlos and I. Mark my words.
I landed another blow on the pillow, before Carlos walked in. “Hi Darryl! Whatcha doing?”
“Eating chocolate.” I said, replying to one of Carlos’ favourite jokes.
“Where d’you get it?” he asked, a big smile on his face.
“My doggy dropped it.” He laughed so much that I had to laugh too, despite the stupidity of the lame joke. Carlos’ laugh was contagious.
“Darryl, look at my painting of my teacher! It’s all done!”
“Wow.” I said, as he held up a picture of his teacher. He had used the colour blue to create her face. Many different shades and tints of blue, gave way to the delicate features of her face. The long sloping nose. The big eyes. The curly hair. Carlos was brilliant! “So you’re going to give it to her tomorrow at school?” I asked.
“Uh-huh!” he said, n
odding his head happily. “And then I’m going to watch your awards ceremony!”
“That would be great!” I tell him. “Are you going to cheer me on?”
“Yes!” he said. Furiously nodding his head and jumping around. “I will, I will, I will!”
“That’s good.” I say, ruffling his hair a bit. He shook his head, to get the tangled mop of curls back in place. He smiled a big, fat, goofy smile. “And then, you’ll get adopted and go to the beach for summer! Every single day!”
This made him go serious. “Only if you promise you’ll come too.”
I nodded. “I wouldn’t dream of missing it!” I lied.
“Yay!” he yelled, and started dancing around the room. He jumped on bunks and I laughed as I got off my own bunk to join him.
“Hey!” yelled a voice. ‘Stop making that racket!” We turned to see Michael Scott yell at us. Michael was six-feet tall, with muscles the size of oranges. He had black hair and brown eyes. He wore a tank top and jeans. All in all, he was one scary dude!
Carlos started whimpering and gave Michael the puppy eyes. He made his lip tremble. Carlos wasn’t only good at painting, he was good at all arts. Singing, acting and drawing included.
Michael’s eyes turned soft. “Oh, alright, continue, but be quiet!”
Carlos and I smiled at each other, and restarted our bouncing on the bunk game. Though a notch quieter. Michael smiled and shook his head, as he closed the door.
A few minutes later, Carlos got bored, so we decided to go watch TV. People were already watching it, but luckily Carlos’ trick also worked on them.
That’s why we were watching Spongebob until dinner was ready. We thankfully made our way to the table. Carlos sings well, but even he can’t make the Spongebob theme song sound good. It was impossible!
Today was Thursday, so we had a buffet to eat. I looked over the options carefully and finally decided on a chicken drumstick, some fried rice and some spicy sauce. Carlos copied everything I did. He even chose Sprite, though he hates it. I felt sorry for him, and swapped it for a Fanta. He smiled at me gratefully.
We sat down at our own private table. Sanjit, Matt and Jerry were sitting at their own table. Sanjit threw m some dirty looks. I returned the favour.
“You know, Darryl,” said Carlos. “mi abuela says that if you make a nasty face and the wind changes, you’ll be stuck like that forever!”
“Okay.” I said, distracted. “But, Carlos, there is no wind in here.”
“Oh.” he said, surprised. “I knew that.”
I smiled at him and tucked into my food. It was great. The spicy sauce was the best! Carlos followed my lead. Except the spice was too much for him. He began panting and desperately waved his hand in front of his mouth. “Drink, Carlos,” I told him. “Drink.”
He grabbed his glass and took a shaky drink. After a while his grip becomes solid. “Aah. That’s better!” He wiped his mouth, then took the chicken and dipped it in the spicy sauce. I rolled my eyes in humour as he began his panting-drinking-sighing-restart all over again. He did this for the rest of dinner. I laughed and eye-rolled the entire time.
After dinner, Carlos begs me for a story. I laugh and he drags me to his room.
I open the book The Ugly Duckling, clear my throat and begin.
“It was glorious summer weather in the country, and the golden corn, the green oats, and the haystacks piled up in the meadows looked lovely…”
It went like that for a while. Soon, as we reached the climax, Carlos’ eyes began to feel sleepy. I folded the top of the page, even though you’re not supposed to do that, and closed the book.
“Is it over?” Carlos asked.
“Yes, that’s enough for tonight,” I tell him. He doesn’t argue. “You have a big day tomorrow! Get some sleep, night!” I patted his head and stroked the curls away from his face. He gave me a sleepy smile.
“Noche, Darryl,” He yawns, stretched, then pulls the blanket over him. He curls up like a ball, and closes his eyes.
I smile at him, and leave his room. He had a room to himself. So lucky.
I sigh and climb into bed. I open my Lord of the Rings and continued from where I had stopped. I was almost done with the book.
The Men of Bree were brown-haired, broad, and rather short, cheerful and independent: they belonged to nobody but themselves; but they were more friendly and familiar with Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves, and other inhabitants of the world about them than was (or is) usual with Big People. According to their own tales they were the original inhabitants and were the descendants of the first Men that ever wandered into the West of the middle-world.
“GO TO BED! YOU GOOD FOR NOTHINGS!!!” yelled the meaner, Mr Browne. “NOW!!”
I folded my page and closed the book. I pulled the blanket over me. After a while I kicked it off of me. This heat was getting to me worse than anyone else. I struggled to find a comfortable position. I failed.
In the end, I just took my pillow and walked to Carlos’ room. He had loads of empty bunks.
I lay on an empty one and fell asleep.
Harrison
XXIX
I groaned. The dinner party had been lame! I don’t know what Mum was so scared about! I mean the guy was short, with curly blond hair and a pot belly! So, not so intimidating or important. He had amber eyes, that looked at me as if regarding trash. I had to bite down the retort that came to my mouth.
But that was two days ago, now it was the day of the Awards Ceremony! I was happy for an unexpected, yet expected reason: I wasn’t winning any prizes, except for math, yet it was the last day of school!
I reluctantly placed a buttoned blue shirt and jeans on. I wore my Nikes. I made a worthless attempt to comb my hair; it only made my hair poofy.
I went downstairs and helped myself to some ready-made pancakes. I squirted on honey and chocolate sauce.
My sister came racing down. She wore a gold dress that came up to her knees. On her feet she wore a pair of black sandals. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, with curls hanging off her face.
Tessa was especially excited today. Not only did she love summer, but she was winning a prize in math and french. I was slightly jealous.
She ate a light breakfast of fruit and milk. She claimed she didn’t want to puke on stage. It was true. Tessa puked when she was happy. That girl is weird!
Mum came down in a bathrobe. She took hold of our faces and squeezed our cheeks. She leaned in to kiss us. “Eurgh! mum!” I complained, pushing her face away.
“My little babies are all grown up,” she said. Tears sparkled in her eyes. “I’m so happy!”
“Thanks, mummy!” Tessa said, reaching in to peck mum’s cheek.
I finished my pancakes, wiped my mouth and went upstairs. I pressed the button impatiently. The elevator was stuck on my floor. I watched, while tapping my feet, as the letters went from ‘A’ to ‘2’ to ‘1’ to ‘G’. I instantly went in the elevator.
Just as the doors were closing, Tessa came zooming out of nowhere. She pressed the button (she knew I wouldn’t open the door voluntarily), and stepped inside.
I watched the buttons change from ‘G’ to ‘1’ to ‘2’. The elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Tessa got out.
I tapped my knee, bored, as I waited to go up the extra floor.
The ding signified the end of my long wait. I quickly grabbed my bag from my room-but it was too late. The elevator was already going down to the ground floor. I wasn’t in the mood to wait again, so I decided to take the stairs.
I sprinted down, two feet at a time, but decided to keep my hand on the banister. I felt that at the speed I was going I would fall over myself, and end up rolling down the staircase. I made it to the bottom floor in five minutes. Not bad.
I waited for the bus, on the curb, a few minutes away from my house. I hated getting to school in the family car. I prefered the liveliness of the school bus. Of course, at first everyone was deathly silent when I entered the bus for the first time. But
a few weeks later, the noise had gone back to normal.
The bus pulled up a few minutes late. I got in quickly-the driver looked like he was in a bad mood, and I didn’t want to ruin the day.
After stopping four more times, the bus finally made it’s way towards campus. I felt like I had the day my life changed. That horrible Monday that changed my life. I remembered my happiness that day. I felt it today too. I don’t know why.
It was as if someone briefly inhabited my body and forced it to be happy. Nothing could change my mood. Not the storm clouds gathering in the sky, not the sound of birds flapping their wings in a desperate attempt to escape the rain, not even the nervous chatter of the students. Nope, nothing could ruin my mood.
We all take our appropriate seats. Award-winning students at the front, the rest at the back. No matter where we were seated it was all in alphabetical order.
I gave Jake a thumbs-up from my seat behind him. He smiles weirdly. Carly sits a few seats away from him, and every now and then, his eyes flash over to her. I smirk.
Darryl is seated at the very edge of the second row. The ‘g’ last names should have sat there, but because of his many awards, he had to sit at the edge to make it easier to collect his prizes.
Soon, the seats were all filled in, with the parents standing at the back, most held cameras or phones.
After a few minutes, Mrs Kaminski came on stage. She tapped the microphone a bit, “Testing…One...Two… Welcome! Parents, teachers, students, family and friends! Welcome to this year’s Award Ceremony!” She paused to allow the applause to die down a bit. “As I’m sure you all know, today is a day we have chosen to award the students whom have out beaten the rest. These students, I hope, have taken their study time and doubled it. Or you’re like Darryl and came first with half of it!” The audience laughed. “I don’t want to bore you to death before the awards, so here’s to our eighth grade winners!” The audience applauded.
Ms Roberts, the eighth grade representative teacher, walked onto stage. She took out some cards, and grabbed the microphone. “First place prize in Grade Eight, first math prize, first English prize, first history prize, first geography prize, first…”
The Super 4 : Dark Death Page 13