by R. T. Martin
“Claire! Claire!” Cooper was running down the hall. “I’ve been asking around today, but no one remembers anything. No one remembers Val or the pins or anyone disappearing. It’s crazy!”
“Maybe it’s best that they don’t remember,” Claire said. “I kind of wish I didn’t.”
“I know what you mean,” Cooper said. “It’s just so weird.”
“You love weird.”
“I love fake weird, like movies. This is real weird.” Some of Claire’s books were about to fall out of her locker. Cooper stopped them and shoved them back into their place. “Emma doesn’t remember anything either?” Cooper asked.
“I haven’t talked to her yet,” Claire said.
“Did I hear my name?” It was Emma. “Did you get the extra credit assignment done?” she asked Claire.
Claire pulled it out of a folder and handed it to Emma. She looked through it for a moment. “Very nice. You’ll definitely pass with this.” She handed it back.
“What do you remember about going to the bluffs?” Cooper asked Emma as Claire was gathering her stuff and started walking to science class.
“We went up to watch a meteor shower,” said Emma. “Claire was freaked out about it, like something would go wrong, but obviously everything turned out fine. Then you got it in your head to start telling monster stories, which was incredibly annoying, but that’s the only bad thing that happened.”
Cooper looked at Claire. He wanted to tell Emma what really happened, but Claire shook her head.
“Actually, something good happened,” Emma continued. “We made a new friend.” She turned toward Emma. “Or did you forget about Penny? She’s really nice. In fact, I was thinking we should ask her to come see a movie with us this week.” She held up a finger in front of Cooper’s face. “Not Alien Wrath.”
“Yeah,” Cooper said. “I don’t think I want to see that anymore.”
They had reached Mr. Petsky’s room. “See you guys at lunch?” Claire asked.
“You know it,” Cooper said, smiling back at her.
Claire walked in the room. Mr. Petsky was sitting at his desk, looking over some papers. Claire came up to him and handed over her extra credit assignment. “Here you go,” she said. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
He looked through it for a moment and said, “Well done. As long as you study hard for the next test, you’ll be just fine.” He gave her an approving smile, and she grinned back, breathing a sigh of relief. “Take your seats, everyone. Class is about to start.”
Claire sat down and opened her book to the chapter she knew they were studying today.
“All right, everyone!” Mr. Petsky stood up in front of the class. “Before we get to today’s lesson, we have one order of business that needs to be taken care of. I know it’s late in the year, but we have a new student joining us.” He gestured to a student that Claire didn’t recognize, sitting by the window in the desk that used to be Val’s. “This is John. He’ll be in this class for the rest of the term.”
Claire studied John. She saw something on his left arm—something she recognized. A tattoo.
About the Author
R. T. Martin lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. When he is not drinking coffee or writing, he is busy thinking about drinking coffee and writing. He is left-handed and has made exactly one good tiramisu.