“Nick Carter!”
Taylor’s kindergarten buddy buried his head under her arm.
Mrs. Shoen stormed over to the table and addressed him. “Is that appropriate behavior?”
Mrs. Shoen’s lean six foot frame was very intimidating if you didn’t know her. One of the nicest teachers on campus, she was an avid volleyball player and workout freakaholic. The prevailing theory was that she could take Mr. Winkler, the gym teacher and an Iron Man champion, in an MMA fight.
Nick looked sheepishly up at her. “No, Mrs. Shoen.”
“What do I expect?” her voice rang out clearly.
“To treat people with respect, so I can get respect.” He said.
Mrs. Shoen nodded. She patted him on the head, “Now, do you have something to say to Taylor?”
“I’m sorry Taylor.” His voice very low. “Are you still my friend?”
Taylor’s green eyes became teary as she hugged him, “Of course, Nick.”
Mrs. Shoen nodded, winked at us and we moved on. She instituted the buddy program when the school opened. She was also the behavior specialist for the school, if you hadn’t figured that out, but what sets her mostly apart from the rest of the teachers are her flip flops. It could be snowing, raining or a beautiful day, and she will always have her flip flops on. I’m surprised she hasn’t lost any of her toes.
We found some open seats, nodded to the other seniors sitting there, and Brooke looked around.
“Who you looking for?” I put my backpack down, fished out the note and opened it. “Seriously?” I flipped the note at her. “A flower?”
Brooke winked. “I just wanted to see if I could make you look. Mission accomplished.”
“You are such a bitch.” I crumpled the note and looked at the menu on the table.
Each day the menu was completely different. Since today was our holiday lunch, the school went all out: turkey, stuffing, glazed ham, which was more expensive, and all the trimmings. My stom ach growled.
“Christian.”
“Christian Cameron?”
“Of course, who else.” Brooke’s head moved like it was on a swivel.
Christian was one of the nicest and albeit more attractive senior boys, but shy beyond belief. “Probably sitting by himself.” I said. “Look over by the second grade table, he has a buddy.”
“I know!” Brooke stood up and peered over that way and then waved vigorously. I couldn’t see, but I’m sure he blushed. Brooke sat back down. “We’ll be going to prom together.”
“He won’t ask you.” I laughed.
“He won’t need to, I’ve got it all figured out.” Brooke’s blue eyes clouded over again with mischievousness. “That girl, his second grade buddy…”
I nodded.
“…well that is Anne Thomas’s little cousin, Catherine. She is going to be my go between. He’s been tutoring her in math, and I’ve already talked to her mom, and when he goes over to tutor her, I’m going to have a meal all planned out. I’ll wear my most seductive dress, showing ample cleavage, my wondrous blue hair all girlied up and when I come out of the kitchen, he’ll…”
“Screech hideously and run from the house.” A voice behind her said.
Standing behind Brooke were the rainbow twins: Jill Hotchkins and Katie Brown.
“Nice dream, Brooky Blue, but you have no chance.” Jill swung her overpriced, fake Gucci bag over her shoulder. She was dressed in a very tight shirt that emphasized her very small chest and a mini skirt that barely was within the dress code. Her clothes hung on an anorexic frame, and did little to flatter her chicken legs. She pouted her too thin lips into a bitchy grin.
“He’ll be going with me.”
Katie nodded in agreement. Her dark hair and mixed racial features made her face plump, her overlarge chest jiggle with her nod, and her clothes were more down to earth. Alone, she wasn’t that bad, but around Jill…major bitch.
Brooke laughed, which drew the attention of the senior table and most of the junior table. “With as many dicks that your mouth have been around, one -he’d catch something, two -he’s way too classy for a bitch like you, and three - your stuffing is sticking out the side of your shirt.”
I covered my mouth and several moans issued from the table. The reason they are called the rainbow twins was because of a little thing that happened at parties. Girls will put different colored lip stick on and give head to the boys, leaving the color around their dicks. There used to be four of them, but two were expelled from school, when they were caught giving head to two of the baseball players in the baseball dugout. Needless to say, the boys were expelled too, seeing as Mr. Resler doesn’t tolerate any breaking of the school’s rules. One of the boy’s parents tried to sue the school, but they lost, and then the regents sued the boy’s parents for defamation of character on the school and won. The money went into the general school fund. Neither the regents, nor Mr. Resler were afraid of parents. Guess that’s why the school had a ten year wait list.
“You blue haired bitch!” Jill fumed and stormed off while fiddling with her shirt.
Several of the seniors nodded to Brooke who returned them. You don’t mess with Brooke, she’ll tell it like it is and it usually isn’t very kind.
“Anyway, where was I…oh…”
“Ms. Wasabi?” Mr. Resler’s voice boomed.
Brooked closed her eyes. She drew a deep breath and then opened them as wide as they would go, making her look like some Manga character. “Yes, Mr. Resler?” she turned to him.
Mr. Resler walked up to our table. He had short, dark brown hair, cropped close to his scalp and a slight balding area showed through his brown hair. He had on a bright red tie, blue shirt and black pants. “Did I hear foul language coming from this table?”
“Why, no, Mr. Resler?” Brooke said shaking her head. “I was just elaborating on Jill’s inability to catch balls with anything other than her chin or forehead.” She explained in earnest. “I told her she might want to use her hands?” Brooke raised her hands in the act of catching a ball that one of the other seniors pretended to throw.
More stifled laughs echoed around the table.
“Uh, huh.” Mr. Resler narrowed his eyes. “And did you mention that she should wear a facemask, so they don’t leave marks?”
The table erupted in laughter.
My eyes grew so big, I thought they might pop out of my head.
“No, Mr. Resler, but I will mention it to her, if it comes up.”
More laughter.
“Please do that, outside of school time. We do have young children eating with us.” He inclined his head and sauntered off toward the buddy tables, but stopped and turned to us.
Brooke shook her head.
“Got lucky on that one, Brooke,” I told her. “He…”
“Ms. Wasabi, see Coach Winckler. Five laps for using the b-word.”
“I spoke to soon.”
“And try not to knock Ms. Hotchkins down this time, for she will be joining you.” He turned and then busied himself with the third grade buddy table.
Brooke sighed, but nodded. “Oh, she’ll see the dirt plenty.” We laughed and ate our lunch.
The rest of the day went pretty easily. After the lunch room fiasco, which went around the school in record time, I wondered off to the first and second grade hall for the after school program. Brooke went to see Coach Winkler to run her laps, as the bell rang for the 5th through Kindergarten classes to end. That was one of the cool things about Apollo Academy; the little kids go early and the middle and high school kids come late. All the classes after lunch were electives for the high school, while all the main core class were early. This worked well, because of sports and jobs. Since the school doesn’t charge tuition like many of the other Colorado charter schools, the administration tried to work with students as best they could. We have one of the best graduation rates in the country.
I walked into Mrs. Law’s class and sat down. Her second grade class was just finishing up
and as she let them go, several of the children ran over and hugged me. Those who were staying, started to push the desks back, as Mrs. Law helped the others with their coats and lined them up.
“Watch’em till I get back.” She said to me.
“Sure thing.” I told her as I started to pull out the games.
“One, two, three!” She commanded.
“All eyes on me!” The line replied.
“Everyone have a good holiday, and wish Ms. JJ a happy Christmas.”
“Happy Christmas, Ms. JJ.” The line chanted.
I waved and smiled. “You too guys.”
“Okay, hands to yourselves and let’s go.”
The children marched out of the room.
I turned to the rest of them. “What are we playing?” I asked.
“UNO!” They yelled.
“Fine.” The marathon Uno game commenced.
It was well past six o’clock when Brooke came in. She also helped with the after school kids, but she mostly with the kindergarteners. As usual she looked beat. Compliments abounded anytime Brooke was around the little ones, and most of the comments are about how she becomes one of them.
“Tired?” I said as she slumped down into one of the little chairs and plopped her blue haired head down on the table.
“Why am I cursed?” she whined.
“Cursed?” Mrs. Law said. She was just cleaning up. The last of her second graders had been picked up by a mom who had a late meeting and finished writing the next day’s plans on the smart board for after break. “Those kids love you!”
“That’s why I’m cursed!” she moaned into the table.
I laughed. “Well, guess you will make a great mom someday.”
Her head popped up. “No way. Best form of birth control out there. Babysitting.” She took a deep breath and her blue eyes lightened. “Coming tonight?”
I scrunched my nose. “Where?”
“The game of course. You haven’t been to one all season.” Brooke looked up at the clock. “Crap!” Jumping up, she rushed to the door. “Hades ice, seven, see you there. Go Valkyries!”
I nodded as she sprinted from the room. Brooke was the goalie for the boys’ ice hockey team. That is a story in itself, which I’ll get into later, but let’s just say, Brooke isn’t afraid of anything. Not even the regents. Brooke was a natural though. She seemed to be talented at everything she tried. I often wished I had that kind of talent.
“Why do they have a game on the night before Christmas break?” Mrs. Law said shaking her head.
I shrugged. “I don’t know. Well, have a great holiday break.”
Mrs. Law nodded and waved. “You to, JJ. Have fun.”
I waved and walked toward Apollo Hall. The sun had long set and I could see little snow devils blowing around outside from the hallway lights. I wondered how Brooke’s run outside went. Guess it wasn’t too bad, but I bet Jill froze.
As I turned out of the second grade hall and entered the main hallway that connected the front offices to the rest of the school, something in the corner caught my eye. I stopped and stared. The corner was dark. It struck me as strange at first, for the lighting in the school was usually very good. Mr. Resler believed it should be as bright inside as it was outside. But the longer I stared, the more unnerved I became. I couldn’t put my finger on it though. I guess I thought the shadow in the corner seemed different. It wasn’t like the light from the ceiling couldn’t penetrate the shadow. But more like the shadow was trying to hide in a shadow that wasn’t there to begin with.
Then something appeared to move and the hair on the back of my neck rose up. Two red eyes suddenly materialized within the shadow. I stepped back involuntarily as Ms. Pendragon came rushing down the stairs at the end of the hallway from the upper classrooms. The red eyes flashed with what appeared to be fear before disappearing like smoke on the wind. Upon seeing me, she stopped. In the hallway lights, her gray bangs stood out even more against her velvet black hair, and they seemed to glow. Looking back, the shadow was gone. The after image of the red eyes lingered, like a flash going off in your face. Light collected into the corner to illuminate it just as the architect had designed it to. Baffled, the hair on my neck remained at attention and I began to doubt I saw anything.
Ms. Pendragon slowly stalked over toward me. Her eyes shifted around the hall like a predator searching for the smallest movement of its prey. Her muscular frame moved easily along the hall. A feline gate that had made her the fantasy of many adolescent males and females who had her for class or saw her running on the Trail of Tears.
Her dark blue eyes lingered on the corner where I had imagined seeing the red eyes. As soon as she was within arm reach, her eyes turned from concern to interest and her beautiful smile graced her thin lips. She had on a modest gold turtle neck sweater that came to her elbows. The sweater’s sleeves didn’t cover the slight off color of her left arm that had a gray ash tint to it compared to her golden tanned skin. This gave her an even more exotic look that didn’t deter most of the boys from puffing their chests. To complete her outfit, she had on a pair of nice blue jeans and a pair of Wallace running shoes. She had been known to go running anytime the mood would take her and that included taking her class’s with her. Everyone knew to wear running shoes to class, and it didn’t matter if you were in a dress or nice clothes; if she wanted to run, you ran. One of the many quirky teachers we have here.
“Are you okay, JJ?” she asked. Her voice was a little rough, not like Miley Cyrus rough, but more refined, like a soft trombone playing the blues.
“Yes, Ms. Pendragon.” Though the feeling of uneasiness still lingered.
“Where are you going?”
I forced a smile. “I was headed to my locker, then over to Hades Ice for the game. And you? I thought most of the teachers were long gone.”
A knowing look came into her eyes. “Is Brooke in goal?”
“Of course. Coach Winckler wouldn’t have anyone else in goal. Not against Valor High School.” I laughed. “He’s not going to let them beat us.”
Ms. Pendragon nodded in agreement. “Very true. I’m headed to Apollo Hall, need some company?”
I blinked back my surprise. “Sure,” looking back at the corner. I still felt a little uneasy, and I’m not usually uncomfortable about things, but for some reason I didn’t want to walk the hallways alone. Ms. Pendragon made one final glance back at the corner and then we turned and walked away.
Apollo Hall was on the far side of the second grade hall. The school was shaped like a seven story pentacle. Each side housed a different grade. If you were to stand the pentacle up on one end, the two lower triangles would make its legs. The elementary school would be the two lower triangles, with the middle school being the two outer triangles; seven and eighth grade on the left side and ninth housed on the right. The high school filled out the top triangle with tenth through twelfth. An outer ring encompassed the pentacle allowing you to walk all the way around to reach each of the areas. The outer ring held the elective classes and the administration. The only open portion of the school was the middle. This held the playground for the elementary kids, and the amphitheater for performances and graduation. The kids use the amphitheater as a gathering place for each grade. The amphitheater held nine rings of seating. The bottom ring and floor were reserved for seniors only. Anyone foolish enough to venture down to the bottom rings were met with open ridicule and hostile threats. Even the boyfriends or girlfriends of the seniors, who were underclassmen, ventured there with caution. The eighth and seventh rings were for the juniors; sixth and fifth rings for the sophomores; forth and third rings for the freshman; second ring for the eighth graders, and the first ring for the seventh graders. Each grade had a sphere of influence that was respected by all the other classes and none ventured into each other’s territory.
Ms. Pendragon and I walked along the outer ring towards the back of the school, while the athletic complex came into view. Unlike the school, the sports comp
lex harkened back to ancient Rome, and could have easily been mistaken for a Roman town. The football stadium was like a miniature coliseum upon entering. The ice rink’s façade was designed with columns running its length, a cobble stone path paralleled the columns, which led you to the tennis courts that were on the north side with the lacrosse and practice fields. On the south side was the baseball field that was also used as the little kids’ soccer field much to the annoyance of the baseball coaches.
Despite its ancient look and feel, the athletic complex was a state of the art money making machine. Two full rinks with exceptional seating was the bread and butter of the school and the envy of the state. They were in use twenty hours a day every day except on Sundays, when maintenance was completed. State of the art solar and wind turbines provided the electricity for the ball fields, the twelve tennis courts, natatorium, the ice rinks and the small restaurant that was the centerpiece of the complex.
Plenty of parking separated the main school from the sports complex, which was why most of the state tournaments were held here. The front gate that led you off of Broadway Ave., had a little guard station to check incoming visitors known as the West Bunker. Every upper classmen had to work one semester in the morning, afternoon or evening; it was part of their community service hours for the school. When the main gate was closed after hours, there was a gate on the south side with a guard shack, known as the South Bunker, to let people into the sports complex off of Dry Creek Rd. Since Apollo Academy didn’t charge its students, the revenue generated by the ice rinks and the natatorium kept the school in the black, along with generous contributions from Sean Donahue, CEO and Co-founder of Alien Inscriptions Technologies. Because of that, those monies made the school independent of donors and the assumed obligations that came with those donations. This made the school a place of learning instead of politics.
Dragon Amour (Dragon-Half Breed Book 1) Page 2