by Bryan Mosier
Bryan never really knew or not if he actually hated Steve. Hate, he thought, was a very strong word and as much as that day burned in his memory, he still didn’t know if he was capable of hating someone. If he did have that capacity,he knew that Steve Warnock would be at the top of his hate list. Looking into the face of this undead version of his high school nemesis, Bryan couldn’t help but study the awkwardness of his features, now exaggerated by decay. His sunken cheeks were even more depressed into his face. His prominent nose was now shriveled and a boney shadow of its former self. His perfect teeth were now yellowed and surrounded by blackened gums. His perfectly quaffed hair now mussed and dirty.
“Not looking so good these days Steve. You not feeling well?” said Bryan as he tightened his grip on his beloved floor scraper’s rubber gripped handle. “Let me see if I can help you out.” With that Bryan brings the floor scraper swinging in a wide arch, catching the zombie Steve Warnock in the knees and sending his lanky, undead form crashing to the yellow pinewood floor of the gymnasium.
Standing over the writhing corpse that was once the person he despised more than anyone in life, Bryan pauses for a moment and with a gentle harrumph adds“Rubbish”. Drawing himself up to his full height, with two hands he lifts the floor scraper high above his head and brings it down with all his strength planting the razor edge of the weapon firmly into the forehead of the writhing form of the undead Steve Warnock, holding on tight until the necrotic form falls motionless. With his need for vengeance now satiated, Bryan pulls the blade from the forehead of the rotting form and turns to the crowd of walking undead and says“Whose next?”
Chapter 27
Looking over the crowd of undead athletes, Alex finds himself in a confused emotional state. He knows in his heart that he should hold some kind of animosity for these creatures because they were once a perpetual source of personal indignities. Looking into their dead eyes, now he’s not sure what he feels. Antipathy? Disinterest? Would destroying these brainless monstrosities really make any difference in the grand scheme of things? What’s done is done. Let the past stay in the past he thinksto himself. Looking through the crowd of shuffling bodies Alex catches a brief glimpse of a face that immediately changes how he feels. Lost in the crowd, way in the back, Alex sees the unmistakable face of Marcus Middleton. “You son of a bitch” says Alex, not really meaning to say it out loud but glad to put the thought into words.
Marcus Middleton was one of those kids that always got what he wanted. His mom and dad had divorced when he was in middle school and ever since his mom tried to give him whatever he wanted to keep him happy. Being the little sociopath that he was, he took advantage of her guilt and used it to make everyone else feel like they were somehow lesser than him. If you got a new bike, he got one better. If you got a new pair of sneakers, he got a pair that cost twice as much. He was always looking to one up everyone else and his mom’s willingness to feed his ego just made it worse. So, what’s a boy to do when he can have whatever material things he ever dreamed of? Well he moves on to people that’s what.
Physically Marcus was average at best. Average height. Average build. Average looks. The only really distinguishable characteristic was his stupid haircut. Looking like a pile of jet black strands of silk that had been blown to one side, his hair might have looked like something that could have come from a character out of one of the manga comics that Alex like to read if it weren’t for the bowl shaped indention created by any one of the many stupid baseball caps he always wore tilted to one side. Marcus made up for his averageness by always having the best of everything. Nothing demonstrated this more than the first day of school junior year when Marcus, having gotten his license over the summer pulls into school driving a brand new Dodge Challenger. Alex had to admit, it was a pretty sharp car. Solid black with custom alloy rims it was a machine that any teenager would kill to have and Marcus made sure to let everyone know who it belonged to. That damn car. That was the start of it all.
Junior year had started out pretty much like every other year. New classes and new teachers but the same dumb ass students to make life miserable, but about three weeks into the school year a pleasant surprise arrived at the school. Alex had first period as an office aid and when the tall thirty something blonde walked in the door he took notice. The lady, with a matching pair of prominent crow’s feet accentuated by an way to leathery to be healthy tanned complexion she still had managed to hang on to enough of her youthful looks to still be considered somewhat attractive. With the school secretary taking one of her many breaks out back smoking with the custodian, it was left to Alex to see what she wanted.
“How may I help you ma’am?” he asked, trying to sound as cordial and professional as possible.
“Ugh, don’t call me ma’am sugar. Old ladies are ma’ams. I need to enroll my daughter. We just moved here and she needs to get in school as soon as possible.”
“Oh, um, well Vicky, the secretary, she’ll need to take care of that for you. If you could wait she should be back in a bit.”
With an audible sigh the long legged lady that Alex after further examination had already upgraded to a grade A level M.I.L.F.simply replied“I ain’t got time for this sugar. Here, just take all of this stuff and I’ll be back to get her at the end of the day” she said as she handed over a stack of papers that were presumably her daughter’s records from her previous school.
“Um, I don’t think that’s…” he started but before he could finish she was at the office door yelling“Hey, c’mon, get in here. C’mon, I ain’t got all day” andwith that Alex’s world changed in the span of a heartbeat. When the petite little dark haired girl with the thick rimmed glasses came walking through the door, Alex was instantly transfixed. With her freckled cheeks, dark brown eyes and thin pink lips that seemed to be permanently pursed in an expression of anxious tension she wasn’t the ideal image of feminine beauty that he was always looking at on the cover of the magazines in the checkout lines when he went to by his Magic cards at the Al-mart on the hill but something about her had him mesmerized. Maybe it was the odd pairing of her vintage Sex Pistols t-shirt with a somewhat worn knitted sweater with matching beanie toboggan that wrapped tightly around her head making her hair jut out at odd angles around her ears that glimmered with metal from multiple piercings. Or was it the way she wore her faded capris pants with knee high striped socks and high top Chuck Taylors that she had apparently hand decorated with Sharpie markers in some weird type of abstract designs. No, he thought, thinking back to that day, it was the timid way she entered the room, cautiously taking in the scene before fully committing to come in. He knew that look because it was the same way he felt when he had to go into an unfamiliar place. Be cautious. Take it all in. Spot the potential threats. Have an exit plan in case you can’t handle the stress of the situation. That look told him that this girl was a kindred spirit.
“Um, hi” he said trying to sound as delightful as possible to set her at ease.
“Okay, so I’ve gottago meet some people sugar so you stay here and this nice little fella will take care of you. I’ll pick you up around…uh…what time is school over?”
“Oh, uh the last bell rings at three but the buses will have the whole parking lot blocked until about three twenty or so” explained Alex with a smile, trying to still seem friendly and helpful.
“Okaysugar, I’ll be here around three thirty or so…bye.” And with that the tall blonde lady was out the door.
“Um, I’m gonna guess that was you’re mom?” said Alex with a consoling smile on his face.
“Step mom” came the mouse like response as the freckle faced girl stared at her multicolored shoes that contrasted the starkness of the white tile floors.
“Oh, well…she seems nice” said Alex trying not to let the sarcasm in his voice be too noticeable.
Looking up from her feet the girl gave hima knowing smile as if to say she understood what he was saying.“My name is Jeanie…Jeanie Andrews”
“Nice to meet you Jeanie, my name’s Alex”
And with that the two youngsters started a conversation that would last the rest of first period. They talked about where Jeanie had moved from and what her dad did and how she got along with her step mother. It turned out Jeanie was an avid video gamer and had even played Dungeons and Dragons a couple of times but, she had to admit, didn’t really understand it that well. Alex was shocked when the bell rang for classes to change having lost all track of the time. Vicky the secretary still hadn’t come back from her break and it was time for Alex to go on to his second period class but he didn’t want to leave Jeanie all alone in the office.
“Hey, how about I take you on a tour of the school?” he suggested.
“Don’t you have to go to class?” asked Jeanie, trying not to let the fear of being left alone show in her voice.
“Nah, the teachers around here love me. C’mon, I’ll show you.” And with that Alexgrabbed a yellow plastic card labeled“Office Pass” and lead Jeanie out into the halls of the school, stopping off at his second period class to check in with his teacher Mrs. Branaham to let her know what he was doing.
“Hey Mrs. B. We got a new student and I’m showing her the school. Is it okay?” he asked as he flashed the yellow hall pass.
“Okaybut be sure to get today’s assignment and have it done by tomorrow” came the stern reply from the frumpy old English teacher.
“Sure thing. Thanks Mrs. B.”
And with that Alex and Jeanie had the run of the school for at least the next hour. Alex walked her all over the school stopping at each door to look in at the full classes and teachers whom Alex would give a detailed evaluation of so that Jeanie might know which classes to take and which to avoid. Stopping off at the art room, Alex made sure to spend extra time there so that Jeanie could meet Mr. Carroll, the art teacher because he was one of Alex’s favorite teachers in the building. Mr. C as the kids called him never got angry and never had to raise his voice. He was soft spoken by nature and was one of the kindest teachers in the building. More than any other teacher in the school, Alex knew that if he needed someone to talk to, Mr. Carroll was the one person he could go to for advice. The look on Jeanie’s eyes when she entered the room was one of pure excitement. Looking around the room with its painted ceiling tiles the environment was electric. Students were talking and moving about working on all sorts of wonderful projects. In one corner a boy was modeling clay into what looked like some sort of mythological monster and on the other side of the room a girl was at an easel painting what looked like an abstract representation of a person but with large metallic wings while yet another student was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room doing some type of project with paper mache’. The only word that Jeanie could get out through the ear to ear grin on her face was“Wow”.
With a smile of his own Alex just looked at her and said“Yeah, I know.”
Reluctantly he led her out of the art room and on through the rest of the school making sure she knew where all of the restrooms were and which ones were the best to use if you wanted to avoid the kids who used them as their own personal smoke break rooms. Making their way up and down stairs they passed the cafeteria where Alex informed Jeanie that she was lucky to come in today because it was spaghetti day and the lunch ladies made the best bread sticks. Turning down the hall Alex stopped suddenly.
“What is it?” asked Jeanie.
“Oh, it’s nothing. That’s just the way to the gym is all. Have you had PE yet?”
“Yeah, when I was a freshman…but I failed.”
“You failed PE? How do you fail PE?” he asked trying not to sound too judgmental.
“I guess I’m just not athletic” came the timid response with an accompanying, almost mischievous grin.
“Me neither. I guess you’ll have to take it. Don’t worry though, coach Johnson is the PE teacher. He gives all the pretty girls passing grades whether they do anything or not.”
Seeing the redness fill her cheeks, Alex realized what he had just said and immediately his nerd gene activated. Feeling his palms start to sweat and his throat tighten, every word that he tried to say came out in a broken, stuttered mess. Trying to salvage the situation he could only muster a quick“Um, let’s go see if Vicky is back yet.” And with that they went back to the office. Sure enough, Vicky was back from her break and the office was now bathed in a fresh new aromaof lilac to cover the smell of cigarettes that Vicky had brought back with her. Alex introduced Jeanie to Vicky and explained the situation making sure that Vicky had all the paper work that Jeanie’s step mom had left. Vicky, looking a little perturbed at Alex for using the office hall pass without permission told him to head on to class and that she would take care of Jeanie. Giving Jeanie a shy smile Alex reluctantly left her with Vicky and went on to class.
For the rest of the day Alex was pretty much useless in class. He couldn’t stop thinking about Jeanie. He had memorized every detail of how she dressed, how she walked, how she smiled. Each time classes changed he would look to try to catch a glimpse of her in the hallways but never did see her. When he walked in his classes he would scan the room to see if by some miracle she had been placed in a class with him but as each period came and went there was no sign of her. When the bell rang at three o’clock for the school day to end, Alex collected his things and started the trek out to his bus. Walking pastthe office he looked in through the large glass windows and there, sitting on one of the faded maroon metal chairs for visitors was Jeanie looking timid and afraid just as she did when he first saw her earlier that morning. Poking his head in the door he said“Uh, hey stranger. Why you still in here?”
Looking up from her feet Jeanie immediately smiled at the sound of his familiar voice.
“My paper work wasn’t complete. Something about vaccination records or something. They won’t let me enroll‘til they have them so I had to just sit here until my old school faxes them.”
“So you’ve been in here all day? That had to suck.”
“It wasn’t too bad. I saw a lot of interesting people come and go.”
“So you’re a people watcher too?”
“People watcher?” replied Jeanie, not really understanding what Alex meant.
“A people watcher. You watch people as they go about their business. I like to try to figure out what their life is like. Who they are. What they do. What kind of personality I think they have.”
“You do that too. I thought I was the only one.”
Laughing, Alex takes a seat next to Jeanie and together they watch the students as they move about. One small kid went rushing by in a panic born from the fear of missing his bus and immediately Jeanie looked at Alex and together they agreed“freshman.” Some kids milled about obviously waiting on their parents to arrive while others, they could see, were walking down the hall towards to doors at the end.
“Where are they going?” asked Jeanie.
“Oh, down that way is where the student parking lot is. They probably drive.”
“Wow, at my old school students weren’t allowed to drive.”
Watching the juniors and seniors walk down the hall toward the student parking lot, that was when it started. That was the beginning of the end of this happy friendship. There, walking with his cadre of like-minded miscreants was one Marcus Middleton. What it was about him Alex wasn’t sure but when Jeanie asked“Who’s that?” Alex felt a pit in his stomach start to form. He wanted to tell her to stay away from him and that Marcus was a sure fire sociopath destined to spend time behind bars for one heinous crime or another but, not wanting to come across as a judgmental douche himself he just said“Oh, that’s Marcus.” And with that he immediately tried to change the conversation.
“So, when did your mom…sorry, step-mom, say that she would be here to get you.”
“She said three-thirty but if I know her it’ll be more like four-thirty or five. She’s never on time. What time will your ride be here?” she asked.
&n
bsp; As if punched in the stomach the shock of what she said hit Alex hard. Having been completely lost in his conversation with Jeanie, he had forgotten that he needed to actually get to his bus. Looking out the windows to the front of the school Alex could see the line of buses starting to slowly lurch forward.
“Crap, I gottago” he said as he jumped to his feet and collected his things. “I gottacatch my bus.” He said,feeling embarrassed by the admission that he had to rely on such a pedestrian mode of transportation.“You gonna be alright here by yourself?” He asked as he shuffled towards the door.
Looking a little bit like a stranded kitten on the roadside, Jeanie just said“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. My step-mom willbe here. You go on.”
“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.” And with that Alex rushed out the door and down the front driveway of the school to the taunts and jeers from the other students as he frantically ran along the line of slowly moving buses until finally reaching his bus, number sixty-two. Being greeted with a stern look from the bus driver for the momentary disruption, Alex walked the gauntlet of snickering and laughing faces as he made his way to the back of the bus where Bryan and Justin were sitting with confused looks on their faces.