| |
Principal Murdock and Mrs. Lambert thought the entire school needed a psychology session and they pirated our entire morning to discuss the death of Mr. Sanchez. As the student body filtered into the auditorium, I slipped away from the crowd and snuck into the computer lab. The whir of the computer filled the room and I kept checking the hallway for Sam, the school’s security guard, sure I was going to get busted at any moment.
Google turned out to be a dead end. Yahoo wasn’t any better and Ask.com just sucked balls. All I found on the internet were references to movies, gaming, myths and hearsay, nothing concrete and certainly nothing that had to do with people actually seeing reapers.
The shuffling of kids in the hallway drew my attention away from the computer and I flipped the switch, shutting the computer down before high-tailing it out of the room as fast as I could. All I needed was my mother to find out I skipped the assembly to research reapers.
Julia caught up with me in the hallway. “The principal is looking for you,” she whispered in my ear and threaded her arm around mine, steering me away from the auditorium exodus.
“Why?”
“He wanted you to stand up in the auditorium. I think he was going to thank you or something but when you didn’t stand, his face turned red and he kind of laughed it off, but I could tell he was pissed.”
The rest of the day, I avoided the office and any time I saw Principal Murdock, I turned the opposite direction. I thought the bus looked good yesterday, but today it signaled freedom and the start of the weekend. I smiled at Julia when she slid into the seat with me.
“Thanks for the warning this morning.”
“Anytime,” she said and flashed her sweet smile in my direction. “What are you doing this weekend?”
“I need to go to the library to finish my book report,” I said and looked away from her. She didn’t know I already finished the assignment last weekend.
“Do you mind if I come with you?”
I turned back to her, unsure of how to answer, but her brown eyes melted my resolve and I swallowed the lie, smiling and nodding. As much as I needed to research the mysterious dark figures I kept seeing, I also needed to spend some time with her. “Sure, I’ll call you when I’m ready to go.”
Her arm laced through mine and she leaned her head on my shoulder for the remainder of the ride, content to let silence settle between us. I kissed the top of her head, thankful for her attention and tolerance and closed my eyes, lulled to sleep by the hum of the engine and comfort of her sweet scent.