Disclaimer: A bunch of the characters weren't created by me; they were created by K.A. Applegate. The others, though, are my own. Sorry, but I guess I have a messed up mind. Oh, no. I just know a lot of really messed up people. Jordan is real. ~Now I'm really crying.~
I wrote a sequel. Trust me, I didn't mean to. But I had to explain why Mel is the way Mel is. It isn't that bad- it actually has a plot. Compared to some of the stuff I've written, that's an improvement!
Please read and review.
Anyway, on with the story...
Chapter 1
I went to school. Just another day with a bunch of airheads and people who can't think without looking in the back of the book. Oh, and don't forget the freaks. That pretty much describes everyone at my school. Except for me, that is.
I don't know which category I fall into. I know I'm not an airhead. I mean, I'm in Honors English, for crying out loud. I've had to lower my writing technique to write this for you. Not to get off the subject, but I've been voted the smartest girl in the class. I'm not saying that isn't true. Brandy got all A's and a C. I get A's and B's.
Am I bragging?
Hmm...
Okay. Since you don't want to hear about my lifetime achievements, I'll get on with it.
There's this school. Is isn't exactly summer school, but it takes place over the summer, and it is a school. Kids who aren't doing horrible, but who are still doing somewhat poorly go there. There are a bunch of people who go there that I don't like. Jordan, the girl who always says, "Ooh! Ooh! I know! It's like- well, you know, it's like- that- you know?" (And that's a direct quote.)
A bunch of teachers from the area help out at this thing. And somehow, I got suckered into it. I was helping out in the English class as the teacher's assistant. Brandy, of course, was helping out a lot, but even though she got an A in English, it wasn't Honors English, so she had to stay away. From my classroom, at least. All she was doing was the math class, but it was my second year, so I got to do a whole lot more. She wasn't very happy, if I recall correctly.
Still, I can get my own way when I want to. I'm persuasive. I wasn't persuasive maybe a year or two ago, but now, let's just say that I'm the queen.
That's how I got the reign of the place. That and the fact that I'd helped out at this thing before.
I like it when I help out there. I have the reign over the students, and that year, I even ruled over Brandy. I was kind of a suck up. Not that I wanted to be, it's just this kind of thing that happened. See, I'm kind of in the habit of, well, absorbing things.
It was that summer that I met them. Well, her first.
It was the first day of what I called "Summer School." No one else calls it that, but to me, that's what it is. So deal with it.
"Oh, hey Mel," Brandy said much too happily.
"Hi, Brandy." Just keep your voice even and don't act interested. Maybe she'll just go away.
"Oh, come on. Is that any way to treat a friend and coworker?"
Yes. "Technically, we aren't coworkers. We work in two entirely different buildings."
"Ooh! Like, you know what, Brandy? Like, Mel'd know, because she, like, works here and all." Jordan was standing behind Brandy, sucking on a lollipop. I think she worships Baby Spice. I think she died her hair blond, and she was going to put it up in pigtails on the top of her head tomorrow. I don't know how I knew, but she'd do that. Then she'd go flirt with a bunch of guys and joke about how cute she was. Afterwards, they'd run away screaming- just kidding.
Brandy made a face. She didn't like the fact that she hadn't been chosen to help out at this thing before. Typical. "I work here too, you know."
I tried not to sneer; I really did. But I guess I didn't hide it as well as I thought I had. "I think what Jordan is trying to say is that I'm a bit more... uh, experienced."
Brandy shrugged. "Well, I'm off to my new job now." She hesitated. "Are we getting paid?"
"If we do a few extra things. Help out at lunch, clean the place. Fix everything for the show at the end of the week. Stuff like that."
"Hmm. Well, I think I'll sign up for those things."
"The sign-up sheet is in the main office. I should know. I signed up a long time ago."
Brandy pouted. "Come on, Jordan. I'll show you to your first class. After all, I should know. I'm teaching it."
She turned and walked away, tossing her hair around like- well, I don't know what it was like. I stayed away from people who did that.
I smiled as Jordan ran after her, skipping and saying, "Um, maybe we should, like, ask her, you know? Because she knows her way around, and we've been, like, looking for the last half hour."
Then Jordan knocked into this kid who was coming down the path and knocked the girl's books all over the place. "Oh, like, I'm sorry about that." She turned her attention back to Brandy, who I probably should have been feeling sorry for. "But, really. How much would they, like, pay you and stuff? Do you think you could, like, get me a job, too? Because that would be so totally awesome."
Shaking my head, I went over to the girl. "Sorry about that," I told her.
"No problem," she said quietly.
I looked at her. Short black hair, braided along her scalp. I know that doesn't sound pretty, but that's the literal way of describing it. She had dark skin that kind of reminded you of chocolate and silk at the same time. I stooped down to help her pick up one of her books.
"Wow. You must be one of the smarter kids. You'll be in the highest algebra class and," I picked up another book and folder, "you'll be in my English class, too."
She looked up at me. She was kind of pretty, actually. She didn't say anything, though.
"I take it this is your first year."
She nodded. "My grades this past year were... less than my parents liked."
I smiled. "Believe it or not, I know the feeling. I'm Melanie, by the way. You can call me Mel."
"I'm Cassie."
"Cool name."
"Thanks."
"So what's your first class? Maybe I could show you to the building. Unless you can find your own way," I added hastily.
"Actually, I could use some help. I start with math. Know where that is?"
I cringed. "You know that girl who almost plowed you over?" Cassie nodded. "Well, her name is Jordan. The girl with her was Brandy, the math teacher's assistant. I go to school with her. If you get the chance, fall in her good graces, or else you'll have to rely on Mrs. Farswain." I shuddered. "Trust me. You don't want to do that. She's practically deaf."
We started walking as I went on explaining. "When you talk to Brandy, if you're that brave, or that stupid-" she grinned- "pretend you don't know me or something. We aren't the best of friends, to put it mildly."
"Where did you get that phrase? 'If you're that brave, or that stupid?'"
Thankfully, I had a very good memory. I didn't have to think that much before I told her, "Uh, it was 'Enemy of the State.' Except the direct quote was, 'You're either very smart, or very stupid.'"
Cassie smiled. I got the feeling that she was remembering something. Then thinking about something. Whatever it was, it was strong. Something very close to her.
I felt something touch my arm and blinked. Cassie was holding my arm. "You okay?" she asked.
I nodded, wondering. I much have stopped in my tracks or something. But I couldn't help it. I'd met a lot of people, and I'd gotten a lot of feelings before. But none had ever been so strong. She was unlike anyone I'd ever met. And she had a secret. A BIG secret.
Nothing bothers me more than secrets. That's my major fault. My dad's a reporter, and I guess that makes me a natural snoop and naturally good at bothering people.
I looked around. Without knowing it, I'd taken us right to the math building. Maybe I hadn't stopped at all and had just been a bit dazed. I smiled at her. "Here's the building you're in for first class." I pointed to the building on my right. "That's where I'm working. The English building. If Brandy gives you trouble, just let me know. I won't make it much better, but I can promise you that she'll think twice about what she says to you."
Cassie raised her eyebrows. I could tell she was still a bit worried about me. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"She has an attitude. If she talks to you rudely in any way, I'll set her straight."
Cassie looked a bit worried. "Why would she talk to me rudely?"
I didn't want to tell her the other reason why I didn't like Brandy. But did I want her to find out on her own? Well, she'd have to. I didn't want to tell her, and if she knew, how would that affect things? She'd start out on the wrong foot for sure. Brandy somehow knew when people knew about her.
I shrugged. "What time is it?"
Cassie shrugged. She wasn't wearing a watch.
"Well, I have to go make sure I'm on time for my class. I'll see you later, maybe?"
She nodded and walked inside as I walked to my own building.
When I got to the doors, I looked back. Something about Cassie was bothering me. She had a secret, and not the kind of secret that's "Oh, I have a crush on..." She liked someone named Jake, I knew that. But this was deeper. Much deeper.
Something caught my eye in the sky. I looked up and saw a red-tailed hawk. It seemed to be watching me. I homed in on it. What was going on today? This hawk wasn't normal, either. It was... smart. It was actually having feelings. Suspicious.
I waved. "Hi... To- Tobias?"
The hawk nearly crashed into the side of the college dorm building.
I turned and went inside. No, this was definitely not a normal day.
Chapter 2
A girl named Angela was having trouble with her pronoun charts. I could tell because while she was working, she had almost chewed through her pencil, and was making little noises. Plus, the despair around her was like a flood.
I shook my head. The pronouns were so simple. I mean, I'd known them since sixth grade, and this girl was a lot older and didn't even have a clue.
I walked behind her and tried to ignore the feeling of despair swamping me.
"Need some help?" I asked.
The teacher, Mrs. Homesly, looked at me out of the corner of her eye. She had told me that first they would take a test now, and then a test later to show how they had progressed. We weren't supposed to help them. But then again, she knew that I would only give advice and help to calm her down, so she looked back at her book.
Angela nodded. I noticed a few kids looked at her, some just to see who it was, others to jeer at her. She glared at all of them.
"First of all, breathe."
She obeyed.
"Okay. Next, do what the teachers at school tell you. Come back to this particular question later, after you've had time to relax. Can you do that?"
She nodded. I walked away.
Then I noticed- felt, rather, that someone was watching me. I countered the feeling. I guess you can say that I wasn't exactly countering it. Those are the wrong words. I was tracing it. And I recognized the feeling. Cassie. I walked around the desks, pretending to make sure everyone was doing okay or whatever.
I realized that Mrs. Homesly was watching me. I ignored her.
Eventually, I ended up next to Cassie. I leaned over and pointed to her pencil. "I think you'd better be using a #2 pencil." I handed her one that I usually carried around with me. Being a hopeful future author, I always carried around at least five. "And I'd also concentrate on the test. Not on watching me." I was tempted to say, "Like a hawk," but stopped myself in time.
It seemed like a long time before that class was over, and when it was, I was fed up for the day. Luckily, I had ten minutes to take a break. Planning on getting a Coke, maybe a hot pocket to go with it, I got ready to leave the room.
Right as I was about to exit through the door, Mrs. Homesly looked up from her book. "Mel?"
I turned around. Oh, goody. What was the next surprise today? "Yes?"
She took off her glasses, something that made me feel a bit prouder. I was the only student she took her glasses off in front of. She felt kind of insecure about her eyesight because, well, who wasn't tortured when they were younger because they wore glasses?
"I just wanted to thank you again for doing this. You have a... an uncanny knack with the students.
I froze. "I guess I'm just really good at reading people. You know, because I read so many books."
She nodded thoughtfully. Then she suddenly shook her head. "Oh, well. Go on. Our next class is in a few minutes."
"Right."
I ran to get a coke. Because I was late, they were out of hot pockets. I chatted with the boy who had to help out in the cafeteria because his mom had to work there. is name was Matthew. He was a neighbor of mine who was two years older than I.
"So? Tried any witchcraft lately?"
I froze. Why couldn't this just be a normal day? Was anything wrong with that? And why did he suddenly think I was a witch?
All of my questions came out as a choked on "Huh?"
He grinned. "Hey, don't worry. It's not like you're really a witch or anything. Andrew thinks so, though."
"Why?"
"He says you turned him down when he asked you to go to the movies."
"The jerk never asked me!
Matt smiled. "Still. You know, a bunch of my friends'd like to ask you out." I blushed. "So, I was thinking that maybe I'd get to you first." This time I practically choked. "Nothing major. But your Dad gets all those movies-" He realized that it sounded as if he was using me and hastened to correct himself. "I mean, we could just hang out. At your place- or at mine. Or we could just go to a movie-"
His mom called to me from the washing machines. "Mel? What are you doing her? You have two minutes until your next class!"
"What!?" I dashed off, then remember Matt and shouted, "Later!"
He was still thinking about me when I reached the classroom. I couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking about, and I'm not sure I wanted to know.
Mrs. Homesly shot me a quick glance before she went back to teaching. I settled back in my own personal desk and read. Right then, I didn't want to do anything except get away from it all.
I'd been accused of witchcraft. Whether the person had any evidence or not. But if they followed up on it, they'd find it wasn't very far from the truth.
Welcome to Salem.
Chapter 3
"Oh, Me-eeeeeelllllll," Brandy called.
Right then, I wanted to drop on my knees and beg for God to take me away just then and there. After yesterday, I couldn't put up with much else.
Jordan ran up to me first. "Like, oh my word, Mel. Brandy is, like, so ticked off at you. Is it, like, true that you're some kind of, like, freak?"
"Excuse me?"
By now, Brandy had caught up with us. "You know, Mel. Are you a witch? I saw you talking to that hawk yesterday. My mom says that all witches have familiars. Is that what the hawk was?"
"Familiar?" I echoed. How had the rumor spread so quickly? Why did everyone think I was a witch?
"Well, it wasn't just that, actually. I always thought there was something odd about you. Always knowing people's secrets. Always knowing people better than they know themselves. Knowing my secret."
"Secret? You call it a secret?" I asked dryly.
"Well, maybe not. You knew it before anyone, though. And then when I talked to that-"
I cut her off before she could say it. "I know what I did. You called her things just because her skin was a different color, and I stuck up for her. I completely put you down. Humiliated you in front of the entire school. You've hated me ever since." I smiled. After all, it had been a win-win situation. Standing up for a friend, and dragging Brandy through the dirt.
She walked up to me until her nose was an inch away from mine. Deep down, beneath my own fear that she knew about my real powers, I knew she was afraid of me.
"But now it's payback time," Brandy told me threateningly.
I pulled my head back and wrinkled my nose, muttering something about a breath mint. "Is that what you call it? Payback? Because if you think you're going to pay me back for sticking up for someone, then I'll do just what I did last time. Except this time, I'll expose you for the person you really, really are."
She yelled at me, telling me what they really were, shouting a bunch of theories at me. I corrected her.
"In case you haven't noticed, 'they' are just like us. If you were smart, you'd know that the only reason that their skin is a different color is because they lived in a hot climate for thousands of years, and they were forced to evolve so their skin could cope with the sun. When they came to the Americas, well, no one has live in America long enough to evolve some sort of common skin color. But when we do, people will look at us just like you look at the people you so warmly refer to as 'them.'"
Brandy smiled. "It bothers you, doesn't it? That Cassie girl, a girl who falls into your taste as a friend, is in my class. And that I saw you talking to her. And you know that I hate her. And it must bother you a lot because you know what I'll do."
I felt my face grow warm. Not from embarrassment or anything like that, but with hate. I had never hated anyone as much as I did at that moment. All her life, Brandy had judged people by the color of their skin. She judged people who talked to them. And now she was threatening to harm someone just because she had dark skin and talked to me.
I felt, practically saw, my anger pushing outward, focusing on Brandy. She was probably scared half to death. I've been known for fighting before. She stumbled and fell backwards.
"If you so much as dare," I hissed, "do anything at all to her, even connected to her, I swear, I swear, that I will hurt you so much you will wish you were dead."
Brandy and Jordan both made little squeaks and ran off.
After they were gone, I adjusted my books. I heard a rustle of feathers and looked up. There was the same red-tail watching me from a branch. "What are you looking at?" I asked. The bird made a move like it might fly away. "Not so fast, Bird Boy," I snapped. "Don't tell her. Absolutely. Do. Not. Tell. Her."
Why not?
I felt my head snap to attention. I had known this bird was unusual, but I hadn't expected that. "What?"
Well, as a witch, and knowing everyone's secrets and all, you must know mine.
"I am not a witch." I started to walk away, but I could feel the bird following me. A while later, I felt something else, unlike anything I'd ever felt before. Not from this world, at least.
"Enough of this," I muttered. I went inside my building.
Mrs. Homesly was already there. She was carrying a long paper shape and a bunch of tape. She smiled at me as I walked into the classroom. "Help me hang this up, will you?"
I nodded and dumped my stuff on my desk.
"Something wrong, Mel?"
I nodded and told her about Brandy. She nodded like she understood. "Do you always stick up for your beliefs like that? You know, threatening people?"
I felt myself blush. I didn't know why I had told her about that. "Yeah. I mean, if something's wrong, you should stand against it, you know? No matter what."
"What do you get if you die doing it?"
I forced a laugh. For some reason, this conversation was giving me the creeps. "Everything. I don't know if you're catholic or not, but we believe that if you're good, you go to Heaven. And even if there is no Heaven, you at least die knowing you did the right thing."
"That's all?"
"Yep."
She walked back to look at our handiwork and I followed her lead. "There. How's that?"
I read the name on the banner. "The Sharing." I felt a slight shiver run up and down my spice. "It's good," I said. It had been put up well, thankfully, so that was partially true. But it didn't feel right.
A boy named Seth from first period walked in. He was one of the kids who were pretty old, about as old as a sophomore, say, and he still didn't get anything. "Hey," he said quietly. He looked at me and Mrs. Homesly. "Um, my locker isn't working."
I started walking towards him to help before Mrs. Homesly could say anything. The farther I got from her, the better.
She'd changed since the last time. And not for the better, offering to help advertise for some club.