Chapter 2. A new classmate
The next morning I put on more make-up than usual to hide bags under my eyes and hurried to school. On my way there I met Nick and Liz.
"So?" Nick glanced at me grimly. "Why did you wake my parents up in the middle of the night?"
"Someone phoned me," I said in a low, tired voice.
"Who?" Liz asked.
I shrugged and told them about the strange incidents, phone calls, funeral march and everything else what had happened to me last night.
"Wow!" Liz breathed out when I finished.
Nick looked anxious now. He took my hand and pulled me towards him. I felt much better in his embrace. "What about you?" I looked up at him.
"What about him?" Liz asked with interest.
"Richelle thought that it was I who called her," Nick sighed. "She thought that my house was attacked and we all were in a mortal danger," suddenly he smiled. I smiled too. Now I could see how ridiculous it was. But to my defence I should say that at night it all looked completely different. "It happened that my father had been waiting a phone call from an important partner from Greece," Nick went on, "and when Richelle phoned, he decided that it was his partner. So when he realised that it was only Richelle, who woke him up at two o'clock in the morning before the important negotiations, he became really furious. He hates being woken up. I'm afraid I'll have to work with him in the office for a while," he sighed.
"I'll apologize for this mistake," I decided.
Nick nodded. "Probably it'll work. You can charm people," he agreed.
"Did your father speak with his partners, by the way?" I asked him.
"Yeah, he did. After all," Nick sighed. "But these partners phoned at eight o'clock, not at six as they had planned to."
"Oh," I exclaimed. "Mr Kontellis must have been furious."
"Yeah," Nick nodded, "At first he was running around the house, looking at his watch all the time and shouting that the partners must have refused to deal with us. Then he started to blame us in it."
"Us?" I asked, bewildered. "What do we have to do with his partners?'
"In his opinion if you hadn't woken him up in the middle of the night, the partner certainly would have called," Nick grinned. "Then he said that mostly he should blame these "stupid endless crimes" which his "fribbled-son investigates together with his fribbled-friends". As a result one day we all will finish our lives, and all his efforts to run the family business will be useless. Because there will be no one to inherit the business. Luckily at that moment the partners rang. The negotiations were very successful. So in the end Dad friendly clapped me on the shoulder and left for work in a very high mood."
"Hi," Tom and Elmo came up to us. Tom was chewing a sandwich that was probably the last part of his breakfast. Elmo was holding a roll of newspapers under his arm.
"What's up?" Tom grinned.
"I've got bad news," I sighed.
"Bad news can be good news," Elmo stared at me, his eyes sparkling with interest.
I told them about my horrible night.
"It looks like someone tried to frighten you," Tom said when I finished telling.
"Wow, what a clever guess, Tom," Nick snorted.
"I don't think they wanted only to scare Richelle," Elmo shook his head thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" I stared at him.
"Nothing certain," Elmo uttered evasively. "But usually people don't call at nights and don't play funeral marches."
My lips started trembling. "Shut up, Zimmer," Nick growled, glancing at me. "Don't listen to him, Rich. They must have just dialed the wrong number, that's all," he said. But I could see that he himself didn't believe what he was saying. He just wanted to calm me down.
Tom swallowed the last piece of his sandwich. "Rubbish!" he said quite cheerfully. "They accidently dialed the wrong number three times in a row, laughed and played the funeral march? I doubt it."
"I'm afraid they're right," I whispered.
"Rich, don't listen to them," Nick pulled me closer to him. "Everything's going to be okay. We were in much worse situations."
His voice sounded so confident, and his hug was so comforting that I felt a bit better. At least I didn't feel like crying any more, although I shuddered every time I remembered about the funeral music or that horrible laughter.
"Hi," Mary Horsety came up to us. "Hey, Richelle, what's up? Someone had a sleepless night, huh?" she winked at Nick and me.
"Yes, but it's not what you think," I felt my face getting hot. "Someone called me all last night long."
"Oh, I see, I see," Horsety (or Horse as we called her behind her back) meaningfully winked at me. "Hey, Nick, cheer up! Sometimes it happens. All girls have admirers. Especially girls like Richelle. Don't take it seriously."
"No, Mary, it's different," I muttered.
"We'll see," Mary winked at me again.
I glanced sideways at Nick. He looked irritated. I guess he didn't like all these hints about my admirers. Horse probably also noticed that.
"Don't be jealous," she grinned at him. "You know, these things happen."
"Mary, I'm telling you, that's not what you think," I tried to convince her. "Someone called me last night and tried to frighten me. They played a funeral march, laughed like a devil and..."
"Richelle, don't you know boys?" Horse snorted. "Most of them will rather frighten a girl they like, or play dirty tricks, trying to attract her attention, but won't openly ask her out. Well, that's boys for you. Come on," she tore me out of Nick's embrace. "I want to hear everything about your new friend."
Luckily at that moment we heard the bell ringing in the school. We all had English class and knew that Mr Larson hated when students were late to his lessons, so we had to hurry inside. It distracted Mary from my so-called admirer at least for a couple of hours.
We came into the class and settled down at our desks. The teacher hadn't come yet, so my thoughts returned to those weird phone calls. It wasn't Tom. He sincerely was surprised when I told him about these calls. But who could it be then?"
I felt a strange sensation that someone was looking at me and looked back. Liam Bolton, our new classmate, was staring at me with interest. He met my eyes, smiled and winked at me. Demonstratively I turned my back on him, afraid that Nick could notice that. But luckily Nick was too busy speaking to Elmo.
Liam had come to our school two weeks ago and instantly attracted everyone's attention, especially attention of such idiots like the Work Demons and other bullies. He was a quite pretty guy from a rich family, but at this point his good qualities ended. He was arrogant, obnoxious and very impudent; he insulted younger students and those who couldn't defend themselves. But the most terrible thing about him was that he showed a vivid interest to me and used every opportunity to flirt with me or even ask me out. Nick also saw it. He didn't like it, of course, but I'd asked him not to interfere. So far he confined himself to casting superior glances and venomous phrases towards Liam.
I sighed. That first day when Liam had come to Raven Hill High floated in my memory.
Two weeks ago
We were standing with other students in the school yard when a tall, fair-haired, handsome guy went through the school gates. His hands were in his pockets, he looked incredibly independent and self-confident.
Liz slightly dug me in the ribs. "Look at this guy," she whispered in my ear. "Good-looking, huh?"
I shrugged. Yeah, the guy was quite handsome and well-dressed. One glance was enough to understand that his clothes were expensive and well-cut. But for some reason I didn't like him from the start. I'm a quite sensitive person and probably I felt his vile nature. But Liz was completely charmed. Though, she wasn't the only one who was staring at him. A lot of girls turned their heads and secretly watched him going past them. Boys were watching him with a mixture of jealousy and interest. Liam leant across a gum-tree, his hands in his pockets, and disdainfully looked around the school yard. Our eyes met. He smiled and winked at me. I proudly lifted my head and took Nick's arm, showing that I wasn't going to have anything with him.
"I don't understand what you've seen in him," I whispered to Liz. "I think he's pretty repulsive."
"Well, I like him," Liz insisted.
At the first lesson I caught his interested glance. That time I decided that it was an accidental glance. But later I noticed that Liam was looking at me again. I turned to him, showing that I didn't like it. But Liam smiled and winked at me.
Oh my god! I hope Nick hasn't seen that, a thought crossed my mind, otherwise there will be another row.
Nick doesn't like it when rich and good-looking guys like Liam flirt with me. In these cases he, as he puts it, cuts these morons down to size. As for me, I hate these conflicts.
That was why since that class I had been trying to keep Nick away from Liam.
That day our last lesson was history. We were sitting in the class and talking, waiting for Mr Craven. Liam was sitting far from me in the back part of the classroom. Mr Craven came in and greeted us. Then he said that soon we'd graduate from school and that we already should seriously think about our further education, and do our best and take as many efforts as possible to improve our marks.
"So," he summarized. "I advise you to pull yourselves together and start studying as hard as you can."
"We'll do it, Mr Craven," Horse said hotly.
"Okay," Mr Craven nodded, avoiding her eyes. He perfectly knew about Horse's feelings for him and didn't like it at all.
"What's a big deal," someone called out from the back. Everyone turned around. Liam Bolton was looking at Mr Craven, smirking disdainfully.
"What do you mean?" the teacher asked.
"I mean what I've said," Liam snorted. "You're speaking as if it's a cool, private school or something like that. But it's just an ordinary local school for ordinary local students and nothing more."
"Raven Hill High is an excellent school," Tom snapped. Like me, he didn't like Liam from the start.
"If you don't like it, go and study somewhere else," Brent Howe added. "Otherwise you're also an ordinary local student in an ordinary local school. So shut up your mouth."
Liam gave Brent an arrogant smile. "Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?" he drawled.
"I'll tell you who I am after classes, don't worry," Brent promised.
The class fell silent. There was a palpable tension in the air. We all knew that it was dangerous to make Brent angry. But Liam didn't seem to worry about it. It was obvious that he liked to be in the centre of everyone's attention.
As for me, I didn't like him more and more. As well as Nick, Tom, Brent and several other kids. Nick angrily glanced at him and whispered a snide remark. Brent hissed something about "little talk after classes". But Mr Craven quickly interfered to prevent approaching scandal.
"That will do," he said strictly. "Everyone has the right to have their own opinion, and it should be respected by other people."
"That's right," Liam laughed. "That's what I call democracy."
The Work Demons now were staring at him with obvious respect. Oh-ho, I thought, it seems to me that soon their gang will include seven members instead of six.
Without further arguments, Mr Craven started the lesson, but since that day I'd been having an unpleasant feeling. I wished this Liam had gone into another school. I had a strong sensation that big problems were approaching.
Present time
"Hey, Richelle? Do you agree?" Liz, who was sitting from my right, patted my hand.
I returned to the present time. Liz was looking at me expectantly, waiting for the answer. "Um…yeah," I cautiously agreed, though I didn't hear what she had said.
Liz opened her eyes wide and stared at me in bewilderment. I felt my face getting hot.
"Really?" she exclaimed.
I was going to ask her to repeat what she'd said, when there was a loud laughter from Liam's side. Then Liam went on talking. "She slapped him on the cheek. He grabbed her hand, like a whipped dog, and mumbled that he…"
"Who are you talking about?" Tom chipped in, interested.
"About Craven, our history teacher," Liam explained, smirking. "I saw him quarreling with his girlfriend yesterday. It was a pretty dramatic scene. I'd say they both buried their talents at this school. They'd better play in soap operas instead of teaching here."
His friends giggled.
"Don't you dare to speak about Mr Craven like that!" Horsety snarled threateningly.
"Since when should I ask your permission how to speak?" Liam smirked.
"I'm just warning you," Horse went on in the same threatening tone.
"Oh! I'm so scared," Liam's lips twisted in a superior smile.
Horse clenched her fists and moved towards him, but at that moment Mr Larson came in.
"Sorry, I'm late. Miss Horsety, take your seat, please," he said. "We're starting the lesson."
Liam smirked and spread his arms. Horse turned around and sat down on her chair. "Dirty pig," she muttered to me and Liz. "But I won't let him get away with it. He'll answer for these words. I promise!"
I sighed. Horse will never let anyone laugh at Mr Craven or speak disrespectfully about him. Liam's unlikely to change his behavior either. That means that soon we'll have to face big fights.
The rest of the lesson was more or less quiet. So far Horse restricted herself to occasional furious glances towards Liam. He pretended to be scared half to death, but for some reasons didn't take efforts to fight either. But all the same, I could feel with my skin that atmosphere in the class was growing heated.
