"Did you know that the high school is going to become boys only next year, Lance?" My mother sprang this on me during dinner.
"What?" I reacted, stuffing my face with another bite of a turkey burger, thinking she was joking.
"It is. Read this." My mother handed my a neon orange sheet folded like a letter. The back of the letter was addressed to my parents; it was legit. My eyes scanned the letter talking about the new plan of Duskton High School's new direction for increasing education. Making the school for males only would increase the grades of the students. Duskton had rather high grades, but we were slipping lately for reasons unknown. The superintendent was a hardcore, militaristic man. He thinks that relationships between students in the school was obstructing students in getting better grades. He proposed this plan, and with his large stature and even larger arms, he intimidated the school board into approving the plan. It remained quiet until recently. I read on to read that the registered girls of the school were going to go to a nearby town's school, whom the superintendent also agreed to make a female only school.
"That means..." I couldn't even say it. It angered me to a point that I felt warm.
"That means what?" My mother questioned, looking at me. I hadn't really told them about Callie yet.
"Well, there's a girl I met this semester and I'm close friends with her... Now..."
"Oh, so... Lance has got himself a little girlfriend." My mother joked.
"NO. She's not my... she's just a friend." 'Girlfriend' creeped me out, just to say it in conversation. I like Callie, yes. Did I love her, not quite.
"Well, you'll need to just meet outside of school when next year comes. I'm sorry, honey." My mother placed a hand on my shoulder, and grabbed my plate to carry into the kitchen. I was angry now. I stalked to my room and flopped onto my bed. I was still weak, and now my entire body felt hot. I snuck to the bathroom and slid a thermometer under my tongue, it read 98.4 *F; a little lower than normal. I dropped back onto my bed. Lying there on my back, my muscles began to ache as my body began to feel warmer and warmer. I closed my eyes, feeling complete anger towards the superintendent. I had a bad run-in with him a few months back.
I walked out of the school one day, and he was waiting by my car, writing something on a notepad, his foot raising onto my front bumper; his boots resting on the recently waxed paint.
"Hey, what are you doing. Feet off the paint, man." I spoke, kicking his foot to the ground.
"Son, this car isn't allowed on campus." He towered over me, bellowing.
"What do you mean it isn't allowed here? And don't play the ancient 'Son' language on me. There's nothing that says this car can't be here ANYWHERE. Just because you're jealous of my Viper, doesn't mean you have the right to say it doesn't belong here." I got into his face. First he put his feet on my ride and them he have the nerve to say it isn't allowed here? Please.
"Sports cars and hot rods only inspire reckless driving. It's not allowed by my book. Do you see any other sports cars in this lot?" He waved his hand at the rest of the lot. He was right, I didn't see any others.
"This is a SMALL TOWN, dude. NO ONE has the cash for a sports car like mine! Does that make any sense to your militaristic ass?" I poked the man's chest in annoyance, turning my back to walk to my car.
"Besides, I bet I am the safest driver at this school. How about looking at driving records to increase safety of the student drivers rather than the cars they drive." I opened my door and climbed into my car, turning the engine over and buckling in. That is when I heard a bang and my car shook a bit. The superintendent walked over to my window, which I rolled down to yell.
"DID YOU JUST KICK AND DENT MY FRONT END, YOU ASSHOLE?"
"We'll see if you're bet is right. I'll pull up all the student driving records who drive to campus. If you win, I'll pay to have that little 'accident' you just had fixed. If not, you'll need to pay for it and not drive this car to campus again." I got out and looked at my bumper. It had a large dent in it, as well as the hood being bent slightly.
"That bastard." I muttered, running my hand over the warm metal. I went home and had to explain it to my mother. She didn't believe me. The next day, I arrive at my locker. I opened it seeing a pristine white envelope addressed to me sitting on the bottom shelf. I opened the envelope and found a unwritten check with a note of apology. I couldn't help but grin. I had an uncle I called about finding the parts for the viper, regardless whether I won or not. I had the money to pay for at least a grand of the damage. Since my uncle was the mechanic, the repair would be cheap. However, since the superintendent was paying, I also asked for a pair or nice chrome rims and spinners with a few nice touches. That'll show that jerk from hating someone for the car they drive. My parents read the note and believed me in what I claimed. I told them to just keep quiet about it. I don't like the attention that it would have caused. It didn't bring up a big enough damage report to need to report it to authorities, so it would stay off my insurance records.
Ever since that day, Superintendent James Shannon and I haven't been on the best of terms with each other. Now, he pulls this about segregating the schools by gender, right when I begin to like someone in 17, nearly 18, years of my life. I wanted to show him, and all the school board members whose spines became jell-o when the plan was proposed.
I slowly dozed off, just laying on my bed. I hadn't even gone through the effort to get out of my jeans and t-shirt. During my sleep, I kept seeing that mask, but placed on a face that was shrouded in black. The clothing the form wore was a black trenchcoat with black pants and shoes. The figure had a hood, but it wasn't up. Instead, it had long black hair that was tied back and slicked. The figure took out a black lighter in the shape of a skull and clicked it, releasing a powerful flame. With the flame's appearance,the vision changed. All I saw was a house ablaze, with the character walking towards the screen. Outside, I saw a few people huddled together as sirens roared a few blocks away. The bulky, larger, fatherly figure was huddling with his family outside, gazing into the fire with tears streaming down their faces. Was this going to happen? But the mask I saw, was the one that I slid onto my face. I opened my eyes and just focused on the ceiling fan that rotated around and around above my head.
After I thought about it for several minutes. I got onto my feet, and looked at the digital clock on my side table. It read 2:43 AM in large, neon green LED lights. I opened my window and stepped outside. I ran out to the street, since my house had a rather long driveway. Once I got to the street, I made my way to the forest down the street. There was a path that ran through the woods that led to the main part of town. I walked down the path in complete darkness, but nothing escaped my vision. I was seeing in a form of night vision. Everything seemed like it was an overcast day through my eyes. I stopped, thinking I was far enough from the road for a car or onlooker from a nearby house to see me. I placed my hand over my face and closed my eyes. I slid the lighter out from the depths of my pocket and flipped the lid off. With a click of the lighter, my normal clothes disappeared, and I was dawned with the black trench coat and whole bit from my dream. The mask sat on top of the skin on my face, and my hair morphed to the long, slicked hair. I walked by some trees, I held the lighter out, alighting branches and leaves as I walked along in the direction of town. The forest was ripe for a fire. I held the lighter to my mouth, spitting to launch a fireball to alight the ground 15 feet away from the path edge. After the forest was well lit, I dashed down the path, an inferno alighting behind me.
"Now, nothing will keep me from the main event of the night. Except this time, the superintendent won't be outside... ALIVE."