Chapter Two
I am definitely including Dusk and Sanguine in the next chapter and I thought maybe Baron Vengeous could be a horrible teacher? Who hates Skulduggery because once Skulduggery pulled an epic prank on him? As for who am I pairing people with…well maybe same as in the books. We already have Ghanith; I want a bit of Fletchryie before Valduggery. And I'm not sure with anybody else. Any suggestions? Before this gets too long, here's the story!
Valkyrie looked at her Maths teacher, Baron Vengeous. It seemed a strange name but everyone's name was strange in this damned school. Her maths partner, Tanith Low, had torn herself away from Ghastly for one hour because they were in separate maths classes. Or so Tanith said. She was really chatty. "Me and Ghastly are inseparable. You know those really annoying high school couples who always are kissing and doing everything together? We're like but more awesome and less annoying. Also, it's like I'm not clinging to him every second of the day. I mean, our friends are the same but I can go chill out with Erskine and Saracen and he can practice magic with Dexter but we won't really care if we're apart."
"Oh." Valkyrie said. "That's nice."
"Yeah. I guess. Oh, we'd better stop talking now. Vengeous is looking at us." Tanith started scribbling wildly in her exercise book and Valkyrie glanced at the teacher with the stupid beard. He caught her eye and scowled.
"Cain!" he shouted. "What are you doing?"
"Uh, working?" she tried.
"Evidently not, Cain! Detention after school!"
"Sir, it's my first day!" she protested.
"Too bad." Vengeous sat back down and to Valkyrie's surprise, Anton stood up, grinning.
"Hey, Vengeous. What's that on your chin?" he asked and Vengeous glared at him.
"Detention after school!" he yelled. Anton sat down after giving Valkyrie a smile. She smiled back and mouthed thank you then turned to Tanith.
"Does Anton always sacrifice his after-school activities for detention?"
"Only for people he likes. He sticks up for people. He's great. A bit depressive and non-smiley sometimes but great. His mother died last year. Cancer. Before that he was the cheeriest boy around."
"The cheeriest?" Valkyrie asked.
"Well, that might be an exaggeration. But he was a lot goddamn happier than he is now. I'd feel sorry for him if I didn't know he didn't like people feeling sorry for him." Tanith said.
"Okay." Valkyrie went back to her work, reminding herself to give Anton a big hug when she next saw him.
…..
Valkyrie followed Tanith to the picnic bench area after maths where the Dead Men were sitting. Dexter was smoking and Skulduggery was reading through a textbook. "What's up, nerd?" Tanith sat next to Ghastly and gave him a one-armed hug.
"I am not a nerd." Skulduggery said and looked up at Valkyrie. "How was your first class here at Landy High?"
"Disastrous. She got detention." Tanith said with a smirk. "Where's Anton?"
"Here." Anton came from behind Valkyrie and she glanced at him before deciding against the hug. Maybe later. She just smiled at him instead but he didn't see as he bounded up to Saracen and started chatting to him about something. Valkyrie tried not to feel hurt because Erskine was staring at her.
"You got detention in your first class?" Erskine asked.
"Uh, yeah." Valkyrie said cautiously. Erskine held his hand up and she high-fived it, laughing slightly. Dexter grinned at her then dropped the cigarette.
"Shit." He muttered and quickly grabbed it off the wooden table top. He checked the wood for any fires that might start then breathed a sigh of relief. "Well done, Val. Welcome to the Dead Men." He smirked.
"You shouldn't be congratulating her for getting a detention, right Pleasant?" Ghastly said.
Skulduggery looked up. "Sure. Yeah. Congratulations, uh…" he glanced at Valkyrie.
"Valkyrie."
"Congratulations Valkyrie on…what did she do?"
"Get a detention in her first lesson."
"Oh, why should I be congratulating her then?" Skulduggery asked Ghastly.
Ghastly sighed. "I said you shouldn't be congratulating her."
"Right. Well, never mind. We all need to learn about punishment someday." Skulduggery shrugged and returned to his textbook.
"Don't worry about it, Val, Vengeous is an idiot." Dexter said. Valkyrie finally got fed up of waiting for Skulduggery to move and shoved him out the way to sit down next to him. He didn't even notice.
"Thanks, Dexter." She said. "And I feel really bad about Anton."
"Huh?"
Tanith grinned evilly. "Well, the little minx here got Anton a detention too because Anton commented about Vengeous' beard a few seconds after Valkyrie got detention."
"Little minx?" Valkyrie frowned.
Dexter laughed. "Oh, he likes you then. First day, first lesson, detention!"
"When was the last time Shudder had a detention?" Ghastly asked.
"Uh, Skulduggery's prank on Vengeous." Tanith grinned and Skulduggery looked up.
"That is never to be mentioned."
"Only because he told your parents and you got grounded."
"Not because of that. Although that was hurtful. I thought we had a connection."
"You and Vengeous?" Valkyrie asked.
"Yes." Skulduggery cocked his head as he stared at her. "Hmm."
"What?"
"What do you mean what?"
"You looked at me and said hmm."
"I did?"
"Yes."
"Forgive me, I'm a bit unsettled."
"By what?"
"Tanith, do not mention the prank again." Skulduggery said and Valkyrie frowned at him. He didn't seem insane this morning but he wasn't entirely sane either….
"What happened in the prank?" Valkyrie asked Erskine. Erskine rolled his eyes.
"Skulduggery blew up Vengeous' office."
"WHAT?" Valkyrie shrieked. "You BLEW UP SOMEONE'S OFFICE?" that was directed at Skulduggery but Dexter answered.
"Yeah he did. It was awesome. Then Vengeous told his parents. Also Skulduggery got hurt by the explosion. Wasn't as far away as he thought. We were all hidden in the bushes and Skulduggery was propelled backwards by the blast. Went right into us."
"It hurt." Skulduggery said grumpily.
"That's why we don't mention it." Ghastly added. Valkyrie nodded, trying to remember all this.
…..
After lunch, an hour of arguing with Dexter about who messed up their science project (they were partners in science and both as rubbish as each other) and two more boring lessons, Valkyrie waited outside of the hall for Anton. He arrived about five minutes after the last bell and glanced at her.
She smiled at him and walked into the hall. There were four desks; two empty and two occupied. In the two occupied ones were a blonde wearing sunglasses and a pale-faced boy frowning.
"Well," the boy with sunglasses said. "Ain't this just amazin', darlin'? This here is my accomplice, Dusk, he's a bit grumpin' at the moment on the account of the fact that he got caught up in my prank but normally he's a happy bunny. I'm Billy Ray Sanguine, pleased to meet your acquaintance."
