Chapter 3, A Change in Plans
Zack POV
I glared at that teacher for several minutes, before her loud, pearcing voice, broke the silence.
"What are you scoundrals doing doddling in the hallway? Come on, get inside here now!" The teacher snapped, as Tommy, Chuckieand I went and took three empty seats that were vacated. I saw Angelica in the back, and several others in their seats, doing some work in some French workbook.
"Ok you three, explain yourselves." Snapped our teacher.
"Um, excuse me mam, but who are you?" I asked.
"My name is Labooche, Miss Koko Labooche to you, I was sent here by my cousin Lisa to take over your little French class until she came back. Yeah, had to leave my comfy home in Paris just to travel to America so that that cousin of mine could have a child. Why anybody would want to have a child is beyond me, but whatever. I'm your teacher for the next two months, so I suggest you don't appear late at my class anymore." Snapped Koko.
"Look mam, I'm new to this school, just moved back here after being away for five years. I'm Zack, and my friends Tommy, Chuckie and I, we were eating lunch off campus and lost track of time. We promise, it won't happen again." I said.
"We'll see what the principal has to say about that. The three of you, to the office you go to get a tardy slip." Koko snapped, as Tommy, Chuckie and I picked up our stuff and left her classroom.
I caught a glimpse of Angelica giving us some look as we walked out of the room, but didn't buy it. The three of us, just trudged through the hallways and down the stairs to the principal's office on the first floor in silence, too shook up by how that nasty substitute teacher treated us. Now I knew that Tommy and Chuckie had gone to Paris before, and it was apparent that she recognized them, as she didn't even speak to them, of course, I did all of the talking, but I could tell Chuckie was too nervous to speak, and Tommy, well, I could tell he didn't like her either. I figured I could always ask them about the truth behind that woman when we were alone at Tommy's for our sleepover tomorrow, granted, we didn't get grounded for this. I surely was hoping the new principal wouldn't give me detention or anything, not on my first day of school back in California. Nonetheless, we approached the door to his office, and went inside.
We were face to face by a tall man, dressed in a gray suit with red hair and a red mushstash.
"Ah, Pickles, Finster, and, someone I don't recognize." Said Principal Johnson, turning his head, glancing at each one of us, like he was searching our bodies for something.
"Uh, my name is Zack, Zack Werehnberg, and today is my first day here." I said.
"Ah, nice to meet you Zack, and sorry to see you got in the middle of these two trouble makers." Said Principal Johnson apologetically.
"Awe, it's no big deal, they're my best friends. Known them since they were 2 and 3-years-old." I said.
"So, I take it your new substitute teacher, miss Koko Labooche sent you down here cuz you were late to her class. Off campus lunch again, eh Mister Pickles?" Asked principal Johnson.
Tommy nodded.
"Well, I have good news and bad news. Zack, today is your lucky day. I'll send you back to class, and let you off with a warning, since today was only your first day. But Finster and Pickles, while I'll send you two back to class, you're to report here after the final bell, and, I'm sorry, but your off campus privilages have been abolished, for the rest of the school year." Said principal Johnson.
"But why?" Chuckie asked.
Principal Johnson rummaged through a drawer out of his desk and pulled out a small little blue book, and started flipping through the pages of it until he found what he was looking for.
"It says here in the Yucaipa High hand book, that anybody who is late five times to a class for abusing the off campus lunch policy loses their privilages for the rest of the year." Said Principal Johnson.
"And Pickles, don't think that because your mother use to work here, you're gonna get special treatment." Principal Johnson continued.
I knew that Tommy's mom use to work there, and she was planning to leave and go to the private school, Saint Joseph's or to the alternative school, anywhere but where her kids were attending, as she read in some Lipchitz book of her's that working in the same school environment could be damaging on a child's psychy or something. Nonetheless, I happily was pleased that my off campus lunch privilages weren't being abolished, but sorry I'd have to dine alone for the rest of the year.
"But Mister Johnson, Chuckie and I have our driver's test after school." Said Tommy.
"Well I guess you'll have to miss it. Maybe you should have thought about that while eating your lunch at, oh, Burger Bean, or whatever that trashy place is called you teenage punks like to eat at." Said Principal Johnson with a scowl.
"It's Burger Queen." Chuckie snapped.
"Come on guys, let's head back to class." I said with a frown, as Principal Johnson handed us our tardy slips, and we headed back up to the third floor for the last twenty minutes of class at this point.
All I could hope at that moment was that there was another driver's test being offered either later in the day or tomorrow, or for sure, our plans to drive to the Broadway Boys concert on Saturday night, were ruined. We hadn't even picked out who's car we were taking, as I knew we'd probably have to borrow a car from one of their parents, since none of us had cars of our own, and sadly, I didn't even have my learner's permit yet, since in Wheeling, the driving age was 16, while here in California, it was 15, I figured Chuckie probably waited so he and Tommy could practice and test together. Nonetheless, we got back up to our class, handed Koko our tardy slips, and she handed me a workbook. I glanced up at the board to see what page we were working on, and thankful that I had already begun taking French in Wheeling, I turned to the page in my workbook and started on my assignment, not looking up until the bell rang.
"And remember class, anything you didn't finish in class, is homework, and it better be completed and on my desk at the beginning of the class tomorrow! And, no more being late to my class. Pickles, Finster, and Werehnberg, that means you." She snapped, as Tommy, Chuckie and I sprinted out of the room as fast as we could.
Once we were in the hallway, we split off in separate directions, and I headed off to my seventh period and final class of the day, World History with Mrs. Soco. All I'll say is my World History class felt like a day at the beach compared to what I just witnessed at French class, and I was thankful that French wasn't my final period of the day.
After school, I headed for home, but before I went, I stopped off at the Java Lava to tell Chaz and Kira hello, and was pleased to see that Kimi was there after school.
"Hi." I said to Kimi, giving her a half smile.
"Zack? I thought I saw you in the hall this morning before school." Said Kimi.
"Yep, that was me. Look, don't know if your brother comes here after school, but…" I said.
"Oh I know, he and Tommy are off to take their driver's test. Wish them luck for me. I'll be testing next summer, as I turned 15 after Chuckie, so couldn't officially start practicing and taking Driver's Ed until then." She said, cutting me off.
"I will." I lied. I didn't have the heart to tell her what really happened, as maybe, just maybe, if we kept the detention secret from our families, or, if they kept it secret, we'd find a way to that concert on Saturday if there wasn't another driver's test offered between now and then.
I got me my usual, a pineapple mango smoothie, and took it to go, as I didn't wanna risk opening my big mouth and ruining anything. I told Kimi I had a bunch of homework to do, which was true, as I needed to get caught up at least in the classes I was instructed to go back to a certain chapter in the books to catch up since I was joining the class ahead of everybody else, so I went home, only to find that as usual, I was alone. My aunt use to work part-time at the radio station when I was little, that's how she was able to babysit me and my friends while we were toddlers, and in preschool, but once we were in kindergarten and elementary school, going to school all day, she changed her hours, working four days a week, from 8 AM to 6 PM. I arrived home a little after 3:30, let myself in, and got to work.
Time seemed to fly by, as I quickly got through my assignments, and before I knew it, my aunt was home, and calling me in for dinner. I joined her at the kitchen table to find she had picked up Mexican pizzas for us from Taco Bell.
"So, how was your first day of school?" Aunt Celeste asked me, taking a seat across from me at the table.
I told her everything, from how my classes went, to my first time eating lunch off campus, as in Wheeling, such privilages weren't allowed, since the middle school and high school were combined, and I let her know that Tommy and Chuckie would be going to the Broadway Boys concert on Saturday too, provided we found rides, as they were suppose to take their driver's test that day, but because they were on their fifth time of being late to class, they got detention, missing it.
"Awe, well that's too bad. You know, the offer is still there, I'm happy to take you and your friends to the concert on Saturday in my driverless van." Said Aunt Celeste.
"Thanks Aunt Celeste, but we'd feel like dorks with you taking us. We're in tenth grade, nobody has their parent or guardian drive them to a concert in tenth grade." I said.
"Awe come on, you and I go way back." Said Aunt Celeste, taking another slice of pizza out of the box.
But I didn't say anything. I just finished my meal in silence and excused myself to go and give Tommy and Chuckie a call, as they should surely be home by now.
I gave Tommy's cell a call first, but it went straight to voicemail.
"The mailbox belonging to..." Said a robotic voice.
"Tommy Pickles." Said Tommy's voice, in his deep grown up voice, indicating he had recorded that sometime after he matured.
"Is full, and cannot take any messages at this time. Goodbye." Continued the robotic voicemail voice, before a click was heard, disconnecting my call.
So I rang his house, to be greeted by six rings followed by an answering machine.
"You've reached the Pickles residence. Please leave a message after the tone, and one of us will return your call as soon as we can." Said Didi's voice.
I hung up without leaving a message. Hopefully they'd discover via star 6 9 that I called and Tommy would call me back.
So then, I tried Chuckie's house. It rang three times before someone answered.
"Hello?" Said Chuckie.
"Hi Chaz, is Chuckie there?" I asked.
"Hi Zack, it's me, Chuckie." Chuckie said.
"Oh, sorry, I forgot how much you sound like your dad now. Ah the joys of growing up." I said with a sigh.
"Yeah but our voices changing is nothing, unless you're in chorus or something your Freshman year and trying to sing." Said Chuckie.
"Yeah there's that, but at least we don't go through nearly as many changes as women do." I said with a chuckle.
"Oh tell me about it. About once a month, my sister has these moody moments, and eats so much chocolate, I'm surprised she doesn't triple in weight or something." Said Chuckie.
"Now really, I didn't call to chat about girl and guy hormones. First, have you heard from Tommy? His cell phone's mailbox is full and nobody seems to be home, and, how did your driver's test go? Was there another test after your detention?" I asked.
"Oh, that's right, it's Thursday night. Tommy and his family are off at the nursing home visiting his grandparents." Said Chuckie.
He went on to tell me that Tommy's maternal and paternal grandparents weren't doing well, and were all in nursing homes now. They went to visit on Thursday nights since weekends were usually busy for everyone. Grandpa Lou even had to stop driving the school bus by the time everyone was in eighth grade, and Dil was in seventh grade, because his eye sight got too bad to drive, and while there are driverless cars and vans, driverless buses haven't made the market yet.
"Awe, that's too bad. So, what's the scoop on the whole driver's test thing?" I asked.
"Tommy and I missed the only one being offered today, and according to the people at D&W, the next one isn't until next Thursday." Said Chuckie with a sigh.
"Great, now how are we going to get to the concert on Saturday?" I asked.
"We'll have to have someone drive us." Chuckie said with a sigh.
"Well I won't be caught dead having my aunt take us, I already told her we'd look like dorks, having our parent or guardian drive us to a concert. We're in tenth grade for peak sake!" I protested.
"Yeah, and my parents are usually too busy at the Java Lava to be available for rides anymore." Said Chuckie.
"Ok, who else do we know who has their license. Let's think. Um, Susie?" I said.
"Susie won't be here this weekend. She's got All State practice. She was the only girl from our school who made the All State chorus." Said Chuckie.
"Oh wow! I bet Susie feels pretty special!" I said.
"Yeah, I'll be heading to the Los Angelas Music Center a week from Saturday to see her performance. I'm going with Phil and Lil since Tommy has to stay behind and film next weekend's three nights run of The Mystery of Edwin Drood at school." Said Chuckie.
"Oh my gosh, I wanna see that! Z is in my biology class, and he told me he's playing Edwin Drood. The play takes place for three nights, and on each night, the audience gets to vote on who they think caused the murder." I said.
"He's become good at acting since he joined drama club last year. He and Kimi were in the fall's performance of You Can't Take it with you. Z played Tony Kirby and my sister played Alice Sycamore. I'll bring the DVD to Tommy's tomorrow night." Said Chuckie.
"Awesome!" I said.
"Ok Zack, we can't ask Susie to take us Saturday. Maybe we should just forget it then." Said Chuckie.
"No way. I had to miss Emmica, even though I did enjoy her Christmas concert you got me and my aunt tickets to, but I was looking forward to spending some time with my best buds I haven't seen in forever." I said.
"Ok ok, who else could we ask to take us." Said Chuckie.
"What about that Harold guy Tommy's cousin Angelica is always hanging around with? Seems I recall they were a dating item when I attended Tommy's barmitsfa a couple of years ago." I said.
"Boy are you behind the times. Harold moved to Connecticut back in December, breaking up with Angelica, leaving her in tears at Christmas. None of us have heard from him since he moved." Said Chuckie.
"Awe, sorry to hear that, but that just gave me another idea. Provided we had an open mind." I said.
Just then, I got a call waiting beep.
"Uh Chuckie, I've got another call. I'd better let you go. See you tomorrow at lunch?" I said.
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow." Said Chuckie, as I clicked over to the other call.
"Hey, is Zack there?" Tommy asked.
"Tommy! Hey there!" I said with a smile.
"Hey Zack. Saw you called my house. Sorry, I wasn't home." Said Tommy.
"I know, Chuckie told me where you were. Sorry to hear your grandparents aren't doing well. And sorry to hear the driver's test didn't happen. Chuckie and I were just discussing an alternate plan to get us to that concert on Saturday night. I hear Susie can't do it, and Harold moved away. I don't know if Chuckie will go for it, though we usually convince him to go along with our plans anyway, but how about we see if Angelica can take us." I said, totally shocked at myself that I'd go that far out of my mind. I was obviously desperate if I was gonna get into a car with Angelica behind the wheel.
"That's a great idea Zack! We'll ask her tomorrow when we see her at French class." Said Tommy.
"Yeah, provided we're on time and have our homework done. I don't like that Koko lady, and really wish she wasn't our substitute teacher." I said.
"I haven't liked her since I met her 14 years ago." Said Tommy.
"Oh?" I asked curiously.
"Yeah, Koko almost became Chuckie's new mom when we went to Paris when we were little." Said Tommy.
"I'm glad that didn't happen. If Koko had become Chuckie's mom, Chuckie would probably be in the custody of DSS by now." I said.
We laughed for several minutes.
"Well Tommy, it's getting late, and my aunt has a phone curfew of 10 PM on school nights." I said.
"Ok, see you tomorrow?" Said Tommy.
"Yep, and, I probably shouldn't be offering this, but since my off campus lunches haven't been abolished, I'll sneak you and Chuckie sandwiches to go if you'd like." I said.
We agreed and I hung up the phone. I finished up my French homework, and turned in for the night by about 10:30, praying that Angelica would agree to take us to that concert, and not just agree to it, but actually follow through.
This ends chapter 3. Figured I'd do a shorter chapter just, because I felt like it. So, what's gonna happen? Will Angelica agree to take them to that concert? And if she does, will she keep her promise? Or will the two with learner's permits, and we already can guess who's the likely one to get clever, is some sneaking around about to be had. You'll just have to wait, and find out, next time. Not sleeping until this story is up, so, expect more chapters to appear, throughout the rest of the night. Oh, and did you guess correct on Koko as being their substitute French teacher? Thought having an evil blast from the past come back to haunt them would make for some good drama. Ok, anyway, be looking for chapter 4, sometime within the next few hours.