Tonightless
Chapter VII: "Monster"

I woke up early Thursday and Isidore fixed me breakfast, we had French toast and eggs. He offered me a ride to school, but I declined because I needed to go home and change clothes and shower first.

I felt a little depressed leaving Isidore's place but he assured me that we would meet again soon, the prospect of which comforted me. I hustled down the block and climbed up the lattice to my second story bedroom window. I rummaged through my revolving closet and picked out a tight, hot pink T-shirt that was ripped at the bottom and showed off my midsection, and a red PVC miniskirt and long red PVC boots.

I sneakily opened the door and crept down the hall into the bathroom closing and locking the door behind me. I turned on the radio and "I love you" by Charice (that's my middle name) was playing. I quickly jumped in the shower and rinsed off the chlorine from swimming at Isidore's and lathered up my loofah with some dove body wash and cleaned myself up. Afterward I turned off the shower, rolled back the curtain and stepped out. I dried myself off with a pink Hello Kitty-themed towel. After drying off I hung the towel back up on the rack and reached out my blow-dryer and began to dry my hair. I lip synced to the song as I combed and tied my hair back into pigtails. I quickly applied some pink lipstick and lightly applied some baby blue eye shadow before changing into my hot pink ripped T-shirt and Red PVC miniskirt and long boots.
After changing, I quietly opened the door and peeked out into the hall and there was no sign of anyone so I crept down the hall until I was caught by the bitch herself.

"Where the hell were you last night!" Linda screamed.

"I was at Rayanne's." I lied.

"Oh yeah?" she said, "Since when?"

"Since school got out yesterday!" I added.

"LIAR!" Linda screamed, grabbing me by the wrist and sniffing me for any traces of drugs or alcohol.

"You been smoking?" She inquired.

"Uh no!" I replied defensively.

"Don't lie!" She snapped, "I know those mediocre little dunces you hang out with do drugs!" Linda added.

"Yeah right!" I scoffed, jabbing my arm free from her grip. "Get over yourself!" I exclaimed.

"You better straighten up kid!" She warned me.

"Whatever MOM!" I yelled back, "You're just jealous because your youth is DEAD and GONE!" I screamed. Linda gasped and stared at me as if I had read her mind. "You just don't understand the monster lifestyle!" I screamed again, "Get your own fucking life and stop interfering with mine!" I screamed once more before bolting down the stairs and out the door, where I conveniently found Isidore waiting for me; leaning greatly against our white picket fence.

"Izzy!" I gasped with a relieved smile.

"Care for a walk?" He asked.

"Okay!" I said happily as we walked up the street together. Then Linda rushed downstairs and popped open the front door;

"This isn't over missy!" She screamed up the street, "Just wait until your dad gets home from Bosnia!" She added.

"Your father is in Bosnia?" Isidore asked, "What is he doing in Bosnia?"

"He's not really in Bosnia." I admitted with a laugh, "He's with his mistress." I clarified.

As we were walking I noticed how unbelievably fucking hot Isidore was this morning; he wore a black muscle shirt and khaki pants and black converse shoes with red laces. His jet black hair was slicked back and his yellow cat-like eyes were bright and glowing like an owl in the night. I could also tell that he thought that I looked fantastic, as every couple of seconds I could catch him stealing glances at me from my peripherals.

"You look amazing Lydia." He finally said.

"Thanks." I said, "You do too!" I added.

"Do you wanna skip school today?" He asked.

"I really do, but I can't." I said, "Today is special I have my English class first thing in the morning today." I added.

"Can I pick you up afterward?" He asked.

"Hmm I don't know." I hesitated with a coy smile, "Can you?"

"What time do you get out today?" He inquired sexily.

I thought for a moment, "Fifth period starts at seven." I stated, "But I don't have anything really important until Friday." I added.

"I'll come at eight, is that alright?" Isidore asked.

"Of course, I will be looking forward to seeing you again." I said sweetly. Then Isidore leaned in real close and frenched me open-mouthed in front of the entire student body (both Skunks and Wolves) who were staring with their eyes bugging out and their jaws dropped. One of them pointed at me and emitted a high-pitch scream like one of those pod persons from that bodysnatchers movie, it was Brian Krakow.

"Slutting it up public now Lydia?" Brian grumbled.

"God Brain why do you have to be such a jerk Brian?" I demanded.

"Because you're a lying little bitch!" He accused.

"How dare you!" Isidore snapped, almost jumping on top of Brian and beating the shit out of him with his balled fists.

"Wait Izzy no!" I shouted, "Not this way we mustn't give into THEIR mentality!" I pleaded.

"Fine!" Isidore yelled, "But only because Lydia is such a wonderful person!" He cried. Isidore leaned in and kissed me passionately before turning and walking away all hot and mysterious like.

"Who was that?" Brian asked.

"Only the hottest guy on earth; my boyfriend!" I exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh by the way I have that homework for you." Brian remembered, pulling out several clipped sheets of paper and handing them to me.

"Awesome, Angela is going to be so happy!" I admitted.

"About that, do you think you could ask her something for me?" Brian asked.

"Yeah okay, like what?" I replied.

"Can you find out if she likes me?" He wondered all innocent-like.

"Brian I will for-sure find out tonight whether she likes you or not!" I exclaimed, then a superficial light-bulb flickered above my brain. "Why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow night; my place." I invited him.

"Dinner…at your house?" Brian said skeptically.

"Yes! You will LOVE it!" I exclaimed.

"What are you having?" Brian inquired.

"Shit man I don't know!" I cried, "I haven't planned that far out yet!"

"Whatever, I will if I can." Brian replied.

"Okay see you Brain!" I said with a wave as he walked away.

"Later slut!" He called back with a finger.

Later I found myself in Miss Raven's fifth period English class. Miss Raven was so awesome she was my favorite teacher EVER! She was tall and very thin and had short obsidian black hair and wore black lipstick and eye shadow, that illuminated her gorgeous aquamarine eyes. She was a gothic person, but not one of those whiney, self-lamenting, emo types. She totally knew French and taught drag once. She was in her early thirties but could really pass for being a college freshman. She wore the bitchinest black backless mini dress I have ever seen, and thigh high heeled boots. Before resuming teaching again, Miss Raven was my seventh grade guidance counselor, she would often reserve the good classes for me. Before that, Miss Raven was a lavish and exotic performer in Hollywood and had met thousands of celebrities like Tyra Banks, Rupaul, and Lady Gaga herself.
She sat her desk correcting papers from yesterday's classes as I walked in and approached her. Walking in, I couldn't help but notice how terrible empty the entire classroom was; there wasn't a single student in the room.

"Bonjour Madamoiselle Raven!" I announced as I approached her desk.

"Lydia, bon de vous voir!" She replied happily, "Tu es si jolie ce matin." She added.

"Mais ce n' est pas aussi jolie que vous Madame." I replied truthfully.

"At least you are much prettier than those Miley clones walking around the place." Raven stated.

"Miss Raven, where is the class?" I wondered.

"At the assembly." She replied, "The whole school is in the auditorium right now." She added.

"An assembly, at seven in the morning?" I questioned.

"It's some kind of home-warming presentation to the kids from Sunnydale; I think it's kind of sweet." Raven explained.

"They didn't have an assembly planned?" I questioned.

"The whole thing was a last minute decision." Raven answered.

"I'm heading that way now." She said, "You might as well accompany me, it's mandatory." She added.

I gasped and a look of shock appeared on my frail face, "Mandatory?" I repeated.

"Yes, some new principal shipped over from Sunnydale has fired Foster and taken control of the school." Raven admitted.

"Oh no!" I cried.

Later Miss Raven and I left the classroom and walked together through the halls and down the stairs and into the auditorium, where she and I had our own spot in the balcony. I looked onstage and I could tell that a four-man acapella group had just wrapped up a barbershop quartet rendition of "Chicken Hunting" by the Insane Clown Posse and were leaving the stage when a short angry-looking balding Gremlin-esque little man walked on and grabbed the microphone.

"Shut up you little bastards!" He screamed into the mike.

"YOU WILL OBEY ME!" He screamed again in a demonic voice, suddenly the audience was quiet and not a sound was heard.

"That's better!" He replied, "Now our next act is a live rendition of the Peggy Lee classic, Fever by Miss Aria-Shantell!" The man yelled while clapping enthusiastically. As the gremlin left the stage my arch-nemesis walked out from behind the curtains garbed in a large full-body red fur that made her look like a Muppet. She whore whorish purple eye shadow, and blotchy white face makeup that made her look like a cross between a clown and a geisha. She slowly approached the microphone and she began to lip sync crudely like a busted queen at a sold-out show in WeHo.

"Never know how much I love you

Never know how much I care

When you put your arms around me

I get a fever that's so hard to bear
You give me fever, when you kiss me

Fever when you hold me tight

Fever in the mornin', a fever all through the night
Sun lights up the day time Moon lights up the night I light up when you call my name

And you know I'm gonna treat you right
You give me fever, when you kiss me

Fever when you hold me tight

Fever in the mornin' A fever all through the night."

I looked to see Miss Raven looking at Mr. Jills who was sitting in the aisle directly below us and was ignoring Shantell's god-awful performance by listening to his Mp3 player. He was head banging and air drumming. Willow spotted me and waved, then tugged on Buffy's sleeve who looked up and also waved at me with a smile. I waved back and returned my attention to the stage. The red-haired human bicycle was slowly and slutily lowering the large boa, revealing her cleavage and a red leather bikini underneath. As I looked on I could see the short gremlin man standing beside the stage and applauding fanatically as Shantell continued her act. I turned to Miss Raven to ask her something;

"Who is that man?" I asked.

"That's Snyder." She said, "The new principal." She added.

"What happened to Foster?" I wondered.

"He was deported." Raven replied.

"Oh my god!" I responded.

Just then Shantell's music stopped and she looked like an idiot lip syncing to NOTHING onstage with no music playing at all. She began looking around to see what the problem was, then Synder went backstage to yell at the technical crew. Then Rayanne fell from the rafters above the stage on top of Shantell, knocking her out and rolling her off of the stage. The audience gasped and some of the teachers headed toward the stage when the theater director signaled to them that it was a part of the act (even though it wasn't).
Looking around the stage with a bit of a stagger, Rayanne was obviously drunk…again. She mumbled something inaudible under her breath and walked into the microphone causing feedback to rupture over the loud speakers. The students and teachers alike recoiled in pain. Rayanne smacked then began tapping the microphone repeatedly.

"Is this thing on!" She slurred, "HELLOOO!" She screamed, causing more feedback. This time Snyder came back and motioned for Rayanne to leave the stage, but her music started playing: "Hungry like the wolf" by Duran Duran played and she tried her best to sing the song from memory.

"D-Drunk in the city, night is a wife!" She slurred, "Meat in the Subway, earth is a minor!" She added. "Do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do." She sang. "N'sync with the uh sound…I'm a come after you, cos' I'm horny like the Fox!" She belched much to the audience's amusement. Snyder on the other hand was not amused as he was literally screaming at her to get off of the stage, only she couldn't hear him because his voice was cut off by the loud music.

After the song reached the end the audience all stood up and applauded Rayanne Graff's rendition of "Hungry like the wolf" by Duran Duran. The audience was so impressed that they began showering Rayanne with 100 dollar bills and rose petals began snowing on the stage. Several paparazzi photographers rushed in with very expensive cameras and flashed hundreds of pictures of Rayanne while dozens of excited fans clamored onstage to hand her bouquets of roses and to ask for her autograph.

I looked over at Miss Raven who had her arms crossed and was not clapping. I asked her what was wrong and she replied:

"So this is how creativity dies; with thunderous applause." She said depressed.

"Should we leave?" I wondered.

"Let's go back to the classroom." Raven replied.

As Miss Raven and I walked arm-in-arm from the auditorium out into the central foyer of the school, I looked at my white Lady Gaga wristwatch and noticed that it was 8:15 AM! I quickly apologized to Miss Raven for my abrupt dismissal and quickly scrambled to the front doors, I could see Isidore waiting for me just outside of the doors, he was leaning against the mini atrium and waved when he noticed me. I smiled hugely and also waved. But just as I placed my pink hand onto the door handle to exit the school, a strong hand from out of nowhere grabbed my wrist and firmly gripped it with anger; it was Mr. Snyder AKA the little gremlin man.

"Where do you think you're going!" He inquired angrily.

"I'm sick and I'm going home." I lied.

"Where is your office slip?" He questioned.

"I forgot it!" I lied again.

"Then a note from your parents will do." He said grimly.

"I don't have one!" I replied, "They don't know, I only got sick just now!" I explained.

"Nice try miss…Frye." He chided me while looking my name up on a huge clipboard filled with the names of the students.

"It's 'Fyre'!" I cried defiantly.

"Whatever!" Snyder said coldly. "You must think you're pretty clever don't you Miss Frye?" Snyder asked me all condescending like.

"I don't know what you mean." I replied innocently.

"I know all about your association with Miss Graff." Snyder proclaimed, "I know how the two of you enjoy skipping out on your classes bi-daily, and also enjoy passing around alcoholic beverages in the building." Snyder added. "That's a Felony!" He shouted, "A class-A Misdemeanor at least!" He continued.

"That only happened that one time, and we thought it was Kool-Aide!" I said defensively. Then while gripping my wrist firmly he stared me down and got real close up into my face like a psycho serial killer but really not like that because he was just a pissed off administrator.

"You might have everyone else here fooled young lady but you WON'T fool me!" He proclaimed, "You and ALL of your little friends are going to spend the rest of the day in detention starting…now!" He yelled as several armed security guards shimmied down the walls of the school with ropes and approached me, guns pointed at my head and chest. I immediately threw up my airs into the air, dropping my bag to the floor. I turned my head just enough to see Isidore looking in at me through the door, he looked scared and concerned and tried opening it but the door was locked apparently. Snyder was also looking at Isidore and had a sinister look in his black beady eyes, he laughed wickedly and revealed a small key to me.

"While school is in session nobody gets in, and nobody gets out." He stated, placing the key into his jacket pocket and patting it once.

"This is unfair!" I cried passionately.

"Then maybe you're in the wrong profession." Snyder said evilly as he stared into my innocent aquatic colored eyes. "Take her away!" He commanded the armed security officers who immediately apprehended and proceeded to take me away to detention.

I sobbed uncontrollably as the emotionless and cold security officers escorted me to room B01: Detention level. It was in the basement, right next to the broiler room. I looked around for any sign of windows or a way out as one of the guards stuck a key inside a silver doorknob, turned it and pushed open the door. Inside was a dreary cob-web stricken moldy old room. There were only ten desks in the room, and all of them were occupied by a student. Sitting at the desk at the head of the room was Miss Mudflaps; she was an extremely old, extremely wrinkled, and extremely volatile woman. She lowered her cat-eyeglasses to look at me as I meandered past her desk to find somewhere to sit.

"What's this one in for?" She asked rudely.

"Lying and sabotaging the assembly." replied one of the guards.

"That's ludicrous!" I shouted, "I didn't have anything to do with that!" I added.

"SILENCE!" Miss Mudflaps screamed, slamming her gone with the wind hard-cover on her desk hard. "THERE WILL BE NO TALKING IN MY CLASS!" She yelled. "EVERYONE WILL SHUT UP AS LONG AS THEY ARE IN MY CLASS!" She added. Scared, the heavily armed security guards fled from the room, closing and locking the door on the way out. Then Miss Mudflaps stood up and dragged herself to the front of the room, she stared at everyone in the room, which honestly was about half of the student body. Students were seated two to a desk, sometimes three if they were anorexic enough, and the rest of them were stacked on top of each other by sitting on each other's shoulders in order to save space. I quickly moved to the back of the room, where I saw Buffy and Willow standing beside each other.

"You guys got caught too?" I whispered.

"Yea." Buffy said, "Snyder nabbed us after the assembly because he saw us hanging out with you!" She added.

"Oh my god!" I gasped, "Buffy I'm so sorry I never meant for any of you to get in trouble!"

"It's okay." She replied, "It's already starting to feel like home." She added.

"Yea, and now I'm a rebel!" Willow declared with a thumbs up.

Then Miss Mudflaps slithered over my way and glared at us, "WHO'S TALKING!" she demanded. But nobody would speak for fear she would eat them.

"WHO WAS WHISPERING WHILE I WAS TALKING!" she screamed at us, "I WANT NAMES!" she screamed again. But none of us would speak up so she grew angrier and angrier with us. Meanwhile, Buffy secretly slipped something into my hand while Miss Mudflaps was yelling at us. I looked into Buffy's eyes, but said nothing. She said nothing either, but merely half-smiled before returning her attention to Mudflaps.

After a while Mudflaps got tired of yelling, her voice had gotten hoarse and she decided that she needed to step out for a drink.

"MY VOICE IS SORE SO I'M GETTING A NICE, COOL, SOOTHING BEVERAGE TO RESTORE IT!" she declared. "AND DON'T ANY OF YOU BASTARDS EVEN THINK ABOUT LEAVING THROW THE SLIGHTLY AJAR WINDOWS!" she added before opening the door and stepping out and slamming it shut and locking it.

Then Buffy turned to me, "Okay now's your chance!" she said.

"What do you mean?" I wondered.

"What did you think I smuggled 'THAT' in here for?" she replied. I did not know what she meant but I when I opened up my hand and looked into it I gasped; it was a small golden key!

"But this will…" I hesitated.

"It opens every door and gate on-campus, I got it from Miss Raven." Buffy answered. "Go on, you can get through those slightly ajar windows over there." She motioned. "Miss Raven". I thought, "I need to repay you somehow."

"I can't go without you guys!" I cried.

"Oh but you have to!" Willow interjected, "I mean who's gonna cover for you when Mudflaps gets back?"

"Go on, get going!" Buffy said, "Don't keep your dreamboat waiting any longer." She added.

"Thank you, thank you so much Buffy!" I cried giving her no-homo hug. I quickly pried open the slightly ajar window and wormed my way through and out onto the concrete of the back lot of the school. I peered back into the class and Willow gave me a thumbs up. I hurried out of view and rounded a corner, two fat guys were on break from loading food into the cafeteria and were smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. One of them fell asleep, while the other went back inside to get more beer.

I quietly snuck around the sleeping fat guy and did a z-line toward the basketball court. I quickly ran to the gate and reached into my pocket for the golden key Buffy had given me but I couldn't find it, I turned back around to retrace my steps when I saw Rayanne Graff standing about seven feet behind me.

"Looking for this?" She asked dangling the gold key with her fingers.

"My key!" I gasped.

"Not anymore!" Rayanne cried as she threw the key over the fence of the basketball court and into the swimming pool of the people next door.

"Rayanne, why did you do that!" I screamed.

"Because you like those fucking skunks more than me!" she exclaimed. "We're wolves!" Rayanne added, "We eat skunks for breakfast!"

"Rayanne I don't know what's gotten into you but you need to snap out of it now!" I cried heartbroken. Rayanne simply laughed and gave me the finger, I felt especially bad as she had never given me the bird before in her life.

"In a few minutes you are going to regret ever meeting those Sunnydale skunks!" Rayanne cackled.

"What did you do?" I questioned.

"After the show, Snyder made a deal with me." Rayanne said, "If I catch those Sunny-D skunks doing bad things here then he is going to have them arrested!" Rayanne admitted.

"But how!" I gasped.

"Xandir was already arrested!" Rayanne declared, "I logged in as him on the school computers and downloaded ton, and TONS of pornography and so now he is in Moweda!" She cawed like a crow.

"You treacherous bitch!" I screamed angrily and hurt.

"Buffy, Willow, and you are next!" Rayanne declared as she pulled out a wrinkled up piece of paper and unfolded it to reveal a large elaborate design of the school building.

"What is this?" I asked.

"That is you skunk's plan to BLOW the FUCKING SCHOOL AWAY!" Rayanne laughed.

"Oh my god!" I cried as I rushed to the locked and chained chain-link fence, Isidore met me on the other side. He put his fingers through the links and interlocked them with mine.

"Are you hurt? Are you okay?" He asked concerned.

"Izzy we need to leave, I need to get out of here!" I cried sobbingly.

"Stay here!" Isidore commanded, "I'll be right back!" He replied. Isidore disappeared and reappeared a minute later in his black jetta, he backed all the way up onto the street and revved the car up really high. I jumped to the side like a dainty little pixie as he drove the car through the fence, obliterating the lock and freeing me once and for all. I happily rushed to the car and climbed into the passenger's side seat as he turned the car around and sped off up the street.

Rayanne ran through the busted fence and a little ways up the sidewalk before swearing and stomping her foot on the ground.

"Shit! Motherfucker!" She yelled angrily. Just then Snyder and several heavily armed security guards rounded the corner of the school and caught up to Rayanne.

"Where is she?" Snyder demanded.

"They got away!" Rayanne admitted.

"They!" Snyder replied.

"She had an accomplice." Rayanne added. Snyder looked around the area and then re-focused his attention on Rayanne.

"That wasn't part of the deal Miss Graff." He stated venomously.

"I-I'm sorry." Rayanne stuttered, "I had the key, I thought she couldn't escape…really I did." Rayanne apologized.

"Well maybe in your head you thought it would work but obviously it didn't!" Snyder snapped before motioning for the guards to come. "And another thing Miss Graff, you can cancel your weekend appointments because you're going to be spending a lot of time here." He said evilly as the officers dragged a screaming Rayanne back inside the building.