Disclaimer: I don't own the The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs, published in England in 1902. Or Danny Phantom.
Monkey's Paw
A "What You Want" Fanfiction
by MsFrizzle
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The discussion in the teachers' room was all about how a bad cold virus was running rampant through the school. Thank goodness none of the staff had come down with it.
"I hate to say it but it kind of feels like a holiday without the "Russian Mafia Twins" had said Mrs. Cant.
Secretly Lancer had to agree with his colleague who taught 11th grade chemistry. Those two were voted most likely to get expelled. They had been in his office again yesterday, after they had been caught on the school roof.
After yesterday, could he be blamed for thinking how nice it would be to have one, easy day?
The above mentioned trouble makers were only the icing on the cake of a particularly trying week.
The team had suffered a spectacular loss to their rivals, the Townshed Eagles. Even Dash's mid-game rally hadn't helped when it faded too quickly.
A mysterious prankster had plagued the school causing havoc in the band room by pouring soda into a tuba and some sort of panic in the lunchroom. He, himself had not been immune, falling prey to the jimmied water fountain while his belt had been removed.
More disconcerting was the damage done to the science room, lots of fragile equipment had been destroyed. There was no ready explanation for the way the blackboard had been smashed almost as if it had been hit by a cannon or the odd burn marks on the wall. Was the crushed biology skeleton random damage or some sinister warning?
Mrs. Cant suspected the twins but there was no proof.
Some of the students were acting weird, but then again, it had been a stressful week.
And to top it all off, someone had hacked into the school records and messed with the grades. Fortunately, it there was a back up, so the grades had been restored, but it was frustrating that they couldn't catch the culprit and worrisome that they didn't know how it was done.
Mr. Lancer took a deep breath to put it out of his mind as he entered the freshman English class.
"Is this everyone?" he asked in surprise as he surveyed the room. Fully a third of the students were absent.
"Oh well, please open your books to page 125 where, if you have done last night's reading assignment you will know the story "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs" the teacher directed. "Would anyone like to give us a synopsis?"
Chelsea raised her hand. "It's about this magic monkey's hand that lets people make three wishes, but they always turn out bad. Like this guy wishes for a bunch of money and then his son dies and they get that exact amount of money from the factory where he worked. Then his wife wishes her son would come back to life and he does as a mutilated zombie or something so they destroy the hand."
"In other words: be careful what you wish for." summarized Lancer. "Can anyone give me some real life examples?"
The class went smoothly and Lancer realized that with certain students absent, there was a lack of the usual interruptions.
Fenton wasn't sleeping or asking to use the bathroom.
He didn't have to confiscate any beeping electronics from Foley.
Manson was not trying to derail the topic by soap-boxing about animal rights.
Dash was not picking on the more vulnerable students.
The boys weren't staring at Paulina instead of paying attention.
Kwan wasn't passing notes to Star.
There were no supernatural disturbances.
While the attentive and enthusiastic students went on to discuss the genre and other literary elements, Lancer smiled. He couldn't have wished for a better class.
A sudden chill went down his spine. He had wished for a class like this…..but not at the cost of having half the student body sick. It was just a coincidence…..right?
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