"Author's Note: I personally think this is one of my favorite parts in the book. But when I finish the next chapter, watch out, because for the two chapters after this chapter, it'll be third person point of view. As I had said before, I own no rights to anyone from Corpse Bride or Nightmare Before Christmas, except my original characters and items, and a Jack doll anda Corpse Bride sweat jacket."
Dury and the Corpse Bride were playing a duet on the grand piano! Hmm…..how did they meet up anyway? But I didn't ask that. Instead, I clapped a little. Dury turned around, and he saw me. The poor guy blushed. The Corpse Bride got up from the grand piano. "I see you've heard our duet." she said, "Mozart really is inspiring, isn't he?" I looked straight at them. "Sorry if I disturbed you." I said, "We have music classes now, right?"
Everyone else walked into Room 127 and took their instruments. "Dury," I continued, picking up a guitar case and going to sit down, "I thought your hand was in pain. You can't play pianos with painful hands, right?" Dury thought it over. "Not really." he answered, "It actually doesn't hurt that bad. So I used both of my hands. I'm lucky they weren't broken!"
I play the guitar, Dury plays the piano, Gav plays the drums, and Sabs plays the clarinet. Unfortunately, poor Sabs has to sit next to Jenny, who plays the flute. He has to cover his ears when she plays, a perfect example of how words aren't enough to explain some things. Well, at least I'm lucky I'm not sitting next to her.
Clarinets sit with flutes, guitars sit with violins, and violins sit next to cellos, and so on. But the drums and the pianist are all by themselves. I don't know why, but that's how the orchestra system works in Halloweentown. Does it work like that everywhere else? I don't know, but I might ask some people about it-eventually. But now is not the time.
I sat right next to Tyler McMonster, my step-cousin, who played the violin. Tyler was a straight-laced vampire who was able to impress everybody. He's a year older than me. What a kiss-up! He's also the teacher's pet, and Tyler wants everything to be perfect, even me. Why? It's because Uncle Mark makes a huge issue out of the way I act. "You have to learn proper etiquette!" he says to me, "I do not mind the fact you are a tom-boy, but I want you to behave yourself." Yes, that's what he constantly says to me.
Anyway, about Tyler….he dressed up Victorian style. He had his black hair slicked back, a black Victorian outfit (it looked somewhat like a tux), white skin, and sapphire blue eyes. My eyes are bluish grey. My hair looked screwed up compared to Tyler's. Sure enough, if I didn't wear a witch's hat, I would be a vampire like Tyler, and everyone would ask to look into my mouth for a set of vampire fangs. Yes, that happened to me one time when I was eleven.
I was walking home from Ghostly Middle School, and I decided to take off my witch's hat. Just then, Russie saw me.
Russie's real name was Russell Howie, but she likes Russie better. She's a were-wolf who's a hill-billy from Moonlight Hill. She said "You're in the wrong clothes. You're supposed to be a vampire!" I looked at her in surprise. "Me?" I said back to her, "I'm not a vampire." "Sure you are!" Russie argued, "You've got white skin! Can I see your mouth for a sec?"
This is where things got really hairy. "Why look into my mouth!" I protested, "I'm a witch, not a vampire, okay! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR HEAD!" But Russie jerked my mouth open, seeing that my incisors are normal sized. The incisors of a vampire's are very large. "Nope, no set of fangs." she said shaking her head. She clamped my jaw closed, and walked away with the shot gun on her back. Talk about being rude and stupid! She didn't even say sorry for giving me a hard time! But I really must go back to this story.
Anyway, I looked straight at Tyler. "So, what do you think about the Corpse Bride?" I asked him. "She looks really pretty." he replied, "I knew I forgot something! It was a bouquet of blood red roses! Thanks for reminding me Liz!" See what I mean by teacher's pet? But Tyler didn't rush out of the classroom.
He just quietly stayed there, ready for the instructions from the Corpse Bride. As soon as everybody was in their seats, the Corpse Bride got up from the piano. "Good afternoon, class." she said in greeting, trying to be as polite and nice as possible. "Good afternoon mademoiselle." Tyler said back. Okay, I'll admit it. Tyler is one of the most well mannered boys in Jekyll High.
"My name is Emily Golden. You may call me the Corpse Bride or Ms. Golden if you want." she continued, "Today, I'd like to introduce a new form of music to this music program. I see some of you are really used to classical music. It's my personal favorite, but seeing that everybody has different musical taste…" Please let it be rock, please let it rock! "I'm happy to announce that we now have an after school program of Jazz!" I could hear some groans coming around the class, but also some people shouting quietly "yes", but I was amongst the people groaning.
I mean, who listens to or plays Jazz music anymore! Only Jazz fanatics do that. But knowing Tyler, he'd never go for Jazz class. "It's too loud and obnoxious for me to even listen." he once told me. "Mr. Bonejangles will be teaching Jazz, and I will teach classical music. So, without further ado, I'd like you to meet Bonejangles!" That's where everybody started clapping and Bonejangles walked into the room.
My heart dropped to the floor. That weirdo was going to teach Jazz after school. Is he who I really think he is? Who really knows anymore? Looks could sometimes be deceiving. "I see we got some hepcats in this class." he said, looking around. What Bonejangles just said was true. There were some 'hepcats' in this class. Hepcats were huge fans of Jazz. They practically listen to it 24/7.
"I'd better get a sign up sheet right away." he said, coming out of the room. At least I've only seen him for a couple of seconds. "While Bonejangles get the sign up sheet for Jazz, we can start the lesson." the Corpse Bride said, "Today we are working on Georges Bizet's opera, Carmen. It's a tale about a gypsy who wins the heart of a captain of the guard. We will be doing the Habanera, which is one of the songs from Carmen. Does anyone know what a habanera is?"
A couple of hands shot up. Amongst those hands were Tyler and Dury's hands. They must really like the Corpse Bride a lot! She picked on Tyler. "The habanera is a slow form of dance that originated from Cuba." he explained. What a teacher's pet, I thought. Just like I've said about Tyler before, he's a major kiss up. "Excellent!" she replied, taking the answer, "First, I'll have each person play the Habanera individually. Then, we'll do it all together, starting with Dury the pianist."
That's odd, I thought. None of our teachers called him Dury before. I always thought all the teachers called him Durance in front of the class. I personally don't like that name, and Dury doesn't like it either. But anyway, Dury had played the Habanera with passion, and the whole song had absolutely no flaws in it whatsoever. It's like Dury had magic fingers that can play song beautifully. "Beautiful piano playing, Dury!" she complimented to him.
Then she picked on me to play the Habanera. I did a couple of mistakes in the middle and the end, but otherwise, it sounded great. "Nice work, Eliza," she said to me, "but I would suggest you work a little bit on the passion and the chords in the middle of the songs. Otherwise, it sounds good." I took it as a compliment. Besides, it's not everyday somebody compliments you on what you do. She called on Tyler, Sabs, and Gav.
Gav didn't sound perfect, but what do you expect from somebody who plays the drums? Sabs sounded like a warbler playing the clarinet. Plus Tyler worked so hard on playing the Habanera on the violin, that he sounded flawless, but not as flawless as Dury. Then, this is where the tide turned. "It's your turn, to play now, Jenny." the Corpse Bride said to her. Jenny whispered something harsh to me, "You are looking at one of the greatest musicians in this class!" she whispered, "In fact, Icould play better than you, your cousin, and Dury combined!" What a prima donna! I have to tell you that Jenny sounded like a screeching cat for the whole song. Even worse, she insisted on playing the song over and over and over again! "Am I going deaf!" Gav shouted, covering up his ears, "This girl's the worst musician ever!" Dury couldn't stand her flute playing either, so he tried to play some loud, yet lovely, songs on the piano to block Jenny out, but it was no use. Everyone except Dury had to cover their ears from Jenny's playing.
It's bad enough Bonejangles's one of my music teachers, but Jenny playing all these instruments! I was ready to pull my hair out. But I knew when you can't get mad, you get even.
An idea sparked in my mind. I'll scare that rat out of class! So I discreetly opened my messenger bag and looked straight at Slyther.
He noticed the sly, slick grin I have on my face whenever I wanted some mischief. "Lissssssssssssss, what are you doing?" he hissed nervously. "How would you like to look around this place?" I asked him, trying to be as discreet as possible. Slyther shook his head. "I've already sssssssseen thisssssss place a thousssssand timessssssss." he replied, "So, why should I look around here again?" "Listen for yourself." I told him. Slyther heard the rough screeching sound of Jenny playing the flute. It was so horrible, not even a maggot would come and listen to it. "Alright, I'll do it jussssssst to get rid of thisssssss horrid ssssssssound." Yes! I thought. I knew I was able to talk him into it, but I nearly forgot that Sabs had excellent hearing.
He heard what Slyther was saying, and wrote out 'Watch out! She's releasing Slyther', but almost everyone in Room 127 was too busy covering up their ears from the horrible playing of Jenny to pay attention. Even poor Sabs had to drop the scrap of paper and cover up his ears.
I knelt down next to my chair, turned back, set my messenger bag down, and released Slyther. Slyther looked all over the music room. Since he was on the floor, he didn't have a clear view of things. All he could see were legs and feet, and Slyther was careful enough to keep from being noticed or crushed.
He saw a pair of white-skinned legs. He hissed, showing his fangs. It turned out that the pair of legs belonged to Jenny, who was trying to recite the flute without success, and she noticed him right away. "Eeeeeeeeeeek, a boa constrictor! There is a boa constrictor in the music room!" she screamed in fright, dropping her flute to the floor, rushing out of her seat, and running right out of Room 127.
All the other girls who were sitting with Jenny had just noticed Slyther too, their eyes growing really wide with fright. "Tempt not a dessssssssssperate ssssssssssssssssnake." he said menacingly. "AIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!" they screamed, dropping their instruments and running right behind Jenny. Some of the girls fainted too, but some of them were willing to stay. Some boys had now noticed Slyther. Some of them were scared enough to scream, faint, or run out of the classroom, but some boys were willing to try to squish Slyther! Gav, who never knew that I owned a snake, had tried to bash Slyther on the head with one of his drumsticks. "Get back here, demon snake!" he shouted at him. Fortunately, he lost him through the flurry of feet.
Dury was playing the piano, not paying attention to the chaos that was going on. Slyther then slithered right to the front row. Oh my god! He's going to scare the whole class out! The Corpse Bride was desperately trying to calm everybody down. "Everyone, please!" she pleaded, trying to calm the class down, "If we remain calm, the snake might leave!" Tyler looked down, and saw Slyther at her heels. "Even when he's right at your feet, Ms. Golden?" Tyler asked, turning alarmed. The Corpse Bride looked down.
Slyther revealed his long sharp fangs. A look of alarm went straight across her face. She backed away from him, but she accidentally fell from bumping into the piano seat, and both Dury and the Corpse Bride were knocked down. Dury looked around the room with wide eyes. "What's going on around here!" he asked, looking at the chaos in the Room 127. So now he sees what's going on!
Right outside the room, Bonejangles heard the chaos. He rushed into Room 127, a clipboard with a pen attached to it in his hand. "What the heck's going on here!" he exclaimed, seeing the chaos for himself. Some more students ran right out of the room, but Bonejangles, being the slick guy he is, dodged the scared and frantic students without even getting knocked down.
Tyler had just recognized Slyther, picking him up with his hands, Slyther coiling his body over his arms. Both of them (Slyther and Tyler) gave me a dirty look. I chuckled nervously as I looked around and gulped. Nobody thought what Slyther and I did was funny. Either everyone around me has a look of fright or a dirty look on their faces.
You probably knew what happened after that. If you don't, then let me tell you what happened next: I wound up in the principal's office.
I ran my fingers through my black hair. It wasn't really all that long, it was only shoulder length. I opened up my messenger bag and glared at Slyther. He's the reason why I'm in trouble in the first place! "I never wanted anything to do with thisssss." he hissed at me with a sour tone.
Even though snakes can't move their eyelids or eyebrows (they had neither of those), I could easily tell what Slyther's feeling. He was my pet for about seven years so far. Like I said before, he could sometimes be very harsh. Nevertheless, he only does something outrageous when he needs to.
"At least you're not listening to Jenny playing music right now!" I said to him, "Plus, you wanted her to stop playing, right?" Slyther nodded in agreement. It was all true. Slyther only did this is stop Jenny's flute playing. Just then, the silence (if you don't count the sounds of the typewriter and me and Slyther talking) broke. "Ms. Nightsky can see you now, Miss McMonster." the secretary said. I picked up my messenger bag and walked right in. I wonder what's going on with Lock….