Chapter Five

An Unfortunate Day at The Old Skellington School

Gregory woke up early the next morning to his alarm clock going off. It took him a few minutes to remember why he had it set. When he did, he felt a terrible dropping sensation in his stomach. He had to start school today. He groaned as he got out of bed.

It was still mostly dark outside, except for the tiny bit of light appearing over the horizon. By his window the calendar read October. He stared at it for a moment before putting a large black X over the square marked fifteen. He then went about getting ready to start his first day at his new school in this new town, where he would probably experience much of the same things he had in his previous educational structure. This included being picked on a lot, and having very few friends.

"Gregory! Are you up?" He heard his aunt call from downstairs.

"Yes Anne!" He called back, after pulling his shirt down over his head. There was a pause.

"Gregory call me Aunt Anne, now. Respect your elders!" Gregory said a few choice words about his elders beneath his breath before leaving his room and heading downstairs into the kitchen. Out of habit he nearly turned to the right when he got to the bottom of the stairs, only to remember that he was living in an entirely different house. He redirected himself, now feeling more depressed then ever.

"Morning Gregory, how was your sleep?" His aunt asked the minute he got into the kitchen which was brightly lit with that irritating almost artificial light that made you feel out of place in the early hours of the morning.

"Fine." Gregory said quietly before sitting down at the table. Apathy jumped up onto the old wooden surface just as Gregory put his elbows down and gave him a nasty look accompanied by a low growl. Gregory looked at her tiredly and said a few threatening words his aunt couldn't hear to the bright eyed and rather evil looking Siamese cat.

"What was that Greg?" His aunt asked as she pulled down a gross type of bran cereal.

"Nothing." Gregory said much too quickly.

Twenty minutes later after a terrible breakfast and a few minutes of fruitless attention to his hair which just wound up sticking straight up like it always did he left his house and headed for the school building, which wasn't a long walk, but would eventually seam like one as the weather turned colder. He kept his head down most of the time, deep in thought, and examining things that people often did without noticing, like the way his white tennis shoes stuck out against the pavement, and the random scatter of stones along the curb. When he finally looked up he could see the old looking school building, now only a hundred feet away.

Kingston only had one school. As many small towns seam to have. It was big enough to serve its purpose, and rarely caused Kingston much trouble what with the small amount of residents in the town. Still, what the kids see as a problem and what the adults see as a problem are two different opinions entirely.

A lot of the children hated having only one school. Younger and weaker kids because they had to put up with the older tough kids all day, and older kids because they had to put up with the immaturity of the younger kids. The adults didn't seam to think putting both age groups in one school was a very big deal.

The school itself was quite old. It had been rebuilt about two years after Hector inherited the town from his father, but that had been quite a long time ago. Now the school looked about as foreboding as all of the older buildings in town.

Gregory observed the foundation gloomily. Some of the windows were broken, others boarded up. The clock, (which seamed quite astounding to Gregory who could not remember any of his older schools being old enough to have one hanging outside above the door) had obviously stopped decades ago. It was frozen at three o' five. The front doors and the brick walls were covered in graffiti that almost entirely matched that of the sign into town. Above the building the words SKELLINGTON SCHOOL was carved in a stone slab.

Gregory felt a little wary about traveling any further, and was seriously considering going home and pretending to be sick, when someone walked up beside him.

"I remember the first time I had to go into those doors, it scared the crap out of me." Gregory turned to see a small boy standing next to him. The boy was built much like him, short and rather stout, though perhaps just a bit larger around the middle then Gregory was. The boy looked about his age, but he may have been younger.

"You just moved here right?" Gregory nodded in response to his question.

"Yeah I saw you drive in a couple days ago." Gregory didn't respond to this. He just looked back up at the school.

"Skellington?" He said quietly, giving his mind a quick search to see where the word had come from.

"Like as in Hector Skellington." Gregory nodded with recognition.

"Right."

"But you don't have to remember that, in fact, just forget the schools old name. Like everything else, it has changed too." Gregory looked at the boy curiously.

"To what?" The boy motioned to a sign a few feet behind Gregory that he had missed coming in. Gregory read it aloud.

"King School…he's not very creative is he?" Gregory asked, a very tired look passing over his face. "King School, Kingston, King Lake…"

"King Bridge, Kingston Town Hall…no kidding, it's down right depressing." The boy finished.

"You'd think he'd let us keep the school though, it's not like his kid goes here."

"No?" Gregory asked looking at the boy.

"Naw his kid goes to some fancy prep school that he has to be driven out to every morning. There's a bus here that goes there now, but he tries to avoid that because a lot of the kids that live too far from King School to walk, ride on it." Gregory nodded absently.

"Oh." He said.

There was a loud ringing sound as the schools ancient bell signaled the beginning of the day.

"Time to go in. Follow me, I'll show you where everything is." The boy said.

"Thanks." Gregory returned, sounding genuinely grateful. Perhaps this would not be such a terrible experience after all.

This thought, as comforting thoughts often were (For Gregory anyway.) was followed by a nasty occurrence which made it entirely false.

Down the hall, on Gregory's left a small boy was literally being taped to the wall by an older boy. Gregory turned to see, and to determine whether or not he should be finding a choice place to hide, when a cold and familiar voice spoke to him from behind.

"Hey, if it isn't good old Greg." Gregory turned around quickly, and saw, from the corner of his eye, the other boy he was with do the same. Edward was standing behind him, wearing a long sleeved red shirt that matched his crimson hair perfectly. He was grinning wickedly.

"What's the matter Greg, I haven't seen you for a couple days. Your not…trying to avoid us are you?" Gregory just stared at him. He cursed his misfortune.

He was vaguely aware that the boy beside him was slowly backing off. He had obviously had his own experiences with the devilish boy and his mischievous sister.

As though Gregory's thoughts had called her (From the underworld perhaps or maybe somewhere worse.) Violet joined her brother. Upon seeing Gregory she grinned, but unlike her brother she also noticed the boy who trying to quietly get away.

"Marion." She said in a falsely pleasant voice. The boy, Marion stopped.

"Please leave me alone today Violet! Isn't it enough you've egged my house twice in the past weekend." He whined, putting his hands up as though to ward her off.

"Actually it was three times, we just did one layer over one of the ones that was already there." She said, approaching Marion who recoiled from her as though she was some sort of horrible embodiment. Edward who had been momentarily distracted by his sisters confrontation with Marion turned back to Gregory with a smug look on his face.

"So, how was the water. Cold, I imagine." Gregory's first shock had subsided, and was replaced by a sort of dull anger that he was trying to keep under control. Bullies just ate up raw fury.

"Well I guess you wouldn't know, having run away like you did." Gregory answered calmly, tucking his rage aside behind a tired demeanor and hiding his fear as best as he could. It must of worked. Edwards face grew dark and his smile seamed more forced then it had.

"I wasn't scared, If that's what your implying." Gregory shrugged.

"Well maybe it is what I'm implying. Normally when people look like their eye balls are about to pop out of their heads and they run off in a hurry their not doing it just for sport." Edwards smile vanished.

From beside Gregory, he could feel Violets eyes on him and Edward. He tried not to look at her, it might break his confidence. When he heard her address him he did in despite his efforts not to.

"Yeah right Greg. Like you wouldn't have been running away if you weren't neck deep in Skeleton Lake." She said. He looked at her. He was faintly aware that if he ever had to be locked in a place with either of them he would want it to be her with him. One look told him she had more sense and ran off of less stupid rage then her brother did.

"Well," He started. He didn't get very far before he was reminded why he had been trying to keep eye contact with Edward. He felt a heavy blow contact his stomach. His books fell to the floor as he made a desperate gasping noise. A second later the bigger boy had him in a choke hold very similar to the one he had had Justin in a couple nights before.

He struggled in Edwards clutch for a few seconds before giving up, the boy was laughing. It sounded terrible. It was cold and high. Gregory was finding his first day at King School very dispiriting at this point. Pity, he had actually been doing quite well up to then.

Violet looked at him blankly, before looking down the hall and spotting a teacher.

"Staff is coming Edward." She said quickly.

"Aw come on Vi. Like I care." Edward said. "Where's your sense of fun." Her face screwed up into something that if directed to Gregory would have scared him to death.

"Come on Edward!" She said sharply as she nudged him hard in the rib. Edwards grasp on Gregory loosened enough for him to wriggle free. He stumbled into the hallway as the teacher drew near.

"Ow Violet what the he-"

"What's going on Edward…Violet?" The teacher asked as she paused in front of them. Edward looked up at her, while rubbing his rib with a pained expression on his face.

"None of your business old lady." He said sulkily. The woman shot him a dangerous look.

"Do I have to send you home again Edward?" He shrugged.

"I don't know why you think that's such a threat, half of the time we don't come anyway." The teachers lips thinned.

"Very well then, get out. Both of you." Violet looked up at the teacher angrily.

"Hey I didn't do nothing!" She said hotly.

"I don't care. I'm fed up with you monstrous brats constantly causing trouble in the school. Everyday you're here something goes wrong. This time you'll just go, and you won't come back. I'm sure the headmaster will agree with me." Violet sneered at the woman.

"You can't do that. Our dad was responsible for most of this place!" Violet argued. Edward was silent beside her. Apparently he didn't seam to think a lack of education was a very big deal.

"Well, miss Wayward, your father is not here, and it's obvious having to raise two children as nasty as you are has made your mother incapable of taking action. So I am doing it for her by banning you from King School. But as you said, Mr. Wayward, you don't come here half of the time anyway…so no great loss." Violet glared for a moment longer before straightening and walking out the door. She muttered something under her breath which the teacher must have taken for something nasty given her response to it.

"I see being the oldest child does not make you any more mature then your brother Miss Violet. That's a poor way to go." Edward had seamed to quiet down in the wake of his sisters outburst. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed her sorely.

The woman then looked down at Gregory, who watched as the two children left the building.

"Didn't happen to catch what the little monster called me under her breath did you?" The woman asked. Gregory could tell she was at least half kidding.

He had caught what Violet had said, but still shook his head. The teacher nodded absently and began to help him pick up his books.

"Don't worry. Those two are the worst kids you'll run into in this town. You should be thankful you met them so early, it will make everyone else a lot easier to deal with." Gregory nodded, still looking out the door.

('It's Skellington School.') Violet had said. ('You should know that.')

"They are?" He said, in a voice that sounded very far away.

"Indeed so." She said this with a complete surety. "That whole family must be the worst in town." Gregory nodded.

Although later he would find she had been wrong. But that day was still a ways off, and by that time, Violet would not seam so bad to him anyway.

Several hours later Violet was busy squishing ants on a high branch up in a tree in her and Edwards yard when her brother stuck his head out of a makeshift club house they had built quite a few years before.

"Come on Shock and help me with the water balloons. I swiped this great stuff off of the janitor that's suppose to burn stuff away. I figure if we throw it on Justin we can probably get most of the hair off of him." He said this while climbing up the tree and sitting on a branch beside his sister. He held out a can of the stuff to her. She looked at it and nodded distractedly. Edward lowered the can in a puzzled manner.

"What's up with you?" He asked with no real concern.

"Nothing." Violet answered while spearing another ant with her pointed stick.

"Well then come on. If we start now we should be finished by the time Justin's fancy prep school lets out." He started to climb down the tree again, but stopped when he noticed his sister was not following him.

"Vi? Are you coming or not?"

"In a bit, you get started and just leave me a dozen or so." She said.

"Alright…fine." He started heading down again. When he got down to the club house and got inside Violet dropped the sharp stick and watched bemusedly as it fell to the cold ground below. She sighed and sat back, while casting a quick look down to the wooden top of the tiny structure they had built with their father so many years before.

They called the club house the fun house, which she supposed had been cute once when they had been young and had used it for little more then playing. The name now had a somewhat psychotic touch to it. This was because these days they used the club house to build and plan all of the chaotic stunts and pranks they were planning to play on the town…

Fun house indeed.

An autumn leaf blew by Violets ear and slapped against a nearby branch. Violet watched as the orange red leaf struggled against the bark for a moment before blowing off again, swaying delicately in the wind. She slid down from the place she was sitting, landing easily onto the thick branches below. The fun house creaked audibly as another firm October wind blew. Violet slowly walked to it.

When she strolled in Edward was struggling to tie a balloon that looked like it was going to burst open. Tiny droplets of whatever he had inside the balloon were dripping down onto the floor where they landed, sizzling for a moment, before letting up a thin dwindle of smoke.

"Lock, we can't throw that on Justin head." She said. Edward looked up at her questionably. The balloon made a bizarre rubbery sound then burst open. Edward let out a loud yell and practically threw the thing on the opposite wall where it ran down the wood, peeling it off as it did. Violet watched this, her expression barely changing.

"Why not?" Edward asked, while looking away from the smoking puddle.

"Oh please, Justin wears so many hazardous things in his hair as it is…for all we know we could be doing him a favor." She answered, while plucking the stuff out of Edwards hands.

"On the other hand, if we can get this stuff in our water guns without burning the plastic away I'd bet it'd be excellent for wearing down tires." She gave the can a shake. Something popped inside it making her flinch.

"Or maybe we should just save it for a special occasion." She said while holding the thing away from her and walking across the room to an old file cabinet where they kept all of their "supplies."

"Alright." Edward said, while watching her. "But until then, what are we suppose to do?" Violet spun around, putting her small fingers to her pointed chin in thought.

"I don't know…I guess we could bust a couple mail boxes." She answered, while sitting down at a metal chair that was scooted into their computer desk.

"We could…" Edward answered. "Or…" He looked up at an old clown clock hanging on their wall (Which had been nice looking before Edward and violet drew sharp teeth on it and covered it's eyes in red marker.) "Say…School should be getting out in a few minutes."

"Yeah?" Violet said, suddenly feeling depressed and sounding testy. "What's your point?"

"Well, if it wasn't for that little twerp we wouldn't be expelled. I say we go and make him pay for it." Edward's face was set at a half grin and half sneer. Violet looked at him dully.

"Edward," She started, snapping him out of the state quickly. Violet never called him by his real name when they were alone unless she was upset with him.

"It's your fault we got expelled today. You were the one choking the little dork.." Edward looked coolly at his sister.

"You can't blame me for this. Like your completely innocent!" He said, crossing his arms.

"I didn't say that…I'm just saying that if I were to blame someone, it would be pretty stupid to blame Gregory, since you obviously had him in a choke hold." Her voice had taken on a dangerous quality that Edward rarely heard used towards him.

"Hey! What are you taking his side for? Another second and you would have had Marion upside down and hanging from somewhere by his underwear…it was just bad timing."

"Bad timing! I told you she was coming! I swear, your so stupid!" Edward clenched his fists.

"You can't call me stupid. You got expelled from school too you know! Besides, why do you care so much?"

"Edward we're expelled! Mom doesn't know yet! If she finds out she's going to send us to boarding school in some town far away from here! She's been looking for an excuse to!" Edward looked like he was about to say something else, but faltered, and instead appeared to look out of the window cut into the wood.

"So what? This town blows anyway." He said quietly. Violet fell silent, dropping down into the chair and looking into the small computer they had set up to run some of the programs Edward had managed to download from various blocked websites.

"Yeah." She said. "I guess it does." She responded. They were both quiet for a moment.

"You know, this place was a lot better before. I mean, it wasn't great…but it was stand able." Edward said, crossing over to where Violet was sitting.

"Uh huh." Violet returned.

"Sorry I got us kicked out of school Shock." He said. Violet was vaguely amused at how pained Edward sounded when he apologized. As though he was being tortured to do so. A wicked grin that made her look very much like her old self crossed her face.

"Gross Lock, what are you apologizing for?" She said while standing up and punching him lightly in the stomach.

"You trying to make me sick or something?" Edward returned her grin and pushed her. She nearly tripped over the chair.

"Just payback for making me sick every day for having to look at you." He said. He lunged backwards to avoid getting belted in the gut a second time.

"Hey come on…save some for Justin, he should be heading back to his ugly little family by now." Violet smiled wickedly.

"First I think we owe Mr. Gregory bit of payback for this extended school vacation." Edward laughed evilly before heading out the door of the funhouse towards the rope ladder. Violet followed.

"Think we need the bat?" Edward asked.

"Nah, I have a better idea." Violet returned with a bit of malevolent laughter of her own.

Alright, this chapter isn't quite as large as I wanted it to be…but at least I'm done with it. I was going to write a bit more…but I'm not entirely sure what Violets going to do with Gregory (I kind of wrote myself into an unfortunate place when I implied it was "better" then the bat…because personally I find a bat in an evil child's hands quite frightening)

Anyway, the next chapter should get the story moving at a bit of a quicker pace. I hope you enjoyed this one. Please Review!