CHAPTER TWO

Jokes don't make me laugh.

I skipped breakfast, just grabbing my Mocha bottle to go, and kissing my mom on the cheek. I grabbed my skateboard and skated to the elevators.
I got there just in time. The doors were closing just as I slid in, almost knocking Mr. Garrison, our next door neighbor over. He worked at a law firm.
Hehe, I spilt my mocha all over his suit.
There was an uncomfortable silence as I waited edgily for the doors to open.
Finally, they did.
I skated into the marble hallway, grabbing an apple off the tray Estebonn, the friendly spanish bag handeler was carrying upstairs.
"See ya after school Est!" I yelled behind me. I saw him wave out of the corner of my eye as I sped past people waiting for their rides in the lobby.
I almost knocked over the manager as I swerved past him and an old lady that he was helping up the stairs.
"Miss. Lieheart! Miss Lieheart! Rhia! Get back here..." He called angrily.
But I most certainly did not 'get back here' as he put it, I was already speeding across the too crowded sidewalk of 21st Street heading for Walden School.
I swerved past tons of people while taking big bites out of my apple as I did so.
I tossed it in a bin as I passed. Though unfortunatly, it missed and hit the hood of a car and bounced onto the road, right where the road crossing was. I stopped to watch as a car carreend past, splattering my poor apple across a lady in a fancy black suit that must've cost 100s of bucks. I giggled as she waved her fist after the car.
At that moment someone pushed me aside and flew off on my skateboard.
"Hey!" I yelled after them.
Grrrr. I rolled my eyes. I would just have to catch them.
I began running after him. I sped up until-
*thump*
I boweled him over. I landed ontop of him, him clutching my skateboard in his right hand.
"Hey Rodger, mind giving me back my skateboard?" I asked him silkily, while brushing my jersey off in a pompus sort of way.
"No prob Rhi. You know, one of these days I'll get it from you." He said, handing me the board, grinning like hell.
I rolled my eyes and said, "Sure ya will rodge."
I saluted him and skated off towards my destination.
Rodger was my friend who was basically a street kid, who lived in a cardboard box in an alleyway outside my apartment block.
I took him food sometimes when I wasn't too busy or had enough time to steal it from the kitchens.
I made it to school just as the first bell rang.
I dropped my board in my sickening green locker.
I gathered my books for first period and headed off to Study Hall.

I banged into Zac Bolten on my way.
He gave me a huge grin.
Stupid, show off Jock. He thought he could get me to love him like everyone else by just smiling.
God, was he full of himself.

"Sorry Zac."
I said in a very bored voice as I pushed past him, making him frown.
He looked like a retard when he did that.
I ran into study hall taking my seat next to Gianna and Mike.
"Hey guys!" I whispered, taking my seat in between them.
"Hi Rhia!" They chorused, causing Mrs. Applegate to hush us angrily from the front of the room.
I heard Lilly say loudly from the seat across from me; "I don't see what the big deal is, it's the last day of school for gods sake.
Everyone stared at her.
Did she want a death wish?!
I aimed a well earned kick in her direction, only resulting in hitting Jacob, causing him to double over in pain and swear barely audibly under his breath.
Gianna stifled a giggle.

Mrs. Applegate was total christian.
It was strange how such a plump, kind looking lady could resemble a saber toothed tiger so much.
She looked furiously at Lilly, eyes buldging, causing everyone else to shrink away in fear.
Lilly just sat there calmly, meeting Applegates' gaze, not seeming the least bit intimidated.

The tension was finally broken by a coughing fit of Mr. Smiths.
Lilly returned back to her work, her gaze completely calm, as if nothing had ever happened.
Everyone returned tentively back to their work.
I was shocked.
I had never seen that before.
Wow. Lilly had guts.

I was brought out of my daze by Gianna, who whispered in my ear excitedly;
"Look! I made up another poem."

It was Gianna's dream to become a poet, and she was super good at it.

I sneaked a peek at the poem she had written.

Falling Slowly,

I have relived this dream,

Once again.

My life,

It is tangled,

No meaning no more,

It is gone.

Covered in sky,

As high as a bird,

As free as a tree,

Swaying in the wind.

I watch it is trembles,

I watch as it snaps,

And I know that my life,

Is going to end just like that.

I watch as a bird,

It soars above,

I watch as it snatches,

A poor, lone dove.

I know my life, will end just like that.

I fall through the sky,

my feet are free,

To walk the sky,

On shimmering beams.

Unseen by man,

And flown on by wings,

And danced on by leaves,

Caught in the breeze.

My hair, it flys,

Like a meteor,

A trail for the moon to follow.

And before I can gasp,

Before I can breathe,

I have hit the ground,

That terrible deed,

It wasn't my fault,

I swear on his life,

I would swear on mine,

But as you can see; I have none.

I had fallen slowly, but now It is rust,

my life has ended,

To shimmering dust.

I wake with a jolt,

shaking my bed,

and I'm scared, of course,

I should be dead.

But no, I am not,

I thought I had died,

I had felt the slap yes?

No?

I don't think I'll ever know the truth,

But now, at least,

I can hope.

( this is dedicated to the song 'Falling Slowly' from the movie: Once)

I smiled up at her. "Good one." I whispered.
She gave a happy smile and returned to her work. Writing more poems I presumed.
I opened my notebook and began doodling.
'Falling Slowly' definetly wasn't her best poem, but it was good.

***

When Study Hall was finally over, we went out into the courtyard and sat in a big circle underneath an oak tree.
Terra had brought a towel so I shared with her.
I began txting Lucas, my back against the tree.
Everyone else was talking, and I wasn't into the convo.

'Sup Lookie Pookie?'

I got a txt back almost immediatly saying;

"Please don't call me that.'

'Okie dookie, how's Olympus?'

'Dad's fighting with your dad again. He says you're leading me on.'

'Onto what? Buried treasure?'

'Lol, but no. He says you're a bad influence.'

'We all know that, so what else?'

'He also says that if I don't put my phone away now and stop the infernal beeping that he will literally kill it'

'Haha, you should go then. See ya!'

'Bye.'

I finished txting and turned my blackberry off.
Ahh, Lucas was a great friend to have.
I decided to txt Sienna later, and ask her how Connor and Micheal were getting on.
Not to well, I don't think.

I came back to the world when I heard the words 'Practical Joke' uttered by Jake.
"What Joke?" I asked stupidly.

"Oh, we were just deciding whether or not to play a joke on Mr. Wimbelton." Said Terra, playing with a hole in the towel.

"Ooo, fun," I said eagerly. "How are we going to do it?"

"We didn't say, that we were going to do it, only that we might." Said Lilly, looking annoyed.

"Yeah, well I'm saying, that we are doing it." I answered.

"Well, what's your plan?" Asked Mike, looking at me expectantly.

"What about, sticking a bucket on the door with wire so that when he walks through the class room door and triggers the bucket, and it will fall on him, AND it will be full of balloons full of pudding." I said.

"Can they be vanilla pudding? He's allergic to vanilla." Offered Terra.

"Vanilla it is then, lads." I said satisfactorly, folding my arms and leaning on the tree again.

They went into the details as I read the 25th chapter of an biography of John Adams by David McCullough for U.S. History.
When they asked me who should steal the equiptment from the art rooms and the cafeteria, I answered Mike, who knew the cafeteria by heart because he had to cook lunches for old people who were using the caf during the summer break, and Jake who knew the art block so well he could walk through it, fetch a bucket, some balloons and wire from it for you in his sleep without getting caught.

I was to be on lookout duty and say the teachers name and run up to them as a sign.
When Terra, Lilly, Mike, Jacob and Gianna set it up behind me, I stood in front of the lockers next to Mr. Wimbolton's class room door beside me.
Thankfully, no teachers came down our hallway.

The rest of us except Terra and Gianna sat in our seats, as they told any kid coming into our class to step carefully over the wire so as not to trigger it.
It was slow, but we made it.
Everyone was sitting politely in their seats as walked airily through the doorway, I exchanged looks with Gianna.
Everyone watched in silence as the bucket toppled over and its contence splattered all over Mr. Wimbolton. There was a moment of silence, and then....
Everyone burst into laughter at the sight of him. His glasses were eskewed, his suit was ruined, he had a blotchy rash growing all over his arms, his face cherry red and he was shaking in fury, his bald spot covered in a pile of vanilla pudding.

He gave me the devils.
He knew it had involved me.
"TO THE PRINCIPALS OFFICE RHIA LIEHEART! YOU TOO JACOB SMITH AND GIANNA SMITH! NOT TO MENTION YOU TWO!" He pointed a shaking finger at Lilly and Terra.
"YOU TWO AS WELL! AND MIKE BLACK!" He screamed.
We got up, quivering in humor.
We walked to the door, laughing and giving thumbs up to everyone in the class. Plenty of people were rolling around on the ground. Even the goths who sat in the back found it funny.
We made our way down the hall to the principal's office, laughing and saying things like: 'Did you see his face?' 'Did you see how fast it came down? He didn't even see it coming!'
We sat down in wooden, blue seats. Jake, Mike and Gianna were still chortling happily; Terra was trying to keep a straight face, and Lilly and I were grinning.
Then Ms. Meyer walked in; We stopped abruptly.
She was tall and wore an expensive, black suit.
Her brown hair was tied up in a tight bun and she wore plain black shoes.
Her withered face was like a vultures', and her eyes were beady and black.
"So...." She said, leaving it hanging there eerily in the space in front of us.
Her eyes snapped to each of our faces in turn. Mine was the last face her evil eyes snapped to.
I gulped.
That's when I thought that maybe a practical joke wasn't such a good idea after all.

We followed her silently into her office. The door slammed behind us by an unseen hand.
I exchanged nervous looks with Lilly.
I knew we were thinking the same thing.
Uhoh.

We waited uncomfortably; Jake was shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.
I had made it the whole year without blowing up the school, and I wanted to keep it that way.
Just my luck.
I wondered where Angora was. She wasn't at school today.
Ms. Meyer stared beadily at us, as if we were her prey.
I had gotten that look enough from monsters.

Lilly nudged me. What? Did she want to get us in more trouble?
She nudged me again.
"What?!" I hissed out of the corner of my mouth.
"The-mist-" She cocked her head towards Ms. Meyer.
'What?" I mouthed, quite annoyed now.
She made a meaningful face and cocked her head again at Ms. Dodd.
Then a thought struck me. Ms. Meyer. Monsters. Evil. Maybe?

"You children," She hissed angrily at us, "and your leader, Rhianna Lieheart, have just played a practical joke on a teacher on the last day of school."

'Yeah, tell us something we don't know' I thought angrily.
What a stupid cow.

Then I thought something.

OMG.
She had called me by my full name.
Rhianna Lieheart.

No-one EVER called me that, except friends,

And enimes.
She was monster.
And she was here to kill us.