ANOTHER SIDE, ANOTHER STORY
Chapter Two
Experimentation
"Time for school, Steven."
His mother's voice abruptly woke Steven from his sleep as his blurry vision met a red glow coming from the side of his bed. He squinted and saw that it was his clock telling him that it was 6:20AM.
Didn't I just go to bed? He wondered, grunting and rolling over to see the shape of his mom standing in the silhouette of the hallway, looking down on him as if waiting to see for herself that he would be getting up.
"I'm up." He told her, rubbing his eyes.
"Don't skip like last year." She warned him.
"Actually it was the year before last that I skipped, mom." Steven corrected her, remembering how he'd simply not gone to school for most of the last month in his sophomore year. He regretted that now for he'd lost quite a bit of credits. But he was over that stupid mistake and since then had been careful not to skip too often. Though occasionally he'd leave school to go to his friend, Luke's, house instead, depending on how his day went.
His mom didn't seem to believe him as she turned and walked into the kitchen leaving him to get dressed. Steven remained in his bed for another few minutes, wondering how long he could risk spending his time just lying there and if he'd have enough time to get ready for school. The bus left in another twenty minutes and he needed at least fifteen minutes to get completely ready. Plus he had to take a shower. His scalp was itching, now that he thought about it.
Forcing his body to move, he crawled out of bed and rested his feet on the carpeted floor. Only his left foot landed on something flat and cold. Neither his floor nor carpet felt like that. He looked down, startled, and found the Death Note lying there half-open.
"Fuck." He muttered, suddenly alert. He grabbed it and shoved it under his pillows. His mom could've seen it just then. Had she? Wait…what did it matter if she did? Hell, it was dark in the room. There was a chance she didn't… But then…
He sighed and shook his head. It must've fallen out of his bed when he was asleep. He'd forgotten all about it during the peaceful dreams that he had and seeing the skeletal words on the front cover only reminded him of everything that had happened the previous day. The heart attacks. The Death Note. The rules.
Shaking his head he stood and grabbed some clothes. It wasn't until he was getting into the shower a few minutes later that he started to wonder if he dared to bring the Death Note to school with him. The school board would probably announce the deaths during the morning announcements to let everyone know why three students were suddenly no longer among them. Not that they would need to. Hundreds of kids must've already known by now. The crowd had been big when he'd witnessed the deaths. And gossip traveled fast. He wouldn't be surprised if some students were saying that they were stabbed brutally or something.
Steven stepped out of the shower, dried off his hair with a towel on a rack, and got dressed. He jelled his hair, put on his glasses, got rid of the remaining eye boogers, and sprayed deodorant underneath his arm pits. Ready for school just like that. And still he wasn't sure if he would be willing to risk bringing the Death Note. Would he be able to test out and see whether or not it was real?
Of course not! What was he thinking? Testing out something like that on a student? Nobody deserved that… Besides, it was probably fake. It was absurd to even be thinking like this. At least, that's what he thought at the time.
But as the clock ticked it's way closer to 6:42AM, Steven was holding the Death Note in his hands and staring down at his backpack with an apprehensive look on his face. Dare he bring it? He could test it out on a criminal who was going to be sentenced to death anyway. Or someone else who's done bad to the world. But that would take research. And he wasn't yet willing to go online or search through the television to find a suitable experiment for something like this. It just couldn't be real.
And he was going to prove that it wasn't today.
Amanda, his sister, left her room just as Steven slipped the notebook into his backpack between his math and History notebooks. It would blend in best considering they were both black and blue notebooks. And if someone were too look down into his backpack; they wouldn't be able to see the words "Death Note". He would just have to be careful today, that's all.
Waiting outside for the bus to come was always a pain, especially when it was cold and only 7 O'clock in the morning. He'd gotten there and just like the last morning, there were around eight others kids standing around him as well. All of them were freshmen from the looks of it, except his sister who was a sophomore.
As Steven waited patiently in the cold, he thought of everything he had in his backpack to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything at home. His parents had signed his homework sheets while he had been on the computer and he'd finished his assignments with Zito. Yup, nothing left to do. Nothing to worry about…except…
His mind wandered again to the death note and frowned. How was he going to experiment with something like this at school? It was obvious that he was going to have to try and write the name in of someone that he knew, but for that he'd need to know the full name. And if the notebook really did work then it would be have to be someone he didn't like, or was a nuisance to the school. Except Hazen didn't really have a whole lot of really evil people. Just bullies and bitches. And having a bad attitude didn't mean they'd have to be punished by death, does it?
And for the first time Steven began to realize that this Death Note, there was a good chance it was for real. The coincidence of the three simultaneous heart attacks yesterday was overwhelming evidence for that. He'd thought long and hard about it and couldn't come up with any other reasonable conclusion as to what could've happened.
The bus parked in front of him as the kids all climbed aboard. Steven sat down in the front few rows of seats and stared out the window with a glazed expression while the rest of the students all around him talked with groggy and feverish voices about nothing important.
He had to make sure the Death Note was real. He had to. And to do that, he was going to have to write someone's name in it today. But who's? Who would it be that would be of no use to this world and deserved to die? Who could he possibly think of?
Many names and faces crossed his mind. Even his friends and his ex-girlfriends. Of course, he'd never kill them. But thinking of everyone who he could kill had forced him to think of everyone he knew. His family, his friend's family. His cats, maybe. The rules didn't specify on animals. And then there were a bunch of other people he didn't consider friends but just acquaintances or people he nodded to in the halls but never really spoken with before.
Before he knew it, the bus was at school and he stood up to board off. His mind was still on people he could write into the death note and as he walked up to the school, he spotted a few people that he knew just barely but didn't know their last names and it would be weird if he just approached them suddenly asking for their last name. They might even give it to him, but then he'd become suspicious. And if this Death Note worked he did not want to be suspicious, especially after the three deaths yesterday.
Steven made his way into the building and across the entrance hall to the lunch room like he'd done the previous morning and every other morning last year. He could see Jacob, Zito and a couple others already sitting there as he walked around a few of the lunch tables where some of the more annoying, punk-wannabe sophomores were running around and laughing dimwittedly. Steven briefly imagined all of them falling dead at the same time if he were to write in all their names in the Death Note, but he didn't know any of their names, nor did he want to at the moment.
And so he took a seat next to Zito, who looked very sleepy and didn't seem to be paying much attention since his face was planted in his backpack. Then there was Jacob Allen. He was most definitely the strongest, and most eccentric of all Steven's friends. Very loud and very random. He had a lot of catch phrases and swore more than a drunken sailor. And despite his size, Jacob's arms, legs, and body all seemed to be made of muscle.
"Steven Leitch!" He called, slamming the edge of his palm on the table, waking Zito up.
"Asshole." Zito grumbled, returning to his backpack.
Steven forced on a smile as he cracked his knuckles and said "Jacob! What's up?"
"Nothing. Just masturbating—I mean messing—around with little Kirsten here." Jacob said, suddenly turning to wag his finger at his younger sister.
She was a freshman this year. Small but wearing dark clothing and a strange hat, she didn't really look anything like Jacob. But that was probably because they both had a weird parent issue that Steven didn't really know too much about. Jacob's family life was kind of a mystery. Whenever they talked to him about it he would always exaggerate and say his dad would beat him up and cuss really loudly. But they all doubted his life was really that rough. It was Jacob's mom who seemed scary. Steven remembered him and Zito seeing her once when they were hanging out with Jacob and the face she had on when she looked at him nearly made them shit themselves. Apparently his parents forced him to do ridiculous chores and made him get a job to pay for himself when it came to living with them.
Kirsten was sitting on the opposite side of Jacob with a friend of hers that Steven had never met before. And then there was Nick, a big, nerdy guy who was kind of friends with them. He was obsessed with the game, Halo and Halo 2 and every lunch he always seemed to have a bag of McDonalds or something with him. Of course they were nice and generally avoided calling him fat, especially to his face. Nick was a quiet kind of guy though and Steven always had the distinct feeling that he didn't like him for some reason.
"Hiya!!" Jacob roared, bashing his elbow into the table again. "Luke!"
Steven jerked his head up and was surprised to see their friend, Luke Bardsley come strolling into the lunch room.
Luke had long, brown hair that was always in a mess around his head. Skinny and muscular, he was the kind of guy who liked to get in small sparring matches with Jacob, but not in front of people. He wore sweatpants and had his black sweatshirt tied around his waist as if making a very odd fashion statement. At least, that's what people who didn't know Luke would think. Normally he didn't come to school because he'd dropped out during the last quarter of Junior year but it seemed he'd come back.
And when Steven asked him why he was back, he responded "I got a first period with Mr. Wilson."
"Then you gotta walk home?" Steven asked incredulously.
"Yup." Luke sat down and abruptly started coughing in his fist. Another thing about Luke was that he had a major allergy issue with almost everything. Even some of the things he ate. So it was no surprise when a few minutes later he started hacking away again when Jacob told another hilarious joke about something completely random.
Steven laughed and joined in on the fun like he usually did every morning but even as he did so, he wondered inside what it would be like if he didn't have these people around him. What if they'd all died? If their names were written in the Death Note…would they die? And for a brief second, he imagined all of them disappearing and him being alone at the table…
"BUTTSEX!!!" Jacob roared, twisting around in his seat and somehow punching his fist right into Luke's side. He coughed and blinked back tears of pain.
"Nice one, Jacob!" He said weakly, coughing into his fist and laughing.
The bell rang and they all stood from their seats. Kirsten and her friend looked quite happy to be away from them as they rushed through the double doors first. Steven stayed behind with Zito while watching Luke and Jacob wander off to head to their classes.
"Mr. Wilson, awesome." Zito yawned, standing up. "I got Jacob and Luke both in my class then. Sweet."
Mr. Wilson was now the new teacher for weight-training class. Their old teacher, Mr. O'Brian, or as some called him: OB, was probably one of the coolest old dudes they'd ever met. But Mr. Wilson was just some fat, mean guy. Why was he teaching a PE class?
"First period with them, huh?" Steven repeated, looking down at his feet as they walked.
"Yeah, it's gonna be awesome. Seeyah." Zito rushed off after Jacob and Luke as they both stepped outside into the back courtyard of the school grounds. Steven watched in silence as Zito ran and tackled Luke and Jacob from behind and a strange sensation of abandonment washed over him. He wished he could have a class with them too. Especially since his first period was History with Mr. Page, who he'd had last year already and was taking again just because his counselor couldn't find anywhere else to put him.
It really pissed him off, he thought as he made his way down the path by a group of girls laughing about something unimportant. He would rather have some kind of Language Arts class or a Creative Writing class like he'd signed up for but no. US History. And with Mr. Page. It might've been okay if he had a friend in that class but there was just a bunch of Juniors there. And all of the Juniors this year seemed to be just as retarded as the Sophomores and Freshmen. In fact, even a lot of the Seniors were truly conceded and stupid. Now that he thought about it, almost the entire population at the school seemed to be underdeveloped. Was it because this generation was more focused on drugs, cars, sex, money, and alcohol? Probably.
And then Steven thought about the Death Note. A lot of stupid people but none of them deserved to die….right?
Steven stepped up to the second portable building and opened the door into his History class. There were a few people already in their desks. Steven went to his seat in the back and set his backpack down on his desk. He was beginning to feel a little conceited himself. Thinking of being seen as a death ruler already when he didn't even know if the notebook was real or not. How could it be real? But then…how could it not be?
It was within the first five minutes of class when the voice the school's principle, Ms. Beeson, came on and announced the deaths of the three Mexican students. And just like how Steven had predicted, it seemed like most of the student body already knew. For the people in his History class didn't seem to be very shocked. They were, however, surprised that she would announce such a thing to the public just like that.
"Hearts attacks?" muttered the big, black boy sitting next to Steven as he took out his journal for notes. "What the fuck? Tch! I heard they got in a fight and stabbed each other or something."
Typical. Steven rolled his eyes as he flipped open his journal to where he'd finished writing his notes yesterday. He continued to listen to the conversation that went on by his side, however. The black boy was talking to a guy his size except he was white skinned and his head was the shape of a cracked walnut.
It was obvious from the get-go that they were both jocks and were definitely the ones to cause problems within a class room by acting either goofy, or tough. And sometimes both. Steven generally didn't have much of a problem with them as long as they didn't interrupt him or start anything with him. Which they usually didn't. All he had to do was pretend like he could get along with them. It wasn't too difficult. The white guy in front probably wouldn't even understand sarcasm when he heard it anyway.
"Stabbed?" The white guy repeated. "Nah, dude. I was there. They just collapsed or some shit."
"Like fell, just like that?" The black boy asked.
"Yeah, that's what 'fell' means, man."
Steven decided their pointless rambling was boring him faster than one of Mr. Page's speeches and decided to listen to their teacher as he tried to calm down the classroom for not only had the two boys talked about the incident but the rest of the class was as well.
Steven's eyes narrowed as he stared at the blank piece of notebook paper in front of him and imagined the Death Note lying before him instead. Was there anyone in this classroom worth willing to kill?
No, of course not. They were all just mindless idiots. And idiots don't deserve to die. They just need to be shown how not to be idiots and give them a couple years they'll turn out to be capable individuals. If he was going to kill someone, it would have to be someone truly despicable. Someone evil. Someone nobody would miss. And then the truth of the Death Note can finally come to light. But who? That is the question at hand. Who did he dare attempt to kill?
Half-way through the class period and Mr. Page had managed to stop the side-talking about the heart attacks. He was now teaching them about the colonial days in America when British Colonies had taken over the once French lands and managed to take control of most of middle America while the Spanish had the south and the French were stuck in the North. Steven wrote notes and listened carefully, determined to try and keep his mind off the Death Note, at least for now so that he wouldn't get a migraine from thinking of the same thing all morning long.
And then he remembered that today he had promised Zito that he would try and switch his schedule so that he would have Government with him second period instead of with his other teacher, Mrs. Shaunesty.
He fumbled his hand into his pocket and took out the crumpled, white piece of paper that was his schedule. Unfolding it, he looked down and read it in his head to refresh his memory on what classes he had.
U.S. HistoryMr. PageP2
U.S. Gov.Mrs. ShaunestyP1
Ind. LivingMs. Swift
Essential ScienceMr. McCarron
Comp. Graphic ArtMr. Goodboy700
Segmented MathMs. Dutton
Going through it in his head, he wondered how on earth he would manage to convince Mrs. Shaunesty to allow him to switch to Crueger's class instead with Zito. The problem was that she knew Zito had that class with Crueger and knew that he and Zito were best friends. If that came into play then there would be no point in asking.
And then it hit him. He had a plan. He wouldn't be taking Government with Zito, instead…
"Steve-O! What!?" Zito exclaimed as Steven entered the Independent Living Class room taught by Ms. Swift during fifth period. He'd just gotten back from having lunch and was ready to show off his surprise.
"Hey, Zito." He said with a smile. "I switched my schedule around a bit and now I got this class fifth period instead of third."
"What do you have third?" Zito asked curiously.
"Mejelli." Steven replied, sitting down at a table next to him.
Mr. Mejelli was the woodshop teacher. His classroom was right across from Mr. Goodboy's so he dropped computers and went with woodshop instead. Even though he'd already taken it the previous year. He'd taken Goodboy's class three times.
"Awesome!" Zito said with a laugh. "You got a class with me and Baker, now!"
Baker, eh? Catheryne Baker was a girl whom they'd been good friends with for almost a year. She started to really hang out with them last year during lunch and she had two classes with Steven as well, at least back then. She was a very goofy and sparky. Always laughing about everything and not really taking things offensively.
"Bush!" She announced, when she entered the class, a look of shock on her face. "What're you doing here!?"
She always called Steven "Bush" because of the beanie he always used to wear that had the word "Bush" on it. He smirked and said "Little Baker! I switched classes around."
"That's cool." She giggled and then sat down in the pair of tables across from them. Before long all three of them were talking about random stuff like what they did during lunch and how apparently Zito had met a hot chick in his fourth period, woodshop, class. Before long the bell rang and Ms. Swift dismissed them to their last period.
Steven groaned mentally inside his head. Math with Ms. Dutton. What a pain. "Well guys, I'm off to special ed. Seeyah." He joked, walking down the hallway away from Baker and Zito as he made his way toward his final period…
Sixth period was almost just like yesterday's sixth period. Except only this time there was an absence of the three Mexican students. The class seemed much quieter, however. Since those three were all from this same class, people didn't seem very talkative. Steven didn't care much. He copied down his notes and did the assignment with his group until the time dawned to 2:03pm and the bell rang.
It wasn't until Steven was heading toward the door when the girl in his group, Ashley, approached him.
"What do you think happened to them?" She asked.
"Who?" Steven muttered, not really paying attention.
"Those guys. The ones who had the heart attacks?"
"Well, it sounds to me like they all died of heart attacks." Steven told her sarcastically. She smiled.
"Yeah, but…isn't it kind of weird?" She went on.
Steven frowned. "Well, maybe they really did all stab each other or something and the heart attack story is just a cover-up so that the school doesn't look bad." He knew this was a lie, of course. He'd been there himself.
"No, they died of heart attacks." Ashley said quietly.
"How do you know that?" Steven asked, stepping through the door.
"I was there."
Steven froze and looked at her. He'd almost forgotten how many people really did witness them dying. She'd been one of them, huh? But if she had been one of them, then there's a chance she knew he'd been there to… What if the reason she was asking him these questions was because she saw him pick up the Death Note? He'd been sure that nobody was looking…Or had he?
And if she knew he'd picked up the death note, then maybe she saw what the letters on the front said and is suspecting him of the crime…
"I was there to." He said suddenly, and she pulled off a look of surprise.
"You were?" She repeated. "But I thought you didn't believe the story?"
"It was just an idea. I was seeing if you thought anything of it, but since you were there then there was no point." Steven explained, emerging into the hallway with Ashley by his side.
"Did you see their faces?" She asked, almost too excitedly. As if she finally had someone to talk about this with.
Steven looked at her and nodded. He was still trying to decide if this girl was somehow secretly smarter than she appeared. She was a senior, apparently. And today she mentioned how she was in Running Start. He didn't know much about that program but he knew some semi-intelligent people who have joined it. If she'd seen him pick up the Death Note, then she'd be suspecting him right now. But there's no way, she doesn't know what the Death Note can do. She never looked inside; he's made sure of that. It's been hidden inside his backpack between his history and math books all day…
And then it hit him. His math book. He'd taken it out to work on group work… What if in that split second, she looked inside and saw the Death Note? Impossible…this girl…
He frowned as they continued walking and she described the Heart Attacks to him all over again. She's trying to divert my attention to the Heart Attacks… He thought, smiling weakly and agreeing with her. I'll play along; let her think I'm falling into her trap…
"Now that I think about it, I think I saw you there." She said, pressing a finger to her lip.
Steven cheered inside. What an idiot girl. She wasn't as smart as she wanted to be, it appeared. Saying that confirmed his suspicions. If she'd seen him there, then she must've seen him pick up the Death Note. Why else would she be asking him these questions and bringing up this conversation now if she hadn't?
"Yeah, I didn't stick around though." Steven said. "Mr. Bailey was pushing us off, telling us to get away. Y'know?"
"Yeah…" Ashley paused. They were both standing on the exact spot where the three Mexicans had died. It had been an day since then…
"Well, I'm off." Steven said, beginning to walk away. "I'm sorry, I forgot your name?"
"Ashley." She told him with a smile.
"Ashley…?" Steven went on and she laughed.
"Ashley Peters."
"Ah, well I'll see you tomorrow, Ashley Peters." He grinned but inside he felt like laughing. This girl truly wasn't as smart as she could've been. I can't risk asking for a last name from anyone else again though. Unless I'm dealing with retards like her, of course…
And so he walked out the double doors with a heavy sigh, thinking over what had just happened carefully in his head until he arrived at his bus and sat down inside. He had her name. He had her face. And he had the Death Note. And there was a chance she was suspicious of him. A small one, but still a chance…
It looked like he'd found his experiment.
33