I really wanted to update yesterday, but my notebook was suffering from pms or something - it just didn't work anymore :-/
My brother had to fix it, poor boy, haha!
It's all better now, so here is the next chapter! Have fun!
Maddie couldn't wait to check on her rats during class. She was giddy with excitement that she finally had pets! So, after managing to endure nearly ten minutes of her History class, she excused herself and left. Her pets were more important than History, right?
She hurried to her locker instead of to the restrooms like she told her teacher, and opened it.
What she then found was a bit ... annoying.
These little ones had completely destroyed her school books. They had ripped pages out, and probably eaten parts of them, too. And it smelled like pee in her locker ... eew. She scrunched up her nose at the penetrating smell.
Well, maybe it was a wee bit her own fault ... she should have given them something to sleep on, something comfortable, so they wouldn't have felt the need to fool around.
A new idea formed in Maddie's head.
She knew that there were more classrooms on the topmost floor, classrooms that were not used anymore.
She could put her rats in there, so they wouldn't keep on destroying her stuff ... good plan.
Hurrying up the stairs with her rats in the same box she brought them to school in and the food in the bag, she found the former classrooms and came to a stop in the hallway to look around. Choosing the very first room then, which was right next to the stairs, she broke the lock of the door easily before entering.
Quite decent, Maddie mused, maybe a bit small, but enough for little creatures like her new pets.
Maddie set the bag down on the floor and walked over to the windows in order to open them. It smelled funny in this room and it was stuffy and old; little dust particles danced visibly in the air where the sun shone into the room through the dirty windows. She wanted to let some cool air in for a couple of minutes, hopefully ridding the room of the smell.
Then she spotted an old coat that hung on a hook by the door. Taking it down and spreading it out, she put it on the floor.
Looking around the dusty room once more, Maddie found big saucers on the window sills, probably used for room plants before the room had been abandoned; she grabbed them and washed the dust off under the faucet of the sink next to the door.
She filled one of them with rat food, the other one with water, then put them next to the cloak on the floor.
Hm, what else was there to do? Figuring that rats might like a dark sleeping place, she opened the old wooden closet in the corner and looked inside; it was empty.
Now that sucked. Maddie had hoped to find rags, or another cloak maybe. Deciding that she herself had to provide the little ones with her clothes then, she took off her school blazer and put it on one of the tables, before pulling her pullover over her head. That would be warm enough to sleep on, wouldn't it?
Stuffing the dark blue fabric into one corner of the closet, Maddie got just another brilliant idea.
She would go get some toilet paper, too, so they could shred it and build a nest for themselves. Rats build nests, don't they?
Maddie shrugged her shoulders and left the room, only to walk back in after a moment with toilet paper in her hand. She spread it all over the room, then put her hands on her hips, admiring her work. She was such a good pet-owner, how could anyone ever think she wouldn't be responsible enough?
She smiled to herself, until she remembered that she was still in school. Oh.
Checking her watch for the time, Maddie realised that she had already spend more than twenty minutes in this room ... which was not according to plan, by the way.
Shit.
Maddie closed the window hastily and released the two rats from the box, then quickly grabbed her blazer and left the room, closing the door on her way out.
"Where have you been, Madeline?" Maddie's History teacher, Mr. Miller, asked when she entered the room and closed the door quietly behind her.
"Restrooms, I told you," Maddie said with a frown while walking to the back of the room and sitting down in her seat.
"Detention."
Some of the girls in Maddie's class gasped, then looked back and forth between the teacher and Maddie, curious about how she would react.
"What! Why?" Her head shot up and she fixed her teacher with a glare, nearly breaking the pencil, which she had picked up from her desk a moment ago, in half.
"Come to me when this lesson is over, I am not going to discuss this with you right now. You have disrupted my class enough as it is," Mr. Miller rebuked, before continuing to write year dates and facts on the blackboard.
"Whatever." Maddie was annoyed. Her stupid teacher had given her detention in front of the whole class ... how was she supposed to get out of that? She couldn't alter the memories of so many people at once, dammit.
So, when class was over, Maddie walked up to the teacher's desk and waited for Mr. Miller to finish making notes in his little book. Then he looked up.
"Madeline," he said without emotion, took his black-rimmed glasses off his nose and placed them on the smooth surface of his desk.
"Mr. Miller," Maddie said through gritted teeth. She had always disliked this guy and now he was aggravating her further by folding his hands on the table and looking at her as if she had done something wrong!
He took a deep breath before speaking. "Quite frankly: I don't believe that you were in the restrooms for half an hour. You were cutting class."
"No, I wasn't!" Maddie countered, then realised that this exclamation probably wouldn't be enough to get her ass out of detention. She quickly switched from glaring at her teacher to showing her best puppy dog eyes and speaking in a soft voice. "I am suffering from cystitis and I didn't want to disturb your lesson by leaving the room every five minutes." Woah. Maddie was surprised she made that up that quickly.
He raised his eyebrows at her explanation. "You do?"
She nodded and looked bashfully at the ground. "Yes. I missed my first class this morning because my father took me to see a doctor, to get medication. He called this morning as well, you can ask Mrs. Fisher, she spoke to him."
"Why didn't you tell me at the beginning of class? I would have understood, Madeline."
"I'm sorry." Maddie squirmed a bit. "I thought it's kind of embarrassing, I didn't want anybody to know."
"It is nothing to be ashamed of. Cold weather brings forward these kinds of inflammations. Now, ask one of your classmates if you could borrow her notes of this lesson, you have missed quite a bit. All right?"
"Yes, Mr. Miller. Do I still have to serve detention, Sir?"
He sighed. "No. But next time tell me before class that you aren't feeling well," he told her. "And tell your other teachers!"
"I will! Thanks, Mr. Miller!" Maddie chirped while leaving the room.
"He let you off the hook?" Somebody asked the moment Maddie stepped out into the hallway.
"You were eavesdropping!" Maddie laughed while walking over to her locker.
"Just curious." Becca shrugged her shoulders and followed. Maddie had met her on her first day at this school, they sat next to each other during classes and they were kinda friends.
"Well, I told him I was suffering from cystitis."
Becca's eyes widened with curiosity. "And ... are you?"
"Of course. I wouldn't lie to dear Mr. Miller!" She held her hand over her unbeating heart when she said 'dear' and batted her eyelashes. Then she laughed and nudged her friend carefully in the side with her elbow. Very carefully ... wouldn't go over too well if she broke her ribs.
Becca tilted her head to the side and asked, "So ... where have you been?" She really was a curious girl.
"Maybe here, maybe there ...," Maddie replied vaguely and smirked.
"What?"
"Just kidding. I might tell you later," Maddie answered while opening her locker.
Damn, her shredded books still posed a little problem.
Becca's jaw dropped. "What happened to your books?"
And Maddie just made a face.
"Wanna swap?" she tried.
Becca reached into Maddie's locker and, using her thumb and index finger, picked one of the books up by its front cover. Several shreds of paper came fluttering out of it and a big yellow stain decorated the right corner.
"I'd rather not. I don't think my Mom would approve if I brought this home." She looked slightly grossed out.
"Well, I don't think my Mom would approve either." Maddie bit her lip. She couldn't afford to come home with shredded, peed-on school books ... just her luck. Why did she of all people had to get leaky pets?
"Is that ... pee?" Becca squinted at the yellowish spot and held the book closer to her nose, sniffing it. She flinched a second later, made a disgusted noise and threw it back into Maddie's locker.
Rubbing her nose on the sleeve of her blazer, she made even more disgusted noises. As if rubbing your nose on your sleeve would get rid of the smell. Gosh, Becca.
"You sure you don't wanna swap?"
"What did you do with it? That is so gross!" Becca exclaimed and shuddered.
"Huh? Do you think I peed on it?" Maddie asked in disbelief.
She laughed, flashing her braces. "Haha, no! But ... what happened?"
The girl was suddenly pulled closer by Maddie, so that she could whisper in her ear, "Where do I get new books?"
"Book store?"
Maddie groaned, then whispered fiercely, "I need them now!"
"Oh." Becca thought for a moment, chewing on her lip. Then she exclaimed, "The library! I bet they have copies of all our school books! You could borrow them for a couple of days!"
Maddie's eyes lit up instantly. "You're a genius! I've never been to the school library before, but it would make perfect sense if they had our books!" She smiled, completely excited now and quickly picked up the pieces of paper that had fallen to the ground earlier - wouldn't do any good to leave traces.
"Then let's go now, Maddie, recess is almost over!" Becca urged and pulled on Maddie's sleeve.
They were lucky. Maddie found several copies of the books she needed, and promptly borrowed one of each for the whole week. That would give her enough time to order new books for herself from the book store - without anyone being any the wiser.
Hurrying back for their next lesson, they indeed made it in time and Maddie told her teacher of her ... bladder problem; she was free to leave the room whenever she needed to, and so she did.
The next hours followed the same pattern: Maddie left whenever she wanted and spent the time watching her little rats.
"Hello. How was your day?" Edward greeted his sister when she sat down in his car and shut the passenger door.
"Fine. Nothing special," she replied and threw her backpack onto the backseats.
"I am still curious as to why you wanted to keep me from hearing Alice's thoughts." He shot her a sideways glance while steering the car down the road.
Maddie shrugged and looked out of the window, away from her brother.
"What are you planning?" he questioned.
"Nothing," she replied, thoroughly enjoying the fact that her brother had no clue whatsoever.
"Don't give me that."
"What?" she asked, all innocent.
"I don't believe you. You keep me from hearing your thoughts, Alice's thoughts and all visions."
"Yeah. Thought she might like some privacy, too," Maddie answered, her tone of voice casual.
"You do know that Alice still would know what you are up to."
"I am not up to anything," Maddie defended herself.
"If you say so... and you smell frowsty, in case you didn't know."
They drove on in silence ... still no music for Edward.
Maddie wanted to entertain him by singing, but he put his hand over her mouth every time she purposely hit the wrong note ... which happened quite often.
"What are you planning?" Rosalie sat down next to Maddie on the couch and put an arm around her shoulders.
"Watching ... teleshopping?" Maddie said with the remote still in her hand, looking confused.
Rose shook her head no. "No, Maddie. I am talking about the fact that you blocked Edward from hearing your, as well as Alice's thoughts."
"Oh, that."
"Yes, that."
"Well, I wouldn't have any privacy if I hadn't done it that way, you know?"
"That is the reason you did it? Nothing else?" Rosalie asked, looking at her sister warily.
"What do you mean?"
"Emmett is pretty much concerned that you would plan on sneaking out of the house to see somebody."
"See whom?" Maddie's eyes lit up. Had Emmett spotted somebody cute around here, somebody she might like?
"Maddie, I don't know." Rosalie sighed while playing with Maddie's hair. "He wanted me to ask you."
"I'm not seeing anyone. And if I did, it wouldn't be any of his business."
"Maddie, relationships between humans and vampires are ... difficult to say the least. They end badly, that is why he is so concerned."
Bullshit ... he just didn't want her to date.
"Rose, come on. Tanya, Kate and Irina are with guys all the time, and they all happen to be human. It doesn't end badly," Maddie said casually and pulled one knee up to hug to her chest, all the while continuing to watch TV.
Rosalie's eyes bulged out of their sockets because of what Maddie said, but she quickly regained her composure.
"Uhm ... Maddie. Did they bring their ... companions home?" She really did not like the idea of Maddie witnessing unfamiliar men come and go several times a week, always just staying for a couple of hours.
Maddie shook her head no. "Nope. But I know what they do when they go away for some time."
"What they do?" Rose asked, sounding shocked.
"Yeah," Maddie replied absent-mindedly, but noticed that Rose was still watching her after a moment. "Oh, come on, Rose, don't make such a fuss about it." Maddie snorted while changing the channel.
What do you think? Do you like Becca? She made an appearance in the school story I've written (haven't posted it yet), and so I thought she could come back now!
Don't forget to REVIEW!