The weekend went by quickly, and for the sake of saving this writer's time and energy, no one did anything of particular interest in this story until this point.
The story resumes Monday morning, the beginning of the second week of school.
At the sound of the alarm, Meghan drowsily awoke and swung her arm to bang the buzzer off. Rubbing her eyes and yawning, Meghan became aware of a large, warm weight pressing down on her stomach.
She raised her head to see Benny the fat orange cat, staring her directly in the face. She smiled - this was the first time he'd done this.
But she knew she had to get up, and was besides feeling sweltering hot from the cat and all the blankets piled on top of her. She wriggled, trying to pull herself out.
The weight was too much, however, and she couldn't escape.
"Benny." she whispered to the cat, "Get off."
The cat just stared at her.
"C'mon, Benny, I need to get up."
He wouldn't budge.
"Benny The Cat, I demand that you get off of me right now."
With the third attempt being yet another failure, Meghan looked to the other bed, where her blonde roommate slept peacefully.
"Faye!" she whispered, louder and with urgency. "Faye!"
She, too, stayed still. No one was listening to Meghan this morning. Frustrated, she grabbed the teddy bear that sat on her nightstand and hurled it at the sleeping English schoolgirl.
Thankfully, her aim was good.
"Wha - wha - I'll get the buckets!" Faye yelped, sitting up straight in alarm and pulling off her pink sleeping mask.
Meghan laughed as Faye looked around and came to her senses, breathing heavily.
"No buckets, Faye. But could you kindly remove your cat, so that I can breathe?"
Shaken, Faye looked to her left, toward Meghan's bed, and smiled.
"Oh! Why, yes, of course."
Faye quickly got out of bed, and went over to nudge the cat off of Meghan's stomach. Even then he wouldn't move, and Faye was forced to bring up some cat food and set it at the foot of Meghan's bed. THEN he moved. Benny raised himself up and lumbered over to the food, strangely fast for such a large cat. And Meghan was free.
The two girls started their morning routine. They walked down the hall to the charming bathroom to wash their faces and brush their teeth. When they were refreshed, they marched like clockwork back to their room to make their beds. Faye set the teddy bear daintily back in its original place on the nightstand, before she and Meghan both tugged on their navy and red uniforms. They walked over to the mirror on Faye's dresser and brushed at their hair. Faye did hers in braids once again, and Meghan decided on a side ponytail.
Both girls went down the stairs and sat down for their first meal of the day. Laurence was reading the paper while Emma bustled around in the kitchen. Jacob banged his bowl on the tray of his high chair, as he did every morning. Anthony sat impatiently waiting for the breakfast he'd cram into his mouth, still a bit perturbed that Faye had, in fact, been able to retrieve her diary a few nights ago without him even cracking the cover. And Meghan could hear bickering from the den, over yet another cricket match. Or maybe it was the same one.
When food was set on the table, Laurence put down the paper, folding it neatly as Emma tried to take the bowl from Jacob. Anthony began shoveling spoonfuls down his throat, and was done before anyone else. He left for his college classes, and twenty minutes later, Faye and Meghan were finished as well. They got into the station wagon with Emma.
The red-haired woman drove at a pleasant speed, taking them from the middle-class cottages to the upper-middle-class suburbs, and then passing through into the upper-class mansions. The further they went, the more ornate and extravagant the houses became. More and more cars came into view on the road as the ventured deeper and deeper into London. They were now going into part of the main hub of the city, where gigantic buildings loomed, some of them landmarks known throughout the world. Places that people from all countries, including Meghan's, were at least somewhat familiar with.
But soon enough, they arrived at their destination. Passing by the Morris Brenshire School for Boys, Emma slowed down, partly due to the traffic buildup that was here every morning. She came to a stop in front of Jasperstone Academy. Were they to have gone further down the road, they would have come to the mansions of those who were not only filthy rich, but also played a part in running the country - places that the common citizen rarely cared to go, unless they wanted only to gawk at the enormous houses with their intricate courtyards. Gawking would be all they'd be allowed to do.
The station wagon that Meghan and Faye stepped out of looked stumpy and puny among the limos and luxury cars surrounding it. The car door shut behind them, and the vehicle began to weave its way back out again, leaving the girls as they ventured through the gates. Again, they saw other girls dressed as they were, gathered in clusters in front of the building, chatting away. They bypassed them and walked up the stone steps, into the school.
Of course, a slew of other girls were gathered around everywhere inside. These were the same crowds that had made Meghan nervous before, but she now felt a bit more confident as she marched on in. On their way to their lockers, Meghan and Faye met up with Faye's friends, whose lockers were right nearby. They arrived, and five out of six girls began turning their padlocks. The other girl (three guesses which one) just stood staring, perplexed. Where her padlock should have been, there was a plastic loop, binding her locker shut.
Meghan caught sight of one of the administrators as they walked by, and inquired as to the reason for this madness.
"What happened to my padlock?" she asked.
The administrator stopped.
"Oh, yes, locker #385. Someone requested your locker. You've been reassigned."
He took out a small piece of paper, with a number written on it.
"Right down the stairs and to your left. Your things are already there."
Meghan looked at the number.
"Um...okay." she said.
Faye and her confused friends waved goodbye as Meghan set out to find her new locker.
Down the stairs? Meghan thought. I thought there were only two floors...
The regular stairwell only went up. But when Meghan looked, she saw another stairwell she hadn't noticed before, going downwards through a dark doorway. That had to be it. She stepped down inside.
The stairwell was dimly lit, with an odd buzzing sound that came from nowhere. There were about twelve steps. With every move further down, the bustling upstairs became more faint. When Meghan reached the ground, she turned left, as she had been instructed. Left was really the only way to go anyway, since to her right there was only a door that read "Employees Only".
It was a bit brighter down there than it was in the stairwell itself, but not much. The room was dank, and smelled rather like there'd been a sewer leak. There were no windows, only a lone light bulb in the middle of the ceiling. It was a very small room, about the size of Meghan's laundry room back home - and it looked a lot like it, too. Meghan saw mops, brooms, and other equipment leaning against one side of the room, with buckets and cleaning products surrounding them on the floor.
And there, on the opposite wall, stood a small set of lockers, about five of them altogether. Meghan looked at the little paper and, sure enough, the number that matched it was bolted to the front of the fifth locker. There hung her padlock, Winnie the Pooh stickers and all.
And it was the only padlock there - the other four had plastic loops.
THIS is my locker? Meghan thought. Why had she been moved down here, instead of having her locker next to Faye, who was supposed to be her guide at this new school? Who had wanted her old locker? And this place - it was probably a janitor's closet. Lockers? Here?
Begrudgingly, Meghan stepped forward and began to turn her lock. With the right combination, the padlock immediately snapped open. Meghan pulled on the beat-up-looking door, and it creaked on its hinges. The locker she'd had at her school in New York had been better than this, even if it did have "Derek Waz Here" and "Lick my " scrawled on the front.
As the man had said, all of Meghan's things were there. She hoped that rats hadn't starting nibbling her books, and she half expected to see a tarantula crawl up from behind.
But instead, she saw a peculiar piece of paper drift to the floor.
This paper was folded in half, and didn't look like anything she'd put in her locker before. Maybe it was a note from another administrator, explaining what was going on in more detail. Details would be nice.
Meghan bent to pick up the paper, and walked closer to the light bulb to read it.
Hope you like your new arrangements.
This, my American friend, is only the start
Of your worst nightmare.
My advice to you is to leave now,
And go back to the cesspit you came from
Before I, personally,
Put you in the gutter.
You will learn your place.
-C.P.
Well, that explained it. Meghan was distracted for a moment as she noticed that, where the initials were, the note had been previously whited out. Perhaps a mistake had been made in the process of writing this threat.
And Meghan had to admit, this threat did sound pretty creepy. But she knew that Clarissa had less power over her than she thought.
Meghan knew one thing, too, despite the creepiness of this note. There was no way she was leaving now. And if she really did end up in the gutter, so be it.
But her cousin wouldn't fall in with her.
"That was very odd." Bridget commented to Faye as she checked herself in the mirror that hung inside of her locker. "Why did they move Meghan?"
"I haven't the slightest idea." Faye responded, as she pulled out a book and shut the small metal door. "Why would anyone want a locker next to me? I am 'Fray Windbag' after all."
"Don't you think it's strange?" Emily quipped. "I mean, none of our lockers were reassigned."
"I suppose this must be a special locker." Samantha concluded. "The most fantastic locker in all the world!"
They all broke into a giggle. Their giggling ceased, however, when they saw two people round a corner, into the hallway. One was a school official. The other was an evil teenage girl.
The official was carrying a large load of books, while the girl was carrying nothing. They were headed straight for Faye and her friends.
"That one, right over there." the girl told the man who was carrying books. To Faye's horror, the girl was pointing straight at Meghan's locker. The two came to a stop in front of it, and the man put the books down and began to fiddle with the plastic loop, taking it off.
The girl watched him for a moment, then turned to the group, a satisfied grin spreading across her face.
"Why, hello, Washtub." Clarissa said politely. "Fancy seeing you here."
There you have it! Tell me what you'd like to see happen, and maybe what you'd like to see done to Clarissa later in the story...
Soon you will see the ideas that swirl in my mind!
-rf-