Chapter Eleven-Move Along
The morning of the 27th dawned with clear skies and a gloriously bright sun. The colors on the trees in the city of Minneapolis were enchanting shades of scarlet, ocher, and gold. The breeze was gentle and slightly cool, belying the fast approach of winter in the Midwestern state. It was not balmy by any means; the thermometer outside of the warm apartment read 45 degrees Fahrenheit, but that didn't faze the young woman of Scandinavian descent as she pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head and began to briskly walk down the block.
Kelsey still had an hour before school was to start, but she needed to get out of her apartment in order to keep from completely breaking down. Though her father was more than enough comfort on this horrid day, the arrival of her stepmother the night before was a very unpleasant surprise. With Marion around, Kelsey's grief was all the more palpable. It should be her mother sitting in the living room of the cozy apartment; not the wicked stepmother.
'Maybe I should have chosen to stay in the dorms.' she regretfully thought as she kept walking towards the school.
Kelsey loved living with her father; there was no doubt about that. It was her stepmother that she could not stand, even on the best of days. Since this day definitely did not qualify as a best day, being in the presence of a woman who could not stand the sight of Kelsey was more than enough to make the all ready horrible day more atrocious.
About two blocks away from the school, Kelsey found the newly opened Starbucks. She normally wasn't one for coffee, but on this morning, the thought of a nice hot chocolate and cinnamon roll sounded delightful. The coffee shop smelled heavenly, making Kelsey actually feel hungry for the first time in days. After obtaining her order, she found a small table in the far back.
Once her meal was finished, she headed back out into the chilly autumn air and continued her brisk pace towards the school. She had only fifteen minutes to get into the building before the tardy bell, which would be an easy feat at the pace she was walking. Within ten minutes, she was at her locker trying to compose herself.
"Hey, babe."
Kelsey nearly groaned as she heard the voice of the person she most certainly did not want to deal with. She couldn't exactly see him since her open locker door was in between them, but she imagined he was dressed in his usual bad boy attire and had a smirk on his face. After deciding between speaking to Dean Portman and slamming the open locker door in his face, she opted for the former.
"Hi." she all but huffed.
She grabbed her bag and closed the locker, doing her best to not change her mind and batter the unsuspecting young man. She was surprised to see the absence of a smirk and could feel her anger begin to fade.
"Are you okay?" he asked, concern in his deep brown eyes.
Kelsey felt her face soften as she digested his words. "No, not really."
She felt like kicking herself for allowing her anger with him to abate so quickly. They hadn't spoken in nearly a month, yet there he was looking more serious than she had ever seen him. She was about to flee the scene and go to her next class when she was caught off guard by his arms wrapping around her. Even though the strong arms were comforting, Kelsey really was not in the mood to have her all ready tangled emotions further messed with.
"Umm, Dean." she said as she briefly returned the hug.
He let go and took a step back a look of confusion on his face. "Just let me know if you need someone to talk to."
Kelsey raised an eyebrow as he practically jogged off.
'What is with these guys?' she thought as she walked to her first class of the morning.
"Mr. Clark? Could I please ask you something?" the blonde beauty inquired as she walked into the empty history classroom.
The class would still be empty for at least another five minutes, giving her enough time to raise her project concerns with the mostly agreeable teacher.
"Of course, Ms. Paris, ask away." the teacher replied as he finished his soda and tossed the can effortlessly into the wastebasket.
"I'm having a really hard time getting Kylie to help me with our project. I have tried accommodating her busy schedule, but she keeps blowing me off. Would it be possible to change partners or just work on my own? I have everything finished, minus the speech portion…"
She trailed off, losing confidence. Even though she knew that she was one of the best students in her grade, she also knew most teachers at Eden Hall Academy adored the charming Kylie Perry.
Mr. Clark folded his hands together on the desk top. "Well, that is the most interesting story. See, today, Ms. Perry spoke to me before the first bell. She seemed very adamant that she was doing all of the work and was demanding a new partner. She even gave me a copy of her work."
Kelsey could feel her jaw drop as the teacher pulled a paper out of the top drawer of his desk. Why on earth had she given Kylie a copy of the rough draft, when she hadn't contributed anything to the project? If Mr. Clark really believed the other girl, then how would Kelsey be able to turn in her project?
"But, Ms. Paris, I have seen you stay late after school numerous times, when you don't have hockey practice. I also know for a fact that this work is yours. I could tell that from the moment I began reading it during my free period." he smiled as Kelsey recovered from the thought of failing. "You may work alone on this project. As you know, the speeches will begin on Monday. Since you are working alone, I would prefer for you to give your presentation first."
As much as Kelsey hated giving a speech in front of her peers, being able to give hers before the majority could give theirs would definitely make up for it.
"Yes, I will have everything ready, Mr. Clark. Thank you."
As soon as their conversation finished, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. Kelsey walked to her seat and sat down as the other students came bustling in.
"So, why exactly are we at the mall?"Julie groaned as the trio of girls exited the bus.
Kelsey was also very keen to know the answer. Even though she was not very much in the mood to go to the mall, she also wasn't very much in the mood to go home to her stepmother either.
"We are getting Halloween costumes!" Connie said excitedly as they entered the large building.
Julie and Kelsey groaned together, causing Connie to roll her eyes.
"We aren't little kids. I'm not going trick-or-treating."Julie asserted as they followed the slightly shorter girl to the Halloween store.
"We aren't going trick-or-treating."Connie rebuked. "We are going to Tessa McKinley's party."
"No, I will not be going to that party."Julie glared as she crossed her arms. "It's just an excuse for people to get drunk and do stupid stuff."
"You don't have to do any of that. I just want to go because it is a costume party. Besides, we have been going to this school for over two years now, and we have never been invited to any of her parties."
Kelsey stopped browsing the costume make-up briefly to look at the arguing pair. "Why did she invite you this time, then?"
She was pretty certain that she all ready knew the answer, but wanted a confirmation before she joined Julie in protesting.
"I don't know. She invited the whole team." Connie shrugged as she started walking towards to costume section.
"Portman." Julie stated matter-of-factly. "She's been going on about this since lunch. Averman has even been invited."
"Who knows. Do we really want to go to this thing? I like costume parties, but I don't really know this Tessa chick."
'Nor do I want to.' she added silently.
"I don't know. Most of the people will be inebriated. But, it could be fun to get out of the dorms for the evening."
"I thought you have a curfew?" Kelsey asked as they joined Connie.
"Oh, Dean Buckley actually allows curfew to be ignored the weekend of Halloween."
Julie rolled her eyes. "What she means is, most of the parents pay Buckley off so their babies don't get in trouble for sneaking out all weekend."
"Oh." Kelsey muttered as she looked at the ridiculously trashy costumes. "Does anything actually cover stuff anymore?"
Connie shrugged as she took the butterfly costume Kelsey had been looking at. "I think it's actually pretty cute."
Julie just shook her head, allowing her dirty blond hair to fall into her face.
"So, what day is the party on?" Kelsey asked, hoping to distract the brunette from rounding on their other friend again.
"Saturday. It starts at eight." Connie answered. "I think I'm going to try this on."
This would explain the sudden interest in going to the mall and finding costumes. The party was in just two days, which meant they had to find their costumes by the end of the shopping trip.
After she was out of earshot, Kelsey turned to Julie. "So, we are going to an alcohol fueled party in slutty costumes. This is totally not a recipe for disaster."
"Oh, definitely." Julie agreed sarcastically.
"Let's just hope she gets bored early so we can go to some other place."
Julie sighed. "We can only hope. I think the club for sixteen to eighteen year-olds is having a costume party. So, maybe we can go to it before the club closes."
"Sounds like a plan to me."