Chapter 2: On School Grounds
White Lies
Disclaimer: I do not own PRDT. I never have, and never will. The events in the story are based on "The Missing Bone", whatever happens after that may or may not be parallel to the actual storyline.
Author's Note: The story will be mostly Conner/Kira/Trent and will be written as a compilation of POVs.
Ethan
"Good for three!" I shout, tossing a paper ball into a rectangular box Devin is holding. I think I'm getting a hang of this. I begin to wonder if this could become my new hobby. And speaking of new... "Hey, d'you guys know we're supposed to get a new teacher today?" "Yeah. Your guess is?" Conner replies as he throws a couple of paper balls (which completely misses the box, by the way).
"Well, I heard from a very reliable source that it's this 80-year-old woman who used to teach kindergarten in Ohio," Cassidy joins in. "Really?"
Just then, the door swings open and lo, and behold, it's gran- what? Principal Randall? What is she doing here? Her sudden entrance shocks everyone and all the students scramble to their seats.
"Good morning, class. I would like you to meet your new teacher, Dr. Anton Mercer," the Principal introduces in an unusually polite manner as Dr. Mercer steps into the class. My eyes widen as they lock on Dr. Mercer. From behind me, I hear Trent mutter, "Huh?" In a way, I kinda pity Trent. Poor guy. Imagine having your dad become your teacher. Man, that's killer. On the bright side, at least there's someone to keep an eye on the white ranger. That should lighten our problem of making sure Trent doesn't go around creating havoc.
Dr. Mercer walks across the room while making sweeping glances over the students. He has this weird smile plastered on his face. No matter what anyone says, he definitely gives me the creeps. Dr. Mercer stops directly in front of the class and greets, "Morning, class." No response. Everyone looks on in stunned silence.
Just then, Kira turns towards Cassidy and breaks the silence with a sarcastic remark. "Hey, she looks pretty good for eighty." I nearly burst out laughing but thank goodness, Devin interrupts with his rude laughter. Cassidy then swings her arm and whacks Devin in the shoulder. "Ow! What? I thought it was funny." How true.
Principal Randall seems to take note of the scene but simply ignores it completely and says, "Dr. Mercer has graciously agreed to take over until your teacher gets back on his feet. I would like you to treat him with the same respect that you would treat Dr. Oliver." With that, she turns and heads towards the door. "Thank you," replies Dr. Mercer, giving her a slight nod in acknowledgement.
Dr. Mercer turns to face us and, expressionlessly, he says, "Well, let me, uh, let me start by saying how honoured I am to be here. What I'm handing out to you now are permission slips. These are for your parents to sign. We'll be going on a field trip tomorrow - to a museum. I trust you will all be able to make it." Once he mentions the museum, my mind flashes back to my first trip to Dr. Mercer's dinosaur museum with Dr. O, Conner and Kira for detention. Immediately, I turn towards Conner and raise my eyebrows.
I'm starting to have a bad feeling about this. I mean... there's been so many rumours about the museum on all the urban legend websites. Besides, stuff happens out there. When I first warned Conner and Kira about the giant sinkhole in the forest area near the museum, I was right. I guess you can call it 'blue' intuition.
School's finally over. I walk out the building and across the field with Conner and Kira, with my hands still clutched tightly to the straps of my bag pack. "Anton Mercer teaching other people's children? He doesn't even like his own, from what I can tell," Kira comments. I agree, "Yeah. I wonder whose brilliant idea this whole thing was." "Huh. Gotta be Randall's. Did you see them together? It's like they're old pals," Kira suggests, dismissing the question.
"Hey, no matter how bad we've got it, it's always someone who's got it worse," Conner side-tracks, nodding his head towards the other end of the field. I turn to the direction Conner indicated and see Trent having an argument with his father. From a distance, Trent's voice can be heard. "I gotta go! I don't have time for this-" "Alright, fine. But I wanna talk to you later, understood?" Dr. Mercer replies, raising his voice a little as Trent ignores him and stomps off.
Kira faces us and asks, "Hm. What are you guys doing now?" Conner's immediate response is, "Soccer." "Computer club," I continue, "You?" "I promised Dr. O I'd help him inventory some stuff in the lab. Plus, he'd probably want to know who's teaching his class," Kira says matter-of-factly. "Yeah. I wonder what he'd have to say about it," Conner ponders. "Mm," I say, nodding in agreement with my eyebrows raised (again).
"See ya," Kira smiles, leaving the group. "See ya," Conner replies, also making his leave. "Later," I say, ending the conversation as we go our separate ways.
TO BE CONTINUED...
