A/N: Things get a little goofy here.
As Davey got ready for school the following morning, his eyes shifted back to the picture of his father and what he would want for him. With that, any time his mind tried to shift back to the cemetery on the big hill he brought his mind back to today and the tasks at hand.
"He'd want me to not risk my life," murmured Davey to himself. "I shouldn't go back to that cemetery."
He then added in a whisper, "Even though I really really want to."
With conflicting emotions running through his head, he was leaving his house and heading to school. He had hoped to see Jean walking. Perhaps to say "Hi!", but at that he thought about a different way to greet her.
"Sup Jean." he thought, hoping to sound as smooth he could if he sees her. Especially if he sees her friends. Perhaps he could impress them with how cool and collected he is. Maybe even possibly making better friends than Jack Morris and Kenny Reed. But with the right way to greet his new friend, now he truly felt ready to greet her if he saw her.
But - no Jean. Slaydë Mortmier Private School, the school that Jean attends, wasn't too far. It was only two blocks away from Highgrave Middle School.
"Huh, maybe she caught the bus." he concluded in thought.
With a sigh, a still tired but now focused Davey walked into Highgrave Middle School. Jean, Old Man Wallace, the empty grave, and Highgrave Cemetery was all too much for Davey to worry about. After all, maybe it just was too dangerous.
Davey collected his books from his locker, and refocused his attention to the tests that he was going to have to do for the day. Three of them. Literature, math, and spelling - a nightmarish triple threat.
He walked into the classroom as usual, and after a greeting from his buddies he took his seat the back row in the middle seat.
"You ready bro?" asked Jack, retrieving a mechanical pencil from his pocket.
"As I'll ever be," sighed Davey. "Between studying and all the chores I've had to do, I'm tired."
"Also sneaking around graveyards and being a ghoul." added Kenny with a laugh.
"Oh ha-ha," grunted Davey sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "At least I had the guts to do it."
Jack and Kenny laughed, and even Davey had to chuckle at that. But their chuckling stopped when Mrs. Collins-White strolled into the sixth grade classroom.
"Good morning, class!" she chirped happily.
"Good morning, Mrs. C-W." the class managed to utter in a loud collective groan.
Mrs. Collins-White just sighed. "I know you guys aren't thrilled about today," she began. "But we have to do it."
"Do we really have to?" thought Davey angrily.
"Let's go ahead and get the Literature exam out of the way, shall we?" she suggested excitedly.
"Ooooooh..." the class collectively groaned.
"Oh you all will be fine." soothed Mrs. Collins-White.
As Mrs. Collins-White was passing out the three page exam on Othello, Davey stared outside towards the horizon towards Highgrave Cemetery and in the direction Jean's school would be.
And then his thoughts went to just being about Jean. He began to daydream about playing basketball with her, the bike rides, the laughs, the new friends he would be able to make. He began to think about her kind words, "If you need anything, I can always help!".
"I'd love her help today," thought Davey warmly. "Maybe if she were here, I'd have a better day."
Davey's daydreaming about his new friend was interrupted by the flapping of the three-paged test being laid on his desk by his teacher.
"Make sure you focus Mr. Lev-" Mrs. Collins-White began kindly, but stopped.
Mrs. Collins-White's face immediately went blank for a second, and her body went limp and stiff. Davey looked up to his teacher, and saw that now her green eyes were now wide open and her jaw had dropped. The rest of tests in her hands had fell out of her grasp.
Some of the classmates thought it was funny - for perhaps she was just making a funny face or playing a joke. But Davey looked concerned. Mrs. Collins-White was caring and often kind, but teaching was serious business and he knew tests were no joking matter to the educator.
"Mrs. Collins-White?" he began shakily. "Are you okay?"
But she didn't reply. She just continued to stare off as if she were in a trance, mouth agape and eyes widened.
"Mrs. C-W?" asked Davey, shaking her stiff arm. But he stopped. Her arm was cold to the touch. With that, Davey began to have flashbacks to the day his father's health took a turn for the worst. His tan face was tightened, and now he looked concerned.
"Jack, go get Principal Truman now!" barked Davey pointing to his friend. "Kenny, go to the class phone and call -" But he stopped.
Davey was interrupted by his teacher who was shaking her head now. "Sorry David, I just went blank for a moment."
"David?" he repeated with a raised brow. He was surprised she even called him that. More often than not, he was Mr. Levy. Not ever David. "Are you okay, Mrs. C-W?"
Mrs. Collins-White quickly picked up the test papers, frazzled in bewildered frustration. And very clumsily got back to her feet standing straight. Davey now looked very concerned.
Mrs. Collins-White was NOT a clumsy person in Davey's mind. She always walked with poise and integrity. And even more unlike his teacher, she had a kind of strange smile on her face. As if she were trying to fight back a laugh.
Davey gave her a strange smile back. "Are you okay?" he asked again with a nervous chuckle.
The teachers silver hair was in a ponytail that she always preferred to sport. But strangely the knotted scrunchie holding the ponytail was now being unfastened by her own hand. And her silver hair was let down.
"Oh that's so much better," Mrs. Collins-White sighed in relief. "Now I'm fine."
Davey only stared in bemusement.
"You know class?" the teacher suddenly chirped, sounding more like her normal self. "Who needs tests, huh?"
The class began to look around, and were shocked. They began to murmur and confide in each other. After all, Mrs. Collins-White never cancelled or postponed tests. Davey was speechless.
Mrs. Collins-White began to skip around collecting the already passed out tests, and hummed a little tune to herself much to the amusement of her students. Even Davey had to laugh at the strange sight of his elderly teacher prancing around the classroom, soon collecting the other tests on her desk as well.
And then much to his shock and even the rest of the classrooms shock, she promptly walked to the open window on his classroom and flung the tests out of window with a whimsical "Weeeeee!!!". The papers fluttered and flapped in the wind upon being carried out.
The classroom began to cheer and roar with laughter, along with clapping and whistling for their teacher. Davey, didn't know what to do. He was relieved for no tests, but she was acting as strange as he's ever seen her.
"How about we watch a movie today instead?" asked the teacher excitedly.
"YEAH!!!!" responded the classroom. She then turned to Davey. "Would you like to watch a movie today, friend?"
"Friend?" asked Davey perplexed. Mrs. Collins-White nodded. "Uh sure?"
"Then it's settled!" she responded happily. "I'll go get the flat screen and the blu-ray player!"
She then spun on her heel, and skipped out of the classroom humming a merry tune.
The classroom of twenty began to chat and murmur to each other excitedly about their teacher's sudden change of heart, while Davey immediately turned to Kenny.
"What was that?" he asked promptly, his left brown eyebrow raised and his forehead scrunched with confusion.
"That," began Kenny, amusingly. "Was our teacher finally becoming cool."
"Yeah, where's this C-W been?" laughed Jack.
"Y'all don't think she was acting - strange?" considered Davey thoughtfully.
"How so?" asked Jack.
"Bro our sixty-year-old teacher was skipping like she was five!" cried Davey, throwing his arms up and trying not to laugh. The idea of her skipping and prancing was still strange, but quite amusing.
"Ay, maybe she's a healthy elderly person." suggested Kenny.
Davey just sighed in amused frustration.
"You guys are just as insightful as ever." snorted Davey jokingly.
That wasn't the last of Mrs. Collins-White's strange behavior. After the movie, she just played on her phone while the group of students just talked and talked.
Davey couldn't believe it. But something just felt...off to the boy.
"Is she going crazy?" asked Davey in thought. "Did she crack? Is she off some medication or something?"
Davey's mind raced in circles of just what his teacher was doing and how she was acting.
"Is everyone having a good time?" asked Mrs. Collins-White suddenly.
"YEAH!" the class responded excitedly.
"I hope so because I'm cancelling the other tests too!" Mrs. Collins-White announced.
That made the classroom cheer and cheer. Meanwhile Davey was perplexed. Mrs. Collins-White caught Davey's bewildered visage and lack of response.
"Davey are you happy too?" she asked eagerly.
"Uh-yeah!" lied Davey tactfully. With his teacher possibly losing her mind, he didn't want to cause any distress. "I needed a break!" he lied again.
"Awesome!!" shouted Mrs. Collins-White, throwing her wrinkled and veiny hands in the air in happiness.
Just then, before Davey could ask if his teacher was okay once more - the lunch bell rang.
Davey promptly left the room first, hurrying to the door. He felt uneasy and worried for his teacher. After all, she cared about him.
"She did try to stop me from going to the graveyard," thought Davey. "She really does care about me."
The thought of the disappointment on her face if he told her what he had done, cut him deeply just like his mother's disappointed face and what his father would think as he walked.
But all wasn't well with Davey as he walked to the cafeteria. The sounds around him felt distant as he walked in deep thought. Thinking, thinking, thinking.
With that, Davey spun around and quickly walked back to his classroom.
"If something is wrong with her," he told himself in thought. "Then I have to help her. It's only fair."
Davey fast-walked to his classroom to avoid being told, "No running in the hall!". He had to figure out why she was acting so strangely. He had to help her.
As Davey made it back to the classroom, Davey was met with a terrible sight. Mrs. Collins-White was lying sprawled out, facedown on the laminate wooden floor of the classroom - unconscious.
"Oh my God!" wailed Davey alarmingly. "Mrs. C-W! Mrs. C-W, are you okay?!"
He ran over to shake her, hoping she could just be sleeping and perhaps fell out of her chair. With all of his strength he could muster, he managed to turn the teacher over on her back. Then, he gently pulled her up by her shoulders, and gripping tightly tried wake her by shaking her - but the elderly teacher wouldn't wake up.
"Mrs. C-W wake up! You gotta wake up!" he cried, now cradling her in his arms beside her. "Please don't be -!"
But he was broken up by a faint breath escaping Mrs. Collins-White's slight opened mouth, much to Davey's relief. He then remembered all the movies he watched where doctors and policemen check pulses of their patients or suspects. He then pressed two fingers to the side of his teacher's veiny neck and luckily he felt her pulse and heartbeat.
Mrs. Collins-White was still alive. But she was still unconscious in his arms. He didn't want to leave her side, he couldn't. After all, had he listened a ghoul wouldn't have tried to get him. A small tear escaped Davey's eye. His mind took him back to his father. And when he was unconscious.
And with that thought, his emotions began pouring through his brown eyes as tears began to flow. And with a sad shaken tone, he called, "Help! Somebody please!".
A/N: I can't pick between which characters I like writing more between Davey, Noah, Jillian, Slappy, or The Haunted Mask. But in this chapter, I wanted to show more of Davey's caring side.