Forever Shade (ZombiesRuleContest)

*Taptaptap. Taptaptap.*

Brian abused his pen, rhythmically slapping it against the desk with his right hand while the other cupped his chin. The classroom, smelling of new pencils, fresh dry-erase markers, and slowly-decrepitating books, blurred as his teacher droned on about her expectations that year. None of them seemed possible.

He had to silently laugh at his use of the word “drone”. After all, wasn’t he supposed to be the dumb one? Walking around with his jaw on the floor, drooling sticky ooze and mumbling a barely coherent, “Errrrrrrr... brains!”

The stereotype had always amused him. Comics, TV shows, movies - they all made him seem like a bumbling idiot. But listening to his teachers repeat the same nonsense every year made him wonder why he was the brainless one. Predator? Yes. Stupid? No. He only wished he could tell someone.

“The Socratic Method is all about questioning everything around you,” a voice piped up from the front of class. Apparently, his inner giggles had led him to miss an important dialog.

He ceased victimizing his writing utensil, letting it rest on the deep ridge of his thumb. Beneath his hoodie, Brian squinted through strands of messy dark hair to focus on the voice’s owner. Feeling the jarring crack of his pen as it snapped in half, he stared on despite a potential mess on his hands. Literally.

A petite nose pointed slightly toward the ceiling. Cherubic lips the softest shade of natural pink curled into a permanent grin at the corners. Dark black lashes swept over pale white skin. And bright blue eyes that stared back at him as she caught his unwavering gaze.

Not what he expected.

“New school, new assignment... that lovely little thing over there...” He raised his eyebrows and grinned in her direction. “This year might not be so bad after all.”

She returned his grin with one raised eyebrow and a bemused smirk as she turned to face their teacher. He sighed. “It’s probably better this way. I have other things to worry about. Like finding the future valedictorian.”

That was never the fun part for Brian - befriending the most intelligent person in the school. In most cases, the class valedictorian wasn’t someone he would choose to assist. Nerds, introverts, socially awkward misfits - none were his cup of tea. But thankfully, he had used the cliché to perfect a game plan: Be the Hero.

The Hero act had worked in Brian’s past few assignments, so he didn’t plan to change his methods any time soon. After playing nice with the valedictorian for a few weeks, he would wait for a vulnerable moment - usually a bully going after their victim, or an undeservedly bad grade causing emotional distress - before swooping in with promises of protection or a shoulder to lean on.

And that was when the mob would strike. When the victim felt safest, Brian would lure the unsuspecting soul to the others, where they’d attack, robbing his or her brain and inheriting its knowledge for their own. Being undead, Brian’s small coterie would cross over without borrowing the brainpower of their peers - faces that changed every season, location to location.

Looking around, he mentally judged his classmates one by one “Nope, too popular. Too jocky. Too... asleep.” Five minutes passed before he found the perfect candidate: a lanky girl with long, mousy hair that hadn’t been trimmed in months, a questionable complexion, and her nose buried in a book... completely oblivious to what was going on around them.

He knew that Taft High School’s current head-of-the-class was a girl, and he knew her name. His hand wrestled through his pockets, trying to find the crumpled paper that Alex had scribbled the target’s name on earlier that morning. “This one’s going to be fun,” he had said, tossing the folded note to Brian. “I’ll let you see why for yourself.” Hours later, Brian was still waiting to figure out what he meant.

“Aha!” His fingers wrapped around the note and rescued it from its confines. The paper crinkled loudly as he hurried to open it before Mrs. Dewberry noticed. Inside, Alex’s handwriting was barely legible, but Brian was still able to make out most of the letters.

Looking back at his candidate, he tried to make out the name scrawled on her book. For someone so engrossed in the written word, she could definitely use some work on her penmanship.

“Need help, Mr. Kelley?”

His teacher stood over him, arms crossed, intrigued with how far he had leaned into the aisle. “Um... No, Mrs. Dewberry,” he replied, moving the top half of his body back behind his desk. “Just, you know... trying to get a better view of all the action.”

“Is there a lot of action happening on Miss Spencer’s desk?” she asked, motioning toward the mousy student he had thought was his target. “Spencer? Nope. Not her.”

It was then he saw her gazing at the paper. Brian quickly started to fold it back up and hide it in his textbook, but Mrs. Dewberry was faster. She grabbed it out of his hand with mock excitement.

“Passing notes, are we? And to Miss Spencer, no less.” The timid girl blushed and tried to get back to concentrating on her book. The rest of the class had turned around, all eyes on him, and some were giggling at the thought of the new kid striking up a romance with - well, with her. “I’m sure you won’t mind if I read this aloud to everyone. I’ve always been a fan of unrequited love myself.”

Meg Spencer looked like she wanted a hole to open up in the ground and eat her alive. Brian wished that would happen to her, too, as he watched Mrs. Dewberry slowly open the note back up, clearing her throat for what she could only believe was a love poem of epic, heart-wrenching, angtsy teenaged emotion.

“Well, how about that?” she said. “Clare, I believe this note is for you. Why don’t you come over and take it?”

Now Brian’s interest was piqued. This was his opportunity to come face-to-face with the brainiac he’d be following for the next month before draining her of any knowledge or memories. He scanned the classroom, waiting for some poor, meek body to stand and announce herself.

“Clare Levesque. Please come here,” Mrs. Dewberry demanded, keeping her eyes on Brian.

Brian heard quiet footsteps behind his teacher, and he grew angry that she wouldn’t get out of his way so he could see. As the girl peered around Mrs. Dewberry's shoulder, it was almost as if she was revealing herself in slow motion - pure torture for Brian who had been waiting to find her.

Blonde hair appeared first, then pale white skin, followed by cherubic pink lips and dark black lashes...

“This can’t be real,” he thought. It took all of his self-control to keep his mouth closed, but he couldn’t suppress a gulp. “This can’t be happening.”

“Congratulations, Clare,” Mrs. Dewberry stated, her voice dripping with sarcasm and malice - at least, in Brian's opinion. “I think we’ve found your lab partner.”

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Like what you read?  Want to see more?  Don't forget to vote and comment :)  After writing this short piece for the Zombies Rule Contest, I wouldn't mind writing more about Brian and Clare... so maybe I will!

<3 Brooke