Monsters

Chapter 20: The Note

Chapter 20: Mel

North Valley High School

New York City, United States of America

March 24th, 2014

10:38am

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"Ms. Stevens, why are you sleeping in my class? For the fifth time in the past week too."

I groaned slightly at the sound of Mrs. Boggs', my math teacher's voice, lifting my head from the pillow of papers I had created on my desk. I had made it a habit to sleep through my classes since Jane stopped coming to school, partly because class was boring without being able to scribble random doodles across Jane's notes, but mostly because I wanted to ignore the rumours of Ben's death and Jane's last minute plans to move. The current story making its way around the rumour mill was that Jane killed Ben because he was cheating on her with one of the teachers. Of course, the stories were child's play considering the truth. Not that anyone would believe the real story anyway.

Mrs. Boggs, who was now full on glaring at me, impatiently tapped her foot waiting for a response and I rolled my eyes. "I wasn't sleeping."

"Yeah? What's the answer to question on the board?"

I bit my lip and stared at the figures in the bored, "Ummm... I know the answer. It's.....," Who was I kidding? I had no idea what on Earth was going on. I spouted a random answer, "Triangle?"

The class laughed and Mrs. Boggs shook her head, "Detention, Ms. Stevens," she gestured toward the rest of the class, "Does anybody know the answer?"

The room fell silent and I sighed in relief. Oh, good. I wasn't the only person who was completely lost, I was just the only one dumb enough to pretend they did know. That makes the situation better. At least I think so.

Mrs. Boggs stared at the class, begging for an answer, "Please tell me somebody paid attention to what I've been saying the past 20 minutes." No response. "Okay, then. I guess I'll have explain yet again."

She groaned and turned towards the board and started to explain the problem, but then a voice called out from the doorway, "The answer is -5."

Mrs. Boggs shot a look at the doorway, noticing the teenage boy that stood there. He was dressed in a leather jacket and distressed jeans that probably cost him a fortune. My guess was that in a couple days, he would have some poor girl wrapped around his finger. Then she would lose her virginity and she would run crying for another poor girl to take her spot. Some say I shouldn't judge somebody by their cover, but I knew better. Sucky covers came with sucky books. End of story.

"-5 is correct," my math teacher replied, clearly shocked. "And who are you, sir?" she questioned.

"Spencer Romero."

She walked over to her desk and pulled out a piece of paper and gestured to the empty seat next to me where Jane used to sit, "Mr. Romero, you can sit next to Ms. Stevens." I shuffled my stuff away from the desk underneath my chair as he came to sit beside me.

Mrs. Boggs turned to the rest of the class, "We have a new student in our class. I hope you will all treat him with respect," she looked at Spencer, "I can help you catch up after school if you'd like."

"Oh, it's okay. I was taking grade 12 math previously, so I've covered the expectations previously." My jaw dropped. A bad boy and a nerd. Now he's really going to cause trouble, I just hope he doesn't take me down with him.

Mrs. Boggs smiled a little too happily, "Well, then. Maybe you could tutor, Ms. Stevens."

"Oh no, please don't. I've got it!" I shouted. He couldn't possibly tutor me, it was a recipe for disaster and I don't think I could manage much more.

"You told me that the answer to the problem on the board was triangle," Mrs. Boggs countered.

"Yeah but-" I called out but I was interrupted.

Spencer spoke up and the whole class stared at him, "I can't tutor anyone at the moment. I have a busy schedule."

Mrs. Boggs sighed, "Okay. I understand, but if you ever-."

He cut her off, "No, thank you."

She sighed and turned toward the board and continued to lecture the class about how to solve the problem. I relaxed into my chair. That was a close one. I looked to Spencer and tried to thank him, but he turned away and stared at the board.

That was strange, but I ignore it when I felt my phone vibrate and tuned Mrs. Boggs' lesson out. Trying my best not to get caught, I pulled on my phone and checked my texts. Jason. 4 times. I'd have to remind him that I couldn't text during class. I don;t know why it was so hard to remember for him, but let's just say that 95% of my detentions were because of him. I looked down at the screen and read the texts.

hi.

wassup?

i need to tell u something.

y r u no reply?

I silently groaned after reading. Idiot. He really was oblivious to the fact I had class right now. I texted back.

in class stop texting me

He replied not a second later and I glanced up at Mrs. Boggs, who was at the back of the room yelling at somebody for chewing gum. Oh, great she's in a bad mood, I'd get a week's detention if she caught me on my phone now. I took a deep breath, at least she would be occupied for the next 5 minutes. I looked back down at the screen and my phone buzzed.

u meet with lexi @ 3

Oh, right. I was supposed to meet up with her to talk today. I was still debating whether or not that would be a good idea. On one hand, it would be kind of nice to no be lonely. On the other hand, I didn't really know what to say. Hey, Lexi! I know that you are scared of my family and you think I'm a brat, but trust me it's because this guy who can control monsters is making me crazy. By the way, you'll probably be killed after I'll tell you all of this, but thanks for listening. For some reason I doubt she would buy that, but unfortunately I had to go. Then it struck me. What if I couldn't go? I texted back.

cant detention

My phone buzzed twice.

suck 2 b u

@430? Rocky's?

Ugh. I actually have to go now. Mrs. Boggs started to head toward me, presumably because she was suspiscious at my silence and I quickly typed back before she could notice.

fine. now stop b4 i get in trouble

There was no replies for a second and I tucked my phone into my pocket, just as Mrs. Boggs came to my desk. She looked around and I gestured toward my now hidden phone, "I wasn't texting." She grunted and walked to the front of the classroom again, obviously disappointed she didn't catch me.

A long twenty minutes later class ended and I ran out of the room, but on my way out Spencer backed me against the lockers. "I need you to stay away from me."

I glared back at him, "Last I checked you were the one backing me into lockers."

"Just stay away okay?"

"Yeah, whatever," I replied, pushing him away and just as I was about to leave, I turned back toward him, "What's your problem anyway? I've barely just met you."He looked around and passed me a small note. "Hey, what is this?" I called out, only to find he had already disappeared into one of the neighbouring classrooms. I opened it up in my hand and studied it, my jaw dropping when I realized that it wasn't any ordinary note, it was a threat, but this time I wasn't the one being threatened. I stared at the content, a picture of me and a bunch of words pasted on from magazines covered the piece of paper. I shivered as I read it.

She's mine. Talk to her and you're dead.