Who's that girl?

Chapter - 3 - Complications and the decorations

Mr.Clark? Our previous maths teacher? He was dead? Somebody killed him in the woods. Who could that be? Who would do such things? My heart was beating so fast, I was afraid it might pop out of my rib-cage. Jake didn’t care about the fact that he was dead because he never liked him. So did I. I never liked Mr.Clark but that doesn’t mean that I should be happy for his death.

“What’s wrong sweetie?”, mom asked placing a hand over mine.
“Nothing.”, I stood up and grabbed the car keys, making my way out of the house. I have to go to Paula’s. I have to talk to her about Mr.Clark. There’s no one else who can make me feel better now. Mom and Dad doesn’t even know who he was so there’s not use in talking to them. I heard my dad calling for me from the kitchen, “Jennah, Where’re you going?”

“To sleep over paula’s dad!”, I called out. I knew he wouldn’t stop me. We lived few blocks away. And she was my bestfriend since kindergarten.

A chilly breeze touched my bare skin as I was only wearing a jeans and a T-shirt. Why didn’t I bring a sweater or something? Idiot. Nobody was in the street. It was probably midnight as dad came very late today and mom insisted that we would have dinner together.

I went to the car and climbed in the driver’s seat. The car groaned as I stuck the keys in. “shit!”, I cursed under my breath. Its not working! The stupid car had to be a junk right now! What am I going to do, I thought. I cant go back inside. “Guess I just have to walk to her house”, I said to myself.

I started walking in the wet footpath, making splaghy sounds as I step further.

Wait. Footsteps. There were some footsteps behind me. Chills were running down my spine. Who could that be? Was that some drunkard trying to rape me? Please let it be an old lady or an old man. Don’t worry Jennah, you know karate, you can make meat steaks out of them, I assured myself.

With all the courage I had inside me, I turned around.
Nothing. Not a single sign of anything moving apart from the cars. The street was empty.

All of a sudden, I saw a shadow. A shadow of something big, as it was coming towards me, the shadow became smaller. I gulped. I could feel the quick rush of adrenaline in my body. You are awesome Jennah, You can do it!, I kept on telling myself. The shadow was still approaching. Coming closer and closer into the street light. All of a sudden the creature made a sound. “MEOW!”.
I let go a hugh sigh of relief. It was a cat. A fluffy brown cat. I went closer to it and picked it up. Fortunately it didn’t make any movements of scratching me.

Finally, we reached Paula’s house. By we, I meant Wiggles and I. Yes, that’s the cat’s name. I found it engraved in this collar-belt. It suited him, I guess.

Pulling out my cellphone, I dialed Paula’s number. She must be sleeping her beauty sleep. Not anymore. There some beeps and finally a lazy voice said, “hello?”.

“Paula! Its me Jennah. I’m in front of your door. Open it!”, I whispered into the phone.

I heard the click of the phone and then some footsteps running down the wooden stairs.

I was greeted in by a totally messed- up looking paula. Her brown hair was all fuzzed up and her eyes were almost closed. But her eyes immediately popped open when she saw what I was carrying. “A cat? You brought a cat?”, she whisper yelled at me with her sleepy voice.

I just shrugged and went upstairs into her room.
That night I explained what my dad said about the body found in the woods. Thankfully, Paula was very surprised too. We were both scared. There was a killer out there, unrecognized and free. We have to be careful from now on.

***
Ringggggggggg.. Ringgggg… Paula’s alarm probably woke the whole neighborhood up. It was so loud, I had to cover my ears with the pillow to drawn it out.

We took turns to take shower and then got dressed. Her clothes always fitted me so today I had to wear hers if I didn’t want to repeat the same clothes I wore yesterday.

But unfortunately what Paula has might only cover a baby’s whole body. She had a pile of miniskirts and tight half tops which showed to effort to cover your belly.

After a big search for some decent clothes for me, I finally got ready and stood infront of the full sized mirror.

I was wearing a purple tank top and a white short skirt that stood just below my knees. Then I wore Paula’s  black stiletto boots to finish the look. “ohh la la! You look ravishing !!”, Paula cooed standing in the doorway.
I just rolled my eyes.

“seriously, if I were a boy, I would definitely pounce on you and rip your clothes off”

My jaw dropped. I threw one of the pillows towards her in full speed. She just dodged it and kept on laughing.
We both went downstairs and to eat our breakfasts. Mrs. Winder , Paula’s mother was surprised to see me. “hey Mrs. Winder!”, I greeted politely. She greeted me back and offered a seat. Mrs. Winder was divorced and was a lawyer. She was a very busy person just like my dad. Poor Paula. Most of the time she stays at home alone if her boyfriend is busy, that is!
Anyways, maybe her solitudeness was the reason that brought us closer from the beginning.

***
Back at school, the news was spread about Mr.Clark’s murder, all thanks to Paula. She just loves spreading news  and rumors!
Apart from that, everything was normal. But I was getting more attention than before. I even caught Mr. Mcgraw staring at me a few times. Every time our eyes met, he just looked away.
I had to admit that I did feel something for him. It was a connection. A bond. I don’t know if he feels the same or not. But he must have felt it. He must have felt the vibe.

Anyways, I have to concentrate on the bonfire night now. Our principle, Mr.Greggory, has announced that there will be a bonfire on Friday night. That is two days from now. And he wants me to take care of the whole decorations and everything. Fortunately, Paula wants to give me a hand in decorations and Louis will take care of the refreshments. Everyone in Avalon high was looking forward to the bonfire day. And I hoped everything would go nice and easy. Yeah hope.

***
“NO no no!!! Not there! Place it above that tree trunk. Yeah now thats good!”, for the whole day I was standing here and there instructing everyone what to do.

I had a check board in my hand with all the things that needed to be done before the bonfire. So far, the refreshments were ready and placed on the big table beside the place where the bonfire would take place.

The woods were pilled steadily and ready to be fired. Logs were placed, surrounding the whole fire. Some  chandelier were placed on each tree trunks, enough to illuminate some darker places. But they were far enough to make the bonfire spot dark until the fire was up.

All I had to do now was to check all the guitar singers if they were present or not. Paula was practically jumping up and down like a little kid waiting for her birthday present only here her present was to get to see Mr. Clark. Oh that girl!

“Excuse Jennah!”, some girl called me. “yes?” “There’s a problem!”, she said. I motioned her to go on. “You know Mike tyler, one of the guitar singers, he is not coming!.”

“WHATTTT????”. Now what do I do?