The Covenant 2- The Ipswitch Curse

Chapter 7: The Bet

As Pogue stepped into the classroom two days later, he saw immediately that all eyes were on him. It seemed every student was thinking the same thing... that this was the troubled kid, the bad news boy, the guy who had come straight out of jail. They had all seen the cop cars, and the ambulance, and the police taking him away.

He straightened his uniform and glared right back as a telltale sign that he didn't give a damn what they thought about him, and sat down next to Caleb and Sarah, slamming his book bag on the table loudly.

"Hey," Pogue said, disregarding the other students and turning his attention to Caleb as they waited for the teacher to show. "Tyler filled me in on all the gory details about Reid. Tyler seems pretty pissed."

"I'd hate to be in Reid's shoes," Sarah said. "I'd never sleep. They're still sharing a dorm together, huh?"

Caleb snickered.

"Naw, Tyler's sleeping over at my house for now. You're right about him being pissed at Reid, Pogue. I've never seen him this way before."

"She must be some girl..." Sarah said, then gestured to the door as Elle followed a group of students just entering the classroom. "You think she remembers anything from last night?"

"I'm having Reid keep an eye on her and me posted for any unusual behavior towards him, or otherwise."

"Tyler won't appreciate that you ordered 'big bad Reid' to follow his girl around," Pogue commented.

"Yeah, no kidding," Caleb agreed. "But it's our best bet."

Pogue and Caleb watched Tyler pull out a straw and Used to shoot a spitwad extra hard to the back of Reid's head, who sat several rows below him. Reid must've sensed it coming, because fast as lightning he reached behind his head and caught the ball of wet paper in midair before it hit him, then turned around to glare at Tyler with threatening eyes. He shook his head to the younger boy, warning him not to mess with him.

"Good morning, students," said an older blond woman who entered the room with a briefcase. She had a sour face and starched clothes, and stood tall and thin like a young tree. She straightened her glasses and looked up at the children like every one of them were suspicious troublemakers.

"As you can tell, I am not Mr. Bishop. My name is Ms. Smith or ma'am. Sadly, Mr. Bishop will not be joining us today, because of a family emergency, but he left me very detailed instructions to follow until his return. Please pull out your books and turn to page five hundred and eighty-eight."

Caleb and Pogue glanced at one another with confusion.

"Why could Elle show up to class today, but not her father?" Caleb said with suspicion.

"We should leave it up to Reid to find out," Pogue said silently. "I'm going to the Pentagram tonight to look up some things in the book. There has to be a record of this 'Power explosion' thing happening somewhere in history."

"I'll go with you," Caleb promised. "I'll have a look at the other books, just in case-"

WHACK!

Caleb, Pogue, and Sarah all jumped in surprise at the teacher's pointer swatting the desk space in-between Pogue and Caleb.

"I surely wish that you were this intent on reading the books at hand," Miss Smith said through her teeth. "Economics, page five hundred and eighty-eight."

Pogue and Caleb exchanged looks and obeyed. No other student dared talk after that, for the intimidating presence the teacher had aroused.

Reid followed Caleb's instructions carefully, stalking Elle like an international spy, hanging around corners, watching the classes she went to and from. Thankfully, his skills were so great that she never saw him once, from what he could tell. It went on for days, and soon Reid found that he was enjoying watching her between the shelves of the library, or scratching intently away in her little brown notebook out on the quad. She looked graceful in whatever she was doing, even actions as simple as sitting to eat or walking down a hall. Perhaps Reid was beginning to enjoy it a little too much.