CHAPTER TWELVE
I resolved the next morning to be the perfect child. I could feel my temper building up, but if trying to rein it in was what was going to get me on my dad’s good side again, that’s what was going to happen. I got up early to get ready for the day before everyone else so I could make breakfast. I figured that if I could help out with all the morning routines, I could get dad to take me to school earlier than right before the bell rang, and I could actually see some people that I could only see before school began.
I finished cleaning the dishes, quickly put my coat on, and grabbed my jacket. There was still fifteen minutes before the bell was going to ring – even with the snow we’d still get to the school with more than enough time for me to chat with my friends.
Dad was sitting at the table, reading the newspaper. I stood in front of him for a minute, knowing that he was fully aware that I was there and ready to go. He ignored me, though, and kept reading.
I cleared my throat. “Um, dad? I’m ready to go.”
“I can see. But we don’t have to leave for another ten minutes”
“I know, but I was hoping that since I’m all ready to go, you could maybe take me a little early today.”
“Why?”
And then I realized what he was doing. He wasn’t going to take me to school early. He was going to be so strict about my punishment that he wasn’t going to let me have any free time at all with my friends. I didn’t respond to him, instead going to the living room to pretend to flip through a magazine. I was so furious I didn’t even realize I had it upside down. Being grounded I could at least try to begin to understand, but this was just policing my life now.
I had to bite the inside of my cheek in the car the whole way to school to keep myself from starting an argument with him. Remember, I told myself, I need to be a perfect child. I fiddled with my necklace the whole way to school, wondering what my temper would be like if I wasn’t wearing it. Over the last few days I was sure I was pushing the limits of what it could do.
As it turns out, it could only do so much for me. When I walked into first period I saw Dani sitting on the other side of the room, and just looking at her made me angry. What right did she have to be mad at me for being happy? She wasn’t a very nice person anyway. I was better off for not being friends with her.
Not even Nobuko could help me out. I know she was just trying to be a good friend, but after the fifth time of asking me if I was okay I snapped at her. I’ll admit, I said some things that I will not repeat to anyone, ever. She didn’t bother trying to keep up with me when I stormed out of fourth period to go to lunch, and I tried to tell myself that I didn’t really care.
When I got to the cafeteria I chose whatever table I wanted to sit at. Whoever wanted to try and sit at that table could go ahead and try.
When no one did I looked around and realized that it was the same table that I had sat down at on my first day here. The day that Jack had originally tried to confront me about who I was. Since it was winter no one wanted to eat outside, so by all reason someone should have tried to sit down at that table, but apparently it was still condemned. Well, that, or I really looked as angry as I felt.
Halfway through I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of someone moving towards me. I looked towards them, but I knew who it was even before I got a look at their face – the smoky honey smell was particularly strong today, and made me sick to my stomach. Mina sat directly across from me, propped her chin on her hands, and grinned.
I glared at her. "I don't care anymore. Whatever you think you're trying to do, it's not going to work."
She stopped grinning, faked a melodramatic sigh, and reached inside her sleeve. She stood up, pulled out a handkerchief and daintily dropped it on the table. As it floated down it unfolded, leaving it open. The center was smeared with blood, and resting in it was a lock of hair - black, with a few grey and white strands.
All the rage that had been building up bubbled over. I stood up and roared incoherently, grabbing her hair and pulling down as hard as I could. She was expecting it, and was able to resist too hard of a blow to her head on the table. It didn’t matter - it still was enough of a diversion for me to launch myself over the table and tackle her to the ground.
Obviously as we were in the middle of the lunch room and surrounded by people we could only cause so much damage to each other. She couldn't bare her fangs and, as much as it was pure blind rage I had powering my blows, I at least had enough sense to not try to incapacitate her. That doesn't mean we didn't cause a good deal of damage to each other, though. I don't know how long we fought, but some of the larger male teachers were finally able to break through the crowd of students that had gathered in a circle around the scene and broke us apart. Mina, of course, didn't resist being pulled away from me, but then again this was all just a game to her. It took two teachers to restrain me, and it wasn't until Mina was led out of the lunch room that I calmed down.
I was escorted by both teachers out of the lunch room and into the principal’s office, which was on the second floor. I hadn't seen who had restrained me initially, and I was surprised to see that Mr. Anders was one of the teachers acting as my guard. He didn't meet my gaze as we walked, looking ahead the whole time instead. I didn't recognize the other teacher. They stayed on either side of me until I sat down in the waiting area outside of his office. I caught a glimpse of Mina, who was already talking to Principle Wright.
Fortunately for me, she couldn't show any physical damage - bruises and cuts require blood flow to be visible, so the worst I could do to her was break her nose and make it look crooked. That meant that even though I was going to get in serious trouble for fighting, my injuries would perhaps bring more sympathy than hers. I assessed the damage I took while I waited - my hands and arms were pretty sore, and I had a bloody knuckle on my right hand. I gingerly touched my face - my nose was definitely swollen and had blood slowly oozing out of it, my lip was cut, and the area around my eye felt tender, too. Though I shouldn't have wanted it, a black eye would be great for my case. There was a huge rip in my shirt, and as I tried to line up the ragged edges of the tear I saw that she had actually taken a huge chunk out of it.
She was released from the principal’s office a few minutes later, and gave me a smirk as she passed by. Principle Wright instructed the teacher I didn't recognize to now escort Mina to the library, where she was to stay until the final bell rang.
He invited me in to the office, and I sat across the desk from him. Mr. Anders followed in, but Principle Wright didn't say anything.
"Miss Reyvens. Would you like to tell me what happened?"
"Mina provoked me. I'll be honest with you; I struck first, but I only meant to give her hair a good yank and leave it at that. She hit back and from there I was just defending myself." That last part was a complete lie, of course, but I wanted to keep the trouble I was going to get in to a minimum.
"Well, I admire your honesty, but you still started a fight. I want you to know that we take fighting very seriously here at Alpine High. According to Mina, you were very aggressive and she was the one defending herself."
That bitch.
Mr. Anders cleared his throat. "If I may?" He asked Principle Wright.
"Do you have insight on this?" he asked.
Mr. Anders nodded. "I do. While I was trying to reach the girls, I saw some of the fight. While I didn't see the beginning of the fight, I did see the end, and Mina was extremely violent. As you can tell, Mina sustained very few injuries, while Makenna probably needs to go to the nurse’s office as soon as she's done here. I think it's apparent who the aggressor is."
Principle Wright nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you. Even so, as the one to start the fight, you will have to undergo disciplinary action. I think two days of after school service should be sufficient. Come by here after school today and tomorrow. Kathleen can partner you up with one of
the janitors. You can be their assistant for a few hours."
I allowed myself a little bit of relief. That was a lot less bad than I thought it would be.
"Of course, we'll also have to have a parent-teacher conference. Do you have a parent available to call right now?"
Never mind. That was enough to ruin my whole year. Dad was going to flip once he heard about this.
"Yes," I muttered quietly. "My dad's probably at home right now."
"Thank you. Now, go ahead and go to the nurse’s office and get bandaged up." He stood up and opened the door for me. I exited, Mr. Anders following me closely.
Once we were back out in the hall Mr. Anders said, "I have plenty of first aid equipment in the classroom. We still have a few minutes before the bell to end lunch rings, I can bandage you up there."
"Umm... okay..." I followed him to his classroom and he had me sit down on a stool next to one of the raised tables. He reached underneath his desk and pulled out a fairly large, unmarked tin case.
"First of all, drink this," he said as he handed me a small glass bottle filled with a clear liquid. I unscrewed the cap and smelled it. It had an earthy smell to it, but no other smell to indicate what it was.
"Don't worry, it's just holy water. I just want to make sure that she didn't poison you in any way."
I stared at him, dumfounded. He turned his gaze away from the cleaning the cut on my hairline I had previously missed and said, "Is there something wrong?"
"You know that Mina's a vampire?"
"Well, yes. Remember, I'm a werewolf? I can smell her no matter where she is in the school. Awful smell, really. Like someone trying to cover up body odor with too much deodorant. Anyway. That's why I wanted to bring you here - I'm sure the school nurse doesn't have quite the same first aid kit I do."
I downed the contents of the vial. "Why don't you do anything about it?"
"About Mina? For the same reason that Jack or the other three or four people here - including you and me - who can do something about it don't. There are too many people here that can't know about us to risk doing something that would expose our world. Believe me, I've tried tracking her down on my own. She's impossible to find. This might sting a little..." He dabbed something on my forehead, but I didn't feel anything except the damp swab. When I didn't react he said, "Good. That one's just an ordinary cut. It's not long, but it's pretty deep, so I'm going to have to butterfly it shut. If you put antibacterial cream on it and leave it alone it shouldn't scar too much."
He dabbed some cream around my eye and handed me a mirror so I could clean up my own nose and lip. “There’s more people here like us?” I asked.
He did the same thing with the damp swab that he had done with my forehead to check to make sure my lip just had a regular cut on it (it was clean), and started putting his mysterious first aid kit away. “Yes, and before you ask who they are, the answer is that I wouldn’t tell you even if I knew. I realize it’s probably difficult for you, not knowing anyone your age that’s also involved in this world we live in, but even among other supernaturals we tend to be secretive. Like I said, I don’t know who else, exactly, attends this school that could help. All I know is that every once in a while I can smell a spell being cast, so I assume we have a witch or warlock or two on campus.”
“Spells have a smell?”
“To werewolves, they do. One of the more annoying things about being bitten is that everything has a smell. Spells smell like burnt rubber, so I probably wouldn’t seek out the caster even if I cared.”
The bell rang before I could ask any more questions, and since Chemistry was my fifth period class anyway, I wandered over to my normal seat. I could see students starting to walk through the hallway when I realized that my backpack was still in the cafeteria.
"Oh, no! Mr. Anders, I'll be right back!" I dashed out the door and down the hallway, nearly running into Jennie and Nate as I rounded the corner.
"Kenna! There you are! Boy, you're a wreck!" Jennie exclaimed, ever the sensitive one.
"Yeah. Hey, is that my stuff?" I asked, pointing at the bag and jacket she had in hand.
She nodded and handed it to me. "I saw you being escorted up to the principal’s office. Is it true you attacked Mina?"
I motioned for them to follow me to class so we could talk there - I didn't need any more stares than I was already getting from those who overheard our conversation. We sat down in our usual spots and they attacked me with all sorts of questions. I dodged answering most of them, but for the first time ever they were more interested in me than in each other. Even during class they tried to whisper questions to me.
I tried to dart out of class as soon as the bell rang, but Mr. Anders caught me on the way out and told me to stay for a minute. He waited until the last student left and said, "Is everything okay? I have noticed Jack's absence, and while normally I couldn't care less about him, you two seemed pretty close. As much as I hate to admit it, he's also done a lot to keep our little town safe. Do you have any idea what's been going on?"
I sighed despondently. "No, but I wish I did."
"And what about you? You've never struck me as the kind of person to get involved in fight. Are you okay?"
I shook my head. "I don't know. Thanks, though."
The first student for his sixth period class came in, and I left.
Since Mina was apparently going to be detained in the library for the rest of the day I didn't need to worry about her showing up in History class. I allowed myself to mentally wander off for the lesson, thanking whatever higher power may be listening that I didn't get called on to answer any questions.
When the dismissal bell rang I trudged to the principal’s office to talk to his secretary about the janitor detail I'd be doing. Unfortunately I opened the door right as my dad was exiting Principle Wright's office, shaking his hand. I froze like a deer in headlights. They seemed to be treating each other amicably, but that didn't mean that Dad wasn't going to blow up at me as soon as we were away from other people.
They saw me standing there and Principle Wright motioned me to come closer. "Makenna, thank you for coming! I think Kathleen has something set up for you. Mr. Reyvens, thank you for stopping by." My dad nodded politely at him.
"Kenna, I'm going to be by at six to pick you up tonight. Here, I can take your backpack for you. Work hard," my dad said to me on the way out.
Six o'clock? What was I going to be doing for the next three and a half hours?
I turned to Kathleen, Principle Wright's secretary, and she told me to go to the Janitor's shed next to the football field's concession stand and find a guy named Phil. I found my way easily enough, and found out I'd be on rock salt duty. I was to roll the rock salt dispenser on all the walkways on the premises that had iced over. Phil gave me a stale-smelling hat and mittens and showed me how to work the dispenser.
I had had no idea just how big the school premises were. There were all sorts of outdoor areas I never went to, like the fenced-off area where the art class did their spray painting projects, the sidewalk around the teacher parking area, and for whatever reason I also had to do around the bleachers at the football field, even though football season was already over and no one was doing outdoors PE.
It took the full three and a half hours for me to finish the areas I had been given charge over. Dad was right on time, parked at the curb in the parking lot. I got in the car without a word, deciding to let dad have the first word when he was ready.
Almost as soon as he buckled in he said, "I am very disappointed in you. Extremely disappointed. Within the space of a few days you've managed to set something on fire and get in a fight - both on school property. I don't know what to do other than extend your punishment."
"Are you willing to listen to my side of the story?"
"You have to be honest with me. I researched it all day and I haven't been a
ble to any sort of description of the creature you claimed to have seen."
Ignoring the implication that I was a complete liar, I said, "You know that vampire I told you about that goes to my school? She's been trying to provoke me into... well, I don't know what, exactly, but today she led me to believe that Jack is hurt, that maybe she hurt him. I haven't been able to dance for a while to let out some of the anger I've been letting build up, so I just kinda snapped." It wasn't a very subtle hint, but I hoped that I said it casually enough that he'd seriously consider letting me go to practice.
He didn't say or do anything for a few moments. Then, "Fine. I'll believe it, for now. You still shouldn't have gotten in a fight. I'm adding two more weeks onto your punishment." He didn't comment on the issue of whether or not I'd be able to go to dance practice. I was also a little resentful that he wasn't worried that I had gotten into a fist fight with a vampire.
Dad had finished making dinner by the time he left to pick me up, so food was ready to eat, if a little cold. Terra was notably absent, so dinner was eaten quickly and silently. I went straight to my room after I put my dishes in the dishwasher.
A few minutes before I decided to get ready for bed I got a knock on my door and heard Arvin say, "It's me."
"Come on in," I replied.
He came into my room and quietly shut the door behind himself. He leaned back against the door and said, "Is there something wrong with dad?"
I thought for a moment, unsure of how much Arvin could figure out based off of what I would have to tell him if I answered yes. I decided to keep it simple and said, "Yeah, I think so. Why?"
"He yelled at Terra today. I don't know what it was about, but she said she was going to her friends' apartment for the night. I think he would have grounded her if she wasn't a legal adult. And he grounded me today. He found out that I turned in a project late and almost failed it."
"What? You turned a project in late? I don't think you've ever done that before, have you?"
He shook his head. "No. I just had more important things to think about. I still passed, but I had to get him to sign a paper my teacher gave me saying that I understand that I need to turn in my assignments on time and that my grade will get docked down for being turned in late. He flipped out and now I'm stuck here for a week. I don't think I've ever been grounded before. I don't remember the last time you were, either."
"I was once a couple of years ago for breaking curfew. But I was really, really late and it was on a school night and I was only grounded for a weekend."
"What do you think is wrong with him? Does it have to do with mom being gone?"
"Yeah, I think he's pretty stressed, trying to do both what he and mom did before mom left."
"Is that all it is, though? Really? Because... well, never mind. So what did you do to get grounded?"
"The first or the second time?"
"You've been grounded twice?!"
"Yeah. Five and a half weeks, now. On Friday I was given four weeks because I tried to put a fire out in the school parking lot and the people in the neighborhood thought I was actually trying to start one. Today I got two more weeks and detention for getting in a fight at school."
"Wow. Did you win?"
I laughed a little at Arvin’s interest in knowing the outcome. "No. In hindsight, I lost before I even threw a punch."
"What do you mean?"
I shook my head. "Nothing. Fighting is bad. That's all."
"Okay. Whatever. Do you think dad will get better any time soon?'
"I don't know. I wish I did."
Arvin shrugged. "Okay. Thanks. I was just wondering. G'night."
"'Night." Arvin was a bright kid. I wondered if he had figured out more than he was letting on, analyzing our conversation for anything that I may have said to hint at anything bigger than what he should have known. He was a really clever kid; maybe he already knew about our parents and figured out that there was bad magic in the house.
As I drifted off to sleep a single thought went through my head over and over again - the image of Mina's bloody handkerchief drifting down to the tabletop, a lock of Jack's hair resting in the center.