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NOTES: This was actually came mostly from Tiffany's head. Selma and I had our input but you know how Tiffany gets when she starts rambling. It was the funniest thing ever so I basically just took bits from the story and added dialoge! Have fun!
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Card Club High The stairs thundered as heavy feet raced down them. They skipped the last three steps, jumping down to the floor and immediately started pulling on shoes. "Mom why didn't you wake me up?! I'm gonna miss the bus!!" A sixteen year old boy yelled at the house. A groan came from the couch in the living room. “Hangover.” He rolled his eyes then dashed out the door, not bothering to lock it behind him. He didn’t have time to worry about that now. It was the first day of his Junior year at CC High School. No one knew what the CC stood for. The kids all knew it was something really dorky like Community Central High School. Or something totally awesome, like a secret code for a government mind control experiment. Either way it made for a good lunch conversation. “AHA!” The boy slid up to the bus stop at the same moment the large vehicle squeaked to a stop. He climbed up the stairs with a triumphant smile. “Steven!” The boy located the voice coming from a seat in the middle. “Joe! Hey!” Steven dropped down in the seat across from his friend as the bus jerked forward. “Hey, how’s it going?” The dark haired boy took a bite out of his breakfast toast. “Not too bad. Went to California for two weeks.” Steven slipped his arms out of his backpack and turned to face Joe, “How about you?” “Great! Spent all my time at the beach checkin’ out all the ladies on summer break from college.” A sly grin appeared on his face for a moment then he shook himself back into reality, “You still goin’ out with that Julie girl?” Steven smiled and nodded but knew if he went any deeper into the subject his sick minded friend would come up with a wrong comment of some form or another, “What’s your schedule this year?” The blond boy asked. Joe finished his toast then fished out a rectangular piece of paper and handed it to Steven.
“We’ve got Japanese together first hour.” Steven announced comparing it to his own, “And math right before lunch! Hey, weren‘t you supposed to take Health last year?” “I was lazy and put it off.” Joe grinned, “But I got Ms. Zilka for English, easy A, I’m excited. Let me see yours.” Joe snatched the papers back from Steven before he could argue.
“Ouch, only one slack class for the term, good luck with that.” Joe handed the schedule back. “Yeah I know.” Steven mumbled. He was going to try and see his counselor after first hour. The bus screeched to a halt in front of the school. The two boys picked up their bags and followed the line of kids down the stairs and onto the side walk. Riding a bus was mildly embarrassing for the Juniors, but not everyone got a car as soon as they turned sixteen. “I am so pumped for this first day pep fest!” Joe yelled over the drums as they entered the school right next to the gym. “You’re just pumped to see the new Freshman cheerleaders!” Steven joked. “That too.” He gave an evil grin. “Steve!” He looked over and spotted a girl making her way through the crowd towards them, “Julie!” he waved her over. “Ah phoo. I’m gonna leave before it gets mushy, see you guys in a few!” Joe made his exit as the girl walked up and slipped her hand through Steven’s. “Ready for today?” She asked. “Today, yes. This school year, no. I think tomorrow should be the last day of school.” He gave her hand a slight squeeze as they weaved through the people towards their section of the gym. “Agreed. I’m still mad we didn’t get any classes together though.” “No kidding, what’s wrong with those people?” They took a seat near the back of the risers. Steven spotted Joe leaning on the rail in the middle of the front row. The gym filled up until it was impossible to think above the noise of all the talking. Then the band stood and started playing the school song. People stood and Joe jumped up and down, clapping to the beat. Steven just shook his head and laughed. When the song ended things calmed down as a man with short wavy brown hair walked to the middle with a microphone. “Welcome students to the new school year.” His monotone voice made him sound less than enthusiastic, “As most of you know, I am your principle Mr. Trevor. To the Freshman I would like to wish you luck for your high school career and I hope I don‘t see any of you too often.” there was mild laughter throughout the crowd except for Joe who crackled out loudly and slapped the rail. “Good one Mr. T!” The principle rolled his eyes, used to the boys sarcastic remarks by now after enduring two years of them all ready. Mr. Trevor cleared his throat, “For the rest of you, work hard and have fun. For the seniors, I hope your last year here at CC High will be the most memorable.” The oldest section in the gym erupted into loud cheers. The principle started to say more but it was drowned out as they started up the classic class cheer. “SENIORS SENIORS!” Clap, clap, clapclapclap, “SENIORS SENIORS!” Clap, clap, clapclapclap. The rest of the sections followed suit with their own titles, but with noticeably less force. Suddenly the band on the end of the gym started up a cry of their own as one figure ran into the door dressed in plain blue clothes. “JONATHAN JONATHAN!” Clap, clap, clapclapclap. But instead of fighting this one, the seniors, juniors and sophomores instantly joined in as the Janitor ran around the gym, giving people on the sides high fives, “JONATHAN JONATHAN!” The freshman just sat dazed and confused going WTF? Steven laughed and clapped, and Joe let out a loud whistle as the organized yelling turned into random cheering then finally calmed down. The popular janitor stopped next to Mr. Trevor, gave one final bow then jogged off and out of the door. “Ahem.” Mr. Trevor coughed loudly into the mic to get everyone’s attention back, “As I was saying I wanted to bring out a few of our office members. You are going to want to know their faces so you know who to look for if you ever need any help. We have Ms. Gazola in the counseling office, Ms. Gazola managing the front desk and Ms. Gazola our resident nurse.” Julie leaned over, “Is he talking about three different people or one person who does all three things?” Steven shrugged. It was another common lunch conversation, “Maybe they’re sisters or something.” “Would you please come forward?” Mr. Trevor looked anxiously towards the corner door. It opened slowly and a woman with short hair and a big smile waltzed in. She walked up to the principle and took the microphone. “Hello everyone! I will be the counselor for some of you while you are here! My name is Ms. Gazola and I hope to become friends with all of you while you are here!” she waved. “Where are the other two?” Mr. Trevor asked quietly, snatching the microphone back. “One of them is dealing with some students unhappy about their schedules and the other is tending a Freshman with first day jitters.” she answered calmly. Too calmly. Mr. Trevor’s eye twitched slightly, “Well why don’t you just wait here until the others show up?” “Actually I only have a moment. I have paper work a mile high on my desk that I would like to get through as soon as possible.” She walked off before the man could stop her. The door shut behind her, but the moment it closed, it opened again. A woman who looked exactly like the one before her walked quickly across the floor and stole the mic. “I work at the front desk. If you have a problem, ask a teacher. If they can’t solve it then come to me.” she shoved the thing back into Mr. Trevor’s hands and walked just as quickly out the other side of the gym. Again, the moment the door closed, one on the other side of the place opened and another look a like dashed across the floor, “Sorry I’m late!” she apologized as Mr. Trevor handed her the microphone, looking defeated. “I’m your nurse, I’ll heal any bumps or bruises you catch here with loving care!” She curtsied with a big cheesy grin and went away. The principle got the mic back and didn’t even bother saying any last words to the students. Just walked off to the side and let the student counsel take over the presentation. “Poor Mr. Trevor.” Julie gave an amused smile, “He’s been trying to see all three in the same room since they started here.” “Who can blame him? No one’s ever seen more than one at a time, and they’ve worked here for like fifteen years! It‘s like his life goal.” Steven sat back to watch the rest of the pep fest. The party ended and everyone headed off to their first class. Julie left and Steven caught up with Joe. They walked down stairs to the corner classroom that was shared by the Japanese and German teachers. Even though the room was used by different cultures in different hours, the Japanese theme was overwhelming. Three out of the four walls were covered top to bottom with pictures, posters, vocab, ads, even the ceiling had things hanging down from it. Only one wall in the back had been left for some scattered German books and posters. As the two boys walked in they were greeted by their teacher with thick blond hair pulled up in a lazy bun. “Ohayo! Suwatte kudasai, doozo.” she directed them to some seats on the side. They quickly dropped down into the desks when they noticed the tea and candy sitting on top of it. “Can we eat it now?” Steven asked happily. Ms. Billy crossed her hands, “Eigo dame!” “Whoops.” He had to think a minute, he hadn’t looked at his Japanese for three months! “Umm, ima…tabemasu ka?” then after another moment added, “Onegai?” Ms. Billy smiled and nodded, “Tabete kudasai.” The room slowly filled up. The kids ate the treats and drank the tea so by the time the bell rang the teacher could start the class without further distractions. Ms. Billy stood in front of the podium and took a silent attendance. She had had all the kids before in Japanese one so it was all familiar faces. When she was done she scanned the room again. “Hmm, nichoku wa dare?” Joe’s hand shot into the air, “Oo! I’ll do it!” Ms. Billy smiled and motioned for him to come up. Joe jumped up and took position in the front of the class. “Kiritsu!” He commanded and everyone slowly stood. “Rei!” “Ohayogosaimasu.” the class chanted as they bowed. “Chakuseiki!” The kids sat back down. “Arigato.” Ms. Billy nodded to Joe and waited for him to get back to his seat, “Welcome back class!” she suddenly switched to English and held up a piece of paper, “You guys know all the rules by now right?” There were mumbled agreements. “Good then I can just pass this sheet around. Sign it and pass it back. It just says that you read all the rules and understand them.” She placed the paper on the first desk. “Nice.” Steven fished out his pencil. They were going to hear those rules so many times that day! “And I was hoping you would all help me pull a little joke on all the other teachers.” Ms. Billy grinned, “For the rest of the day I want you to speak nothing but Japanese. If a teacher asks you a question, answer in Japanese. If you don’t know how to say it just go wakarimasen. They won’t know what you’re saying anyway!” “I missed this class.” Joe was chuckling evilly. “What about around our friends?” A girl asked. “Speak English around your friends. Asking you to speak Japanese around them would just be cruel. Then your assignment tomorrow is to tell me a reaction from one of your teachers.” She was trying so hard not to laugh, “You never do anything this first day anyway right?” “Hai!” Joe replied. “Hey, where’s the health room?” Joe asked as the bell rang to end first hour. “Up by the art rooms.” Steven told him, “But I gotta go see my counselor quick so I’ll see ya in math!” he walked off. Joe took his time getting to the other side of the school. Stopping to talk to people on the way and managing to shwink inside the classroom not two seconds before the last bell rang. There was a seating chart on the overhead. The whole class was sophomores so Joe was the only one he knew in the area. But that had never stopped him before. The teacher wasn’t the tallest guy in the world with red hair. He took attendance then went through the rules. When it was all done he took the seating chart and replaced it with another diagram. “Okay class. We’re going to jump right into the reproductive lessons to get them out of the way for the rest of the term.” “Today we’re going to draw a diagram of…” his voice dropped to slightly more than a whisper, “The penis.” The woman straightened up with a huge grin on her face, “How big do you want it Mr. Shanahan?!” She said loudly, making the class giggle. He jumped as if just noticing she had come in, “Tiffany! D-don’t you have class?!” “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t.” She lived to mess with people, but went back out the door anyway, “Have the fun class!” She passed a confused looking boy coming out of the office on her way back to her room. “Thanks Ms. Gazola!” Steven stepped out of the counselors office and shut the door. He turned around and was suddenly grabbed by the arm and pulled to the side! Mr. Trevor let go, “She’s in there right?” “What?” “Ms. Gazola is still in her office?” The principle had a determined look in his eye. “Uh, yeah.” Can I go now? Mr. Trevor looked around the corner at where Ms. Gazola was busy on the phone at the front desk. A smile appeared on his face as he tip-toed back the counselors office. Taking a firm grip on the handle, he turned it slowly. Then with a triumphant cry he threw the door open and looked into…an empty room. “What?” He looked back at the lady at the desk then back at the empty room, “Are you sure she was just in here?” He asked Steven. “Yeah.” Even the boy had to admit that was kind of creepy. Mr. Trevor sighed and dismissed Steven back to class. “Sir?” “Yes?” Mr. Trevor closed the door and turned back to Ms. Gazola. “I’m taking my fifteen minute break. I need to refill my water.” The receptionist walked out of the office, water jug in hand. “Mr. Trevor?” “Ahh!” He jumped around to see Ms. Gazola to his left, “How did you get out here?!” “Uh, I went to the bathroom and came back and now I’m here? And now you’re blocking the door.” She waited for him to move. The man looked one last time at the empty desk and wanted to cry, “Have a good day Ms. Gazola.” He mumbled and shuffled back to his office. Steven found his English room and walked in the door to hear Ms. Zilka talking. “Girls when that guy dumps you what you gotta do is just to try to keep busy...focus on the good things in life...and when enough time has passed… you dump a truck load of gravel on his drive way. Oh thanks.” Ms. Zilka took the pass Steven handed her, “Your seat is over there.” she pointed, “Like this one time at card club I was really mad at Adam so later we T.P.ed his house and, um, yeah it was cool! So if you ever need any help, I‘m here for ya.” Now Steven understood why Joe thought this class was going to be an easy A. “Okay class turn your books to page 355. Do problems 1 through 78 and have it on my desk by the end of the hour.” Ms. Sudduth sat down in front of her computer. “Wakarimasu sensei!” Joe opened his book then tapped Steven on the shoulder, “Yo, how do you do number one?” Steven looked at the problem. It wasn’t even review! Did that teacher seriously expect them to do an entire section without being taught anything?? “Go ask her.” Steven skimmed over the rest of the problems. Joe stood up and walked to the front, “Sumimasen sensei. Wakarimasen. Kono hon wa mazukashi yo!” Ms. Sudduth’s eyes lifted slowly from the computer screen. Her face was stone and when her eyes locked with Joe’s he went limp. Without another word he slumped back to his desk. “What’s she say?” Steven asked. “I…I feel sad…and so…helpless. I am a pitiful soul! I do not deserve to breath this life’s precious air!!” Joe buried his head in his arms and cried. Steven blinked a few times, not quite believing what he was seeing. He glanced over at the top of the woman’s head behind the computer, then decided to look the answers up in the back of the book. “But don’t they only give the odd answers in the back of the book?” Julie asked Steven as they walked to lunch. “Yeah so I just made up random numbers for the others.” “Well that’s just insane. How can they expect you to do anything if they don’t tell you how to do it? Wait.” Julie stopped. “What?” Steven wanted to get to lunch as soon as possible. “I’m not going down this hall.” She declared. “Why not? This is the fastest route and they’ve got french toast sticks today!” “Karl patrols this hall.” “So what?” “So what?!” She looked at him like he was crazy, “Have you seen the way he looks at girls when they walk by? It is the creepiest thing in the world.” Julie shuddered. “Then hide behind me.” Julie still didn’t look too excited about the idea, “I’m going out the window.” “You’re what?!” Without answering she went over to the large windows on the side, pushed it open and jumped out. “Julie!” Steven ran over. “Let me back in the door near the lunch room!” She ordered and ran off. “She’s crazy!” Steven shot off down the hall, not paying much attention to the creepy old teacher who stood hunched in the corner watching…always watching the girls foolish enough to stroll down the hall. “Dear god no, not again!!” Joe almost plowed right into Julia as he ran hysterically out of the door Steven had just opened. “What the-!” They watched him go down the side walk and through the parking lot. Julie looked at Steven who just shrugged and closed the door. As they walked into the lunchroom they passed a table with a single occupant. A math teacher who sat chewing on a sand witch and glaring at any student who dared make eye contact. Right after lunch Steven reported to the gym for Advanced Gym. “Congratulations.” Mr. Shanahan greeted the kids. A small class made mostly of boys with only two girls in the back. One of which Steven recognized from his English class, “You are the chosen few who have survived the physical tests given to you as freshman and sophomores. But the wossy stuff is over! You’re playing with the big boys now. From this day forward you will be pushed, pulled and stretched to your limits! Today I reveal to you all the ultimate secret to getting into the best shape of your life. Follow if you dare.” he walked across the gym to the big school banner that went down to the floor. Pulling it back he revealed a secret door. Making a dramatic pause, he looked over the sea of faces then pushed it open. “No way!” “Holy crap of god.” “That’s awesome!” One by one they piled into the hidden room. As Steven entered he caught his breath. Towering over them all was…a big bouncy blow up thing! Some where all ready running forward and pulling off their shoes. “Just don’t kill each other!” Mr. Shanahan warned and went off to the side where he pulled out a book and started reading. Half way through the class the two girls suddenly exited the bouncy thing and ran over to where the teacher was sitting. “Mr. Shanahan! Jason keeps kicking us!” “Huh? Oh great! An excuse to finally knock that kid down!” He stood up and made his way over to the rest of the class, but as he started walking something fell out of his book. A piece of paper. One of the girls picked it up. She was about to call out when she noticed the face on the picture. A face she had seen before. The sly smile of gossip spread across her face. Despite his fear inflicted by his new math teacher Joe managed to make it to his fourth hour class. It was only art anyway. He walked in and took a seat at one of the four tables in the room. The teacher up front was tall with long blond hair. “We will be doing a little bit of everything this term.” Ms. Petterson announced, “First we will be learning how to draw people. I made some transparencies of some things I whipped up in my spare time.” She put the sample on the overhead and the class went into a stunned shock, “This one I did a few years back…and this is actually one of my more recent. And this one I just did this morning, its not quite finished but the proportions are pretty good-” “Ms. Petterson is god!!” One student cried out. “All hail the art master!” Joe joined the cult. Then the entire class got up and started bowing. “Teach us the secret to your almighty skill!” Ms. Petterson sighed. She went through this every year. The bell forced everyone to leave the sanctuary of the art room but all Joe had to do was walk across the hall to the shop room. “Jonathan!” “Joe!” The janitor/ wood working teacher knew almost everyone, “Wanna play some cards?” “No, I wanna make some bird houses!” “Go ahead, just watch out on the left, I accidentally broke one of the saw machines and there’s still some blade pieces laying around.” “Can do.” Joe took some safety goggles and a piece of wood. Turned on a machine and started having fun. The room slowly filled up and kids randomly started sawing things. Half of them didn’t have a clue what they were supposed to be doing. Jonathan found a few kids to play cards with him. Forty minutes went by smoothly until suddenly Jonathan jumped up and point out the window, “It’s the band distress signal! They need me!!” As he tried to run out the door he knocked into Joe, sending him down, but the janitor was out the door before the boy even hit the floor. “AAHH!” Metal cut into his arm and blood started coming out. The closest few stopped what they were doing to help. “Are you okay?” “Someone get some paper towels.” “Dude you gotta go to the nurse.” As it turned out the cut only scratched the surface. Nothing big, but a trip to the nurse might delay an arrival to his last class. Joe stopped at the bathroom and got some paper towels then worked on his sick and delirious look as he passed the Social Studies room. Taking a glance in he saw Steven sitting in the back. Not a bad location. “Pssstt!!” He might have said it a little too loudly. More than one person looked back towards the door. But the right one was among them. Steven looked over to make sure the teacher had his back to them then grabbed the pass and slipped out the door. “What happened to you?” Steven asked looking at the paper towels. “Accident in shop. How’s the class going?” “Horrible. The guy has this really creepy stare and he doesn’t just give it to girls. I swear he doesn’t have a last name either. Everyone just calls him Karl. Even the teachers.” “Oh yeah, I’ve heard about that teacher. Word of advice, don’t ever go in for an after school review.” Steven looked at him, “Why?” “Because he only ever invites one student.” “I am not going back in that classroom.” “Great! You can come with me to the nurse!” Joe started down the hall. After about two seconds Steven caught up with him. He’d go back before class was over, he told himself. As they walked towards the stairs they passed a group of girls heading for the bathroom. “I’d be kinda’ creeped out if a guy just carried a picture of me everywhere.” “I dunno, I think its kinda cute.” “But stalkerish at the same time.” “Besides they’re like grown adults! Shouldn’t they be passed all this kiddy stuff by now?” “Mr. Shanahan teaches a class where they get to jump up and down all hour. Just a hunch but I think he might still be in the kiddy phase.” “But do you think she knows? It would be a whole other story if she felt the same way and they were dating or something.” “If they were dating the picture would be in his wallet, not hidden in a book!” “If you wanna find out how she feels just go through Ms. Zilka’s books and see what pictures you find!” Steven raised an eyebrow, “Ms. Zilka and Mr. Shanahan?” “What?” Joe looked over. Steven realized he had said that out loud, “Nothing.” The girls walked out of hearing range. Soon after they arrived at the nurses office right next to the main one. Joe reached for the door. “Wait boys! Don’t go in there yet!” Mr. Trevor poked his head out from behind a vending machine on the opposite wall, “Come over here!” Joe looked at Steven. Steven shrugged. They walked over to the principle. “See Ms. Gazola at the front desk?” Mr. Trevor kept his voice low, “On the other side of that left wall sits Ms. Gazola in the nurses office. I’ve never been able to connect the two until now.” “What are ya gonna do?” Joe asked amused. “I’m gonna blow up that wall and expose them both at the same time.” It took a second to hit Steven, “You’re going to blow up the wall?! Right in the middle of the school?!” Joe was on the floor. “That’s right.” Mr. Trevor sounded proud of his idea, “I’ve made all the necessary calculations. Checked the safety ten times and now I’m finally ready! Cover your ears boys.” Then he pressed a button on a remote control they just noticed he had been holding. For a moment there was silence. Then- BOOM! The entire wall just collapsed. Dust flew up, blinding the three. They coughed and choked until the debris finally settled. Mr. Trevor opened his eyes, finally going to see what he had been waiting to see for the past eight years- A curtain. A curtain that extended all around where the wall had been still separating the two rooms. An eye twitched. Mr. Trevor marched forward and threw the curtain back. There sat nurse Gazola looking over files. She didn’t look at all disturbed by the explosion. She just looked past the principle at the two teenagers. “Good heavens!” She leaped up and took a hold of Steven and Joe, “Mr. Trevor what were you thinking?! You could have hurt these boys! I’m going to have to look you over to make sure you didn’t get any splinters in you!” She dragged them into a back room. But it didn’t matter, all Mr. Trevor had to do was turn his head to see the other and he would finally be able to say- She was gone. The office desk was empty. The nurse and boys disappeared behind another door. “What the hell were you thinking?!” Ms. Gazola appeared from behind her desk, “You could have blown up the entire school if you weren’t careful!” Mr. Trevor retreated to his room. It took a good twenty minutes to convince the nurse he was all right. Then Steven had to run back and retrieve his things from Social Studies even though a new class had all ready started. That humiliation lasted until he got to his last class of the day. Chemistry with Mr. Barth. The room he walked into was dark. Lit up by some glowing, bubbling liquid on the table in the center. Steven took a seat on the end as the tall dark haired teacher dropped stuff into the bowl. “Watch what this stuff does, it’s really cool!” He let go of some green stringy stuff. The water turned bright red and colorful smoke went up into the air. “And this is my favorite.” Mr. Barth added in some gold powder. Fire sparks shot up from the bowl. There were gasps from the front row but the teacher just laughed and held up some blue rocks, “Now the book says not to put these things in, but we’re gonna do it anyway!” KASHOOM! When the smoke cleared the class could hear birds. They couldn’t figure out why until one of them flew through the hole the blast had made and landed on Mr. Barth’s head. “Dun na na na na na na Go grease lightning! Go grease lightning!” One of the kids stood up and pointed to the door, “It’s the janitor theme music!” A cheer went up and moments later Jonathan walked in with a boom box on his shoulder. “I can take care of this problem!” He announced looking up the hole. Going to his janitor tool box he pulled out a huge roll of duct tape, then taped the gap shut. Looking up at it proudly he declared, “My work here is done.” And walked out. “Mom?! I’m home!” Steven dropped his backpack on the chair. A head appeared from behind the couch, “This guy gave me a pointy thing and now I’m happy~” the head disappeared. “Um, yeah, I think I’m gonna go over to Julie’s…for about ten hours.” Steven went back out the door. Yep, this year was gonna be a good one. Back at CC High seven teachers and one principle gathered in the teachers lounge. One of them pulled a trap door that led to some stairs that went to the roof. On top of the roof sat a house. Inside that house, each occupant eventually laid to rest in their respected rooms. They would need their strength to rule another day at Card Club High. |