The Next

Chapter 2

Connor and my other friends all having a class that isn't English leaves me stuck alone for what may the most boring class I have. My teacher, Mrs. Iyom, is babbling on and on about how we need to be respectful and welcoming to all parents, blah, blah, blah. She's a really nice lady, and I like her, but she can just be so freaking boring! I mean, honsetly, only my history teacher could top the twenty minutes she took to explain what was going to happen during the first five minutes of the back to school night, but isn't it kind of a history teacher's job to be boring? Both of those teachers give way too many details!

Anyway, I didn't understand why all of this practice was nesscecary. Back to school night was always a huge bust, since it always ended with several fights between parents and kids or kids and friends or parents and their kids' friends... something. There was always someone who didn't get any food because the cafeteria underestimated how many parents would be coming. (Based on how many non-caring parents I have seen, I don't exactly blame them, but they do it EVERY YEAR!)

Besides, ALL students have to go to the practice, but only those whose parents' come to back to school night are allowed to go into the learning buildings of the campus for the allotted time. I, for one, am absolutely 100% sure that none of my family is coming. Not only do we not have enough money to send anyone, but no one in my family really cares enough to want to hop into the car for seven hours and drive here. My family has always been pretty jacked. The point is, though, I know no one is coming for me and I still am forced to go to the practice. You know, just in case my family decides to come, and I am quoting my teacher on this, "as a surprise." (Right, cause my parents love anyone except for themselves enough to surprise them.)

Honestly, the only reason I'm not absolutely dreading back to school night is because I know that Connor's family isn't coming (his sister is vacationing in Europe and his parents are on business in Washington, way too far to come down for one night), so we'll have plenty of alone time for talking and watching movies together, etc. I am really hoping my roommate and her boyfriend decide to go to his room because a.) then my alone time with Connor isn't exactly going to be alone and b.) those two are loud! Sometimes, I feel like asking them to either get quiet or ask for a room of their own. But I don't because its one thing to be a brat in your head and whole different thing to be a brat to other people. 

When everybody stands up, I look around, confused until the guy who sits next to me whispers, "We're going outside to watch the movie for The Tell Tale Heart." I quickly stand up and join the quece of people going outside.

Again, I lose myself in my own mind. This time, though, I rant to myself about the curriculum. I just don't understand why I tried so hard to get into the advanced english class- advanced even for being at a school for the especially gifted- so I could read a story I remeber reading in the eigth grade.

The movie is creepy. Way creepy. I wish Connor were here so I could climb into his lap and bury my head in his shoulder. "Villians!" the man from the projector screams, and I unwillingly jump, high enough to get a chuckle out of the jerk I got stuck sitting next to. I've been trying to calm myself down the whole time, but it is difficult to do with a movie like this. This movie had to be made to creep even the toughest people out, so when you're a serious wimp (like me) it makes you want to wet your pants.

I think I hear a rustle in the bushes and I tense, my body tight like a coil. Then my more logical side makes an appearance, and I reason with myself. You have to imagining it, I tell myself. You're creeped out from the movie, and you need to calm down. You looked, there was nothing there. No shadow, nothing. No one was there. It was all your imagination.

Slowly, I manage to calm myself down. When my heart rate as normal as its going to get with a movie like this one playing, I bring myself back to reality. By now, the movie's credits are rolling. There is a unique hush over the class, one I have only heard in finals. I watch as my teacher looks to where everybody else is looking, and I see her go pale. With the oncoming dread of a person in a horror film, I follow her line of sight. I swear my eyes go so far out of their sockets it must look comical, like the people in the cartoons I watched on weekends at my friends' house as a child.

Why, you ask?

Because standing in the doorway is a man, and in that man's hand is a gun. Cocked and pointed.

Author's note: So, I left you guys on a little cliff hanger today... The word count for this chapter was a lot less, only 888 words. I've decided to keep a running tally so I can see my total at the end. According to the inter-web, the average novel is about 60,000 words. We'll see if I make it! ;) So far I am at 2,307. Anyways, comments, questions, rotten tomatoes?