The Pretenders (ON HOLD)

Chapter 25

Peter had science class during last period on Tuesday. That Tuesday, Mr.Buncle was late to class, which was weird because he was always early. Only Peter seemed to notice his absence. Everyone else was happily chatting away with their friend. He realized that if Lily hadn’t been in his science class, he and Wendy would probably be chatting just like all the other kids. But, as it was, she was much too preoccupied with her new-found girl friend, Lily.

Peter didn’t mind a single bit. In fact, he was happy that Wendy had a girl to talk to. He just wished he could understand what they were talking about so he could join in the conversation. When Wendy and Lily started talking about girl stuff, it was like they were using a completely different language. It was times like these that Peter wished Rick was around. That way the two of them could talk about sports or whatever guys talk are interested in.

While Wendy was deep in conversation, Peter quickly took her textbooks out of her bag and put them into his. That way, her bag wouldn’t be so heavy when she walked home with him that afternoon. When she wasn’t looking, he would put them back in her bag again. Peter didn’t really want her to know he was helping her, because then she might tell him not to do it anymore. So far he’d managed to carry her load of textbooks home for a week without her noticing.

“Where’s the teacher?” Wendy asked Peter, taking a short break from her conversation.

“I’m not sure, he’s usually never late. It’s been five minutes already,” Peter shrugged. He gave her a reassuring smile, which seemed to make her forget completely about their teacher. Instead, she turned her focus on him. Wendy was practically bouncing in her seat from excitement as she reminded Peter of the surprise party they were hosting for Simon that afternoon.

“You guys are hosting a party?” asked Lily, looking left out.

“Yeah, for Simon. It’s like a get well party, I guess,” Peter explained.

“Awesome,” Lily said enthusiastically, “Tell him I said hello.”

“Will do,” Wendy assured her. She then turned back to Peter looking a little more serious, “Thank you Peter, this means a lot to me and I'm sure it will mean just as much to Simon. You’ve been a real great help.”

Peter felt his stomach flip at the way Wendy was looking at him just then. It was a look of admiration, gratefulness, sincerity and something else all mixed together. He took a mental snapshot of her face in that small moment of just the two of them smiling at each other. The moment was beautiful and so was she.

“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride,” Lily teased, snapping them back into reality. Wendy shot Lily and annoyed look which only made her laugh harder. Peter was starting to think she got a kick out of annoying people. She was quite good at it anyhow. Annoying people, that is.

“Very funny, Lily. You don’t see either of us ever teasing you and Rick about arguing like an old married couple, do you? And, by the way, are you planning on ever telling him your real name,” Wendy said with a playful scowl.

“Whatever. And no, I plan to keep my name a secret from him as long as possible. It’s the only motive I have to keep acknowledging him. Otherwise, he just wouldn’t be worth my time,” Lily claimed.

“Come on, admit it; you don’t hate him,” Peter said, jumping at a chance to contribute to the conversation while he could still understand it. They hadn’t gone into full girl mode yet.

“Maybe not completely,” Lily admitted, “But I'm working on it.” The three of them couldn’t help but laugh at that. They continued to joke around for another ten minutes before the teacher finally arrived.

Only, he wasn’t Mr.Buncle.

He was tall and lean, with thick round glasses that enlarged his pale blue eyes. He had silver hair that was standing up in places and was wearing a spotless, white lab coat, complete with a pen pocket. As far as science teacher stereotypes go, he was the worst. It was literally as if he was dressed up to go to a costume party.

While everyone else seemed to find his appearance comical, Peter saw it to be slightly unsettling. Surely no one was that…sciencey.

“I’ve never seen him before,” Wendy whispered to him.

“That’s because he doesn’t work here. I’m not even sure that he lives here,” Peter explained.

Lily tuned in on the conversation, asking, “How can you tell? You can’t honestly say that you know everyone in this town.”

“Apparently not. This is not the first time I haven’t been able to recognize someone. A couple of days ago I saw a guy in the hospital, he was apparently a doctor but I’ve never seen him before in my life. You’d think that in all my trips to the hospital as a kid I wouldv’e come across him before.” Peter was starting to get a little paranoid and looking to Wendy he could see that he wasn’t the only one.

Wendy had gone home and asked her dad about the doctor Peter was talking about. Her dad said he was a transfer from a slightly more populated town. Apparently Eatonville was running low on doctors so that guy offered to come and work there. After telling that to Peter he just shook his head lightly, he still didn’t really believe it.

“What’s with you two? Why are you so stressed out?” Lily asked, clearly confused. Peter gave Wendy a look that told her to keep what happened on Friday and Saturday a secret. Lily didn’t need to know about the hospital incident or the phone call Wendy got. The less she knew, the safer she was, in Peter’s opinion.

“I guess we’re just a little on edge after what happened to Simon,” Wendy told her, half-lying.

“Oh, right. Is he getting better, by the way?” Peter noticed how she softened her tone when she asked about Simon. Wendy was just about to answer when the teacher finally got the class to be quiet and began marking the roll. Peter straightened in his seat, trying hard to match the teacher’s face to a name. Wendy must have noticed how tense he was, because she placed her hand on his under the table, reassuringly.

Peter turned to her and gave her a small nod to show that he was ok. She smiled understandingly and took her hand away. Peter found himself wishing she’d just left it there so without even thinking, he reached out and took her hand again. It took Wendy by surprise but she didn’t seem to mind. It was just that, it felt natural; being close to her. Her hand fit in his perfectly. Like it was meant to.

Peter turned and whispered to her, so quietly that only she could hear, “Don’t worry about everything that’s going on, ok? I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“I know,” she told him quietly.

“Is there something you wish to share with the class, Peter?” the sub asked.

“No sir, I was just-“ Peter began to answer, but he stopped short. “What did you call me?”

“Peter, that is you name isn’t it?” the teacher asked sternly. Peter nodded slowly. “Then stop asking stupid questions. Now I want the whole class to open their textbook to chapter three and begin reading.”

After a minute or so, Peter turned to Wendy and said quietly, with a scared look on his face, “He knew my name. He shouldn’t have.”

Wendy could only shrug solemnly. It was probably just a coincidence that the teacher knew Peter’s name. And even if it wasn’t, there was nothing they could do. Who would believe two teenagers claiming that their teacher was out to get them. Adults probably heard that from kids too many times a year to even take notice of it anymore.

So really, all they could do, was hope that they were just being paranoid. Peter barely go any work done that period. How could he, when all he could think about was the possibility of their sub being evil. And what Peter would do if the sub ever tried to hurt one of his friends. Their were no rules when it came to defending your friends. So Peter would probably kill him.