Maddened

Chapter five

When Madden entered the classroom, the bustling room went quiet. Everyone's mouth dropped and eyes widened. Madden looked around, silently challenging the kids to say something about her absence.

Jim nearly got up there and then to leap at her and hug her to death. His gut though said that something was the matter with her. Madden looked around the classroom, she went to her seat and sat down.

Ms. Janeth examined her before going to the equation at hand. "Now class, what is the square root of x divided by three?" She asked, some people raised their hands. "Pepper Jack." She called on him.

"4.3" He announced proudly 

"Wrong."

Madden sat just one seat ahead of Jim beside Krel. She had her head lowered, pondering what could've happened that night on the Devil's Tracks. Krel noticed she wasn't looking too good and tapped on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" He hadn't failed to notice the way she adjusted her collar and sweat nonstop.

Madden nodded her head "I'm just thirsty." Krel paid Madden no mind and turned back to the problem on the board. He raised his hand and answered the problem correctly in a matter of seconds.

A wad of paper landed on Madden's desk. She instinctively turned around to see if she knew who threw it. Everyone, even Steve, looked busy except for Jim Lake who watched her expectantly.

His blue eyes showed a depth of concern that Madden hadn't seen in a long time, he didn't have to say anything to know that he wanted her to read the note. Madden didn't hesitate to open the note, she hadn't heard from Jim for so long.

The note said "I know what happened at the Devil's Tracks – Jim" It took her off guard. How did he know? She looked back at Jim before writing down "How do you know?" She then tossed it back to Jim when making sure Ms. Janeth wasn't looking.

Jim seem just as eager to open the note as Madden was. He frowned at it before writing down something. Just as he was about to toss it back, Ms. Janeth interrupted. "Mr. Lake, is there something you want to share with the class?"

"N-No, Ms. Janeth.." He said, crossing her arms on the desk so it covered the note. He then mouthed to Madden when Ms. Janeth turned around that looked like "Lunch."

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At lunch, Madden almost forgot that Jim wanted to talk to her so it frightened her when Jim and Toby plopped down beside her. She jumped, "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Jim said

"So..." Madden picked at her cafeteria food. "Can you..." Jim trailed off as Claire sat down. "What did I miss?" She asked while Madden glared harshly. "We were just about to ask her what happened at the tracks."

Madden sighed, she really thought maybe it was all a hallucination. "Well.... It all started when my parents argued so I left and went to the gas station by the tracks." Madden purposely left out the part that she went to Jim's house. '

Jim frowned, even more, he knew she had gone to his house for support but he just felt too awkward to admit he wasn't home. She explained everything honestly and was shocked when Claire and Jim didn't look at her like she was crazy. Only Toby did, 

"He bit you?" He gawked, "Y-Yeah-" Then a thought occured to Madden so she pulled down her sleeve but there was no mark. "Maybe it was a hallucination." She murmured to herself.

"It wasn't." Jim said, his eyes narrowed sharply. Madden watched as the three teens exchanged looks. "We need to show you something after school." Jim said to Madden.

"Uhm Okay..."