Something in the Woods

Chapter 26

Mrs. Pierce led a begrudged Katie down to the library. There they were greeted by the middle aged librarian known as Mrs. Lewis. Normally, she was alright as a teacher, but when she saw Katie come in behind Mrs. Pierce, she let out a loud sigh.
"Another one?" She asked the principal.
"Sort of, she just has to stay here until her dad picks her up." Mrs. Pierce smiled and leaned in close towards Mrs. Lewis. "Don't let her leave."
Katie scowled at Mrs. Pierce as she left the library. Way to be subtle, hag! No wonder why Byssa hated her.
"Alright, pick a seat anywhere and just do your homework." Mrs. Lewis stated.
"But it's winter break, I don't have homework." Katie replied.
"Then read a book!" Snapped the librarian.
Katie huffed and walked away. Geez, just because Mrs. Lewis has to be stuck on after school duty, doesn't mean she has to take it out on her. It's not like Katie wants to be here either and she bet she has more important things to do than whatever last minute shopping Mrs. Lewis had to do today. But Katie needed to think of a way to get out of this place before the bus came! This set back shaved off five minutes. If she doesn't get out of here soon, she won't have enough time to get on the bus!
That's when Katie spotted two familiar faces sitting at a table scribbling something on a piece of paper. It was Sarah and Michelle! Katie grinned as an idea popped in her head, they weren't her ideal partners in crime, but they'll have to do!
"Hey girls." Katie chirped as she rushed over to their table.
Sarah glared up at Katie before going back to her paper. "Beat it, loser."
"Listen, I need your help."
"Why would we help you?" Michelle scoffed. "We're stuck here because of you!"
"Me?!" Katie hissed. "You're the ones who tried to beat the crap outta me!"
"Yeah, but it's Byssa's fault we're here and not at the mall." Sarah snapped.
"When I get outta here, I'm strangling her with her own denim jacket!" Michelle muttered as she scribbled more words on her paper.
"Okay, then be mad at Byssa, not me!" Katie tried to reason. "I have to get outta here."
"Boo-hoo, so do we." Sarah sneered.
"But we're here having to write you an apology letter." Michelle finished off.
Katie crossed her arms. "Well a better apology would be distracting Mrs. Lewis so I can sneak out and save Barrett."
The two girls glanced at each other and snickered.
"You think we would help you save your freakazoid friend?" Sarah replied. "Didn't know you were this stupid."
"If I don't save him today, the portal in the lake will close and it won't open up til summer." Katie whined. "Please, I'm begging you to help me out."
"Keep begging," Michelle snapped back. "You think we care what happens to that big oof? I'd say good riddance to him, I hope he suffers!"
"But-!"
Michelle slammed her pencil down. "Didn't you hear us? We're not helping you; now get lost before I decide to shove this letter down your throat!"
Anger boiled in Katie's gut. Was there any goodness in these girls' bodies or were they just born as inconsiderate bimbos? Time was running out, and Katie was going to fail just because Sarah and Michelle wanted to be pissy about being in ISS. She let out a heavy sigh, she tried to be nice but there's only one way to get them to do what she wants.
"Fine, don't help me free Barrett. I'll get out of this school eventually, and when I do, you'll regret it."
Michelle stood up and loomed over the smaller nerd. "What are you trying to say, weirdo?"
Fear threatened to claw its way out of Katie, her instincts told her to shy away, but she took a hard gulp in an attempt to ward off any stuttering that wanted to spill out of her. "I'm saying that if I can't get Barrett home today, then that portal will close for another six months, and I'll have all the time in the world to chase after him. I'll run away and go to Nevada if I have to and I'll find a way to free him."
"Then do that." Sarah butted in. "We're not going to help you."
"That's not a good idea." Katie crossed her arms."Because if Barrett is going to be trapped here for another six months then I guarantee he'll be pissed! And I'll have to tell him that you two are the reason I couldn't save him in time, so that will give us six months to come back and kill you."
The color immediately drained from Sarah's face. Which made Katie smile, she was glad that the prep was still terrified of Barrett. However, Michelle remained unphased by Katie's threats.
"You're just saying that." She scoffed.
Katie just shrugged. "If you wanna risk it, fine; but just remember that I have no friends and no family and nothing else to look forward to. So I have nothing to lose."
For a moment, the tough attitude dropped and a terrified look flickered on Michelle's face but she tried to continue to scowl at Katie to hide the fear she had building up inside her.
"Michelle, let's just get her out of here." Sarah whispered.
Michelle snapped a bewildered look at Sarah, as if she wanted to argue with her own friend. But when they both locked eyes, their fears were reflected off of each other. Then Michelle let out a deep sigh in defeat. "What do you want us to do?"
Katie smiled in triumph. "Start a fight with each other or something."
"Are you kidding me?" Sarah hissed.
"Well, you need to do something to break her attention away from guarding the door." Katie said.
"No way," Michelle crossed her arms. "We're not getting into more trouble."
"Do it, or I'll make sure Barrett crushes this school with you two in it!" Katie snapped. She didn't have time to come up with a better plan, besides, it's what they deserve after all the torment they caused her.
"Okay, fine!" Michelle yelped. "Just get your giant boyfriend out of this world."
Katie nodded. "That's what I'm trying to do." She began to slowly walk towards the door as the two girls whispered amongst each other, soon, the whispers turned into bickering, and the bickering turned into shouts. Mrs. Lewis finally glanced up from the novel she was reading to see the girls going at it. She shouted at them to knock it off, then Katie heard a loud slap to the face. Katie didn't dare to look back at the fight that started to break out, her focus was on escaping. Mrs. Lewis jumped out of her seat to go after Sarah and Michelle, she didn't even give Katie a second glance as she passed her to grab one of the girls and pry her off the other.
And without so much as a hassle, Katie slipped out of the library and raced down the halls and found the nearest exit, Katie shoved the glass doors out of her way and made it outside. The chilly wind flicked snowflakes in her face, but there was no time to shiver, Katie pumped her legs as fast as she could down the icey parking lot and off the school grounds. This was one of the few times Katie wished she was better athletically because she felt like her lungs were about to burst but she forced herself to keep running even if her body screamed for rest. So much time was wasted trying to get out, but Katie couldn't dwell on failure, she wasn't going to miss the bus. Barrett was counting on her!
The bus stop was in sight, but Katie saw the blue and white colored bus already parked as people loaded on the vehicle. She forced herself to run faster but a sharp pain tore into her side. The last person stepped onto the bus and Katie watched as the doors closed behind them. Soon the engine started to rev and the bus began moving.
"Wait!" Katie wheezed out as she tried to sprint faster but the pain in her side twisted more inside her and the nerd girl stumbled to her hands and knees. She felt like she was going to vomit but she pushed her sickness aside to look up and saw the bus disappear in the distance.
"No…" Katie huffed out. She had to think of a quick plan to get to Fort Clemmons, could she walk there? No, it was miles away and Katie's legs felt like jelly at this point. There was no way she could make it in time before they transferred Barrett. Defeat began to wash over the young girl.
A car halted to a stop. "Hey, let's go commit treason!" A familiar voice shouted from the car.
Katie's head shot up, and she laid eyes on Byssa hanging out of the jeep window, a wide grin plastered on her face. Tymere was in the driver's seat, motioning Katie to get in the car. Katie just sat there confused. Did she pass out from exhaustion and started to hallucinate a way to get to Fort Clemmons? She rubbed her eyes, expecting them to disappear when she opened them again, but they still sat in their vehicle with a playfully annoyed look on their faces.
"Do you wanna save Barrett or not?!" Byssa shouted.
Newfound energy surged through Katie and she found the strength to jump up and rush over to the jeep. The door flung open and Byssa pulled her in for a hug.
"You came back?!"
Byssa smiled. "I couldn't let you go off and storm a fort by yourself."
Katie felt a mix of emotions, she wanted to be angry, she wanted to burst into tears, but most of all, she was just overjoyed to be close to Byssa again. She missed being around her and now they were going to do the most dangerous thing they could possibly do together as friends.