Rich Re:grets

Chapter 4.3: A Quiet Calm

(NOVEMBER 2010)

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RICH MUTATIO

Before lunch, Mr Darley handed each group a sticky note. "How many boxes of pizza does each group want, two or three?"

"Three!" we all answered.

"Of course it's three. I don't even know why I bothered asking. Just write down the toppings you want on the sticky note."

After lunch recess, Mr Darley greeted us with three boxes of pizza per group. He even went ahead and got us more snacks and drinks.

Mr Darley was a brilliant teacher and an even better mentor. He'd support whatever had our interests, joked around, and even acted goofy alongside us. He had only been our teacher for two months and I already knew that he was something special.

After lunch, Mr Cranston came up to our room. He wore a fedora, dark shades, and a scribbled goatee. He was dressed in dark clothes a man in a mid-life crisis would wear.

Carrie pointed to him. "Oh! I get it. That's actually pretty cool. Your costume is Heisenberg." She pointed at Mr Darley. "And you're Walter White pre-chemo."

Mr Cranston applauded. "That's impressive. You're the first person to get it right. Not even the other teachers could figure it out."

"What's for gym today, Mr Cranston?" Moses asked.

"Sadly, nothing. The gym is preoccupied with the dance and I don't want you to get your nice-looking costumes dirty or damaged outside."

"Then why are you here?"

"Let's just say Mr Darley planned a game and I want to watch you guys turn on each other."

The game was Werewolf. A game where friends accused friends in an attempt to figure out who the werewolves were before they murdered everyone.

The role I got was the drunkard which was worse than a villager. I was forbidden from talking or writing; for people to hear me, my actions had to speak louder than their words. By the fourth night, I figured out Bond was one of the imposters, but with no way of communicating, all I could do was desperately point at him. But I was voiceless, invisible, and killed later that night.

The werewolves ended up winning that round.

We ended up playing a couple more games after. I was a werewolf for one game, cupid for another, and a regular villager for the rest. By watching Coraline for the last two hours, the day ended with a whimper. But it was a fun day nonetheless.

We changed into regular clothes once school ended.

"Hey, Zoey, do you wanna see our hideout?" Bond asked as we made our way home.

"Hideout?" she asked.

"Yeah, you're comfortable around us now and we're comfortable around you. That makes you a part of our group. And everyone in our group should know that we have a hideout."

"I can't be a part of your group. I've only known you for a week."

"Who cares if we've only known each other for a week? Friendship can't be measured by time spent."

"Yeah," I said. "These past two days have felt like an eternity and there are many more days down the road."

Bond, Charlie, and Conan looked at me, Zoey's face reddened, and Mallory grinned a shark's smile.