The Haunted Hotel

Introduction

If someone had warned me what the contest actually had in store for the winners, I wouldn't have entered it. No one would have.

I had everything. I was the star quarterback, the most popular guy in school. I had girls falling at my feet. I was pretty much guaranteed a full ride to the college of my choice for the sport that I loved. Sure, I wasn't exactly the brightest bulb, but it didn't matter. I was king of the world.

Then the contest started. The posters were up all over school. In every classroom. On every bulletin board. Around every corner. Everybody entered. Everybody wanted to win. Little did they know, the lucky ones were the losers, not the winners. But, hindsight will do that for you.

To win the contest, you had to enter a raffle by buying a raffle ticket during your lunch period. Six winners were picked at random out of a jar.

The contest started on a Monday in November and the winners were picked on Friday. I was one of them. First picked, to be exact. I was always lucky like that.

We were set to leave the following Monday morning. I packed all the things I would need for the five day free trip to New Orleans, Louisiana.

I drove my car to the school at five in the morning. There were only seven cars in the parking lot, because it was way too early for real school to start. I guessed the cars belonged to the other five winners and Mrs. Rodman, our chaperone.

Mrs. Rodman was a thin, coarse, faux red head with a spiteful nose and a mean demeanor. She taught math, but the only thing I learned in her class was how to make the perfect paper airplane. World renowned, I like to think.

I parked in my usual parking space, then went inside. Mrs. Rodman met me at the door, leading me inside to the cafeteria like an escort, even though I knew the halls of this school like the back of my hand.

I stepped into the cafeteria, looking around quickly. I didn't really know who the other winners were, because I had stopped listening after they read the first name. Mine. I was shocked and excited, and I just tuned the rest of it out.

After my survey of the room, I noticed that none of my friends were there. Not even any of my acquaintances. I had barely talked to the people now situated around me. Felt like a Breakfast Club type situation, like we were hand-picked for a storyline.

There was Jonah Marx, in the back corner, getting scolded by Mrs. Rodman for trying to smoke in the school. He was a senior, who probably would be a senior for a long time. He was the school's classic bad boy. He had tattoo arm sleeves of skulls, fire, snakes and other badass things. He rode a motorcycle to school everyday. Using girls like property was his specialty, and word on the street was that recently, he'd been creeping lower in lower in grades for his targets.

In the other corner, was Shannon, or something like that. I think she was a sophomore. She was a shy, quiet, art geek. She had been in some of my classes, but she blended in the back, keeping her head down and mind elsewhere.

In the middle of the room, looking like she didn't know what to do with herself, was Adley Edmonds. She was a junior, like me. She was a player on the girls' field hockey team. Apparently, she was really good. Her name was always on the morning announcements for scoring goals. She was beautiful, with dirty blonde hair and deep brown eyes. We'd had a few classes together and talked some, but that's about it.

Doing something with the table, maybe rigging it to close or something, was Trey Barnes, also a junior. He was the class clown, always making outbursts in class. Sometimes they were funny, but sometimes he just didn't know when to stop. He seemed to get in trouble a lot, but he happened to talk himself out of it most of the time. I felt like he didn't have real friends, just kind of hovered around everyone and walked up and talked to anyone he wanted on any given day. He was beyond outgoing, so I suppose it didn't seem like a problem to him.

"I'm here! The main event has arrived!" A voice called out from the door.

I turned around to see Kelly Dobbs. Kelly was captain of the cheerleading squad and a senior. She was incredibly popular, especially with guys. She seemed to have a new one by her side every few days. With nice curves, a slim waist, and a makeup-caked face, she was many boy's dream girl. But in my opinion, she was just mean, full of herself, and obnoxious.

"Great, we're all here now! Let's introduce ourselves, just in case we don't know everyone. Come on, children, gather around in a circle!" Mrs. Rodman said, waving us into the middle, like preschoolers. Her voice was much too loud for this early in the morning.

Once we were standing in the best circle six high schoolers were ever going to make, the teacher forced Adley to start by introducing herself. I stood next to her, with Jonah on my other side.

"I'm Adley Edmonds," Adley said.

"Okay, you next," Mrs. Rodman pointed to me.

"Tucker Andrews."

"Jonah Marx."

"Shay Finnegan." So, I was a little off with the Shannon thing, my bad. You can't expect me to know everyone's names and a short synopsis about them.

"You all know me, but I'll remind you anyways. I'm Kelly Dobbs, yes the Kelly Dobbs."

"The name is Barnes, Trey Barnes," Trey said, in a dramatic spy voice, like James Bond.

"And I am Mrs. Rodman. I am a sophomore English teacher here. I will be your chaperone. There was supposed to be one other teacher, but Mr. Healer was fired last week, because of sexual violations. So, you just got me."

Kelly smirked, Adley crossed her arms over her chest in indignation, and Shay inconspicuously shuffled away from Jonah.

"Alright, so the bus is here. It's only a ten hour ride, so let's go!" Mrs. Rodman said excitedly. She ushered us out of the room and into the bus.

The picture above is of Adley, played by Chloe Mortez. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Please comment and vote what you think. I'll hopefully update every other Friday, if not every. Thanks!