Fantasy

2

As soon as I stop, the girls grab my elbows to keep me from running any farther. They're strength is surprising, and it's now that I realize my mistake.

"What do you want with me?" I demand, panic rising in my voice.

"Abby, calm down, we just... just... just want to talk to you," Jade chokes, still trying to catch her breath.

"Why do you keep running from us?" Olivia demands as she lets go of my arm.

"I...I thought you were trying to hurt me," I answer hesitantly.

"What would make you think that?" Jade probes further, also letting go of my arm. Olivia pulls out a cell phone and sends a quick text.

"I don't know; I just did." The truth is a bit more embarrassing. See, I thought they were mad at me because, back in December, I lost a basketball game. It was down to the last few seconds, the score was tied and I had the ball. I was focused and ready to shoot, but right before the ball left my hands someone from the audience screamed and blew an air horn, breaking my concentration.

"Go Abby!" It was Shelly. Thanks to her, we lost the game, but my teammates-including Jade- didn't see it that way. Still, they would've gotten over it had the team we lost to not posted online that they won the Championship game with an undefeated season.

"So, what exactly do you want to talk about that's so important?"

"You'll see soon enough," Jade replies, which doesn't exactly answer my question. Before I can push her any further, a silver Camaro pulls up beside us. The driver's door pops open and I'm shocked to see who gets out.

"Mr. Hall?!" I exclaim, thoroughly confused.

"Mr. Hall? I like the sound of that, but my name's Randy." And then things get even weirder. He pulls a pair of sunglasses out of his car and detaches one of the temples from the lens frame. When he slides a hidden switch on the side of the temple, a knife blade slips out from the end and clicks into place.

"Sir?" I ask cautiously as he presses the blade to his neck and makes a small incision. After pushing the knife back into place while holding down the switch, he snaps the temple back onto the sunglasses' lens frame and places them back into the car. Then he proceeds to hook his fingers under his chin in the cut and- to my horror- peels back the skin. I cry out and squeeze my eyes shut, expecting to hear screams of agony, but they never come. In fact, what's happing is quite the opposite.

"Ahhh, that's better," I hear Mr. Hall, er, Randy say. I slowly open my eyes, afraid of what I'll see. Instead of the gory scene I'm envisioning I find that it wasn't his skin that he tore off; it was highly detailed latex. Without the mask on I realize that Randy isn't half as old as I thought him to be. He looks to be around eighteen or nineteen. His eyes are bright blue and his blond hair is plastered to his sweaty forehead. Now, his body seems way too large and not proportionate to his head. He smiles at me and runs his fingers through his hair so it's out of his eyes.

"Hey, sorry if I scared you with the mask, it's just a disguise. I think I pulled off the whole principal thing pretty well if I do say so myself. I had your friend Sharon shaking in her shoes!" I don't bother to correct him on Shelly's name because, frankly, I'm shaking in my shoes now.

Apparently the mask isn't the only part of his disguise because he continues to undo his tie and unbutton his button-down shirt. He finishes and pulls it off uncovering a gray V-neck T-shirt that's considerably smaller than the dress shirt. Upon closer examination I realize that the button-down shirt is stuffed with gelatin chunks to give the appearance of someone who is overweight. Next, Randy unbuckles his belt and loses the stuffed dress pants in favor of the black skinny jeans he has on underneath. All of this happens in a matter of seconds as if he's has had a lot of practice. He gathers up all the clothes and walks to the trunk of the car where he proceeds to put them in and then pull out a pair of Nike Air Jordan shoes. After quickly exchanging his dress shoes for the sneakers, he closes the trunk and comes around to formally greet us.