It's the End of the World

Chapter 10

8 Hours Until Homecoming

I arrived to school late. By now, the bell had already rung, and I was making my way towards band. My heart was beating so fast, I thought it would explode. Abby was in band with me. After the waiting all night, I would finally find out if she actually wanted to go to the dance with me. 

"Hey Abby," I tried to be settle. "So, funny thing. Kimmy was trying to get me killed last night."

"How?"

"She said that if I asked you to the dance you would say yes, but secretly, she knew that if I asked you to the dance, you and all your friends would gang up and kill me." I was hoping for Abby to say, "She wasn't lying." but instead, she just gave me blank stares.

Kimmy overheard me and said, "That's not what I said. I said she MIGHT say yes." 

That was when I knew Abby's answer.

"I'm sorry Jeff, but I can't." 

I admit, I was trying hard not to cry. But if I did cry, I cried like a man.

7 Hours Until Homecoming

I was miserable during 2nd period. My last shred of hope was destroyed. It started to rain, so I started to hope that the dance would be cancelled.

"No," someone told me, "the dance is sponsored by a club. The game might be cancelled, but the dance will go on no matter what."

6 Hours Until Homecoming

Nothing really happened in 3rd hour, we just did a worksheet. I did have an idea, though. 

"If I can't get a date to the dance," I thought, "I'll just find a way to get out of going to the dance."

5 Hours Until Homecoming

During 4th hour, English, we had to write a journal entry, so I wrote about ways to get out of going to the dance. Then I left for that one club I wrote about earlier.

"So, have you got a date to the dance yet?" the teacher asked.

"No," I admitted.

"No? After 3 weeks, you still haven't got a date?"

"It's not my fault I can't do the impossible. Half of the time I've had to go on Cahill missions. I'll just have to find a way to get out of going."

"How?"

"Well, since the dance is in the cafeteria, I can just blow up the cafeteria-" 

"Stop right there. You can't blow up the cafeteria. You'll get in trouble for that."

"No, I'll make sure everybody has safely evacuated the cafeteria- well, I might have Catherine still in there, but other than that, nobody in there, and then I can just blow up the cafeteria with everybody safe."

"You still can't blow up the cafeteria."

"But I like blowing stuff up."

"You still can't blow up the cafeteria!"

"Fine then, I guess you want me to get killed by a Vesper then."

4 Hours Until Homecoming

By lunchtime, I was really desperate to get out of going to the dance. I had given up on blowing up the lunchroom, but I was doing other crazy things like asking people to put me in the hospital. At first I was asking people to kill me, but Justin overheard me. 

"Jeff, you can't ask people to kill you, that undermines the whole point of going to the dance. Especially since one of the people here is a Vesper who actually does want to kill you."