Abigail

Chapter Fifteen

After her exciting weekend, Monday morning at school was torture for Kendra. She somehow managed to get through her morning classes without falling asleep. Not everybody seemed to have that problem, though. Everyone was super excited about the Halloween Dance on Friday. Kendra even saw "Vote Millie Anderson for Halloween Queen" posters written in Michelle's loopy handwriting.

But even with all that, Kendra was the happiest she had been in a long time. She was back to eating lunch with Trinity and Rachel since Abigail was still MIA. Like the rest of the school, the three of them were really looking forward to the dance.

"Alright girls," Trinity said, sitting down next to her friends in the cafeteria. It had been too cold to sit outside recently since they were nearing the end of October. "The Halloween Dance doesn't start until 9 PM, so we need something to do beforehand."

"Is this some way to get us to go Trick or Treating? Because we are too old for that," Rachel commented.

"I know that," Trinity said, rolling her eyes. "I was thinking more along the lines of the haunted house."

Trinity was referring to the Haunted House of Oak Avenue, which was supposedly a real haunted house. A family used to live there, but one night, they all died because the house mysteriously was filled with carbon monoxide. Now people say that their ghosts haunt the house and anyone who moved in would be doomed to suffer the same fate they did. Since the house was already not in the greatest shape, and nobody wanted to move in, they decided to turn it into a haunted house several years later. Kendra thought that this was an insult to their memory, but it didn't stop her from walking extra fast when she went past the old house.

"That's supposed to be really scary!" Kendra protested.

"So?" Trinity asked. "I don't get scared easily.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Two words: Mall Skeleton."

"You have to be at least twelve years old to go in," Trinity continued, ignoring Rachel. "Which we all happen to be."

Rachel raised an eyebrow and Kendra became very interested in her lunch.

"Come on, guys. The haunted house is supposed to be amazing. I really, really, really want to go," Trinity whined.

"Alright fine," Rachel said, giving in. "We'll go if it means that much to you."

"Thank you so much! I have it all planned out. First we will all meet at the school at 7:30. We will then walk two blocks over to the Haunted House. After that, we can walk back over to the school for the dance. Oh, and Kendra- you can invite Carmine too."

"Of course," Rachel muttered.

Kendra and Rachel sat down in English class after lunch. "I can't believe Trinity is making us go to this haunted house," Rachel said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, you're the one that said we will go!" Kendra reminded her. "And besides, at least we'll be able to say that we went through the Haunted House of Oak Avenue."

"I guess," Rachel said. "If we don't go this year, Trinity will keep bugging us every year. We might as well get it over with."

"That's the spirit," joked Kendra.

The two friends were interrupted by the announcement over the loudspeaker. Their principal, Mrs. Clearwater began to speak. "Attention students. I have a very important announcement regarding the upcoming Halloween Dance. As you all know, it is a tradition at Acorn Ridge Junior High School to crown a student as Halloween Queen at the dance. Our candidates this year are all spectacular students and great people, so I imagine it will be a close competition. Here are the nominees: Millie Anderson, Riley Hopkins, Eliana Silverson, and Vanessa Zeal. Your teacher will now pass out the ballots for you to choose one of your fellow classmates. Please keep your choices confidential to those around you. Thank you."

After the click of the loudspeaker, Mr. Smith began to hand out the ballots. "Remember, you can only vote for one person. Just circle the name and I will collect them in two minutes."

Kendra stared at her ballot. She wasn't sure who she should vote for. She still wasn't on speaking terms with Millie, in fact she'd been avoiding her altogether. It seemed like a strange thing to vote for her for Halloween Queen. But on the other hand, it seemed strange not to. After all, she and Millie have known each other forever. They started off the year being best friends. Kendra wasn't sure if she could just forget all that.

She looked at the names of the three other candidates. Eliana Silverson was in seventh grade too, and was fairly popular. She wasn't in Michelle's inner circle, but it was all the same. Riley Hopkins and Vanessa Zeal were both in eighth grade. She figured one of them was bound to win; seventh graders almost never won Halloween Queen.

In the seat beside her, Kendra heard a small cough. She looked up to see Rachel lifting up her ballot so that Kendra could see Millie's name circled in purple ink. Kendra turned back to her own ballot and decided to do the same. Millie was her best friend for a long time. Even though she hadn't been such a good friend recently, Kendra still felt obligated to vote for her. Mr. Smith collected the ballots and then proceeded with class.

"Before we begin, I have an important announcement to make," he said, a hint of accusation in his voice. "My green chalk bin is missing and I was wondering if any of you have seen it."

So it was true. Abigail never returned the chalk bin. Kendra had no idea where it could be now with Abigail gone, so she kept quiet. She wouldn't have turned Abigail in anyway, but still.

"Well then, if nobody knows anything about it, we can start class."

Kendra couldn't really concentrate during English class because she had started thinking about Abigail again. Where was she? Kendra's excuse about her possibly moving didn't really make much sense. After all, Abigail had thought they were best friends. She wouldn't just randomly forget that she was moving. She would have told Kendra.

Kendra was almost glad they were going to the Haunted House on Friday night. If anything could take her mind off things, it would be the infamous Haunted House of Oak Avenue.