The Goosebumps School 3: A Dark Heart

Chapter #6 Puzzle Pieces

I woke up the next morning feeling cold. As I got out of bed, I checked my bedroom windows. None of them were open. God this was so strange....

I showered and put on my clothes: my favorite red flannel shirt, black leggings and my brown combat boots. Honestly probably my favorite outfit....

After I got dressed I went into the bathroom cabinet, searching for the thermometer. I wanted to be sure that I wasn't sick. I put the thermometer in my mouth and waited for it to beep. When it did I took it out of my mouth and checked the temperature.

It was normal. I was fine. I already knew that because I felt fine.....But then what the fuck was going on?

This question stuck in my mind the rest of the morning as I got ready and as I made my way outside to get Meredith next door. I wish I could say I was suprised by the sight in front of me when I got there.

Mr. Wood was at the Cromwell house, to pick up Meredith to walk to school. She waved at me as they walked by and I waved back. Yes Meredith, I AM still your neighbor....remember? The one that offered to take care of you your first few days of monster school?

Sighing, I went over to Ray's house and met up with him.

    "Hey Katie. You alright?" Ray greeted.

    "Yeah I'm ok. Just a bit confused." I admitted.

    "About what?" Ray asked.

I pointed to the darling couple that had just passed by the house. Ray's expression was a bit stunned.

     "Yeah....that's a bit weird..." He spoke.

I giggled at his reaction and he smirked down at me.

    "Come on, let's get going too." Ray suggested.

I nodded and we began to walk to school. As we did I felt the presence of somebody else behind us. Looking back though, I saw nobody....?

At my locker awhile later I was happy to see that Wally was by himself at his own locker. He looked so.....cheerful. As glad as that should make me, it made me a bit worried. Was Wally heading down the same path with Meredith that Karen almost had with Cody?

I approached my locker and Mr. Wood turned to me and smiled.

    "Good morning Katie!" He greeted.

    "Uh...Hi Mr. Wood...How are you?" I questioned. Yikes....

    "Never better! You know I used to hate happy feelings, but now, I really feel great." Wally answered.

I stared at Mr. Wood. Man.....he really was happy, after just one day. Was it appropriate to say that he was completely whipped?

    "That's....great. Really. But.....don't you think you're rushing into this a bit too fast Wally?" I asked now.

He looked at me with his head cocked to the side.

    "No? Meredith and I are both comfortable with it, so why should it matter?" He responded.

    "I don't know, I just thought maybe you'd want to get to know each other a bit before making things official?" I shrugged.

Before Wally could answer, the bell rang, and he walked off to class. I let out a huge sigh and finished grabbing my books before doing the same.

My first two classes were slow, seeming to drag on a lot longer than they were. English was looking to be the same until I turned to Meredith, curious.

    "Hey, Meredith?" I started.

    "Mhm?" She replied.

    "Why did you go after Mr. Wood so quickly?" I wondered.

This question seemed to surprise her, she looked at me like I had just given her a terrible prom-posal.

    "I don't know, he seemed really intense, charming and interesting. Why?" She explained, almost defensively. I say almost because the smile she wore when she said it juuuust wasn't selling it for me.

    "Just wondering..." I stated.

After English the rest of the day was filled with me trying to put together pieces of a weird brain twisting love puzzle. I just had a bad feeling about this whole relationship between those two. I decided to get Slappy's advice on it when I walked home with him.

    "So Slappy, I'm sure you've formed an opinion on your brother's new relationship by now." I began.

    "I form an opinion about everything." Slappy remarked.

    "I've noticed. But, what's yours on Meredith?" I asked.

    "She's......ok. Kind of odd though. She acts all lovey dovey and gross with Wally and she's always asking him if he'd do anything for her. And the moron actually says yes! It's as if he's been made into the slave instead of making her his slave." Slappy ranted.

    "That's weird....So she's the one that's moving the relationship along so quickly?" I questioned.

    "You bet. Wally wouldn't know how to move it forward so Meredith kind of has to." Slappy replied.

    "Interesting....I wonder why she's moving it along that fast?" I wondered.

    "Cuz she's desperate. She IS dating my brother after all." Slappy cracked.

This made me laugh.

     "I definitely don't see what she does in him...." I giggled.

Slappy and I laughed until we made it to his house. We waved goodbye to one another before I continued on to my house.

On my way there, the chill wrapped itself around my arms, immediately creating goosebumps on them. The frosty sensation seemed to curl around my neck as well. I also felt a new presence around, like I had that same morning. I looked behind me. Nothing, but I knew something had to be there. Or someone.

Now a bit frightened, I began to run. I ran all the way to my house, not stopping to look back or anything. Once I was safely inside my house with the front door locked, I bent over to catch my breath. I even chuckled a little bit to myself.

I had just run home like a little girl, because why? I was afraid of a little chill and because I thought someone was around? Man I was really losing it. I giggled a little bit more to myself before going up to my room.

I sat on my bed when I got in my room. My mind began to put pieces of the puzzle together about Meredith and Wally, breaking the information down neatly.

Meredith was clearly in control of the pace of the relationship.

She was constantly needing to know if Wally would do anything for her.

When I asked her about her quick interest in him, she got defensive and had a very faked smile, maybe hiding some deviousness as well.

Wally was clearly oblivious to anything weird she was doing.

Slappy and everyone else thought the relationship was odd.

Slappy said that Wally had become the slave instead of doing the enslaving.

I tried linking all of these things to one point, and eventually I did.

Meredith was using Wally for something....

    "But what could she possibly be using Wally for?" I asked myself out loud.

    "That's information that you'll have to deal with not knowing Katie." A male voice said from behind me.

I jumped off of my bed with a yelp. Who was in my room?! When I saw who it was I was horrified. They were angry, menacing, and someone I never would have wanted in my bedroom.

It was Cody Cromwell.

A/N: Apologies for the shorter chapter here. I've been fighting a crappy cold the past few days and it's kinda been affecting my ability to think of content to write. Plus I also kind of wanted to leave it at that cliffhanger with Cody. ;) Hope you're still enjoying the read!
♡-Katie-♡