Shadow's Mark (Currently Being Edited)

Chapter 4: New Kid in Town

"Macaroni and cheese or french fries?" asked the lunch lady named Freta on what side dish I preferred.

"Is that even a question?" I asked good ol' Freta with a wink.

She chuckled while handing me a basket of fries. "Enjoy your meal, Jenkins."

I thanked her before scanning the cafeteria for my friends.

"Jenkins! Over here!"

In the crowded cafeteria, I caught a glimpse of Autumn's golden hair as she stood up from a table and started waving me over.

I noticed a couple of guys over at the jock's table staring at her. Wearing her little white and blue cheerleading uniform that flaunted her long arms and legs, Autumn looked absolutely stunning, as she always did, so it was no wonder she attracted a lot of attention.

I strolled on over to the table to find Drew, Autumn, and Cole Ashton, Autumn's boyfriend a.k.a the school's notorious bad boy.

"Where've you been, Jenkins?" asked Autumn as I plopped my tray down and sat beside her.

"Well," I turned towards her, "apparently our new sub, Ms. Venus, called the nurse's office after what happened in first period."

"Oh, yeah. We heard about that," said Cole, matter of factly as he pointed at Drew.

Drew whipped her head towards him and frowned. "Yeah, you mean I told Autumn and you just happened to be there eavesdropping."

"Anyways," I continued as I rolled my eyes and munched on a fry, "I got called in to the nurses office right before lunch break so Ms Quincy could check on me. She almost called my parents 'til I convinced her not to."

Drew gave me a worrisome look, interlaced with amazement and shock. "Good grief, how'd you manage to convince Ms Quincy?"

Ms. Quincy wasn't exactly the typical cheerful school nurse. In addition to her Medusa-like demeanor, the fact that she was Principal Mathers' sister made her one of the other most feared in the school staff. Students had dubbed them both as 'The Terriblings', short for Terrible Siblings.

Actually, a teacher had come up with their nickname, but for his own safety, he made everyone, including 'The Terriblings', believe a bunch of delinquents made it up.

Although they didn't share the same height genes, both Ms Quincy, who was a foot and several inches taller, and Principal Mathers were sticklers for rules. They had an absolute zero tolerance for insubordination of any kind. Thus everyone in school, students and staff included, made it their absolute business to never get sent to either the principal's nor the nurse's office.

So you could imagine my absolute horror when I was summoned to Ms Quincy's office after the whole fiasco in first period.

"I may have told her I was faking the whole asthma attack situation, earning me one of her stone death stares." I shuddered as I recalled Ms Quincy's steely eyes bearing into my soul. "She decided to give me detention for the rest of the week," I added gravely.

"Wait, can she do that?" questioned Drew as her salad-bearing fork paused mid-air. "Isn't she just the school nurse?"

I just shrugged as I continued eating when Autumn began to giggle. We all turned to see her concentrating on her phone, oblivious to the conversation we were having.

I rolled my eyes while Drew drummed on the table in front of Autumn.

Autumn shot her head up at us.

"What? It's my cheerleader group chat," she cheerfully held up her phone. "So, like, Sabrina said this joke about a doctor and.." she trailed off when she realized neither Drew nor I were particularly interested.