Reckless

Reckless - Chapter Thirty-Six

R E C K L E S S . . .

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

I’d always heard the saying ‘no news is good news’, but I was far too impatient to believe that. That weekend I took to pacing the hallway next to the telephone stand, waiting for it to ring. Every time I picked up I hoped to hear Blake’s voice, or maybe Mort’s, giving me and update on what was happening. Every time it was overwhelmingly disappointing.

There wasn’t much else to do in the cluttered house except to revise, and I’d already done enough of that to last me a lifetime. I’d decided to disregard the fact that my exams started in three days. I was more bored than I could ever remember being since I was confined to the house; my parents hadn’t quite lost all of their anger at my expulsion after my crying episode and had settled on grounding me for the rest of the exam period. I didn’t quite know where they expected me to go, though, since the town near us only held toy shops, newsagents and other things that I had no interest in. I didn’t exactly have any friends round the area, either. All of them were cooped up in the school like I would’ve been if I hadn’t been expelled. I missed them.

Finally, on Sunday night the phone rang. I immediately sprang towards it and picked it up, praying that it wasn’t a salesman or another friend of my mum’s looking for a ‘quick chat’ which would quickly turn into a conversation which would rival a novel in length.

“Hello?” I asked breathlessly.

“Anne? Is that you?”

“Claire? Thank god you’ve called. What the hell’s been happening down there?”

“Hang on; let me put you on speaker so Sam can hear.” There was a soft click and then I heard Sam’s voice as well.

“Have you put it on yet?” she asked impatiently.

“Of course I have. Didn’t you see me press it?”

I paused for a second, hoping that Claire would remember my question now that she had set her phone on speaker. “Uh, hello guys? You were going to tell me about what’s been happening where you are, Claire. Remember?”

“Oh yeah!” Claire said, as if it had completely skipped her mind in those few seconds since I had asked her.

“Well basically nothing,” Sam answered.

“Boring as hell down here,” Claire agreed.

“The police are still here,” Sam said. “But that happens so often at this school that you tend not to notice. It’s hardly any news nowadays.”

“Mr Samson’s been here,” Claire added. “You know that guy on the board of directors or whatever. There are rumours going round that he’s trying to close the school down for a while. He’s been stomping round here looking furious since he can’t fully close it because of the exams.”

“He wants a full school evacuation, basically.”

“And I’m guessing he’s not going to get it?” I asked, though I already knew the answer. “Mr Golding hardly seems like the type to care, anyway. He’s not exactly the caring headmaster that would do anything to protect his students. I guess he’ll keep the school running so long as the school ranks highly on the grade tables and the money rolls in.”

They laughed. “You sound so cynical, Anne,” Claire said.

“Has she changed this much since we left her or are we just noticing it more?” Sam joked.

“I was born cynical,” I told them sombrely before changing the subject. “Anyway, so the school isn’t closing even if the police are prowling around. What’s happening with the supernaturals? Have you seen Chris or any of his lackeys around?”