Danny Flash and the Alien Crash

CHAPTER EIGHT:

As I walked into Thompson's elementary school, I was pretty sure that all three hundred sets of eyes were on me.  I adjusted my backpack strap, moving it from my right to my left shoulder.  That didn't feel natural, so I moved back to my right shoulder and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed.  In retrospect, nobody cared.  I made my way through the double doors and floated passed the other students, trying to look everyone in the eye.  I could feel beads of sweat forming under the corner of my hair, on the edge of my forehead.  I quickly wiped it away, trying to look like I was just moving my hair out of my eyes.

I reached my locker, put in my locker combination and opened the door, taking my backpack gently off my back and placing it inside.  I zipped the backpack open to peer in at my little alien.  It was sitting patiently, propped up, on the edge of a book.

"Backpack?" it asked.  I nodded and gave it a smile.

"Hey, there party peeeeooooppple!" Andrew came to my locker pounding on the side.

Boom! 

Boom! 

Boom! 

My locker rattled.

My little alien looked at me terrified, unsure of what to do.  It outstretched its hand, three fingers started to glow.  I shook my head at it desperately.

"No!" I whispered.

"No, what?" Andrew asked.  "You're not ready to party?"  Andrew leaned up against the locker.  My locker door was open, blocking his view of my bag.

"Yeah, me neither." Andrew said.  "Bummer we're at school."

My alien put its arms down, and resumed its position, perched at the edge of the book, inside my backpack, but sitting up straighter more alert, ready to protect itself.

"Whatcha' looking at?" Andrew asked, trying to peer around my locker door.

"What?" I asked. "Nothing."  I quickly zipped up the bag and put it inside my locker, closing the door.

"Mmm-hmm..." Andrew said, unsure of what to make of the situation.  He knew I was lying and knew I was looking at something intently, but he also didn't reallycare what it was.

"I got two tests today," Andrew said.  "Couldn't the teachers, like, talk about when they're going to give a test, and coordinate, or something, so we don't all have to take so many tests on one day."

"Uh-huh," I said, half-listening. 

"Are you even listening to me?" Andrew asked.

"Uh-huh," I said again, glancing nervously at my locker.  Surveying the situation, I realized that I had placed my little alien inside of a bag, and then put that bag inside of a metal box, both of which he would most likely be unable to open from the inside.  Maybe he could jimmy the backpack open, but I was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to open the locker.

"Come on," Andrew said, putting his arm around my shoulders, "Let's get you to class.  You seem a little preoccupied."

"Preoccupied," I repeated.  "Yeah, tha-that's it."  I let Andrew lead me towards my classroom.

When we got to the door of Mrs. Cahill's class, Andrew slid his arm off my shoulder, patted me on the back, and went on his way.

"Don't forget," he called out, "I'm better than you!  Ha ha."  

This was Andrew's idea of a joke.  He was my best friend, but he wasn't exactly the most funny person in the world.  He would take stabs at being funny occasionally, but they usually resulted in just groans.  I gave Andrew a half, weak, smile, which formed too slowly for him to even see, as he spun around and started running to his class.