Forlot - Books 1-3 {Completed}

Chapter Fifteen

I could not believe that I was beginning to have a crush on Stanley! I just met the guy! I could not have developed feelings for him already!

I thought hard on this logic. This could not be true. There had to be a better explanation as to why my face got hot. Maybe I was not used to the monsters yet like Sarah.

No, that was not it.

I love monsters, remember? I prefer them over most humans. I always wanted them to be real. I was just shocked that there were such things as monsters.

So if that was not the reason, then what was it?

I sighed heavily as I remembered something that my sister said a long time ago:

"When you feel your heart beat fast, and your palms are sweating along, then you are worried. But if your cheeks are feeling very warm, then you are nervous around the person whom you love the most."

And Scarlett was right almost all the time.

Looks like that I had to face facts. I had a crush on Stanley.

Anyway...

Mr. Hawk led me, Sarah, and the monsters to the backyard of the mansion. We let Scarlett rest on the couch until she decided to wake up again.

The purple sky that I saw earlier lit up the ground as if it were a spotlight, and we were about to perform on a stage. I saw obstacles and other equipment on the sparkling, green grass. The equipment looked to be brand new. They were all clean and shiny.

"This is our new equipment, Margie," Willy told me, as if he read my thoughts. "We just received these last month."

"We get new obstacle courses every other month," Tippy explained. "They wore out pretty quick because we use them every day. Twice each day."

"Why do you train anyway?" Sarah asked. "You are monsters after all."

Riley narrowed her eyebrows and clenched her hands into tight fists. "Do not call us monsters," she said. "We are just misunderstood by the world for our appearances. Not all creatures are bad."

The ghost had a point. Not all monsters are monsters. Sometimes, the real monsters are humans. However, this was different. Mr. Hawk was an evil man, and she and the rest of his friends were bad also. And it would not be long until Dr. O'Connor found them and put a stop to their evil plan. With my help, of course. I knew that when Scarlett would uncover the truth about Mr. Hawk and the town of Forlot, she would be really mad at me. How I put her, me, and Sarah in danger. How something bad could have happened to us. On the bright side, I was assisting a doctor. To stop evil from taking over the world. So she should thank me.

Stanley picked up two white, but dirty, lawn chairs and set them on the grass, away from the equipment. He brushed the dirt off from the seats and smiled. "Here you are, ladies," he said to me and Sarah. "You can watch us in action."

I blushed a little as Sarah and I sat in the chairs.

Was Stanley trying to impress me?

We watched in amazement as the different kinds of monsters began training. Willy and the puppets practiced their jumping by leaping over a tall wall, while the ghosts practiced their floating by flying very quick. Zeke and Stanley were also practicing on their kicking skills by kicking dummies. And no, I do not mean the puppets. It was awesome! Well, leaping over a wall, flying, and kicking does not sound incredible, but if you were there, you would agree with me! The monsters did some other cool things, however, I cannot tell you what they were exactly because the writer did not want to describe any of it.

Moving on!

Soon, training was over, and everyone was lying on the ground, resting. Their stomachs heaved up and down, and they breathed heavily.

"Good work, gang!" Mr. Hawk proclaimed proudly. He grabbed a couple of the obstacles and lifted them high above his head.

Boy, he was strong!

Strong enough and clever enough to rule the world!

"Relax for a few minutes, and then Riley, Sage, Lin, Leen, Willy, and Zeke will put away the equipment. It is going to rain later," the man ordered.

At the sound of that, I heard low groans from the ghosts, Zeke, and Willy. They were not happy about that.

"Stanley, Tippy, Skippy, and Tappy will start cooking supper."

I heard sighs of relief coming from Tippy and Tappy. I guess that they would rather cook than help with the equipment.

After five to ten minutes, the creatures got up and went to do what they were assigned to do.

"Would you guys like to come into the kitchen and cook with me and the others?" Stanley asked me and Sarah.

"Sure," I said. I do not really enjoy cooking that much, but I became curious what they were going to cook.

Plus, you-know-who would be there.

"Thanks, but no," Sarah refused. "I do not like to cook." She hurried over to an obstacle and tried lifting it. One of the ghosts had to help her with it.

Stanley nodded and held out his hand. "Shall we?" he said.

I blushed even redder. My cheeks started getting hot again.

Control yourself, Margie. Control yourself.

I took his hand, and we walked back into the mansion.

"Too bad that Lean could not join us in the training," he stated sadly.

"Yeah," I agreed. I suddenly had a funny feeling that someone was watching us.

Watching me.

I looked around - and saw someone staring right at me from the top of the stairs.