The Curse

Chapter 2-Better safe than sorry

     "Sarah! Earth to Sarah!" A pale hand was waved directly in front of my face, bringing me back to the reality of things. I blinked a few times. Sitting in front of me stood my best friend, Claire, looking at my plate, annoyed. To be more specific, she had been my only friend, the only person who would willingly step into someone’s house for more than 2 seconds when their friend’s twin sister was a cold-blooded murderer and sleeping in the same room. But Claire, for reasons unknown to anyone but herself, wasn’t worried.

     "Oh...Umm, sorry. What was that?" I asked her apologetically.

     Claire sighed, pointing to my warm steak. "You haven't been eating since we got here...do you need a knife to cut it up or something?

     No. The last thing I needed was a knife, and she knew that very well. I needed to be careful, just in case my Curse Theory was correct. I shook my head. "No...I'll just use my fork." I held it up for her to see with a ‘I’m totally not terrified of knives’ smile.

     Claire rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm your best friend. I could tolerate when you quit the wrestling team last week. By the way, I don't have a partner anymore, thank you very much." I ignored that comment. It had been the smart and responsible thing to do, considering my situation. Precautions needed to be made, after all. I looked down at my plate as she continued her speech. "But this is simply ridiculous. You're being ridiculous. The odd of you being chosen- right after Martha was chosen- are less likely than pigs flying."

     Another one of Claire's metaphors to make me unable to take her seriously. I pushed my peas around in my plate. "There're only 4 days until the next victim is chosen, you know." I informed. "Taking precautions is the smart thing to do."

     “Yeah…you keep telling yourself that. I feel really sorry for you, though.” Claire seemed to give up trying to change my mind after I had ignored the comment completely. She threw her hands in the air in defeat, getting the attention of a few 7th graders next to us. However, she didn't raise her voice. In fact, she only sounded like a concerned friend. "Fine, Sarah. Just promise me that you won't let it go overboard. Okay? Worrying this much is unhealthy, you know. "

     "Whatever." I said, not actually agreeing to anything. I just didn't want to keep talking about it, is all. As long as it shut her up. "So how's wrestling been since I left?" I wasn't curious about wrestling, but at least it changed the conversation.

     My friend smiled, knowingly. "There's the Sarah I know and love. I knew that you'd start to miss it sooner or later. Well, if you must know, it's getting to be pretty boring without you. You were the only challenge I had in that weak group of Softies." It had been a nickname that Claire and I had given to the other players after discovering, with immense surprise, that we could both beat every single one of them easily. We both giggled, thinking of how easy that class had been for us. I forgot about my worries for a moment as we shared memories of those days.

     "Remember when Gretchen started crying 'cause we broke her nail?" I asked, causing Claire to nod with wide eyes. “‘you guys just went way too far!'" Claire imitated in a high, girly voice, sending the both of us into an uncontrollable laughing fit. "'I quit wrestling'" I joined in, wiping an imaginary tear from my eye.

     "Oh, and- and remember that Gorilla girl?" Gretchen recalled in between small fits of laughter. Gorilla had been a muscled 8th grader who had always resembled a gorilla to us. Hairy and big, making grunts every time she would stare at us, as if trying to intimidate her opponent right before the game. However, soon after she had joined, we discovered that she was actually one of our weakest members, losing after less than 10 seconds of playing.

     I took a small drink of milk, my steak still remaining untouched. "Oh, and remember when someone thought we were cheating or taking drugs or something?" I smiled.

     "'No one can beat me! I was queen of wrestling back home.'" Claire quoted in a low voice to match the girl's.

      "And then we find out that she's an only child."

     "Yeah...it's such a bore without you. We got a new coach, and he's just so strict all the time. It's annoying." Claire groaned.

     "Well then I guess I backed out at the right moment, huh?"

     Then Claire smiled, remembering another wrestling class memory. "Remember when we first signed up last year, and everyone freaked out because they thought that you were Martha?"

     My smile disappeared from my face, suddenly remembering the curse’s effect. The harsh feeling of sadness mixed in with anger and frustration came back to me, and a tear flowed from my eye, landing on my green food tray. "Too soon?" Claire asked, sympathetically, a look that told me that she was feeling horrible for what she had said.

     I nodded quickly, getting up. "Uh...yeah." I said, softly. I picked up my tray, dumping the contents into the garbage can. "See ya later." I hastily excused myself.

     Claire, understanding, didn't make any attempt to stop me. Quietly, in a voice that I could barely hear, she spoke the words, "I'm sorry."

     Quickly walking through the halls, I made it to the girls' bathroom and was locked in the nearest stall within the next 15 seconds. I sat there quietly, not moving an inch, no expression on my face and no thoughts in my head until the warning bell rang.

     I wiped the tears from my eyes angrily. No way was I going to let this ruin my day. No way was I going to arrive late to class, getting the attention of everyone in the room and sparking the concern of my mom again. I tried my best to fix up my makeup in the bathroom mirror so that my red face wouldn't show as much and so that my mascara wouldn't appear to be leaking. Taking one last look at myself, I whispered words of encouragement. "Only a few more hours and you'll be home free, Sarah." I reminded myself. "Just stay calm. Keep your head in the game." It was my dad's motto...you know...before he passed away a few years ago. No. I couldn't think of that right now. I needed to get my mind off of it. "Just stay calm. Just stay calm. Just stay calm." I repeated to myself over and over again, avoiding eye contact with everyone that I passed in the halls until I finally reached math class. The bell rang as soon as I had reached my desk at the far back of the room, and I hid my face in my textbook.