Silas Confidential

Chapter 8

Finals week.  I couldn’t believe term was almost over. I’d battled against the racket next door all semester, fought back against a lack of sleep and near-constant interruptions in my studies, and I was pretty sure I aced all of my take-home exams.  All that was left were a few in-class tests that I was sure would be a breeze as testing halls, even in a place like Silas, were quiet. Unlike my dorm room.

I owed a lot of my feelings of success to Rose.  She was my beacon of hope, my ray of light.  Sometimes I caught myself staring off into nothingness, sighing happily. I was majorly crushing on her. It should have been obvious weeks ago.  Rose was there for me when I needed her.  If I was in trouble or needed help with something, I felt her presence instantly.  I didn’t even have to use the letter tiles to call her anymore.  She was definitely my best friend.  Not too many people can say they’re BFFs with a ghost.

                  With finals wrapping to a close, there were plans for a big, blow-out, end of the term party..  Everyone on campus was pretty excited about it and I heard some of the Zetas talking about trying to get the music so loud that there were avalanches on the mountains that surrounded campus.  I even heard LaFontaine shouting “Party! Party! Party!” from Laura’s room, which I thought was pretty uncharacteristic.  LaFontaine just didn’t seem like the campus party type, or the shouting type for that matter.

                  As I didn’t have anything better to do, I wandered over to the quad which was where all the party festivities were getting set up.  A big stage was constructed and there was already a local band called Verklempt playing some kind of weird industrial music using empty beer kegs and a xylophone.  Some of the kids from the juggling club ran by juggling everything from grapefruits to rubber chickens to toilet plungers, and some of the theatre kids were swallowing fire and swords.  One poor guy burned his eyebrows off as I watched.  Thankfully his partner tossed a jug of water on him before the flames could reach his lovely purple hair.

                  I wandered through the little village of food carts, hands in my pockets. I thought I would treat myself. I didn’t eat sugary stuff very often.  Except for pie on Pie Wednesdays in the cafeteria, but that was different. The pie was sacred. (Although, to be fair, I wasn’t completely certain any of those pastries contained real sugar.) 

Despite it being rather cold and snowy all around, and being from a cold and northerly clime myself, I stopped at the ice cream cart.

                  “I’ll have chocolate, please.”

                  I gave the guy in the lab coat my money.  He happily took it and handed me a very large scoop of chocolate ice cream.  I was about to start in on the chocolatey deliciousness when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I paused with my tongue extended like a lizard and turned around to see Elsa from the Alchemy Club standing right next to me.

I put my tongue back in my mouth.

                  “I wouldn’t eat that if I were you.” 

She was still wearing her hazmat suit from the last time I saw her. Her goggles were hanging around her neck and she didn’t look nearly as dead-eyed or intimidating in the weak Alpine sunlight.  “I can’t guarantee that won’t turn you into something unnatural.”
                  Disappointment flooded me and I glared at the ice cream guy for a moment before heading over to the bin and tossing my ice cream cone into it.  Surveying the gathered venders, I pointed to a mini donut stand.