Project Archangel Book One: The Conspiracy Project

Chapter 18

“I can't believe Halloween falls on a Friday this year!” Brenda announced in excitement during lunch at school. “We've got to celebrate somehow!”
“And I'll bet you have something in mind,” Sammy guessed.
Brenda flashed a huge smile and shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe.”
“No doubt it's probably illegal or dangerous, and we could get in trouble for it,” Bradley assumed.
“Go ahead and tell us,” Shawn sighed.
Still beaming, Brenda said “the old mental hospital.”
“What about it?” Sarah asked.
“Please tell me you aren't thinking about spending the night,” Sammy begged.
I grinned. “That's exactly what she's thinking.” I could already see the look in her eyes. “Isn't it, Brenda?”
“You guys know me too well,” Brenda laughed. “But yes. I want to spend my favorite holiday in an abandoned mental hospital. Maybe we can even bring the Ouija Board.”
“No way. I'm not trying to contact a bunch of loony spirits!” Shawn exclaimed.
Sarah surprised us all by being the first volunteer. “I'd like to go.”
Suddenly, Shawn blurted out “yeah, me too!”
Brenda and Sammy exchanged knowing glances.
“I'll go too then. My parents are just gonna make me give out stupid candy anyway,” Bradley grumbled.
“Aw, you wanted to wear your fur suit and go trick or treating instead?” Sammy teased.
“Um, yes, actually!”
“You come too,” Brenda ordered her best friend.
Sammy shook her head. “Oh no. You aren't summoning any demons with me in the room!”
“Come on. It'll be fun.”
“No Ouija Board. That place is haunted enough without our help.”
Brenda pouted. “Fine. No Ouija Board then. Will you come now?”
Sammy sighed dramatically. “Fine.”
Brenda looked at me. “Kelsey? You'll come with us too, right?”
I hesitated. “Um... If my parents find out--"
“Just tell them you're spending the night with me.”
“What will you tell your parents?”
“Nothing. They don't care where I go as long as I come home.”
I sighed. “I guess I could then...”
“Great!” Brenda looked at Michael. “And you?”
He shrugged carelessly. “My parents aren't ever home, so I doubt they would know or care.”
“Perfect! That's everyone!”
“What about Liam?” Sarah asked.
Brenda waved away her question. “He's always up for anything I suggest.”
“Whipped,” Shawn mumbled.
“No,” Brenda argued. “He just loves me.”
Shawn, Sammy, and Bradley all snickered.
“Michael would do anything for Kelsey, right Michael?”
Michael's eyes widened. “Hey, don't drag me into this. Your boyfriend is the one who's whipped.”
Everyone else laughed.
Brenda rolled her eyes. “Kelsey? Help me out here.”
I shrugged. “Honestly, Michael is usually the one dragging me around on his crazy adventures.”
“You guys are no help!”
“It's okay,” Sarah offered comforting words. “Everyone's relationship is different, and different people show affection in different ways.”
Brenda sighed. “You're right. I just wish that dummy there would at least say his piece when Liam is present so he can defend himself.”
“Relax, Princess,” Shawn teased. “I was just kidding.”
“Only Liam can call me Princess!”
“Princess.”
“Shut up, Shawn!” Brenda's face was bright red.
“How about Diva then?” Sammy suggested.
“Both of you can go to Hell.”
“See you there, Diva.”
She let out an exasperated sigh. “You guys suck.”
---
“Our annual college fair will be held Friday afternoon, and all seniors are required to attend,” Mrs. Mahone, our English and homeroom teacher, announced to the class. “They will be giving out applications, scheduling tours, and helping you choose which school is right for you. Any questions?”
A few people asked some simple questions, but then Michael's hand went up, and there was a hush throughout the room. Even the teacher looked surprised. Michael was willingly speaking in class? This couldn't be good.
“Yes, Michael?” she asked warily.
Michael lowered his hand. “What if we aren't going to college?”
“There are scholarships and grants available for those who need them. They'll go over that at the fair too.”
“No, I mean what if we just don't want to go?”
“That's fine. Those of you who do go to college will need someone to flip and serve their burgers when they go out to eat.”
Some of the other students giggled, but Michael's response was even better.
“That's a really stupid assumption to make. Just because someone doesn't want to go to college doesn't mean they're going to be working in fast food for the rest of their lives.”
The room fell silent again, and Michael went on. “There are plenty of good jobs you can get without going to college. You can join the military or work construction. Heating and air, electrician. It's not the cleanest job, but sanitation. Firefighter, police officer, debt collector.”
She was glaring at him now.
“Should I continue?” he asked with an innocent smile.
The teacher scribbled something on a piece of paper and held it out to him. “Yes, you can continue this discussion with the principal, Michael.”
He shrugged carelessly and got up. “Alright.” He took her note and left the room.
---
Michael met me outside the classroom when homeroom let out, and he gave me a smirk.
“Think she's mad at me?” he asked, eyeballing the teacher who was glaring at him from inside the classroom.
“Of course she is. You disagreed with her.”
He snickered.
“What did the principal say?” I wondered.
He shrugged. “He says I have a problem with authority, but I really don't. I just have a problem with lies and brainwashing.”
I smiled and shook my head. “Come on, Freedom Fighter. We need to get to our next class.”
We started to walk away, but Mrs. Mahone stopped us. “Kelsey.”
We stopped and turned to her.
“Could I have a word with you?” She looked at Michael. “You can go to class.”
He shrugged. “Okay, see you.” He gave me a kiss on my cheek and started to walk away.
“Not at school, Michael!” Mrs. Mahone yelled after him.
He just laughed and continued on his way.
She turned her gaze on me. “Listen, Kelsey, I know Michael is your friend or your boyfriend or whatever, but you really should start thinking more about your future and spending less time with him.”
I raised an eyebrow. “What's that supposed to mean?”
She sighed. “That boy has no future, Kelsey. He's never going to make anything of himself, and if you keep following his lead, you'll be in the same situation. You're throwing your life away.”
“That's kind of rude to say just because someone disagreed with you, especially when they were right.”
“It has nothing to do with that. I've been a teacher for a long time, and I've seen many cases like yours.”
“Okay, well, I need to get to class before I'm late.”
“I'll write you a pass.” She waved me back into the classroom, and I followed. While she started filling out a hall pass, she began telling me a story.
“I know you think he's cool right now, and you're in that cutesy puppy love phase. You love spending time with him and sneaking out behind your parents’ backs to go for secret drives in the night. You love parking and sharing little innocent kisses. But one day, those kisses will become less innocent, and you'll end up going too far. The next morning, you'll wake up and reality will hit you. He'll tell you he's going to stay and marry you, make all sorts of promises, but nine months later, he won't be around anywhere. He'll ignore your calls, and his parents will tell you he isn't home, that he moved away to some distant city, and you're stuck as a single mother, working a dead end job and trying to care for a child.”
I blinked. “That's a weirdly specific story.”
“That's what's going to happen to you if you don't start thinking about your future, Kelsey. Let the relationships wait until after college.”
“I don't recall saying I was going to college either.”
“But you have to! A woman like you shouldn't be expected to crawl under houses or go to war. Wouldn't you rather be a nurse or a teacher?”
I shook my head. “I don't want to do either of those things. I'd be perfectly okay with being a make up artist or a hair stylist or even a firefighter.”
Mrs. Mahone looked horrified.
“Sorry,” I mumbled. “Can I have my pass now?”
She wrote in the time and handed me the piece of paper, walking me to the door. “Just think about everything I said, okay, Kelsey?”
“Um... Okay. Bye.” I gave her a quick wave and darted off to class and away from her and her crazy stories.
---
When I arrived at our next class, the teacher had started a movie, and the room was dark. I handed him my pass and slipped to the back of the room, taking my seat beside Michael. It hadn't been my seat at the beginning of the school year, but Mr. Sloan was pretty lenient on seating, and no one was ever using it, so I just migrated my way to the back of the room and claimed the seat. It all worked out, though, because Lacey took my old seat at the front of the room.
Michael offered me a piece of gum. “What did she want?”
I took the gum and popped it into my mouth, stuffing the empty wrapper into my jeans pocket.
“She said you're a bad influence, and I need to start focusing on my future or I'm going to end up as a single mom with a shitty job.”
“Damn. I guess I can see how highly she thinks of me.”
“It's okay. I told her she was just mad that you disagreed with her and you were right. Then she told me some oddly specific story about a girl who got knocked up and her boyfriend abandoned her. Said that would be me.”
He started to respond, but Mr. Sloan interrupted us. “Michael! Kelsey! Shh!” He pointed to the movie.
I turned my attention to the screen until a piece of paper found its way to my desk from beside me. I looked at Michael, but he was pretending to watch the documentary on World War II and The Holocaust. I opened the paper.
You sure you still wanna be with me?
I dug out a purple ink pen from my bag and wrote back. Of course I do.
I'm a bad influence.
I know, but at least I'm never bored.
Well, don't worry. I promise you won't ever be that girl in her story.
Thanks.
---
Friday afternoon, the announcements rang out. “All seniors please report to the auditorium at this time.”
Mrs. Young sighed. She hated that her class was always the one getting interrupted for assemblies and pep rallies. “Finish your workbook problems for your weekend homework. You'll probably be leaving straight from the fair, so feel free to bring your belongings, if you want to. Line up at the door, single file.”
Everyone rustled around, returning their belongings to their backpacks, and then stood up and rushed to the door like they thought they were going somewhere special. Michael and I packed up and casually strolled to the back of the line as Mrs. Young opened the door, and everyone rushed out like a herd of sheep.
---
When we reached the auditorium, Brenda was already seated at the back of the room with her phone in front of her face, probably texting Liam. Sarah was to her right and Shawn on Sarah's right. There were two seats to the left of Brenda, so we took those. Sammy showed up next, and finally Bradley. Shortly after that, the lights dimmed, and Mrs. Sullivan, our school principal, walked up on stage, her heels clicking with each step. She picked up the microphone, and it screeched for a moment before she started talking.
“Hello, Seniors! Welcome to our annual college fair! College is important, so we want to help you guys out as best we can. First, we will hear a few words from our student body president on why college is so important, and then you will be able to come up on stage and learn about all your different options. Schools will offer applications that you can take home to fill out and send in so that you can get an early start on applying to different schools and have a better chance to get into one of your choice schools. If you think you may need financial assistance to attend college next year, there will also be various scholarships and grants to learn about this afternoon as well. Now, I'm going to give it over to your student body president, Emma White.”
Everyone clapped as the familiar girl came out on stage with a big perfect smile, waving like she was someone famous. Honestly, I had no problem with Emma. She had long brown hair and big glasses, and she had never been rude to me. I wouldn't have said we were friends, but she was definitely one of the more tolerable girls in the popular clique.
“Hi everyone!” she exclaimed cheerfully. “I'm so glad we could all be here for this amazing event that our great school does every year for its seniors. I believe it can really help some people out.” She cleared her throat and pulled out a stack of index cards. “So, college. Why is it so important? We all know that, in today's world, it's nearly impossible to get a really good job of you don't go to college, and we all want good jobs, right?”
Silence.
She went on. “Right. College is so so so important, and not just because of jobs though. Who wants to have a college degree and be married to a burger flipper? No one, that's who. You want a husband or wife with money, then you need to go to college. You want to support your kids and put them through college? You can afford that if you have a college degree. If you want to make it in this world and be someone, you need to go to college! And now, our amazing school has made it easier than ever to go to college! We have so many tools at our disposal, and all we have to do is utilize them. That's what this fair is for today. This fair is to make it as easy as possible for everyone in this room to go to college because I know we all have big plans for a big future, and college is going to help us achieve those goals. Don't let this opportunity pass you by!”
The principal came back on stage clapping, and all the other students joined in, except for us on the back row. Brenda just popped her gum, and Michael rolled his eyes. The lights grew bright again, and everyone got up to begin checking out the different schools and programs up on stage.
“I never really gave college much thought...” Brenda muttered as we walked from booth to booth, collecting applications that would probably end up in the trash later.
“What else are you going to do?” Shawn asked. “College is supposed to be the only way.”
“Bullshit,” Michael muttered under his breath. “That's just stupid propaganda.”
“What are you going to do with your life then?” Shawn inquired. “I know you're used to a pretty comfortable life.”
“I'm going to do the same thing I've been doing. I'm going to work for my parents, and when they die, I'll take over the company as the only heir.”
“Won't you still have to go to college then?” Sarah wondered.
Michael shook his head. “I probably can if I want to, but I don't have to. My parents will pay for a private tutor to teach me anything I don't already know about taking over the company.”
“Wait,” Shawn butted in. “You work for your parents?”
Michael looked confused by his question. “Well, yeah. How else do you think I make money?”
Shawn shrugged. “I kind of just assumed they gave you an allowance or something.”
Michael shook his head. “Maybe when I was a kid, but not anymore. They pay me to help them with research and stuff.”
“You must be really smart.”
“I've been told my IQ is pretty high, yeah.”
“I was thinking I could just be a hairdresser or something,” Brenda said with a shrug. “We can't all be geniuses like Michael.”
I looked at Sarah. “Any idea what you want to do with your life?”
She shrugged. “I like to write a lot. Maybe one day I can write a book or something.”
“That sounds like a great job.”
“Stay at home husband sounds like a pretty good job to me,” Shawn laughed. “But I was thinking about maybe a pharmacist or something. That sounds easy and it pays pretty well, I think.”
“Don't you need college for that?” Sammy asked.
Shawn shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe.”
“I'm gonna be a video game tester,” Sammy said with a big smile.
“I'm gonna be an underwear model,” Bradley announced proudly. “Rich, famous, and I don't have to waste time going to college.”
Sammy laughed. “Maybe in a horror movie.”
“Shut up, you slut!” he fussed.
“What about you?” Shawn asked me.
I shrugged. “Maybe I can be a hair stylist with Brenda or a voice actor. An animator would be pretty cool too, since I can't really draw, but I like art.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Brenda exclaimed. “You and I can go to cosmetology school together and open our own salon!”
I grinned. “That sounds awesome.”
When I looked at Michael, he was looking back at me with an unreadable expression. What was he thinking?
“You could probably work with me too, if you wanted to,” he said quietly.
I smiled. “Well, thanks, but I'm not that smart.”
“You're pretty smart. I think you'd be okay. Plus I trust you, and that's really important.”
I shrugged. “Maybe. We'll see.” Of course, I knew I couldn't be a scientist or a doctor or even really a researcher. It was nice of him to suggest though.
---
I left school that day with a folder full of paperwork on scholarships and a crapload of applications. Was I going to fill any of them out? Probably not. I knew college was good for some people, but I hated school enough as it was. If I could, I would probably try to skip college altogether.