Demon in Town (Book 2)

Chapter 16

“No matter what you're going through, there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you'll find the positive side of things.”-Demi Lovato

Chapter 16

-Karen-

“Mrs. Jackson, Jon wasn’t feeling well and we had to grab something to eat from the cafeteria,” I explained.

“He looks fine to me.” She eyed Jon.

“He is okay now.” I grinned. “Minutes ago, he wasn’t.”

“Any more excuses?” She asked.

“She isn’t making excuses. I really wasn’t well.” Jon said rudely.

Different pairs of eyes, including Beth and Xavier’s, stared up at us from their seats. We had reached the class after taking around in the cafeteria. We were late. Jon had suggested not taking the class while I had suggested the opposite.

There was no way I could miss any class.

“I don’t think you two can sit in my class.” Mrs. Jackson narrowed her eyes at me. She noticed my ‘colored’ hair for sure. “I rather give you detention.”

“Do whatever you want,” Jon muttered.

I nudged him with my elbow. He was never rude to a teacher but I couldn’t blame him for his behaviour.

This day was definitely turning out to be challenging for me. The green hair was somehow to be blamed for facing the detention. I had never got detention in my entire school life.

Mrs. Jackson tore out a detention slip, scribbled something on it with her pen, and handed it to me furiously. She must have heard Jon.

Tardy to class[x] inappropriate behaviour[x]

Gym until Lunch hour

No, no way.

“You both may leave.” She said, dismissing us.

“Mrs—” I was cut off by Jon as he forcefully dragged me out of the class.

“What are you planning to do?” He asked roughly. “Ask her for forgiveness?”

“But I can’t spend half of my day at the gym,” I said, biting my bottom lip. “I hate the gym.”

“Do you know why she is sending us to the gym?”

I heartily wished she didn’t want me to do push-ups there.

“Nope,” I shook my head. “Why?”

“Let’s go.”

When I reached the gym, I got more confused. The gym was being decorated. With posters and flyers everywhere in the gym, it had transformed into a party hall. The special lights were being installed on every corner of the room. Banners were held in hands of the kids working there.

“What are you two doing here?” A chirpy voice asked.

I stared at Chloe Frank, the student council president. She was shorter than me, had shiny black hair and pale skin. Her sea-blue eyes twinkled with excitement. She was a kind and sweet person. I had also voted her for when she stood up in the election last year.

“What’s going on here?” I asked.

“You don’t know?” She asked back, suspiciously. “We’re planning a graduation party here in the gym.”

“Like seriously?” I made a face. “You know, you are offending those kids who never get better grades than C in the gym. That includes me too.”

“Well, I get straight As.” Jon Said.

We ignored him.

“C+ here,” Chloe smiled. “I know most of the kids hate the gym, that’s why I planned the party in the most hated place. You never know, the place you hate the most can become a nice memory. There will be no teachers or adults, keeping an eye on us on the day of the graduation party here. I wanted something unique.”

“Great,” Jon said looking around the gym.

“So, what are you doing here?” Chloe asked again.

“This is what we’ve got,” I gave her the detention slip. “Mrs. Jackson just gave us the graduation day present.”

She looked at the slip and read it with a smile tucked on her mouth.

“You, of all people, got a detention.” She raised eyebrows at me. “That’s new.”

“What are we supposed to do here?” I asked.

“Almost everyone has some work assigned to them already. You can help the kids out with creating the banners and all.” She shrugged. “We also have a secret Santa planned.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Jon’s eyes widened.

“Yes, I’m kidding.” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you two help me in arranging the events?”

“That sounds great!” I tried to sound enthusiastic. It didn’t work.

Chloe was about to reply when Maya White entered the gym with her cheerleading group of friends. She looked really upset. Her eyeliner was smudged like she had been crying. Even some of her friends were whispering nonstop to her. Probably consoling her.

What the hell was going on?

“Jon, can I talk to you for a minute?” Maya asked. Her eyes were fixated on him. For her, Chloe and I weren’t even standing there.

“I don’t wanna talk to you,” Jon said quickly without even giving her another glance.

“Please,” Maya begged.

Chloe and I passed a look of horrifying confusion.

“I think you should talk to her, Jon,” I said, feeling bad for Maya.

 Jon looked at me and sighed.

“Excuse me,” He said to us.

He and Maya went a little far from us. Most of her friends watched them for a while and went out of the gym. Chloe and I stared at them for a long time. They were arguing. Jon had his jaw clenched and Maya was sobbing badly.

“I—what’s going on between them?” Chloe asked me.

“I don’t know,” I replied. “He didn’t tell me anything about…this.”

“That’s why I hate getting into serious relationships,” Chloe said under her breath.

“Me too,” I said.

Two Minutes later, Maya ran out of the gym wailing. Jon didn’t even try to stop her. His hands were curled into tight fists and there was remorse in his eyes. I knew him. He wanted to stop her but something was keeping him back.

 “I think you should talk sense into him,” Chloe said. “I’ll give you fifteen minutes before we start with the planning thingy.”

“Thanks,” I said. I was grateful to her.

She waved her hand at me, walking away to the table surrounded by kids working.

“Jon,” I grabbed his arm and dragged him with me to the corner. “Why was Maya crying and why didn’t you stop her?”

“We broke up.” He said quietly.

If I were the old Karen who had the biggest crush on her best friend, I would have been happy after hearing this. There would have been songs playing in her head with a Taylor-Swift-like song video featuring Jon.

But the Karen I was now wasn’t happy to hear this at all.

“What?” I half-screamed half-whispered. “Why would you do that?”

“I ignored her calls on Sunday, and then called her back to announce that we had to break up.”

“What was the reason?”

“We weren’t compatible.” He lied.

“Stop lying,” I glared at him. “Tell me the real reason.”

“I’m not lying.” He urged, “It was always a one-way relationship. I never liked her.”

“Jon, I can see it in your eyes. You’re lying. You like her.” I laughed bitterly. “If you’re going to lie, give me some solid reason that I can believe.”

“I was angry, Karen. I knew something was off about me. I didn’t know if I was turning into a vampire or whatever the heck it is but I knew I was beginning to hate everything around me.” Jon’s eyes glistened with tears. “I can’t hurt Maya so, it is better this way.”

“This is wrong. Do you think Maya is better this way?” I asked. “You were standing close to her you should have seen that look on her face when she was begging for you to talk to her. She likes you so much. You’re only hurting her more.”

“It’s better than to be with a monster.” He whispered.

“You know what; you boys will never understand what a girl goes through when breakups happen without any valid reason. Maya must be thinking of possible reasons that could have led to this breakup.” I burst out. “She might even think it’s her fault. You’re only making this worse. That girl likes you so much.”

“I thought you didn’t like her.” Jon raked a hand through his hair. “You were angry when I asked you to come to a party with her.”

“I was stupid. I thought she was one of those girls who were never serious about relationships. Turns out that she isn’t what I thought.” I spoke so fast, feeling the necessity to make him understand what I wanted to tell him. “Jon, you aren’t a monster. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

He just nodded.

“It doesn’t matter what we are, what matters is who we are,” I said.

“I’m sorry.” He muttered.

“Don’t apologize to me.” I tapped my foot on the floor. “Go and apologize to her.”

Jon, all of sudden, hugged me tightly.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done without you in my life.” He whispered in my ear. “Thank you.”

I smiled. I hugged him back and then pushed him away playfully.

“That’s what best friends are for,” I laughed. “Now go.”

“I’ll be right back. Please cover for me with Chloe.” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder towards Chloe. She was still busy with the other kids but I caught her glancing at us now and then.

“Will do,” I promised.

 I walked straight to Chloe who was standing with a boy. He was holding a camera and she was leaning to see whatever he was showing her on the screen.

“I think we should include these pictures in the slideshow.” The guy with a DSLR camera in his hand said. I had him in one of my classes but I couldn’t remember his name. “It covers most of the school building.”

“Shawn, these pictures aren’t even clear,” Chloe complained. “Who took these?”

“Me?” He looked unsure.

“I want the truth.” Chloe could be strict when she wanted to.

“I let my small brother try out the camera.” Shawn surrendered. “He wanted to give a picture or two in the graduation slideshow.”

“That’s so sweet of him,” I said, unable to keep quiet.

They looked at me startled. It felt as if I had broken a perfect moment between the two of them. I could see how dedicated they were to their work.

“Thanks,” Shawn said finally. “I’ll surely pass this comment to him.”

Chloe gave me a questioning look and I nodded. She turned to him. “Okay, so we can include one of these.”

Shawn smiled happily and carried his camera to the girl working on the computer.

“Is everything settled?” Chloe asked me.

“Yeah, they were supposed to have a breakup which I stopped from happening.” I proclaimed proudly. “They totally like each other.”

“That’s great. You turned out to be a cupid. I never expected that from you, with your ice-queen status and all.” Chloe said. Man, she just maintained her last name. “So, is there anyone whom you like? I would really want to play cupid after playing president for two years in a row.”

I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. Her face was perfectly calm and sombre.

“Uh—I don’t particularly like anyone,” I managed to say. “But if I would ever have a crush, I’ll call you for help. Can we begin with the events list?”

“Yeah, why not,” She beamed.

We checked the even list for a long time, debating over some of the useless events. It was easy to spend time with Chloe. She wasn’t what I had been expecting either. She wasn’t proud, silly, or manipulative. She was just perfect. I wondered how a person could be this perfect.

Jon had returned and he was assigned to do some work with the girl on the computer. So, Shawn and he sat at the back, instructing the girl to do changes in the pictures.

“This is definitely cool,” Chloe chirped, ticking the ‘bring a date’ on the list. “You’ll be allowed to bring a date from another school or college as well.”

“No way, I’ll achieve the status of a loner.” I shook my head.

“You can’t bring a date?” Chloe raised her eyebrow.

“Believe me, she can,” My heart jumped.

That voice belonged to none other than Victor.

Chloe looked up at the same time I did. Her eyes widened with surprise and she blushed as she checked him out. He was wearing a dark blue sweatshirt.  His messed dark hair, perfect features, and—wait, I had to stop checking him out too.

Wait again, what the heck was he doing in my school?