Castle Heights: Crown of Thorns

by Sasha McDaniels

We walked into the quaint little coffee shop. The place was warm. A few people sat at tables sipping coffee and eating treats. Some were deep into their newspapers. One woman just stared.

  “Oh, don’t mind her,” Ben said. “She’s a nosy Nancy.”

  “Nosy Nancy?” I asked.

  “Yeah, she has to know everything. Whatever she doesn’t know she makes up.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Really,” Ben said. “She told everybody my mother found me in a basket on the doorstep.”

  “That’s not true is it?”

  “Actually, in that case, she was telling the truth.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Dead,” Ben said. “Now what will you have?”

  My eyes traveled up over the counter, moving from the delicious sweets packed in the glass display, and fixed on the menu above. There were items written in chalk. Cute little chalk drawings decorated some parts of the menu board.

  There were so many things. “Wait, I don’t have money,” I said.

  Ben shoved his hand into his pant pocket. He pulled out his wallet, revealing a wad of cash. He snatched out a bill and handed it to me. It was a fifty.

  “No, I can’t take that from you,” I said.

  “Yes, you can. This money is just as much yours as it is mine.”

  “How so?” I asked.

  “Never mind that. Just take it, okay.”

  “It’s a loan,” I said.

  “Right. It’s a loan. Pay me back at your leisure.”

  “I’ll pay you back as soon as I can,” I promised. The plan was to spend very little and hand most of Ben’s own money back to him along with the few dollars allowance dollars I made. “I don’t know what to order, Ben. You order for me.”

  “She’ll have a peppermint latte,” Ben told the lady at the counter, “and I’ll have the same.” He turned to me. “Have you ever had a Lula’s peppermint latte? Of course, you haven’t. Let me tell you, they’re to die for.”

  5

  I wasn’t sure if a Lula’s peppermint latte was worth dying for, but I found it to be very delicious. Castle Heights High was enormous. It looked like an ivy league college campus. There were trees everywhere, plus old brick buildings that were well kept, along with well-manicured lawns where students hung around, sitting or standing.

  Vernon pulled into the drop off lane. I was surprised that Ben didn’t have a car already.

  “Do you have a license, Ben?” I asked.

  “Of course I do. I’m eighteen. I have my own car too. I’ll show it to you when we get home from school. My mom thought it would put Elise at ease if Vernon drove us to school on your first day.”

  “Lucky,” I said. “I wish I knew how to drive.”

  “Vernon here will give you lessons, won’t you, Vernon?”

  “Sure, if Miss Reagan wishes, I’d be happy to do so.”

  “See,” Ben said to me, smiling.

  “You two will be late if you don’t get yourselves inside,” Vernon said.

  “Right,” Ben said, reaching over my lap. A chill went through me. I needed to really make a definite decision that I was going to treat Ben like my cousin, whether we were blood-related or not.

  “I got this, Vernon. We can let ourselves out. Let my mom know we got off okay,” Ben said.

  Vernon nodded his head. “Of course. She’ll be asking me anyway.”

  I pulled on the door handle and let myself out of the car.

  The cold air stung my nose. “You okay?” Ben asked me as we stood on the sidewalk.

  “Nervous,” I said.

  “I understand, but there’s no need to be nervous. I’ve got your back.”

  “Thanks, Ben.”

  “Are you kidding me?” he asked, nudging me.

  I took a deep breath. “It’s now or never,” I proclaimed.

  We walked into the school. The atmosphere was calm, slow, not like the bustling mornings of high school halls I had seen on television.

  “Let’s stop by the office first. My mother already made a call, but you’ll need to pick up your class schedule. You’re a Junior, right?”

  “A Junior? Uh, I guess. I mean, I don’t know. I’ve never been to school so…”

  “How old are you?”

  “Eighteen.”

  “When’s your birthday?”

  “December.”

  “So that makes you a senior. Welcome to my world, girl.”

  I frowned. What if they told me I was going to be a Freshman. I mean I had followed some curricula I found on the internet. I was currently on calculus. I had already read all one hundred classic novels on the list of college-bound high school students. And, I was working my way through a college-level biology textbook before we came to Castle Heights.

  Ben pushed the school office’s double doors open. “Mrs. Bright, how are you on this fine day?” he asked the red-headed freckled-faced woman sitting behind the front desk.

  “Splendid, Benjamin. And you?” she asked.

  “Right as the milk,” Ben said with a smile.

  “Good. This must be your Cousin Reagan.”

  “It is.”

  “Hi, Reagan, I’m Mrs. Bright,” the woman said, standing up from her chair behind the long desk.

  I reached out and extended my hand. Mrs. Bright took it. She had a surprised look on her face.

  “Nice to meet you,” I said.

  “How polite. Nice to meet you too. So, all set to start your first day?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” I said.

  “You’ll be absolutely fine. Listen, I was informed that you were homeschooled before you came here. We want to be absolutely sure that we get you into the appropriate classes, okay. So would you be willing to submit to a test? It will only take a couple of hours.”

  “Uh, sure, I guess, I’d be fine with that,” I said hesitantly.

  “That’s my cue,” Ben said, clapping his hands together. “You said the magic word, Mrs. B.”

  “What’s that Benjamin?” Mrs. Bright asked.

  “Test. I’m out.”

  Mrs. Bright shook her head. “You’d do fine on any test put before you, I’m sure, Benjamin,” she said.

  “Don’t be so sure about that. Ladies.” Ben spun on his heels but turned back around swiftly. “Wait, I forgot to give you something, Reagan. Two things, actually.”

  “Okay,” I said, not knowing what he was referring to.

  Ben whipped his backpack around and unzipped the front pocket. He pulled out a cell phone and something that looked like a watch. I noticed right away that the watch had a pink band.

  “Your cell and watch, my lady.”

  “Cell and watch?” I asked.

  “Yeah, we had these lying around. You know how to work a cell phone?”

  I put the cell phone up to my ear. “That’s all I know how to do,” I said.

  “Mrs. Bright, do you mind if I have a moment with our Eliza?”

  “Eliza? You mean from Pygmalion?”

  Ben wagged his finger. “See, Mrs. Bright. You could probably put this gal in 12th. She’s on it.”

  “Take all the time you need. But remember lunch is at noon. Today we’re having Peking Duck. Don’t want to miss that.”

  “Peking Duck?” I asked. “You guys have Peking Duck for lunch?”

  “Yep, sometimes escargot and Alaskan King crab. Varies from day to day. Hope you’re not allergic to seafood.”

  “I love seafood,” I said. At least I figured I did. The only seafood I had ever had was fish sticks.

  “So anyway, we’ll deal with lunch when we get to it. The way this phone works is that you have to slide this.”

  I slid the little doohickey at the bottom of the screen that Ben was pointing at. The phone made a clicking sound. “Now, let me set a password for you,” Ben said. “What would you like to use? It has to be numbers.”

  I gave Ben the most obvious configuration of numbers I could think of, my birthday.

  “Perfect. N
ow, I’ve already put my number in here. See, here it is, in your contacts.”

  “The Most Handsome Man Alive?” I asked.

  “Hey, that’s my nickname. No need for us to be formal here.”

  I rolled my eyes. “And the watch?”

  “Right. This is a digital watch. I’ve cued it up for you for the most part. There are some other settings we can play with later, but basically, you can use this bad boy to tell time. You can ask the AI in it to answer questions. You can send texts from it, set alarms. Basically, you can do a lot of stuff with it. The only thing you can’t do with it is teleport.”

  “Sounds great,” I said.

  Ben showed me a few things on the watch. “So call me using the cell or the watch, when you’re done with the test. I’ll get a pass and come get you. Is that okay, Mrs. Bright?”

  Mrs. Bright rose her hand. She was enthralled in what appeared to be some paperwork.

  Ben threw his arm over my shoulder and squeezed.

  “See you later,” I said, blushing. I had never been hugged by a boy before so there was that. Eighteen years old and never hugged. I figured I better not tell anybody else that.

  “All set?” Mrs. Bright asked. She came from around the desk. She led me to a room. “Here, we’ll put you in here with a testing computer. Can I get you anything, some coffee, juice, water? A donut or a bagel?”

  “No, thank you,” I said.

  “Are you sure? Come on, how about a few macaroons, in case you get famished while testing?”

  “Okay,” I said. I sat down at a little desk. There was a laptop on it.

  “Let me log you in.”

  I stepped back and waited while Mrs. Bright logged into the computer. “Okay, so, this is how it works. The test will start with a question. It’s programmed to be intuitive. If you need a higher level question, the test will detect it. If you need a lower level, the test will detect that too. All set?”

  “Yes, I think so,” I said.

  “Good. I’ll be back with those macaroons, and a water in case you get thirsty.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Bright. I really appreciate all of your help,” I said.

  “My pleasure. You know, I knew your mother when she attended here. Dare I say, we were friends.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Yep. I haven’t seen her in a long time. told me you all are having a party soon. Maybe I’ll get to see her then.”

  “Maybe you will,” I said. I found it hard to imagine my mother mingling at a party.

  “You don’t look like her too much.”

  “I know. I don’t think so either.”

  “But you do look like someone. Thing is, I can’t seem to quite put my finger on who it is you remind me of.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe my father?”

  Mrs. Bright narrowed her eyes. “Didn’t know him. Be back with those macaroons.” She disappeared.

  I took that as my cue to sit down with the test.

  There was a stack of scratch paper next to the computer. I used that to work out some of the questions. There was also a graphing calculator that popped up on the screen that I used to solve some of the harder math problems. I answered each question, breezed through them actually. The test almost seemed too easy.

  It wasn’t until the test was over that I noticed that the macaroons never came. I exited the testing room since I didn’t know what else I should do. Mrs. Bright didn’t give me any instructions on that.

  I looked around for Mrs. Bright, but she was nowhere to be found. I followed the instructions Ben had given me as far as the cellphone went because the rest of the office was empty.

  It was like the entire staff had gone up in the rapture. Except they didn’t leave their clothes behind or anything like that.

  “I’ll be right there,” Ben said over the phone. His voice sound hurried and alarmed.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  “We’ll talk about it when I get to the office,” he said. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

  That was it. Ben ended the call, leaving me standing there in the school office on my first day, alone.

  It wasn’t long before he pushed through the double doors. “Where is everyone?” he asked.

  “Mrs. Bright is…I don’t know where she is,” I said.

  Ben grabbed my hand. “Just come with me,” he said.

  I followed Ben out of the office. He walked-ran down the hall, so I walked-ran too.

  “Aren’t you going to tell me what’s going on?” I asked him.

  “Okay,” Ben said, stopping. He pushed me gently up against a set of lockers. “If I tell you what’s happened, you have to promise not to tell anyone.”

  “I promise,” I said.

  “They found a dead girl in the girl’s bathroom.”

  “What!” I shouted. My voice echoed down the empty hall. Classes were still in session. I could see that much through the windows in the classroom doors that we passed as we went down the hall.

  “I know. On your first day, another killing.”

  “Another?” I asked. “What happened to her?”

  “I don’t know yet. But listen, just come with me to my next class. I’ll explain to my history teacher that the office staff is tied up. He’ll be fine with it. We’ll get your class schedule settled as soon as we can.”

  “Does my mom know?”

  “No.”

  “Does your mother know?”

  “No, but I’m sure she’ll hear about it soon. I’m waiting for her to text me to ask me if we’re all right.”

  “If my mom finds out that they found a girl dead here in school, she’ll make me come home for sure. She’ll say that I can never go to school again.”

  “She may say that, but she’ll come around.”

  “You don’t know my mother,” I said.

  Ben stepped away from me. “Come on. History is this way.”

  Once all the kids rushed out of the classroom, Ben and I went in. We were the first ones in the room.

  “Mr. Carlson, this is Jennifer’s sister’s daughter. Reagan Harris, meet Mr. Carlson.”

  “You mean your cousin,” Mr. Carlson said with a wicked smile.

  “No, not my cousin. In case you didn’t know, Mr. Carlson, I’m adopted.”

  “Right, yeah, I didn’t get that memo.”

  “Of course you got the memo. Everyone got the memo,” Ben said wringing his hands. “Anyway, due to some unforeseen circumstances, Reagan here is going to need to accompany me to this class. It’s her first day, but as you may already know, the office staff is a little tied up right now.”

  “I got the group text. I understand. What I don’t understand is how you know about it.”

  “I have my ways, Mr. Carlson, I have my ways,” Ben said.

  “Take a seat wherever you’d like Mrs. Harris,” Mr. Carlson said, turning his attention to me.

  “Thank you, Mr. Carlson,” I said.

  “Sit next to me in the back. I like to get the lay of the land if you know what I mean.”

  “I don’t really,” I said. But I sat down in the back row next to him anyway.

  Benjamin sat closest to the back door of the classroom.

  Students had already started to file in. Some of them looked at me strangely.

  “Don’t worry,” Ben said. “They’re just checking you out because you're new.”

  “I know,” I whispered.

  “If anybody gives you are a hard time, I’ll hit them with one of these.” Ben held up his fists.

  “What’s up, B.,” a guy said, sliding into the wooden desk in front of Ben.

  “Nothin’ much,” Ben replied.

  “Liar. I heard about the chick that was found dead in the girl’s bathroom today.”

  “This is Jace,” Ben said. “Also known as my best friend, that is if a guy like me was corny enough to have one.”

  Jace extended his hand. “You must be the girl Ben has been blowing up my phone about,�
�� Jace said.

  “Exacto mundo. Except, jeez, man, I haven’t been blowing up your phone about her. You’re making me look bad.”

  A girl sat down in the desk next to me. “Don’t let these guys bother you. You’re new, right?” she asked me.

  “I am,” I said to the girl. She was really pretty. Her hair was braided but not like mine. Her braids were small and piled atop her head. She pressed her hands to her brown cheeks. “Oh, Jace, you make me so bashful,” she said.

  “I know I do,” Jace said. “That’s why you’re going to prom with me.”

  “In your dreams,” the girl said.

  “Works for me because you’re in my dreams every night,” Jace said.

  “Ew! Corny much?” the girl shot back.

  I tried hard not to laugh.

  “I’m Zoe,” the girl said to me.

  “Nice to meet you, Zoe. I’m Reagan.”

  “Like Ronald?” Zoe asked

  “Yeah, like that,” I guess, I said scrunching up my face.

  “Sorry. Old Carlson here has us learning about the cold war. You’ll have to forgive me. I hate history. It’s nothing but a bunch of dead people and dates.”

  “All right class, time to shush. We need to get back down to business. Now, forget everything you’ve heard about the Berlin Wall.”

  “The Berlin Wall, what’s that?” Jace asked, raising hands. Everyone in class snickered.

  “Open a book that doesn’t have pictures of naked chicks in it for once, Jace, and maybe you may learn something.”

  “Who has time for a book without unclothed women in it?”

  “You should make time, Mr. Gray. Your grade will thank you for it.”

  I knew a lot about the Berlin Wall, but I didn’t understand why Mr. Carlson would tell us to forget everything we know about it.

  I looked around the small classroom. The walls were covered with maps and pictures of historical figures. There was also a poster commemorating the Declaration of Independence hanging on the wall.

  “The reason why the Berlin Wall came down was that the vampires and werewolves formed a truce.”

  “Wait, what?” I said aloud.

  Everyone in the classroom turned around and looked at me.

  Ben fanned them away with his hands in usual Ben fashion. “It’s okay. She hasn’t had the talk yet,” he said.