Wacko Academy

by Faith Wilkins

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  WACKO ACADEMY

  Faith Wilkins

  Copyright © 2012 by Faith Wilkins

  Book design by Christian Fuenfhausen

  eBook conversion by Alliteration Ink

  All rights reserved.

  For information:

  Arundel Publishing, P.O. Box 377, Warwick, NY 10990

  ArundelPublishing.com

  ISBN 978-1-933608-80-8

  ePub 978-1-933608-82-2

  Mobi 978-1-933608-81-5

  First Edition: 2012

  Printed and eBook created in the United States of America

  Table of Contents

  Front Matter

  Prologue

  The New Kid

  Watched

  An Unexpected Visitor

  The Phone Call

  One Messed-up Christmas Present

  Questions

  The Tour

  Nighttime Run

  The Other Girl

  Boot Camp

  Stealth

  Tragedy

  Plan B

  Breaking In

  Escape

  Home at Last

  Farewell, for Now

  About The Author

  Prologue

  I stared out the window, head swimming from the height. The voices from behind me had grown louder, angrier. There wasn’t much time left. I had to jump now. My friend’s life depended on it. Heck, my life depended on it, but fear seemed to have frozen every muscle in my body. I was completely immobilized.

  The others stared up at me, wondering why I hadn’t done anything yet. I was holding them all up, compromising everything. Maybe they would have to leave me. No, I couldn’t let that happen. This was my only chance.

  Footsteps joined the voices now. I closed my eyes, wondering how it could have come to this…

  The New Kid

  I have to admit, when I entered the school building on that first day of eighth grade, I was nervous. And I mean really nervous. Like the heart-pounding, pulse-racing, sweat-inducing kind of nervous. I had no idea what to expect. This was my last year in middle school and I wanted to make it count. Without a doubt, this would be my toughest year.

  I took a deep breath and started for my homeroom, Gamma 17, Mrs. Ellingham’s room. I walked in, scanning for a familiar face. Spotting my best friend, I dashed toward her. “Malerie, hi!”

  “Lily, I’m so glad you’re in my class!” she exclaimed.

  “Me too!” I squealed. We embraced each other, giggling with delight.

  “Hello, girls,” I heard a quiet voice say. I would’ve known that voice anywhere. It was Louis Jennings, another good friend.

  “Hey, Freckle Face. What’s up?” I asked him.

  “Ah, nothin’. Just glad to see people I know,” he greeted me cheerfully. We all stood around chatting about what we’d done during the summer.

  After a while, I noticed a boy lounging by the window who appeared to be very bored. His golden brown skin was smooth, almost flawless. The breeze from outside gently blew through his dark curly hair. He wore a black leather jacket. Peeking out from under the vintage jacket was a white polo shirt. Instead of the usual guy-wear of baggy pants, he had on jeans that fit him quite well. For a change I did not catch a glimpse of any polka-dotted undergarments. To top it off, he had on what had to be hundred-dollar sneakers. He was twirling a pair of designer sunglasses while he gazed out the window. The boy must have noticed me staring, because he slowly turned around to meet my curious gaze. I quickly looked away.

  “Hey, Mal. Who’s tall, dark, and I’m-So-Handsome over there?” I whispered, pointedly turning my back on the boy model.

  Malerie had been talking to Louis about her crazy vacation. She stopped mid-sentence.

  “Oh, that’s the new kid, Dustin Chandelle. Rumor has it he moved here from Florida,” she explained. “He’s cute, right?”

  I didn’t answer. He may have been cute, but something about him just wasn’t right.

  Mal continued to talk to Louis while I stole a quick glance at Dustin. He was looking me up and down like he was checking me out or something, a little smirk on his face. There was something arrogant about it, like he already had me all figured out. I frowned. Just who did this kid think he was? As if to answer my unspoken question, he winked at me. Apparently he thought pretty highly of himself. Ugh. I felt like punching that annoying grin off of his handsome face. I surprised myself by smiling at the thought of hitting him.

  Dustin raised an eyebrow and cocked his head, as if to ask what I was grinning about. This time it was my turn to wink.

  “Okay, kids. You know the drill. Find a desk and take a seat,” said Mrs. Ellingham.

  I chose a desk between Malerie and Louis. Unfortunately, Dustin sat at a desk right in front of me. I glared at him. He pretended not to notice.

  The teacher explained what we would be doing in ELA this year. She handed out a schedule for the school day. Everyone groaned at the hot lunch selection, rib sandwiches. Nobody knows what the meat in those sandwiches is made of. Rolling my eyes, I pretended to gag. Mal giggled and pretended to gag too.

  Mrs. Ellingham calmly waited until the groans stopped. She handed out textbooks and workbooks. This started the groans all over again.

  It was the same in history and math. Only in math, Mr. Stallsberg made us do some equations and gave us a really thick packet to complete for homework. To my great annoyance, Dustin seemed to be in all of my classes so far. However, there was one class I knew he wouldn’t be in with me: Japanese. The people that went to Japanese class had been taking it since sixth grade, so there was no way he could be there. Not unless he just happened to have been studying Japanese for the last two years. I entered the classroom with a bounce in my step, and said hi to all my friends. I was thrilled to be reunited with them and relieved to be away from Dustin.

  “I wonder who the teacher is this year,” I mused. “Or what field tri-“ My smile faded and I gawked at the person walking in. The class turned their heads to stare at the newcomer.

  Just then, our new teacher appeared on the television at the front of the room. “Hello, class. I’ve heard great things about you guys.” She paused to look at the class list. “Seems that we have a transfer student. Dustin Chandelle, is it?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Dustin replied.

  His voice didn’t surprise me, smooth and a little conceited. Like that smirk of his.

  I was sitting there seething, watching Dustin kiss up to the teacher, when Ella tapped me on the shoulder.

  “Lily,” she whispered, “you’ve been staring a hole into that guy’s head for like twenty minutes. We’re supposed to be reading page 47 in our textbooks now, so get to it!”

  I started reading, grateful that she had snapped me out of it. This is why she’s one of my best friends. She’s always got my back.

  I made sure not to look at Dustin for the remainder of the period, even though I occasionally felt his eyes on me, sending chills down my spine. Somehow I knew that if I looked up, that stupid smirk would greet me. So I kept my eyes firmly on my work.

  When class was finally over, I hurried to my locker to put my binders and pencils away before lunch. While I worked on my combination, someone came up from behind me.

  “I couldn’t help but notice you staring at me back there,”

  With a startled yelp, I jumped about a foot off the ground. I whirled around to back up against my locker.

  “Whoa, too close,” was all I could muster.

  Dustin heard me and backed away. “Excuse me for asking, but did I do something wrong?”
>
  I looked him over. He seemed genuinely concerned. I mean, I would be too if it were my first day at a new school and already somebody was staring daggers at me. Maybe I had made the wrong assumptions. This wouldn’t be the first time.

  I sighed. “No, I’m just having a weird day. It has nothing to do with you, really. Speaking of weird…don’t take this the wrong way, but don’t you think it’s kind of strange that we’re in all the same classes?”

  He shrugged. “I dunno. No offense, but I didn’t really notice. Anyway, sorry you’re having a weird day. To tell you the truth, I’m not really having that normal of a day either.”

  His warm chestnut eyes bored into mine as if he saw right through me. Then he let me have the final blow. “Sorry if I made it worse.”

  I froze, mortified. He walked away, leaving me still frozen by my locker, feeling like a total jerk.

  By recess, I was still feeling terrible about the way I had acted with Dustin.

  I sat on the bleachers next to my chatting friends, but I didn’t join the conversation. Instead, I swept my eyes across the field, looking for him. Why? I wasn’t exactly sure. I soon found him sitting in the middle of a mob of giggling girls. They were apparently laughing at some joke he’d made. Dustin seemed completely at ease with being the center of attention.

  Crossing my arms, I turned away, not believing that I had been so ashamed. He was just like I thought, egotistical and arrogant. Or was he? Maybe I was just making assumptions again.

  “Uh, Lily, are you okay?” asked Ella.

  I had been so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn’t noticed when my friends had stopped talking to stare at me.

  “Yeah. Why?” I answered.

  “Well, you seem kind of spacey. What’s on your mind?”

  I looked around at the sea of eyes focused on me. I bit my lip, wondering if I should tell them. The problem seemed so minor. They would all probably just laugh at me.

  So I simply said, “Nothing. I’m just tired.”

  Ella gave me a look like she didn’t believe me, but didn’t press the subject. Everyone went back to their conversations.

  Now I jumped down and took a walk along the field. I wasn’t sure why this was bugging me so much. I thought about the way he had looked at me in our first class. If I didn’t know any better, I would say he was sizing me up. Why would he be doing that? He didn’t know me. I felt like I was missing something here. Perhaps he had simply been looking for a friend. He really wasn’t going to have any trouble there. The boy was downright handsome. The popular kids probably had a place at their lunch table reserved just for him. Besides, a fair number of good-looking boys turn out to be total arrogant jerks. Dustin seemed to be no better than the rest.

  This whole thing was driving me crazy. Suddenly I changed direction and headed for Dustin and the mob of giggling girls. I would get down to the bottom of this now. If this bothered me so much, then what better way to solve the annoying problem than to go directly to the source?

  As I got closer, I started having second thoughts. What if this was a mistake? What if I just ended up looking like a complete idiot, making a big deal out of nothing? But by the time I had decided to turn around and walk away, it was too late. I was already standing in front of him. It would look really dumb if I just turned and left.

  “Um…Dustin, can I talk to you for a minute?” I asked timidly.

  One of the giggly girls mumbled that I should get in line. Dustin stared at me quizzically for a minute, a hint of a snide smirk starting to show. “Sure.” He stood up and followed me away from the now-angry bunch of girls.

  “So what did you wanna talk to me about? Didn’t you want, like, nothing to do with me?” he asked.

  “Did it really seem that way?” I asked, eyebrows slightly scrunched.

  He nodded.

  “Oh.” I shoved my hands in my pockets. “Well, sorry if I made you feel that way. Guess I was being kind of a jerk. I’d like to have a fresh start, if that’s okay with you?”

  Dustin studied me, as if he was making sure I was truly sorry. He must have decided that I was, because a wide grin spread across his face. This grin was playful and sweet. It made him look even better than before. I fought back a smile, still not fully trusting him.

  “Yeah, you were kind of being a jerk,” he agreed.

  I gave him a little shove. He laughed. I couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

  “I think a fresh start would be nice,” he continued. “My name’s Dustin. And yours is…?” He held out his hand as if to give me a handshake.

  I glanced down at his waiting hand and back at him. With a smile I accepted his handshake, finding his hand to be quite firm.

  “Lilith Mason, but you can call me Lily, or Lil. Whatever you prefer.”

  So I spent the rest of recess getting to know him better. This was unusually easy to do. I had only just met him, yet it was like we were already friends. I ended up forgetting every cautious feeling I’d had about him. When recess was over, I surprised myself by feeling sorry.

  “Time to go back to class.” Dustin said solemnly.

  He looked sorry too. I nodded and hurried to get inside.

  Watched

  As the weeks progressed, Dustin and I became pretty good friends. He turned out to be kind and intelligent. He loved music almost as much as I did. In addition to that, he was a bookworm like me. The boy seemed to be perfect. Too perfect, a voice said in my head. I ignored it, pushing it to the back of my mind. However, a part of me was determined to find a flaw.

  “So, Dustin, what are you not good at?” I asked at recess one October day.

  He turned his head toward me with his eyebrows raised. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you seem to be good at a lot of things, and I was just wondering if there was anything that you couldn’t do that well,” I said quickly, suddenly embarrassed.

  He frowned in thought. “Let me think . . .” he said slowly. “I was never good at baseball. Or anything having to do with a ball and a bat, for that matter.”

  I smiled. It was the same for me too.

  “Any more questions?” he teased.

  Actually, yes there were. I let out a flood of questions, asking why he had moved from Florida, if he had any brothers or sisters, and why he wore such expensive clothes. The minute I said those words, I wished that I hadn’t. A dark shadow clouded his face.

  “You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.” I said quietly.

  He shook his head, admitting that he just hadn’t talked to anyone about his family before. He went on to tell me that he had moved here from Florida because of his dad’s new job. No, he didn’t have any biological siblings, although he had adopted brothers and sisters that dropped in from time to time. As for the stylish attire, his dad’s job was paying him well, so his father insisted that he wear good-quality clothing. Dustin hadn’t really wanted to wear it.

  “Anything else you want to know?” he asked sincerely.

  I apologized before I told him that yes, I did have one last thing to ask. What about his mom? Not once in this whole conversation had he mentioned her.

  “My mom…passed away when I was seven,” he said sadly.

  Oh. I didn’t know what to say.

  “It might seem kind of stupid, but I keep a picture of her in my pocket. To remember her.”

  I looked up. “Really?”

  He nodded. “Stupid, right?”

  I shook my head. “Not at all. May I see it?”

  He reached into his jacket pocket and carefully took out a small photo. With slightly hesitant hands, he gave it to me.

  “She’s so pretty.”

  And she was. She had the same shining eyes as Dustin. Her smile was so bright and full of life; it could make even the saddest person happy. Her dark wavy hair cascaded down her shoulders. Around her neck, she wore a beautiful diamond necklace with a shiny gold horse pendant dangling from the middle. She held a blossoming flower in her ha
nds. Her rich brown skin seemed to shine in the sunlight.

  I looked over at Dustin staring at the picture. He and his mother were so alike it was startling. He had her hair, eyes, and dazzling smile. When he stood in the sunlight, his skin seemed to shine just like hers.

  “You look so much like her,” I told him.

  “My dad tells me that a lot,” he said softly. He cleared his throat. “This picture was taken about a year before she died.”

  “Do you want to tell me about her?” I asked, still staring at the picture.

  “Well, I don’t really remember much,” he said slowly. “But I do remember her stories. They were about parallel worlds and time travel. You know, science fiction stuff. Nobody could tell a story like she could.” He stopped. “That’s all I can remember, really. That and her smile.”

  I didn’t know what to say. His mom sounded awesome. I knew he didn’t want my pity, but I couldn’t help feeling sorry for the guy. Dustin seemed to have been close to his mom. I tried to imagine life without my own mom and grimaced at the thought. That would be terrible. There was no way I could truly understand what he was going through, but I did understand that his life couldn’t be that easy without one of his parents.

  Before he could say any more, the bell rang. I gave the picture back to him. We walked back inside in silence.

  I was still thinking about him when I got off the bus that afternoon. Normally, I would be making the short trek home with my neighbor Chase, but he had not been in school. He’s one of those kids who skip school just to skip school.

  Suddenly the little hairs on the back of my neck rose. I stopped walking for a second. Something in the air had changed. I got the strange feeling that someone else was there with me. But the bus was long gone and there was nobody in sight. I glanced around. Nothing. Just an empty road lined with silent houses.

  Clutching my backpack a little tighter, I started to walk again. Ignoring the chills rolling down my spine, I kept a brisk pace. My house was only a block away, but now it seemed way farther. I thought I heard another pair of feet moving behind me. I whirled around, thinking that maybe I could catch them by surprise. Nothing.