Terror at the Talent Show

by Marcus Emerson

  ‘They’re all red ninjas,’ I said. ‘Remember the red wristbands?’

  Once Wyatt took Gavin’s place as the hall monitor captain, things went downhill. Wyatt has replaced every normal hall monitor with a member of the red ninja clan. Yep, red ninjas walk the halls of Buchanan right out in the open and in their normal street clothes. They can tell who’s in their clan by the red wristbands they all wear. I haven’t been able to prove anything yet, but I just know Wyatt is planning something big. He’s gotta be!

  And Sebastian, the school president, has to be in on it. He’s the one who fired Gavin and promoted Wyatt, but nobody has any idea why! Sebastian was known for being a shady kid and so was Wyatt, so the two of them working together equals some sort of mega ultra supervillain duo, bent on school domination!

  Gavin nodded. ‘Yeah, I remember those wristbands. You don’t suppose Wyatt was the kid we were just chasin’ after, do ya?’

  ‘On the scooter?’ I asked, suddenly floored that I hadn’t even considered that yet. ‘It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? He stole my book bag a couple of months ago and took off down the hallway just like the kid in the hockey mask!’

  ‘That kid had some moves too.’

  ‘Wyatt? Or Hockey Mask?’ I asked, smiling smugly at the nickname I’d thought up.

  ‘Both,’ Gavin said, turning down the hallway that led back to the cafeteria.

  ‘Great!’ I said. ‘Then all we have to do is prove Wyatt was in the cafeteria before the penguin was set free, and then question where he was after all that jazz. We should be able to connect enough dots for Principal Davis to bust him once and for all!’

  Gavin nodded.

  The bell rang overhead. The school day had officially started. Gavin and I started jogging to the cafeteria. Principal Davis said it was cool for us to skip homeroom, and anytime I’m told to skip a class by the principal, you better believe I’m gonna do it.

  Gavin made it to the cafeteria doors first and held them open for me. As I stepped through, I saw the stage extension Zoe was trying to get built. It was a platform that stuck out about three metres, but one of the corners was leaning on the ground. That must’ve been where it was sabotaged.

  On the polished floor were skid lines from the scooter that Hockey Mask had used to escape. I followed the lines all the way back to a long bench against the far wall.

  Lining the bench were students who I assumed had acts in the talent show. It must’ve been where they waited for their turn. The bench was under huge metal scaffolding, the kind that painters stand on to reach high places. The wooden board and paint cans on top were tipped to the side. Luckily none of the paint had spilled – that would have been a disaster.

  Against the wall, I saw Zoe sitting on the floor and hugging her knees. Her face was red from crying. Her hands were balled into little fists, pinching the ends of her sleeves that she used to wipe her tears away. Faith and some other girls were by her side, comforting her.

  Across the room, I saw the metal cage that must’ve had the penguin in it. The student that owned the penguin was sitting in her chair and staring at the cage in disbelief. I recognised her immediately. Her name was Sophia, and she was one of Buchanan’s star cello players. She dressed super trendy, like she was straight out of a teeny-bopper magazine for young hipsters.

  ‘How’s a kid own a penguin anyway?’ I asked Gavin.

  Gavin shrugged. ‘I dunno, but probably the same way some folks own monkeys.’

  I shook my head, smirking. ‘Man, that’d be cool, huh? A monkey. I’d totally train it in the art of ninjutsu. Can you imagine that? A tiny monkey ninja sidekick that drops in at the first sign of trouble?’

  Gavin stared at me for a second. ‘That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.’

  I pursed my lips, slightly embarrassed.

  Zoe’s voice cut through the air like a katana. ‘This is your fault!’

  I spun around, surprised and scared by her sudden outburst. ‘Mine?’

  My cousin jumped up from the floor and stormed toward me with her finger pointing directly at my face. ‘If you had been here over the weekend to help, then none of this would’ve happened!’

  ‘What?’ I cried defensively.

  Zoe whipped her hand out and pointed at the stage. ‘The only reason why the stage isn’t finished yet is because we didn’t have enough people to help! If you were here, it would’ve been finished, and none of this would’ve happened.’

  Gavin set his foot up on a chair and leaned against his knee like a cowboy. ‘She’s got a point. The only reason why the corner buckled the way it did was ’cause it wasn’t latched into place – none of the corners are. I needed an extra pair of hands to do it so it had to wait until this week.’

  I stared at the stage, shocked. I didn’t know what to say. ‘I’m here now. Can’t we fix it?’

  Gavin leaned over and studied the collapsed portion of the stage. ‘Nope,’ he said flatly. ‘We’re gonna have to order a new part for it. This one’s busted up now.’

  Zoe turned back toward me and jabbed at my chest with her finger. ‘Which means the stage is going to remain incomplete for the entire week! And you know what that means…’

  I stared into my cousin’s fiery eyes. She’s kind of a perfectionist. She’s the kind of kid who finishes her homework weeks before it’s due, who makes a hundred lists for any sort of activity she’s involved in, who prints out a schedule for family trips, who finishes every single task she’s given, on time and flawlessly… you get the idea.

  An unfinished piece of her talent show puzzle was going to have her pulling her hair out all week. It was very possible that she was going to look like an old bald man by Friday.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered, and then I remembered the conversation Gavin and I had in the hall about Wyatt. ‘But Gavin and I think we know who freed the penguin and broke the stage!’

  ‘Oh really?’ said a high-pitched voice from behind me. ‘And just who do you think the guilty student is?’

  I slowly turned around but already knew who it was – Wyatt, leader of the red ninja clan and captain of the hall monitors.

  ‘Wyatt,’ I said, clenching my jaw.

  ‘Sup, yo?’ Wyatt replied with a mouthful of bubblegum, nodding his chin at me.

  ‘I don’t know how you got back here so fast,’ I said, ‘but I know it was you who broke the stage.’

  Wyatt pushed the huge wad of pink gum into the side of his cheek making it look like he had a golf ball in his mouth. ‘I’ve been in here the entire time!’ he laughed loudly.

  Zoe folded her arms. ‘He’s telling the truth,’ she said. ‘He’s been at one of the tables in the corner with his cousin, Carlyle. They’re one of the acts in the show.’

  ‘Har!’ Carlyle shouted as he ran forward.

  Carlyle was a problem during my second month at Buchanan. He acts, dresses, and talks like a pirate in every annoying way possible. His plan was to change the school mascot to the Buccaneers, which would have officially made Buchanan a pirate-themed school. Thankfully, I stopped him.

  ‘Seems like your facts be a little off, eh matey?’ Carlyle sneered, squinting an eye at me.

  I ground my teeth, super annoyed by the way he spoke. ‘Seems like,’ I said.

  Gavin’s face twisted. I could tell he was upset that our assumption of Wyatt being guilty was wrong.

  Carlyle stepped forward and put his hand on Wyatt’s shoulder. ‘I’ll do ye one better, mate. My cousin and I even tried to catch that seasnarfin’ penguin when it escaped.’

  ‘It’s true,’ Faith said, standing by Zoe’s side. ‘Wyatt was actually the first one to jump after it.’

  ‘Really,’ Gavin said sombrely. ‘That don’t sound like somethin’ you’d do.’

  Wyatt tilted his head slightly and smiled. ‘Don’t know if you heard yet, but I’m the hall monitor captain now. I’ve got a reputation to uphold.’

  I watched the muscles in Gavin’s jaw twitch, but he remained
silent. Wyatt had just dealt a low blow to my friend.

  Zoe finally spoke, cutting through the awkward silence. ‘Whatever, alright? What’s done is done. The only thing we can do now is clean up and try to fix things before Friday. The good news is that we have a week to sort it out.’

  Wyatt and Carlyle laughed and walk out of the cafeteria. As hall monitor captain, it probably wasn’t too difficult for Wyatt to skip class without a pass.

  Zoe, Faith and their friends went back to the stage. They were in the middle of painting oversized banners. Zoe had chosen a bright orange colour to use for all the talent show posters. She was good at artsy stuff like that.

  Sophia, the kid who owned the penguin, was talking to Principal Davis, probably giving him a detailed report of when the animal was last seen and which direction it ran away in. Just what the school needed – a loose penguin poopin’ all over the place.

  ‘So we were wrong,’ Gavin said as he approached me.

  ‘Yup,’ I said. I hated to admit it, but it was the truth.

  ‘Principal Davis said he’d handle it, and I’m inclined to believe everything he says being that he’s the principal and all,’ Gavin said.

  It took all my concentration to understand what Gavin was saying since he talked like a cowboy. ‘Right,’ I replied.

  ‘But that don’t mean we can’t help the case,’ Gavin said. ‘Wyatt might not have done it, but somebody did.’

  ‘Obviously,’ I said. ‘We weren’t chasing after a ghost or … were we?’ I snapped my head to the side, half expecting to see the ghost of James Buchanan laughing at me from the corner of the cafeteria.

  ‘I say we team up and try to figure this thing out on our own,’ Gavin said, moving his finger back and forth between us. ‘But Zoe ain’t gonna be happy ’bout that.’

  ‘Why would she care what you did?’ I asked, but already knew the answer before I finished speaking.

  Gavin paused for a second. ‘Because we’re goin’ out now.’

  Urgh. I wasn’t sure why I felt uncomfortable, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. Maybe it was because she was my cousin and I felt like I had to protect her. Although she really doesn’t need my protection. Plus, Gavin is a good guy – it’s not like she was going out with Wyatt.

  I faked a smile and nodded. Then I quickly changed the subject. ‘I’m not sure what we can do to help find Hockey Mask.’

  ‘We can ask around,’ Gavin said, taking a breath. ‘We’ll look for clues and talk to any kids who might’ve seen something.’

  ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Where do we start?’

  Gavin looked at the empty penguin cage across the room. ‘Seein’ as it’s Sophia’s penguin, I think we should ask her first.’

  I turned my head, looking for the girl in trendy clothing, but she wasn’t in the room anymore. ‘Great,’ I said. ‘Where’d she go?’

  Gavin raised his eyebrows. ‘She’s probably in the principal’s office now. I’m sure her parents are already on their way here. We’ll have to catch her at lunch.’

  ‘That’ll be good,’ I said. ‘Maybe she’ll have her penguin back by then. Meet me in the lobby before lunch?’

  ‘Yep.’ Gavin nodded as he walked away. ‘See ya then.’

  I tightened my grip on my book bag straps and walked out of the cafeteria. First period would start soon, but I had a few minutes of alone time before the bell went off. I spent it on a bench in the lobby, staring at the dark red carpet where I was knocked over.

  I felt awful about letting Zoe down. If I had come and helped over the weekend, this whole thing might’ve been avoided. That was the real reason I wanted to find Hockey Mask – not because I wanted to bust him, but because I felt like I owed it to Zoe. She worked harder than anyone I knew, and she totally didn’t deserve this. She’s nice to everyone, even if they’re jerks to her.

  It was easy for me to brush the dirt off and get back on my feet when the bad guys – the pirates, the red ninjas, Jovial Noise – were after me, but this time was different. This time they were going after my family.

  For the first time in my life, I was looking forward to gym. The morning was still a whirlwind of events bouncing around my noggin, so I thought getting some fresh air while walking the track might help clear my mind. Good thing Mr Cooper, the gym teacher, lets us do pretty much whatever we wanted.

  I was really hoping to see Zoe in first period, but she was allowed to skip and keep working on talent show stuff. Maybe it was a good thing I didn’t see her though – I wanted to say something about how Gavin and I were going to scope things out on our own, but it might have actually made her angrier.

  I leaned against the wall, watching students walk out of the locker rooms. Could the kid in the hockey mask be one of them? Was he watching me right now, laughing at the fact that he got away?

  ‘Hey, man,’ a boy’s voice said.

  I shook my head, coming back to reality. My best friend, Brayden, was standing next to me.

  An interesting bit of information about Brayden – he’s a self-proclaimed werewolf hunter, but he’s never found a werewolf. Trust me when I say it’s not because he hasn’t tried. His basement is filled with maps with red drawing-pins pressed into places where there have been reports of werewolf sighting. Newspaper clippings and photocopies of books are taped to the walls like wallpaper. If anyone was going to find one of those monsters someday, it was going to be him.

  ‘Braaaaaaayden,’ I sang, jokingly. ‘Whassup?’

  Brayden’s face twitched. I could tell he was uncomfortable.

  ‘Something wrong?’ I asked.

  ‘I dunno, dude,’ Brayden said. ‘Somethin’ about a penguin running loose in the school has me a little freaked out.’

  I laughed and put my hands behind me, using them as a cushion against the wall. ‘I bet they find that thing by the end of the day.’

  ‘But what if they don’t?’ Brayden whispered with fear in his eyes.

  I paused, a little surprised that Brayden, the werewolf hunter, was afraid of a tiny little penguin. ‘Are you messing with me?’

  Brayden gulped, and then snapped his attention to a spot across the room, the way a dog does when it sees a rabbit. After a moment, he said, ‘Penguins freak me out. That’s all. It’s not weird.’

  ‘It is weird,’ I said, smirking. ‘Penguins are just birds that can’t fly.’

  ‘I know, man,’ Brayden said. ‘But that’s the thing that freaks me out – what bird can’t fly?’

  ‘Fat birds?’ I joked.

  ‘They’re up to something…’ Brayden said, his voice trailing off. ‘Those things are smarter than you think.’

  ‘Definitely,’ I said. ‘Every penguin on Earth is conspiring to take over the world by tricking us into thinking that they can’t fly. One day we’ll look up and see that the sky has been painted black by the bodies of flying penguins, declaring war on humans. And we’ll all cry, ‘Help! Please, save us!’ But the Earth will whisper, ‘No.’’

  One of the girls standing nearby stared at me, her jaw wide. ‘That’s so dark,’ she whispered.

  ‘Ninja dark,’ I said.

  ‘Ninja dork,’ Brayden said, laughing.

  The bell rang at last, and the rest of my classmates stood in a line against the wall.

  ‘Hey, Chase!’ a boy to my left said.

  It was Jake, followed by his friends. Jake was one of the popular kids on the football team. You know the type – tall, good-looking, perfectly tousled hair, the star quarterback with the cheerleader girlfriend. A few of his jock friends trailed behind him as if they were wolves following their leader. A lot of kids referred to them as the wolf pack.

  ‘Hi, Jake,’ I said.

  Brayden wrinkled his nose, but didn’t say anything.

  ‘Should I call you ‘moose-man’?’ Jake asked. His wolf pack laughed, throwing light punches at each other’s shoulders. ‘Way to mess up the school’s mascot.’

  Let me explain real quick – remember when I sa
id I was able to stop the school from becoming the Buchanan Buccaneers? Well, because of that, I was allowed to choose the new school mascot. But being me, I gave it way too much thought and chose a moose to represent the school. Of course now I see it was a huge mistake, but at the time, I was so excited!

  ‘What’s done is done,’ I said in a monotone voice, trying to mask my fear. ‘If I could go back and do it again, I’d pick something cooler.’

  ‘But you can’t go back,’ Jake said. ‘Can you?’

  I shook my head. ‘No.’

  ‘Leave it to a nerd to choose something so lame,’ Jake said. ‘No, actually you’re not even a nerd. You’re less than a nerd. You’re a nerdling, hoping to pull yourself out of the nerd-nest to spread your nerd-wings and fly to nerd-topia!’

  My jaw dropped, in awe of how poetic Jake was. I tried to think of a witty comeback, but I was always bad at it when put on the spot, plus I didn’t really like being a jerk. So I said, ‘Yeah? Well your mum called and uh … she said you’d make a very fine gentleman one day.’

  Jake gawked at me.

  Brayden leaned close and whispered, ‘Dude, that wasn’t really a burn. That was more of a heal.’

  ‘I know!’ I whispered back.

  ‘Like, if this were a video game, you’d have just handed Jake a health pack,’ Brayden added.

  I rolled my eyes.

  Mr Cooper stepped out of the locker room with his clipboard in hand. He scanned the gymnasium full of students and scratched their names off the attendance list.

  Jake and his wolf pack backed away from me once Mr Cooper started walking toward the centre of the gym.

  ‘Listen up, everyone,’ the coach yelled loudly. ‘We’ll be doing things a little differently this week.’

  I pushed off the wall and stood up straight. What was he talking about? Different? Change? No! Change is bad! Change is my third greatest fear, right under bees, and clowns on their lunch break! What? Have you ever seen a clown casually eating a chicken wing? Yeah, I didn’t think so.