Good vs. Evil High

by April Marcom

  “I had a feeling you’d do something like this.” He pulled a strip of paper out of his sleeve and slid it across the table. I could see through it enough to make out the “thanks” written on the other side. That was huge coming from him.

  “Who are you taking to the dance tonight?” I asked, once I had the paper in my pocket.

  He laughed, revealing the pin-thin gap between his front teeth, as I reached down the table for a plate of weird-looking omelets. “Why? You looking for a date?”

  “I’m going with Knight.”

  “Well—I haven’t asked anyone.”

  “Seriously? I woulda thought you’d have done that ages ago. You could probably get any Cinder girl you want.”

  “Maybe I don’t want any of the Cinder girls.”

  “Really?”

  Someone came up behind me and laid a hand on my arm. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  I looked up at Roman, who I hadn’t seen or spoken to in weeks. Dark circles hung under his eyes and he looked like he might have lost some weight. He didn’t look well at all.

  I really didn’t want to talk to him, but I figured, hey, it’s Christmas. “Okay.” I stood up and walked away from the tables with him.

  “Will you let me give you a present?” Roman asked.

  “What is it?”

  “This.” He held up an origami heart between two of his fingers. “Open me” was written on the front.

  “I guess so.” As I took it and slipped my thumb into a fold, he leaned forward and kissed my cheek before he began walking away. “Roman!” I said, wiping my cheek off.

  Luke walked through the doors just then. When he saw I wasn’t sitting at the table waiting for him, he searched the room until he saw me standing there with the heart in my hand and Roman walking away from me. They both glared when they passed one another.

  I opened the letter as Luke came to stand beside me. “What did he want?”

  “To give me this,” I said.

  Scratch marks from writing way too hard became apparent the more I opened it. A few of the letters were shaky and a couple of I’s were dotted with holes. Luke read along with me when it was open:

  Kristine—I still love you beyond measure or my own control. I will always love you this way. So my Christmas present to you is a promise that by the time the night is over, you will realize that you love me too, not Knight. This year for Christmas, you will be mine.

  That scared me. “Luke,” I said in a quivering voice, handing him the paper, because I didn’t want it.

  He grabbed it and said, “He’s dead,” before he turned to storm away.

  Chapter Thirty

  ~ All I Want ~

  Luke never found Roman. No one did. And he had his entire Snow Rider team searching for him.

  I didn’t say anything to anyone else about it even though I was worried.

  It ruined the movie Luke and I were going to watch together, though. I ended up going to the rec room with Harmony, Sassy, and Nadine, because he refused to do anything but search for Roman. And since my friends and I were planning to watch the old “It’s a Wonderful Life” movie with the rest of North Haven later that day, anyway, I wouldn’t see Luke again until the dance.

  I was so mad at Roman. I thought all my problems with him were over, and now this. Couldn’t he have waited until after Christmas to go all crazy on me again?

  Right after the movie the four of us went to get ready for the dance early, since Harmony and I had to be there half an hour before everyone else. A surprising number of girls were already in the bathrooms, doing their hair and nails.

  Nadine would be wearing a simple purple silk gown. Harmony’s was black with white trim and a thick white ribbon tied around her waist. She called it her ‘piano dress’. Sassy chose a black dress with a feathered skirt and blue everything else—shoes, earrings, hairpins, and eye shadow. I didn’t think much about it before I saw it on her. But it was amazing how she could foresee the spectacular ensemble it would be when it was all put together. And I had my ‘Beauty and the Beast’ dress, with matching gloves and hairdo. I added the gold headband Sassy gave me and gold glitter around my eyes, but I opted out of the ridiculously poufy skirt.

  Sassy managed to talk two of us—Nadine and me—into wearing masks, because she said they were totally medieval. I think she was just looking for more ways to dress us up like paper dolls. The masks she chose were really something, though. Mine was a feathered monarch butterfly that only covered the top half of my face. Sassy’s was the same blue color as her shoes and had peacock feather tips shooting out of the top. And Nadine’s was a full gold mask with deep purple lips and eyeliner.

  Sassy was going to the dance with a really cute guy named Lance, who was a North Haven Snow Racer. But Harmony and Nadine had both turned down the guys who’d asked them. Nadine had her eye on James, and you might say Harmony’s really picky when it comes to guys. She can’t even tell you what her type is, because she’s not sure.

  Miss McCree walked into the bathroom as Sassy unrolled my final curl. “Harmony, I’m glad I caught yah’. This morning I was thinking what a delightful voice ye have. Maybe you’d like to sing a song at the dance tonight. It’d be a real treat for everyone.”

  “Okay. That sounds like fun.”

  “Good, I’ll let them know. Now, Sassy, are yah’ ready for me to do your hair?”

  “Almost. Let me just spray Kristine.” She picked up the bottle of hairspray and sent a sweet-smelling mist spewing all over most of my head. “Done—perfect,” she said, leaning back to look me over.

  “Thanks, Sassy,” I said.

  “Thanks from me, too,” Harmony said, “but we’ve got to go.”

  “See you at the dance,” Sassy said.

  I picked up my con and shoved it into my bra before I followed Harmony out of the bathroom and then the girls’ living quarters.

  “I don’t know how I’m supposed to survive these things all night,” I said, nearly falling over in my high heels on my way down the stairway. I had to grab onto Harmony for support.

  “You’ll get the hang of it,” she said. “I wonder what I should sing. Maybe something different—something no one would expect.” She hummed a few different tunes and bobbed her head around in deep thought all the way to the dance hall.

  When we got there, things were already in full swing. There wasn’t a ton to do, since most of the decorations had been set up the day before. Harmony helped Mr. Fielding hang up balloons and I kicked off my heels and went with two other committee members, Amy and Vanessa, to help carry things from the kitchen to the tables. It was a long walk, since the dining hall was nowhere near where we were having the dance, but with the help of the Cinder cooks we were able to get it all in two trips. They would be bringing replacements for what was eaten during the night.

  Things were pretty much done and ready when we got back with the second load. Harmony and I sat at one of the tables in the front of the room and talked about how awesome everything looked until people started showing up.

  The band began playing something way too loud and heavy as Nadine and Sassy, some of the first people to arrive, came to sit beside us. Mr. Fielding ran onto the low stage and began flapping his arms around like a great vulture. “Stop that racket right now!” he yelled so that the microphone picked up his voice. “Play something more tasteful.”

  “Like what?” asked the lead singer, a guy in a ripped up biker’s jacket and flaming red hair.

  Mr. Fielding turned around and waved his arms wildly in our direction, making me want to climb under the table and hide. “Harmony Foxen, would you come over here for a minute, please?” he called out.

  “Kill me now,” she said as she stood up and started for the front.

  “Do you think Luke will recognize me with this on?” I asked, stroking the edge of one monarch wing.

  “It’s hard to say, since we’re wearing masks too,” Sassy said. “Usually if someone’s looking for you, they
just look for one of us.”

  “We’re about to find out,” Nadine said, pointing to the door.

  The Cinder Snow Riders were walking in, Titus and Luke in the middle of them. They all looked really dashing in their black tuxedos. A few girls were mixed in with them, but it was impossible to tell which guys they were with, since the guys were all ignoring them. Luke was trying to listen to what Titus was saying and looking around for me at the same time.

  I turned my back, thinking it would be more fun to wait and see how long it took him to find me.

  Sassy kept watching him, though. “He’s still looking...he spotted Harmony...” The band started playing a pop song I’d heard before. “...He’s heading her way and she’s coming our way...She’s pointing to you—Oohhh, the jig is up, Kristine. He’s coming for you.”

  We all laughed until I saw him out of the corner of my eye.

  “Come dance with me,” he said coarsely, taking my hand from the table.

  “You know I don’t dance.” Not since I twisted my ankle when I was dancing around in the kitchen with my mom. It wasn’t the first bad fall I’d had when I was dancing—my feet were always getting tangled up in each other—but it was the last, because I got tired of the falling and clumsy accidents and vowed never to dance again.

  “Just come with me.”

  I stood up and let him lead me away from everyone else. “What’s wrong?” I asked as he turned to me.

  “Did you see Armstrong again?”

  “No. You still haven’t found him?”

  He shook his head and scanned the crowd.

  “Let’s not let him ruin the dance or anymore of Christmas Day for us.” I pulled on his neck so I could kiss him before I took the glove off my hand with the long scar across the inside of it. Then I lay it over the top of his where he had the matching one. “You know I only love you. I don’t want you to waste a second worrying about anyone else.”

  He smiled and stared as if he was noticing me for the first time that night. “You look beautiful. Those should have been the first words that came out of my mouth.”

  “Thanks. You look pretty beautiful, too.”

  He slipped his fingers through the hand I held over his and pulled it to his lips. “I’m sorry I let this get to me. But I can’t go back to living without your love. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, and I can’t stay calm when a guy’s out there trying to threaten that.”

  “There is no threatening that. All I want is to love you. I mean that with all my heart, Luke.”

  He took a deep breath and shivered as he kissed me.

  “You two should really get a room.” Bane laughed as he walked past us. He turned around and walked backwards long enough to say, “We could paint Knight and Fayre across the front of it and then no one would ever bother you.”

  Luke smiled. “That would be nice. Are you hungry?” he asked me.

  “Starving. We skipped lunch for Miss McCree’s cookies.”

  But Headmaster’s voice stopped me halfway to the food table as adults began ushering everyone away from the dance floor. “Good evening, North Haven and Southland Cinder High Schools. Tonight we have a special treat for you. We will be holding the inventor’s competition.”

  “Here we go,” Luke said as everyone cheered.

  “Don’t get your hopes up too high,” I said.

  “As you all know,” Headmaster began, “each invention will be presented by me and my brother. No one will know which one belongs to which. And then you will each line up and enter a private room where you will be able to choose which one you think is better. Because we cannot have students present them and we are both far too old to present one of the inventions, I will have Mr. Westhyme do it. This is not a reflection of which school created it. He was simply the one nominated by my brother and me due to the fact that he was one of the greatest snowboarders to ever graduate from either of our schools, making him a prime candidate. Mr. Westhyme...”

  Mr. Westhyme was brimming with delight as he ran out of the crowd and toward the open dance floor. He took the sliver of silver from his pocket and spun it as he tossed it in front of him. Everyone stared in rapt attention.

  I leaned toward Luke and whispered, “Did you tell anyone else about it?”

  “Just you.”

  When I looked back, Mr. Westhyme was climbing on and then soaring around the place.

  “This invention has been titled Cyclone and can fly you anywhere in the blink of an eye. It’s powered by a core that will never run out of energy. It never has to be refilled or recharged. And it’s one hundred percent safe as long as you know what you’re doing, as you can see Mr. Westhyme clearly does.”

  Mr. Westhyme made one more round through the room before he landed.

  “Thank you, Mr. Westhyme,” Headmaster said as everyone began clapping.

  I realized kids were making way for the object being wheeled in through the main doors. It was The Baring Springs with a thick blanket thrown over it. I assumed this was to keep it from getting set off before it was supposed to be.

  “And here we have the other invention. Now before I say more, may I have a volunteer?”

  The four men pushing it in—two of them ours and two of them Cinders—stopped where Mr. Westhyme had just been. Three of them left the last one behind to pull the blanket off and run away before it could get going.

  In the surrounding crowd, North Haven volunteers had their hands raised high, while not even one Cinder bothered.

  “All right, Miss Yates, come join me, please.” Tracy moved away from the crowd and walked toward the headmasters. “How are you feeling?” Headmaster asked her.

  “Terrific!”

  “Not at all nervous?”

  “Nope.”

  “Good. What I want you to do is approach that fountain and stop at about three feet away, all right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  She approached it without caution and stopped as orange smoke began to pour from the edges of the top fountain bowl and spill over to the second, and then the third. An orange woman swirled around as she rose upward out of the bottom basin. She stopped and smiled around her at everyone. She let out a watery, “Wahoo!” as she pointed a finger to the sky and let orange sparks fly from it, like a firework.

  “Excitement,” Headmaster said. “Very good, Miss Yates. You may return to your date now...So, we’ve seen the reaction one of my students can bring. Could we get a Cinder to volunteer now?”

  Still no takers.

  “Cord,” Cinder Headmaster said, “you will go.”

  A boy with ghostly white skin and a hateful stare fixed on his face moved toward The Baring Springs. The white smoke still falling became red as he approached, and I knew what was coming. Cord was barely three feet away when a large man rose from the lowest basin. Hot flames poured from the illusion’s mouth as it stood and turned around, shouting tumultuously. Cord ran from the blaze when it turned to face him, causing the smoke to break apart.

  “Cord appears to be feeling angry at the moment,” my headmaster said. “This invention has been titled The Baring Springs because it bares the emotions of whoever gets too close to it. It ranges from feeling love to feeling heartbreak and sadness, fear and envy. Each has its own color and human projection.

  “Now we will have you all line up with your school. Cinders to the right, North Haveners to the left. You will enter a room one at a time and choose a blue token if you will be voting for the Cyclone or a green one if you will be voting for The Baring Springs. A teacher will be there to assist you, should you have any questions.”

  “You could stand in the Cinder line with me,” Luke said.

  “I want to, but I should probably do what my headmaster says.”

  “Okay, but find me when you’re done. Find me sooner if you see Armstrong.” He kissed my cheek before he left for the line of kids all in black suits and dresses.

  The Baring Springs was re-covered and wheeled out of the hall as I searched the m
ore colorful line for my friends.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  ~ Silver Mask ~

  “Where’s Lance?” I asked Sassy when I got in line with them.

  “Talking to Jerry about something. He’ll catch up with me later.”

  “What are you voting for?” Harmony asked me. They still had no idea I knew anything.

  “A fountain that mirrors your emotions with smoke? Duh, The Baring Springs.”

  “But with the Cyclone you can fly like a bird.”

  “Haven’t you heard of jet packs?” Sassy asked.

  “You can’t compare those old things to a Cyclone.”

  We had a lot of fun debating on which one would win, with Harmony and Nadine vs. Sassy and me.

  When Headmaster walked past us with his eyes fixed on me, I was sure he was going to pull me out of line, since those who knew about the invention weren’t supposed to be allowed to vote. But he walked on past me.

  Nadine was the first of our four to go through the black curtains and I was the last. Miss Tripside waved me through and then I was in a small room, made up completely of black curtains. Miss Neighbors, the music teacher, sat in a chair with two giant baskets at her sides, one filled with blue chips and one filled with green. I picked up a green one and dropped it through the slit in the box on the other side of the room.

  Harmony, Sassy, and Nadine were waiting for me on the other side. We all walked around the curtains to the food table, where we loaded up our plates. I remembered I was supposed to find Luke as I reached the table’s end. “I should probably go eat this with my date, guys. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

  “Kay.”

  “See ya.”

  I stepped out of the way of the other people moving through the food line and looked around for Luke. He was sitting at a half empty Cinder table not far away. He’d pulled out his chair so he could lean back in it and watch me.

  “I thought you’d forgotten me,” Luke said as I sat down next to him.