The Monster Within (11 page)

“I see. Well, if you are half as talented as Ethan, then I look forward to seeing your work this semester.” She reached for my form and signed her name.

I glanced at it, wanting to thank her by name to pretend like I already knew who she was. “Thank you, Ms. Matthews.”

“See you Monday.”

Ethan draped his arm around my shoulder as we walked to the cafeteria. “This is great. Now we’ll have two periods in a row together.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

We sat down at the same table, and I dug into my sandwich. Ethan had packed two sandwiches for himself, an Italian sub and a meatball sub. The guy was a bottomless pit, and he never gained an ounce. The thought made me picture his perfect abs again. I shoved my sandwich in my mouth to cover up the drool.

“So, did you hear?” Beth asked, taking a seat with her tray of unidentifiable food.

“Hear what?” Ethan said. “That Sam is going to be in our art class? It’s awesome, right?”

“Cool.” She smiled at me. “But that’s not what I was talking about.”

I tensed up, expecting Beth to say something about the guy from the stairwell. About the supposed break-in.

“Trevor is missing. He never went home after school yesterday.”

“Who’s Trevor?” Ethan asked with a mouthful of meatball sub.

“Trevor Davis. He’s the star pitcher of the baseball team and one of the best running backs our football team has.”

Ethan shrugged. “I don’t know him.”

I did. I’d been too chicken to look at his student ID, but as soon as Beth said Trevor’s name, I knew who he was. My stomach lurched, and I put my sandwich down.

“You okay?” Ethan asked. “You look a little green.” His eyes dropped to my sandwich. “Is the food making you feel sick? Jackson said the cold cuts were fresh.” He picked up my sandwich and sniffed it.

“The sandwich is fine, but I don’t feel so hot.” More like cold. Stone cold. Deathly cold. Cold-blooded killer cold. I clutched my necklace like it would give me support.

“You want me to walk you to the nurse?”

“No. I’ll be fine.” I sipped my water, and Beth took that as her cue to continue.

“Anyway, Trevor never went home, and Shannon is, like, freaking out.”

“Shannon?” I choked on my water. “Shannon who?”

“Tilby. According to her, she’s
the
Shannon of the school. I heard from Angela that there was a sophomore named Shannon, but Shannon made her use her middle name instead.”

“No way,” Ethan said. “That can’t be true.”

He hadn’t met Shannon Tilby. I didn’t doubt she’d bully a sophomore like that.

“They had a date,” Beth said. “Trevor was supposed to take her to this fancy restaurant. She told everyone about it. He never showed up. She called his cell, but he didn’t answer. So, she drove to his house to ream him out in person, and his parents said he never came home from school. Turns out he left his cell at home, too, which is why he never answered.”

“Did they call the cops?”

“Not yet. He’s taken off like this before, so his parents are waiting a bit before they declare him missing,” Beth said.

Ethan crumpled up the wrapper from his meatball sub. “Maybe he didn’t want to go out with that Shannon chick, so he took off for a little while.”

“Are you kidding me?” Beth’s eyes bugged out. “No one bails on Shannon. It’s social suicide.”

“Maybe that’s why he’s not in school today. He knows he screwed up.” Ethan dug into his Italian sub, not giving it much more thought. It was strange how he’d seemed to stop caring about other people. Not like him at all.

But I couldn’t dismiss the Trevor issue. Sooner or later, the police would figure out the old man they’d found dead in the doorway was Trevor Davis. And when word got around school, Shannon would be devastated. She’d be angry. And even though she might not know I was to blame for Trevor’s death, I had a feeling I’d be on the receiving end of her wrath anyway.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

T
HE
rest of the school day was a blur. I went through the motions of attending class. Kids whispered thoughts about where Trevor could be. There was even a rumor that he ran off with Mrs. Wentworth, the school nurse, who happened to be absent both yesterday and today. I hadn’t met her yet, but I heard she was fifty. If I wasn’t dying inside knowing the truth, I would’ve found that one funny.

The end of the day couldn’t come soon enough, and when the dismissal bell rang, I bolted out of history and ran to my locker. I still hadn’t told Ethan about the note I found earlier, and I wasn’t planning on telling him. I put my books in my locker and slammed it shut. I turned around, and Ethan was standing inches from my face.

“Whoa!” I jumped. “You scared me.”

“Sorry.” He kissed me before wrapping his arm around my shoulders and walking me out of the building to his car. “Was today any better?”

“A little. Getting out of French and into your art class was a definite plus.”

“Yeah, and you seemed to be settling in with the guys at lunch. Beth really likes you. She told me in Spanish.”

“That’s nice.” I tried to keep the worry out of my voice, but Beth was a threat to me. She knew too much about what went on at this school. I’d have to be extra careful around her.

We drove to the diner, and first thing, Jackson asked Ethan to work in the kitchen again. Ethan was delighted to get away from busing tables, and he was becoming quite the chef. Okay, not really. I mean, flipping burgers and making club sandwiches wasn’t exactly a science, but it was good to see him happy. One of us needed to be.

I put my purse behind the counter and tied my apron around my waist.

“How was school?” Gloria asked, slipping me a piece of peach pie.

“Fine. What’s this for?”

“I made it this morning. Thought you might like some since there’s a lull in the crowd right now. I remember what those school lunches were like back in my day. I have a feeling they probably haven’t gotten much better.” Her face scrunched up in disgust.

“Um, actually, Ethan made me a sandwich last night. I hope that’s okay. I didn’t even think, but I should’ve paid for it. I’ll pay for it now.” I reached for my purse.

“You’ll do no such thing.” Gloria took my purse and put it back behind the counter. “I insist you pack your lunch from here every day. You got that? I’m not going to have you get sick eating the mush they pass off as food in that place. I need you here to help me. If that costs me lunch five days a week, then so be it. You can make up for it by taking a few of my tables.”

I smiled. Having Gloria around was like working for my grandmother. She kept me well fed in exchange for doing work around the house—or, in this case, the diner. In a way she made it a little easier to be away from my family.

“You’re the best, Gloria.”

“I know. It’s a curse.” She playfully waved a dishcloth at me. “Now eat. I’m expecting the after-school crowd in about fifteen minutes.”

I ate my pie and brewed a fresh pot of coffee. No sooner had I wiped the counter when a crowd of kids came in.

They sat in a big booth in the back corner, and they were loud. I recognized a few faces, but luckily I didn’t see Shannon. I took a deep breath, grabbed a handful of menus, and walked over to their table.

“Hi, can I start you off with some drinks while you look over the menu?”

“Yeah, I’ll have a root beer,” the big guy in the varsity football jacket said.

The girl next to him smacked his arm. “Don’t you dare order yet. Shannon’s not here. She’ll kill you if you get your drink before she does.”

I rolled my eyes. Why did people hang out with Shannon if she was such a royal bitch?

“I’ll come back.” I turned and started walking away.

“No you won’t.”

I stopped and sighed. Shannon was here.

“I want a diet birch beer, and don’t water it down with a bunch of ice. I only want six cubes. I said cubes, not crushed ice. Got it?”

I turned around to face her. “Sorry, we don’t have diet birch beer. We have regular birch beer or diet cola. Take your pick. And as for the ice, it comes out of a machine. You get what you get.”

She glared at me, and the vein in her forehead twitched. “I want to speak to your manager.”

“Sure.” I smiled and walked back to the counter, leaving Shannon standing there with her arms crossed.

“What are you smiling about?” Gloria asked. “That girl looks like she just gave you a mouthful.”

“Oh, she did. She’s a fun one, and she asked to speak with you. She wants to know why there’s no diet birch beer and why I can’t give her exactly six cubes of ice in her drink. I’m sure she’ll have some choice words about my attitude, too.”

“Snotty little high-school brat,” Gloria mumbled before pasting a fake smile on her face and walking over to Shannon.

I pretended not to watch as I refilled coffee for a couple near the door, but it was hard not to stare. Gloria started off nice—for about a whole two seconds, because that was all Shannon gave her before she went off on a tirade about rude employees and not meeting the customer’s needs.

Gloria let her rant for a minute before she put her hand up. “You can stop right there.”

Shannon stepped back in shock. “Excuse me?”

“That’s enough. I’m not going to have you come into my establishment, making impossible demands, and insulting my best waitress—”

“If she’s your best waitress, then this place has more problems than I thought.”

“I’m not finished, so you shut your mouth, or I’ll throw your sizezero behind right out that door. I have the right to refuse service to anyone, and right now, I’m refusing to serve you.”

My smile was so wide I could’ve fit an entire slice of peach pie in my mouth. Ethan was peeking through the window on the kitchen door. The kids with Shannon stared in horror, waiting for Shannon’s comeback.

“How dare you, you old hag!” Shannon was bright red, and she stepped toward Gloria.

Without thinking, I stormed over to her, grabbed her arm, and yanked her back. “Don’t talk to Gloria that way. She told you to leave, so leave before I call the cops.”

Shannon laughed in my face. “What, you think you’re going to make me leave? I’ll have you on the ground crying before you lay another finger on me. You have no idea who you’re messing with.”

Something inside me burst. Maybe it was pent-up anger, maybe it was petty girl-fight instincts, but I lost it. I wasn’t about to throw down with Shannon and mess up the diner, so I hit her where it hurt most.

“I guess when the guy you like dumps you and the entire school finds out about it, the way you get over the humiliation is picking on someone who’s old enough to be your mother.” Really it was more like grandmother, but I didn’t want to insult Gloria. It was Shannon I was trying to hurt.

“You bitch!” Shannon lunged for me, but Ethan was already out of the kitchen and pinning her arms behind her.

“That’s it. You’re out of here.” He pushed her out the door and let it slam behind her. She turned around to face him, but he yelled through the glass. “Take one step toward this place, and I’ll have the cops here before you can take a swing.” He held up his cell to show he was serious.

Shannon screamed and stormed over to the window where her friends were sitting. She smacked the glass with her open palm to get their attention. “Let’s go!”

“We haven’t eaten yet,” the big football player complained.

“Come on,” the girl next to him said, obviously not happy about having to leave either.

They filed out, giving Ethan and me dirty looks in the process. Yup, I was officially going to have a crappy school year.

“Sorry,” I said to Gloria. Now that it was over, what I’d said to Shannon registered. I couldn’t believe I’d brought up Trevor. I really was a monster.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. That one there is a bad seed. There’s nothing else to be said about it.” Gloria turned to the customers who’d witnessed the outburst. “Free peach pie all around.”

Smiles and nods let me know all was forgotten. Ethan kissed my forehead and headed back to the kitchen while I sliced up the pie. When everyone had a piece, I wiped down the booth where the kids had been, trying to erase all memory of them and Shannon.

The bell above the door jingled, and I looked up to see Nora. I followed her to the counter.

“You didn’t pay your bill last time. I’m not serving you anything until you give me the $1.75 you owe Gloria for the coffee.”

Nora reached in her purse and picked through her loose change until she had $1.75 exactly. No tip. Again. I grabbed the money and put it in the register. Then I purposely started refilling the saltshaker right in front of her.

Nora got up and moved two stools away from me. “Coffee. Black.”

“In a minute. I’m busy.” I continued to slowly pour the salt into the shaker.

“Do I need to throw her out, too?” Gloria asked. “This is bad for business, you know.” By the look on her face, I could tell she wasn’t going to put up with me not getting along with any more customers today.

“No. It’s fine. She tried to stiff you on the bill last time. I made her pay up. I’ll get her some coffee.”

Gloria nodded and went into the kitchen.

I poured the coffee, not even caring that I was spilling it onto the saucer under the cup. Let Nora drip coffee on her green dress. Wow, another green dress. Did she own any other clothes?

“Here.” I shoved the cup in front of her. “Let me guess, that’s all you want.”

“No, I want that necklace you’re wearing.” She sipped her coffee.

“What?” I stepped back. “Are you really going to start that again?”

“How much do you want for it?” She pulled a pile of bills out of her purse.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You’ve cheated me out of a tip twice
and
skipped out on your bill, and you carry around a wad of cash like that?” I liked her less and less every time I saw her.

“I don’t believe in banks. Now, how much for the necklace?”

“It’s not for sale, but feel free to leave the tips you owe me.”

“Everything is for sale. Name your price.”

“If you’re so eager to spend your money, why don’t you go buy yourself another dress? Try a color other than green for a change.”