The Monster Within (9 page)

“I can’t lie.” Mr. Ryan sighed. “But I’ll let the principal know you would rather handle this yourself. He might go easier on her.”

“Thanks. Could you tell me where the cafeteria is?”

“Turn right and go about halfway down the hall. It’ll be on your right. You can’t miss it. You’ll hear it well before you get there. It gets pretty noisy, and with the extra crowd in there at once today, I’m sure it will be eardrum-shattering.”

“Thanks again.” I headed the rest of the way to the cafeteria on my own.

Mr. Ryan was right. The noise coming from the cafeteria was intense. And without even stepping inside, I knew what everyone was talking about. The alarm, what could have caused it, who was to blame. Who knew I’d become so popular on the first day of school?

I pulled the door open and was met by the stern stare of a teacher. “What took you so long?” she asked.

“Um, I’m new.” I hoped that would work. “I didn’t know where the cafeteria was and then there was—”

“Was what?” she prodded.

“A problem in the hallway, but Mr. Ryan took care of it for me.”

“Mr. Ryan? And what’s your name, so I can verify this with him later?”

“Sam. I mean, Samantha Smith.”

She took a pen out of her pocket and jotted my name down on a small slip of paper on the table next to her. “Very well. Go find a seat.”

I moved away from her, not wanting to be within sight of her glaring eyes. I didn’t see Ethan anywhere, and the longer I roamed around, the more attention I drew. Finally, I decided to get on the lunch line. I had a little money on me from my tips yesterday. Most of it was in a shoebox in my closet, but I brought some in case lunch wasn’t too disgusting. The line was winding down at this point. That was one perk to being late. I grabbed a red plastic tray and some plasticware. I saw they had salad, so at least something was edible. I took a big serving in case the hot food item was meatloaf or something equally rubbery and inedible.

When I got to the hot food station, I was glad I’d taken the extra salad. The woman behind the counter stood there with her ladle in one hand and a glove on the other. “Meatloaf and hot biscuits?”

“No, thank you. I’m fine with a salad.” I grabbed an apple sitting in a fruit bowl by the register, but that didn’t appease her either. “I guess I’ll take a biscuit, too.”

“$2.50,” the cashier said.

I gave her the money and followed the line back into the cafeteria. Now I had to find Ethan because I wasn’t sitting alone to eat my pathetic lunch.

I decided to walk around the edge of the cafeteria, thinking Ethan would be at the end of a table, since he didn’t know anyone either. I passed six rows of tables and still no Ethan. I turned the corner and walked up the side rows. Finally, I heard my name. I turned around and saw Ethan walking toward me.

“Hey, where have you been? I tried to stop by your locker, but they wouldn’t let us go down the hall. They sent us straight here. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” He took me by the arm and led me to a table in the middle of the cafeteria.

I wasn’t sure if I should tell him about the incident with Shannon and Mr. Ryan, but I didn’t get the chance to because I was assaulted with a chorus of “hello” from a bunch of kids sitting at Ethan’s table.

“This is Sam,” Ethan said.

How had he made this many friends already? And wasn’t he in honors classes? These kids didn’t look like your typical brainy honor student types.

“I met these guys in Sculpture & Design.”

I had a hard time not choking on my salad. Ethan was the least artistic person I knew. He’d never pass a sculpture class.

I smiled at everyone and leaned toward Ethan. “How do you plan on pulling that off?” I whispered.

He took a sip of bottled water. “No problem. I told them I was big into abstract art at my old school. I made a bunch of weird-looking stuff, and they all thought it was genius. Even the teacher.”

Ethan was fitting into his new life with no problems, and really, he should’ve had the more difficult time trying to live up to the real Ethan Jones’s standards. My life should have been the easy one. Average student with no extracurricular talents. Piece of cake. But my day had sucked. Sucked the life right out of… No. I’d lose it if I thought about that guy.

I sighed, and the necklace wobbled a little, warming my skin where it touched. Okay, one part of my day hadn’t sucked. I had a beautiful new necklace from the best boyfriend I could ask for.

I leaned over and kissed Ethan’s cheek. “Thank you for my necklace. It’s beautiful. It’s going to match my ring perfectly when we get it from the storage place.”

Ethan pulled back. “What necklace?”

I elbowed him. “The one you left in my locker.” I smiled and held it up for him to see how much I loved it.

He narrowed his eyes. “Sam, I didn’t leave that in your locker.”

“Yes, you did. I found it before I came here. You must have put it there between classes to surprise me.” As I said it, I realized it couldn’t have been Ethan, or I wouldn’t have to explain this to him.

“It wasn’t me, Sam.”

“Then who?” I looked down at the necklace, the perfect match for the ring Ethan had given me.

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

CHAPTER NINE

I
RAN
through all the possibilities in my head. The office had assigned me to the wrong locker. Some guy left the necklace for his girlfriend, but he mixed up the locker number. No, he wouldn’t have known the combination if the locker number was wrong.

“There must be a mistake. That locker must belong to someone else.” But it had been empty. That seemed odd, but it was possible whoever owned the locker wasn’t big on studying. No, the locker would be filled with books if that were the case. Nothing was adding up.

“Maybe you have a secret admirer.” Ethan looked around as if he was going to spot some guy staring at me.

“I doubt it. So far, I’ve only made enemies.” And a corpse. I shook the thought from my mind. “The only guy who’s been nice to me is a teacher, and I’m sure the necklace isn’t from Mr. Ryan.”

“Did I hear you say Mr. Ryan?” the girl across from me asked. “Hi, I’m Beth. I have Mr. Ryan for English lit last period. He’s a major hottie.” Her cheeks flushed, which didn’t really help my case.

Ethan eyed me.

“It’s not from him,” I assured him. “I just met him, and he has no idea where my locker is.”

Ethan went back to eating, but I could almost see his mind working, trying to make sense of the situation. “Are you going to keep it on?”

I hadn’t thought about it. I really did love the necklace, but if it was meant for someone else, I had to return it. Only how did I return something if I had no idea where it came from?

“I’ll ask around, you know, with the girls who have lockers near mine, and see if any of them know who it belongs to or who it was meant for.”

“But in the meantime, you’re going to wear it?” He hated the idea. That was clear.

Still, I didn’t want to take the necklace off. It felt so warm against my skin, and it was my birthstone. “I think I should keep it on. That way, people will see it, and if the person who left it in my locker sees it, they’ll let me know it’s theirs and that leaving it in my locker was a mistake.”

Ethan gave me a look that said he didn’t quite believe me, but he didn’t push the subject. Instead, he passed me his water bottle. “You forgot to get yourself a drink.”

“Thanks.” I ate my lunch, trying to avoid Ethan’s gaze, which was fixated on my necklace. I didn’t see how he could be jealous. So someone messed up and left it in the wrong locker. It obviously wasn’t meant for me.

At the end of lunch, the PA system came on again. “All students are dismissed for the day. Please proceed to your assigned buses. Students who drive to school should leave campus immediately.”

“What’s that about?” Ethan asked.

“Didn’t you hear?” Beth leaned across the table. “Someone tried to break into the school. That’s what the lockdown was about. The only reason they didn’t dismiss us sooner was because they had to wait for the buses. There was a big accident that closed the road to the school. I guess the police checked the building and deemed it safe, so they sent us to lunch in the meantime.”

“How do you know all this?” Everyone had been in the classrooms. How could she know about the break-in—or what I’d tried to make look like a break-in?

Beth shrugged. “The alarm. Only the emergency exits make that sound. So, either someone tried to break out or someone tried to break in. If a student was running out of the building, the principal wouldn’t have ordered a lockdown. That has to mean someone tried to get into the school today.”

It had been a while since I’d been in an actual school, so my knowledge of lockdown drills was rusty at best. But to everyone else, it was probably obvious. That was what I wanted, but I wasn’t ready to face all of this yet. Not that I ever would be ready.

Ethan put his arm around my shoulder as we walked out to his car. “Bad first day?”

“You could say that.”

“Want to tell me about it?”

I got in the car and leaned my head back on the seat. “Not really. Let’s just go to work. I’m sure Gloria will let us pick up the extra hours.”

I was right. Gloria was happy to see us. The lunch crowd hadn’t died down yet, so I threw on an apron and got right to work.

“You’re a peach.” Gloria slumped down on a stool at the counter. “I need a minute to rest my legs.”

“No problem. I’ve got it covered.” Work was the distraction I needed. I could forget about school. Forget about the mystery necklace. Forget about…my Hyde side and what it was capable of.

I placed orders as fast as Gloria’s husband Jackson could cook. Actually faster.

“Samantha, if you don’t slow down out there, Gloria’s going to have a fit. The customers will expect the service to always be this speedy, and her legs can’t handle it. Not to mention I can’t cook this quickly.”

Gloria and Jackson seemed like the cutest couple ever. They bickered, but everyone knew it was all in good fun. Yesterday, the customers had loved it. I swore Gloria and Jackson staged arguments just to get the customers to stay longer and spend more money. I could picture them at home each night scripting the arguments for the next day.

“I’ll slow down, Jackson. I’m just working off some pent-up energy from today.”

“Come sling some burgers for me then. That’ll work off the energy.”

I laughed and grabbed the order for table seven. “I could, but that would mean Gloria would be back to serving tables by herself. Do you want me to tell her you’re recruiting me?” I smiled at him, already knowing the answer.

Jackson rolled his eyes. “The last thing I need right now is that woman’s wrath. Off with you.” He shooed me out of the kitchen, and for a brief moment, I felt normal. This place had that effect on me. Or rather, Jackson and Gloria did.

“Did that man have you doing work for him in there?” Gloria asked the second I came out of the kitchen.

I shook my head. “He told me I was working too fast. The orders are piling up on him.”

Gloria sighed. “Ethan, honey.”

Ethan put the tub of dirty dishes down on the cart by the kitchen door. “Yeah?”

“Why don’t you go see if you can help Jackson in the kitchen?” It wasn’t a question, more like an order. “Samantha and I can bus our own tables for a while.”

“Sure.” He gave my elbow a quick squeeze before he left.

I headed back to the counter, which was filled with new customers. Most of them were younger, and I realized that school closing early had a lot to do with the sudden rush. I guess no one else ate the school’s meatloaf either.

Most of the students didn’t even look at me. To them, I was just another employee to wait on them. I filled soda after soda and put in six more burger orders. I wiped a spot clean at the end of the counter and pocketed my one-dollar tip. Immediately, the seat filled up again.

“Seriously?” I mumbled.

“Is this seat taken?”

I looked up to see the girl from yesterday. The one who’d caught me freaking out in the bathroom after I’d seen a glimpse of what Herman’s future would’ve been if…

“Huh? Oh, no. Have a seat.”

She raised an eyebrow at me. She was already sitting.

“What can I get you to drink?” I placed a menu in front of her.

“Coffee.”

“Black, right?”

“Only way to drink it.”

I poured her some coffee and set it in front of her. “I’ll be back to take your order in a minute. I have to go check on another table.”

“I’m not eating.”

“Oh, okay.” Great. She was taking up counter space and not ordering a meal. More tips down the drain.

I rushed around and, in another hour, things calmed down. Ethan stayed in the kitchen. Last time I got an order, he said he was having a blast with Jackson. Gloria said he could continue working in the kitchen and just help with cleanup at the end of the night. You would’ve thought she was offering him a two-week paid vacation. He was overjoyed.

I refilled the coffee girl’s cup seven times. Seven! She was a bottomless caffeine junkie.

“Can I get you anything else?” I asked, trying to drop the hint that she was abusing the free-refill policy.

“Nope.”

“Fine.” I noticed the saltshaker was empty, so I unscrewed the cap and got the big container of salt to refill it.

“What are you doing?” The girl sounded horrified, as if I was maiming a puppy right in front of her.

“My job.” I couldn’t keep the annoyance out of my voice.

“Do you have to do that where I’m sitting? You might get salt in my coffee. I paid for this, you know.”

I slammed the salt shaker down and glared at her. “No, you didn’t. You haven’t gotten your bill yet. And that cup is free, just like the six other free refills you’ve gotten.”

Gloria came out of the kitchen and gave me a look. I waved her off, letting her know I was fine. I knew this girl was a customer, and I was supposed to treat her nicely, but I was wiped, and she was getting on my nerves.

“Listen, it’s been a long day, and I’m tired. If it bothers you that much, I’ll go refill the salt at the other end of the counter.”