Monster

Ali's plan finally comes to a close. Will she have friends at the end of it all or will she finally be alone?

    It was close to the end of the year. I had become quiet and more reserved than before. Mark and Trevor noticed. While Mark was very concerned, Trevor was less than fretful for me. Greg had stopped talking so animatedly to me ever since I found out his secret.
    The whole situation fueled my anger. Why couldn’t we go back to the way we once were? Back to when I thought they were my friends? Oh, I remember. We can’t because I was going to screw them all over in the end. It was easier this way, but I still hoped. Maybe I thought they could talk me out of it. Maybe I thought that I could actually have friends this time around.
    Then I thought, well why bother, right? I mean, if they knew what I was going to do, they would have left me long ago. They would have screwed me over long before I did. Why have friends when I knew I would be all alone? I was being stupid for having that kind of hope. I need to put my hope in myself and myself alone.
    “We need to submit all of the pages to the yearbook place by the end of the day,” Greg said. I could see the lines in his forehead that had formed from stress. I remembered at the beginning of the year when he was more carefree. I figured it was a balance between the club and Ms. Bell.
    “I can’t be here.” Trevor sighed, “I have my grandmother’s funeral today.”
    “Mark?” Greg looked at the redhead with hopeful eyes.
    Mark smiled nervously. “Sorry, Greg. My brother is coming home from the military. I can’t miss him.”
    Greg sighed aloud and sat in his chair. “I can’t be here either. I have… things going on.”
    I stood there for a moment before realizing. This was my big chance. This is the reason I joined the yearbook club. I gave a smile at Greg.
    “I can do it.”
    Greg gave me a skeptical look. “You sure?”
    “Of course.” I nodded. “I’ll do you proud.”
    A small and tired smile graced his lips. “Alright. I trust you.”
    I nodded once more. All the boys waved me goodbye as I sat at Greg’s desk. He had everything edited and ready to be sent. I cracked my knuckles and opened the files. I pulled out the flash drive around my neck. I plugged it in and copied all the files onto my flash drive. Once it finished, I shut down the computer and got up.
    I needed my books to help me with the last bit. Besides, if I had done it from Greg’s computer they would have traced it back to him. I’m already going to hurt him hard. Doing one good deed wouldn’t hurt me.
    On the bus, I gently rubbed my flash drive. On it was everything my plan rode on. The bus stopped, and I hopped off, running to my house. I slammed through the door, ignoring my mom, and ran to my room.
    I worked fast. One secret was all it took. I planted one secret under every student’s picture. All of them, except for mine. Under mine, I put this:
    “The mind is your only friend and your greatest enemy.”
    I quickly edited all the pages, remembering how Greg would do it. I chuckled lightly as I reread the one I put under Greg’s. He would surely hate me forever. Everyone would. It was so much easier this way. Though, I could do without the pain in my chest.
    I was about to click the submit button, but my hand froze. No matter how hard I tried to move it, it wouldn’t budge. Perhaps it was my mind telling me to stop, but it was my mind telling me to do it. I snatched my hand away and shook it, yet it still would not click. I bit down on it hard, drawing blood. That’s when it slowly complied and clicked.
    I looked upon my work and felt cold satisfaction within my heart. The yearbooks wouldn’t come out for another month, but I would await that day with my life. I wondered what would happen that day. Maybe everyone would go crazy and attempt to take another’s life. Maybe they would target the yearbook club. Well, exposing the secrets of over seven hundred students was surely something. I was kind of proud of myself.

…

    The last week of school was amazing. Our football team won the championships, the cheerleaders won the final competition, and the yearbooks came in. I saw the eager faces of the students as they grabbed their yearbooks and flipped through them excitedly. I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t wait until that first person gasped in pure horror as one of their darkest secrets is revealed to the whole student body. Then I heard it.
    “What is this?!” a cry rose from the crowd.
    Everyone flipped through their books, wanting to know what sparked such a cry. I heard the sounds of yearbooks dropping, shouts of terror, sobs of sorrow, as I walked through the halls. I tried to hide the large smirk that pasted itself onto my face. It was too early for them to know. I doubted people would make the connection so soon. They were all kind of stupid, after all.
    I walked into the clubroom nonchalantly. I acted as if I hadn’t just done what I had done. The boys were all gathered around a yearbook. Greg’s whole body shook as he held the book in his sweating palms.
    “Why…?” he asked in a small voice.
    “Why what?” I feigned ignorance.
    Greg stormed up to me and smacked me right across the cheek. I stumbled back in surprise. Sure, I deserved it, but I never thought he would do it.
    “Why would you expose that about Ms. Bell and I?!” he shouted angrily. “Now she is going to get fired, and she will have move in order to get away from the rumors… You ruined her life!”
    “I’m sorry!” I yelled back, “I’m sorry that you and your teacher had a thing! It’s not my fault you knocked her up, and it is not my fault that she did what she did! It’s her fault for doing this!”
    “You are cold.” Greg said slowly, “A cold and heartless monster.”
    “You’re right,” I said. “And you know, when I was writing your secret, I was laughing the whole time.”
    “Get out!” Greg cried.
    I chuckled, “Guess that means I’m no longer in the club?”
    “Get. Out. Now.” Greg repeated.
    I nodded and strode out of the classroom, but not before reading Greg’s final thoughts of me.
    ‘I trusted her. Why would she do this?’
    Greg should not have trusted me. Even though it was a big part of my plan to have them trust me, he didn’t have to do it. If only he would have stayed a bit longer to finish the pages and submit them. He could have ruined my plan. They all could have, but they didn’t. And it was because of their idiocy.
    Every single student I passed was either crying or screaming at someone. The yearbooks that they had been waiting for were strewn on the ground or overflowing the trashcans. For a moment, I felt bad about it all. The school would surely be blamed for the mishap. The yearbook guys would most likely be targeted. I stopped in my tracks.
    In all honesty, I did not want the guys to get involved. I did not want them to get hurt. I crinkled my nose and continued walking, deep in thought. Maybe if I threatened everyone, they would leave the guys alone. That wouldn’t work though, huh? Greg would surely be angry about me exposing even more secrets.
    Why am I willing to save them? Could it be because I feel guilty about dragging them down with me? Possibly. Could it be because I want them to feel less angry towards me? Maybe. Could it be because I secretly want to be their friend still? I don’t know. I was just so obsessed with the plan that I thought of nothing else for so long. Now that the plan is done, I am starting to think about the friendships we all had.
    I shouldn’t think about it for too long. I wouldn’t want to start believing that I had a chance to change in the first place. What is done is done. It’s in the past now, though it could still be in the present. I looked around and saw all the teens around me. I never really knew them on a personal level. Maybe those secrets of theirs were kept for good reason.
    “Would all student body come to the auditorium at this time?” the loud speaker sounded.
    I saw everyone trudge along gloomily to the location. They began filling up the seats from front to back. I sat alone because I no longer had any friends. I didn’t really care at that moment, however.
    The principal came into the room and stood in front of us. The whole staff stood behind him. Ms. Bell looked very nervous as she played with the hem on her pink pencil skirt.
    “It appears that our yearbooks have very bad secrets in them,” the principal began. “That could only mean that our dearly beloved yearbook club members were the ones to do it.”
    Mark stood up quickly. “It wasn’t us! Don’t you see? We have secrets under our pictures, too!”
    Trevor stood up next to him. “The only one who doesn’t have a secret is Ali Landeros.”
    All eyes shifted to me, and I smiled politely, a smirk hidden beneath it.
    “You cannot confirm it was me, now can you?” I asked with an attitude.
    The principal sighed. “No, we can’t. Though we can disband the yearbook club for letting this even happen.”
    I could hear the sadness in the boys’ thoughts. Pity, I could do nothing for them now. I had to figure out a way for everyone to know it was me without getting hardcore evidence of it. After all, I don’t want to get into trouble for it.
    “She must have done it!” I heard Mika shout. “Please, Principal Denver! She has humiliated the whole school!”
    The whole auditorium burst into a chorus of furious shouts and screams. Principal Denver and the other teachers tried their best to calm the barrage of angry students. I sat in my own row, perfectly silent. Waiting for them to calm down was like waiting for rain in a drought. I yawned and crossed my legs. Hopefully this didn’t take too long.
    “Listen up!” Principal Denver barked, “Judging by your outbursts, I should assume that all these rumors are real. That being said… Ms. Bell.”
    Ms. Bell perked up at her name being called. “Yes, sir?”
    “You’re fired,” he said simply.
    Ms. Bell sniffled, holding back tears, as she walked out of the auditorium.
    The students were silent with shock. Denver began to explain.
    “Ms. Bell had an affair with a student. I was going to assume that all these rumors were fake, until I saw your responses now. I assure you that we will, to the best of our ability, find whomever did this. For the time being, I ask all students continue on with their lives. You are all dismissed.”
    The teens shuffled back to their classrooms, talking amongst themselves.
    ‘I know that girl did it. It’s too obvious.’
    ‘Why can’t Principal Denver see that it really was her that did it?’
    ‘Denver doesn’t care about us. He likes making us suffer. Who knows, maybe he hired that girl to do this?’
    ‘Why would anyone want to do this to us?’
    ‘When I see her again, I’m going to kill her.’
    I stifled a laugh so no one could hear. Everyone assumed I did it. And they were right to assume that. I was simply walking when I hear sneakers squeak behind me. I turned and saw the head cheerleader with her platinum blonde hair, heavy purple eye shadow, and greasy-looking lip gloss.
    “Hey,” she called to me. “Where do you think you are going?!”
    I stopped and heaved a deep sigh. “What do you want, Becky?”
    The girl shook her hair in disdain for me. “I want an apology.”
    “For?” I ask.
    “You know what you did!” she shrieked.
    “Do I?”
    This only seemed to anger her further. She grabbed the collar of my dog sweater and pulled me closer to her oily face.
    “You told everyone my secret!”
    Boy, was she sure a banshee. I grimaced and plucked her perfectly manicured fingers off of my shirt.
    “You have no idea how many secrets I have,” I threatened. “I can expose all of yours, unless you back off of me right this instant.”
    Her face twisted into a heinous sneer. “Is that a threat?”
    “It is whatever you want it to be,” I said nonchalantly as I walked away. I could hear her thoughts racing, asking herself if she should go after me or not. She decided against it and let me go.
    She wasn’t the only one out for my blood. Apparently, a whole slew of people have it in for me. I don’t really care what they think about me. They wouldn’t dare raise a hand to me. If they did, I would just expose them for who they really are.
    The bell rang, signaling us to return home. I made my way through the throngs of kids towards the front gates. As I walk by everyone, they stopped and stared at me. I did not look at anyone. I kept my back straight and my face forward.
    ‘Doesn’t she walk so smugly?’
    ‘She is too arrogant.’
    ‘I wish I could knock her down a notch, but I don’t want her to reveal any more secrets of mine.’
    That’s right, I smirked. If they tried anything, they would surely regret it. I managed to get through the doors without anyone saying anything directly to me. They were all pretty silent, unlike their minds. I stepped through the gates and began my trek towards the bus stop.

…

    The last day of school rolled around and everyone stayed in their gloomy states. I thought everyone would be ecstatic for the summer break. It would seem that people are still sad about what I had done. Though that doesn’t surprise me, I expected people to not be as sorrowful. Oh, well.
    I walked passed the yearbook clubroom, only to see a sign on the door that read, “Club is Disbanded”.
    “Are you even sad at all?” came a familiar voice behind me.
    Mark, with his fiery red hair, stood behind me. I faced him, but I looked down at my shoes. I did not want Mark to find out about my true feelings. It could jeopardize my whole plan and would set me back. I refused to look at him.
    Mark matched my silence for a few minutes, but he broke it by saying, “Why did you do it?”
    I remained silent. I tried to look anywhere other than his eyes. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw him bite his lip.
    “Well, I hope that deep down, you feel at least some degree of remorse.”
    Again, I kept quiet. Mark opened his mouth as if he were about to speak again, but he was cut off by the voices of Greg and Trevor from a little ways away.
    “Mark, come on!” Trevor called.
    “You shouldn’t be talking to her,” Greg said in front of me. “We already have a bad reputation thanks to her.”
    Mark closed his mouth. I assumed he would leave without another word. The thing he did next surprised me. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me into a tight embrace. Over his shoulder, I saw the gaping looks of Trevor and Greg.
    After a brief moment, he let go and joined Trevor and Greg. He did not look at them as he proceeded to push passed them. They turned to give me a look before trotting after Mark.
    Why would he hug me in the first place? I wasn’t exactly the good guy here. I brushed off whatever he could have left on my shoulders when he hugged me. It was nothing physical, but I still felt the need to do it.
    I decided to forget what had just happened and head home. Summer break was finally here, and I was excited to do nothing with my time. I would probably be on my laptop most of the time. Maybe I could make a blog to pass my time away. Yeah, I think I’ll just do that.
    I got home and immediately went to my room. I jumped onto my bed, making Barry, my lion, flop gracefully off the bed and land perfectly on the ground. I reached over and picked him up by the scruff of his neck. Barry took his place on my lap as I opened my laptop to start on that blog I was thinking about.
    “Ali?” my mom’s voice came through the door. “Your report card came in.”
    She opened the door and gave an excited giggle. “Straight A’s on every progress and report card! That qualifies you to be in AP classes! I’m so proud of you!”
    I nodded, not looking at her. She handed me a paper, and I took it. It was a paper that I had to fill out for school in order to get the classes I would like next year. My mom stood with eyes bright.
    ‘I hope she chooses all AP classes. She could get a mighty fine scholarship if she keeps this up.’
    I sighed mentally. If I had all AP classes, I’d be so busy. However, I did not want to disappoint my mom. I put myself down for all AP classes. Sure, I’d be terribly busy, but at least my mom will be proud of me.
    She squealed and took the paper from me, running out of my room in glee. She was such a weirdo. I looked down at Barry.
    “Why is it that you are the only one who is normal?” I asked him.
    He remained quiet. I pursed my lips. I wish Barry had thoughts so I could hear them. Though I’m kind of glad he had none. All the people I’ve known so far had terrible secrets. I’ve never got along with them. I get along just fine with Barry though. It must be because he has no thoughts.
    “What secrets would you possibly have?” I wondered.
    Maybe he secretly hates the name Barry? Or maybe he would tell me that what I did was terrible? I wouldn’t know because he can’t think for himself. It was stupid to sit here and think of this.
    I gave a yawn as I made an account on a blogging website. I still had no idea what I should call it. I looked to Barry once more, then an idea breached my brain. I typed the title, “Barry the Lion”, onto my new blog. I proceeded to type a summary.
    “I am just a stuffed lion that has a lot of time on his hands. I am the only friend to my human master. She is the best, therefore, I like to talk about her a lot. I am hoping to talk to other bloggers and hopefully get their advice on what to do with her.”
    I crinkled my nose. “This has to be the most stupid thing ever. Let’s put your picture up on it.”
    I took out my camera and adjusted Barry against my purple, flower-patterned, pillows. The camera flashed and I examined the picture. It looked great, but Barry looks great no matter what. I uploaded and added the picture to the blog.
    I gave another yawn and figured it was time for a nap. I put my laptop away and cuddled up next to Barry as I fell asleep.

…

    Summer vacation went by like a flash. I managed to get Barry’s blog up with an amazing sign with the title and a purple background that had flower patterns, everything matching the pillows in the picture. I even added some slow reggae song in the background. I hadn’t added any actual blogs since I’ve spent all three months just working on the actual blog itself. I’d add some later if I had time.
    School had started, and I had gotten all the classes I “wanted.” My mom was ecstatic about it. It had been a month since I started school. All the new students had me a bit overwhelmed. They came with a whole new slew of secrets. I wondered if I should do what I did last year and record all of them. I probably should, especially if I wanted to stay at the top.
    Over that month, I did my best to juggle both my classes and my fellow classmates. I did not join any clubs. It would have just put me in another position as last time.
    I noticed that the school added a yearbook class so there would be no repeat of last year. A teacher would watch the students carefully as they took pictures and edited pages. I once again thought of Greg, Trevor, and Mark. I wonder if they ever applied for that class. They probably wouldn’t get in anyways, considering what happened last year.
    I was still seen as a monster by all the kids that were still here. The new freshmen had no idea who I was. I could always start anew with them, but then I thought against it. Everyone was right about me being a monster.
    As I thought this, the teacher to my AP English class, Mr. Skylark, spoke up.
    “Class, we have a new student,” he began. “He just moved here from New York, so please be kind to him.”
    I was only mildly interested at first. I had no idea at the time that the new kid would make such a big impact in my life. I gazed over and my eyes lit up. He was attractive; very attractive.

Author's Note

Yes, I have left it at a cliffhanger! I hope you liked it. ^^