Lunch was finally dismissed, and everyone exited with full stomachs discussing T.V shows and movies. Emma and I had a study hall together next. I walked to Emma’s locker with her because I had no homework. If I remember right, she had algebra or something to do. I would help her with it then talk for the rest of the period.
“The only reason I’m in this stupid subject is because my mom paid off the school. Well, I don’t know if she did or not, but I sure as heck ain’t smart enough.” Emma’s words broke my thoughts. I glanced over at her assignment. She was working on linear functions. Easy. I learned all that stuff in sixth grade.
“Well, do you know all your formulas? If you memorize them or write them down it will be pretty much self-explanatory.” She gave me a dazed look after I was done speaking, so I started again.
“Okay, well for your standard you just take Ax+By=C. Easy, ok? Then you can find your slope which is just -A over B. Are you writing this down?” She quickly scrambled around in her notebooks and opened to an empty page. I then knew this was a lost cause. We decided to just talk for the rest of the time.
“Hey, so how come you moved here?” Emma asked the question I wouldn’t be able to answer. I tried my best anyway. I could tell she was trying to keep up. She just sat there nodding her head and smiling. I didn’t go into great details about my dad, but I think she understood what had happened. Talking about him had always been hard for me. He died when I was seven. Since then I haven’t really been the same. I remember going to the funeral and seeing his closed casket. I even remembered my mom crying for many, many nights. I pushed the dark thoughts aside and continued my conversation with Emma. We ended up discussing our favorite music and stuff. We were planning which concerts to go to. I guess we really didn’t have that much in common. I want to watch horror movies; she wants to watch sappy love stories.
There were a lot of unfamiliar faces in the study hall. I tried to remember everyone’s name but couldn’t. I met a girl named Sara that seemed pretty nice. Actually, most of them did. This first day was going kind of slow. By the time it was over I was feeling quite lethargic.
My mom had told me to walk to Neighbor’s Grocery, her new place of employment, directly after school. The walk was a short one. Nonetheless, I was out of breath by the time I got there. My mom was working as a cashier flirting with some guy when I walked in. He was short and plump with a mendacious-looking personality. She never goes for ones like that.
My mom had worn her hair up today in a messy bun. I noted how she wore her mini skirt too. I was too busy to notice this morning. It looked like she was out to impress today. Sometimes I am actually jealous of her. She has really great legs, and I don’t blame her for showing them off. I just wish I had acquired some of her traits besides her taste in men! She was still flirting and hadn’t noticed me yet. There was something about the man that I didn’t like. Maybe it was the way he kept darting his eyes around. I’m not a very good judge of character, so I just gave up trying to figure him out. Instead, I half-skipped to where they were.
“Hey, Mom!” I shouted to her. She jumped with a start and replied back to me.
“Hey, Hayley. So how was your first day of school? Did you make any friends? Oh, and this is Mr. Peppermint.” She glanced over to him. Now that I was closer up to him I could see scars on his face. There were only a couple, but they looked pretty nasty. Ironically, enough, he had a slight smell of peppermint to him.
“School was good, and yes, I made friends. Don’t worry this is just from dodge ball.” I said pointing at my black eye.
“What- Oh My! Hayley, who did this to you? How did this happen?” My mom was frantic now. She had ran over to me and was stroking my hair. I softly pushed her off.
“Mom! Calm down! I told you that this happened in dodge ball today. There is nothing to worry about. It was no one’s fault. It’s ok.” I put my hands up hoping it would calm her down.
“Phew. Don’t scare me like that. I thought you got jumped or something. Oh! Where are my manners? Did I already introduce you to Mr. Peppermint?”
I opened my mouth to reply when the short man threw his hand out to me.
“I am Mr. Peppermint. It’s nice to finally meet you, Hayley. I’ve heard so much about you already. Your mom here is a wonderful person. I am flattered to be in her presence. Your’s too.” He spoke and gave me the longest handshake I’ve ever had.
“Well uh…thanks I guess.” I nervously glanced over to my mom. She was spacing off. I assumed she was staring at his scars. My eyes wandered to them once more. There were only three. One was right above his left eye, and the others were smaller and by his cheek. I wanted to ask him about them but was afraid to. My mom broke the silence.
“Well, it was nice to meet you. I’m afraid I have to take my daughter home, and it’s the end of my shift. You can call anytime, and I will be here the same time tomorrow. See ya!” My mom herded me out of Neighbor’s Grocery, and we got into the car.
“So, Mom, what is with this Mr. Pepper guy?” I messed up his name on purpose.
“Mr. Peppermint is actually very nice. I know he doesn’t give the impression of being gentle, but he truly is. He is a remarkable man at that. You should be happy he is coming over for supper tomorrow. It will be nice to have a man in the house again.” Ugh. I can’t believe she said he was coming to our house. My house. I will not stand for this. He could be a serial killer for all I know. It would explain the scars.
“Well…uh…Mom. I’m not too sure about this guy. Just something about him. His scars perhaps?” I stared questioningly at my mom.
“Oh, Honey. I knew you would judge him by his appearance.” I snorted.
“Mom, you are one of the most shallow people I know. Don’t give me that crap about judging people.” I crossed my arms. We rode the rest of the way home in silence. I could tell she was fuming. Everything was true that I said. My mom was extremely judgmental. Every single person had something wrong with them. He is too fat. That guy over there has a big nose. The list goes on. So that is why I found it a little strange that my mom was digging on this totally-opposite-than-hot guy with the last name of a sticky candy. My head hurt from trying to figure out her intentions, so I turned on the radio.
There was a talk show thing on. I don’t see the purpose in these things. For one, they are long and boring. Secondly, who just sits by a radio to call in every time the want attention or someone to talk to? I don’t know. Maybe there are some things I just won’t understand at my age. I guess my mom was one of those kinds of people because she instantly turned it up.
“Oh! I love this station, Hayley!” She started bouncing in her seat like a kid. I pretended to accept her excitement and smiled. Then I actually forced myself to listen to it:
“Okay, let’s change our topic to something else. Lisa? Do you suggest anything?”
“Well, Miranda, I think we should talk about types of people. The hypocrites. The shallows. The pushovers. All of them.”
I laughed under my breathe. This was pretty ironic. My mom noticed it too. I could tell because she stopped bouncing around and turned the station. I was more than grateful to be listening to some music for a change.
Then I realized we were passing through our new neighborhood. It didn’t look as creepy as before but still looked pretty deserted. We pulled up to our house and quietly shut the car doors. We were both hesitant to walk up to the front door. My reason was just realization. I realized I just made it through my first day at a new school. I felt as though it all went okay. I met a hot guy who may or may not like me. Made some friends. Adapted to my classes. I guess it went rather well besides the fact I got hit in the face with a dodge ball.
I was unsure of my mom’s hesitant reasons. I think it had something to do with the fact that all of our furniture was moved into our house while we were gone. She probably worried we would have to do a lot of rearranging. I hoped we wouldn’t. I was tired. I just wanted to go in and go to bed. It had been a long day for the most part.
I was the one who finally opened the door. I think my mom was stalling and pretending that she dropped something. The inside of the house was amazing. There was furniture in there that I hadn’t seen before. We now had three leather couches! Wow! I quickly ran up to my room to see I had one of those huge canopy beds. I went to sit on it when I saw a note. It was folded up on my pillow. I sad down and carefully unfolded it.
This is your first warning.
Okay, well that kind of creeped me out. A lot. The thought of whoever wrote this was in my room was even more terrifying. Who could have done this? I can’t imagine the movers would. Our house was unlocked all day. Anyone could have came inside. I felt nauseous. I rolled off of my bed to the floor where I curled up. The floor was cold and made my stomach feel better. It made me break into a cold sweat. Then my throat felt all swollen. I rolled to my other side and saw something under my bed. It looked like some kind of new electronic, but I knew it wasn’t. There was a little blinking light on the side. I pulled it out from under the bed and studied it. There were speakers on the sides. I realized what it was and started to smash it. It was some kind of listening device. I quickly stood up causing myself to go lightheaded. I held my stomach for a minute then started throwing things off my shelves. I was afraid there would be other things hidden in my room I was unaware of. I was filled with anger and fear at the same time. First the note, then the listening thing. What was going on? More importantly, how many warnings would there be? I curled up on my bed and started to cry.
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