The Ghost Inside - Chapter 5
I woke up the next morning groggy and sleep deprived, but I had set the alarm and even put it out of my father’s reach so he couldn’t turn it off himself before I woke up. I was determined to reach school on time today, even though I had stayed late yesterday performing extra cleaning. There were two reasons for this. The first reason was that I was hoping to finish my punishment early, giving me Friday off. What was I going to do Friday? I was going to ask Amelia out on a date! I saw no reason not to. After all, we were an item.
However, there was another reason as well, and that was because I wanted to remain in Ms. Smith’s good graces. She had confessed to me, and we had even fooled around. For that, I had to take responsibility. I wasn’t planning on two-timing the two women. Quite the opposite, I planned to make things official with Amelia, and turn down my teacher. As sexy as Ms. Smith had been, she was almost ten years my senior. It wasn’t appropriate for us to have a relationship. That said, I would treasure the experience we had together, and repay Ms. Smith by never talking about it again. I didn’t want her to lose her teaching license or get fired on my account.
I arrived at school as the first bell rang, my heart still racing as I considered what I was going to say to the two women and where I was going to say it. Yet, when I entered the room, the person standing at the front of the classroom was not my beautiful and sexy teacher. Rather, it was a stern-looking balding man in a tweed suit.
“Mr. Thompson…”
“Dylan, the bell has rung and you should be in your seat.” Mr. Thompson spoke with a no-nonsense tone.
“Where is Ms. Smith?” I asked.
“Our sick. I’ll be subbing for her today.” He responded. “Do you notice everyone else already in their seat? Sit down!”
I felt a pang of disappointment. I didn’t even notice the snickers as I made my way to my seat, my mind filled with questions.
The day had started poorly, but it only got worse. I had classes with this teacher before, and he had always hated me. He always picked on me in class, and then made disparaging remarks. I complained about it to another teacher once, and they told me that if I were a better student, they might not be so hard on me. I had given up after that.
“Dylan, when was the Declaration of Independence signed?” he demanded.
“Huh?” I blinked, as I had been lost thinking about the last few days. “I… don’t know.”
“Try a guess.” He narrowed his eyes.
“Um… Amelia is raising her hand.” Amelia raised her hand for every question, and usually knew the answer too.
“I didn’t ask Amelia. Maybe, if you paid attention in class more, you might know these answers.” He snapped, resulting in several people looking back at me and grinning.
Amelia glanced at me too, but she didn’t smile or give me a cruel look. She never had. I couldn’t help but remember the sight of her naked body under mine. Maybe I was looking too intently, because she blushed.
“Sir! The declaration was signed in 1786!”
“Correct!” He yelled. “The declaration was signed in 1776. Maybe, you should pay more attention!”
Wait, didn’t he just say… seeing the glares of everyone else, I just lowered my head. There were more snickers. The class continued like this; he would randomly bark questions at me that I didn’t know. Even when I listened, the questions had nothing to do with what he said before. It was like he was trying to embarrass me.
I eventually decided to stop paying attention, since it didn’t make a difference anyway. Instead, my focus was on Amelia. She was sitting in the chair to my front left. She was as beautiful as always. I tried to get her attention a few times by whispering her name, but I didn’t want to get the attention of the teacher or other students, so I couldn’t say it too loud. It appeared like she didn’t hear me, so I decided to use the secret name she gave me.
“Emily!” I hissed.
Amelia finally turned and looked at me, but she looked confused when she saw me staring at her. I was just about to say more when the girl sitting next to her and in front of me shot out of her seat.
“Ahh!” she cried, grabbing her butt and shooting me a glare.
“Miss Tiffany, what’s wrong?” Mr. Thompson asked with the entire class listening.
Tiffany was Amelia’s best friend, but the two girls couldn’t be more different. Amelia was soft spoken and sweet, while Tiffany was shrill and had an attitude. Amelia was angelic, while Tiffany never seemed to have started puberty. Her chest was flat and she was short, having the appearance of a middle-schooler despite her age. She even kept her hair in twin tails, which she bleached to look like Amelia’s, even though everyone knew she was a brunette. His maturity wasn’t much better, as she always acted like she was better than everyone else. I hadn’t even looked her way, so I wasn’t sure why she was glaring at me, her brown eyes filled with malice.
“Mr. Thompson.” She turned to the front of the class; her eyes filled with tears. “Dylan has been harassing me all class. I asked him to stop, but he grabbed and squeezed my butt.”
The room fell silent, and everyone’s eyes turned to me. A few people were looking at me in disgust, but most of them probably guessed she was lying, as they had smug smiles like they were ready to enjoy the show.
I was momentarily stunned, but I quickly recovered. “I did no such thing!”
“Liar!” she shouted. “Admit it, you touched my butt!”
“You don’t even have a butt to touch!” I shot back angrily over her accusation.
“You creep! Pervert! You’re probably a pedophile too!”
I stood up angrily, the anger in me boiling. “I didn’t touch you, and besides, you’re the same age as me, so how am I a pedophile? You’re as flat as a board.”
The room erupted in laughter, and Tiffany’s face turned bright red. “How dare you! I’m just a late bloomer; everyone knows that. You wouldn’t be so caught up in it if you weren’t staring at me all the time, you pedophile!”
I kept my mouth shut and looked around the room, hoping someone saw I didn’t touch her, or would give me some support, but every eye was looking at me with a scornful gaze.
“He did touch her.”
“What a creep…”
“I’m glad I sit over here.”
Mr. Thompson, who had been watching the exchange with a smug smile, finally spoke up. “Dylan, is this true? Did you touch Tiffany’s butt?”
He seemed to almost be laughing when he said that, as if he had been hoping for this exact thing to happen.
“I didn’t!” I protested, trying to look as sincere as my damned face allowed.
Mr. Thompson’s smile widened, and he turned to Tiffany. “Tiffany, do you have any proof of this alleged touching?”
Tiffany hesitated for a moment, “I mean…”
“Sir, I saw it.” Jack suddenly stood up, trying to appear every bit like a paragon of virtue. “He has been harassing Tiffany all this time. Anyone in glass will agree. It’s well known he walks by the girl’s middle school every day to ogle the undeveloped girls there.”
“I have to walk by it, it’s on my way home!” I yelled out, but instantly realized it was the wrong thing to say as the class became even colder.
Mr. Thompson gave me a cruel smile. “Dylan, it seems your behavior has finally gone too far. Sit in the back corner for the remainder of class. You will have detention after school for the rest of the week.”
“Ah, sir!” Jack stood back up, a look of worry on his face. “Are you sure detention is enough?”
Mr. Thompson frowned. “Are you questioning my decision?”
“Not at all!” Jack waved his hands innocently. “Um, Ms. Smith has already given Dylan the punishment of cleaning the old school every day after class. Detention would keep him from completing those responsibilities.”
“He’s responsible… for all the cleaning of the old school?” Mr. Thompson asked, and for a second Jack’s smile slipped, and the other kids looked around worriedly.
I felt just a small bit of hope. Perhaps, someone finally realized how unreasonable this task was. I didn’t want to get Ms. Smith in trouble, but she wasn’t here.
“Very well, he’ll continue to clean.” Mr. Thompson nodded after thinking about it. “I’ll see what I can do about making him responsible for cleaning next month too.”
“Huh?” I cried out.
Was I ever going to be finished cleaning that school? Why not just make me the official school janitor? I could be working there until I graduated. I wasn’t the only one who questioned this decision.
“You’re not suspending him?” Jack also looked unhappy.
Mr. Thompson grunted. “Suspending a delinquent like him is just giving him what he wants. It’s better if he just worked it off. Hard labor is good for him.”
His words had a no-nonsense tone, and while it was clear Jack wasn’t satisfied, he sat down. Meanwhile, I stood up and headed for the room. As I did so, Tiffany turned and stuck her tongue out at me. It all but confirmed she had done this to me on purpose.
“Dylan.” I stopped as Mr. Thompson called me out. “This is your final chance. If you cause more issues, it won’t be suspension. I’ll get you expelled!”
I continued on my trek to the back of the class as everyone whispered excitedly. I didn’t even know why. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait all that long for an answer. When the bell rang, rather than heading to the old school, I headed to the bathroom. I had to go. The teachers had already made it clear I couldn’t go during classes. They told me I’d probably just do drugs, so they refused to write me a hall pass. Thus, I had to hold it in, and I was ready to explode when I made it to the bathroom.
All the urinals were in use, so I took a stall. When I finished up, I decided to wait for ten minutes or so. It was better that way, so I didn’t accidentally encounter Jack and his gang. That’s what I was thinking, but as the bathroom cleared out and I was just starting to relax, the door burst open.
“More cleaning? This is bullshit!” I heard Jack speaking.
Did he track me down? I hid desperately in the corner stall, but a female voice caught me by surprise.
“Jack, how was I to know that Mr. Thompson would show Dylan leniency?” A whiny but familiar voice spoke. “And after I did what you asked and threw away my pride, telling everyone I was sullied by that creep.”
It was none other than Tiffany, who had seemingly followed Jack into the bathroom. I couldn’t do anything but listen in stunned silence. It wasn’t something she did on impulse, but something the pair had planned.
“Yeah, well, you did it for no reason. He’s still in school. Maybe, you’re not girlfriend material.”
“Ah!” Tiffany cried out. “D-don’t say that. I can be a good girlfriend to you. I’ll do whatever you want. My virginity is yours! Y-you can even stick it in my… my butt if you want.”
“Why would I touch you? You can’t even fulfill one simple request for me. Besides, I already told you that I want Amelia. I’ll only accept you if I can have her.”
“I-I’m working on it. I tell her how amazing you are every day. Lately though, she’s been distracted. Ever since she went to the old school to clean, it’s like she’s been in a daydream.”
“Damn it!” Jack cursed. “It has to be Dylan. That bastard did something. I won’t rest until he’s gone.”
“Don’t worry! I have a plan. This won’t end without him getting suspended… no, expelled!”
“Hmph… don’t forget your promise.” I heard the door open again as the two were leaving.
“I-if I get him expelled, can we then… maybe… our first time?”
“Hmph… we’ll see if you deserve it.”
“O-okay!”
That was the last I heard before the door closed again, leaving me back in silence. I remained in the stall for a couple more minutes before leaving and washing my hands. I really couldn’t believe what happened. They were working together to get me suspended, and Tiffany was also in love with Jack and helping him seduce Amelia? I had to tell Amelia this. How would she react when she found out her friend was betraying her?
It would have to wait until tomorrow, though. I was still trapped cleaning the school. Since Ms. Smith called off today, it was unlikely that she would be there to check on me, but my heart was still filled with good feelings toward her, and I didn’t want to be the kind of guy who skipped out when it was convenient.
Thus, I left the bathroom and snuck over to the old school, picking a new path and making sure not to get caught by Jack and his goons. I reached the old school and started cleaning once again. I barely got fifteen minutes when I heard a crash.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I nearly cried.
What was with this school and strange noises? I still decided to go check. It was when I entered a room, I had already cleaned that I found the source. I froze as soon as I walked into the room. The room was trashed, with spray cans and graffiti covering the walls. The desks had all been knocked over and piled in a corner. Vulgar words and crude drawings were written on every surface. There was even a crude drawing of a penis across the chalkboard, or was it a giraffe? It was like the person didn’t quite know what a penis looked like when they drew it.
A groaning sound caused me to nearly jump out of my skin. I looked behind a pile of desks to see Tiffany lying on the ground. A knocked-over chair showed that she had fallen while using it to graffiti the higher walls. Had this been her plan? She had sought to undo everything I cleaned and then get it blamed on me?
This room alone would take me half a day to fix. I couldn’t help but feel an extreme fury bubbling through me. First, she made false allegations, and now she tried to get me expelled. I glared down at Tiffany hatefully. Her eyes fluttered open, and she glanced up at me. Her eyes had a bluish shine to them. I thought she had brown eyes. Now that I thought about it, all the girls seemed to have a weird shine in their eyes, but it was more noticeable since her eyes were darker. It must have been this building.
“Dylan?” She asked, a small smile forming on her lips.
“You bitch!”
“Eh?”
“Look what you did?” I gestured around the room. “I’ve caught you in the act! Don’t deny it. I recorded everything! I’m going to make you pay!”
That was a lie. I had no cellphone. If I did, I would have recorded the conversation in the bathroom. However, I was hoping Tiffany didn’t know that.
“This…” Tiffany looked around at the messy room. “I did this?”
“Don’t play fucking games!” I snarled, grabbing her and pulling her up. “This is the end of your bullshit! I’m going to… eh? Why are you crying?”
Tiffany suddenly burst into tears. “Waaaah… I don’t like it!”
“Wh-what don’t you like?” Why was I easing my voice and trying to calm her down?
“I don’t like Dylan being mad at me!” She sobbed. “I’m trying as hard as I can, but if Dylan hates me, there is no point… I love you, so you can’t hate me!”
“H-hate is a strong word…” I held out my hands, wondering what the heck was going on. “I’m just angry…”
Tiffany loved me? What the hell? She had never once shown me anything but derision.
“R-really? I-is this just our first fight?” She sniffled, looking up at me sadly.
“J-just a fight…” I agreed, realizing that I was selling out my own emotions just because I didn’t like seeing a girl cry.
“I’m sorry…” She responded, but then her eyes brightened. “Ah, but I think I know how to fix this…. Makeup sex!”
“…what?”
Tiffany ran to a nearby desk and bent over, pulling up her skirt and flashing her child’s underwear with kittens on it. “Just do whatever you want to my body.”
“Huh?” I struggled to think when things happened that made no logical sense.
“Just take out all your anger on my body. Once you’ve relieved your frustrations, you won’t be angry anymore!”
I scratched my head. Was this happening again? I felt like I was going insane.