Chapter Twelve ★ Ditch

｡☆✼★━ Daniel ━★✼☆｡

​

Both Jacob and I stayed silent. It wasn’t wise to speak up when a girl was crying for you know we might say the wrong thing. We watched as her shoulders shook and silent sobs escaped her trembling lips.

Tears continued to stream down her face when Jacob nudged me and signed, “Dude, do something.”

I rolled my eyes and got up from the ground and went over to where Penny stood. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders I gave her a good squeeze but still said nothing. She leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder.

Jacob grinned and gave me the thumbs up as I returned a dirty look his way. He laughed as Penny kept crying on my shoulder. I mumbled, “We got to go, Penny.”

She sniffed, lifted her head and wiped the tears away from her face. She nodded then said, “You’re right. Let’s go.”

We all headed down the dirt trail with Penny leading us. She would stop every five minutes and have us hunch down as we listened for anyone who might be following us. Only the birds and squirrels in the trees cared to make a noise.

The path exited onto the broken cement sidewalk that led to my neighborhood. Huh, I never knew about this pathway even after living here for a while. I stood there scratching my head when Jacob gave me a push and smiled as he passed me to catch up with Penny.

She never stopped but kept on going in the direction of the amusement park. Yikes, she’s fast. Good thing Jacob was here to keep my head in the game. Was he trying to set me and Penny up or something?

He must of seen the puzzled look on my face and waved me over. I jogged to catch up and he signed, “Do you like her?”

Since I didn’t want Penny to listen in on part of the conversation I signed back, “No. What gives?”

Jacob threw me a quizzical look and signed, “Huh? I thought you wanted to go out with her.”

“Jake… She’s Aaron’s sister. If I were to go out with her then I would be dead meat to him. It’s bad enough that he already bullies me on a daily basis. Let’s not add dating his sister as another reason why he should bully me.”

He frowned then signed, “Didn’t she ask you out? Like to the amusement park, yesterday?”

“Yeah.” I signed back. “She did. It was totally out of character for her. Something doesn’t feel right. Don’t you feel it, man?”

Penny kept on walking like she didn’t notice that Jacob and I were completely silent. It was almost like the allure of the amusement park was calling her name and we were along for the ride. That chill from earlier continued to coil at the base of my spine.

Jacob watched Penny and then looked back at me. He then asked, “What happened to your glasses?”

“Getting them fixed.” I replied. “Why?”

His mouth downturned as he signed, “I thought you couldn’t see without them?”

Oh. That’s right. Before my wolfiness I would be lost without my glasses. Ulp. Got to tell him something. I signed back, “I’m wearing contacts.”

“Seriously?” His eyes narrowed. “When did your dad change his mind on that?”

“Ummm,” I licked my lips and looked up at the sky, “Jamie was able to convince him for situations like now.”

He stared hard at me. The intensity of his glare bore deep into my being as I felt the heat reach my ears. Please Jacob let it go.

Jacob gave me the thumbs up then signed, “Cool. ‘bout time your dad got with the program.”

I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head, “Yeah.”

We turned down another street and kept up with Penny who was walking faster. At this rate she might start booking it to the park if we don’t say something now. So I cleared my throat and asked, “Penny, is there a reason why you’re going mach 1 to get to the park?”

She looked over her shoulder and replied, “We’re being followed. C’mon dweeb keep up.”

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter Twelve ★ Ditch

｡☆✼★━ Daniel ━★✼☆｡

​

I pushed myself away from the wall and ran to get in front of her with my hands spread out to the side then said, “Hold up. We’re still going.”

She scrunched her nose and leaned forward, “No, dork. We’re not. The gig is up.”

“I’m not going to miss out on my one chance.” I pointed back at her. “Jacob and I will go and you can stay here if you’re that much of a chicken.”

Penny reached out to grab me but I ducked and moved out of the way. She stumbled and fell to the ground. I turned to Jacob, “Come on Jake. Let’s go. We can handle the get away from here on out.”

He signed, “No, we’ll get caught.”

I huffed and crossed my arms then titled my head, “Seriously? You think we’ll get caught?”

Jacob pointed down at Penny then signed, “She knows when and where the teachers are because she’s a hall monitor. Without her we’ll be caught for sure.”

Penny watched his hands run through the signs in a rapid motion. She glanced my way to get a reading on the situation. I didn’t want her to know what we were saying so I replied back in sign language, “She won’t do it. She’s done.”

“Yes, she will.” He huffed and reached down with his hand to help her up.

“Come on Jacob. Just leave her.” I pleaded in sign language. He replied back, “She’ll go with us… just hang on a second.”

Penny looked confused and finally asked, “What the heck are you both signing about? I can’t understand what you’re saying.”

Jacob nodded his head at me. I sighed and said, “Jacob won’t go unless you do. We need you Penny. We’ll get caught if you don’t help us.”

She flipped her hair behind her back and rested her other hand on her hip. The final bell had rung for class ten minutes ago. Classes were already in session now. Penny let out a small laugh and said, “Fine. I’ll help you geeks out. But you’ll owe me big.”

“Augh,” I threw my arms in the air and replied, “I thought you going with us was the favor?”

Penny wagged her finger in front and said, “Tsk. Tsk. I’m taking on a bigger risk with Mrs. Gloria being suspicious of me. You’ll owe me another favor after this is done.”

“Fine.” I grumbled and crossed my arms. Jacob smiled as I frowned in return. 

Penny hitched both of our arms to hers and said, “Well boys. Let’s not hang out here waiting to be caught. We got a park to visit.”

She half dragged and led us to a hidden dirt pathway. The tree branches hung low as the surrounding overgrown bushes hid the passage way. We stopped just before it as Penny looked around before she said, “In ya go!”

With a shove Jacob and I crashed through the branches gaining a few nicks and scratches along the way. We landed face first in the dirt as Penny carefully navigated the reaching branches of the bushes and trees and came out on our side unscathed.

Jacob sat up rubbing his head and threw Penny a dirty look. I did the same but said, “You could have warned us.”

She held a finger on her bottom lip and said, “I thought I did?”

“Bull.” I spat. “You did that on purpose. You’re just like your brother.”

Her hands tightened into fists and she growled, “Don’t say that… I’m nothing like my brother.”

Oops. The tension in the air was getting tight as she got closer so I held up my hands and apologized, “Sorry.” 

Penny stopped and released her fists. She stared down at us then replied, “I’m nothing like Aaron. He’s a jerk. I just wish people would stop lumping us together. Even though we’re twins…”

She squeezed her eyes shut and a lone tear trickled down her cheek when she said, “I’m different.”

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter Twelve ★ Ditch

｡☆✼★━ Daniel ━★✼☆｡

​

We all stayed close to the brick wall and waited outside the metal doors that led to freedom. Penny looked at her watch and surveyed the pathways. She held up her hand telling us to hold our positions and to keep quiet.

Never had I ever tried to ditch school. This was a first for me but to have a hall monitor that knew the patrolling schedule gave us the advantage. I counted like Jacob and I would have been caught if Penny hadn’t come with us.

She peered around the corner and looked both ways before she waved her hand for us to follow. Jacob wore a big stupid grin on his face as we tiptoed our way down the cement sidewalk.

Penny stopped and turned our way. She grimaced then said, “Guys. If you keep on looking suspicious then we’re going to get caught. Walk like a normal person.”

Jacob shrugged and opted to walk normal. I still skulked for a few feet to irk Penny’s last nerve then felt the sharp pain of Jacob’s elbow in my gut. Tears welled up in my eyes as I stared up at him.

I mouthed, “What the heck?”

He huffed then signed, “Do as Penny says. She’s done this several times that’s why I thought it would be a good idea for her to come.”

“You asked her?” My eyes bugged out as the words choked out of my mouth.

Jacob slapped my back and grinned. He signed, “Well, duh. Penny is the best at ditching.”

I scratched my head and looked at the backside of her head. Penny? Ditch? It never occurred to me that she would be the type to ditch. She always seemed to be of the straight and narrow kind. The one that always did things by the book.

Penny dashed to edge of the building and motioned for us to do the same. We hurried and got behind her. Footsteps of kitten heeled shoes got closer when she jumped out and bumped into the teacher.

“Oaf.” The teacher said as Penny collided with her. They both took a few steps back then looked at each other. The teacher exclaimed, “Penny. What are you doing here?”

“Oh.” She rubbed her head, blushed then turned it slightly and said, “Sorry Mrs. Gloria. I was escorting these boys to the detention trailer.”

Mrs. Gloria looked in the direction that Penny was leading us and then in the other direction. She replied, “Isn’t the trailer on the other side?”

“Uh.” Penny said then placed her hand behind her head and laughed, “You’re right Mrs. Gloria. Silly me. I was taking these boys in the wrong direction.”

“Mmm.” Mrs. Gloria said and nodded her head. “No worries. If you want I can escort these boys so that you can get back to monitoring the halls.”

Penny waved her hand, “No. No. But thank you. It is my job after all Mrs. Gloria.”

Mrs. Gloria scanned all of us and the sidewalk that we were about to travel down. She said, “No, I insist. It seems you need a break.”

“Ah-ha-ha-ha you’re too kind Mrs. Gloria,” Penny laughed then began pushing us the other way. “But I got it. C’mon boys we got to go this way.”

The teacher smiled and watched us as we went the other way towards the detention trailers. During school hours they were used for in school suspension. We wound around the corner and plastered our backs against the wall.

All of us let out an exaggerated collective breath. Jacob signed, “Whew, that was close.”

Penny turned to me with narrowed eyes, “What did he just say?”

“That, that was close. We almost got caught.” I breathed out and took another deep breath. My racing pulse matched my beating heart. It’s too soon to give up.

She sighed and said, “Well… I hate to say this but the gig is up. We can’t ditch today.”

“What?” I half-yelled.

Penny held a finger before her lips and said, “Shhh. Someone will hear you.”

“What do you mean that we can’t ditch today?” I replied in a lower voice.

“Mrs. Gloria is a sharp teacher. She will check in on you both to make sure that you’re in the detention trailer. If you aren’t then I’ll lose my role as hall monitor and we’ll all be in trouble.” She explained then leaned up against the wall and crossed her arms.

She muttered, “What a drag. I was looking forward to seeing the park.”

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter Twelve ★ Ditch

｡☆✼★━ Daniel ━★✼☆｡

​

Penny stood next to Jacob and hung on his shoulder like they were BFFs. Sheesh. What the heck does she want?

She placed her hand on my desk and leaned in towards me. I moved away as a Cheshire cat smile grew upon her lips. Penny asked, “So… what’s this about you and Jakey here going to the park without little ole me?”

“None of your business.” I remarked and turned my head to the side to glance up at Jake. He shrugged his shoulder and motioned for me to hurry it up.

She leaned in closer and replied, “You owe me nerd.”

“Owe you for what?” I said and bent down to pack up my bag. She grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me back up.

The look in her eyes was fierce. She kept a good hold on the back of my shirt. My wolfy side wanted to smack her into next year but I held back. Penny sneered, “I saved your butt from Mrs. Lockhart’s wrath yesterday. You owe me one date to the park.”

I yanked hard against her hold as the sound of fabric tearing echoed in my ear. Shoot. I don’t have a change of clothes here. I threw her a look and her eyes widened. She let go and took two steps back.

Jake glanced between us and stopped with me. His eyes also told me something wasn’t quite right. I went back to putting my stuff up. Break in between classes wasn’t that long and we had maybe three minutes tops to pull this off.

“My brother is right.” Penny said then added, “you are a freak.”

Pushing my glasses back I stood up and threw my bag over my shoulder. I replied, “Takes one to know one.”

As I walked past her I bumped her shoulder hard then stopped a few feet afterwards. I said back over my shoulder, “C’mon Jake. If we’re gonna do this then let’s go.”

Penny’s hand shot out and grabbed Jake’s wrist. She didn’t lift her head but kept a constant direct line of vision of the floor in her view. In a low voice she said, “And where do you think you’re going?”

Jake gave me the helpless face as Penny kept a tight hold on him. He tried to shake her off but her hand acted like it was glued onto his skin. She asked, “Both of you are up to something. Either you take me with you or I’m turning you in.”

“Why should I let someone who calls me a freak come?” I tossed my chin at her. Jake’s eyes winced as her hand tightened around his wrist.

She growled, “You owe me.”

Penny was not making any sense. Yesterday she acted like she had the hots for me and today she was a total stuck up snob that considered me a low life. Why was she so insistent that she went to the park with me?

Jake made a signal with his other hand signalling that we should do whatever she wanted. My jaw dropped open. He rarely lets people get their way. There has to be something going on. Somehow I’ve been transferred to the twilight zone.

“Let Jake go.” I replied. “And I’ll think about it.”

“No.” She snarled. Jake’s face turned pale as the corners of his mouth turned downward. He tried to lean into the pain but Penny shook him and snapped, “Stand back up worm.”

His mouth opened but no noise escaped. I stepped forward and grabbed her wrist. Her head turned up and we were eye to eye. Her lips parted as her eyes widened even more as my hand was over her mouth in a second to muffle the scream.

“Let him go.” I breathed and clamped down harder on her other wrist. Penny’s eyes shut as she shook her head. With a quick twist I rubbed her skin raw on her arm. She gasped and let go of Jake.

He jumped back as I pulled her arm behind her back and moved her out into the hallway. Jake trailed behind us. She grumbled, “This isn’t how I planned on coming along with you.”

“Who says that I’m taking you with us?” I replied and shoved her arm to make her pick up the pace. The sea of teens parted as they saw the hall monitor get ushered down the hallway.

“I’ll tell.” She spat and tried to break out of the hold. I tightened my grip. She whimpered and said. “Take me with you. I can give you and Jake passes if you let me go.”

Jake walked beside me and signed, “That would be handy.”

Hall passes would be helpful. Not to mention it won’t be long before a teacher intervenes with what I’m doing to Penny. I released her and said, “Fine. You can come.”

She whirled around then hugged me and planted a big kiss on my cheek. A few onlookers threw cat calls at us. Jake snickered into his hand. I eyed her and broke out of the hug. I asked, “What is up with you? First you like me and then you do and then you do… which is it?”

Penny walked past me to lead us down the hall and huffed, “A woman does not need a reason for why she is who she is or why she feels the way she feels.”

Jacob signed behind her back, “Translation… women are fickle… like cats.”

She stopped, turned and stared at Jacob, “Listen ya mute. Just because I can’t understand your hand signs or whatever doesn’t mean I won’t know when you’re talking smack about me. One more bad word about me and you can kiss your hall pass good-bye.”

I stepped in between Jacob and Penny and said, “Lay off of him. He’s just having fun. Besides either both of us get hall passes or you don’t go.”

“Fine.” She threw her hand up in the air and continued walking. Penny added, “Well come on. We got less than a minute before someone notices.”

Jacob and I hustled to keep up as Penny wove through the hallways and down areas that he and I never had dared to venture.

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter Twelve ★ Ditch

｡☆✼★━ Daniel ━★✼☆｡

​

Unwrapping the crinkled paper carefully behind my language arts teacher’s back I read the contents. On it were the words scrawled, “Are you going or not?”

I shoved the paper into the back part of my folder and continued on with today’s lesson. It wouldn’t help if I got detention. Mrs. Lockhart was bad enough after I turned in my hap hazard report on the midnight riders.

Thinking about the soul rendering stare that she gave me still gave me the willies. I shuddered and shook in my seat to get rid of the feeling. Her eyes had flashed violet when she saw my shoddy report after I handed it to her.

Her slight change did not go unnoticed by Jacob and he’s been pestering me ever since history class. I didn’t have the patience to deal with him right now. For the full moon was getting closer which meant my grip on my temper was harder to hold.

Not like I could have told him about me being a werewolf. Though it does make his or Calvin’s hypothesizes on Mrs. Lockhart more plausible. Yesterday I totally did not believe either of their ideas even though I was there with my history teacher when she changed.

Another wad of paper hit the back of my head. The girl behind me tittered. I threw Jacob a look and he pointed at the paper on the floor. The teacher stooped down and picked up the paper then unwrapped it.

He turned to me, “Mr. Shaw, is there something that you’d like to share with the class?”

Heat flushed to my cheeks as I slumped down in my seat. I glanced up at Mr. Gregory and said, “No, sir.”

Mr. Gregory readjusted his glasses then read the paper in his hand, “Well? … well what, Mr. Shaw?”

“It’s nothing Mr. Gregory. Sorry to disturb the class.” I mumbled.

He leaned down and cupped a hand to his ear and said, “Sorry, I didn’t quite hear you Mr. Shaw. What was that?”

I bolted upright and said aloud, “Sorry Mr. Gregory. Sorry class. I did not mean to cause a disruption.”

The girl behind me tittered again. Mr. Gregory’s stern eyes looked her way as he said, “Attend to your work Ms. Hum.”

Her pencil tapped steadily as Mr. Gregory turned his attention back to me and rapped his hand on my desk, “Mr. Shaw please see that you do not disrupt us again.”

“Yes, sir.” I said. Heat flushed to my cheeks again as I turned my eyes back to the paper on my desk. Dang Jacob. That was close. If I didn’t choose my words carefully Mr. Gregory would’ve given me detention for sure.

The class bell rung. Jacob was at my desk in an instant. Another set of shoes were with him and I looked up to see who it was.

Oh… it’s her.

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙