glimmering, gloopified jellified glory. Right in the middle of the sidewalk. Like it was waiting. Like it was --
"All right, what are you two up to?"
Ryan turned, for a moment looking without seeing.
"All this noise you two perpetrators are making! Why aren't you at the pep rally like the rest of the school? Pep isn't optional, you know!" Ryan's face slackened, as the large, matronly figure of Miss Babcock, secretary to the principal, pigeon-toed her way toward them.
"I --" Ryan started to say, but was immediately interrupted by Derrik.
"Miss Babcock, they -- it ate those kids!" His glasses slipped as he hiccupped her name: "Ba- hic -cock! It's going to eat another one --!"
Instantly, she snapped her fingers at Derrik, not breaking stride. "Detention: Sass-mouth." She snapped at Ryan next. "Detention, you, too: Collaborating. Perpetrating."
"But Miss- hic -ca-cock --"
"Double-detention. Keep it up. You'll be washing school windows until you're thirty. And whoever's out there, too," she said, pushing past the two boys. "Game over for them, too."
She shoved the doors open and headed out into the schoolyard.
"No! Miss Babcock, it's dangerous, it's 911 out there --" Ryan called out, trying to stop her. But Derrik, moving faster than anyone had ever seen him move in his 16 short, slacker-choked years, whipped his skinny arms out, grabbed the bars of both doors, and, yanking with all his 96-and-a-half-pound weight, slammed them shut with a wall-shaking, trophy-case-shuddering BAM.
"Derrik, we can't let her go out there like that!"
"You saw what that thing can do, and how fast it can do it," Derrik hissed. "I ain't letting go-a-this-door!"
His grip tightened.
"Derrik! You're trapping her out there! We have to warn her!"
"Well, warn her then, but you're doing it through this closed door!"
Helpless, Ryan pressed his face against the glass, and saw Miss Babcock making her way down the walkway. She was using her "angry walk," which made her look like even more of an old hen than usual -- elbows flapping about like wings, shoes twisting inward, ever pigeon-toed... her head twisting bird-like side to side, looking for partners-in-crime...
The jelly-thing wobbled across the grass, loping and wriggling -- and then came to a dead stop about 10 yards away from Miss Babcock. It was almost as if it just then noticed she was there, and was...
And then, Derrik said, in a choking voice: "Ohhh nooo... look over there!"
Ryan, taken aback, blinked dumbly for a moment, then pressed his face back against the glass.
Someone else was approaching.
~ ~ ~
Her name was Gina Lancy, and she was without a doubt the sexiest, hottest, most popular, most feared, most lusted over, most hated, most desired, snobbiest, snottiest, heart-taking, heartbreaking, heart-stopping female form to ever wander the hallways of East Hamilton High. She was making her way across the grass in her patented "I know you want me I'm so bored bow beneath my beauty you wish you were me get out of my sight" manner she'd perfected over her 17 years of thorough and intense self-worship. Even now, as Ryan and Derrik peered at her helplessly through the smudges and glassy smears of the high school double-doors, both her undeniable beauty and savage ego throbbed with every flounce and bounce and step.
"Oh no," Derrik croaked. "Sweet Gina's heading right into it!"
Ryan reached for the door-bar.
"No. Not letting go," Derrik insisted, his fingers tightening around the steel door bar. "Not even for --"
"But it's going to get them. We can't just stand here and watch --"
"I am not... letting go ... of this door."
Derrik's fingers tightened, his knuckles flashing bone-white. But his voice was wobbling, uncertain. "Gina," Derrik whispered through the glass. "Turn away. Run..."
Ryan squinted harder through the smudges.
Outside, Gina kept walking toward the school. Then, suddenly, her head tilted, bored eyes curious -- but when it was obvious she'd noticed Miss Babcock, her
"All right, what are you two up to?"
Ryan turned, for a moment looking without seeing.
"All this noise you two perpetrators are making! Why aren't you at the pep rally like the rest of the school? Pep isn't optional, you know!" Ryan's face slackened, as the large, matronly figure of Miss Babcock, secretary to the principal, pigeon-toed her way toward them.
"I --" Ryan started to say, but was immediately interrupted by Derrik.
"Miss Babcock, they -- it ate those kids!" His glasses slipped as he hiccupped her name: "Ba- hic -cock! It's going to eat another one --!"
Instantly, she snapped her fingers at Derrik, not breaking stride. "Detention: Sass-mouth." She snapped at Ryan next. "Detention, you, too: Collaborating. Perpetrating."
"But Miss- hic -ca-cock --"
"Double-detention. Keep it up. You'll be washing school windows until you're thirty. And whoever's out there, too," she said, pushing past the two boys. "Game over for them, too."
She shoved the doors open and headed out into the schoolyard.
"No! Miss Babcock, it's dangerous, it's 911 out there --" Ryan called out, trying to stop her. But Derrik, moving faster than anyone had ever seen him move in his 16 short, slacker-choked years, whipped his skinny arms out, grabbed the bars of both doors, and, yanking with all his 96-and-a-half-pound weight, slammed them shut with a wall-shaking, trophy-case-shuddering BAM.
"Derrik, we can't let her go out there like that!"
"You saw what that thing can do, and how fast it can do it," Derrik hissed. "I ain't letting go-a-this-door!"
His grip tightened.
"Derrik! You're trapping her out there! We have to warn her!"
"Well, warn her then, but you're doing it through this closed door!"
Helpless, Ryan pressed his face against the glass, and saw Miss Babcock making her way down the walkway. She was using her "angry walk," which made her look like even more of an old hen than usual -- elbows flapping about like wings, shoes twisting inward, ever pigeon-toed... her head twisting bird-like side to side, looking for partners-in-crime...
The jelly-thing wobbled across the grass, loping and wriggling -- and then came to a dead stop about 10 yards away from Miss Babcock. It was almost as if it just then noticed she was there, and was...
And then, Derrik said, in a choking voice: "Ohhh nooo... look over there!"
Ryan, taken aback, blinked dumbly for a moment, then pressed his face back against the glass.
Someone else was approaching.
~ ~ ~
Her name was Gina Lancy, and she was without a doubt the sexiest, hottest, most popular, most feared, most lusted over, most hated, most desired, snobbiest, snottiest, heart-taking, heartbreaking, heart-stopping female form to ever wander the hallways of East Hamilton High. She was making her way across the grass in her patented "I know you want me I'm so bored bow beneath my beauty you wish you were me get out of my sight" manner she'd perfected over her 17 years of thorough and intense self-worship. Even now, as Ryan and Derrik peered at her helplessly through the smudges and glassy smears of the high school double-doors, both her undeniable beauty and savage ego throbbed with every flounce and bounce and step.
"Oh no," Derrik croaked. "Sweet Gina's heading right into it!"
Ryan reached for the door-bar.
"No. Not letting go," Derrik insisted, his fingers tightening around the steel door bar. "Not even for --"
"But it's going to get them. We can't just stand here and watch --"
"I am not... letting go ... of this door."
Derrik's fingers tightened, his knuckles flashing bone-white. But his voice was wobbling, uncertain. "Gina," Derrik whispered through the glass. "Turn away. Run..."
Ryan squinted harder through the smudges.
Outside, Gina kept walking toward the school. Then, suddenly, her head tilted, bored eyes curious -- but when it was obvious she'd noticed Miss Babcock, her
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