Demon: Incognito Mode

I

KINGSLEY KEYS TIPTOED INTO THE CLASSROOM, CAUTIOUSLY SHUTTING THE DOOR BEHIND HIM. He crept towards his desk as Mr Greenfield, the English teacher, continued to ramble on with his head completely buried in a copy of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, oblivious to anything else.

Seven meters away from his seat, five meters, three....

“MR GREENFIELD! KEYS' LATE TO CLASS AGAIN!"

Swearing furiously, King glared sideways at Brad Parsons. The whole class erupted into laughter, Brad grinned and returned a high five from one of his cronies.

“Well I say, Keys! None of that language in my classroom or I'll give you detention. Now explain yourself."

King racked his brain, trying to come up with an excuse. This is not going according to plan. He thought

“Well?"Mr Greenfield demanded impatiently.

“I had to use the bathroom first, Mr G."

“Excuse me?"

King sighed. “Greenfield."

“It's Mr Greenfield to you, young man. I don't care if you had to use the bathroom. Take a seat. As I was saying........"

King slunk over to his seat. He dragged the chair across the floor and was rewarded with a screeching noise before he sat down.

“ARRRGHHH! FUCK ME!" Mr Greenfield screamed. King laughed.

“That's what your mum says in bed, Brady."

“Ooooooooooouuu!", the entire class snickered. Brady growled.

“You're a dead man, Keys."

“YOU GET YOURSELF TO THE DETENTION ROOM RIGHT THIS INSTANT, YOUNG MAN!"

King didn't need to be told twice. He scooped up his backpack and left, waiting outside until Mr Greenfield had returned to his book and then he slammed the door, earning another scream of frustration.

He sauntered into the detention room and tossed his backpack on an empty desk. He spotted Clarissa waving at him, indicating an empty seat next to her.

“Hey, Hart. Over here."

It was five weeks into the mission and so far, he and Chloe had gotten nothing. It didn't help that spoiled and manipulative as Clarissa was, she was also a troublemaker and loved getting into detention. Clarissa's mum was the head of a well known notorious drug cartel and was suspected to be planning a major drug sale. Where, how and when was the reason why King and Chloe were attending a private school right now and King hated it, from the uniform to the subjects.

"The hell are you in for this time?"

"Swearing, apparently. It's-."

"Hey, you two. Shut up."

The teacher in charge of detention was glaring at them over his desk. He returned to his book, muttering to himself about stupid children.

Twenty minutes later, the bell rang and everyone jostled and shoved each other trying to get out the door, while King and Clarissa hung back.

"Sleepover's still on, right?" she asked.

King suddenly felt uneasy. He'd been looking for an opportunity to get himself invited over to her house to plant bugs and pin microphones. Maybe even have time to snoop around a bit. But this wasn't a legitimate invitation. In fact, this wasn't even an invitation at all.

"You want me to sneak past the guards, somehow find a way to distract the dogs and scale my way up your window?"

"Dude, it'll be epic. You know how my mom feels about any visitors, much less one of my schoolmates.  Besides think about it. Video games and movie marathon."

"Yeah, but-"

"Just last week, you scaled the wall at basketball practice to get a ball back."

"That's different."

"Really? What about the time you nicked Scott's phone back from the principal's office?"

"I just got lucky, I guess."

She stared at him like he was crazy.

"It was literally in front of him. And I was there, remember?"

"I didn't-"

"This isn't any different."

King laughed.

"I could get shot. Or chewed up by those mutts. Or fall to my death trying to climb to your window."

"But you won't." she smirked.

King sighed. His "parents" were not going to like this.

"Fine. This sleepover better be worth it. But why me and not Chloe?"

Clarissa rolled her eyes "That bitch? Way too boring. I mean sure, she's nice and all that. But she talks too much. And anyway I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't-"

King's eyes narrowed. "We've got company."

Brady and three of his cronies swaggered into the detention room, carrying baseball bats. Everyone else had left a long time ago, including the teacher in charge of detention.

"That's a smart mouth you got there, Keys. And after that crack at me in class, it got me thinking like, you know what? This kid needs a huge smile, so I'mma give him one. Joker vibes, you get me?"

He fished out a Swiss Army knife from his pocket, tossed it into the air, and deftly caught it.

King turned to Clarissa.

"I'll take two of them. You take the other two."

She smiled. "I can't fight."

Now he stared at her like she was crazy.

She rolled her eyes. "That was nothing."

"He was five times your size. And weight. And you hospitalized him. And he transferred to another school after that."

"Yeah, well, he called my mom a prostitute so...."

Brad and his cronies had encircled them, so they took up fighting stances with their backs against each other.

She swallowed, "Ice cream after this. First to take out two of their opponents picks the flavor."

"And what's your favorite flavor?"

"Mint."

"That's disgusting."

Yelling defiantly, Brad and his goons surged forward.