CHILD'S PLAY, quentin beck

XI. NIGHT AT THE OPERA

The day went by quicker than Josephine, Peter and Ned had hoped. The group of teachers and students was currently getting ready for their night at the opera. Josephine had spent the entire day with a nasty feeling in her stomach, like something would be going terribly wrong tonight. And, in a way, it would. She did not feel comfortable walking outside with her students, knowing a new monster would be attacking the city tonight.

'Are you okay, miss Colby?' Betty asked, she had a worried look on her face. 'You're a little pale.'

Josephine smiled at her and nodded. 'I'm alright, thank you.' Liar. She was feeling the opposite of alright. 'You ready to leave?'

The younger girl sighed. 'I guess,' she mumbled. None of the students were excited to go with Roger's plans, they could all think of more fun things to do than going to the opera.

Julius Dell walked at the front, leading the students and his colleagues. Instead of using his phone like a normal and modern person, he insisted on using a map of the city to get to their destination.

While Roger walked at the back with a few students, trying to enthuse them, Josephine chatted with Betty and a few other girls. The blonde girl had tried asking her teacher for relationship advice, apparently, she had started dating Ned during their flight to Italy.

Josephine wasn't an expert at dating either. Usually, the men she fell for ended up leaving. Or she would catch them in a lie that would result in a messy break-up. She had given up on relationships for the time being.

'We're here,' Julius announced.

While the students went off to find their seats, Josephine noticed Peter talking to MJ. He seemed anxious.

Betty's quiet laugh became audible to Josephine when she and Ned walked past her. 'Oh, babe,' she sighed. 'Look at them, they are so in love with each other.' Betty pointed to Peter and MJ, while Ned struggled coming up with an answer.

'Eh,' he mumbled. 'Do you... Do you think so?' Of course he knew Peter had a major crush on MJ, he just didn't want to spill his best friend's secret. Not even to his own girlfriend.

Josephine sat down on the aisle seat, next to Julius. He was sat in between her and the other teacher, Roger Harrington. Roger seemed to be the only one excited to be here tonight.

The show hadn't started yet when Josephine heard Peter calling out to her, still trying to be as quiet as possible. Josephine interrupted Julius, who was telling her about an e-mail one of the parents had sent him. 'Excuse me,' she had said before getting up from her seat and walking over to the teenage boy.

'I need to go,' Peter said.

Josephine nodded. 'Okay,' she answered, followed by a sigh. 'I'll just, eh, tell mr. Dell and mr. Harrington that you're not feeling well.' She hated being a part of this plan. 'Wait here.'

She grabbed her coat from the seat and put it on. 'Peter's not feeling very well,' she told the two men, who both had a confused look on their faces as they watched her get ready to leave. 'I don't want to leave anyone alone, though, so I'm walking him back to the hotel.'

They understood.

Josephine and Peter left the building in silence. While Josephine thought about how she hated allowing a teenager to fight a monster, Peter thought about how much he did not feel like doing this. All he wanted was to work on his own plan; his plan to win MJ over.

'Are you okay?' Josephine asked as they both walked in the same direction. She was supposed to have gone back already.

Peter nodded a little too fast. 'Y-Yeah,' he whispered. 'I think so. I will be when this is over.'