Dark Valentine (Monster High; Book 1 of the DV Duology)

Chapter 5: Burn

Kieran:

Jackson's conversation with Frankie in the hall--I heard the whole thing. Not intentionally, of course; I just happened to be passing by and I ended up overhearing them. I understood where Jackson was coming from, to be honest, and now I also understood why he was a bit upset this morning. I would be, too.

But then, in Home Ick...he somehow contacted me. My father. I didn't know what to send back. Hell, I didn't even want to send anything back, talk to him at all even. But I did want to talk to someone, which meant I needed to leave class for a minute. I asked Mrs. Kindergrubber for permission to do so, and she agreed to let me, but very reluctantly. The minute I got out into the hallway, I dialed my mother's number.

How dare he try to contact me? How did he find me in the first place, and why would he even want to, knowing him?

"Hello?" asked Mom when she picked up. "Kieran, why are you calling? Aren't you supposed to be in class?"

"Mom..." I started, "He contacted me."

"Did he now?" said Mom.

"You told me to tell you if he ever did, and yes. He sent me a text in the middle of class. That's why I called."

"Well, what did it say?"

"I'll show it to you when I get home. But here's my question--what the hell makes him think that I'd want to talk to him?"

"I honestly don't know, Kieran, and knowing him it's honestly surprising he'd want to talk to either of us."

"My thoughts exactly," I muttered, trying and failing to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

"In any case, you need to get back to class. We'll sort this out when you get home."

I sighed, knowing there would be questions from both Jackson and Deuce when I returned to the kitchen. "Okay. Bye." I hung up and put my phone back in my pocket, but didn't re-enter the classroom just yet. I still needed a minute. Unbeknownst to me, however, Mrs. Kindergrubber asked Jackson to come and get me since I was apparently gone too long for her liking.

"Hey, Valentine? Uh...Mrs. Kindergrubber sent me..." Jackson began to inform me, but stopped when he saw my face. "Are you okay?"

"I really don't know how I am right now," I told him truthfully, trying to force myself to calm down. "I'll be okay, though. I'm coming."

"I, um--I heard part of your phone call just now. Just the end of it--nothing else. But enough to know that--that something's going on. If you need someone to talk to..." Jackson trailed off.

"Glad I'm not the only one who overheard something like that," I muttered, but he heard me.

"What do you mean?"

"Well--and let it be known that I kind of feel like an ass for this--but I heard you and Frankie's conversation in the hall earlier. The whole thing, though. Sorry for that, by the way--I didn't mean to hear. But I will offer you the same thing: I'm here if you want to talk about it."

"No need to apologize, especially since we're even now," said Jackson, "Probably easier than having to explain everything, anyway...and thank you."

"As for my problems," I continued, "Better to wait until after class to discuss them if we don't want our teacher to throw a fit in there. It's bad enough as it is, having to deal with Heath and Hoodude."

"Excellent point," nodded Jackson, and I followed him back into the classroom. During the rest of class, I did my best to focus on other things. It helped that I liked working with Jackson, and I also didn't mind working with Deuce. He was a pretty laid back guy, and it blew my mind how he was able to put up with the way his girlfriend acted. It seemed to me like Deuce genuinely loved her, though, so I guess it wasn't all that hard to imagine.

The last two classes of the day for me were film and History of the Undead. History of the Undead was rather boring, but film was not. The topic was sequels, which sparked an enthusiastic and long-running discussion among the students and even the teacher, who seemed delighted at the enthusiasm. Well, as long-running as it could've been in a 40-minute class, anyway.

The people in the class were Clawdeen, Frankie, Manny, Robecca, Gil and me, along with some other people whose names I didn't know. "Name one sequel that was better than the original," Clawdeen was saying, to which Gil immediately responded, "Shrek 2."

Clawdeen scoffed. "Debatable. The first one was almost too good to beat."

"What about The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter?" offered one girl, who was one of the twins that hung out with Toralei. This question received quite the negative response from the rest of the class, except Frankie, who was far too polite to even dream of mocking her.

"You actually like that movie?!" exclaimed Manny.

"Hey, III was much worse," I pointed out, "That movie never should have even been thought of. At least II had some sort of relevance to the first one, and the book...kind of."

"Yes, NeverEnding Story III definitely went off the rails a bit," agreed Robecca.

"A bit? No, a lot," corrected Manny.

"The one time I actually agree with him," I jabbed a thumb in Manny's direction.

"That actually brings us to a good point; movies may be terrible in quality, but they could still do well at the box office regardless," said the teacher, "Like, for instance, The NeverEnding Story III."

"Video games, too," added Gil, "Anyone here play The Sims 3? You know, the Normie video game for the PC?"

"Yes," I raised my hand, "And if you're thinking of the Stuff Pack I think you are...what a waste of hard-drive space."

"Which one are you referring to?" asked Gil. "Just so we're on the same page."

"Katy Perry's Sweet Treats."

"Alright, we're getting off topic," the teacher interjected, "Stick to movies, if you don't mind."

"Okay, well, the last thing I'll say is, watch LGR's review of Sweet Treats if you can; you'll have my opinion on it that way since I agree with him 100%," I tell Gil. I vaguely wondered how he would've played or even known about The Sims 3, but I didn't ask.

"LGR?" Gil raised his eyebrows in question.

"The Lazy Game Reviewer. He's a Normie who reviews video games; you can find him on Fright Tube."

"Oh, hey, getting back to movies," interjected Frankie, "Vampire Majesty IV? Oh, and the Twihard sequels were voltageous, too!"

"Vampire majesty IV...which one's that again?" asked Clawdeen, "That's the one they were working on when we found Elissabat, right?"

"I think so," replied Frankie, "If I'm remembering right, it came out right after you guys got back from that trip."

That was pretty much the entire class in a nutshell; we didn't get any actual work done thanks to that, although we did get assigned an essay on film sequels for homework. Once school was over, I spotted Jackson as he was closing his locker. But before I could make my way over to him, I felt someone tap my shoulder, and turned to see Frankie there. "Can I help you?" I asked her politely.

"I just want to know one thing," she said, "Please don't be offended by this, but...are you planning on hurting him in any way? It's just, I care about him a lot, and—"

"You have nothing to worry about from me," I cut across her, "I don't intend to do anything of the sort."

"I hope you're being truthful," Frankie replied, sincerity in her mismatched eyes, "For Jackson's sake."

"You'll see that I am," I said, "But even if you don't, that's fine. Take things as you will. I'm used to people not trusting me. And it's not like I can blame you for feeling that way." With that, I walked off to continue in Jackson's direction.

A/N: I'm not entirely sure whether the song fits the chapter or not, but I feel like it gets across Kieran's anger at the man who texted him, if nothing else. Hope you're all enjoying the story so far and look forward to reading the next chapter!

--ouatfan