Summer Ghoul: Tales From Lovecraft Middle School #5

Chapter 1

"Summer school???" exclaimed Robert.

"I'm sorry, honey," said his mother, "but I just got a letter in the mail." She handed it to him.

It said:

Dear Mr. Arthur,

Due to your poor performance last semester, you are hereby required to attend H.P. Lovecraft Middle School summer school. Please report to the main office on June 1st.

Regards,

The Principal

Robert groaned. His summer plans went up in flames before his eyes. He and his friend Glenn Torkells had resolved to plan this summer to find a way to defeat the evil interdimensional monsters running the school.

He ran to Glenn's house, still clutching the letter. He ran up the dilapidated steps and knocked on the rusty screen door. Glenn's mother answered. 

"Oh, hello, Robert. How are you?"

"I'm fine Mrs. Torkells. Thank you for asking. Is Glenn here?"

"Honey! Robert is here!"

Glenn came to the door. From the look on his face, Robert knew the answer to his question. He asked it anyway. "Do you have to go to summer school too?"

"Yes!" said Glenn. "Can you believe this?" He shook his head. "We should have been prepared. We should have seen this coming."

"But how? Our grades were fine."

"Well, at least you'll be happy about it," said Glenn. Robert detected some bitterness in his best friend's voice.

"What? Why would I be happy about summer school ... oh." He would be at least happy to spend the summer with his girlfriend Karina Ortiz. Karina had become a ghost at age thirteen and could not leave the school grounds where she had perished. She and Robert had liked each other instantly. It didn't take long before they were an item. Needless to say, Glenn was a little jealous.

"I'm not. I'm NOT jealous." Glenn crossed his arms, which didn't work out well for the ice pop he was holding. It was hot. Mrs. Torkell had provided some brightly colored freeze pops.

Glenn wiped it off his shoulder. "At least not of you having a girlfriend. I could care less about a girlfriend. It's losing my best friend that I'm jealous of. Mom! Bring me another freeze pop, please! I know I'm being stupid. I know that Karina has been alone all this time. But I can't help it. I was alone, too, you know."

They sat for a while, enjoying the popsicles. Summer had come on with strength, overpowering spring and putting the town of Dunwich in a noogie hold. Even the breezes from the ocean that was the town's main draw seemed to have stopped. There were very few summer tourists there, an unusual event that saw the seasonal ice-cream, fudge shops, and seafood restaurant owners grumbling and unhappy about the lack of summer tourist dollars.

TO BE CONTINUED