The Mrs. Woods Mystery

Chapter 5

"Where have you been? I was worried sick!" Dream's dad said angrily as she walked into the apartment. "Your school ended three hours ago."

"Sorry," Dream grumbled.

Her dad stood in front of her, crossing his arms. "Are you going to explain why you're home so late?"

"So I got detention..." Dream began.

"What?!" he nearly exploded. "Detention?! Dream Ariella Cadison, you are in big trouble. What did you do?"

Dream rolled her eyes. "First, I forgot to turn my phone onto silent when my teacher collected it at the beginning of class, and Chloe was bombarding me with texts, and apparently that 'disturbed the class'. Then, I dropped my eraser on the ground and said 'oh, gosh', which is apparently a profane word. And I failed to write down every single word my teacher said in class today. Oh, and did I mention the ten second conversation I had with the boy who sits next to me? Yeah, so I have seven weeks of detention. And yes, all of this happened in my first hour of school."

"Dream, this is no time for jokes," her dad narrowed his eyes angrily at her.

"I'm not joking," she huffed. "I'm telling you, this lady is horrible."

"'This lady' is not an appropriate way to refer to your teacher!"

"Everyone else at school calls her 'the witch'. I'm sure that's a more appropriate way to talk about her."

"Dream," he said, fuming. There might as well have been smoke coming from his ears and nostrils. "Stop talking back to me! You're grounded. For getting detention, and for not showing respect to me and your teacher. Now go to your room!"

With a huff, Dream walked across the hall to her room and slammed the door. Why was life so unfair?

But, she might as well finish up her homework. The homework that she basically completed during detention. She only had a few assignments left, anyways.

As she read through and edited her already-written essay and finished up the math worksheets, she couldn't help but think about what Savannah and Axel said about Mrs. Woods.

"It's rumored she's a witch."

"My mom had to specifically request for me to not be placed in Mrs. Woods's class."

She also couldn't help but think about Francesca, either.

"Don't mess with her. If you can, stay as far away from her as you can. She's been mean and nasty since kindergarten. Don't be fooled by her innocent face."

"Never--ever--mess with Francesca Baren. It will never turn out the way you want it to."

Life at this new school was one experience Dream will never forget.

---

"Can I come in?"

Dream sighed. "Yeah, Dad."

He opened the door. "I'm sorry. I went on the school website, and turns out, there have been many parent complaints about your teacher. Mrs. Woods, right?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder why she hasn't been fired yet."

"That's a real mystery. Everyone at school hates her and feels sorry for anyone who gets put in her class."

"I'm sorry for yelling at you. Do you want to go get some food? We can go to the Burger Grill that's just three blocks away."

Dream smiled. "That would be nice." Just her and her dad, without his work getting in the way, for once.

---

"Yo, Dream!" a voice called from the counter as she and her dad walked in.

"Sawyer?" Dream said, recognizing him. "You work here?"

"Yep," Sawyer said, popping the "p". "What would you like today?"

"Two medium burgers," Dream's dad ordered, looking at the menu. "Two large fries, and two regular drinks."

"Okay, coming up, Mr. Cadison."

Dream's dad chuckled. "Looks like you've made a friend on your first day. That's an improvement."

Dream shrugged. "Yeah. You'd be surprised. Some of the kids at Pebblebrook Creek are actually really nice."

Sawyer returned with their order. "Here you go."

"Does Savannah work here too?" Dream asked.

"Nah," Sawyer said. "She's way too lazy."

Dream raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, she has ballet and gymnastics after school. I don't really have any extracurriculars, and I'm saving up to buy some games, so I figured, why not get a job? Besides, it's kind of fun working here."

"Good to know," Dream said, just as her dad's phone started ringing.

"Hello? Mr. Anderson? Oh, no," he said. "Dream, honey, we're going to need to leave now. Something terrible has happened."

Dream shrugged glumly at Sawyer. "Bye,"

"No problem," Sawyer said. "See you at school tomorrow!"

---

A/N

Hey everyone! Here's Chapter 5. I know it's kind of slow right now, but I promise there's going to be drama starting in the next chapter, so stay tuned for that!

I might not be online for the next few days because debate tournament! Yay! (note the sarcasm) 

But please vote and comment anyways! It means a lot when you guys do that! 😄

Anyways, thanks y'all for reading!!

💙, Stella Rose