• CHAPTER 3


    I trudge through the lunchroom, gripping onto my chicken noodle soup in the Styrofoam cup, with Jake’s skull and crossbones hood over my head.

    Yeah, I know. Weird. Well, the E.M.H.--Elite Monster Hunting--Headquarters had no extra outfits, so we looked through Jake’s truck and found some extras. My pants and shoes didn’t get covered, just my shirt. But there were only two extra shirts. So I was wearing my P.E. top and Jake’s jacket--I always thought it was cool anyway.

    I sit down at a small, round table in the corner of the room, where Jake and Aaron already sit with their food, while talking about their math teacher’s strange obsession with bunnies.

    “So, we’re still all going to the mall tonight, right?”

    “Psh yeah!” Aaron replies, picking up his water bottle full of cranberry juice.

    “It’s been a while since we’ve just hung out.” Jake adds, taking a bite of his sloppy joe--then frowning when all the contents fall out onto the light blue lunch tray when he picks it up.

    “Hey, Demi.” I hear a voice say from behind me. “I was wondering if you wanted to hang out tonight?”

    I turn around to face Damien and catch Aaron spitting out his mouthful of cranberry juice. We flinch as the drink sprays us all and I slowly wipe it off my face before grinning and replying, “Damien, that would be i--”

    “--Possible, impossible!” Jake cuts in as he stands up and takes my elbow again.

    “Jake, what are you doing?” I hiss through my teeth at him as I jerk to a stop.

    “You already promised you’d hang out with us, remember?” He replies, clearly annoyed.

    “Come on, Jake, just let her go with Damien.”

    “No! She promised!” Jake looks over my shoulder to where Damien stands, still by our table, and I watch as Jake’s average brown eyes narrow and his face sets in a glower. “I don’t like him, either.”

    I sigh, turn to where Damien waits, then walk up to him and say, “I’m really sorry, Damien, but I promised them that I’d go to the mall with them tonight. Maybe another time?”

    He smiles warmly at me and I my breath catches in my throat as he replies, “Okay, sure, whatever you’d like, Demi. And hey, I was thinking about going to the mall tonight either way--maybe I’ll see you there.”

    “That’d be nice.” We smile at each other again and suddenly I’m being pulled away by none other than Jake, and soon enough, I find myself fighting with him as we descend to HQ--deep below the school, the entrance an elevator like machine which we access through a busted up locker in a deserted hallway.

    “Can’t you be a little nice to him!?” I ask as the door opens.

    “No, because he’s a jackass!”

    “Says you!”

    “Says everybody! Demi, he’s a cheater, a player. He goes from girl to girl, dumping and moving on after he gets bored with the one he’s with. The only reason he likes you is because he’s probably bored with Stephanie and you’re hot.”

    I freeze as I’m walking across HQ to the giant screen/advanced computer, and stare at the back of Jake’s head. “Did you just say I’m hot?”

    “What? No! I said that Damien thinks you’re hot.” Jake turns around and protests.

    “No, you said, ‘The only reason he likes you is because bla bla bla you’re hot.”

    “I did not say or think that you’re hot!” Jake looks at Aaron for support. “Aaron, back me up here!”

    “Sorry, Jake, but Demi’s right.”

    “HA!!!” I yell and point.

    “Gah!” Jake groans.

    “What are you two going on about now?” Mr. Smith asks as he walks out from the monster chamber, where we hold monsters we have captured in cell type contraptions.

    “Jake won’t allow me to go out with Damien Holmes.”


    “Oh, come on, Demi!! He’s a total a*****e! You’re way better than him!!”

    “Oh please, Jake! What do you know about me that he doesn’t!?”

    Smith and Aaron share a look of annoyance as Jake replies, “Well, for starters, I know you’re a part of a secret monster hunting group below the school.”

    I give him a look and say, “Seriously, Jake.”

    Jake sighs and then launches into everything he knows, “Well, I know your favorite color is deep violet purple, your favorite snacks are honey graham crackers with homemade chocolate frosting during the day and Cocoa Pebbles at midnight--you don’t eat breakfast--, your favorite food is Domino’s cheesy bread, your favorite band is Evanescence and favorite song is Imaginary (by them), your favorite book is Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry, your favorite store is Hot Topic, your favorite drink is Nestle chocolate milk, your favorite candy is watermelon sour punch straws--”

    “Okay, I get it! You know things about me that he doesn’t! So what!? He just met me and he is obviously asking me out because he wants to find out more about me!”

    “Please, he only wants to try the Goth girl.” He mutters as he writes down the information about a monster we’re suspecting is lurking around town on a piece of paper. My jaw drops and I smack him in the back of his head with my journal. “OUCH!!”

    “Jerk!!” Is all I can say before I turn on my heels and walk over to the monster chamber to see how all the monsters are doing.

    I’m listening to Run, Don’t Walk by Hey Monday on my iPod as I’m scanning the Huggie Bear--a monster which looks very dangerous but only hug attacks you--when Jake walks into view. I look at him through the corner of my eyes, roll them and then walk in the opposite direction to scan the next monster.

    “Demi, listen, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that--

    “Yeah, of course, whatever.” I roll my eyes again as I start to scan, but my scanner blinks a few times and then shuts down. I bang it against my left hand--I’m right-handed, FYI--and then mutter, “Ah, great. No battery.”

    Jake appears by my side with his scanner and he scans the monster. Then he holds it out to me and I grab at it, but he pulls it away and gives me a look. “If you accept my apology and don’t hate me anymore, then I’ll give it to you.”

    I consider this for a moment with a disgruntled look on my face and then finally respond, “Fine, I forgive you.” I snatch the scanner and then add, “By the way, I’ve always hated you.”

    “Oh yeah.” He has a thoughtful look on his face and then we both end up laughing.

    “Hey, guys, bell’s about to ring.” Aaron shows up a distance away and throws us our backpacks. I hand the scanner back to Jake and we all make our way to the elevator, saying our goodbyes to Smith.

    We’re talking about everything we should do at the mall tonight--like where we should shop, what should we eat--as we walk through the doors to science. Then Aaron mutters to me, “Demi, earbuds.”

    “Oh, right!” I take the earbuds to my iPod out of my ears and shove them in the hoodie pocket. “Thanks.” We move to our lab table towards the back of the room and sit right when the bell rings.

    “How come they’re always, like, late?” I hear Stephanie whisper to Tiffany--now her new ‘best friend’, and a part of her mindless followers--and make a little gesture towards us.

    I roll my eyes and resist the urge I have to stand up right then and there and slap her and instead focus in on the teacher telling us about our big ecology project due next Friday.

    “So, we’re taking the far left side of the mall, then devouring the food court, and then finishing off with the right side?”

    “But Hot Topic is on the right side! Do I really have to wait the whole time to get there?”

    “Yes.” Both boys answer together as they start setting up our earthworm experiment and I get out some paper and pens.

    “Fine, then…we can go to Pink World first!”

    “NO!!!!!” They shout, then everybody turns to look at us. I cover my mouth with one hand, trying to muffle my laughter as they start to look really embarrassed. Then Jake adds, in a loud voice, “Uh, we mean, no, Demi, the earthworm did not come from Mars! Psh what?”

    I give them a ‘shut-the-hell-up-you’re-not-fooling-anybody-you’re-just-making-yourselves-look-even-more-dumb’ look, and they instantly stop talking and go back to the experiment, and I find myself smiling at my two best friends. Believe it or not, I'm glad I'm not friends with Stephanie or any of them anymore--and I'd rather hunt monsters than play the drums in some girly pop band anyway.