Abigail Rath Versus Bloodsucking Fiends

This girl was a magnet, and she was Coral, my limbo nemesis.  “Marty, what kind of name is Coral anyway?”
“A nice one.”
“If you’re from under the sea. Come on. We don’t need to be part of the groupie experience.”
We passed the principal’s office. “I have to stop in here,” I said.
“Why?”
I winced. Marty was going to think less of me, which was bad. “I wasn’t sick on Friday. I...skipped school.” There was a lump in my throat when I said that, a pressure in my chest which made me feel like I was having the junior high version of cardiac arrest. This feeling is also familiar in situations where you momentarily forget the answers on a test, or you discover spinach has been in your teeth for longer than an hour.
Marty’s demeanor changed. “Why would you do that?”
“Well, Vince asked me to help him with a problem…” I scratched my head.
“Oh, Abby. Unwise. That’s a week of detention…”
“Which I am going to go set up now. I will see you in class.”
“You are aware that this school has an honor code?”
“Yes, I am aware of the honor code.” Cockroaches in the basement at Wolcroft were aware of the honor code.
“Bev isn’t going to like this.”
Marty was right. Detention would keep me out of field hockey this week, which was probably something I should have thought about before the Ned excursion too.
My interview with Ms. Cheever confirmed that hockey was out. Every day, detention in the library until five. Reflection essays on the nature of my crime. Zeros for all homework this week, although I had to do it. While I wasn’t going to write anything about the real reason I skipped, I was expected to show on paper my reform from a juvenile delinquent to an academic go getter, even though I hadn’t been a hoodlum on Thursday before my adventure. Life was funny. I hadn’t realized that detention would be so punitive.
My first class of the day was science. I love science, because there are always ways to subvert the purposes of legitimate science to monster-hunting techniques. Science teachers liked me. My labs and tests were covered with comments like “Very good, Abby!” and “Exemplary work!” I credit my mom interesting me in science at an early age.
I plopped down by Marty and pulled out my notebook. The curves of the metal spiral were bent at the top and the bottoms, the wear of a tough year. At the back of the room, several girls were still attached to the super popular Coral. She waggled some fingers at me in a gesture of greeting. I waved fingers back and remembered to be aggravated at her again.
Honestly, she could win at limbo, but to threaten my record like that? I had to win next week and have a victory Coke with William, provided Mom wasn’t at the rink. Not that a Coke would be a date.
At the front of the room, Mrs. Lester in a white lab coat tapped the computer screen to record attendance. The smart board behind her broadcasted the Wolcroft crest, shining navy against white. She peered at me over the tops of her glasses. “Abby?”
“Yes?”
“Unexcused absence?”
“Yes.”
There was some murmuring. “Okay. See me about making up Friday’s homework, and keep up.”
That would be all I would get from Mrs. Lester in way of reprimand. She was super cool and quirky. She didn’t hunt monsters, but she could have.
The last bell rang. Students took their seats, models of attentiveness. “Settle down.” Mrs. Lester went for the classic get busy as soon as you entered the room technique. I opened my notebook, wrote the date at the top of the page, positioned my Monster High eraser up in the left corner of my desk, and poised my Hello Kitty pencil.
“First things first. Coral?”
Graceful as a reed on a riverbank, Coral floated to vertical by her desk. “Hello. My name is Coral Petrova. I’m from Portland. I’m looking forward to studying here.” She floated back down. A dozen pairs of eyes followed her movement.
You know, no girl should look that perfect, move that perfectly. The Abigail Rath of last Friday night would have decided she was a monster, at least a siren or something.
To be honest, the Abigail Rath of Monday still thought she might be. Everyone’s reaction to both her and her brother was to be spellbound. I mean, I was impressed with William, and I’m not impressed with boys in general. However, I had just been read the riot act, and I was supposed stay out of the monster game. If these two were supernatural creatures, I would let it ride, because they were nice. Or, if they were supernatural and I had proof, I would call my parents, which was lame, but would keep me out of trouble.
I knew they weren’t vampires. Vampires have to sleep in a coffin during the day, right? I leaned my head on my hand, propped up by my elbow, and Mrs. Lester began our test review. Loss of Electrons is Oxidation. Gaining of Electrons is Reduction. To remember, all you have to say is LEO says GER. I know! Pretty advanced stuff, right?
On Wednesday after detention, I shouldered my bookbag and headed out into the fading light. Mom waited in the car for me. I clambered into the front seat.
“Is your homework done?”
“Of course.”
“It’s just you and me tonight,” she said. “We’re going to the mall.”
Last night, after a disastrous attempt of Mom trying to paint my nails, I had this idea that I would make my mother pay for ordinary girl training. I would buy fashion magazines and fawn over pictures of women and super models. She would hate me. How ironic those activities would have been playing right into her hands