Beheaded In Biology, Kennedy Harkins [children's books read aloud .TXT] 📗

to pull up a chair and give him a hand.
I grinned, that was so Mr. Kerr. The bell rang, shaking me from my thoughts. Waving to Kole and Nathan, I exchanged numbers with Kira and made plans to get together tomorrow after school. I was starting to really like her; she had a sweet way about her. Something lacking in most teenage girls. Why do you think my closest friends are guys? I love being female, but most of the time, I can’t stand the members of my own sex.
Gathering my empty folder and multiple subject’s notebook from my locker, I hustled to the west wing of the high school. The biology room was technically on the second floor, but since it was the only room up there, I really don’t think it counts as a whole 'nother floor. People generally refer to it as ‘the Terrible Tower’.
“Afternoon, Mr. Kerr.” I said brightly, because despite his personal issues, he was my favorite teacher. He could be funny; he treated me with the respect you would show a colleague. Not to mention all the knowledge he had to share.
“Ah, Gabi. I was very pleased to see your name on my roster this semester.”
“Yeah, should be fun.” He smiled and motioned me to a seat in the front row. The rest of the class piled in with the usual looks of dread on their faces. While I enjoy actual experiments to learning about organisms, science is my thing, so I could never hate this class. Mr. Kerr started out by talking about what we'd be learning about over the next few weeks, someone raised their hand and asked about the science fair. I straightened in my seat.
Doing a science project was one of the main reasons I was taking this class, apart from need at least four years of some kind of science. I love doing the experiments, it’s probably my favorite activity academically.
Like I said, science is my thing.

_____

Gym was an event. Trust Mr. Chandler to make us run the mile on the first day. Afterwards, we set up the nets and went over the basics of volleyball. Pass, set, hit, and all that jazz. I’ve never been a natural athlete, too little muscle content and even less interest. Doesn’t really bother me, my team learned to work around me.
The worst part about gym is the freshman. It’s the only class where there’s a mix of all ages of kids. I’m not a snob, I was the newbie not too long ago. However, there's something I’ve come to notice about freshman boys. They’re wild, irresponsible, and when you get in their path, people get hurt.
Which is exactly what happened to me.
A couple of children were messing around with the volleyball-training machine in the corner. You know, the thing that shoots balls out at ungodly speeds? Great idea, geniuses. One of them thought it would be fun to put a volleyball in it. Where was Mr. Chandler through this? Somewhere over the rainbow, but definitely not supervising.
Hearing a whoosh sound, I turned towards the noise. Big mistake, because the next thing I heard was the smack of leather hitting flesh.
My flesh.
A white-hot pain spread across my face, I inhaled sharply. It hurt. I unlocked my knees and tried to breathe through the agony. I felt a wetness on my face. Blood. Those bastards had given me a bloody nose.
The perfect end to my first day, I thought before a crowd of worried students enveloped me.

Chapter Two:

I had to shake off Charlie, one of Nathan’s football friends, before I could exit the gym by myself. The last thing I wanted was a nickname out of this whole ordeal. Walking through the deserted hallways, I kept my head down to avoid notice from the crowded classrooms.
The nurse’s office was painted a dismal blue; it was like being underwater... in a drowning sense.
Grabbing a few tissues from the counter, I dabbed up the excess blood. At least the bleeding had stopped. I looked at my shirt and grimaced. Knew it was a bad idea to wear white on the first day. Like putting a giant target on your back.
“Hi, Gabi. Mrs. Druence told me you were back here. Nasty bleeder you got there. Gym?” Ms. Breck opened the door and moved closer to get a better look at my nose. Her brunette bun was messy and locks of her hair fell into her glasses. She wore a cream-colored sweater and black dress pants. Mrs. Beck looked like any other 20-something year old teacher: inexperienced and sweet.
“Yep. I don’t think it’s broken, though.” I winced when her cool fingers prodded the sensitive flesh.
“You’re right; it doesn’t appear to be anything but a bloody nose. I’ll just give you an ice pack and get you back to class.” Her voice was soft and melodic, soothing to the ears.
She grabbed an ice-filled bag and tossed it to me. “Sounds good, Ms. B,” I opened the door out of the nurses office.
“Nice seeing you. Stay out of trouble, Ms. Page.” The last part she added with a sly look, I returned it with a knowing grin.
Walking into the commons, I looked at the clock: half an hour left of school. Great. As I turned to head back to gym, I saw a familiar pixie hairstyle.
“Kara? Shouldn’t you be in class?” Her almond shaped eyes snapped up from her book.
“Shouldn’t you?” She said accusingly, her eyes taking in my scarlet covered appearance. “I have an open period,” Answering my earlier question.
“And you stayed here? Girl, you have no life.” Making a split second decision, I continued, “Come on, let’s blow this Popsicle stand.”
One glance at my blood soaked shirt, and the office receptionist waved us through the front door, her eyes saying, they really don’t pay me enough for this job.
Kara and I hopped in Grandma’s car. Pulling out of the school’s parking lot, I made my way through town.
The park wasn’t far from the school. Of course, in Albany nothing is far from the school. The air was crisp and reminded me that fall was just around the corner.
“This is where you spend your free time?” Kara asked incredulously.
“Don’t seem the type, do I?” I mused. Bobbed her head, agreeing with me.
Turning towards Jocelyn Park, I took in the playground equipment, the comfortable benches, and the beautiful garden that sported everything from trees to sunflowers. The funding for it had taken years to accumulate, but was well worth the wait.
“It’s peaceful here,” Kara observed with a quiet kind of admiration.
“Like nothing bad can touch you.”
“I could use a little of that right now.”
Smiling, I sent Kara to find a place to sit, while I grabbed an extra shirt that I (thankfully) always kept in the car. After I’d changed, I found Kara sitting in one of my favorite spots: the swing set.
“You’re a girl after my own heart,” I said as I took a seat on the swing next to her’s. “So, tell me about Chicago.”
A slight hesitation, “It’s beautiful there, my favorite place in the world. A million things to do, and go. It almost makes you believe anything is possible.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
Kara’s smile was dazzling and brightened her whole face, “I think so. What about you, how long have you lived in Albany?”
“Oh, forever. Or at least it seems that way sometimes.” The happy expression faded from my face, “My parents died in a car crash when I was little, so I came to live with my grandma. Been here ever since.” I tried to keep my voice matter-of-fact. I hadn’t really wanted to get this deep on our first outing, but then she asked about my past, and anything I could have come up with that left out my parent’s death would’ve felt like a lie. At least to me, anyway.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, I shouldn’t have said anything.” Nice going, Gabi. This is why you don’t have any girlfriends.
“No, it was... honest. My dad passed away a couple years ago. Cancer. People should talk about it more, instead of tiptoeing around the subject.”
Oh, yeah, Kara was definitely my kind of girl.
_____

As it turned out, Kara and I had a lot more in common than I would’ve thought. After going through the usual stepping-stones of getting to know each other- music, movies, embarrassing moments, pet peeves- it was clear “our friendship was destined to be”. Her words, not mine.
Leaning back on the swing, I said, “Well, you’ve passed all my tests, and I’m having a hard time finding something wrong with you. Apart from your Justin Bieber fixation, that is.”
“You should give him a chance,” Kara protested. “And I’m not the one who has a crush on a fictional character.”
“I told you about Batman and I in confidence!” My outraged expression must have been pretty good, because she laughed immediately.
I came to the realization that it was almost completely dark out and that the park was deserted. “We should probably head out. I’ll give you a ride home.” Kara nodded her head and zipped up her jacket after a frigid gust of wind turned to night from cool to freezing.
Hustling towards the car, I almost missed the strange high-pitched whistle.
Unfortunately, Kara didn’t.
“What was that?” Her head whipped towards the noise. “Hello? Is someone there?” She moved closer to the bushes. An uneasy feeling unfurled in my stomach.
I shouldn’t be here.
“Kara, we need to leave.” My tone was colored with a bit of desperation and a whole lot of fear.
She continued as if she hadn’t heard me, walking through the shrubbery. I blinked, and she was swallowed up by the trees and darkness. “Kara!”
No response.
Muttering something, that Grandma would have described as “unbecoming language for a young lady”. I hesitated for a fraction of second before following her.
Through the forest.
Alone.
Just like those low IQ blondes from the horror flicks.
I could see the faint outline of Kara a few yards in front of me, but it was too dark to see much else. My heartbeat was an unsteady fluttering in my chest, the deeper in the trees we got, the faster it stuttered.
As we kept moving, the whistling got louder and clearer. Becoming more of a haunting music note, that enchanted as well as frightened the listener. It was beautiful. And terrifying.
In fact, I was so caught up in the unexpected harmony of it, I didn’t notice immediately when I lost sight of Kara.
I stopped and turned in a small circle. Squinting against the darkness, I willed my eyes to pick her out again amongst the endless wilderness. “Kara?” The wind seemed to take my words before they were out of my mouth.
Totally freaked out, and trying not to panic, I fished my cellphone out of my purse. Dialing Kara’s number, I listened for a ringing.
Nothing.
_____

I moved through the forest silently. I wasn’t sure how I knew, or whether it should bother me or not, but I was sure Gabi wasn’t behind me anymore. The thought should have stopped me cold. Who knew what was in these woods? But it didn’t.
All I could think about was that voice. Calling to me.
“Hello,