A Night without Stars Read online

  “You are the new student I presume?”

  “Yes,” she replied. She could feel all the eyes burning through her.

  The man nodded. “Wonderful,” he smiled then gestured to some empty seats. “I don’t really have a seating plan. Make yourselves at home. After all, this is home room,” he jested, and then he chuckled to himself.

  As they took seats near the middle of the room, Rick leaned towards Autumn.

  “One thing you should know about Mr. Brown is he makes horrible jokes and then laughs at them, like they are actually funny.”

  Autumn nodded. “Noted.”

  “If we have Mrs. Creeden for math, you will notice she is obsessed with her pet bird. It’s like a parrot or something,” Rick went on as they sat down. “She has a picture of it on her desk and one time she brought it to class and all it did was squawk and call us delinquents.”

  Rick sighed. “That bird knows bigger words then I do.”

  Rick went on, talking about more quirky teachers at Whitan High.

  Mr. Belfour, who enjoyed dressing up as a woman every Halloween.

  “He walks better in heels than a chick, which makes me think he’s had lots of practice,” Rick said.

  Then there was Mr. Beachum, the gym teacher, who Rick suspected was taking steroids.

  Ten minutes passed, and Mr. Brown began class.

  “Good morning everyone,” he started, just as the classroom door swung open.

  Autumn frowned when she saw Ben Mills and one of his buddies sauntering in.

  “Gentleman, how nice of you to join us,” Mr. Brown said curtly. “Let me suggest you avoid being late again or you will be making up the time in detention. Now, find a seat.”

  Ben rolled his eyes and found a seat beside a tiny girl with red hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a clingy, white mini dress and too much eyeliner.

  “Hey baby,” Ben said, leaning towards the girl and giving her a kiss. Autumn cringed as some guys in the class wolf whistled. She was pretty sure she saw tongue and trace amounts of slobber.

  “That is nasty,” Autumn muttered and Rick nodded in agreement.

  “Who is she?”

  “That’s Candice Kincaid,” Rick whispered. “Ben’s girlfriend for the day.”

  Mr. Brown cleared his throat loudly.

  “Mr. Mills, I don’t believe I instructed you to kiss Ms. Kincaid. Enough shenanigans or I will send you to the office. After last year, you must be sick of that place.”

  “Sorry Mr. B,” Ben muttered, a small smirk on his face.

  Autumn watched Ben, repulsed. He saw her looking at him and winked, blowing her a kiss. Autumn made a gagging gesture with her finger before she turned away.

  “Now, we can begin. Most of you already know me. I am Mr. Brown, and I want to welcome you all to grade twelve,” he said. “This will be your last year at Whitan High. Unless you choose to slack off, in which case, I might be seeing you again next year.”

  Autumn who was sitting directly beside Rick saw him flinch at this, his eyes filled with terror.

  “So, I urge you not to assume you will get through this year without any hard work. You are by no means home free yet,” he tapped his fingers on his desk for emphasis.

  “Now I’m going to pass out your schedules for the semester. If you have any questions, please talk to me or your guidance counselor. If you are wondering who your designated counselor is, it will be written on said schedule.”

  Autumn and Rick received their schedules and began comparing. Autumn was relieved to see they had every class together, minus last period, which was their elective.

  “You took English,” Rick said. “Reading and writing. No surprise there.”

  Autumn looked at Rick’s elective. “Video communications Ricky?” She smirked.

  “Yeah. I like filming things and besides, how hard can it be?” Rick said. “I bet it’s a bird course.”

  Mr. Brown went on to read the daily announcements.

  After he was finished, class was dismissed and Autumn and Rick headed to math class with Mrs. Creeden.

  After Rick’s tale, Autumn couldn’t help but picture her wearing an eye patch, pet parrot on her shoulder, calling them all scallywags.

  She wasn’t like that of course.

  Mrs. Creeden was a slender lady, who looked to be in her early fifties. She had long blonde hair and wore a bright yellow peasant dress.

  “Look at her desk,” Rick whispered when they had taken their seats. Autumn looked and sure enough there was a huge picture of a multi-colored bird. Its wings extended majestically and its beak open. The picture’s frame was heart shaped.

  Mrs. Creeden, who was bubbly and excitable, did roll call and like Mr. Brown, she welcomed Autumn to the school.

  She talked about the year’s curriculum (Equations, fractions and algebra, all forms of torture) and handed out outlines to everyone. Autumn, who was good at math but hated it, knew her sister was right. She had pointed out that math was probably the language in hell.

  Near the end of class, Mrs. Creeden started a discussion about summer break.

  “I hope you all had a fabulous holiday,” she said, smiling brightly.

  “Does anyone want to share what they did with the class?”

  A few of the students raised their hands and began talking about what they did over break.

  “I had a very relaxing summer myself,” Mrs. Creeden said, her eyes lighting up. “My pet bird Ruffles and I, went to visit my mother out in the country. Ruffles loved the fresh air and watching the other animals roam about.”

  Rick’s face went slack. “Here we go,” he muttered.

  Mrs. Creeden went on, saying she was teaching Ruffles math.

  “He has quite the vast vocabulary like many Macaws, but he’s not the best with numbers.”

  One of the students raised her hand. “Yes dear,” Mrs. Creeden said.

  “Can birds really do math?”

  “Of course dear,” Mrs. Creeden replied. “I’m sure not all birds can do math, but my Ruffles is exceptionally sharp.”

  Rick leaned into Autumn. “I feel sorry for Ruffles. I can’t learn math with my human brain can you imagine what it would be like with a bird brain?”

  Autumn giggled as the bell rang.

  When math class was finished, Autumn and Rick went to their assigned lockers. Autumn plugged in her combination and opened her locker up, shoving her math book inside.

  “Dude, that was brutal,” Autumn looked over to see Nathaniel.

  Rick shut his locker, which was a few over from Autumn’s. “Did you get homework already?”

  “Hell’s no. However, all this talk of learning,” Nathaniel held his head in pain. “It’s giving me a migraine.”

  “We can go skateboard after school,” Rick said excitedly. “Right Aut?” He looked at her expectantly.

  “Nope! I’ve already made an ass of myself on a skateboard once. I’m out. Besides, you might have homework. The day isn’t over yet,” she grinned mischievously.

  After they had dropped off their belongings, Rick, Autumn and Nathaniel headed to the cafeteria for lunch. Rick opened the doors, unleashing noise that was overwhelming. Sitting in rows upon rows of tables, were hordes of students, chattering and eating.

  Autumn was nervous, seeing all the strangers that filled the room. It was asinine to feel so panicked with Rick and Nathaniel by her side, but the sea of unknown faces and the foreign surroundings, made her uneasy.

  Autumn was deep in thought when she felt someone bump into her gently.

  “Sorry,” she murmured. When she looked at the culprit, she saw a rather handsome specimen before her eyes. He was tall, with long dark hair and brown eyes that met hers, only for a split second.

  “You could say excuse me King!” Nathaniel scolded him as he went
past.

  The boy turned to looking back at them, smiling coyly before disappearing into the clusters of students.

  “That kid is so weird,” Rick muttered when he was out of earshot.

  “His name is King?” Autumn wondered aloud.

  He did look a little peculiar, but he was cute based on the quick glimpse she got of him.

  “No. Eric King,” Nathaniel said. “No one really talks to him and he ignores everyone. It’s a win win.”

  Autumn looked at Rick, perplexed, hoping for more information as they began moving towards an empty table.

  “Basically, people are scared of him,” Rick went on as they sat down.

  “All these rumours went around about him. That he’s evil and stuff like that.”

  Autumn looked at them both in disbelief, trying her best not to laugh. “Evil? Really?”

  “Yeah well, just because he doesn’t wear a shirt saying he’s evil, doesn’t mean he isn’t,” Nathaniel said, looking somewhat offended by Autumn’s skepticism.

  Autumn shrugged. “I thought he was kind of cute.”

  Nathaniel and Rick exchanged troubled looks. “Autumn, my parents are pretty liberal, but if you bring home Eric King, I think they might worry about you.”

  “I never said anything about bringing him home,” Autumn reassured him. “He’s cute. That’s all.”

  “Nathaniel is a far better choice,” Rick went on. “He’s funny and he can skateboard! Plus, I’ve already brought him home so you don’t have to worry about that part.”

  Changing the subject, Rick began digging in his lunch bag, only to be letdown by its contents.

  “Only three ham and cheese sandwiches and an apple?” He looked disappointed.

  Autumn pulled out her one ham and cheese sandwich and rolled her eyes.

  “Rick, have you ever considered you might have a tapeworm?”

  Rick was already devouring his feast. “What’s a tapeworm?”

  “It’s a parasite and it basically feeds on everything you eat, and you never feel full,” Autumn explained.

  “Dude! That totally sounds like you!” Nathaniel exclaimed.

  Rick’s face went white, and he stopped chewing: “You really think I have that?”

  “No Rick,” Autumn said. “I was joking. Relax.”

  “That was mean Aut,” he said sternly and went back to stuffing his food down.

  When lunch was over, Autumn and Rick said goodbye to Nathaniel and went into the gymnasium for gym class. Though they entered the room together, they were quickly separated. Girls were seated at one side and boys at the other.

  “Good luck,” Rick murmured as Autumn went to join the other girls on the bleachers.

  Autumn sat down, smiling at everyone genially. A few minutes later, a woman came through the gym’s double doors. Dressed in a grey tracksuit, she was tall, lean, and had her brown hair pulled into a ponytail.

  She gave the girls a sidelong glance before smiling.

  “Good afternoon,” she began. “Some of you may already know me but for those of you who don’t, I am Ms. Baxter.”

  “Now, first thing is first. I have your uniforms here. I want everyone to come up and pick their size then go into the change rooms and get suited up. When everyone is done, I will take attendance, and then we can commence.”

  Autumn, who was first in line to get her uniform, immediately went to the change room and quickly slipped into a dark tank top that had the school logo on it and the matching shorts.

  She made her way out to the gym and awaited the rest of the class. When they were all congregated, Ms. Baxter did roll call. Afterwards, she said they would be starting class with light sprinting.

  “Would it be fair to assume you have all heard the tale of the tortoise and the hare?” She began, standing in front of them, hands on her hips.

  Most of the girls nodded.

  “The moral of the story was, slow and steady wins the race,” Ms. Baxter said matter-of-factly. “But the truth is, that quick little hare is in shape! That slacking tortoise?” She paused, her face deadpan. “It will be dead by a hundred. So let’s push it out there!”

  As Autumn began stretching, she looked over at the other side of the gym. Rick was already in uniform and doing drills with his teacher.

  Autumn tried her best not to laugh when he waved at her excitedly. She waved back at him, smiling.

  Rick’s gym teacher was scary.

  He had broad shoulders, a shaved head and wore a red polo shirt with the symbol of the school hawk on it. His muscles bulged out from the sleeves, looking monstrous and unnatural.

  He never stopped pacing and was constantly yelling out commands.

  “Hey! You! Pass the ball to your teammate!”

  “I told you ten reps not five!”

  “Boy, tie your shoelaces! You could fall and die!”

  When gym class was done, Autumn couldn’t have been happier. Her body felt warm and alive after her burst of exercise. She quickly showered and headed to English.

  Ever since Autumn was a child, she was had been in love with books. While most kids watched television, Autumn preferred curling up with a good book.

  Rick was waiting for Autumn outside the change room when she came out. When he saw her, he grinned.

  “You looked so cute jogging,” he teased. Autumn nudged him playfully.

  “Please. I looked like a total spaz.”

  “That’s not what some of the guys were saying,” Rick began and Autumn gave him a withering look.

  “I will pass on hearing the macho locker room talk.”

  Rick looked at her incredulously. “If I heard them saying anything disrespectful about you, do you think I would allow it? They were just saying how pretty the new girl is.”

  Autumn flushed. “They’re clearly delusion.”

  Rick walked Autumn to English before jetting off to his class. Before she stepped inside, Autumn ran her fingers through her hair and took a deep breath.

  Then she opened the door and stepped inside, heading for the desk closet to the back of the class.

  Once she was seated, she began looking around the room, scanning for people she might recognize from her previous classes.

  She was still looking around when he walked in.

  Tall, dark, handsome and apparently strange, it was Eric King.

  She got a much better look at him this time, and he was wearing grey jeans, a T-shirt and a black trench coat. Her heart raced a little when he sat beside her.

  Not long after Eric came in, a petite lady with shoulder-length red hair arrived.

  With her porcelain skin and bright blue eyes, she reminded Autumn of a classic doll.

  She took attendance quickly and then sat on the edge of her desk.

  “Good afternoon everyone. I’m Mrs. Reid and this is advanced English,” she said, looking around the room.

  “For those of you who enjoy literature, this is going to be an interesting class. We will be delving into everything, from Shakespeare to Anne Rice. You will quickly learn that I shy away from the traditional high school reading lists. This is because I like diversity and originality,” she went on. “However, there are always classic books on my list.”

  Mrs. Reid asked the class to make a list of their top five favorite books.

  Autumn pulled out her pen and notebook and began.

  She was so caught up in thinking about her list that when the bell rang, she couldn’t believe an hour had passed. When she turned to say something, anything, to the cryptic Eric, he was long gone.

  Autumn walked to her locker with a smile on her face. She had made it through the day. At her old school, there was always at least one Nikki-related incident but here it was all smooth sailing. The freedom of having a clean slate, in a place where no one knew her, was enough to
make her euphoric.

  When she arrived at her locker, Rick was leaning against it, looking miserable.

  “Excuse me sad sack, I need in there,” Autumn said teasingly. Rick moved lethargically, eyes on his sneakers. “Fine.”

  “What’s wrong with you?” she asked, as she began spinning her lock.

  “I got video communications homework,” he said unhappily. “On the first day of school, I got homework!”

  “And you are blaming me?” Autumn asked, putting her books away.

  “You cursed me!” Rick replied. “You said I might get homework and boom! I did!”

  “So? What is it?” Autumn asked as she shut her locker door. “That class is your elective. It can’t be that bad.”

  “I have to video record something interesting to show the class,” Rick said as they began walking away from the lockers.

  “And it’s due tomorrow?” Autumn asked.

  “In two weeks,” Rick said. “And it has to be ten minutes long, minimum.”

  “So? You have time to work on it,” Autumn said reassuringly. “Nate and I can help you.”

  Rick brightened at this idea.

  “You would help me?” He asked.

  “Of course Ricky,” Autumn said as they headed towards the back doors to meet Nathaniel. “I am your tutor.”

  When they arrived at the back doors, Nathaniel was already there, looking like he was ready to escape.

  “Hey!” he said urgently. “I thought today was never going to end! Let’s go!”

  “And just think, we only have until June, and it’s all over,” Autumn teased.

  Nathaniel groaned. “Buzz kill.”

  “Did you get any homework man?” Rick asked as they made their way out the doors and towards the back parking lot.

  “Nope,” Nathaniel said grinning. Then he paused, looking grim. “Why? Did you dude?”

  Rick nodded. “I have to record something interesting for my video communications class.”

  Nathaniel looked thoughtful. “Something interesting?”

  “Yep and it has to be at least ten minutes long.”

  After a few seconds of silence, Nathaniel’s eyes lit up.

  “Dude! I know! Record Autumn.”

  Autumn looked at Nathaniel, bewildered. She didn’t like the sound of this.