Lily Wong Ch. 14

Chapter 14

Skipping Class

It was an early and bright morning with the sun shining brilliantly into the classroom through the window panes. So much so that Lily felt that the ceiling lights were a waste of electricity as she looked around.

"Say, where's Eddie?" she asked.

She had searched the whole classroom but didn't find him anywhere.

Viv shrugged and said, "Maybe he's running late?"

"But isn't that his roommate over at the back corner?" Lily asked.

Viv craned her neck and spotted a round-faced, curly blond-haired boy sitting all in his lonesome at the elevated back of the room. It was Eddie's roommate, Sam. They locked eyes for a brief moment and then Sam turned away and looked down at his book.

Lily remarked, "He's not looking very chipper this morning."

"He must still drowsy," said Viv. "Probably didn't get enough sleep last night because of video games or something."

If Viv was right, Sam wasn't the only one extremely drowsy this morning. Ten minutes after the bell rang, the door swung open and in trudged Uncle Viceroy, hunchbacked. His eyes were bleary, squinty, and had dark bags under them. On normal days, he'd be singing greetings to his students while dancing to his table like a character from a Disney movie. Either that or come in playing a random instrument like the trombone. But instead, he just walked straight over to the closest student and handed him the stack of papers he had brought tucked underneath his armpit.

"Take one and pass it down," he mumbled to the boy.

It looked like he hadn't even shaved today.

After letting out a big yawn, he told all the students, "As soon as you get one, start reading. It's today's announcements."

As the paper stack went from one person to the next, slowly shrinking, Uncle Viceroy walked over to his own table, dragging his feet. He dropped down on his chair which made a loud squeak from the sudden strain of his weight, and then put a blindfold over his eyes. He hung his head back and immediately started snoring. Loudly.

Everyone all looked at him and then down at the paper in their hands. A short second later, chatter erupted and the students all started doing their own thing, whipping out their smartphones to text or play games, talking with their friends about the TV shows they watched last night, drawing artwork in their notebooks, and desperately trying to catch up on overdue homework. A few honor students followed Uncle Viceroy's instructions and read through the announcement on the paper handouts.

Lily, however, was still worried about Eddie's absence and debated whether or not to go speak to Sam. But before she could make a final decision, Sam stood up and reluctantly walked down to the teacher's table. In his hands was a paper handout which he placed at the edge of the history teacher's desk. Lily watched and felt an itch in her nose.

Sam moved as quietly as he could. But when he turned away, Lily unleashed a loud sneeze that echoed off the walls. Everyone heard her, including Uncle Viceroy who awoke with a snort.

Lily sank down sheepishly, feeling embarrassed. As her Uncle Viceroy reached up to pull off his blindfold, everyone else scrambled to hide their phones and game consoles, and tried to look like they were doing school stuff before it was too late. Sam, however, could not get back up to his seat in time and froze when he heard the history teacher call out to him.

"Samuel Tanner? What is this?"

Slowly, Sam turned around and meekly replied, "It's a handout, sir. An extra one."

Uncle Viceroy gave the boy a look through the lifted side of his blindfold, and said, "There's an extra one? I made enough for exactly everyone. Who's absent?"

He stood up, tossed aside the blindfold and looked around.

"Where's Edward Waller?"

No one said anything. But all eyes turned to Eddie's roommate, poor Sam who fidgeted under everyone's gazes. Lily felt empathy for Sam, knowing how he probably felt.

Uncle Viceroy gave the class a final glance and then called on Sam to speak privately in his office. They were inside for just about a minute before Sam came out and called out to Viv.

"Teach wants to talk to you," Sam said before returning to his seat.

Viv exchanged looks with Lily and then quickly went over to the room next to the chalkboard. 

When Viv returned a couple of seconds later, Lily asked, "What was that all about?"

Viv answered back with a question of her own. "Before I answer," she said, "how good do you think that Mr. Lin's at catching lies?"

"Enough to make me think he's psychic," replied Lily. "Why?"

And then the bell rang.

Viv threw Sam a look as he stood up and grabbed his bag, and then said, "I'll explain later."

During breaktime, the girls spotted Sam walking down the hallway and quickly called out to him.

"Hey, Sam!" Viv cried out.

Hearing Viv's voice, Sam turned around. But once he spotted the girls coming towards him, he abruptly turned and ran.

Lily was baffled. 

Viv, however, grumbled,  "Not surprised," and then took off running after the boy.

"Just what in the world is going on?" After mumbling that, Lily joined the chase.

A teacher saw them running past him as he walked out of a classroom and shouted, "Hey! No running in the halls!"

The students largely ignored him and disappeared at a corner. Lily and Viv followed Sam out of the building. He cut across the road and went around to the back of the next building into a narrow alley. But he soon realized he made a mistake when up ahead, he spotted a plastered wall.

Sam turned to run the other way, but Viv appeared, blocking his way.

Just as he was about to try and run past her, Viv snapped, "Don't even think about it."

When Lily showed up, that was when Sam knew that he could not escape.

Breathlessly, Lily asked, "Will someone . . . please tell me . . . why my sides hurt  . . . when it's not . . . even P.E. yet?"

"This guy told Mr. Lin that Eddie was out sick with a cold," Viv explained. "But when Mr. Lin asked if I knew about that, it was clear that the teach thought that Sam was lying. Mr. Lin would have no reason to double check with me otherwise. And that means there's another reason Eddie's a no-show. So out with it. What's my brother up to?"

"I don't know!" cried Sam. "I really don't! I haven't seen him since yesterday!"

Viv raised an eyebrow. "Haven't seen him since yesterday? You mean he never came back to the dorms? He was out all night past curfew?"

Sam responded with a frantic nod.

"Sam, if you didn't know anything, why did you run away from us?" asked Lily.

"I panicked, okay?" cried Sam. "When you two suddenly rushed at me, I freaked out."

"We did not rush at you," Viv argued in dismay. "All I did was call out to you."

"Viv, not now," Lily shushed at her roommate. "So Sam, when was the last time you actually saw Eddie? What was he like? Did he say anything?"

Sam thought for a bit and then replied, "I think it was around dinner time. I was grabbing a drink from the vending machine by the exit when I saw him running out. He looked a bit heated, but he didn't say anything."

"Do you know where he was headed?" asked Lily.

Sam shook his head and said, "Not exactly. But wherever it was, it looked like it was on the way to the gym."

Lily and Viv exchanged looks.

"Thanks, Sam," Lily said. "That's all we needed to know."

She and Viv walked away, leaving behind a bemused Sam.

"So, what do you think?" Lily asked as they briskly walked down the road. "Do you think Eddie went to X?"

"Oh, I KNOW he went to X," said Viv, "just like I know something definitely happened to him there."

Over their heads, bells rang signaling the end of break time.

When the shrill chorus ended, Viv declared, "I'm going to go check out X. You should head to next class, Lily."

"What? And leave you to deal with whatever got Eddie by yourself?" Lily put her hands to her hips and pouted in dismay. "No way. Besides, you said so yourself that me and the bracelet are the only ones that can get into X."

"Well, I thought so," said Viv. "But it looks like I was wrong since Eddie's missing."

"Look, Viv," Lily said, grabbing her roommate by her shoulders. "Let's be real here. Unless you spontaneously get magic powers, you're not going to be much help to anyone there, least of all Eddie. Let me help you."

Viv shrugged free of Lily's grip, frowned and said, "First of all, I do have magic powers. Second of all, I'm not waiting until Five in the afternoon. I don't care if that message was telling the truth and it's the best time to check out X. I need to go now. And that means skipping the rest of classes today. Are you sure you want to do that? We could get in trouble."

"Then we'll get in trouble together," said Lily.

Seeing Lily was not going to budge, Viv sighed.

"Fine," she said. "Then let's go."

The girls decided not to wait for Oliver. There was just no time to wait for him. But they did send him a text with a quick summary about what happened and what they were going to do before heading to the gym, careful not to draw attention to themselves. Once they arrived at the bread loaf-shaped building, they hid behind a wall to wait until the coast was clear.

Despite what she said to Viv, Lily's heart beat faster than a drummer beat his drums on Chinese New Years. Feeling restless, her eyes darted around, while she thought to herself, "I can't believe I'm doing this. I really can't believe I'm doing this!"

In some ways, skipping school in the middle of the day may be the craziest thing she's ever done. It was definitely a more rattling experience than all the other stuff she's done so far. If Lily had to say why, it'd be because there was a greater sense of danger than all the other times.

Soon the sounds of schoolkids headed to class died down and all was quiet except for the rustling of leaves against a gentle breeze. Lily dared to peek out but found not a soul outside. She and Viv were completely alone.

They seized the chance to go around to the other side of the building where X was marked on Mary Ann Duskbell's map. As they crept alongside the wall, Lily could hear the pitter-patter and squeaks of lots of shoes against the floor as kids inside the gym did their jogging rounds.

After reaching X, Lily looked around to make sure the coast was clear before pulling back her sleeve to expose the blue bracelet. Even under the building's shade, the bracelet's jewels brightly glittered and shined. A ray of light from the bracelet's top jewel hit the ground in front of Lily and a circle appeared with a familiar set of intricate patterns and artwork.

The light from the circle rapidly grew brighter and brighter. And then, when the light disappeared, Lily and Viv found themselves in a completely different place. Instead of outside by the gym building, they found themselves inside a narrow tunnel, surrounded by dark, rough stone blocks at all sides. Bright, orange flames danced in stone bowls sunk into the walls of the tunnel, serving as lamps to light the girls' way.

While looking around Viv wondered aloud, "Where are we?"

"I don't know," said Lily, "but it feels like we're underground. Hm? Is that . . . ?"

She peered ahead at the end of the hall which was out of the fiery lamps' reach. Despite being shrouded in darkness, Lily could make out a shape curled up against the wall.

Her eyes lit up and she cried out, "Viv, look! It's Eddie! We've found him!"

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