Jakoby flipped a page of his magazine. It was his third time in the year to skip classes, but he didn't care. To him, school was a waste of time anyways. His room was a mess. Clothes were flung about the front room and ancient paper plates were collecting dust on his table. He himself was sitting back in his recliner attired only in blue-plaid boxers and a muscle shirt.

After a few moments of looking aimlessly through his video game magazine, he tossed it aside and looked around. As if on cue, he heard a knock at the door. His eyes went wide with fear. Jakoby quickly donned a blanket around his shoulders and tosseled his hair. He couldn't let the school officials know he had skipped school again. He was in enough trouble as it was. "Who is it?" he called groggily, pretending to have a cold.

"The pizza lady," a voice called back.

Jakoby shook off the blanket and lept for the door. "It's about time you got-" he stopped abruptly as he saw who was at the door.

Shannon stood towering in the doorway. Even though Jakoby was considerably taller than she was, she felt larger and more forbidding than him. Her eyes were mere slits in her face. Her cheeks were flushed to a dangerously red color and her frizzy golden-brown hair was wild about her face. "Hello, Jakoby," her voice was barely audible it was so low.

"What do you want?" Jakoby snapped.

"I came to have a little chat with you. I think it's about time we had one," Shannon invited herself in. Her eyes still had a glazed, tranced look about them. They scared Jakoby.

"Shouldn't you be at school?"

"I was about to ask you the same, but I expected you'd sit today out?"

"Why is that?"

"I have my reasons."

Jakoby eyed Shannon nervously. He didn't like the way she was just standing in the middle of the room, looking out the window. "Look, either tell me what you want or get out!"

Shannon laughed loudly. "No, no, no. Jakoby, there are some things I need to get off my chest. Most importantly about this," Shannon wheeled around, revealing the newspaper headline to Jakoby.

He smiled. "I was hoping it'd be today's headline news. Brenda did her job well."

Shannon shrugged. "Some may see it that way, but others...well, others don't." Shannon began walking slowly around Jakoby in circles, occasionally casting a glance at him.

"Would you stop pacing? It's annoying."

"I could care less about what annoys you," she snapped, still smiling.

Jakoby was beginning to get dizzy. He attempted to move towards the door, but Shannon quickly blocked him.

"You aren't going anywhere."

"What is your problem?"

"This is my problem," Shannon shoved the paper in Jakoby's face.

Jakoby moved his head back to keep from being suffocated by the paper. "It was your mistake! I merely brought it to the public's attention, where it should've been the entire time. After all," he couldn't help but add, "you deserved it."

Shannon snapped. She grabbed Jakoby and threw him into his recliner, sending the recliner and Jakoby tumbling backwards. "Did you actually think I'd just sit by and let you get away with this?" Shannon asked, her wild smile, hair, and eyes creating a ghoulish effect.

Jakoby crawled backwards to the wall. "You've lost it, Shannon! Get a grip!"

"I'll show you how to get a grip!" Shannon searched the cluttered living area before finding her target. She picked up the tall drinking glass and hurled it towards the wall at Jakoby's head.

Jakoby ducked just in time. His eyes were now full of fear. "Oh my God! Don't do this, Shannon!"

"I'll tell you what I'm going to do to you!" Shannon picked up a stool and sent it flying towards Jakoby. One of the legs hit him squarely in the eye, sending powerful jolts of pain through his body.

"You bi***! You could've killed me!" he said, covering his eye with his hands.

"That's exactly what I came here to do! I'm about to make your life a living Hell!" Shannon cackled. She overturned his table, sending paper plates, plastic forks, spoons, and food flying everywhere. She went to a kitchen drawer, opened it up, and pulled out a large hammer. She eyed it evilly. She walked stealthily towards his TV.

"No, Shannon! Don't!" he screamed.

Shannon gave him a triumphant look before connecting the hammer with the glass. Shards flew everywhere. While Jakoby cried over the loss of his TV, Shannon ripped his phone socket out of the wall. It was then that she noticed that Jakoby was beginning to get up. "I don't think so!"

Shannon ran back into the living room. Jakoby lunged forward, but he was too off-balance from having to hold his eye with one hand. He tumbled head first into the opposite wall. Shannon laughed again. "Serves you right, you evil bas****!" She noticed the small couch. It looked manageable to her, and she needed a way to keep Jakoby from getting up. Exerting extraordinary strength, she pushed the couch backwards. The hard couch fell directly on Jakoby's legs. He let out a strangled cry of pain. Jakoby was now pinned between the wall, the floor, and the couch.

"Please, Shannon," Jakoby pleaded weakly, creeks of perspiration running down his face. "Don't hurt me anymore. You win."

For a moment, the hard look in Shannon's eyes faltered. She quickly hardened up again, though. "I haven't even gotten started yet. I'm going to make you feel the same pain that I'm feeling now that everyone knows my secret!"

Shannon's eyes searched the premises for something she could do some real damage with. In the midst of the disaster area that used to be the living area, she spotted the point of a shiny kitchen knife. A small smile appeared at the corners of her mouth. "Well, well, well. What do we have hear?"

Jakoby followed Shannon's gaze to the knife. "No, Shannon! NO!!!"

Shannon walked slowly towards the knife. She sifted through the plates and magazines to get to the knife. She picked it up slowly and fingered its edges. Shannon, by now, had lost all shreds of sanity and common sense. She had only one goal and one goal only: get rid of Jakoby.

Brent walked outside with Christian. The two were in the same first period class, and had become good friends after Christian's ordeal with a doctor who happened to be Brent's dad. The two were walking with their class outside to observe a faux crime scene that was their current project for the six weeks. To some it was a tedious task, but it was going to be the time of their life for Brent and Christian.

"How are things going, man?" Brent inquired.

"If you're referring to things at home, they're just as bad as before," Christian sighed. "My mom and dad can't even stay in the same room together anymore. 'It disgusts them' too much. Sandi's up every night crying herself to sleep. It rips my heart in two when I see what this is doing to her. It makes me want to put a gun to my parents' head and tell them to stop."

"Dude, don't say that," Brent responded quickly, worried by the fierceness note in Christian's voice.

Christian waved Brent's comment aside. "I'm not actually going to do that. It's just that it hurts so much to see our family being torn apart. We've never been 'The Brady Bunch' of Midway, but this is ridiculous."

Brent put a reassuring hand on Christian's shoulder. "I'm sure it'll work it somehow, man. It just takes time."

"That's one thing I don't have right now," Christian muttered. He then spotted Becca walking by herself towards the back of the line. "I'll catch up with you later, Brent."

Brent chuckled as he watched Christian run over to Becca. "Aww, how cute! Little Chris has finally found some puppy love."

Brent's smile quickly disappeared when he saw Kendall talking with Mrs. Lam, their science teacher. His bushy black eyebrows furrowed as his pace slowed. Eventually, he stopped altogether. He didn't like the way Mrs. Lam and Kendall were talking so openly. For all of the school year, Brent had been teacher's pet. He wasn't about to let someone take that honor away from him.

"It's about time, Brent. I'm suprised you wouldn't be over here yappin' away with us sooner," Mrs. Lam joked. Her sense of humor had always been a trademark with her classes.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I was just talking to Christian. What are you two talking about?" Brent questioned, refusing to look at Kendall.

"Actually, Kendall here has a dad who's in law enforcement. He was just telling me that he might be able to get him to come up here and help us out with the crime scene. Wouldn't that be cool?"

Brent shrugged, finally turning to sum Kendall up. Kendall returned the look with an icy glare. Brent turned back to Mrs. Lam and said, "I think Macy up there wanted to ask you one more question about the crime scene. It sounded urgent to me."

Mrs. Lam rolled her eyes. "Why didn't they name that girl Socrates? It's always 'just one more question.'"

Brent didn't even turn to watch Mrs. Lam hurry towards the front of the line. Instead, he kept his attentions focused on Kendall. "What do you think you were doing?"

"I wasn't doing anything but getting aquainted with my new teacher. Why? Do you have a problem with that?"

"As a matter of fact, I do," Brent edged closer to Kendall.

"If you would mind your own business, you wouldn't have a problem," Kendall shot back.

"You'd better watch your mouth. I'm not liable to take much more of your lip, you hear me?"

"You even try it, prep-boy, and I'll tear you to pieces."

Kendall's provokings finally got to Brent. He lunged forward and tackled Kendall onto the pavement. Kendall landed a square right hook into Brent's left jaw. Brent reeled for a moment before going in again. The students around them were shouting, "Fight! Fight! Fight!" while Mrs. Lam rushed to break the two boys up.

"Stop it! You two better stop it right now or I'll have both of you suspended!" Mrs. Lam got inbetween the two boys and forced them apart.

Brent wiped his bloody lip, still looking straight into Kendall's eyes. "You tempt me again and you won't have the chance to be rescued. No, that's not a threat, boy, that's a promise!"

Kim chased Randall up the stairs, determined to get to him before he ran into Ms. Lovejoy, the assistant principal. She managed to finally catch up to him when they reached the top of the stairs. She forced her body in front of him to prevent him from walking.

"Get out of my way, Kim!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Kim growled, her eyes wild and fierce. "The only way you'll get to Ms. Lovejoy will be over my dead body."

"I'm warning you, Kim."

"No, I'm warning you, Randall. Don't mess with me!" Kim was right. She was only seconds away from going over the edge.

"You can't say I didn't warn you," Randall grabbed Kim's arms, trying to push her aside.

Kim remained firm, and was enraged by Randall's actions. She pushed him away from her, but he tried again. He shoved her out of the way, and began walking down the hallway. Kim used all of her strength to keep from falling over the banister. Her eyes filled with fury. Kim was now at her breaking point. She ran with incredible speed to catch up with Randall, and managed to get in his way again.

Randall grabbed Kim by her neck and yanked her until her ear was right under his mouth. "When are you going to learn," he growled straight into her ear, "that you are not stronger than me? When are you going to learn that nothing you can do will ever stop me? Your attempts are futile, Kim. You have lost, I have one. That's the way it ought to be, and that's the way it's finally going to be. You won't be able to hurt me anymore. Vengeance is mine."

He yanked her upwards. Kim was now gasping for air, for Randall's grip was tight. His mouth was contorted into an evil smirk. "In fact, why don't I take care of Trace's little girl myself. Oh yeah, that'll hit him where it hurts. That'll show him that he shouldn't mess with Randall Bentley."

"What are you talking about?" Kim choked out.

"I know it was your little boyfriend that orchestrated the theft of my papers that night last spring. I know that it was Trace who thought that he should've won the scholarship nomination instead of me, so he decided to get back at me. Now it's time for me to get back at him."

Kim looked fearfully at the first floor below. The two were in a part of the second floor that was only occupied by empty classrooms. No one was around to see her. No one would know she was in danger until it was too late. No matter what, though, she wasn't going down without a fight.

Kim managed to twist her way out of Randall's grip. She pushed Randall backwards. His eyes expressed suprise. She shoved him again. She kept shoving until they were back at their original confrontation point at the top of the stairs.

"Now who's winning?" Kim sneered. She then shoved Randall with all of her might. From then on, everything seemed to go in slow motion.

Randall stumbled backwards onto the top stair of the staircase. His face was twisted and contorted into a look of hatred and fury. But as he began to lose his balance, his face morphed into one of a scared child. He had no breath to scream. With arms flailing backwards, Randall began falling backwards. Kim witnessed in terror as Randall's feet left the top stair. His body flipped, and his head struck a stair. He flipped twice more, before finally hitting the ground with a large thud. Kim didn't need to ask questions. The pool of blood that was slowly spreading out from Randall's body and the unnatrually twisted look his body had taken on confirmed her fears. Randall was dead.

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