THE NEXT DAY
"It's getting colder! I am absolutely frozen!" Alicia complained gesturing to herself.
Shirley cracked a smile.
"Alicia, it's October, not only is it supposed to get colder, but why
don't you try wearing the school uniform with the pants they
specifically ask you to buy in case of colder weather."
Alicia gave Shirley a look.
"I need to be fashionable, besides, when all the girls are wearing
pants and I'm wearing a skirt more guys will wanna ask me to the
dance!" Alicia explained.
"So, no one's asked you to the dance yet?" Shirley said sounding a tadsurprised.
"Nope, who are you going with?" Alicia asked raising her eyebrows.
"Bo, and you know it." Shirley pointed out. Alicia giggled.
"I know, I just love hearing it again and again and again. I like,
totally knew you guys were perfect from the beginning. I mean, you
can't just be best friends and not fall in love in the meantime!" Shirley sighed.
"We are not going out because Bo likes me or vice versa, our parents MADE US."
"You keep telling me that, but I think, it's like those t.v. shows,
everyone can see the love between you guys except you two!" Alicia
said as though it was obvious."ALICIA, there is no love between me and"
"Hi Bo!" Alicia said, interrupting Shirley just in time, because Bo
had shown up while Shirley was saying it.
"Hey! There is no love between Shirley and who?" Bo asked
interestingly smirking at Shirley.
"Certainly not you and Shirley!" Alicia sang out and left quickly.
Shirley blushed and turned away. Bo fidgeted uncomfortably.
"You were talking about me?" Bo inquired.
"No no no no no!" Shirley said quickly, Bo gave her a look that told
him she was lying. "Well, yes, but I wasn't really. Alicia asked who I
was going to the dance with and I said you and then she went on this
whole trip that we like eachother."Bo and Shirley laughed for a minute.
"But- that's impossible because we're"
"Best friends..." Shirley finished and gazed at Bo, who gazed back.
"And best friends don't date..." Shirley continued.
"Unless you want to..." Bo let his voice drift off."Only if you do"
"Just this once though...""Satisfy the public." Shirley laughed.
"Yeah." Bo said leaning towards Shirley, who leaned towards Bo.
"Ah, well isn't this cute, loser and loser." Molly interrupted.
Shirley and Bo groaned at the same time.
"What do you want Molly?" Bo said sweetly.
"Unlike some people, I don't want you. Look Holmes, I don't know what
your plans are, but I am not up to your practical jokes!" Mollysnapped.
"Wha...?" Shirley gasped.Molly threw a note and a jacket at Shirley.
"It was really cute Holmes. I opened up my locker and all this red
paint is on my jacket. I thought it was blood at first and this little
THREAT! Well, you can just dry clean the jacket and face it, I'm going
to win Shirley. I don't need practical jokes to prove that!" Molly
yelled and ran off. Shirley sniffed the jacket.
"This isn't paint." Shirley observed it.
"Then it is blood?" Bo shrieked. "Ew! Shirley that's gross, how could
you do that!""I didn't Bo! Someone else did. It's corn syrup and dye- what's the
note say?" Shirley asked, folding up the jacket. Bo unfolded the
sticky "blood" coated note.
"Drop out now, I want the crown. If you don't you'll regret it." Bo
said, then he squinted at the note, "Hey, this isn't a note, it's an
envelope, you just can't tell with all this dye!"
Shirley grabbed the envelope, "Let's go to my house!" She ordered.
Shirley gazed at what was in the envelope for a long time- it was a
picture, of Molly and Shirley with a piece of glass taped on it.
"I don't believe it! If Molly saw this she would KNOW that I didn't do
it! But who would do this?" She whispered. Bo took the picture and the
glass out of Shirley's hands.
"I dunno, but if I ever get my hands on the guy who- HEY HEY HEY!" Bo
cried, Shirley jumped."What?" She asked. Bo picked at the piece of glass.
"I have a feeling you aren't one for horror movies. If you were you
would've got this right away. Have you ever heard of the movie PROM NIGHT?"
Shirley thought for a minute then shook her head no.
"Well, these two girls, even though one is already named prom queen
are batteling it out 'cause the other one is jealous. Everyone of each
of their friends pretty much dies. They had this bad past, they were
all playing this game, and because of those guys, this girl died- the
prom queen's sister. So on prom night, the killer goes whako. It turns
out to be the brother of the girl who died. It's confusing, I know
that I didn't explain it well, but during the movie, before the people
died they found their yearbook picture with a piece of glass by their
necks or something, just like this."Shirley turned half white.
"You're not going to die though.." Bo sounded a little unsure, "The
only thing that really has any connection is the picture and"
"The fight for prom queen!" Shirley and Bo said at the same time.
"But I didn't kill anyone's sister or anything..." Shirley thought for
a moment then realized something. "Hey Bo! This guy, the killer he got
revenge on something that happened a long time ago right?"
"Yeah." Bo said, giving Shirley an odd look.
"Well whose to say, it's cause I killed someone. I didn't, but maybe
something terrible happened on the night of the Halloween dance a long
time ago, and this person wants vengence for it. I know that it
couldn't be Molly, she hasn't been here that long and I know she
wouldn't play copy cat. How can we find out what happened though?"
Shirley thought.
"The school records," Bo supplied, "But the school's closed." Shirleygrinned.
"That's where you wrong you see. There's this old shed at the back of
the school- it's rarely thought of- it's covered in weeds and moss.
When you go through it, there's a door in it that goes into the back
of the school. It used to be an old emergency door but it goes into an
old shutdown class, so no one had any use for it. Let's go!" Shirleydeclared.
"Okay, so now where do we go?" Bo asked Shirley. They were both
standing out in the empty halls of Sussex Academy.
"Ms. Strattman's office. After a couple break ins, the moved the
student records and stuff into her office.""Okay."
Shirley and Bo walked down the hall and went into Ms. Strattman'soffice.
"She forgot to lock it." Bo observed that the door was open.
"No she didn't." Shirley whispered in a scared voice. Shirley and Bo
looked down at the lock on the door. It was completely broken off.
"Shirley maybe we should go." Bo said looking around nervously.
"No. We can't- I think that the person that was here was here for the
same reason we were. Don't touch the door when you go in," Shirley
cautioned Bo, with her jacket, Shirley opened the door a little more
so it was easier to get in. Shirley rummaged around her back pack for
a flashlight, when she found it she looked around the room, it was
completely neat.
"Whoa. We have a neat burgaler here." Bo said in an astonished voice.
"No, they just kept it neat so the police would overlook whatever was
missing." Shirley said, Bo looked puzzled so she explained, "If it's
neat, they'll look around, but not twice, and the first time it's
easier to miss the object that is missing, they'll just think some
kids didn't find what they were looking for." "Oh..." Bo nodded.
"Start searching the room. Oh, wait! Here!" Shirley handed Bo a pair
of latex gloves.
"If someone was here we shouldn't disturb the fingerprints." Shirleyexplained.
Shirley rummaged around the file cabinets while Bo rummaged around
some desk drawers.
"Hey!" Bo exclaimed picking up a bottle of pills from one of the
drawers, "Strattman's medicated!"
Shirley walked over to him and grabbed the bottle.
"It's for anxiety.. nerves, stress, etcetera." Shirley read from thebottle.
"That must be why Strattman's so uptight!" Bo joked.
"No..." Shirley said quietly, "She just got them this week. Something
must be happening this week that's giving her anxiety."
"The only thing that's happening this week is the Halloween dance." Bo
said, a look of terror swept over his face and he looked at Shirley.
"So something connects with her and the Halloween dance." Shirley said
to no one in particular, she rummaged through the drawer some more,
until she emerged with a newspaper article.
"Bo look!" Shirley exclaimed, Bo bent down.
"Halloween Dance Strikes Terror In Students," Bo read aloud.
"Mrs. Strattman was Scream Queen during her days here. Her oppenent
Lia Harson commited suicide when she found out that she didn't win!"
Shirley gasped and looked at Bo.
"This chick killed herself because she didn't win a stupid crown?" Bo
was astonished at the thought. Shirley read a little more.
"Apparently Lia Harson had a history of mental problems, they don't
state which, but she was completely unbalanced. When she got to Sussex
she was there on probation. Her mental hospital wanted to see if she
could be social and stable with people so they were going to let her
stay their for a year. If she went through the year without any
problems whatsoever she could stay. If she didn't she had to go back
to the institution. It says here that classmates reported Lia tried
extremly hard to fit in, and thought trying out for Scream Queen would
prove she was okay, then Mrs. Strattman tried out.
 "On the night of the dance, Lia was positively sure that she would
win, when the announced that Ms. Strattman won, she went ballistic in
the gym and started screaming and crying and attacked Ms. Strattman,
screaming quote "I want the crown! That's all I wanted! You'll regret
this!" unquote. When she realized that because of her outburst she
would have to go back to the mental hospital she went into one of the
classrooms, locked herself in it and set it on fire. They never found her body."
Bo and Shirley looked quiet.
"Uh.. Shirley... that emergency exit that we just went through....
that was the classroom wasn't it?" Bo asked. Shirley's eyes went wide.
"I think so." She said quietly.
"This is way wierd... this girl's dead, the only other person that
could be going after you and Molly is Ms. Strattman and I think she's
sane." Bo announced.
"I think so to." Shirley agreed. Suddenly they heard a locker door
slam in the hall. Shirley quickly put everything back in the door the
way that it was and she and Bo ran out in the hall. When the looked
around a locker door was swaying from it's hinges.
"Shirley, we better go!" Bo said hurridly, pulling on Shirley's arm.
"Ohmigod!" Shirley half shouted, "Bo that's my locker!" Shirley ran to
it. When she looked into it she felt a little sick.
"Oh no..." She whispered. Bo ran up behind her. In Shirley's locker
was a mutilated Barbie doll in a dress.
"Shirley we gotta get out of here! We aren't alone!" Bo said in asqueaky voice.
"No no no! Just a minute I have to make a phone call!" Shirley grabbed
her cell phone and dialed a number furiously."Hello?" A voice answered.
"Hi, is Molly there?" Shirley asked. Bo looked at her questioningly.
"Yes, just hold on a minute." The voice said. Shirley waited a minuted
and then she heard Molly's voice:"Yes?"Shirley hung up.
"Why did you do that?" Bo asked.
"Just to make sure whoever did this wasn't Molly. It wasn't, she was
home." Shirley explained. Bo nodded. Shirley took the barbie out of
her locker carefully and put it into her bookbag. She shut and lockedher locker.
"Now, we are going to leave here like nothing happened." Shirley said
calmly. Suddenly footsteps walked behind them past the hall.
"Why don't we just get out of here now?" Bo asked quickly, Shirley
nodded and they both ran towards the door.

   *   *   *

Shirley walked down the halls of school the next day, she felt a tad
nervous, and worn out from last nights escapade, but otherwise, she
felt lucky. Alicia ran up to her.
"Guess what I am going to be for the Halloween dance?" She announced.
"I thought you said you would rather die than go alone." Shirley reminded her.
"Yeah, well, Bart and I agreed to go together. I am going to be
Juliet!" Alicia exclaimed dramatically."Oh cool." Shirley laughed.
"Anyways, I have to go! Oh, and I have a whole bunch of people voted
for you! Half the school is voting Shirley! Bye!" Alicia said when
they reached Shirley's locker.
Shirley opened her locker tentitavely, luckily, nothing popped out.
"Alright Holmes. Enough of your practical jokes!" Molly shrieked
behind her. Shirley sighed."What did I do NOW, Molly?"
"The dead rat in my locker? Oh so funny. I bet you think you're better
than Stink!" Molly yelled.
"LOOK MOLLY! I DIDN'T DO IT!" Shirley yelled back, people began to
look. "Just get off my back okay, if it means this much to you, I
don't care who wins!"
Molly looked shocked, Shirley just rummaged through her locker until
she found Molly's jacket.
"Oh, here's your jacket." Shirley threw Molly's jacket at her andstormed off.
When she got past the gym she heard Ms. Strattman and a few others
murmering worridly, Shirley entered and found Bo, Bart, Alicia, Stink
and Ms. Strattman in the gym.
"What's going on?" Shirley asked, no one answered because all Shirley
had to do was look around. The gym had been decorated the other night
for the Halloweem damce. The decorations were completely destroyed
now. Streamers were everywhere, the floor had water all over it, and
all around the gym someone had painted flames onto the wall.
"Oh wow..." Shirley muttered, and then said more loudly, "Who did this?"
Ms. Strattman shook her head, and rubbed her temples.
"A very SICK and TWISTED individual. E-excuse me, I'm not feeling
well, I'm going to my office. Bo, you're head of the decorating
commitee, tell them to clean this up the best they can. I'll send down
the custodian to try to get the paint off the walls the best he can."
Ms. Strattman left.
"Hey!" Alicia said suddenly, "Did they get the crown?" She hurried out
of the gym."This has got to be fixed up by us before tonight. The dance is
tonight!" Bart moaned. Stink looked around, and his face lit up as
though he had an idea.
"Who says we have to fix it up totally?" He asked, "All we have to do
is mop up the water. We can use the wet and twisted up streamers and
hang them over the enterance! They'll be dry by tonight. The flames
make a cool effect, we can leave them to be cleaned up tomorrow. We'll
just get new streamers for the cielings, and we can hang orange lights
above the on the cieling!"Everyong looked at Stink in surprise.
"What?" Stink asked grinning, "Can't a guy have a good idea once inawhile?"
Bo laughed and patted Stink on the back, "Yeah, but it's not so often
that you have a great one!""Can I help?" Shirley asked.
"Bye all means, go ahead. We need all the help we can get!" Bart
invited her graciously. Alicia emerged with the crown.
"I found it! Whoever did this, didn't get the crown for the Scream
Queen!" She announced happily. The crown was rhinestone studded with
fake rubies in the center.
"They've had this like forever! I mean c'mon, I thought we should get
a new one, this one is like, so totally outdated!" Alicia complained.
"Can I see it?" Shirley asked quietly.
"Sure!" Alicia said, and handed it to Shirley giving a little bow.
Shirley held it in her hand for a minute quietly.
"Y'know," Bo piped up, "That would look great on you tonight... When you win."
"Ooooooh...." Stink and Alicia muttered. Shirley snapped back to
reality and smiled at Bo."It would be nice." She admitted.
"It will be nice. You'll win!" Bart shouted."Here here!" Stink said.
Shirley laughed and grinned, "Well we better start cleaning up!"
"Uh, Shirley!" Stink said, "Can I talk to you a minute?"
"Sure." Shirley said questioningly. Stink pulled Shirley into a
secluded corner of the gym, he poked at his tie nervously.
"I just wanted to say, um, you have my vote. Not Molly's, I know now
what a fake she is. And I'm glad that your Mom's back- sorry we pulled
that trick on you. I just hope you win. It would pull down Molly a notch or two."
Shirley was surprised, and could only bring herself to say, "Thanks."
Stink walked off whistling. Alicia came up and poked Shirley in the shoulder.
"What was that all about?" She asked.
"Nothing really!" Shirley grinned, she looked at her watch.
"Oh, I have to go! I'll see you guys later!" She said and she began to leave.
"Pick you up at seven!" Bo shouted after her.

-End of Part 2-

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