Chapter 123: 97. More Bad News

After the follow-up meeting at Paige's house the whole thing with the cave was kind of put on hold. Cerys continued to talk about it, and she was still trying to dig up more information about those mystery glyphs, but Paige and Brooke and Kaylee all seemed ready to forget the whole thing.

I didn't really have an opinion either way, but I was kind of happy to see the blonde wolfgirl so focused on it. It reminded me of what she was like when I first got to know her, being so persistent and enthusiastic about stuff. Like the werewolf that nobody believed in but her. Or the zombies that turned out to be real.

So whenever she wanted to talk about the cave or the markings or anything else like that, I was always happy to listen. Same with Melanie, and my little sister too. I didn't always understand or agree with some of the stuff Cerys came up with, but I was always ready to give her the benefit of the doubt. And either way, it made me happy seeing her so enthusiastic again.

On the other hand it was kind of frustrating for her, like she definitely wanted to go explore that cave again. So did Melanie. Except the weather stayed miserable for the rest of the month. It got warmer and we had some rain, but there was still a lot of snow and ice around. And it was probably even more unsafe to explore the cave when everything was thawing, since the ground would be soft and muddy and slippery. And according to Melody's boyfriend there was probably a bigger risk of cave-ins as the ground thawed and softened up.

So we probably wouldn't be going back there any time soon, much to Cerys's dismay.

Meanwhile stuff at school was getting busier now that we were past the spring break. Especially for me and Kaylee and Paige, we had some big important projects and assignments since it was our final year. So there was a lot of other stuff to focus on, especially for me. After the first half of grade twelve was such a mess for me I really needed to do well in my last semester, or I'd risk having to repeat some of my classes.

On the other hand I still didn't really care about gym, so every time that came up on my schedule I headed for the library instead. Today was no exception, it was Thursday, the very last day of March, and after my first class of the day I made my way to my favourite part of the school.

"Hello Ms. Sutton," I greeted the librarian as I stopped in front of her office door. "Is there anything I can help out with today?"

She looked up and smiled at me, "Hello Cass. Why don't you come in and sit down? There's something I have to discuss with you."

"Sure," I nodded as I stepped into her little office. I sat in the guest chair across from her and asked, "What did you want to talk about?"

I didn't think I was in trouble or anything, considering half the time I visited the library I ended up helping her out with stuff. And the rest of the time I was either reading quietly or doing homework. And I hadn't had any private secret meetings with people in the study cubicles since December, when Kirstie lured me back there so Brian could get his hands on me.

Once I was sitting down Ms. Sutton gave me a sympathetic look and said, "Mr. Sanderson asked me to have a word with you about the gym class you're supposed to be attending."

"Oh," I grimaced. "I'm sorry if I got you into any trouble with him?"

She shook her head, "No dear. And I did my best to keep you from getting in too much trouble either. I told him how much you helped me here, and when I didn't have any work for you that you spent your time studying or doing homework. So at least he knows you aren't cutting his class so you can spend the time playing games or getting into some other kind of mischief."

"Thank you ma'am," I replied. "So um, does that mean he's ok with me skipping gym as long as I come here to help you?"

Ms. Sutton gave me another sympathetic look as she shook her head again, "I'm sorry dear. You should really speak with him yourself, but he asked me to tell you this. Unless you have perfect attendance from Monday through to the end of the year, he's going to fail you. And he indicated that you've had enough problems this year with your other classes, it wouldn't be difficult for him to ensure you have to repeat all of grade twelve."

My shoulders slumped when I heard that, but then a moment later I found myself considering it. Nina and the two wolfgirls would be in grade twelve next year, so if I had to repeat then I'd be in at least some of their classes, which might be fun. And it would mean I could put off thinking about college and stuff for another whole year, which would be really nice.

The downside was both Kaylee and Paige would graduate without me, and I already knew Paige was going to be moving away but I didn't know yet what my girlfriend was going to do. If she graduated and I didn't that might mean she'd move away too, since I couldn't see her waiting around an extra year just for me.

The biggest downside of all though was knowing my parents would be really disappointed in me. Especially when they found out it was all because I didn't want to go to gym. I knew they'd understand and accept my excuse for why I didn't like gym class before, like about all the dysphoria and stuff, but I couldn't get away with that excuse anymore.

That was the biggest problem, I didn't really have a good excuse for not attending that class. Mostly I just didn't like the teacher, and I was happier hanging out in the library than listening to Mr. Sanderson yelling at me and the rest of the students. I especially didn't like the way he bullied and picked on the kids who were out of shape.

"Cass?" Ms. Sutton's voice pulled me out of the thoughts I'd got lost in. "I know it may seem unfair, but Mr. Sanderson does have a point. And I think he'll probably follow through on his threat, to see you repeat grade twelve if you keep skipping his class."

I sighed, "I know. Thanks for the warning ma'am. It's just that Mr. Sanderson is a real bully, and I hate the way he treats some students. He's ok with the athletic kids and the jocks, but he's really mean to the other kids. The ones who could maybe use some help with health stuff are the ones he's meanest to. He doesn't help people, he hurts them."

The librarian sighed as well, and she looked a little troubled. She lowered her voice slightly as she replied, "I know Cassandra. He's not a good man, and very few of the faculty like him. But he hasn't broken any rules. And in your case, the rules are on his side."

She continued in a normal tone, "It's only three months dear. Not even that, just April and May, then half of June. Less than twelve weeks left, then you can graduate. As much as I appreciate all your help over the past few years, I think it's for the best if you do what he says. Don't cut any more of his classes Cassandra. Don't jeopardize your education just to avoid one unpleasant man."

"Ok Ms. Sutton," I replied quietly. "I know you're right. So um, does that mean I have to go there right now?"

She gave me another sympathetic look, "I think it would be a good idea dear. I won't force you, and Mr. Sanderson's ultimatum was that you had to start on Monday, so I don't think he's expecting you there right now either. It might be a good way to show him you're taking the situation seriously though."

I sighed again then checked the time on my phone. If I went to the gym right away and didn't waste any time I'd still be ten minutes late. Mr. Sanderson would probably yell at me in front of everyone else, then he'd probably find something unpleasant for me to do just so he could make an example out of me in front of the other students.

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Then again he was probably going to do that anyways, whether I showed up late to the class today or if I was right on time for gym on Monday. Either way I could imagine him going out of his way to make things unpleasant for me, which made it really hard to want to go to gym at all.

In the end though what won out was the fact that I really didn't want to disappoint my parents. With a sigh I got to my feet as I said, "All right. I guess I should go to gym class then. Sorry Ms. Sutton, I'll try and help out with the books and stuff another time."

"It's all right Cass," she replied. "I'm glad you're taking this seriously. Good for you dear."

I just nodded as I headed back out. I definitely wasn't in a hurry, so I was more like fifteen minutes late by the time I actually got there. And just like I figured, Mr. Sanderson made a big deal out of me finally showing up for class and an even bigger deal out of me being so late. Then he had me run laps around the gym for the rest of the class while everyone else played volleyball.

It wasn't the worst thing, but it was still annoying. The teacher made a point of yelling at me any time he thought I was going too slow, but at the same time I was careful not to go too fast. He obviously wanted to see me work up a sweat and get all out of breath and stuff, I even got the impression he wanted to see me give up or collapse or something. The problem was I literally couldn't run fast enough to get winded, not without showing off my supernatural strength and stuff.

When it was finally over I went to the change room with the other girls. Paige gave me a sad smile, "Good to see you back in gym class again. Too bad Mr. Sanderson has it in for you."

"Yeah," I grimaced. "Just twelve weeks till graduation though right? Then I won't have to deal with him ever again."

"That's a good way of looking at it," she agreed.

We both had lunch next, and we met up with Kaylee on the way to the cafeteria. The three of us all sat together, and a minute or two later my little sister and the two wolfgirls joined us as well. All six of us exchanged greetings, but it was clear something was bothering Cerys, and Melanie looked like she had something on her mind too.

"Is everything ok?" I asked them. "You both look like something's going on."

The blonde wolfgirl responded first. She grimaced, "I heard from my mom again last night. She's decided to move out east. She has family in Halifax so that's where she's going. She's already packed up all her stuff and put the house up for sale. As soon as it's sold she'll be leaving, and I'll probably never see her again."

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "How are you handling that?"

Cerys shrugged, "I don't know. It's hard to know how to feel or what to think about any of that stuff. I don't want to live with her, I don't trust her. But she's my mom and I do kind of miss her sometimes?"

Melanie wrapped an arm around her girlfriend and pulled her into a hug, "I know it's rough cutie, but we've always got each other."

"Yeah," Cerys nodded as she leaned into the hug. "Things have been rough all around."

Kaylee asked, "Is something else wrong too? Melanie, have you heard any news about your house, or that zoning stuff?"

The older wolfgirl made a face, "Dad heard from the landlord again the Monday after the town hall meeting. The good news is the town voted against the zoning changes, so the developer's plans were cancelled and apparently all the purchase offers were withdrawn."

"I'm not surprised they voted it down," my girlfriend commented. "The developer had a couple representatives at that meeting, and they were awful. They seemed completely disorganized. One of them had a presentation he was trying to put on but his laptop kept crashing, and when he could get slides up on the projector they were out of order and some of them were incomplete or full of filler text. The other one tried to cover but it felt like his notes were all out of order or something too."

Melanie nodded, "Yeah that's what my dad said. He called their presentation a total farce. So no surprise the developer's plans were shot down, like the town would have looked pretty foolish if they'd approved it after that performance."

By that point I noticed my little sister was staring at me funny, I wasn't sure why though. I didn't actually remember much of the meeting since I kind of slept through it, but after hearing what happened I almost wished I'd been paying more attention.

For now I focused on the wolfgirls and said, "I'm glad the zoning thing didn't happen. You said that was the good news, does that mean there's also some bad news too?"

"Yeah the good news is our house won't be torn down after all," Melanie replied. "So yay for that. The bad news is the landlord says he's still thinking about selling it anyways. Apparently this whole mess got him rethinking stuff and maybe he's ready to move on? So we might still have to move regardless."

Paige sighed, "I'm really sorry Melanie. I hope things work out ok for you and your dad. And Cerys, that sucks about your mom moving away. I know you're not on good terms with her but it's still sad."

"If there's anything I can do to help just ask, ok?" I told the two wolfgirls.

"Me too," Kaylee agreed. "I'm sure the rest of the club feels the same way, we all want to help if we can."

"Thanks. We'll let you know if anything comes up, but for now I guess we just have to wait and see," Melanie sighed.