A Shade of Halloween Book 1

Chapter Two

"Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Mr. Ross." The class chorused in unison.

Apparently, everyone but Selena knew the tutor's name. She had missed the first class of the semester after opting to stay back at the dorm to console Alex who was reeling from his heart wrenching breakup from Liz Don.

"Our relationship lasted a total of fourteen hours and twenty-six seconds before Liz pulled the plug." Alex had declared with red, swollen eyes. Selena had no clue people counted the seconds of their relationship, but it certainly wasn't the right time to bring that up. It wasn't the time to tell Alex his beloved Liz probably woke up from her drunken slumber and realized she was dating the school's biggest nerd either. Alex was clearly suffering and the least she could do was offer her support.

"I didn't even get a chance to kiss her." Alex continued his tearful declarations from his position on the floor. Selena couldn't help the compassion she felt and ended up missing her History class to console him.

"Welcome to the 'US History since 1877' course. Textbooks and notepads on the table, please. Cellphones should either be off or placed on silent. No vibrations, silent!" Mr. Ross read out the riot act, AKA rules.

Students ransacked their backpacks for the required texts, noisily placing them on the tables in front of them. Before switching her cellphone to silent mode, Selena sent a quick text to Alex. She hadn't heard from him all morning and it was unusual for him not to check in.

Where the hell are you? Text me!

Selena placed her phone on the table beside her textbook and straightened up on the chair. She wanted to keep eyes on the screen in case Alex texted while the class was on.

"For those of you who missed the introductory class, my name is Richard Ross. And NO, you can't call me R.R or any other abbreviations you students come up with. I don't accept late papers, irrespective of your excuse. The door to my class is always open so I can throw you out whenever you break the rules. I don't accept students showing up late to class either. If you're late and decide to walk in through the open door, I'll send you out of my next five classes. Now that you're all familiar with the rules, turn your textbooks to page 10." Mr. Ross ended his speech with a cold smile.

Like most of her classmates, Selena's eyebrows came together in a frown. It was clear in that moment that her experience in history class was going to be far from pleasant.

"Talk about annoying... and creepy!"