Devil In Me

Mallory Price let her pencil fall against the outside margin of her notebook paper, moving in random directions and making meaningless swirls. The video on photosynthesis showing on the television was doing everything but grabbing her attention. The male voice booming a bit too loudly from the speakers was monotonous. The darkened room only added to Mallory's lack of attention. The drowsiness from early morning was beginning to catch up with her and she yawned. Only a few more minutes till her saving grace.

A few minutes of mindless doodles later, the bell had rung. Slowly, she stood, gathering her books before heading out the door. The halls were crowded and loud with her classmates's booming voices, calling to one another or just calling obsceneties in general. This was high school, after all.

The crowd Mallory had found herself engulfed in was turning left, toward the cafeteria where lunch was being served. Mallory herself, however, turned right, toward the music room. She finally reached it, pausing a few seconds before knocking twice.

"Come in!" A feminine voice called in reply. Mallory gripped the cold steel handle and turned it, pushing the door open. The ever-busy music teacher sat behind her desk, classroom empty. Her glasses rested on the bridge of her nose as she shuffled through a drawer filled with folders. Coming across what she was looking for, she pulled out a single sheet of music and closed the drawer with her foot as she sat the paper gingerly on the desk.

"Hello, Mallory," she greeted after a short glance in her direction. She pulled her glasses off to rest around her neck, held there by a thin cord. The tired-looking teacher pressed her palms down to her desk, leaning against it. "What can I do for you?"

Mallory smiled. "Hi, Mrs. Miller. I came to drop off some music I wrote for you to review. You know, for the talent show? I know you have to make sure everything's appropriate..." she trailed off, unzipping her binder and shuffling through the ever-growing stack of papers that reside in it.

The teacher sighed, picking up her right hand to pinch the bridge of nose. "Mallory, you wrote it. I'm pretty positive it's appropriate. Is it appropriate?" she asked. Mallory paused, her hand already holding out the music. "Yes," she replied quietly, making it sound more like a question. After a moment, she sighed. "Okay, so maybe I just wanted a second opinion?"

Mrs. Miller lifted her right hand but still held her eyes closed. She motioned to Mallory with her hand and the sixteen-year-old smiled, happily laying the music down. "Thank you so much, Mrs. Miller. I know you're busy, but this is really appreciated." The teacher simply nodded before setting it on top of the music she had previously pulled out.

Without another word, Mallory backed out of the room and began her way to the cafeteria. The room was crowded, half of the student population already had their lunch. "Mal!" a voice called. Mallory whipped around to catch sight of her best friend, already seated with her lunch. Mallory ran a hand through her hair as she narrowly avoided getting hit by a jock not paying attention.

"Hey, did you know someone's moving into the old Mason house, down the street?" her best friend shot off as soon as Mallory was seated. She furrowed her eyebrows together. "How would I know that, Em?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Because it's four houses down from yours," she stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You walk to school every day, you didn't notice that it was sold?"

"Em, that house is in the opposite direction of the school. I don't go that way unless I'm babysitting the Emshousen's," Mallory replied, grabbing an apple off of Emma's tray and biting off a piece. Emma ignored her completely and turned to the girl sitting to her right.

"How do you know who's moving in?" she asked. The girl, named Chrissy, replied without hesitation. "Josh ditched today. He said he wasn't ready for a calculus test. Anyways, he spotted the family moving in because he lives directly across the street. Four boys he said, two of them looking about our age."

This made perfect sense to Mallory. Almost all of her friends lived within walking distance, Josh being the closest. They had dated for a while but like most of her relationships, it failed. Mallory simply had too much on her plate.

"What does it matter anyway?" Mallory asked after swallowing. Emma snapped her head in her direction. "What does it matter? New meat, Mal. And not just new meat, but new male meat," Emma emphasized, her eyes wide. Mallory rolled her eyes at her best friend. "You're such a spazz," she commented before taking another bite of the apple.

[&hardtoget]

Mallory groaned as she heaved her heavy bag onto her shoulder yet again while walking the remaining distance to her house. Not only did she have a massive amount of homework, but she was babysitting Abbie and Shawn Emshousen at six. Their parents went out for dinner regularly and Wednesdays were their appointed date night. That was when Mallory came into the picture, spending time at the house until nine o'clock.

The sun was closer to setting as she truged to her house, the weight almost too overwhelming for her to handle, but she managed. Her father was out of town, a business man working for some company Mallory still couldn't pronounce the name to. Her mother was simpler woman, choosing to stay local, working as an art teacher at the local community college.

As expected, when Mallory's driveway was finally in view the car was gone, her mother already had left. Approaching the door, she paused, letting her heavy bag fall to the ground with an unpleasant and loud thud. As she shuffled through her purse, movement caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She looked to her right, curiosity getting the best of her.

A small boy with wavy brown hair was running through the yard four houses away. He laughed as he did so, always seeming to be alert. Abruptly, an older boy jumped out from behind a bush and tackled the smaller boy, laughing just as loudly as his little brother. This boy looked a little older than Mallory, but not by much. His dark hair had gentle waves throughout it. He was tall, wearing a simple white shirt and jeans. He had to have been out of school, but she couldn't tell how many years.

"Joseph, get off him," another male voice called. Sure enough another boy appeared, older-looking than the wavy-haired one. The one named Joseph got off his little brother before shooting a look to the other one. "We're just playing, Kev," he stated. The little boy nodded furiously in agreement and Mallory found her mouth creeping towards a smile. The older boy simply shook his head before making his way out to a U-Haul truck where a older man whom Mallory assumed was their father, was waiting for him to help with pulling out a recliner.

Shaking herself out of the moment, Mallory turned back to her purse, finally finding the front door key. Sliding the key in the door and giving it a sharp turn, she pushed it open. She turned, grabbing her heavy backpack and slinging it over her shoulder again with a loud, "Hmph!"

Still, as she shut the door, she couldn't help but wonder where the fourth boy was.