[Janitors 01] Janitors by Tyler Whitesides

little bronze nail popped out of the wall and fell with a tinkle to the tile floor.

Chapter 19
    “Hold my hand!”
    Daisy burst outside into the fresh evening air. Behind her was a wake of unlocked doors in the school. She ran the length of the school, gasping for breath until she reentered through the front door. The scene in the entry hall was utter chaos, which meant, of course, that Spencer had done his job.
    Daisy clutched her spelling review sheet in one hand, the corner wrinkled from the sweat of her grip. In the other hand, she jingled Mrs. Natcher’s keys. Daisy’s hair was matted with sweat from her short run. She was breathing hard and feeling awful about telling Mrs. Natcher a half-truth. The sooner Daisy returned the keys, the better.
    The girl pushed open the cafeteria door. The place was a complete disaster. A collage of pink, tan, and brown syrups still decorated the center of the room. Everything else was laced with streaks of sticky root beer. Daisy spotted Marv in the corner, firing up a machine that squirted water and sucked up messes.
    Mrs. Natcher stood nearby, gazing into the syrup splash with a mournful expression. Whether she was mourning over the ruined ice cream social or the wasted syrup, Daisy wasn’t sure.
    “Got my review sheet, Mrs. Natcher,” Daisy said, snapping the teacher out of her reverie. “Thanks.” Daisy held out the keys.
    The teacher took the keys and dropped them into her purse. “You missed a real disaster,” Mrs. Natcher said with a grave expression.
    “Looks like it.” Daisy turned toward the exit. She needed to get to the rendezvous spot to meet Mr. Hadley.
    A firm hand suddenly gripped her arm. “Coincidence?” Mrs. Natcher said. “Coincidence that Spencer, your troublemaking friend, would be up to no good while you made off with my keys?”
    Daisy suddenly looked paler than vanilla ice cream. A cold fear rushed all the way to the soles of her feet.
    “You’ve got some explaining to do.” Mrs. Natcher dragged her across the cafeteria, Daisy struggling uselessly to get away.
    Then, out of nowhere, Dez Rylie appeared, a heaping bowl of mostly melted ice cream in his hand.
    “Gullible Gates!” Dez’s eyes narrowed to a glare of revenge. “I can’t find your boyfriend, so I’ll have to settle for you!” With one swift motion, the bully shoved the bowl of dripping ice cream into Daisy’s face.
    Shrapnel from the ice cream bomb splashed onto Mrs. Natcher’s cheek, and the force of the impact knocked them both back. Mrs. Natcher took a step backward to steady herself, but the teacher’s shoe came down in the syrup swamp. The slick mess tested Mrs. Natcher’s ability to skate . . . and she failed. The boring woman went down, her gray hair bun acting like a mop for the strawberry topping. Daisy came loose in the process, but she staggered, blinded by the ice cream.
    Daisy wiped her eyes. The rest of her face was still sticky and white, as if some kind of spa facial mask had gone wrong. She had to make it to the rendezvous spot with Garth Hadley before the janitors got her! Leaving Dez in shock and Mrs. Natcher in syrup, Daisy crossed the cafeteria and exited out the back door. There were kids in the bouncy castle, some giggling, some crying, all totally oblivious to the war inside.
    Daisy leapt down the steps and ran past the castle. A huge form suddenly appeared around the edge of the bouncy building. Big hands reached for Daisy, but she turned sharply, running back up the steps.
    “You’re supposed to be cleaning the mess inside!” she screamed as Marv came after her.
    “The mess isn’t going anywhere,” the janitor answered. “But it looks like the mess makers are.”
    Daisy flew back up the steps, her retreat totally cut off. She entered the cafeteria at the same time Spencer burst through the opposite door. The two kids ran toward one another, each pursued by a dangerous janitor, with Mrs. Natcher standing up in the middle.
    “You got it?”