Taken Over by Z. Fraillon

1
    It was a stupid thing to do. A very, very stupid thing to do. Jasper McPhee wished he hadn’t done it. He wished he hadn’t even thought about doing it. But he had. The stupid thought had scuttled into his head, and before he had a chance to shoo it back out, he had done it. And now he was in serious trouble.
    â€˜You are so dead,’ Felix whispered.
    Jasper was hiding under a table in the food hall. It was the first day of his second year at the Monstrum House School for Troubled Children, and he was already in trouble.
    He was trying to avoid Bruno, the head prefect.
    â€˜Do you think he’ll remember?’ Jasper asked Felix hopefully. ‘He could have forgotten. After all, we were away for a whole six weeks. Lots of stuff can happen over the holidays.’
    But Jasper knew Bruno would never forget what he’d done at the end of last year. ‘Why did I do it?’ he groaned.
    Saffy snorted. ‘Because you are a complete – ’ Jasper jabbed Saffy in the shins before she could finish the sentence.
    Jasper peered out at the prefects from under the table. Bruno was the only one he recognised from the previous year. The rest were new. Jasper couldn’t believe it. Bruno had had it in for him all of first year. He had personally given Jasper more penalty points than all the other prefects put together. Which is why, on Bruno’s last day, Jasper had given him a little going-away present.
    â€˜I thought the prefects only did one year here,’ whispered Jasper. ‘They’re not meant to come back!’
    â€˜Well, it looks like he did. Maybe he had some unfinished business?’ said Saffy.
    Jasper softly thumped his head against the table leg. ‘Kill me now and get it over with,’ he mumbled to himself. He knew Bruno wouldn’t let him off the hook easily.
    Jasper thought of the way the rotten eggs had sailed perfectly through the open windows of the prefects’ bus. He thought of the look on Bruno’s face when the eggs hit him. Bruno had looked out the window and his eyes had met Jasper’s. His face had been dripping with stinking, disgusting, rotten egg. And Jasper had waved as the bus pulled away.
    It had been pretty awesome. In fact, better than awesome. It had been pure genius .
    Except now, Bruno was back. Now, it didn’t seem so genius. Now it just seemed stupid.
    â€˜Hang on,’ Felix muttered quietly. ‘I don’t think it’s him.’
    Jasper rolled his eyes. ‘Very funny. Of course it’s him! I know the thug brigade all look like the same lumps of muscle, but that’s definitely ...’ Jasper stopped talking. Bruno was carefully surveying the students in the food hall. There was something different.
    â€˜Yeah,’ Saffy murmured. ‘There’s no scar.’
    Jasper squinted at the prefect. Saffy was right. Bruno had a huge scar running down his face, but this prefect didn’t.
    â€˜And I think his eyes are a bit closer together,’ Felix commented.
    â€˜So, d’you think it’s safe to come out?’ Jasper whispered.
    â€˜Yeah, sure,’ Saffy said. ‘It’s definitely not him.’
    Jasper took a deep breath and crawled out from under the table and up onto his seat. But as soon as he did, the prefect’s eyes locked onto him.
    Jasper held his breath.
    The prefect reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo.
    â€˜Uh, Jasper. I think he’s seen you,’ said Felix.
    â€˜Maybe you should get back under the table,’ Saffy suggested.
    â€˜Too late,’ Jasper whispered. The prefect was heading their way.
    Jasper leapt up from the table and ran. There was no way he was hanging around to get beaten up by a Bruno look-alike. Jasper was a fast runner. He could outrun most kids. And even with all the junk food he’d gorged on over the holidays, he was still speedy. The door was only two steps away …
    Jasper made a dive for it, but he was