The House of Grey- Volume 2 by Collin Earl Page A

question Ignace, even if I wanted to.” He stopped trying to find the proper words. To his relief, he was saved the effort.
    “ Hello? What’s with all the serious talk?” Indigo butted into the conversation. “Why would you want to know about boring old Monson anyway? Especially when you could talk about someone like me!”
    Laughter broke out among the girls. Monson joined in even though he didn’t think it was that funny. Relief streamed through him. He looked toward Indigo. Their eyes met.  He was starting to realize why Artorius found Indigo so attractive.
    But Monson was not out of the woods yet. Ignace seemed to be trying to say something. As she tried to speak over the noise, Monson noticed something.
      Casey.
      Up until now, Monson had hardly registered the absence of Casey’s laughter. Monson turned to where he was sitting. Casey was not paying attention, but poring over a notebook, writing madly.
    “ Casey. What are you doing?”
    Casey put up a single finger in Monson’s direction and did not say a word. He finished his scribbling with a flourish of his pen, and then finally looked up.
    “ It’s finished!”
      Casey gently closed his yellow three-ring notebook, clearly relishing in what he assumed to be the undivided attention of all around him. Monson looked at the rather unremarkable notebook.  There was nothing on it that distinguished it from any other notebook a student might be carrying. He turned his head towards Artorius as he spoke.
    “ Finished? Finished what?”
    Casey beamed around at the crowd at their table as they started to notice his and Monson’s conversation, yet still did not offer any explanation. Artorius shook his head, a serious expression on his face.
    “ His story,” said Artorius to Monson.  He switched his attention to Casey. “You actually finished it?”
    Casey’s smile grew more pronounced. “Yep, Grey was the inspiration I needed.”
     “ Hello?” A voice cut across their conversation. The three boys turned their attention to Indigo. She looked huffy and slightly red-faced.
    “ Do you realize that you guys have now been ignoring some of the hottest girls in school for the better part of five minutes?”
    Casey gasped in a way that was almost certainly not genuine. “I’m so sorry. I will make sure I pay better attention to Cyann.”
    Indigo’s face flushed red. Monson jumped in before she could start.
    “ What story, Casey?”
    Casey repositioned his body towards Monson. Indigo continued to appear upset, though her friends looked like they were about to laugh.
    “ This is my screenplay,” said Casey with a proud nod of his head.
    “ Screenplay?” Monson peered more intently at the notebook in front of Casey. “I didn’t know you were writing a screenplay for real—what’s it about?”
    Splat.
    Monson winced as mud-like goo oozed down his face. He heard laughter and jeering.  He dragged his hand across his face to clear the viscous substance from his eyes. He smelled it.
    “ Pudding,” he announced, looking around at the shocked crowd.
    “ Who did that?” asked Artorius in a booming voice. The girls at the table recoiled as he stood up.
    Not again, thought Monson. This is really starting to get old. He glanced towards the middle of the room looking for one particular individual. He saw him laughing with a group of friends.
    Monson’s eyes became slits as he felt his heart beat a little faster.
    Derek .  
    “ That guy is really starting to get on my nerves.” Even through the pudding, Monson looked irritated.
    Casey stared at him. “Why don’t I just beat him down and be done with it?”
    “ Yes, that would be wise.” Artorius cut in before Monson could say anything. “Why don’t you go and beat the snot out of the dean’s son? You would get kicked outta here so fast, it would make your head spin.”
    Casey shrugged. “It might be worth it.”
    Monson turned towards Taris, but spoke to the girls as a whole.
    “ We’d better