The Suburban Strange by Nathan Kotecki Page A

the silhouettes of Regine, Brenden, and Liz. Marco crept up and tickled Liz, who shrieked.
    “Stop that! Where’s her locker?” Liz asked.
    “Over there.” Celia reluctantly led them to it, but she was confused when she got there. “I thought it was this one.”
    “Without a lock? Are you sure?”
    “It’s fourth from the left—yeah, I’m sure this is hers. I don’t know why there isn’t a lock on it.”
    “Well, this will make our job easier,” Liz said. “Who wants to open it?”
    They stood there looking at each other in the darkness. The exit signs glowed like jack-o’-lanterns over the stairwell doors at either end of the hall. “You should do it, Celia. You can always tell her you needed to borrow her notes or something.”
    “I don’t want to,” Celia said. “She’s done nothing wrong, and she’s always been nice to me.” Marco gave her a look that said, Humor them .
    Ivo arrived. “The shop is locked. I guess the Bloodhound Gang is done for the night.”
    “Her locker is unlocked.” Brenden pointed.
    “So, did you open it?” Ivo asked.
    “Not yet. Celia doesn’t want to do it because she has a sense of integrity,” Liz said, and her approving tone reassured Celia.
    “Well, I can respect that. It was my idea, so I should do it,” Ivo said. He went up to the locker and tried to lift the latch. “I think it’s stuck.” He jiggled the latch but couldn’t get it to rise. “It’s jammed.”
    “Maybe that’s why it’s not locked. She got a new locker,” Liz said.
    They stood there looking at the latch. Marco had failed to predict this outcome. Celia knew she had seen Mariette open that locker earlier that same day, but she didn’t want to prolong this excursion, so she wasn’t about to share that information. Brenden took a turn at the latch, and then Marco, but no one could open the locker.
    “Oh well, I guess we’re done,” Ivo said. “But you should keep an eye on her, Celia. If bad things are happening and you’ve seen her levitating, she has to be considered a suspect in our curse investigation.”
    “I haven’t seen her levitating!” Celia laughed in spite of herself. She wasn’t sure if she was more surprised that Ivo had made a joke or that he’d looked directly at her.
    They took the long way back to the gymnasium, and then Brenden decided it was time to make his play with the DJ. “Okay, Book of Love, coming right up,” he said. When the song started, Marco pulled Celia to her feet, saying, “Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?” She knew he was trying to distract her after the strange excursion upstairs, but she shook her head, not ready to try it, even here. The rest of them went out to the floor, and Celia enjoyed the way the rest of the students looked on in uncertainty as the Rosary danced.
    “It’s amazing how none of these people will dance to a song unless they know it,” Liz said, passing close by Celia. The whole scene was the exact opposite of Diaboliques. Here the Rosary were the exception, not the rule. They were rebels instead of compatriots. The five of them had their moment, and then the DJ returned to the familiar format and the Rosary evacuated the dance floor as it filled back up. It’s almost as though they gave a performance, Celia thought.

8. UNKNOWN PLEASURES
    O N MONDAY MORNING CELIA positioned herself in a doorway with a view of Mariette’s locker, which was still missing the lock. October was a few days away, and on the classroom door across from Celia a cardboard witch with green skin and a mangy broom ogled her. Soon enough Mariette arrived. Celia watched her touch her finger to the front of the locker, quickly tracing a symbol before she easily lifted the latch and opened the door.
    Celia felt tangled in a web of concerns. Even though she had done her best to suppress the idea with her friends, Celia wondered: Did Mariette really have supernatural powers? Was there really a curse? Did