my space."
If students and zombies respect each
other's space, our school will be a very
happy place.
When I finished writing, Taft pulled out a Baggie. It contained hunks of raw steak. "You need to carry Baggies filled with meat slivers with you at all times," he said.
"Gross," said Sybil, turning up her nose at the raw meat.
"Does it have to be steak?" I asked.
"I don't know. Why?"
"We're more of a hamburger family,"
"Any raw meat should work, but if hamburger doesn't work, or if you ever find yourselves in close quarters with a zombie for any reason, a sharp rap on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper should stun them long enough to get you out of the tight spot."
And that was it. That's all he'd been able to figure out so far.
74
That tiny bit of information was all we had to keep ourselves alive for the next seven weeks, until the end of the semester. On the bright side, I was being given the opportunity to live out my dream and realize my manifesto. I'd always wanted to be an it-girl, but the Amanda Culpeppers of the world were always standing in my way. But no more. If I went along with Principal Taft's plan, my junior year would be exactly what I'd always dreamed it should be. And all I had to do to enjoy it was stay alive.
75
Chapter Eleven
"What a crazy day," Sybil said with a sigh. Sybil and I AZ EW had been out of school several hours and were in my bedroom. When she spoke I realized we'd been there for quite some time and neither of us had said anything. That was unusual. Normally when Sybil and I were in my room we were buzzing with chatter.
For my part, I'd been distracted ever since our meeting with Principal Taft. Something inside me was different. I knew I was excited over the prospect of living out my manifesto, but something else was going on. It was as if a door had opened inside me, and something dark within my soul had stepped through it.
"Very crazy," I replied.
"Margot, I'm sorry for not telling you I asked Dirk to go to the carnival with both of us. It was deceitful."
"If I'd gone to the carnival with Dirk I'd probably be a zombie now." My voice was somber. The thought had been on my mind for a while. Our argument had saved my life.
"I know. I saw him this morning in a pack of jock zombies
76
patrolling the corridor, "Her voice lowered. "Margot, I need to know we're still friends."
"Of course we're friends. Best friends. Friends have fights."
"Not us."
A smile blossomed on my lips. "I guess we can't say that anymore. Can we?"
"Guess not," she replied, returning the smile. And just like that, all was forgiven.
Despite the perk of being head lunchroom monitor-- which I didn't see as a perk at all--Sybil still felt we needed to help our fellow classmates. I no longer shared the sentiment.
"What can we do for them? They're zombies." I was surprised I felt no pity. "Besides, I'm sure Principal Taft is doing all he can to find out what happened."
"But maybe we can help, too. Maybe we can find a way to change them back ourselves."
I stared at her. I was trying to come up with a reason why I'd want to change them back, I couldn't come up with one. Some of those kids had been nothing but pains in the butt my entire time in high school. They were the ones who'd made my two years and two months at Salesian so miserable, with all their little cliques constantly reminding me of what an outsider I was. I didn't say it out loud, but I was actually happy I didn't have to deal with them anymore.
"What can we do?" I repeated. I knew what I wanted to do-- nothing.
"We can go to the carnival and look for clues to find out what happened to them," Sybil said.
Leave it to nice Sybil to come up with a logical answer to my question. She clearly lacked the mean gene.
"But suppose we run into zombies at the carnival?"
"We'll bring raw meat and wear fish oil. And we already
77
know how to act. Come on, Margot. You know it's the right thing to do."
So what if it is? I thought. I don't want to change them back. I want to be on the Homecoming Committee and the Prom Committee. I want to be prom queen!
The conversation was putting me