Broken Record

Chapter 5 Fiona

When I got in my mom’s car, I saw that Blythe was also walking to her car, but Jamie stayed back until we both got in our cars. Jamie always used to walk home because her house and the school were so close to each other. As my mom began driving away and out the school parking lot.&nbsp; “So Fiona, what I’m hearing is that Jamie’s the one who got you both in detention?” “Yes mom!” I exclaimed. “First she got up and broke the record player, then she blamed it on me and we both got in trouble!” “I find it somewhat hard to believe that.. I mean, Jamie’s one of your closest friends.” “Mom are you kidding me? Seriously, Jamie did it!

Jamie’s the one who broke it, accused ME for doing it, got us in detention, and had the audacity to be mad at me for what she did! It’s almost like she lied so much to the point that she believed it herself!” I retaliated. “Fiona just calm down, we can talk about this later”, my mom said. Later? LATER? After an hour of detention, a whole feud with me, Jamie, and that Blythe girl, and my own mother not believing a word a say? What alternate reality have I stepped into? As my mom drove us home, I stepped out of the car without a word and opened the front door, running to my room. I slung my backpack to the wall and crashed onto my bed. Immediately, I started crying. And I cried. And cried. And cried some more. I felt so betrayed. Definitely the worst day of my life. And that tops the chocolate milk incident, which I will not be going into further detail about. After wiping the tears off my face,

"Oh okay!" she yipped. I think she may be more annoying than Jamie ever was. Just thinking about Jamie makes me miss her more. Lunch soon came and Blythe said she'd stay back for a bit because she had to find something in her bag. Without hesiation, I said okay, finally having a break from her talking. I ran through the halls, heading towards Mitchie. "Mitch, oh god I had the worst morning.." "With that replacement-Jamie girl?" "She's not a replaceme- whatever. When I tell you she just talks like a broken record. Repeating the same things over again." "Maybe she's some alien-space monster who's trying to learn the human language", Mitchie teased. We both sat down at our regular lunch table, sadly without Jamie. I was about to place my bag down where Jamie sat until Mitchie stopped me. "Uh-uh. We can't just forget Jamie like that. Keep her seat empty so that it's like she's still with us. I felt for Mitchie, no matter how much Jamie and him hated each other.

"Yeah you're right". Suddenly I saw Blythe walking in, glumly, not like she was acting all morning before. She spotted me and walked over and her eyes looked tired. "Hey Fiona. Mind if I sit here?" she asked calmly. "No you can't! That used to be Jamie's seat, and I'm not letting some blondie steal it from her! Whether she's here or not!" Mitchie shouted. "Oh. Okay", Blythe replied. "Wh- what do you mean 'okay'?!" he asked, confused that his intimidation tactic didn't work. "I mean I'll okay. I'll sit somewhere else" Blythe said as she walked to another table. "What just happened?" I said. "I don't know.. she's nothing like you described", Mitchie said. "Mitch I'm so serious, she was so chatty all morning I could barely hear Ms. Buffle teach" I replied. "Well maybe she's just um... gosh this is too much overthinking! Let's just eat!" Mitchie sighed. Shrugging in agreement, I began eating too. As the end of the day rolled around, I almost left until Ms. Buffle stopped me. 

I'm in class now. It feels like I forgot everything that happened before I got here. Like I just appeared in Ms. Buffle's classroom. I look to my left and half-excpect to see Jamie sitting there, talking to me about some luxury brand. But not today. The first half of class was a blur, until we heard a knock on the classroom door. Everyone turned to look and Ms. Buffle went to open it. As the door opened, she motioned for the figure to come in. As it slowly walked into the classroom and turned it's head directly my way, I knew who it was. Blythe. This was starting to get creepy. "I'm sorry dear, can I help you?" Ms. Buffle asked. "Yes, I'm Blythe Greene. I was moved from a different class to be in this one!" "Ah let me see..."

Ms. Buffle said as she shuffled through a stack of papers. "Oh you're right! Well how about you take a seat in an empty chair. Sure there's one somewhere if you look hard enoug-". "I see one right there!" Blythe said as she frantically pointed next to me. "I guess you're right!" Ms. Buffle agreed. Blythe, practically running to the chair grabbed it and sat down. "Wow Fiona! Isn't this such a coincidence?" Blythe said. Creeped out to the extreme I replied, "Yeah.. funny how coincidences work huh?" "Yeah! I can think of so many coincidences! What about you? Do you have any coincidences? Isn't it so coincidental that we keep talking about coincidences with each other! And coincidentally, we're in the same class now! Want me to name more? Well here's one-" "Blythe, enough with the coincidences", I said, seizing that whole mouthful of words she spewed.

"Fiona.. oh thank goodness you answered! I tried calling your phone but I guess the calls didn't go through", Jamie's mom said in a hasty tone. I feel kind of guilty now for not answering her calls because it seems like something bad happened. "O-oh I guess not.. um, what seems to be the problem?" I asked. "It's Jamie.. she didn't come home tonight. I thought I'd call you because... because you guys were really close friends", she cried. Jamie didn't come home tonight? That makes no sense.. It's not that far of a walk to get to her house either. "What do you mean.. Mrs. Cartwright?" "She just didn't come home, she texted me she had to stay back at school for an extracurricular, which I didn't mind because she said it'd be until 3:40. But..but she never came home and I.. I just thought you were the last resort." Extracurricular was a good disguise for a detention but that's not the point right now. "M-Mrs. Cartwright, how about you call the

I suddenly got a call from Jamie's mom. Seriously? Did she really do the same sob story that she did to Ms. Buffle to her mom? I declined the call, too upset to deal with more of Jamie's buffoonery. Only about 2 seconds later did I get another call. God this was getting annoying. Once again I declined the call. About five minutes later, I heard my mom downstairs. "Yes I'll go get her. Fiona?" "Yes mom?" "Jamie's mother would like to ask you a few questions". Oh my god. This has to be a joke. She really went above and beyond just to interrogate me about some stupid lie that Jamie made up. "Ok I'll be down in a second, Mom!" I swiftly went down the stairs and took the phone from my mothers hand. Prepared to here a super-lecture from Jamie's mom, I answered with a stern "Hello Mrs. Cartwright".

“Fiooooooonaaaa…?” “Fionaa?!” “Wake up Fiona!” “Fiona!” It sounds like Jamie.. I feel tapping on my shoulder Then on my head Suddenly it felt like someone was pulling on my arm too “Fio-....” “Fiona!!” my mom said, startling me. “M-mom I didn’t see you there!” I said, opening my eyes.

She kept walking until she was right in front of the record player. She picked it up and threw it on the ground, then ran back to her seat. Everyone looked up when they heard the crash and a nearby teacher walking down the hall came to see what the noise was. “What was that noise?” she said, looking down at the now broken record player. “Oh my goodness, Ms. Buffle’s record player.. who did this?!” Nobody responded, mostly because they were afraid of Jamie. Oh yeah, did I mention Jamie is super manipulative as well? That’s how she gets people to like her. She then raised her hand and did the unthinkable. “I saw Fiona do it!” she said. “What?! I didn’t break it!” I retaliated. I couldn’t believe it whatsoever. And to think we were friends!

The teacher looked at us both and called Ms. Buffle from down the hall. “Please step outside ladies”, she said. When Ms. Buffle had arrived near her classroom door, the random teacher told her the news about her record player.

CHAPTER 2 Jamie

The crash of that dusty old record player was pretty loud. Ha! Serves that old woman right! That thing was bound to break any day now! Suddenly some teacher poked her head in to investigate the noise, when she saw the now broken record player on the floor. “Oh my goodness, Ms. Buffle’s record player.. who did this?!” Nobody responded as I shot a “you better not tell or I’ll get you back” kind of look to everybody in the classroom. However, I looked at Fiona and saw she looked like she was about to say something. Her mouth opened a bit and without thinking,

my hand immediately shot up, and the words rushed out my mouth like vomit. “I saw Fiona do it!”. Covering my mouth I thought to myself, why would I say that? Why would I just throw my friend under the bus like that? I didn’t even know why, but then she yelled, “What?! I didn’t break it!” I’m so used to blaming things on others, I even did it to one of my closest friends. My best friend! And I know the feeling is mutual because she hangs around me all the time! Kind of like a leech honestly, which can get annoying. We were both called outside and Ms. Buffle had came down the hallway. “What happened? Why is my record player broken?” she asked. I had to continue this lie or else Ms. Buffle would find out it wasn’t Fiona. I immediately started talking, making sure she wouldn’t get a word in. “I don’t know why she would do that Ms. Buffle! All I heard was a crash and when I

"Aw, okay best friend! I guess we can talk tomorrow. You think Jamie'll be there? I hope she isn't. Not that I hope anything bad would happen." "Um.. yeah, okay." "See you tomorrow, Fiona! Tell your mom I said hi!" She slammed the door in my face and left. Like slammed. What the heck? First of all, what just happened?! How'd she find my house? And why did she call me her best friend? Now I don't consider Jamie my best friend, I wouldn't say I have one in general, but we were at least closer than me and Ms. Agressive! I mean seriously, get a grip. Still in shock from the unreal experience I just had, my mom announced dinner was ready. As my brother and I headed to the table, we sat down and started serving ourselves. "Feeling better?" my mom asked."Um yeah.. I guess", I replied. "What's wrong with'er mom? Is she sad about something?" my brother bluntly asked. "She's

just been a little down today. Don't bother her too much, okay?" mom replied.

looked to my left I saw Fiona wasn’t there! That’s the honest bitter truth.” “What a joke!” she spat. “I literally watched you walk up the her desk and throw it on the fl-” “Ladies, please calm down. It seems that one of you is lying, therefore both of you will have detention until you confess the truth”, Ms. Buffle said.&nbsp; Great, just great. Look where my lie got me now.&nbsp;

I can’t believe it, detention. My first one ever to be exact. It feels like the day went by especially fast, because it came before I knew it. In our last period of class we were asked to stay back and some teacher came to pick up Jamie and I. “Ms Cartwright and Ms Belford, please follow me to detention.” As we walked with her tot he stuffy detention room, I noticed a girl I’d never seen before. She had blonde hair, glasses and wore a red bow. I looked at her for a second until I realized I was staring. I snapped back into reality and sat a desk apart from Jamie. As I sat down, I could feel her glaring at me, but for what reason? She’s the one who got us in trouble anyway. As we sat in silence, the blonde-haired girl approached Jamie and I. 

They finally stopped when we sat down in our seats and our teacher started playing some eerie music on her too-old-to-even-exist-anymore record player. Everyone in this class cringed when she played it. It was like nails on a chalkboard, just so cringeworthy it made you want to pull your ears off.Then, our teacher, Ms. Buffle began talking about some literature that we needed to read this semester, which nobody cared about whatsoever. I guess she realized nobody was listening, because she then projected her voice and said “You know, reading this literature can help you get into the colleges that you desire to go to, like Yale for example.&nbsp;As high school students you should be reading these types of books anyways!” She’s always talking about college and stuff, when she hadn’t even gone herself.

But, I guess it’s nice to persuade students to not make the same mistakes that you have. Then again it’s a choice as well, you don’t haaave to go, but you can if you want. I wonder why she never takess that into consideration. Suddenly, the guidance counselor had come to the door and asked Ms. Buffle to step outside. Of course, as soon as she closed the door everyone started talking and making jokes, however Jamie stood up and started talking. “I’m sick, sick, SICK, of this music! I wish I could just break that record player so that Ms. Buffle would never be able to that music again!” I replied saying “I don’t really think that’s a good idea, Jamie.. I mean what if you get cau-” “I’ll do it anyway!” she&nbsp;said cutting me off. Nobody was really paying attention to her, which she noticed when she had stopped and turned around, seeing that everyone was talking to one another.

“And clearly you didn’t hear me either. This is the third day that you haven’t woken up on time! School still exists, you know” my mom preached. “My bad…” I said, hoping I’d get out of this mess again. “Just get ready” she said annoyed. Another day of school. I waited at the bus stop in my neighborhood and saw my friend Jamie. “Hey Jamie, what’s up?” I said. “Hi Fiona! I’m doing suuuuper!! Like even more super than a word for super! That’s how super I’m doing!” she said. Jamie is kind of annoying sometimes, but we are really good friends. “Well how super are we talking?” I replied. “Oh you wouldn’t even begin to believe the thing that happened yesterday! So basically there was this show…” she said before I tuned her out. She’s a bit of a loud-mouth too, did I mention that?&nbsp; “...and then I won!! An autograph from the best pop star singer out right now!”

“And.. who is that?” “And then there was this cat that I found…” she continued, not addressing my question whatsoever. Then we both got on the bus while she was still yapping about god-knows-what. I looked out the side of thew window and saw my friend Mitchie running to the bus frantically with his hands waving in the air. “Wait wait! Don’t leave yet I’m not on the bus yet! Don’t leave without me! Hey hey!” he said as the bus doors were about to close. “Haha! There goes Mitchie again being late for the.. what is it, hundredth time?” said Jamie with a smirk. The driver opened the doors again and let Mitchie on the bus. He sat down still out of breath from running down the sidewalk. “Hah-hi guys” he said.

Chalkboard

I'd never been happier to see them. "Oh uh sorry.. didn't know shopping wasn't your thing.." Jamie said. "Jamie! Mitchie! I'm so glad to see you! Why aren't we in class?" I asked. "Class?" "Oh Jamie, she fell asleep remember?" "Oh yeah you were totally knocked out." "B-but that still doesn't explain why we're still on the bus!" I said checking my phone. "It's 10:30! We're late!" "About that, the bus broke down. Or got a flat tire. Some engineering nerd stuff", Jamie said. "The bus.. the but I-" "Fi are you okay? You hit your head during that snooze of yours?" "No it's just.. we got detention because Jamie broke Ms. Buffle's record player.. a-and then there was this Blythe girl and she stole Jamie's personality and then Mitchie's and then-" "How about you go back to sleep?" Mitchie sassed. "Okay but don't break any record players while I'm asleep okay, Jamie?" I joked. "Unless there's some dusty antique player

lying on the bus floor, nothing is getting broken", Jamie replied. We all laughed and after the bus got fixed, continued our ride to school. While in class, the record player was playing some old music. "Oh my god, I'm so gonna break that thing if-". "No don't!" I interjected, cutting Jamie's sentence off. "If they play another wrong note! High C and low C aren't the same c'mon people!" she joked. "Phew, you scared me", I replied. "Don't worry I wouldn't", she said. "That's pretty crazy though. All that stuff was caused by that broken record."

The next day of school came and just like yesterday was a blur. I didn't even recognize I was in class until I saw the dark room around me. I saw all the desks arranged as they normally would be. I looked next to me and saw nobody. Not even Blythe. I looked around to find Mitchie too but I couldn't see him either. All I saw was a bright cyan light shining through the door. Curious, I crept over and opened the door slightly. I heard a scream that sounded like one of my classmates, Carson. "SOMEBODY! SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEAS-" I then heard a sound that was like the sound of something disintegrating and Carson's faint scream. Frightened, I covered my mouth and shut the door. Too loud. Suddenly I heard the stomping of a mysterious being. I hid

under a desk and watched it come in on eight legs. A spider? Getting a closer look I saw the figure, an alien it looked like, with a red bow and glasses. "Fiona, are you looking for your friends? They're gone y'know. I stole their personalities. That's what us aliens feed off of. Personality. I did that so we could be best friends. All I wanted was a friend. I thought that if I'd pick the right personality, you'd want to be friends with me. So I used Jamie, but you never liked her anyways. Then some quiet kid in the hallway when I approached you at lunch. Last was Mitchie, he seems like your best friend." Not saying a word, I continued to listen as Blythe slithered around the classroom. "Mitchie was the perfect candidate, so I got rid of him. Would you like to be friends now?" Blythe asked creepily. "I guess not.. I know where you are Fiona", she said. Almost timed perfectly, she lifted the desk I was under and in an instant I was on the bus. "NO STOP!" I shouted. I looked to my right and saw Jamie and Mitchie looking at me.

I did it. And I knew I did. But having the thought of being accused by some girl who shouldn’t have even know that I did it. It made me afraid, angry. “Shut up Fiona! And you too Blythe! Both of you just leave me alone!” The room went completely silent after that and we all stayed there for about 45 more minutes until a new random teacher came to tell us that detention was over and that we could call out parents to pick us up. I could practically walk home considering how close my house was to the school. I watched as Blythe left to her car, then Fiona to hers. I got up last, opening the school doors and began walking. I walked along the sidewalk until I felt a strong gust of wind go past me. What the heck? It wasn’t even a windy day. I looked behind me and to my surprise I saw… Blythe. That blonde-haired-goody-two-shoes spoiled little daddy’s girl. I approached her. “What are you doing here Blythe”, I asked sternly. “Take back what you said.

Come clean about the lying. Take back what you said about me being stupid.&nbsp;And apologize to Ms. Buffle”, she demanded. “Who do you think you are? You’ve got some nerve demanding things like that to someone you just met an hour ago”, I said.&nbsp; “You’ll regret that...” “Who are you, Wednesday Addams? Just leave me alone weirdo”. With that final remark, I turned around and began walking againg when suddenly everything went black.

“Welcome Mitchie, seems you’ve beat your best time, 25.7 seconds before the bus doors closed!” Jamie teased. “Oh har-har at least I have a better excuse this time” Mitchie replied. “And that is…?” I said waiting for what lie he was about to pull out of his hat.&nbsp; “I had been studying for a test allllll night! Which is why I woke up so late and nearly missed the bus!” “Mitchie.” “Yeah?” “We don’t have any tests” “Wait cmon for serious?” Mitchie groaned. “Yes ‘for serious’.” “Aw man so that wouldn’t have worked anyways..” “Even if we did have a test today, none of the teachers would believe you.” Jamie added.

Did I mention Jamie’s totally rude too? “Awh shut up Jamie! We probably do have a test and you’re just messing with me..” Mitchie said sadly. “Awh shut up Jamie” Jamie said mocking him. “Please, if we did have a test, I’d have studied for it. Unlike you, I would have passed with flying colors”. “Sooo, what about that math homework?” I said trying to cut the tension in the bus.&nbsp;“It was really difficult man, I had a lot of trouble understanding it…” Mitchie said. “I bet you did Mitchie you have trouble with everything you do. You’d probably have trouble walking even if you looked at your legs 24/7!”&nbsp;Mitchie and Jamie were still finding all the way to the school, and even when we were walking to class! Yeah, they argue a lot. A whole lot.

"No no Ms. Belford, just because your friend isn't here doesn't mean you're not here. You still have detention young lady". Shoot, I completely forgot. "Right I was uh.. just heading there", I lied. As I walked to detention, I didn't see Blythe which made me realize I had the whole mold-smelling classroom to myself. I sat there for an hour until that same random teacher came to tell me it was time to go. Mom picked me up, I got home, and started up my homework. All of a sudden the doorbell again. It was like exactly the same time it had been when.. she came yesterday. 'It couldn't be, I thought to myself. Or.. it could. "I'll get it mom!" I shouted as I went downstairs. I opened the door and there she was again. Blythe. "Hey uh.. Fiona? You're door bell sounds a bit wonky, you should get it fixed". Okay... that was random. "Uh yeah I guess, anyways, something you need?" I asked trying to get to the point. "Ehm, not really I guess do you wanna hang

out?" "Not really I have homework to do.." "Aw man, for serious? And I came all the way down here." "Yes, for serious Mitch. I just don-" I said stopping myself. "I-I mean Blythe. Sorry it's just.. you reminded me a lot of my friend Mitchie when you um.. said that." "Oh it's okay. Well I'll be headin' out now. See ya tomorrow." "Yeah see.. tomorrow..." What just happened. First time she comes to my house she's a nonstop chatterbox, and now she's nonchalant and says "for serious"? It's like she's stolen my friend's personalities! I closed the front door this time and headed to the dinner table without being called. "Hey Fi, that's the second day in a row that that girl has come over. She's your friend?" my mom asked. "You could say that.." I replied.

I would like to thank my mom and brother for supporting me when doing my project and for crtiquing my ideas.

school? Maybe they know where she is?" I said reassuringly. "I already tried, Fiona. I just.. I just want my daughter to be safe.." her mom said through tears. I couldn't believe this day. I never thought in a million years a friend of mine would go missing. It still feels like we were at the bus stop when she was talking about.. well whatever she was talking about. When she was joking about Mitchie being late.. I never thought I'd miss Jamie like the way I do right now. I started to feel myself cry. The tears felt like acid on my cheeks, like they were gonna burn straight through my skin. "Mrs. Cartwright.. I.. is it okay if I can back later? I'm a bit... distraught", I said. "I understand.. I am as well. I'll call back later, okay?" she replied. I put the phone down and began to cry again. My mom heard and came to hug me. "Fiona what's wrong?" she asked. "It's Jamie.. she.. she..." "She what Fiona? Is everything okay?"

I couldn't even get the words out, I just kept crying. "I understand, Fiona. We don't have to talk about it. Why don't you go upstairs and get some rest until I finish making dinner, yeah?" she said. "Okay, thanks mom", I said, sniffing and crying. I went upstairs and laid on my bed. A few mintues later, I heard the doorbell. With my mom downstairs cooking, setting the table, and preparing to answer the door, I told her I'd get the door for her. When I went downstairs and opened the door, I was shocked to see the blonde-haired-red-bow-wearing girl again. Blythe. "Fiona! Super good to see you!" "Um.. Blythe this um.. isn't really the best time. Also how did you find my hous-" "What's wrong? Is it Jamie's lie? I totally hate her. You hate her too right?" "N..no I don't hate her... Look, I don't know how or when you found my house but can we talk tomorrow? Like I said, right now isn't the best tim-"

“‘Scuse me, I wanted to know if I could sit in the desk between you guys.” At first I was confused, seeing as there were plenty of seats around the room to sit in, but Jamie spoke up first. “Sure you could sit here. I didn’t want to keep having to look at her anyway.” How dare she! She’s the one that got us both in trouble after she accused me even though she did it! “You do know that you’re the one who got us in trouble right? You lied about breaking the record player and accused me for it!” I retaliated. Not saying a word about our bickering, the blonde-haired girl sat between us anyway which made Jamie and I halt with our quarrel. “Sorry to interrupt your… feud… but I’m Blythe Witherspoon. I see that you both are having a bit of a conflict, so why don’t we just talk it out huh?” she said. So her name’s Blythe, that’s a nice name. “Okay that’s a good idea,” I said. “Let’s just talk it out.” Jamie agreed and so began our interrogation of the truth about the broken record player. Blythe started asking a series of questions such as,

‘What happened in class’ and ‘Who did you see near the record player last’. Eventually Blythe said she thought she knew who broke the record player.&nbsp; “I believe that the culprit is…. Jamie” Blythe concluded.&nbsp; “WHAT?! Are you stupid or something? I didn’t break the record player, no matter how much I hated that music! This is absurd! You’re so stupid, Blythe! Stupid, stupid, stupid!” “Shut up! Maybe you shouldn’t have broken that record player! Maybe you wouldn’t be in detenti-” “Guys we should calm down. It’s just a week of detention, not the end of the world”, I reassured Jamie. “Shut up Fiona! And you too Blythe! Both of you just leave me alone!” The room went completely silent after that and we all stayed there for about 45 more minutes until a new random teacher came to tell us that detention was over and that we could call out parents to pick us up.

I'm surprised that wasn't the first thing that we were allowed to do. I pulled out my cellphone and called my mom explaining what happened and why she needed to pick me up. She said okay and in about 15 minutes she was in front of the school, slightly annoyed, and with my little brother in the back of the car. I greeted her and began telling her how the whole issue unfolded.

“I believe that the culprit is…. Jamie” Blythe said. This Blythe girl is seriously getting on my last nerve. Sure I lied, sure I didn’t want to talk to Fiona, but that was absolutely none of her business. Seriously she’s overstepping now. “WHAT?! Are you stupid or something? I didn’t break the record player, no matter how much I hated that music! This is absurd! You’re so stupid, Blythe! Stupid, stupid, stupid!”, I retaliated.&nbsp; “Shut up! Maybe you shouldn’t have broken that record player! Maybe you wouldn’t be in detenti-” “Guys we should calm down. It’s just a week of detention, not the end of the world”, Fiona reassured me. But I didn’t want her reassurement. I was so mad. I don’t care if she didn’t break the record player.

Illustrated Fiction Individual Grade: 8 Accokeek Academy Jazmin Harry

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