Michelle Knudsen - Curse of the Evil Librarian

Italian class is like one of those clich horror-movie villains who just refuses to die.

You think youre done, that the awfulness is over, that everything is finally going to be okay. You think that its time for you and the other survivors exhausted, bloodied, but still standing, if only barely to share a moment of relief or grateful tears or maybe even some shaky laughs. Maybe youll all go out for pizza or something and talk about how lucky you are to be alive. But nope! suddenly the hellscape is before you once again, the monster back for one final attempt to drag you kicking and screaming into an early grave, all of your happy visions of the future dissolving into tattered, broken, hopeless dreams.

Okay, its possible that analogy got a little bit away from me.

I suppose its not really quite that bad. And its entirely my own fault that Im sitting here right now. I could have left Italian behind with my junior year, but did I? No. No, instead I signed up for AP Italian, which was completely voluntary, which means, to be clear, that I could have not signed up for it. Somewhere in an alternate universe there is an alternate Cyn blissfully napping in study hall right now or taking an extra elective or going out for coffee, thinking about how nice it is that her days in Italian are finito.

Sometimes I make really questionable decisions.

Not always, though. I look to my left, where my lovely boyfriend, Ryan Halsey, is sitting, still so completely worth staring at, and also still my boyfriend, and I congratulate myself on the decisions that led to this happy result. Well, to be fair, there were plenty of questionable decisions involved in there along the way. But the main decision, to fall in love with Ryan, was truly outstanding, and so lets just think about that one, okay?

I also stand by my decision to save Annie from her demonic would-be abductor/husband and evil former librarian, Mr. Gabriel. Both the first time, last fall, and then again this past summer at camp. She is also here, sitting to my right. One of the few good things about how Signorina Benedetti runs her classroom is that she lets us sit wherever we want, just like actual college students supposedly do.

And really, other than forty-five minutes of advanced Italian three times a week under the firm, merciless, and often incomprehensible hand of Signorina Benedetti, things are actually pretty great right now.

The main great thing, of course, is that we Annie, Ryan, Leticia, Diane, William, Peter, and me are all still here and alive. In case you have forgotten, there was a lot of almost-dying over the past several months. (There was also some actual dying, by other people, but Im trying to focus on the positive at the moment.)

Also great: no one has broken up since the summer! Ryan, as I have mentioned, is still my lovely boyfriend. William is still Annies lovely boyfriend, and Leticia and Diane are still each others lovely girlfriends. We are all deliriously besotted.

So we are back at school for our senior year, there is lots of love going on, and no one has been killed or damaged by demons for just over two months now. In fact, there have been no demons at all since we saw the last of Mr. Gabriel and his horrible little brother at camp over the summer. Well, except for Peter, who is, of course, one of the rare non-evil demons. And who is lovely in his own way. Ways. Shut up. And hes not actually here; hes at some other high school, pretending to be a normal if especially attractive human boy who just happens to have amazing musical-theater writing and composing skills. But he checks in from time to time. Which is not confusing or distracting to me at all.

Another super great thing is that Mr. Henry has announced the musical for this fall, and it is Les Misrables. Which has me all excited because the barricade, and has Ryan all excited because Javert, and has Mr. Henry all excited because apparently hes always wanted to do this show and this is the first time all the stars have aligned or whatever and he has the budget and the resources and everything else necessary to achieve this lifelong dream. Which we are all very happy to be a part of. Because we love Mr. Henry, and this will be the last show we ever get to do together. And also we love Les Misrables.

We just found out this morning, and so Ryan and I are especially not very focused on Italian at the moment.

Javert is the role that Ryan has wanted to play pretty much since birth. He loves Les Misrables even more than The Scarlet Pimpernel, and trust me, thats really saying something. Ive already caught him singing Stars under his breath twice since the period started.

As for me, I am busily drawing little preliminary sketches of what the barricade might look like for our show. Mr. Henry has already named me tech director again, so I can get started right away. Ryan has to wait until this Fridays auditions, and then callbacks, to really know the part is his, but of course theres no question hes going to get it. And then well be able to work on the show together, which we havent done since Sweeney last year. But this time well be together-together the whole time, and Ill get to watch him at rehearsal possessively instead of longingly, and well get to experience the magic of the show coalescing side by side, which is pretty much the most romantic thing I can think of.

Once upon a time, I would be getting very nervous right about now. Nervous that everything is a little too good, and that surely something terrible is about to happen and screw everything up.

But not this time. This time yours truly is going to trust all of this goodness with her whole heart and not be afraid. Because we have all suffered a great deal to get to this point, and we deserve every bit of this happiness. Im not going to ruin it by thinking about unpleasant possibilities. Like, for example, about how easy it seems to be for demons to intrude into our lives on a fairly regular basis, or about that last trip I still need to make to the demon world to fulfill my deal with the demon queen. Besides, she seems to have things pretty well in hand down there, and Mr. Gabriel is locked up tight under her watchful eyes and teeth and stingers and other parts, and so theres no reason shed need to call on me and my special demon-resistant super-roach power (yay for flattering demon names for things) anytime soon. There is no reason to fear anything demon related at all.

The bell rings and we can all stop pretending to pay attention. Well, except Annie, who may possibly have actually been paying attention.

Ryan practically leaps out of his chair with all the excited energy hes been holding in check. I cant believe auditions are this Friday. He could have given us more time.

Why do you need more time? You know what youre going to sing. Youve got all week to practice. And you know the part is yours, anyway. I place a calming hand on his thigh. Relax!

I cant relax! Im too excited! Come here and distract me. He pulls me up into a deliciously tight embrace, as though hes trying to absorb me by osmosis. But not in a creepy way. My mouth is slightly smushed against his chest, but I dont mind. Its hard to talk at times like this anyway, when I am temporarily overwhelmed by all the nice, warm feelings involved in the hugging. Ryan is very good at making me think happy thoughts. And feel happy feelings. Happy, warm, tingly, exciting feelings.