Tagline: Take it or DIE.
Back tagline: Caught!
Summary: Mr. Morley is so nice when he catches Mary O’Connor stealing a test. He doesn’t tell. He doesn’t fail her. She just has to do him a favour…
But helping Mr. Morley isn’t as easy as it seems.
In fact, it could kill her!
First impressions: A teacher taking advantage of a student isn’t a super common plot for these kind of books, so it’ll be interesting to see where Stine goes with it. I’m glad we’ll finally get to properly meet Mary O’Connor and see what she’s all about, other than being the poor girlfriend of the cheating Gary Fresno.
We’ve got a bottle of poison on the cover this time, so let’s find out if that has any relevance to the plot at all! Rat poison is listed as one of the things Mary hates in the yearbook, so I think that bodes well.
Recap
We have some NEW yearbook entries, including photos and descriptions of Mira Block, Danielle Cortez, Greta Bradley and Justin Thompson! [The latter two have been briefly mentioned several times, but haven’t really been part of the storyline] Along with Debra Lake, Danielle’s picture has a negative photo filter on it and a stamp saying rest in peace, so unfortunately we have no idea what she looks like because this is her first appearance in the yearbook. I’ve included the updated photos here as well as the roll call for new characters:
Mr. Morley – Mary’s social studies teacher who isn’t the person she thinks he is.
Rob – Mary’s sexy new love interest.
The book begins with Mary O’Connor in a meeting with the guidance counsellor, Ms. Russ. Mary has to attend one of these meetings each week for six months as part of her probation for stealing a pair of jeans and some earrings from her favourite store at the mall, Rage, over the summer. [Naughty naughty] It was one silly mistake she regrets, and she hates going to these meetings because the way Ms. Russ asks her questions is like Mary’s life is falling apart, when it’s not.
After the meeting, Mary bumps into her best friend Stacy Malcolm in the hall, and helps her carry a huge stack of books to her locker. On the way, she complains about her meetings with Ms. Russ, and supportive friend Stacy reminds her she only has two months left of them. Stacy checks the time, 3:30pm, and since they don’t have track practice and Mary doesn’t work Wednesdays, she suggests they go to the mall to cheer Mary up. Mary hasn’t been back to the mall since the shoplifting incident, and Stacy tells her she can’t avoid Rage forever — ‘”Why work at the supermarket three days a week after school if you can’t spend your paycheck on cool clothes?”‘ [Amen, Stace!]
A short time later, Mary anxiously enters Rage with Stacy, worried the salesgirl who caught her shoplifting will recognise her. Stacy assures her the clerk won’t remember her since it was so long ago, and leads her to a table stacked with sweaters. Mary selects a sexy black one, sure Gary Fresno will be sorry he dumped her when he sees her in it! [So he finally broke up with her!] Mary feels eyes on her and glances up to see a blond salesgirl watching her — the same one who caught her stealing! Luckily, she doesn’t seem to recognise her, and simply wants to tell her and Stacy that there’s no line for the dressing rooms at the back. Mary’s gonna buy without trying it on, sure it’ll fit, but Stacy hurries to the dressing rooms, promising not to be long. Mary senses she’s being watched again and gazes around the store, eventually spotting a tall, blonde, great-looking guy staring at her from the entrance. When they lock eyes, he smiles at her as if they know each other, but Mary’s sure she’s never seen him before. Suddenly feeling shy, she glances away, and when she looks back towards the entrance, the hunk is gone. Mary decides to find him, desperate to know who he is and why he was checking her out, and heads for the entrance. Suddenly, a cold voice cries out ‘”Stop!”‘ and Mary looks down to see she’s got one foot out the door of Rage, still holding the black sweater!!
Mary stops dead in her tracks, horrified she almost walked out with the sweater. It’s the same salesgirl as before, who asks if she’s going to buy the sweater. She also says Mary looks familiar, so Mary just says she changed her mind about the sweater and races out of the store. [It doesn’t say she dropped the sweater, but I assume she didn’t leave with it] Her heart pounding, Mary speeds around the corner and slams right into someone; the sexy blonde who’d been staring at her! Before she can say sorry, he turns and scampers away, ignoring Mary’s call for him to wait.
Cut to the next afternoon at school, and when the final bell rings the next day, Mary tells Stacy she’ll meet her at the track in a bit because she needs to go speak to Mr. Morley:
“Mmmmm-mmm!” Stacy said in a teasing tone. “I wouldn’t mind seeing Morley after school, if you know what I mean!”
“Sta-cy!” Mary laughed. But she knew exactly what Stacy meant. Mr. Morley was hot—for a teacher. No, he was hot, period. “I need to talk to him about the social studies midterm tomorrow.”
Well, maybe not about the midterm, Mary confessed to herself. But I do need to talk to him. About anything. I just know he’ll say something that will make me feel better.
[We love a hot teacher!] As she heads for Mr. Morley’s classroom, she thinks about how no-one makes her feel as special as Mr. Morley does. [Oop] He never talks down to her, like other teachers do. All Mary’s teachers know about the shoplifting incident, and they all look at her differently, except for Mr. Morley. He talked to her about it a few times and was always supportive, saying people make mistakes and learn from them. As she’s about to knock on Mr. Morley’s door, she spots Gary Fresno with his new girlfriend, Trisha Conrad, giggling and groping each other down the hall.
She quickly knocks and enters the classroom, finding Mr. Morley scribbling in a notebook, his thermos next to him on the desk, and tells him of her bad day, made worse by seeing Trisha and Gary. He’s just as supportive as Mary’s suggested and assures her she’ll meet someone new and forget all about Gary. After a little pep talk, he asks if she’s ready for her social studies midterm tomorrow, which will be challenging. He’s got the papers right here in a labelled manila envelope, and he gives Mary an opportunity to steal one when he heads to the teacher’s lounge to fill up his thermos with coffee. [How convenient. Did he set her up?! If so, why?] Not wanting to risk flunking the test and being booted from the track team, Mary quickly slips a test from the envelope. She’s barely back in her seat by the time Mr. Morley returns, and she’s sure she’s been caught. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to have noticed, and she quickly excuses herself to go to track practice.
A few days later, Friday, the social studies class eagerly awaits their midterm results, promised to be handed back today. Mary is anticipating an A thanks to being a cheater, but Mr. Morley hands her an ungraded paper with a note asking her to see him after class. The bell rings, signalling the end of the day, and Mary nervously approaches the teacher to enquire about her missing grade once the class clears out. He knows she cheated by stealing a copy of the test, and Mary begs for a chance to make up for her mistake. She’ll do anything! Mr. Morley knows she’s under a lot of pressure right now, and makes her an offer — she can do two makeup papers as well as go get Mr. Wise’s sports jacket from the closet in his classroom. Mr. Morley claims he loaned the jacket to Mr. Wise months ago, but it’s been so long that Mr. Wise probably thinks it belongs to him, and Mr. Morley doesn’t want to embarrass him by bringing it up. Mary couldn’t be more eager to help, not only because she gets off the hook for cheating, but because she also gets to do a favour for her favourite teacher! Mr. Wise is with the physics club at the moment, so Mary dashes over to is empty classroom and hurries to the closet. She slips the coat over her arm and closes the closet door, only to be caught red-handed by Mr. Wise!
The heavyset man demands to know what she’s doing, and since there’s nothing else that could explain why she’s got his jacket, Mary tells him the truth. Mr. Wise denies that the jacket belongs to Mr. Morley and accosts her for trying to involve a teacher in her scheme. ‘”What possible use could you have for a man’s sports jacket?”‘ Mr. Wise asks Mary, proving that he’s not so wise because literally, what would she want with it? Why is it so hard to believe she’s getting it for another teacher? Mr. Wise plans on talking to the vice principal about this first thing Monday morning, and Mary cries that it’s all just a misunderstanding. Then Mr. Wise recognises who she is, having heard about her problem last summer, and this makes him more determined to escalate the issue for her own good because it’s clearly a pattern of behaviour. Mary insists Mr. Morley will clear everything up and drags Mr. Wise to Mr. Morley’s classroom, but the sexy teacher is no longer there.
Mary decides to skip track and sprints home to call Mr. Morley, positive he’ll be able to set the record straight before Mr. Wise can go Vice Principal Leonard. It’s admittedly weird to call a teacher, but she’s got no other choice, you see. [Maybe he’ll enlist her to kill Mr. Wise!] Mary’s glad Mum won’t be home til late so she won’t overhear this conversation, and she quickly finds Donald Morley in the phone book. She copies down his Fear Street address and phone number before nervously dialling the number. It rings and rings and rings, and just as she’s about to hang up, Mr. Morley answers. He doesn’t know who Mary is until she says her last name, and she frantically explains she got caught and Mr. Wise plans on going to the vice principal about it. Mr. Morley tells her to calm down and explains he had to leave school straight away to take care of something right after they’d spoken, complaining that ‘”Had I been there, you wouldn’t be in this jam.”‘ [He doesn’t apologise though, which is weird] Mary asks if he’ll speak to Mr. Wise before he goes to Mrs. Leonard, but apparently it’s not that simple. Despite the truth, he doubts the vice principal will believe their story, thanks to his reputation with the students and her shoplifting past; Mrs. Leonard will think he’s just trying to cover for her. And if Mr. Wise truly believes it’s his jacket, it’s his word against Morley’s. I like Mary, so I’m going to put her inability to see this clear manipulation down to her panic, but she really is an idiot here:
Mr. Morley paused. “But either way, Mary, they’ll both be shocked to hear that I asked a student to take personal property from another teacher’s classroom.”
“But you’ll get in trouble!” Mary cried. “And it wasn’t your fault. You just wanted your jacket back. And you were nice enough not to embarrass Mr. Wise by just demanding it.”
“I know,” Mr. Morley agrees. “But school policy … It seems ridiculous, Mary, but teachers have been let go for lesser offenses.”
“Let go?” Mary echoed.
Mary gasped.
“You mean fired!” she cried.
“Mary, I am so sorry!” Mr. Morley suddenly said. “With all you’re dealing with, here I am talking about the possibility of being let go.”
“I just feel so terrible, Mr. Morley,” Mary said. “This just isn’t right!”
“Mary, I don’t want you to give this another thought,” Mr. Morley said. “I’ll handle everything, okay? You just forget about the entire thing.”
“But, Mr. Morley, I feel like I’m to blame!” Mary cried. The knot in her stomach was twisting.
[I really can’t tell if he’s a really good manipulator or she’s just this stupid] They decide to meet up at Mr. Morley’s place tomorrow at 10am, and tonight he’ll do a lot of thinking and come up with a strategy. Mary thanks him for helping her, and he thanks her for trying to get the jacket back. After the call, Mary cries about the possibility of Mr. Morley getting fired, but he’s really smart so she’s sure he’ll think of a good plan! [Yeah, throwing you under the bus]
After showering the next morning, Mary dresses in a fuzzy green sweater, black bootleg pants, and black boots, wanting to look nice for her visit to her favourite teacher’s house. She takes the bus to Fear Street, picturing Mr. Morley’s handsome, kind face. She wishes her own dad could be more like him, but she hasn’t seen him in five years. Remembering the abandonment brings tears to her eyes, and as she climbs off the bus, she thinks about how Mr. Morley would never abandon his family like her father did. Mr. Morley’s not even married, though, and she’s curious as to why. [Hoping he’s waiting for you to graduate, Mary?] Arriving at Mr. Morley’s place, there’s no answer at the door. Unsure what to do, she plops down on the porch steps to wait and soon hears the front door creak open. Turning around, she’s surprised to see not Mr. Morley peering at her, but the sexy blonde guy that ran away from her at the mall.
Mary can barely hold her drool in as he steps out onto the porch, but she manages to explain who she’s looking for. He introduces himself as Rob Emerson, explaining he does odd jobs for Mr. Morley, who’s out at the moment but should be back shortly. He invites her in to wait and inside Mr. Morley’s surprisingly shabby living room, Mary brings up the encounter at the mall and apologises for the collision. Rob explains he took off so quickly because he was really late for work, and we all know how Mr. Morley is about lateness! Mary agrees, but everyone likes Mr. Morley so much that no-one’s ever late to his class. [Nerds] Rob explains he graduated from high school last year and isn’t from Shadyside; Mr. Morley’s an old family friend and is kind enough to let Rob stay in his guest cottage while he figures out what he wants to do with his life. [A guest cottage? On Fear Street? Wow] Mary complains how tough school’s been this year, and then Rob asks her out. They agree to meet at Pete’s Pizza tonight before seeing a movie, and Mary is very excited. Rob’s nervous about how Mr. Morley would feel about them going out, and Mary doesn’t see why he’d even care. Rob isn’t sure how much to tell her, but says there’s something she should know about Mr. Morley.
But, of course, he doesn’t get to finish that sentence because Mr. Morley’s walking through the front door. Mr. Morley seems like he’s about to yell at Rob before he spots Mary and his demeanour softens. He sends Rob off to do some work out back, then leads Mary into his windowless home office. He’s decided honesty is the best policy, and he’ll tell Mr. Wise and the vice principal that Mary was just doing what he’d asked. Mary’s relieved, but also worried about his job, and then he also mentions that this situation makes another problem more difficult. Mary takes the bait and asks to know what the other problem is, because maybe she can help think of a solution. With obvious faux reluctance that Mary’s too dumb to see, Mr. Morley explains that Ms. Wilson, the other social studies teacher, is trying to get him fired, but he’s not sure why. Mary thinks she’s just jealous because she’s mean and boring and all the students hate her, and Mr. Morley alleges that Ms. Wilson has written a letter about him to the Board of Education, and she’s threatening to mail it if he so much as spills a drop of coffee. She’s obsessed with sabotaging his career, and if she gets wind of the jacket incident, she’s sure to mail the letter. [I don’t know how Mary can’t see how fake the man is, the way he talks is so theatrical and insincere]
Mary asks if he knows what Ms. Wilson wrote about in the letter, and Mr. Morley is sure it’s all lies — ‘”Vicious lies. But lies can be very damaging. You know what it’s like to try to defend yourself, Mary.”‘ Mary sure does! Unfortunately, since he hasn’t seen the letter, he can’t defend himself from whatever lies are in there, and there’s no way he can just go into her classroom and look through her desk. If he got caught, he’d seem guilty of her accusations! Mary just stares at him in shock; how could Ms. Wilson do something like this?!? [I wonder if the letter is real… Maybe Ms. Wilson sees right through Mr. Morley’s façade] Mr. Morley is sure the letter is in Ms. Wilson’s desk drawer, because she allegedly made quite a show of parading it around in front of him in her classroom and then tucking it away. Mary eagerly offers to get the letter for him, but of course Mr. Morley couldn’t possibly let her do that — what if she got caught again? Mary points out that her friend Stacy is in Ms. Wilson’s class, so she can just lie that she was looking for an assignment for her. Mr. Morley doesn’t want her to risk getting into any more trouble for him, and although Mary continues to protest, he puts his foot down; ‘”You are not to go into Ms. Wilson’s classroom to try to get that letter. Do I make myself clear?”‘ Mary understands, although she’s very frustrated he won’t accept her help — ‘He cares too much about his students, Mary knew. He would rather get fired than let a student get in trouble.’ [Mary, PLEASE, you’re killing me. Don’t fall for it!] He then tells Mary to go enjoy her weekend and walks her out, promising to talk to Mr. Wise first thing Monday morning. As she heads down the porch steps, she turns back to wave goodbye, but he’s too busy staring at Rob with the angriest expression she’s ever seen.
That night, dressed in a wheat-coloured cropped sweater, a brown miniskirt and knee-length brown suede boots, Mary meets Rob at Pete’s Pizza and slides into the booth across from him. The place is heaving with kids from school, including Deirdre Palmer, Jennifer Fear and Josie Maxwell. Kenny Klein is in a booth with Greta Bradley, talking quietly; Mary wonders if his girlfriend, Jade Feldman, knows they’re here together. A lot of kids seem to be staring at Mary and Rob, which she loves; she’s sure everyone’s dying to know who the hotty she’s with is. Phoebe Yamura, the only cheerleader who’s ever been nice to Mary, gives her a thumbs up from where she’s sitting with Dana Palmer and Samantha Harper, a cheerleader we’ve never heard of before. Dana and Samantha’s jaws are on the floor, staring at Rob. Then Mary spots Gary and Trisha, and Gary’s eyes are right on her, looking surprised and maybe even a little jealous.
After ordering a pizza, Mary asks what Rob was going to tell her right before Mr. Morley came home. Rob says it’s nothing and wants to know about her, asking about her family. She tells him how her dad moved to California five years ago and she hasn’t seen him since, and she doesn’t see her mum much either due to her work as a nurse. She asks about his family, and Rob looks troubled as he reveals his father died when he was a baby and his mother remarried a guy who didn’t like kids. Their food arrives, and a short while later Mary excuses herself to go say hi to Stacy, who’s in a nearby booth with Ty Sullivan. Stacy wants to know who the guy is, and Mary promises to fill her in later before Stacy tells her to get back to him before another girl steals her seat. Back at the booth, Rob glances at the door, then the waitress station before telling Mary they’re gonna take a walking discount. Mary doesn’t know what that is [Despite using the same discount at Rage last summer] and confusedly follows him as he darts out the door. The door bangs open after them, a waitress shouting at them to wait.
Mary turns around, expecting some theft accusations, but the waitress is actually talking to a teenage boy who’d forgotten his jacket. Turning back to Rob, Mary demands to know why they walked out without paying, and Rob laughs that they didn’t — it was just a joke! [Cheeky little devil. I wonder if he knows about her past] He paid the waitress while she was talking to Stacy and is all like ”you didn’t really think I’d do that, did you?” [How would she know? She barely knows you and you refused to talk about yourself tonight ]and Mary feels embarrassed because she’s not sure what she thought. [Mary, he should be embarrassed for something so stupid] He apologises and Mary forgives him, since it’s not like he knows about her history with theft, [I don’t know about that, something doesn’t seem right with him to me] and then he kisses her and all her troubles melt away.
Cut to Monday morning, and Mary arrives early to school to see if Mr. Morley’s talked to Mr. Wise yet. She finds her favourite teacher writing in a notebook in his classroom, and he tells her everything’s been cleared up, so there’s nothing for her to worry about. He’s still clearly troubled by the Ms. Wilson thing, [Watering those seeds he planted on Saturday! Clever man] and Mary leaves his classroom feeling deflated because Mr. Morley’s still at risk of being fired. She remembers Ms. Wilson’s classroom is opposite her locker, and since the school is practically deserted because of how early it is, she decides to sneak in their and get the letter. First, though, she tips some orange juice out of her thermos and onto the floor at her locker, so she can pretend she’s looking for tissues if she gets caught. [Smart] She finds a letter addressed to the Board of Education in the bottom drawer and stuffs the envelope in her backpack, excited to be able to help Mr. Morley like this. She sighs with relief once she’s back at her locker, but it might be too early to celebrate because someone yells out to her that they saw what she did, ‘”And you’re not getting away with it!”‘ [Is this another fake-out cliffhanger where she thinks she’s been caught stealing? How fkn many of those are we gonna get, Stine? Feels like every damn chapter]
It’s just the school janitor, who’s raging because he saw her spill the juice, and she was gone by the time he came back with a mop. Mary apologises and flees to Mr. Morley’s classroom to hand him the letter. He doesn’t like the risk she took, but now that he’s got the letter he may as well read it. [He doesn’t even thank her lol] He gets pretty furious immediately because it’s worse than he thought — it seems this letter is just the beginning of the evidence Ms. Wilson has against him, and she’s got two other letters documenting her case against him. Mary’s confused because there was only one letter in the desk, and Mr. Morley supposes she’s got them at home, probably suspecting he’d try get the one in her desk. Mr. Morley tells Mary he really needs her help now, but Mary’s not sure how — ‘”You’re going to break into her house and find those letters, Mary. That’s how.”‘ He’s kept his part of the bargain and spoke to Mr. Wise for Mary, and he coldly tells her he must have those letters. Mary assures him she wants to help, but she can’t break into someone’s house. Mr. Morley is very sorry to hear that, ”Because in that case I’ll have to tell the principal that you cheated on your midterm.”‘ [Oop]
Mary’s speechless — this can’t be Mr. Morley! Mr. Morley could never be so cruel! [Mary, you sweet, stupid girl] He even goes a step further and threatens to tell Mr. Wise that Mary did try to steal his jacket and he was just trying to cover for her. Cheating on the midterm will get her expelled, but stealing personal property is a violation of her probation. So really, Mary has no choice — ‘”Jail is an ugly place, Miss O’Connor.”‘
Mr. Morley’s words echo in her brain for the rest of the day, and even as she finishes her shift at the supermarket at 6:30pm, she can’t get it out of her mind. It’s quitting time, which means it’s break-and-enter time! Mr. Morley had scribbled down Ms. Wilson’s address for Mary and let her know that Ms. Wilson will be attending a faculty meeting from 7pm-8:30pm. Mr. Morley expects the letters tomorrow, so Mary has to make her move tonight. She heads over to Ms. Wilson’s house on foot, and as she anxiously waits a few houses down for the teacher to leave, Rob appears. Mr. Morley’s told him everything and he’s here to stop her from doing something stupid. They both silently watch as Ms. Wilson exits the house and leaves in her car before Mary declares she has no choice and has to do it. Rob refuses to let her do it alone, [Cute. But I’m still suspicious of him] and soon they’ve snuck in via the unlocked basement window and are standing in the kitchen. They make their way upstairs via flashlight and find Ms. Wilson’s home office. While Rob looks through the file cabinet, Mary paws through the desk drawers, hoping and praying she’ll find the letters because ‘If I show up Monday morning empty-handed …’ [Monday morning? Today is Monday, and he gave you until tomorrow] Mary discovers a red folder with ‘MORLEY’ written on the front and is relieved to find the letters addressed to the State Board of Education inside. Rob asks her what they say , but after a quick skim, Mary can’t bring herself to read it out loud because it’s too horrifying, so Rob does it for us — ‘”I don’t have the proof I need,” Rob read aloud, “But I’m positive that Mr. Donald Morley murdered two students at his previous school. Murdered them in cold blood.”‘ [And you’re going to the State Board of Education instead of the police??????????? What?]
Suddenly, they hear the front door opening downstairs, and Mary recognises Ms. Wilson’s voice as she tells her guest she’ll get that album for them. She makes her way upstairs, forcing Mary and Rob hide in the closet. Through a crack at the bottom of the door, they see the light come up, and hear Ms. Wilson’s footsteps cross the room before hearing her rummaging for something. She seems to find what she’s looking for and soon she’s back downstairs. Realising they’re trapped, Mary and Rob decide to go out the window, which is directly above the porch, then jump down to the yard and flee. Rob tells her to meet him at ‘”that park on the corner of your block”‘, if they get separated, which raises alarm bells for me because how does he know where she lives? [As far as we know, he didn’t drop her off after their date, but I guess it could have happened. Could Rob be in on whatever’s going on with Mr. Morley?] Mary exits the window first, but before Rob can climb out they hear footsteps coming upstairs. Rob’s too slow, and the light flashes on while he’s half out of the window. Mary doesn’t want to leave him but he insists, and soon Ms. Wilson’s shouting, and Rob disappears back into the room.
Mary jumps to the ground and flees to the park as she hears sirens in the distance. She waits at a bench, frantically worrying about Rob, tears streaming down her face, until sometime later when she hears footsteps approaching. It’s not Rob, though, but Mr. Morley, wearing a long, tan trench coat with both hands in his pockets, making Mary wonder if he’s got a weapon in there. Mr. Morley tells her not to waste time expecting to see Rob again, but instead of answering when Mary questions why, he slowly starts taking his hand out of his pocket to reveal… a crunchy green apple that he takes a bite from. [Hahahahahahahaha imagine thinking you’re about to be murdered and he just pulls an apple from his pocket] It’s a delicious apple, and he offers a bite to Mary, who refuses and realises he’s insane. Mr. Morley finally explains that Rob’s in a jail cell and used his one call to let him know what happened, and that Mary was waiting to meet him at the park. Mr. Morley demands she hand over the letters before he even considers bailing Rob out. Mary realises she has no idea what happened to the letters and assumes Rob’s still got them, but there’s no way he’ll show them to the police, since Mr. Morley is his only ticket out of his cell. [Wouldn’t his belongings have been confiscated anyway?]
Mary tells Mr. Morley that they were in such a hurry to leave that they must have left the letters behind, but mentions that she and Rob had read them. Mr. Morley’s furious, and Mary begs him to help Rob. But why should he help either of them, when Mary couldn’t even do what he’d asked? He’s very disappointed in her and steps closer, gripping her arm. Mary tries to break away, begging him not to do it, but he needs some clarification on what she means; ‘”Don’t do what Ms. Wilson accused me of? Don’t add you to the list of students I’ve murdered?”‘ [Oop] Mary’s understandably shitting bricks, but luckily for her Mr. Morley’s gonna give her one last chance, despite her failures. He tells her to be in his classroom at lunchtime tomorrow, and he’ll tell her what she needs to do. Then he simply walks away.
Later that night while struggling to fall asleep, Mary gets a call from Rob, who’s still in jail. He still has the letters and didn’t tell the police anything about Mr. Morley, since he’s his only lifeline. Mr. Morley had called him back to say he’ll bail him out of there around lunchtime tomorrow, and Mary realises with dread that Rob’s won’t be freed until after Mary agrees to do whatever Mr. Morley says.
The next morning, Mary struggles her way through track practice and lies to Stacy that she’s just really tired, despite wanting to tell her everything that’s going on. She can barely concentrate in her morning classes, and then finally it’s lunchtime. Mr. Morley’s sat at his desk, thermos in front of him, scribbling away in his notebook as usual, [This thermos and notebook must come into play at some point later, they’re mentioned a lot] and greets Mary with a friendly smile when she knocks on the door. Once inside, he tells her he’s doing her a favour by bailing Rob out of jail, so now she owes him double. He also clarifies Rob won’t be bailed out until after Mary does as he asks. She listens nervously as he explains his deadbeat sister has recently moved to town. They’re not very close because she’s super irresponsible, often leaving her seven- and two-year-old children home alone at night while she goes out hunting for a husband. He’s spoken to her countless times about this, but she insists her young children are capable of taking care of themselves. She’ll surely stop leaving them alone once she understands how dangerous it is, and Mr. Morley wants Mary to help teach her a lesson. When his sister goes out tonight, Mary will go to her house and take the kids to an empty house down the block:
“You mean like baby-sitting them, right?” Mary asked.
Please let that be what you mean, Mary thought in a panic.
“That’s a wonderful way to think of it!” Mr. Morley exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “But the difference is my sister won’t now you have the kids. She’ll come home and find them missing. Then maybe she’ll stop leaving them alone.”
Mary refuses to commit a felony for him, but Mr. Morley assures her it’s only a crime if she intends to harm the kids, and he’s sure she’ll take great care of them. Then, later, he’ll show up and tell his sister where the kids are, but only after she’s learned her lesson. [What’s the bet he doesn’t even have a sister, and this is all just one big game to see how far he can push poor Mary?] He explains that this is actually a good deed, and she’ll be doing the kids a favour, [Kind of true, lol] and it’s not like she’s in a position to refuse anything. After all, the police would be interested to know Rob wasn’t alone when he broke into Ms. Wilson’s house! He hands her a key chain, explaining the blue key is to his sister’s house, and the silver key is to the empty rental house where Mary will take the kids.
A short time later, Mary visits Ms. Russ surprising the guidance counsellor because she’s a few days early for their appointment. Sure Ms. Russ will help her, Mary sits down and explains everything, but unfortunately Ms. Russ only suggests they set up a conference with Mary’s mother so the three of them can talk about the pressure Mary’s under this year. Mary’s confused, so Ms. Russ elaborates — ‘”Honey, listen. It’s been a tough year for you. But making up stories about Mr. Morley—blaming him for your troubles—won’t help at all.”‘
That night, Mary stands out front of the address Mr. Morley had given her. She doesn’t want to go through with it, but she’s got no choice; Rob’s still in jail, Ms. Russ thinks she’s crazy, and Mr. Morley has total power over her. Not wanting to frighten the kids by unlocking the door and walking in, she rings the doorbell. The seven year old, a boy, answers the door, and Mary introduces herself as Laura, explaining his mother asked her to babysit him and his little sister. The boy’s name is Jimmy and points to his sister Judy, opening the door so Mary can come inside. Mary explains she’s going to take them to her playhouse, and the kids eagerly go with her. The rental house is half a block away, and soon they’re on a treasure hunt to find something fun to play with inside the empty house. There’s no toys in the house, they do find some children’s books. They settle down in the living room so Mary can read them a story about Cowboy Joe, and Mary eventually asks if their uncle Donald ever reads to them when he visits:
“I don’t have an uncle Donald,” the boy said.
“Sure you do,” Mary said, gently tapping Jimmy on the nose. “Your mom’s brother. He’s a teacher at Shadyside High.”
“I don’t have any uncles,” the little boy said.
[I knew it! Whose kids are these? Why did Morley have a key to their house?] Little Jimmy elaborates that neither of his parents have brothers, and Mary realised she’s been hoodwinked. Even worse, they can hear police sirens getting closer! Mary tells Jimmy she needs to leave, but a nice policeman will be here soon, and then she flees the house as a police car turns onto the street.
Mary sprints home seething with anger, and plans to call Mr. Morley to confront him straight away. Instead she’s intercepted by Rob, who’s hiding in her bushes, and they share a heartwarming embrace. Rob reveals that he’d confronted Mr. Morley after being bailed out, and the teacher admitted to trying to ruin Mary’s life just for fun. They can’t go to the police because some of them have kids in Mr. Morley’s classes, and they’ll just side with who everyone thinks is an outstanding teacher over a pair of known thieves. Rob’s sure the police will think the letters were written by them, and they can’t go to Ms. Wilson either, because she’s so scared her house might get broken into again that she’s taking a leave of absence from teaching and is moving out of Shadyside. Rob’s known Mr. Morley is crazy for a long time, which is what he was gonna tell Mary that day when they met at his place. Rob had apparently decided against telling her, though, because he thought Morley had changed since he’d seemed so normal when he’d taken Rob in. With Mr. Morley planning to get rid of them for his own protection, Rob says there’s only one thing they can do; kill Mr. Morley first. [Something about Rob still doesn’t sit right with me. 90% of me feels like he’s in on this little game to ruin Mary’s life, but I just don’t understand what the purpose is. Ms. Wilson could still back them up, especially because she’d confirm she wrote the letters. It’s not like she’s up and moved within one day lol]]
Mary’s shocked and sickened by what she’s hearing; Mr. Morley may be a monster, but he doesn’t deserve to die! Rob insists it’s the only way to protect themselves, and Mary suddenly remembers Trisha’s vision about the seniors dying and wonders if she’s next. Mary offers to go to the police on her own, leaving Rob out of it, but he points out that with her record, she’s unlikely to be believed. [Aren’t police obligated to take this stuff seriously?] Rob assures her killing Mr. Morley will be easy, thanks to this bottle of instant poison Rob had found in Mr. Morley’s bathroom when he first came to stay. He felt uneasy about it so he’d hidden it in his room. A few drops will kill someone in minutes, and it’ll look like a heart attack. [This is seriously so stupid hahaha Rob is definitely, 100% in one what’s going on. Why would Mr. Morley have instant poison? What is instant poison? I’m sure something like this exists, but I doubt it’d be so easily accessible to a high school teacher] Mary suspects Mr. Morley used the poison to kill the kids at his previous school, and is horrified when Rob hands the bottle to her. Apparently she needs to be the one to poison him, since Morley still thinks she’s wrapped around his finger and there’s no way Mr. Morley trusts Rob enough to get too close. [Bro, you live with the guy, you’ve got plenty of opportunity] Rob advises that despite the school holiday tomorrow, Mr. Morley will be in his classroom working on a very special project, so Mary just needs to find an excuse to visit him. Then when he’s not looking, she can slip a few drops into his thermos. The poison is tasteless, so Mr. Morley won’t even know. [I knew that thermos would come into play! But if he’s still staying at Mr. Morley’s house, why can’t Rob just slip it into his thermos while he’s sleeping? Way less risky. This is so suss. How does Mary not see these red flags?] Mary’s got track practice tomorrow morning so she’ll be at school anyway, but she just can’t kill someone. Rob ignores this and tells her he’ll meet her in the classroom once it’s over. [How will he know when she’s done it though? Use your brain, Mary, you’re being set up!] Before he leaves, he gives her a smooch and asks her to think about the fact that she should be enjoying her senior year, but instead is having her life ruined.
Almost immediately after she’s safe in her bedroom, Mary gets a call from Mr. Morley, who’s angry that she failed him once again. Mary argues that the kids don’t have any uncles and explains about the police car, but Mr. Morley scolds her for believing a seven-year-old over him and points out the police were likely on their way to a burglary or something. Mr. Morley tries to gaslight her into thinking he’s been trying to help her this whole time, but Mary argues back, because all he’s done is get her into trouble. He’s sorry she’s so ungrateful, and she suddenly remembers that he needs to think she’s under his control, so she apologises and says she just wants her life back. He tells her she might not have any life soon because she owes him big time. He informs her he’ll be in his classroom all day tomorrow working on a special project, and he expects to see her there at 1pm sharp so they can discuss things further. He hangs up without waiting for a reply, and Mary realises she really does have to kill him.
The next morning, Rob calls Mary to check in and it occurs to her to ask where he stayed last night, since he’s not safe at Mr. Morley’s place. Rob tells her he’s staying at a boardinghouse in Waynesbridge, and Mr. Morley doesn’t know where he is. He doesn’t want her her to worry about him, and tells her to concentrate on what she needs to do and why she needs to do it. Mary tells him she’s meeting Mr. Morley in his classroom at 1pm, which is when practice finishes, and Rob reconfirms he’ll meet her there afterwards. After the call, Mary decides she’s not a murderer and hides the poison at the bottom of her wastebasket. Then Stacy arrives to bring her to track practice, and suggests they go to the mall afterwards, but Mary lies about needing to work on an extra-credit project after practice.
Practice ends up finishing early and after walking Stacy to her car, Mary heads to Mr. Morley’s room, hoping she can just plead with him to have her life back. [God knows why she thinks that’ll work] She’s 20 minutes early to their planned meeting, but Mr. Morley isn’t in his classroom. The door’s open so she lets herself in, expecting him to return soon, and notices the thermos on his desk. [And you’ve wasted the perfect opportunity to poison him] The notebook he’s always writing in is open on his desk too, and because she’s as nosey as I am, Mary takes a gander:
She gasped. It was all there.
Everything Mr. Morley did to her. All his plans to use her.
She felt tears sting in her eyes. Angrily she blinked them away.
Mary turned the notebook back the way she’d found it.
She knew what she had to do.
Morley had to pay!
[This seems too convenient. It’s gotta be yet another setup. I really feel like this whole situation with Mr. Morley is some kind of ruse, and there’s a whole other plan in place that’ll be a big twist. Like she’s being punk’d or something] Mary sprints home and back to school in record time, [It only takes one sentence!] and finds everything in the classroom as she’d left it, with Mr. Morley still not there. [How close does she live to the school that she’s home and back within 20 minutes?!] She’s pissed about what was in the notebook, and without hesitation tips the whole bottle of poison into the thermos before replacing the lid. She’s suddenly overcome with nausea, so she runs to the bathroom across the hall and splashes water on her face. When the clock finally hits 1pm, she returns to the classroom to find Mr. Morley writing in his notebook once again, probably adding more plans to ruin her life. He closes the notebook and welcomes her in, revealing he looked up her midterm grades and discovered she’s passing all of her classes. Mary tells him she’s decided she’s going to study harder, and thought maybe he could help her with that. Mr. Morley’s surprised at her nerve to ask him to help her, but Mary explains that despite everything, she knows he sincerely wants his students to succeed. This is all a farce, of course, and she’s hoping that if she babbles on long enough, he’ll take a drink from his thermos. Just as she’d hoped, he pours some coffee into his cup and downs the whole thing before pouring another cup and gulping that down too. Before he discusses anything further, he excuses himself to go brew another pot of coffee, since his thermos is practically empty:
“And when I come back—” Mr. Morley stopped speaking.
He clamped a hand over his forehead. Mary saw the beads of sweat. “I … I don’t feel so well.”
Mary stared at him. She didn’t move.
His legs buckled and he crashed against the desk. He barely managed to stand.
“Mr. Morley, are you all right?” Mary asked, trying to sound concerned.
“I feel … very …” he replied. But he did not finish his sentence.
Finally, a look of panic swept across his face.
“My coffee!” he exclaimed, his voice thick. “But, how, when could you— you poisoned me!”
Suddenly, Mr. Morley’s eyes closed and he pitched forward onto the desk.
Mary stood. Then she pulled the teacher onto the floor behind his desk.
[Wait, was the poison real? Was everything that’s been going on 100% legit? Was I wrong?!?!] Mary stashes Mr. Morley’s notebook in her backpack and returns to her desk to wait for Rob. When he arrives, he asks what she thinks — ‘”Pretty wild, huh?”‘ Mary agrees, and Rob asks if Mr. Morley told her everything. She says he did, [OK, I was right, this was all some big ruse. I wonder what was in the poison bottle?] and then Rob helps himself to some of the coffee from Mr. Morley’s thermos while Mary just watches. Rob can’t believe the big psychological experiment is over, explaining how Mr. Morley is fascinated with how people deal with moral issues, how they react when pushed to their limits. [I’m kind of surprised that I was right and none of it was real, but also kind of disappointed because I was more surprised when I thought it was all legit] Mary confirms Mr. Morley told her everything that happened was part of the experiment, starting with him leaving the midterm on his desk. [But how did he know Mary would come visit him that day? Or was he just waiting for the opportunity or something? I guess he knew she was worried about the midterm] Rob thought it was a brilliant plan, and Mary reveals she knows everyone was in on it; Ms. Russ, Ms. Wilson, Mr. Wise, the lady with the two children, and Rob himself — ‘”Everybody knew about it. Everybody but me.”‘ [Poor Mary. I’d be pissed too. Would all of this have even been legal?] Gulping down more coffee, Rob tells her he feels bad about the part he played in it, but as Mr. Morley’s assistant, the experiment was part of his thesis for his psychology degree. He almost told Mary several times, but he couldn’t. Mary understands, right? No, she doesn’t, and he finally apologises. Mary insists he should have told her about the experiment, and Rob claims to have tried to get Mr. Morley to go easier on her, which she can ask him about herself. Then it dawns on Rob that Mr. Morley isn’t here, and Mary tells him to look behind the desk.
Rob, suddenly feeling strange, gasps when he sees Mr. Morley’s body, horrified that Mary’s really killed him. He’s confused, though, because it was only water in the bottle she gave him, and Mary smiles as she explains she learned everything from Mr. Morley’s notebook that she’d found open on the desk. The notebook also detailed how Rob was just using her, making her think he cared about her, and Rob starts feeling dizzy, asking what she’s done. [I hope she actually killed them and I hope she gets away with it] Mary continues on to say that after reading the notebook, she ran home to get the poison her mother keeps in her medical supply kit before dumping it in Mr. Morley’s thermos before he arrived. [Why would there be actual poison in a medical supply kit? Under what medical circumstances would you need poison?] Rob collapses to the floor as Mary proclaims the experiment worked — ‘”You and Mr. Morley taught me that a person can be pushed too far.”‘
Then Stacy arrives, [Uh oh] returning from the mall to get Mary because she’s a good friend and wasn’t gonna let her waste a gorgeous afternoon doing schoolwork. Mary’s glad she came back because she’s all done here, and that’s when Stacy notices the bodies behind the desk. She screams and asks if they’re dead, and Mary reveals they’re not, but they’ll have killer headaches when they wake up. [Damn, I wanted them to die] She quickly explains all about the experiment, revealing she’d drugged the thermos with a big dose of sleeping medication. They should be out for hours! [OK, I LOVE that she made the men think she’d killed them hahahaha. It’s what they deserved at the very least] Stacy’s in awe, and the book ends with a shrug from Mary — ‘”Don’t you know I’ll do anything for science?”‘ [I don’t think any of us realised you even liked science, Mary]
Final thoughts
This was a fun one! It was a totally different formula to the standard Fear Streets and Point Horrors, which is always refreshing. Mary was a great protagonist, and it was nice to actually get to know her because we only ever saw fleeting glances of her in the previous books. It was an interesting experiment, but you can’t help but feel bad for the poor girl because it was definitely traumatic, so I loved her revenge; it’s the next best thing to actually killing them. It’s always a bit disappointing when no-one dies in this book, especially because the whole set up of the Seniors series was that they’re probably all gonna die. Hopefully we’ll get some more in the next one. Although in saying that, I’m really liking a lot of these characters and will be sad to see them go, so hopefully people like Mary, Stacy and Clarissa make it to graduation.
This book was a hard one to put down each time I picked it up because I wanted to know what Mr. Morley would have Mary do next, and was dying to know how it would all play out by the end. Yes, I’d guessed the twist, but when Morley dropped to the ground I did actually think she’d killed them, only to then have what I originally suspected to be the big reveal, so in my head it was like a double twist. I’m keen to know if the events of this book will be acknowledged in the next, because I’d love to see the next interaction between Mary and Rob, and Mary and Mr. Morley.
I’m also glad to see the item on the cover was actually featured in the book, so hopefully that trend continues. As a whole, I’m really enjoying the Seniors series so far, and I’m very grateful for that because it makes reading the books fun, rather than feeling like a chore. Hopefully the next one is just as good!
61 traumatising psychological experiments out of 77!
