Tagline: Every girl would die to date him…
Back tagline: …and some girls do.
Summary: For Cassie Arthur, dating Brad Forester was a dream come true. Brad was known as Mr. Popularity—he was handsome, smart, and rich, and he drove around in a red 280ZX. What Cassie didn’t know was that Brad heard voices—voices that told him when to turn on the charm and voices that told him to get what he wanted, no matter what.
By the time Cassie caught a glimpse of the panther Brad kept at his father’s estate, she wanted out. But it was too late. Brad was used to getting everything he wanted. And he wanted Cassie.
First impressions: I thought it’s about time I read a Horror High book, since I’ve had some of them for years but never bothered to read any yet. I have a mixture of different styles of covers, which is annoying, but I like the retro sort of vibes these ones give off; the bright pink contrasts the horror-styled fonts and images. In saying that, the cover image is quite boring here, and I’m not too sure what to think of the blurb. Why does Brad have a panther? He’s presumably had other girlfriends before Cassie, were they killed or something? Or maybe he broke up with them, and the trouble starts with Cassie because she wants to end things. Let’s find out!
Recap
Roll call:
Cassie — Our heroine who’s head over heels for Brad.
Brad — Mr. Popularity himself who’s not quite who he seems.
Jake — A boy that sees through Brad’s façade and is crushing on Cassie.
Andrea — Cassie’s little sister.
Alice — A teenager who disappeared without a trace last year.
The book begins with a prologue as Brad Forester and his pet panther [Whose name we don’t learn yet] roam through the trees on his family’s large estate. They can move around freely at night, and Brad feels safe and protected by the darkness. He’s raised the panther since its birth and they’re kindred spirits; majestic and proud, unable to be tamed. [It’s a pet panther, hasn’t Brad tamed it to some extent?] The panther lingers behind as they reach a makeshift gravesite, where we learn the body of an old girlfriend of Brad’s is buried. Encouraged by a low and evil voice, Brad had murdered her when she tried to end their relationship, but it’s not quite clear how. [My mind goes straight to strangulation, but she’d had blood trickling from her mouth so I don’t think it’s that]
Despite how painful he find it, Brad seems to visit the grave nightly, and he can hear Alice’s voice in his head as clear as if she were alive and breathing next to him. I think her voice that he’s hearing is just memories of her breaking up with him, but soon the evil voice comes into his head too, saying Alice had it coming. He always hears this voice whenever he’s going to do something bad, and it seems like it a shadow manifests nearby to wherever Brad is at the time, but disappears when he turns to look at it. Soon, he’s squirming on the ground, trying to shut out both voices: Alice’s apologies and the evil voice’s insistence that ‘the little tramp’ deserved it.
Eventually the panther nudges him, signalling that daybreak is near and it’s time to go back to their ‘hiding places’. The voices still battle in his head as he leads the big cat back to the house and down to the basement through an outside door, slipping the chain around it’s neck to keep it hidden for another day. He gives his pet some dry food and promises to see it tomorrow, then heads into the house to shower before slipping upstairs to bed:
Brad Forester had to put the monster to sleep for a few hours.
Only then would he be able to show his other face, the face of Mr. Popularity.
[I hope I’ve made enough sense of this prologue; the details are pretty vague other than what I’ve established] Over to our heroine now, 16-year-old Cassie Arthur, who’s aiming to leave the house early for school so she can walk to a bus stop farther away, Pelham Four Corners. Brad Forester drives past that bus stop every day on his way to school, and he’d told her recently if she ever found herself there at the time he was passing by, he’d give her a lift. Her 12-year-old sister, Andrea, comes in and teases her, knowing exactly what she’s up to, but also tells her she looks great and Brad is sure to agree. [Cute] Cassie has to admit she does look good; she’s a natural beauty with brown eyes and wavy, shoulder-length hair, [No mention of its colour though, although Andrea’s a blonde] and the girls head downstairs for the breakfast their mother’s made.
The family had moved to the Upper Basin of Cresswell when Cassie’s widowed mother got promoted to the director of services at the Cresswell Country Club. With the new job came a significant raise, but longer hours away from home, and she’s such a great mother that despite not getting home until well past midnight a lot of the time, she always makes the girls breakfast. [Fuck that, they’re old enough to sort themselves out] Mum, who’s boss is Brad’s father, isn’t too keen on Cassie pining after Brad and wants her to remember that the Foresters owns most of the town and everything Cassie does reflects on her. Mr. Forester is the president of the country club and had given Mum the promotion in the first place, and it was actually at the promotion party he threw that Brad first talked to Cassie. He’s even chatted to her in chemistry class a few times since, but he still seems distant and aloof. Despite being the most popular junior boy at school, it seems like he’s waiting for Cassie to make the next move. Cassie assures her mother that it’s just a lift and that she wants to check with him about some chemistry homework, then heads off. As she’s disappearing out the door, Mum warns her to be careful, since she’ll be walking all alone— ‘”You don’t want to end up like Alice Gilbert!”‘ Alice mysteriously disappeared a year ago during sophomore year, and no trace of her has ever been found, so Mum always mentions Alice’s name when she wants to put some cautious fright into her daughters.
Knowing she doesn’t have much time to reach Pelham Four Corners, [WTF is Pelham Four Corners? Is it not just a simple bus stop?] Cassie takes a shortcut through an alleyway. She’s never taken it before so it’s a bit spooky, but she reminds herself that besides Alice’s disappearance, nothing bad has ever happened to any students at Cresswell High. Moments later, when Cassie’s about halfway down the alley, a dark figure steps out of the shadows, blocking her path…
Cassie’s so scared she almost trips over her own feet as she tries to turn and run, but luckily for her it’s just Jake Taylor, who’s cute and sweet and in her chemistry class. He’s a busboy at the country club too, and Cassie remembers that her mother’s said nothing but nice things about him. Jake warns that she shouldn’t be walking through here because there’s ‘”a lot of scumpuppies hanging around in these alleys.”‘ [‘Scumpuppies’ hahahaha] She explains she’s heading to Pelham Four Corners to meet some friends, and he offers to give her a lift. He’s just finished changing the oil in his new car, gesturing towards the green 1979 Chevy that he proudly boasts he paid for all by himself. [Love that! Team Jake already]
Cassie gratefully accepts the ride, much to Jake’s delight – unbeknownst to her, he’s been harbouring a crush since ninth grade, but he’s never been able to express his feelings. [ Don’t worry, Jake, I’m sure you’ll be heading towards a future together by the end of the book] During the drive, Jake talks about how he’d saved since last year and purchased the car a few weeks ago and brags about doing all his own engine work. He’s hoping to impress her and has been trying to work up the courage to ask her on a date for weeks, since the junior prom is coming up.
They arrive at the bus stop and as Cassie’s stepping out of the car, she hears the students waiting there start whispering, wondering what she’s doing here and making fun of Jake’s car. As she’s closing the door behind her, Jake starts to ask her something, and she realises he’s going to ask her out. She doesn’t want to have to turn him down, so thanks him again and walks away from the car instead of letting him finish his sentence. [Poor Jake hahaha] Jake drives off and soon the bus arrives, but Cassie waves it off after everyone else gets on, hoping that Brad and his mint condition 1984 280ZX will arrive soon.
Over to Brad now as he climbs out of bed, tired and weak. His ‘nighttime romps’ always leave him exhausted the next day, [‘Romps’ is an interesting word to call it] but running around in the dark makes him feel pure. His reflection in the mirror is pale and gaunt, so he tries to perk himself up; the most popular boy at Cresswell High can’t be walking around looking awful! [Do popular teens really go around referring to themselves as the most popular people in school like this?] Soon, the familiar pain shoots through his head, accompanied by Alice and the evil voice, and he can already tells he’s going to do something bad today. He gets a sudden burst of energy as the evil voice tells him how handsome he is and keeps telling him ‘You’re the one’, and the colour soon returns to his face.
The pain soon eases in his head but the voices don’t stop, although Brad is used to grin and bearing it during the day. After dressing, he heads for the stairs, overhearing his parents down below arguing about flirting with younger people all night. His mother walks off and Brad descends the stairs, greeted by his father who wants to know if he’s still getting all the girls. Dad’s just received Brad’s report card, which is all straight As and earns Brad $500, an ongoing agreement they have. Not that Brad really needs the $500 when he’s got his credit card, tab at the country club and a generous allowance, but something extra doesn’t hurt. They continue to talk about pretty much nothing, with Brad playing the dutiful son – he’s studied the old sitcoms from the ’50s and ’60s, and their conversation seems like it’s right out of one of those shows. [Brad literally says ‘Dad’ at the end of every single sentence during this whole conversation, too, which is really weird and annoying. Kinda gives it a forced sort of feeling, which I guess for him it is]
Soon, as Brad’s walking out to his car, a new, third voice is heard in his head, telling him to kill his father. Brad’s never heard this shrill, fuzzy voice before, and it reminds him of a smoke alarm. [Why has he never sought help or medication or anything like that for any of this crap he deals with? It would drive me crazy] Brad denies the voice’s order, and Alice’s voice tells him not to listen to it. As he drives, the shrill voice keeps repeating that Brad should kill his dad, and Alice’s voice saying the opposite seems to be getting weaker until it completely vanishes. The first evil voice [Why can’t you give all the voices names, Brad, this is confusing] returns, reminding Brad that ‘You’re the one’, and with Alice’s voice gone Brad senses a rush of power, feeling the third voice strengthen inside him.
Brad knows it’s time for another sacrifice, which is the only way he’ll feel pure inside, and he knows the purity of this new voice will guide him. As Brad’s car draws closer to the Four Corners stop, he doesn’t notice the girl waiting there. Instead, his attention is on the little Yorkshire terrier that’s running out into the street. The third voice demands he kill it, so Brad turns the steering wheel to swerve towards the dog. And then he hears the girl at the bus stop screaming…
Over to Cassie, who recognised Brad’s car but barely recognises his wide-eyed, maniacal expression behind the wheel as he ploughs into the dog, which goes tumbling over the asphalt. Brad’s car screeches to a stop and the dog’s owner, an old woman, rushes to the animal’s aid, but nothing can be done because poor Buffy’s head has been crushed. She immediately accuses Brad of swerving into the dog in purpose, but Brad lies that he swerved because he thought the dog was going to run straight into his path. His expression is back to its handsome self, and there are tears in his eyes, so Cassie’s sure he’s telling the truth but the old lady isn’t buying it.
A sheriff’s patrol car suddenly appears, and the officer wants to know what’s going on. The old woman insists Brad killed Buffy on purpose but Cassie, 100% believing that Brad purposely swerved to avoid hitting the dog, backs up his innocence. It also helps that the officer’s son plays on the football team with Brad, and Brad promises to pay for Buffy’s burial in a pet cemetery as well as buy the woman a new dog. The woman just walks off with her dead dog, and Brad thanks Cassie for her support. Brad’s family is used to paying off the law apparently, so Brad tells the officer to go check his registration in the glove box, which is where Brad put his straight A $500, under the guise of making sure there’s no misunderstanding. The officer catches on, and upon returning tells Brad the registration is good for 200 more days, a secret way to tell Brad he took $200. [I would have taken the full $500, yolo]
The officer leaves and Brad offers Cassie a ride to school. The new voice tells him she’s special, while Alice’s asks him not to hurt her because Cassie’s a good girl. As they head for the car, Cassie mentions the weird expression he had on his face while driving and asks if he’s OK. Realising that she’d seen the other side of him and isn’t afraid, Brad agrees with the new evil voice that she’s special and quickly lies that a bug came through the sun roof and hit him in the eyes. And then another one flew into his mouth, [Hahaha okeh] and then the dog ran into the road. He thanks her again for having his back and on the way to school, Alice’s voice continues to beg him not to hurt Cassie, and he answers out loud, ‘”I won’t.”‘ Cassie asks what he said, but he plays it off by lying that he said he won’t be late to school, and she’s none the wiser. In fact, Cassie’s way too busy creaming her jeans over the fact that she’s about to pull up to school with Brad Forester to second guess any of his weird behaviour! [Cassie, plz]
Over to Jake now, who’s struggling to find a car park in the junior parking lot. He finally spots one up ahead, but just as he’s about to start turning wide, Brad’s car comes out of nowhere and slides right in. Jake gets out to confront him and is disappointed to see Cassie climbing out of the passenger seat. Brad notices the way Jake looks at Cassie, and prompting the bad voices in his head to encourage him to hurt Jake so he can’t steal Cassie from him. Fuelled by his anger of seeing them together, Jake insists it’s his spot, but Brad and Cassie argue that they didn’t see him. Brad’s trying to stay composed despite the voices, and remembers how Alice had made him keep their relationship secret because her mother didn’t approve. Cassie kind of reminds him of Alice, and he refuses to let Jake take her away from him.
Jake refuses to back down, [Omfg, I swear every single thing that happens in this book is 7 pages long when it only needs to be 2 at the most] but the vice principal, Mr. Lipton, suddenly arrives on the scene. Jake angrily explains the situation, and Brad says it’s just a misunderstanding and offers to move, but it turns out Jake’s not supposed to park in the junior car park anyway because he hasn’t registered for it. Until he gets a blue sticker on his bumper, he’ll need to park in the street. Mr. Lipton tells them to hurry up and get to class, and Cassie tells Brad that Jake is such a baby, embarrassing our favourite character even more. [Cassie can go die] Jake winds up being late to chemistry class, angering the teacher, and adding further insult to injury is the fact that the only seat available is next to Brad! [Why wouldn’t Cassie and Brad sit together?? That seems weird]
Jake reads my mind and asks why Brad isn’t sitting with Cassie, but Brad apparently likes sitting at the back of the room. Ignoring the voices ordering him to hurt Jake, Brad apologises for the car park kerfuffle and Jake agrees to forget about it. Disgusted by the dead frog in the jar of formaldehyde on their table, Jake doesn’t want it anywhere near him, so Brad moves it to his own side. The voices want him to burn Jake with the chemicals, and Brad knows he’ll have to do it smoothly to make it seem like an accident. God knows why the jar of formaldehyde is on the table in the first place when the class is experimenting with heat conductivity in metal, but while Jake is distracted by his Bunsen burner, Brad sneakily loosens the lid of the jar and knocks it forward, splashing its contents onto the burner as well as Jake’s arm.
Flames rise on Jake’s arm, who immediately recognises this was no accident. Brad’s back is turned to the rest of the class, so only Jake can see the maniacal look in his eyes and the strange smirk on his lips. Screaming, Jake runs towards the front of the class, flailing about, and someone knocks him to the floor while the teacher shoots a fire extinguisher at him. There’s a hole in his sweater sleeve, [Dear Liza, dear Liza] but the skin underneath is mostly fine, albeit a little red. Jake quickly accuses Brad of knocking over the formaldehyde on purpose, but Brad’s able to get everyone on his side when he explains that it was an accident and the only reason it was on his side of the table in the first place was because Jake was scared of it.
Jake is sent to the nurse’s office while Brad is instructed to follow the teacher somewhere. Watching him go, Cassie has a flash of doubt about her crush because of the two weird incidents in one day. He’d had plausible explanations for both, though, and seemed so sincerely apologetic afterwards, so he must be telling the truth! Before exiting the room, Brad turns back to smile at her, and as she smiles back, ‘all her doubts were erased.’ [Cassie, plz]
After being bandaged up, Jake is told to go to Mr. Lipton’s office where Brad’s already waiting to discuss the incident. Mr. Lipton is very clearly on Brad’s side because what possible reason would Brad have to purposely knock over the jar? Jake has no idea why he would do that and thinks the results should speak for themselves, but Brad continues to insist it was an accident and offers to buy him a new sweater. Jake doesn’t want his money, which earns him a scolding from Lipton because ‘”Brad’s offering to pay for something that’s not really his fault.”‘ Jake counters with a ‘”then why is he offering to pay?”‘ but it’s no use; he can never win when Brad’s charm is able to tip everything his way.
Brad soon leaves so Mr. Lipton can talk to Jake alone, and Jake is chastised for trying to cause trouble for Brad. Brad’s got a spotless record at Cresswell and Mr. Lipton won’t allow someone like Jake to cause him problems. [Someone like Jake??? What does that mean] He tells Jake he should follow Brad’s example and then kicks him out of the office. The bell that ends first period rings as Jake’s heading back to class and he spots Cassie coming towards him. She was so scared when he was on fire, but she’s glad to see he’s OK. She informs him that Brad’s very sorry and ‘”was so upset that he couldn’t even walk me to my next class.”‘ [Cassie, plz] Realising Cassie has a huge crush on his now-enemy, Jake points out that everyone feels so terrible for Brad, but he’s the one who got scorched. He insists that Brad toppled the jar on purpose, but this only angers Cassie:
“Honestly, Jake, you’re such a baby sometimes. It’s sick to say something like that about Brad. Do you know where he is right now? He’s giving up his study hall to tutor a sophomore in math. Brad is a terrific person.”
He held up his arm again. “Argue with this.”
“You’re wrong Jake. Just stay away from me until you come to your senses. I mean it.”
[I would absolutely lose my mind if I were in Jake’s shoes, being the only one to see through Brad’s façade. Also, why the hell does Jake have a crush on Cassie, she’s terrible lol] After school, Cassie’s looking through the yearbook on her bed and thinking about Brad, whose picture seems to be on almost every page. He’s so handsome, and Cassie can’t wait to be his girlfriend; she’s never felt this way about anyone and wonders if love really makes people as happy as she is right now. [You’ve had, like, five conversations with him, Cassie, shut the hell up] She’s not going to let the dog incident or Jake’s burns cloud her budding relationship with Brad; ‘he had needed her support and Cassie had given it.’ [Yes, blindly and stupidly]
Andrea comes in and Cassie tells her that she’d got a ride to school with Brad, and he would have given her a lift home, too, but had to go to the country club. She’s hoping he’ll call tonight because he asked for her number, but when the phone rings, it’s only Mum calling from the country club. She tells Cassie there’s food for dinner in the fridge, and Cassie asks if Brad was there today. Mum informs her that he’d been in and out earlier this afternoon, and had asked her if Cassie had a date for the prom yet. Cassie practically orgasms on the spot, and Mrs. Arthur suggests she go down to Cyndi’s Dress Shop and pick out a dress to put on layaway.
Mum also wants reassurance that Brad’s a nice boy, because while he’s very polite, sometimes she’s not so sure about him. Cassie assures her Brad’s a fine young man and after hanging up, tells Andrea the good news. Andrea’s super excited for her sister and they plan to go to Cyndi’s right now, so Cassie hurries upstairs to fetch a sweater. She accidentally knocks the yearbook off the bed, and when she picks it up, the page had fallen on a picture of the sophomore auto-shop club, which Jake’s the treasurer of. His image makes her regret how harsh she was on him earlier, especially because he was clearly upset. She tries to call him before heading to Cyndi’s, but he’s not home, so she’ll have to catch him at school. [I guess that’s somewhat redeeming, that she realises she was a cow]
We then jump forward to Saturday night, Cassie’s first date with Brad. They go to the movies and then out for burgers, and Cassie has a great time. Brad’s such a gentleman, and doesn’t even kiss her after walking her to her doorstep, and Cassie’s even more in love with him now, [Cassie, PLEASE, you’re killing me already] especially because he didn’t try to put the moves on her.
Cassie and Brad’s romance blossoms over the next few days, with Brad calling her every night and spending time with her at school. The evil voices assure him that Cassie’s special and will understand him, while Alice voice insists he and Cassie shouldn’t be together. Brad and Cassie seem like the perfect couple, although she’s growing impatient because he still hasn’t kissed her. Jake’s been watching the budding relationship from afar, knowing that in time he’ll have an opportunity for revenge. Brad continues his perfect façade, and everyone but Jake continues to fall for it.
The country club has a dance one night and Cassie meets Brad’s parents for the first time. His tipsy mother is sweet, but his father has an overpowering manner and Cassie catches him smiling at her quite a lot, which makes her uncomfortable. [gross] While sitting down after a dance, Brad notices Jake bussing tables across the room and the sight of him sets the voices into rage mode. They tell him to hurt Jake or else he’ll take Cassie from him, and Brad wonders why Jake’s working tonight of all nights. [What?? It’s his job, why wouldn’t he be working tonight, at a special function?]
The following Saturday at dusk, Brad spots Jake’s Chevy heading up the cliff toward Indian Point and pulls alongside him. He starts driving recklessly, encouraged by the evil voices as he tries to run Jake off the road, and finally Jake’s forced to slam on the brakes, sending his car skidding towards the cliff. His car stops right on the edge, the back half teetering over the water below. He tries to exit the car, but is forced to stay inside, leaning forward to avoid the car dropping over the edge.
Brad steps out of his own car to assess Jake’s situation, a weird smile on his face as Jake begs for help. Then Brad gets back into his car and inches it backwards, planning to give Jake’s Chevy a helpful nudge over the cliff. Luckily for Jake a patrol car arrives, and Brad recognises him as the same one that was there for the dog incident. [This officer shows up at very convenient times lol] Brad dials up the charm, pretending he was driving by and saw Jake in trouble and is trying to help save him. The deputy has chains in his car and much to Brad’s chagrin, Jake and the Chevy are saved from the cliff. The officer immediately accuses Jake of hooning, proven by the skid marks, and demands to see his license and registration, not allowing Jake to protest. Brad actually defends Jake by pointing out it’s a tricky bend, and he’s almost lost control there himself, but the officer doesn’t like that. Brad suggests he go check his registration as well, and the officer is happy to take a bribe once more. With the officer gone, Jake warns that Brad’s true colours will show at some point, and he’ll be the one going over the cliff.
Jake tries to call Cassie as soon as he’s home, but the line is busy. He’s sure that Brad’s probably called her first and working his magic, which proves to be true when Jake finally gets through. Jake explains that Brad tried to run him off the road, but Cassie doesn’t want to hear it, having already been warned by Brad of Jake’s lies. Jake insists that Brad’s evil and he’s seen the other side of him, but Cassie thinks Jake needs help because it’s not right to accuse people of doing things they haven’t done. She asks him to stop because it’s embarrassing for everyone, and Jake’s left wondering if he’ll be able to stop Brad for good. [Seriously, WHY ARE YOU STILL INTERESTED IN CASSIE?!]
Later, when everyone’s in bed, Jake creeps up to the attic and retrieves the gun his parents think he doesn’t know about from a trunk, then creeps out the front door. At Pelham Four Corners, he waits for Brad’s car to drive past, but Cassie’s in the passenger seat so he has to change plans. [What was his plan? Was he just planning to wait there for god knows how long until Brad drove by and shoot at his car?] He follows them all the way up to Indian Point and parks back from the road, his car hidden behind some shrubs, then sneaks up to the car park where Brad’s car is. He’s not planning on using the gun right now, but has it just in case, and hides behind Brad’s car as he listens to the conversation going on inside. Brad asks Cassie to prom, who kisses him in reply. [Their first kiss! I think] Brad suddenly breaks away and starts talking about how he’s suffered, waiting so long for someone like Cassie:
“I need someone who understands me,” Brad went on. “Someone warm and tender, someone who’ll never leave me. Someone like Ali—like—”
Cassie put her hand on his shoulder. Suddenly Brad turned, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. Tears were rolling down his face. He cried for a long time with is head on her shoulder. Cassie stroked his head as if he were a little child.
Jake wonders what this whole act is all about. Why is Brad trying to make Cassie pity him? And was it Alice Gilbert’s name he had started to mention?! [Yes, yet another red flag our idiot heroine is ignoring. I’m glad Jake’s more of a protagonist than her] Cassie and Brad decide to leave, and Jake creeps back to the shadows as the car drives off. He vows to get to the bottom of this once and for all, and to do that he’ll need to go to the Forester estate!
At Brad’s house later, Jake sits in a tree and watches for any sign of Brad, gun in hand. He then realises how stupid his plan to shoot Brad is because he’ll be locked away forever, and is about to climb down when he spots Brad exit the house and head into a side door that presumably leads to the basement. He exits moments later accompanied by a sleek, black creature. They head toward a grove of trees, so Jake gets down from his hiding spot and follows along the wall, listening for their footsteps. Soon, he starts to hear a strange wailing sound, and climbs up the wall to see what’s going on. Brad has thrown himself on the ground and is wallowing in the dirt, making strange noises. A concerned Jake ends up falling backwards off the wall, a small cry escaping his throat before he lands on his feet with a thud. He hears the animal on the other side unleash a shrill cry, and Jake dashes back to his car, hoping he’ll reach it in time before Brad and the creature can catch him.
Alerted to the prowler, Brad jumps up and starts in the same direction as the intruder, followed by the panther. When he hears a car door slam, he climbs up the wall and spots Jake’s Chevy speeding away. The evil voices are buzzing now, calling for Jake’s head because he knows part of Brad’s secret. As he heads toward the mansion to formulate out a plan, Alice’s voice drifts into his head, begging him not to hurt anyone else, but he tells her to shut up — ‘things would not be right again until Jake Taylor was gone.’
Meanwhile, Jake heads over to Cassie’s place and throws pebbles at her window until she opens it. He tells her what he saw at the Forester estate, but Cassie only gets angry that Jake was spying on Brad and tells him to go home before he ends up in jail. Jake insists Brad’s going to do something bad, but Cassie accuses Jake of losing his mind and orders him to go home before she calls the police. [Stop fkn trying to help her, Jake, she’s genuinely not worth all this hassle. Let Brad kill her]
Jake spends the next three weeks terrified of his own shadow, but nothing noteworthy happens. Brad and Cassie ignore him at school and have even been nominated for Most Popular Junior Couple, the results of which will be announced at the prom. The fact that Brad has been on his best behaviour terrifies Jake, and he can’t go on like this. He hasn’t told anyone about the creature he saw at the estate, knowing that no-one will believe him without concrete proof, but how will he ever be able to prove Brad’s such a monster?!
It’s time for the prom now, and Jake’s being paid $100 to run the spotlight for the night. He doesn’t mind because it’s given him a chance to inconspicuously keep an eye on Cassie, although he will have to shine the light on her and Brad when it’s time to announce the nominees for Most Popular Junior Couple! Speaking of which, it’s no surprise that Brad and Cassie are the winners, and Jake has to follow them with the spotlight as they have their first dance. [Is this the equivalent of prom king and queen? Or do junior proms not do that?] After the dance, Jake decides to leave straight away and on his way out, overhears Brad asking Cassie to come over because his parents have set up a big surprise for her and he wants to share something special with Cassie that he’s never shared with anyone.
Cut to Brad and Cassie in the car; she’s elated that everyone recognised how good a couple she and Brad are, [Just how popular are these two, anyway? There’s been no mention of friends for either of them] while he’s looking forward to being free of his pain and burden for ever, but I can’t tell if he’s going to show her the panther or tell her about Alice. As they pull up to the estate, it’s clear to Cassie that no-one is home because the lights are all off. She confronts Brad for lying, and he insists he wanted it to be a special night with just them two but didn’t think she’d come over if he told her no-one was home. Cassie isn’t happy about the lie but agrees to stay for a little bit after he puts on a dejected voice and tries to take her home. She makes him promise to take her home the moment she asks, but has a foreboding sense something big is going to happen. [Cassieeeeeeeeeeeee, PLEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAASE]
The last stop of the mansion tour is the giant kitchen, where Brad has piled a table with bouquets of red and white roses and a white cake with Cassie’s name written in red icing. Cassie can’t believe she ever doubted her man, and gets an even bigger surprise when he whips out his class ring, which his dad had gotten made early, and asks Cassie to wear it! She happily agrees and tells him she loves him, [I’m gonna throw myself off Indian Point] and now it’s time to introduce her to his only true friend. Cassie grows nervous as he leads her outside and through a side door into a basement and asks who’s down here. Brad finally tells her his pet cat, Alice, is down here, and warns her not to make any sudden movements. [Wait, the cat is named Alice? After his murder victim? That’s a bit on the nose, isn’t it?]
Cassie loves cats so is naturally relieved, but is assaulted by the awful smell coming from below as they descend the stairs. They finally reach the bottom, which is set up like a workshop, and Cassie shits bricks when a panther steps out of the shadows. To her surprise, it stands on its hind legs and puts its front paws on Brad’s shoulders, licking his face. He explains that Alice is a Florida panther his father had found on a hunting trip last year. Her mother was dead, so Dad bought her back and Brad’s raised her since. [I didn’t know they had panthers in Florida]
The stench down here and the big surprise are making Cassie’s head spin, and she asks to be taken home right now. Brad insists she’s going to stay, and Cassie unknowingly utters the same words that had triggered Alice’s death — ‘”No, Brad, that’s not what I want.”‘ Brad’s head instantly and painfully fills with the usual voices, and Cassie takes the opportunity to flee upstairs and into the night, seeking shelter in the grove of trees behind the mansion. Just as she realises she’ll need to climb a wall to flee the property, the panther lunges out of the darkness and pins her to the ground above Alice Gilbert’s grave, unbeknownst to Cassie.
Brad appears, determined to murder Cassie since she’s proven herself to be just like everyone else — ‘”You say you love me, but you really don’t.”‘ He’s going to let her up, but warns her not to scream or else he’ll have Alice rip out her throat. He drags her back to the mansion where he binds her wrists and ankles and puts a gag in her mouth. After locking Alice back in the cellar, he carries the terrified Cassie to the garage and stores her in the trunk of his father’s Coupe de Ville:
The voices were telling Brad to throw Cassie off the cliffs at Indian Point. He could claim her death had been accidental, that she had lost her balance while they were walking. Everyone would believe his story. After all, he was the most popular boy at Cresswell High. His reputation was spotless. He could get away with anything.
All Cassie can do is wait to meet her fate, and eventually she’s pulled from the trunk and freed from her binds at the top of the cliff, next to a low guardrail. Brad tells her he needs to make it look like she slipped while walking, but Cassie’s not going down without a fight. He easily overpowers her, accidentally referring to her as Alice while calling her a little tramp, and Cassie realises he must have had something to do with her classmate’s death. After dragging her over the guardrail, two headlights wash over them and Brad quickly shoves her off the cliff, but Cassie’s able to grab onto the edge. As he’s about to stomp on her hands, he’s interrupted by none other than Jake Taylor, having secretly followed them after prom and getting worried when Brad left the estate seemingly alone.
As the boys struggle, Cassie’s able to scamper he way back up and heaves a large rock at Brad’s head. It completely misses, but Brad dives into the front seat of his idle car as he dodges it, accidentally knocking the gear shift into drive. The car quickly moves forward, and no-one has a chance to react before it crashes through the guardrail and plummets over the cliff with Brad still inside. [Isn’t the guardrail supposed to be strong enough to prevent something like this??? Like, the car was just rolling forward, it’s not like Brad was pumping the gas] Cassie’s insists they go see if Brad’s alive and in need of help, [I wanna say she’s a much better person than I am because I would never do this if I were her, but realistically I’m better than her because she’s a fkn idiot who actively chose to ignore the increasing red flags until it was too late and I’d never be in that position] and Jake reluctantly agrees to drive down a private access dirt road that leads to where the boats dock below the cliffs. Brad’s car is upside down with one wheel sticking out of the ocean, and even though he’s sure there’s no way Brad could have survived, Jake actually dives into the water to see if he can help Brad out of the car. Luckily for everyone, the roof has been pushed down to the steering wheel and the doors are jammed shut. [It can’t be the end of Brad, though, because there’s like 50 pages left, which I’m dreading. It should have ended here, because this is really dragging. But Brad probably jumped out of the car as it was going down and will come back to torment them]
On the way back to town, Jake tells Cassie he’d always wanted to spend prom night with her, but never could have imagined it would be like this. Cassie finally apologises for not listening to Jake’s warnings, and he immediately forgives her because it’s all over now.
Cassie wants to go to the sheriff right now and tell him everything, but Jake thinks that’s crazy — Brad got what he deserved and when he is found, ‘”they’ll think it was an accident.”‘ [I mean I guess, but then it’s almost like you’re covering shit up. But on the other hand, would anyone in Cresswell really believe the the most popular boy in school was such a monster? I’m thinking no, and if Brad is dead, the rest of the book might be them trying to prove he was a phoney, so I’m really hoping he’s alive because that sounds like the better option to read] Cassie points out that everyone knows she would have been with him all night and she can’t just lie. Besides, they’ll see Jake’s tyre tracks and know someone else was out there, and Jake finally concedes.
Unfortunately for them, Sheriff Tommy Hagen doesn’t fully believe their story because Brad Forester ‘”is one of the finest young men in town,”‘ but he’s at least willing to have his men investigate since Cassie and Jake are so insistent. Despite the time, Cassie and Jake end up staying at the police station while the police go check out the bay, and upon returning at 6am, Sheriff Hagen isn’t impressed. They’d dragged the bay and there was no sign of a Coup de Ville or Brad in the water, [Could the car have been taken out into the actual ocean by the tide or something? I don’t know how bays work lol but there’s no way Brad’s gotten the car out of there himself] and he firmly believes the two teens are telling porky pies. The guardrail above the cliff is broken, like they said, but for some reason he finds the fact that there were tyre marks up their matching Jake’s tyres very suspicious even though Jake already explained he was there and the reason why. [Like???? Are you dumb, Sheriff?] Hagen had also called the estate and was told by a maid that Brad’s gone away to join his parents for the weekend, so the sheriff has no plans to get a warrant and search the property for an alleged panther. Cassie decides now is the time to tell the sheriff that Brad may have had something to do with Alice’s disappearance, [Why didn’t she mention that at the start, you div?] which he doesn’t think is a very funny joke. Hagen refuses to cause any trouble for the Forester family and sends the teens home, but he will be calling their parents to inform them of how they’ve wasted the police’s time.
The sheriff’s already called by the time Jake drops Cassie home, but Cassie had already called her mother last night and told her everything, and she’s a great mother who trusts her daughter. Worried about Cassie, she’s planning on coming straight home after teaching her Sunday school class at the church instead of visiting Aunt Martha, but Cassie insists she’ll be fine and that she should go and visit. Andrea also won’t be home until later that evening, so Cassie spends the day fitfully sleeping. She wakes from a nightmare later that evening to find a dark shape lumbering over to the open bedroom window. The figure hangs in the window frame for a second and tosses something at Cassie, whispering her name before disappearing into the night. Terrified, Cassie turns on the lamp to find Alice Gilbert’s diary in her lap. [So was the figure Brad? Was it Alice’s ghost? Was it the panther, which is somehow actually Alice, or something else equally as stupid and unrealistic?]
Cassie hurries downstairs, turning all the lights on since she’s still home alone, and calls Jake, urging him to come over right now because Brad’s still alive. As she waits for him to arrive, she clutches Alice’s diary in her hands, struggling to believe that Brad’s alive and still terrorising her. [Wouldn’t he have just killed her if it was him in her room? Maybe he wants it to look like an accident still. Jake and Cassie should tell the police that if they end up dead, Brad should be investigated whether the police believe them or not] Jake arrives quickly after her call, and she explains that Brad had been in her room and left the diary. As they’re looking through it, which confirms Alice had been dating Brad but was worried about his behaviour and planned to break up with him, Andrea returns home. Cassie tells her that everything will be fine, but she needs to go upstairs to her room and lock the door until Mum gets home. Andrea does as she’s told without question [I would absolutely insist on knowing what’s going on] and Cassie decides they should go to the police with the diary, but Jake insists the police will just think he had something to do with Alice’s disappearance.
Eventually the power goes out, and Jake’s sure it’s simply a blown fuse caused by Cassie having every single light on, but after investigating the fuse box in the basement with a flashlight, they discover someone has loosened the main fuse! They put the fuse back in place and as the lights come on, they hear Andrea screaming from her bedroom. They rush up there but it takes a while to break through the locked door, and once they finally do, Andrea’s gone, girl. Through the open window, they see Brad’s car racing away and realise he’s kidnapped her. [So he somehow got into the basement, loosened the fuse, somehow got up to the second floor and kidnapped Andrea through her bedroom window and dragged her to the car in the space of like 2 minutes?? Sure] They also discover Brad’s left another present behind; a lacy, lavender dress that Cassie remembers Alice had been described wearing when she disappeared. The two teens quickly realise Brad’s trying to frame them for Alice’s murder and is using Andrea to lure them to the estate. Again Cassie wants to go straight to the police, but Jake argues that the police won’t believe them just like last time. They have to get Andrea back themselves, but they’ll have to be smarter than Brad and beat him at his own game. Jake quickly comes up with a plan but of course he doesn’t reveal it just yet, and after making a pit stop at his house to retrieve the gun from his attic, they head over to the Forester estate.
Jake’s obviously told Cassie the plan on the way there, but naturally we still have no clear idea what’s going on, but we do know that Cassie is wearing the lavender dress so I guess she’s going to pretend to be Alice’s ghost, maybe? Anyway, they park at the back of the estate near the grove of trees where Cassie believes Alice may be buried, then jump the fence. Jake reminds Cassie that if everything goes to plan, Andrea will be safe and ‘”we’ll finally nail Brad”‘, but if things don’t work out, Cassie needs to run. Then he sets off into the misty night air to find the panther, planning to shoot the poor thing dead, while Cassie remains in the grove for now.
Jake peers through the kitchen window but the house seems totally abandoned, so he heads towards the cellar door that he’d seen Brad exit with the panther the other night. Making his way down the stairs, he hears Andrea’s terrified screams and cocks the gun, hurrying the rest of the way down. He finds the panther secured by only a short chain, which allows it to get only inches away from where Andrea is tied up, unable to distance herself from the beast. Jake prepares to shoot the animal but is taking his sweet ass time because he feels bad about killing it and it’s also quite dark in the dim light. By the time he actually pulls the trigger, someone swings at him with a broom handle from the side. The gun drops to the floor and the bullet doesn’t hit its target, and someone falls on top of Jake. He tries to stand up, but feels the cold barrel of the pistol against the back of his neck as Brad warns him not to move.
Now with the upper hand, Brad explains how when the car flipped as it fell to the water, he was thrown clear and swam back to shore. Very conveniently, the first vehicle he saw driving by was a tow truck, and Brad paid handsomely for the man to tow the car out of the ocean and over to a junkyard in another town. Brad had just gotten home when Sheriff Hagen called, and successfully disguised his voice to portray a maid, so that explains that. Now, Brad plans to make it look as though Jake stole his car, kidnapped Andrea and accidentally went over the cliff while joyriding, and although Jake pleads for their lives, Brad knows his death is the only way to appease the voices in his head who are calling for blood. Brad unleashes panther Alice and unties Andrea, then forces Jake to lead them up the stairs, with the threat of panther Alice behind him preventing Jake from running.
Meanwhile, Cassie had heard the gunshot minutes ago and in hopes that Jake had been successful with the gun, has made her way through the swirling mists towards the mansion just as the others are coming up from the cellar. In Alice’s dress, Cassie bears a striking resemblance to the dead girl and Brad is immediately mesmerised the moment he lays eyes on her. Pretending to be Alice, Cassie explains that all is forgiven and she’s here to help Brad make things right. She convinces him to hand over the pistol to Jake and agrees to go up to his room, where he wants to show her something, but first they need to put panther Alice back in the cellar so she’ll be safe. Just as they’re about to head down there, a car appears and Brad’s father steps out, demanding to know what’s going on. He’d had a call from Hagen that there’s some kind of trouble going on so raced back home, and Jake and Cassie explain everything. Mr. Forester seems to take their side and Jake willingly hands over the gun now that an adult is present [because he’s an idiot and can’t see that obviously Mr. Forester’s not going to let anything happen to his son] but as they go to leave, he quickly turns the gun on them. It becomes very clear that Mr. Forester is aware of Brad’s issues and Alice’s murder, and he’s growing inpatient with Brad who still believes Cassie is Alice. When Jake confronts Mr. Forester about knowing Brad killed Alice all along, he simply scowls that the little tramp had it coming, which prompts a painful flashback for Brad:
Brad saw the body of Alice Gilbert lying there in front of him. Blood trickled from her blue lips. The shadow appeared over her corpse. Brad turned but this time shadow figure didn’t disappear. He saw his father standing over the body. Edward Forester then swung a bloody hand at his son, knocking him down next to Alice.
Brad realises that it was his father who killed Alice all along and immediately confronts him — ‘”You hit Alice because she wouldn’t give in to you. You were after her. She told me. You drove her away, Dad.”‘ [‘After her’ as in wanting to sleep with her?!?!?] Mr. Forester admits to hitting her because she’d been lying to him and he couldn’t stand it anymore, but he didn’t mean for her to die. We know Brad blacked out after being hit as well, and when he came to, ‘”you told me I had killed her. But I couldn’t remember, so I believed you.”‘ So the voices in Brad’s head turn out to have been memories of his father’s words to him that night, calling Alice a little tramp and saying she had it coming. Jake takes the opportunity to encourage Brad’s anger, so Mr. Forester raises the pistol to silence him. Brad lunges at his father as the shot goes off, the bullet failing to hit anything, and Jake, Cassie and Andrea quickly bolt away towards the front of the estate. Mr Forester shoves Brad away and scolds him for letting them get away, ordering him to stay here while he pursues those pesky kids.
Unfortunately, the teens find themselves locked in by the iron gates at the driveway and Mr. Forester quickly catches up to them. While he plans to kill Jake immediately, the girls won’t be murdered — ‘”They’ll be mine. They’ll stay with me.”‘ [What, he’s keep them locked in the cellar for the rest of their lives or something?! Gross, this is dark] He plans to fix everything up so it looks like Jake’s responsible for the disappearances of all three girls, and assures Cassie and Andrea they’ll never be found. Just as he’s about to take them all into the mansion, Brad appears with panther Alice, still fuming about his father’s betrayal. He actually orders Alice to kill, and the panther is happy to oblige, tackling Mr. Forester to the ground and ripping out the man’s throat. Unluckily for panther Alice, Mr. Forester gets in a shot with the gun, mortally wounding the beast. Brad sits with Alice, petting the neck of his dead friend and crying until the police arrive and he’s taken away in an ambulance.
Later, inside the mansion, Sheriff Hagen makes Cassie and Jake go over their story several times, but still struggles to believe it. Cassie’s mother had come to get Andrea and taken her to hospital to treat her for shock, but Hagen isn’t letting the others go until everything’s straightened out. Mrs. Forester arrives home and wants to hear what happened from Cassie and Jake. Alice’s murder is one of many secrets her husband had kept from her, and she demands the Sheriff to check the grove of trees at the back of the estate for Alice’s corpse, because it’ll prove the truth either way. Sure enough, Alice Gilbert is found by late afternoon.
We jump forward to the last day of school as Jake’s cleaning out his locker. He hasn’t quite recovered from the whole ordeal, but he’s feeling stronger than he had in the days since it all went down. Although they’ve seen each other at school every day and also at Brad’s hearing, where he’d been sentenced to the state mental hospital in lieu of punishment, Jake and Cassie haven’t spoken since the trouble at the mansion; ‘their experiences with Brad had made them feel hesitant with each other.’ So Jake’s a little surprised when Cassie approaches and offers to help him with his locker. Once done, she asks for a ride home, and they walk silently down the hall. None of the other students know what happened at the Forester estate; as far as they’re aware, Edward Forester died of a heart attack and Brad had left for an early summer vacation. Everything else was kept quiet thanks to Mrs. Forester’s bribe money. She’s also selling the estate, which Jake perceives as her genuinely not knowing about her husband or Brad, but Cassie points out that it just means nothing could be proven about her knowing anything.
As Jake drives Cassie home, they both admit to having nightmares, which Andrea also has, and Cassie invites him over for dinner on Wednesday. She wants to take things slow, and while she’s not sure it’s love, their shared experience has brought them closer together, and she wants to give things a chance because ‘”I’ve grown very fond of you.”‘ Jake agrees with everything she said, and the book ends as he realises it will take some time to work out if their feelings are real. [Finally, it’s over!]
Final thoughts
I really struggled with this one, and while I want to give it the benefit of the doubt and blame it on the fact that I’ve recently started a new job and have had less time to read, it really was a slog to get through. It just seemed to drag on and on, and everything that happened seemed to go on for 7 pages whether it was a simple conversation or hopping a fence. The story itself was hard to get into as well because it just seemed so farfetched and unrealistic, mainly due to Brad’s behaviour. I’m sure there really are people out there with his sort of charm, but in a high school setting it kind of felt out of place to me, I don’t know. The writing itself was fine and the characters were written well enough, but I just wasn’t enjoying the read. Another reason why the story probably didn’t feel real is because none of our main characters seemed to have any friends; they only interacted with each other, which is strange because besides Jake, Brad was the most popular person in school and Cassie’s star was only rising by dating him.
One thing I did enjoy was the twist surrounding the voices in Brad’s head. I’d been trying to make sense of the shadow he kept imagining and the voices, and I thought it wrapped up nicely as unprocessed memories in Brad’s mind and made him more of a sympathetic character by the end. I wonder if he’d have been a totally normal guy if not for what happened to Alice? But speaking of the voices in his head, the third, shrill one he’d never heard before that told him to kill his dad kind of went nowhere and stopped being mentioned outside of the collective voices by a certain point. Where’d that voice even come from, given the context of the other two? Who knows? Who cares?
I don’t know what else to say other than I won’t be hurrying to pick up another Horror High book anytime soon! 16 Pelham Four Corners out of 92!
