The school is thrown in array when the dead body of one of the best student of Sherwood's high school was found floating in a pool during one of their night parties. It's a mystery which implicates the least expected students and to solve the puzzles, a spy is needed.
Chapter 1 High School
1
It's another Monday for everyone who's not 24 hours ahead or before me on this beautiful planet,and for me, it's just another school day.The worst school day of the week.
Jocks and their cheerleaders recovering from their hungover, not-so-social nerds trying to finish up on the weekend assignments for themselves and their masters who'd lock them in another locker for the whole day if they fail to please them.
Broken adults posing as teachers coming from their almost-failing marriages and posing to be role models and janitors who mistakenly come across one or two dirty secrets that they would pray to forget.
It's just a reality I don't fit in.It bores me.And though I'm being tagged an outsider - a weird and strange one. Some go as far as calling me a freak and it's okay.I don't fit into their reality, they don't fit into mine.The whole pretense pricks me to my bone marrow. I can't stand it anymore and so far I'm the only bold enough to be different.
The only one who dares to challenge the habit of the human circle. The whole routines of being a modern human, pretending to be intelligent, pretending to be perfect or searching for some sort of acknowledgement or recognition. A deranged acceptance the human psyche sources for.
I seek something different,some adventure, a shrewd story,a mystery.And some way the universe always seems to please me about that.
The school bell rings and I hear it from miles away.A playlist of heart broken 90's singers can't keep it out of my ears. My headset is at its peak and can't do more that already is.The bell rings loud,but the people have not an issue with it.For some it signifies their showtime has began, and for others,an Armageddon they have to survive.The bell rings again with more force than it did initially or maybe I just got closer, but the fact doesn't change. It's a gruesome noise .
An entirely different story will suffice if it were to be church,a truth about how the society has lost its morals,its integrity, its decency.A reflection of the beserk society we claim to have control over.Students walking in from different corners of the block into the academic environment. Different outfits,matching outfits,overused bicycles, exotic cars and the school bus,yes,the yellow long school bus.
Pungent cologne smells choke the air around me but somehow I still manage to distinguish the heady smell of early morning cigarette.Either way,each air I breathe in is poisoned. And with every other breathe I exhale,my inner guilt dies slowly.
I step into the hallway and I see what I've seen a thousand times,feels like deja vu but it's not.People standing by their lockers exchanging glances,rumors,love birds revisiting each others tongues,dealers meeting their customers making early sales,jocks walking the runaway making their societal status too noticeable and a pool of half baked cheerleaders teasing their followers.
I get to my locker and it's the only locker on the column, no one can miss it and it's mine for a reason.Little things like this make me recognise myself as different from the reality.As I unlock it to take what little luggage I own in it,a much larger force from behind me slams it shut.
It's Todd.
We all have that person we would give a tooth not to see the next day at school. He was my person.Todd was your very dumb 6'1,muscular ripped jock.But as movies have continuously proven, the bigger they are ,the dumber they are.
Typical black hair with traces of sideburns round his face.He had a devious face,the kind of face you would guess that did a wrong deed. One of his shoe laces was untied. Again. Everything about him was screaming 'BULLY'.
"What's up,toad!!" he yelled at me from behind,"spend your weekend shedding your skin?huh?" .
"I'm right next to you Todd, you don't have to yell"I replied in a bored tone. He lifted me from both ends of my collar,my bag fell from my shoulders.
"Are you calling me loud,freak?" He asked.
"Hurt his feelings Todd, break his soul" another voice said beside Todd in a laughing voice.
It was JJ.Todd's significantly dumber half.He wasn't as big as Todd,wasn't as strong either.Infact he was your very average high schooler with just too much of an extra laugh and Weirdness added.And when he didn't laugh,he snorted.They were both forced.The laugh to scintillate his bigger half and the snort to annoy who his bigger half was preying on.
"Oh we can do both,can't we?" He said as he slammed my back against the locker.
"Yeah.." JJ said as he scavenged through my pockets.
"Where's it,where are you hiding it?" Todd said after seeing that his partner in crime arrived at nothing.
"Where's what?" I said back with a cold stare.
I wasn't slighted by the harassment, not flattered by the attention people rolled at me with their murmurs and their phones. It was just another day at school.
I could sense Todd was getting angrier.Maybe it was because he was about to leave empty handed or maybe because he has just wasted his time. But either way, I was bound for a slam or hit,depending on what he had for breakfast.
"Here, you can have my mine" A third voice said from behind.It was Victor. Less of a friend more of an accomplice.Skin like peanut butter, eyes light brown. Had thick black hair on a low cut with waves of wavy hairlines.
Slim not slender.Somewhere between fairly built and rounded up body stature, pungent cologne smells choked the air around me,but in and out, a rare honest guy and a shallow whispering sense of justice. He was like a line between both realities for me.
"It's fifty bucks and it's all I have" He said handing it over to me..
And the ''giant's" buddy snatched it from my hand.
Todd let his hand free while I landed down on one knew from what seemed to be a feet from the ground.
"Atta boy" He said rubbing his hands on victor's hair like he was his dog who fetched him a good bone.
Victor stretched his left hand towards me,trying to gesture to help me up on my feet and I grabbed it to get on both my feet.And slowly the whole audience of students surrounding our little scenery with their phone cameras and giggles slowly melted back into their fake and pretentious school lifestyle.
"Yo,Willie, you have to start giving Todd what he wants. Saves you the stress of having to smell his breath every morning" Victor said.
"It's actually enough he disturbs my whole senses as a person, I can swear he hasn't used a toothpaste since he was 12" he added as he helped me pick up my books from the floor. The ones I would prefer not to even have.
"So how's your mum?... How's she handling the whole.... You know?... break down" I replied gesturing with my hands like they both collided and exploded.
"She'll survive,she's been through much more. Besides, she let me have what I want for dinner on Sunday.I'll call that progress. Real good progress" He cut in as he handed me my books.
"How about you? How's your dad?"
"He didn't sleep home again. Wasn't really surprised though, it's been happening a whole freaking lot these past few days.I can live with that. And besides, it lets me have some alone time to myself. You how I feel about my quiet time." I replied.
"Hmm, yeah sure. I'm probably going to be the only one at your burial anyways.It's just going to be me and a flask of gin.And maybe a dog if I get blind as I get old and cranky. I'm a gin person right?I mean do I look like a gin person to you?"Victor asked me caring less if I was even listening.
"I mean cause I'm cranky when I'm old doesn't mean I'm going to be gin person right?" He added before I could dignify his response.
"Vic,you are going to be fine.Just don't touch my vintage when I'm gone.That could bring me back from the grave." I said as we both laughed as we made our way out of the hallway to the class room.
And there she was. Abby Lumberman. Burryton's own high school Madonna.The rich mean spoilt brat who thinks she can get or get away with anything she wants.And thinking about it, she actually does.She was blonde and if I'm going to be honest, brutally honest,she was pretty. Like very ,very good looking.
Every inch of her face was carved delicately,every corner of her body was moderately chiselled out.From her green eyes, to tailored lips, to her beautifully exposed cleavage. Everything about Abby was perfect. I mean aside the whole upcoming girlie hip-hop rapper vibe she carried along with her,which was also perfect. Abby was the only one who could pull a designer on designer and still look astonishing. To me, that is.
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