Cheerleading practice ended early, much to the relief of Tabitha Hart. She loved cheerleading, but recently, it was getting more difficult to juggle practice with studying for exams. She wasn't in danger of failing, but her grades were slipping ever so slightly, simply because she didn't have time to go over the material. Today, she felt tired, mostly from getting up a bit earlier than usual.
"Good-bye cheerleading, hello summer!" declared one of the girls as the cheerleading members made their way into the girl's locker room.
"Oh my gosh, did you see the "New Moon" trailer?" said one of Tabitha's friends, Sienna.
"Yeah, I did," said Tabitha, standing in front of the mirror, pulling out her hot pink hair scrunchie. She shook her head and let her blonde hair fall loose on her shoulders. Ah. That felt better. She had put it up a little too tight that morning.
"It was pretty crazy." She laughed, "Especially when Jasper leaped across the room in slow-mo! I thought I was going to die laughing!"
"Or how about when Jacob suddenly CGI-morphed into a werewolf?" laughed Sienna.
Tabitha and Sienna laughed. It was just like the way she and Miranda used to laugh.
Tabitha blinked, surprised she was thinking about that.
"What is it?" asked Sienna, who had noticed her friend her suddenly stopped laughing.
Tabitha shook her head and smiled. "Nothing," she said. "It's nothing."
She walked over to her locker and opened it up. As soon as she did, something fell to the floor. Curious, she bent down and picked it up. That 'something' turned out to be an envelope addressed to her in type. Times New Roman 12, to be exact. What made it really strange was that there was no return address.
This provoked her curiosity even more. She carefully peeled the envelope open and took out a letter, which said in the same Times New Roman 12 font:
Hi, Tabby!
I'll bet you remember me, right? It's been, like, a gazillion years! We met in the second grade—I sat a few seats behind you, remember? I could only stay for, like, a few weeks before my mom got a job offering down in the states. Just recently, my family and I have moved to this quiet little town near Fox Lake. My mom agreed to let me and my brother have a party with all our old friends, only we're holding it at this private little lodge usually reserved for fancy country club parties—Hunter Lodge, to be exact. And guess what? It's right near Fox Lake!
The shuttle will arrive to pick you and whoever else may be coming up at four-thirty PM on June 20 outside your school (that's when exams should be done, right?). My parents work kind of late at this vet clinic and my brother and I sometimes help, so if we don't show up by the time you and the others get here, just go in and get yourselves settled. Prepare dinner if you want; I'll tell my mom to keep everything locked up in the freezer so it's prepared when you come.
I hope I see you soon,
Justine Surf
PS You'll only be staying for four days to get to know us better, so don't pack much.
Tabitha frowned, trying to think real hard. Justine Serf...had she met anyone with that name? She remembered someone with the name Justine from the second grade...maybe that was her.
Wait, could she go? Tabitha racked through her brain to remember when her exams were. Today was the seventeenth, the last day of school before exams. Spanish was first thing tomorrow at nine, pre-cal came the day after that also at nine, and she had one more exam that same afternoon in biology...
She smiled. She had all the time in the world to prepare.
Michael Mason walked out of the cafeteria with Thomas Craig, both boys holding a cup of coffee in each hand. "Ya know, Tom, I've been thinking," said Michael.
"That's a dangerous hobby," remarked Thomas, bracing himself.
"I've been thinking," Michael went on, "as long as we have steady grades, we still pass, right? And the whole purpose of exams is so the school board can see just how stupid we really are and laugh their asses off, right? And that even if we only answer just one question and then leave, we still pass, right? Well I say that on the day of exams, we just sign our names on the paper and leave."
"You're kidding, right?" scoffed Thomas as the two boys headed off to their lockers.
"C'mon, dude, it'll be the ultimate protest!" insisted Michael. "It'll be our way of saying, 'fuck you all'!"
"You're insane, you know that?" laughed Thomas, shaking his head. "Besides, you've only got one exam: English. What do you have to complain about?"
"The fact that English is Greek to me," said Michael upon reaching the lockers.
"Ha-ha," said Thomas dryly, rolling his eyes, taking Michael's coffee cup and placing both cups down on the floor.
Michal grinned goofily at him and used one finger to flip a strand of blonde hair out of his eyes before his fingers flew away at the lock, trying to remember the combination. "By the way," he said, "you were ten minutes late this morning. I usually meet you in front at seven-thirty. You didn't come until seven-forty. Exams killing you?"
"Huh? Oh yeah," Thomas quickly nodded, focusing on his lock.
"Exams are a bitch, man," said Michael, who figured that the last number to open the lock had to either be 3 or 5.
"They sure are," muttered Thomas. He exclaimed, "A-ha!"
"You sure got your locker open faster than me," remarked Michael, who realized now that his chicken-scratch handwriting was useless in cases like this.
Thomas got out his various text books and began stuffing them in his backpack while Michael struggled away at his lock. Just as Thomas grabbed the final text book in his locker, he noticed something thin and flimsy being shoved forward. He took it and saw an envelope with his name on it in type-written letters...with no return address. Thomas ripped open the envelope and read the letter that came pouring out of it:
Yo, Thomas!
It's been a while since we've met. You and Michael probably remember me from the fifth grade, right? I was the short, scrawny kid in the back. Anyway, my sister and I were always transferring in and out of the country, so I never really got any chance to make any friends. I talked to you and Michael a couple times, so I guess it would be cool with you if I invited you and Michael to this party my sister and I are throwing at Fox Lake in Hunter Lodge on June 20?
The shuttle will arrive to pick you and whoever else may be coming up at four-thirty PM on June 20 outside your school (that's when exams should be done, right?). My parents work kind of late at this vet clinic and my sister and I sometimes help, so if we don't show up by the time you and the others get here, just go in and get yourselves settled. Prepare dinner if you want; I'll tell my mom to keep everything locked up in the freezer so it's prepared when you come.
I hope I see you soon,
Justin Surf
PS You'll only be staying for four days to get to know us better, so don't pack much.
"Thomas."
Thomas looked up from his letter and saw Michael also holding a letter. "Did you get the same letter?" he asked.
"Yeah, I did," said Thomas.
"Huh," said Michael. "Our exams will be over by then." He grinned. "I'm always up for a party."
Miranda Sherman looked up at the clock (only ten minutes to noon) before her eyes moved back to the computer screen. As a special treat for last day, her biology teacher had booked the lab for the class to have a special 'on-line treasure hunt'. Whatever that meant. She really couldn't care less; the stress of exams was getting to her lately. All she wanted was for them to be over and done with.
Miranda tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear and signed in to her e-mail account, hoping she wouldn't be caught. Checking e-mail during class was always risky.
While waiting for her e-mail account to get started up, Miranda looked around the class. She saw Tabitha Hart sharing headphones with Sienna Brown. She sighed. She used to be friends with Tabitha when they were younger. The two girls had been practically inseparable ever since they met on the first day of fourth grade years ago. They would share secrets, see movies together, and even make each other Get Well Soon cards whenever one of them got sick. Yes, the two girls had been extra close until...until the incident at the end of the eighth grade.
Miranda sharply turned her head back to the computer. By now, her e-mail account had fully loaded up. Sure enough, she had one new message from someone she didn't recognize: justine_and_justin at koolmail dot com.
Her curiosity provoked, Miranda clicked on the message to read it:
Hey, Miranda!
Remember me, Justine? From 2nd grade? You probably don't. My brother and I moved around a lot when we were little. During that time, I got to know you, and I liked you a lot. I was so sad when we had to go! Any-hoo, guess what? My parents are letting my brother and I throw this party on Saturday at Fox Lake in Hunter Lodge, and they said I could invite you!
The rest of the message contained details as to how Miranda would get picked up. She briefly panicked when she saw the date and time. June 20. Four-thirty. She had a Religious Studies exam that afternoon. Well, she might finish it by three at least, right?
Miranda felt as though she were being watched. She quickly closed off her window and went back to the treasure hunt. She thought she heard Tabitha whispering, "She has one, too."
"Ah, lunch," sighed Richard Nelson, sitting outside on the dew-covered grass with his friends, Max Llewellyn and Abbott Lamb. He took a bite out of his salami sandwich and said with his mouth full, "My favourite time of day!"
"For obvious reasons," muttered Max, rolling his eyes.
"I heard that!" said Richard accusingly.
Abbott laughed. To this day, he would never figure out just how Max and Richard came to be such good friends. The only things they had in common were their physical characteristics—black hair, an unusually pale complexion, and being tall enough to pass off for seventeen yet short enough to be mistaken for thirteen. Those similarities ended right there. Richard had a wicked sense of humour, while Max was quiet and serious. Still, Abbott enjoyed hanging out with them just to see how their dynamics worked when played off each other.
"Guys," said Richard after swallowing his sandwich, "something really, really weird happened this morning."
"Let me guess," said Max dryly, sitting up straight. "You found a brain."
"No, Max, I'm serious," said Richard with a look on his face indicating it was something very important. "When I went to get my stuff this morning, I found a letter in my locker. Addressed to me. With no return address. And it was from this guy called Justin Surf who claimed to know me, and he invited me to this party at Fox Lake right after exams. What, you don't believe me?" he said defensively when Abbott and Max had an awed look on their faces.
"No, Rich, we believe you," said Max. He slowly pulled out a folded-up letter from his jeans pocket. "Because I found one in my locker, too."
"Okay, dude?" said Abbott, pulling his letter out from his pocket. "This is getting really creepy."
Abbott heard footsteps in the grass. He looked up and saw Tabitha Hart and Miranda Sherman walking right towards them, like they had come to get something they had forgotten. "Uh, hey guys," said Tabitha.
"Hey, Tabitha," said Richard, wiggling his eyebrows.
Max ignored this. He said, "Hey, girls. Hi, Miranda."
"Hey," said Miranda shyly. She and Max had starred together in the school play, Sweeney Todd, back in the tenth grade. The two weren't best friends, but got along perfectly fine.
"So, uh," said Abbott, standing up. "What can we do for you?"
"Did you just say you guys got a creepy letter about Justin Serf?" asked Tabitha.
"Yeah," said Richard slowly. "What about it?"
"I was talking with Miranda just now," said Tabitha. "And...we got similar letters, too."
"Oh," said Abbott. "What a weird coincidence. Oh, well; I guess we'll all have fun!"
"I guess we will," spoke up Miranda. "We supposedly go back home on the twenty-fourth, which is my birthday. I'll be seventeen."
"What an amazing coincidence," commented Abbott. He then said, "Well...I guess we'll see you girls then. Bye."
"Bye," said both girls before walking off. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking on Abbott's part, but he could've sworn he saw Miranda turn back to look at him and smile.
"Finally!" sighed Lindsey McMillan as she and her twin sister, Aimee, walked off to their lockers, the sound of the final bell ringing in their ears. "Now all we have to worry about are our exams!"
"We?" said Aimee. "As I recall, I studied. You did not."
"That's because you don't have a social life," chirped Lindsey.
"Ha-ha," said Aimee dryly. She saw something poking out of Lindsey's jean pocket and said, "Hey Lindsey, what's that you've got?"
"This?" said Lindsey, pulling a letter out of her pocket. "Oh, it's just an invitation to some party from an old friend of mine."
"Would that 'friend' happen to be named Justine Surf?" asked Aimee.
"Yeah," said Lindsey, surprised. "You got invited, too?"
"Yeah," said Aimee. "I found it in my locker this morning."
Lindsey looked at Aimee strangely. "So did I," she said. She shrugged. "Oh, well! It's been a while since we went to a party together. I guess it'll be kind of cool."
Among these ten, only one of them was thinking, No one suspects anything. I have them completely convinced I know nothing about what is going to happen. The fools! All that needs to be done now is to watch...and wait.