I'm surprised I'm not dead. I turned 21 yesterday.

On with the story... which is just the forming of a terribly mismatched team.

The Five Fabulous Suspects
Agreement

"It is now 9:02."

The group sat facing Mr. Willie, all at individual tables. Mr. Willie lowered his rest, scanning over the library at the five teenagers before him. "You now have seven hours and fifty-eight minutes to sit here and think about what happened Wednesday and for that matter, last night."

Another round of vandalism had occurred, conveniently while the five were still in the school building. "Mr. Willie, it wasn't me."

"The rules are no talking, no leaving, no fun, no anything." Mr. Willie glared at Svea. "I will come in periodically and ask if you need a bathroom break. I will give you a lunch break. But other than that, you will not leave this library. Understood?"

"Mr. Willie? What if there's a fire?" Timo asked. "I mean, I don't want to disrespect your rules and all…"

"You have earned yourself another Saturday detention, Väinämöinen."

"Oh joy!" Timo clapped. "I love spending time with you. Honestly, I can't wait!"

"And that's another right there!"

"Cut it out!" Svea snapped, turning around to face Timo. She mouthed 'stop' towards him and he smirked.

"You better listen to your classmate, Väinämöinen!" Timo laughed, but said nothing. Mr. Willie huffed. "I'll be in the office." As he walked away, Erikur lowered his gaze to the table. Once he was out of earshot, Svea turned around.

"Do you enjoy making an ass of yourself?"

Timo snorted loudly. "I enjoy this idea you have that makes you think you're better than me." Svea rolled her eyes. "It's not even noon and you're already giving me shit."

"I was trying to help you!" Svea explained.

"I don't need your help, Princess."

"Guys, it's too early for this."

Mathilde's complaint made Erikur nod in agreement. Timo flipped them off, keeping his attention on Svea.

"I think it's really, really cute how you try to act like you don't care, yet here you are – trying to 'help me,' or so you claim." Timo laughed, but something was off. Svea flinched and lowered her glance. "Gee, Princess, it's almost like you're in love with me."

"Oh please," Erikur snorted. "She has Alfred Jones, why would she ever want you?"

"I don't… we aren't…"

"Heard he dumped you because you wouldn't put out." Mathilde laughed and Timo joined in. Erikur looked over at Svea, her lip quivering as the two continued to laugh.

"I… I… shut up!" she tried to get out. However, her voice wavered, her eyes were burning, trying to hold back her tears. Svea felt one slide down her cheek and Erikur watched as Mathilde stopped laughing.

Timo scoffed. "Cry all you want, Princess." He crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair and put his foot onto the table. "I don't feel bad for you."

x x x

By the time noon rolled around, everyone felt their stomachs grumble. It had been a lot of sitting and doing nothing, sans the one bathroom break they had about an hour ago. Erikur watched as Mr. Willie appeared. "Lunch time. One hour break. I have waters for you all."

He walked around the room, handing all five of them waters and slowly maneuvered back to his office. Erikur watched as everyone else began to dig out their lunches. His stomach grumbled and he opened his water, taking a sip.

"I thought only wrestlers were suppose to cut weight?"

Mathilde smirked as she collapsed in the seat next to him, her small plastic container filled with some kind of pasta like dish. Erikur mumbled something inaudible in reply and turned away. "Mommy and Daddy forget to pack your lunch?"

"Can it," he muttered. She smirked and leaned back, opening her container of spaghetti. Erikur snuck a glance at the food and his stomach rumbled louder. Mathilde slide the Tupperware over towards him, dropping the fork in front of him.

"I know you didn't forget your own lunch."

"Thanks, but no thanks, it's probably laced with meth or something."

Mathilde began to laugh. "Kid, you don't even know how drugs work." He huffed. "Go on, eat it. I have a sandwich anyway. If you don't eat, then you'll die and if you die and don't admit you destroyed the gym, then we'll be here for the rest of our lives."

"You're incredibly selfish," Erikur hissed, but picked up the fork and began to eat regardless of how he felt. Mathilde was nice enough to share, surprisingly, so he decided to just go with it.

"Why do you hate gays?"

Mathilde watched him choke on his bite of pasta. "What?"

"You were picking on Kiet because he's gay… I heard what you said."

Erikur turned to her. "I don't have to explain myself to you."

Svea snorted and Erikur turned around. "I don't know, I'm with the bitch on this one," she said. "You do seem to pick on Kiet Sripuy a lot because he's gay."

"So does Alfred and…!"

"So do you do it because your friends do?"

"My friends – well, best friends – don't even know him!"

Mathilde frowned. "So it's to fit in with your teammates?"

Erikur frowned in response and Mathilde sighed. Timo and Lukas exchanged glances and Lukas spoke up. "That's cool. Can't even think for yourself."

"Look, I don't have to explain myself to any of you," Erikur hissed. "Yeah, my teammates dare each other to do shit like that. And yeah, fine, my dad is the biggest fucking bigot in the world, but that's not… I mean…"

"You called him a fag."

Mathilde spat the word out like it had a bitter taste. Erikur's heart sank and he lowered his gaze. Yeah, he had used that word. And yes, he wasn't very proud of it. He liked to think of himself as more socially aware than most.

"What really set you off?" Mathilde asked.

"Nothing."

"Kiet wouldn't have hurt a fly…" Erikur began to grind his teeth. "I don't understand. He's done nothing to you."

"Yeah, Eri," Svea concurred. "I mean, normally you guys just dare each other to do dumb bully things, but what you did was very over the top."

"It's nothing that concerns you, Svea." Erikur clenched his fists.

"So he is just a bigot." Timo shrugged his shoulders. "Go figure."

"I hate him because it's not fair!"

Erikur slammed the table so hard the container of spaghetti flipped over. Mathilde jumped back a little, her eyes wide as she watched Erikur steady his breathing. Svea blinked, her jaw agape. He began to clean up the mess.

"What's not fair, Steilsson?" Lukas asked. He was doubtful that Kiet Sripuy had something that he didn't.

"I hate him because it's not fair he can be who he wants to be!"

Erikur's knuckles began to turn white. Lukas shook his head, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Mathilde tapped her fingers against the table as Timo was rendered speechless. "So… you like dicks?"

"Eloquent, Timo," Mathilde commented.

"Fine! Yes! I'm fucking gay. Your star striker, safety, small forward, whatever is a fucking homosexual!"

Mathilde turned to Svea, who still looked like she was in shock. "Why didn't you tell any of us, Eri?" Svea asked. "You know your teammates don't care. And I assume your friends wouldn't either…"

"I have my reasons," Erikur said. Mathilde tilted her head.

"Parents?"

Erikur didn't respond, but he didn't need to. Mathilde frowned, nodding her head in an unspoken understanding of Erikur's dilemma. "So, you bully Kiet out of jealously? To make people think you aren't?"

"Kind of ashamed of that whole notion, really," Erikur mumbled. "I hate that I can't be myself so instead I act like the total extreme opposite."

"Have you dated a boy?" Timo asked. Erikur glared. "Or, I guess really anyone…"

"No. I haven't. Male or female. I'm pretty much a relationship virgin."

Mr. Willie entered the room and the group looked up at him. "What are you doing, Miss Densen?"

"Casual conversation, nothing too serious. Plus, Sporto forgot his lunch. I offered him mine."

Mathilde stood up and walked back to her table. Mr. Willie quirked an eyebrow, but Erikur did not seemed bothered by her presence, so he decided to let it slide. "Lunch is over."

They all nodded, cleaning up their areas and putting the food away. Mathilde waited until Mr. Willie was out of site. She moved back next to Erikur, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey kiddo, uh, about what I said… about you being a bigot…"

"I guess I deserved it."

Mathilde nodded and stayed next to him, letting the group drift back into uncomfortable silence.

x x x

A few hours later, Timo tapped his chin. "Wait! Guys! I have an idea!" he erupted, causing Lukas to shush him. "I have an idea!" he repeated.

"Oh, joy," Svea spat. Mathilde glared, before turning back to Timo.

"You know… I'm starting to think none of us really destroyed the gym…"

Lukas slapped his forehead. "Oh, yeah, you know, how long did it take you to figure that out?" he snarled. Timo held up his hands in defense, giving the other boy a cheeky grin.

"Well… you know, why don't we work together?"

Svea scoffed. "As if!" She furiously shook her head. "All you've done is pick on me. I refuse…!"

"You don't like being in detention anymore than the rest of us, Princess," Mathilde pointed out. Svea pouted, but said nothing, knowing Mathilde did have a point. "Timo's right. I mean, nobody's going to believe us if we keep saying we're innocent, and quite frankly, I refuse to take one for the team, and if you're truly innocent, none of you should either."

Erikur crossed his arms. "Okay, so… what are you getting at?"

"The person doing this knows we're taking the blame," Timo explained.

"Well, as does the whole school," Lukas deadpanned.

"But they know as long as we're in here, they can get away with it. They have the ability to pin it on us. What we need to do… is catch them red handed!"

"And how do we do that?" Mathilde asked.

"I mean… we'll have to figure out who else could have a vendetta against Coach Jonah besides us."

Erikur snorted. "I can name five already." Timo snapped his fingers.

"That's it! With everyone's different social groups, we can totally figure out suspects. Also, we can do surveillance, hack into the computer systems… it'll be like an action movie!" Timo exclaimed.

"I'm not so sure," Lukas said. "It seems messy, choppy."

"I'm not seeing much of a choice," Mathilde responded. "I mean, we want out, and we don't wanna be considered the vandals. So, we gotta compromise somewhere, you know?"

Lukas shrugged, nodding in agreement. "Okay, fine. I'm in."

"So am I," Mathilde agreed. Erikur nodded.

"If it means getting out of detention, then let's do it."

Svea looked down at the table, avoiding the four pair of eyes that were studying her every movement, waiting for her response. She shook her head, and opened her mouth to protest. "Come on, Princess," Timo insisted, stopping her before she could say no. "You in?"

She closed her mouth and finally looked up. "I don't necessarily want to… but you're right. We don't have another option…" She nodded, slowly and unsurely, signaling to the others she was going to go along with their plan.

Timo cheered. "Let's go team!"