Chapter 9.

Bunny.

We watched Bubbles and Boomer get taken away in the helicopter. My anger rose, but then became swallowed up by fear. If Brookelle did that to Bubbles, she could do that to any of us. The question is, who´s next?

"She tried to kill her," I said for the fifth time, in disbelief. We: Blossom, Buttercup, Butch, Blake and I, gathered in Buttercup´s and Blossom´s room.

"But, why?"

Buttercup shrugs, "do you think she knows we´re onto her?"

"Do you remember when she threatened me?" I reminded.

"Right.."

"Mind telling us everything, we´re a bit lost," Butch said, and so we did. We told them everything we knew about her, about our Anna theory, about the threat, about everything.

"Do you think, in the Masquerade Ball. She killed Anna when she told me she was going to meet me there?"

"It's likely, what other times is she likely to do it."

"But I mean, we have proof. You know how I told you guys she was wearing an all black dress, but when she came there was this dark red colour on the end of her dress?" Blossom and Buttercup nodded, "well, I was looking at her dress when we got back and it was dried up blood."

"Dried up blood?"

"Yeah, she was washing it in the sink and blood was coming off it. There's probably still traces on it."

"It could have been her blood," Buttercup muttered.

"No, because I remember seeing it when she just got there."

"Okay, well, we have the proof and if all of us back each other up it'll be okay. What are we waiting for? Let's go tell the headmaster," Butch said, standing up and already heading for the door.

"And then what? What will happen? Jail? No. They'll just send her back here or she'll go to detention for a long time. Either way she'll be back. Having a grudge on us and we'll be next."

"What do we do?" No one answered.

"The only thing we can really do, is wait until graduation," Blossom says.

"We need to avoid her for another two years?"

"No, she knows all of us, avoiding her will only make it worse," I warned them.

"If we don´t, she´ll kill us before graduation."

"She needs a distraction."

"A distraction?"

"Yeah, like Boa," Blake suggested.

"Boa? But what could he do?"

"They're siblings and he's the oldest. I don't think he's scared of her at all."

"Defiantly not, especially the way he was with her a few days ago during lunch."

"But how could he distract her?" Butch asked.

"Just by taking her away from us," Buttercup replied.

"But, he'll be a year 13 next year. It's hopeless to interact with any year 13s. They're like zombies. And then after that, he'll be gone to prison," Bunny argued.

"Let's just see how it goes. We don't even know if he'll help us."

...

I turn to Brookelle, "hey, Roo, I´ll meet you at our room later, I have to do something."

She nods, "Buttercup, should we go then?"

"Actually, I´m going with Bunny."

"Blossom?"

"I´m going to the library to pick up new books, you're welcomed to join me." She'll listen and talk to us about Brookelle, but she didn't want to get into this mess; she is the smart one.

The library is not Brookelle´s favorite place to go, she would rather avoid that area because there is hardly any use of it anyways. She nods, "Alright, I kind of broke my cane and I don't want to bump into anything," she said sheepishly.

Blossom smiled genuinely and laughed, "come on."

Buttercup and I walked and walked until we met up with Butch and Blake. "We thought you were behind us."

"We had to get rid of the subject," Buttercup told them.

They turned their heads, "there," we looked in that direction. Boa laid on a bench, sleeping, with his arm covering his eyes.

We surrounded him, "what do you want?" He spoke, without looking at us.

"We need your help."

"All I bring is destruction, sorrow and death," he replied as if quoting what someone had told him, "Unless you want me to kill someone, I´m no use to you."

"Do you like Brookelle?" I asked straight out.

He moved his hands away from his face, opening his eyes and sat up, "I mean, she's my sister and I think she's cute and she's defiantly gotten a lot hotter now-"

"God, no. We're not asking it like that-"

"Wait, are you guys…?" Buttercup asked.

"Why're you guys here?" Boa asked, trying to change the subject. His face was a little red.

"Could you help us?" Blake asked. He shrugged. "What do you know about her?"

"Enough."

Butch rolled his eyes, "stop trying to act cool, just answer the questions properly."

Boa squinted his eyes at him, annoyed, "Why do you want to know so badly? It´s none of your business."

"She killed Anna," I told him.

"And she tried to kill Bubbles," Buttercup added. The expression on his face had never changed this whole time.

"Why are you not surprised?" Butch asked.

"It was going to happen eventually."

"What do you mean 'eventually'?"

He looked away from us, very irritated, "can you stop asking me so many questions, come back to me tomorrow," he laid back down on the bench.

"Hello?" He ignored us. After a while, we left.

Buttercup.

These questions needed to be answered and it´s going to keep me awake at night, not just the questions, but the light not staying on because Bubbles needed extra time to get ready for bed, the empty bed next to me, the little baby voice whispering "goodnight, sweet dreams," and that creepy octopus doll with the hat.

Bunny.

"So?" I said. Buttercup and I stood behind Boa as he sat next to his friends in the cafeteria.

"Not now."

"Not now? That´s what you said yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. It's been a week." Buttercup said annoyed.

"I said not now," he still didn´t face us.

"No. You said-"

"Can´t you see I´m with my friends?" He interrupted.

"What friends?"

He slammed his fists on the table and stood up to face us, towering over us. Boa was about half a foot taller than us, his grey eyes were dark and his bangs hung over them, casting a shadow. In a few seconds, Butch and Blake came in between us, shielding us from a bomb that may explode any moment; a few seconds later security came, making us all keep our distance from each other.

A few seconds after the security left back to their positions, Brookelle stood in the middle of the circle the security had formed. She stood absolutely still, her head tilted slightly down, a new pure black cane with a clear crystal on top of the cane. Is that real? Probably, I'd be surprised if it weren't. She held it in front of her and rested both her hands on top of it. "Boa," she started, "Bunny, Buttercup, Butch, Blake." She finished listing all of our names, having a small break between each name. "You two boys, what are you doing?"

"We were just trying to break this shit up," Butch responded.

"A mutual party? Then, I´m going to ignore you for now," she waits a moment, "Bunny, Buttercup, why are you annoying my brother?"

"It´s nothing."

"Even though it´s about me?"

We glared at Boa but he´s still watching her, "how do you know that?"

"Oh, Boa didn´t tell me, you just did." I exchanged looks with Buttercup. "What do you want with me?"

We were quiet for a long time, not sure how to say anything anymore. "We just want to know more about you."

She laughed sarcastically, "funny, why didn´t you just ask me yourselves?"

"We thought we would piss you off."

"You´ve already pissed me off," she says through clenched teeth, "why do you want to know now?"

"Just curious."

"Boa?"

"Yeah."

"I want to talk to you."

He turned back to his friends, "can you guys put my lunch away? I´m going to be a while." They nodded.

Brookelle's new cane doesn't shorten, so she holds it at her side at a safe angle; Boa walks closer to her and lets her put her hand on his arm. He turns back to glare at us and mouths "come". We obeyed and followed slowly behind, making sure she didn´t hear us.

...

They eventually stopped walking, and Boa sat her on a bench and he sat on the other end of it. "What did you tell them?" Brookelle asked. She sat properly, back straight and hands on her lap with both feet planted on the ground. As for Boa, he sat in a very relaxed posture, back slouched, half leaning against the bench and half on the arm rest, he had one of his legs up with his foot resting on top of the other leg.

"Chill, I didn't tell them anything and I wasn´t planning on telling them anything." That bastard.

"What did you tell them?" She repeated, her voice sharper, but never raised.

"They know you killed Anna and tried to kill Bubbles and I just confirmed that."

Her head snapped at his direction, "what?" She growled.

"You heard me."

"How could you betray me like that."

"You don't need to worry, even if they tell what would happen to you? You'd still be here." So he had the same knowledge as us.

She sighed and crept closer to Boa until they were centimeters apart, "if people knew our relationship, they would think we´re sick."

"We´re already sick," he told her, leaned in and they started to make out. I covered my mouth, wanting to throw up, that´s disgusting.

They pulled apart to take a break, "do you know why I killed mother and father?" she asked him.

"We haven´t spoken for five years, remember?" Five?

She nodded, "I killed them, because they wanted to kill you." Her family asked her to kill someone?

"Why?"

"They thought Baxter was better."

Boa laughed, "How? Just because I got caught for murder and he didn´t?" Their whole family is full of murderers?

"They told me to do it."

"Would you have?"

She was quiet, "if I didn´t love you, I wouldn´t have hesitated."

"Mum got to choose didn´t she?" Incest parents?

She nods, "but mother and father didn´t want our family to have a pureblood that wasn´t proper." Pureblood? Proper? There was a long silence between them. "I got caught on purpose to see you," she went on his lap and they started to make out again. This is revolting.

Boa pushed her away from him, "why did you kill Baxter?"

"He wasn't meant to be there."

"But you killed him?"

"I didn't know I did, until the police told me."

Buttercup.

"Any questions?" Boa asked us, later on in the day.

"Plenty," I said, "You're an incest child?" I yelled.

"Keep it down," Boa said, looking around for listeners, "yes, I am, and my parents and their parents. It runs in the family."

"Why?"

"Ever heard of Jack The Ripper?"

I hesitated from the unexpected answer. "The unsolved murder case of five prostitutes in the 19th century?" Bunny asked, he nods, "but that was in London."

"Yeah."

"Aren´t you purely Norwegian."

"I never said that." That explains their British accent.

"Then what?"

"He moved to Norway later on and met someone else, who, like him, was a murderer. They had a son and raised him to be like them, they wanted a line full of murderers so they had another child and they forced them to love each other more than siblings should, and that´s how the line of pureblooded murderers began."

Bunny and I looked at each other with the same horrified and disgusted look, "You're both disgusting."

He rolled his eyes, "we know."

We nodded in agreement, "Baxter is your younger brother?"

"Yeah, he´s Brookelle's older twin."

"And you two haven´t spoken to each other for four years?"

"Five," he corrected, "I was caught when I was twelve and later on I transferred to this school."

"How many people have you killed?" I asked, slightly afraid of the answer.

He shrugged, but tried to estimate an amount, "we have a tradition, to kill on our birthday starting from when we turn ten and I´ve killed others as well. I guess, I´ve only killed about five times?" He said, shocking himself, "I could've sworn I killed more than that," he muttered.

"And she killed your whole family for you?"

He scoffed, "please, there was obviously something else that made her do it."

"And… Brookelle... How many people has she killed?" We were nervous of the answer.

He shook his head, "I honestly have no idea, I can confirm she´s done eight already. Four for her birthday, our family and Anna, but she could have done others that I don´t know about."

"Why is she acting up now then?"

"Because she´s found me."

"Found you?"

He nodded, but I still didn´t understand, "why didn´t she kill anyone when we were in ninth or tenth grade?"

"She´s smart, she knows it´s too obvious to do it when she arrives. She needed time for people to think she´s an innocent human being, not a cold-blooded murderer," he sighs, "she's brilliant."

"She´s going to get caught."

He laughs, "even if she does, what are they going to do?"

There was a long pause. "Was she always like this?"

"Like what?"

"Quiet, reserved, fake, wicked…?" Buttercup listed.

He shook his head and had a small genuine smile on his face, "No, she used to be so sweet and… happy. She was only vicious when killing someone." His smile faded, "I knew she loved the thrill of having blood on her hands and I think after killing our parents and my little brother, it completely changed her."

"What's still the same about her?"

He laughed, "well, she's still intimidating as hell, shy, cute, funny.." he listed all these things, that even I didn't notice.

"You really love her, huh?"

He nodded, "yeah."

Bunny.

Boa let us come listen to his conversations with Brookelle, Buttercup didn't always come but I did. There isn't much talking in the beginning more make out sessions, but later on I made sure to catch every detail.

"Why did you kill Anna?" Boa asked.

Brookelle was silent but then answered the question, "Bunny lied to me, she told me she was talking to Anna when I heard her talking about me. So, I killed her."

"Did you really put Anna´s blood in the tap?"

"Of course I did, Mitch helped me."

He pushed her off him, "that´s sick, Buttercup´s your friend."

"That bitch is next."

"Roo, you can´t kill everyone who pisses you off."

She folded her arms in front of her and muttered, "I´m going to kill everyone in this bloody school."

He grabbed her by the shoulder, "Roo-"

"Stop saying my name."

"Shut up," Boa snapped, I jumped from his sudden outburst, but Brookelle didn't seem to react to it, "don´t interrupt me," he pauses for a brief moment, trying to find the right words, "just because something someone says or does displeases you, does NOT give you the right to get rid of the person. It makes you look weak," she was shocked, "it makes you look weak because you´re avoiding the problem rather than facing it and fixing it."

"People annoy me."

"They´ll annoy you, but you just have to suck it up." She hissed at him.

"Was it really necessary to attempt to kill Bubbles though?" She nodded, "what did she do to little Roo?"

She growled, "she's annoying." He sighed, putting his hand to his face and rubbing his temples, but didn't say anything.

"What about that pink eyed girl?"

She was silent for a long time, "Boa?"

"Hm?"

"I´m fucking blind."

He rolled his eyes, "you know, the nerd of your group?"

"Blossom?"

"Yeah, her."

"She´s harmless. She knows a lot, but at least she stays out of other peoples' businesses."

"Do you love Bunny more than me?"

"Well, she didn´t pretend to not know I was in the same school," she muttered.

Boa glanced quickly at us and was careful with his words in the next part, I wasn't sure why and I didn't bother asking or looking into it, "It's not my fault, I didn't know you then."

"That's because you weren't there when they made it," she spat.

"You need to let that go."

"You purposefully got caught, didn't you?" She asked me.

"Why don´t you ask me a better question," I smirked.

"Why did you do it?"

"Because I wanted to leave that shit hole."

"Why would you leave?"

"The place bored me, doing the same thing over and over, I wanted something new."

Buttercup.

I pulled out some chips from my bag while I waited for him to pop up. Butch stares at me, wanting some of the chips, I patted on the empty space next to me and he willingly comes, like a little puppy. My puppy. He takes some and I take out some drinks for the both of us. "Can you not wait until break?" The teacher asked me from down bellow.

I shook my head, "that´s in like, five hours."

"One hour, actually," he corrected me, he then turns back to the board and continues with his lecture.

Class was finally over, as we walked out, the teacher called, "don't forget! Your presentations will be in two weeks."

...

On the way to my room, I spotted Brookelle leaning against a wall. "Hey, Roo. What are you doing?"

She hushed me, and I listened for whatever she was hearing. It was two people speaking, a boy and a girl, they laughed, "Boa you´re so sweet."

"Should we catch some dinner?"

"Sure." I took a peek at the moment; Boa and a girl were walking hand in hand away.

"Who is she?" Brookelle whispered.

I shrugged, "RA class, I don´t know who she is."

Brookelle started to leave. "Where are you going?"

"To the library I need to turn in this book," she held up a plain white book with brail on it.

"Can I come?" She nodded, and we start to head the direction of the library, "so, what´s the book about?"

"It´s a history book about prisons."

"Prisons?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I´m going to go to prison soon, I might as well read about what it´s going to be like," I didn´t reply.

"You're really lucky," she started, "you only have a couple years." There was a long pause, "they say I might be sent to a mental hospital," she pauses again, "or I might be sentenced to death. But I´d rather die than rot in some small space."

"You're going back to Norway to serve your time aren't you?"

"Yeah,"

"The most they do is 21 years in prison."

She sighed, "I know."

"And you've already done two years," she nodded, "so you'll be in your thirties when you leave, and the prisons there aren't so bad, it looks like heaven."

"So, I've heard."

We finally arrived at the library where she returned her book and then we left, "what's up with you and Butch?"

"What?" I asked, looking around for any prying ears.

"Are you guys dating?"

"No. We're not. We're just friends. Honestly, he's like my dog."

"Mhm."

"Anyways, he wouldn't like me, he's probably into more girly girls. Who are pretty, nice and aren't able to beat him up." We laughed.

"Do you like him?" She had a cheeky smile.

"No," I told her not even bothering to hide my lie and she knew.

"I think, you're a pretty person." I smiled, these are the times I love Brookelle.

"Are you going to get new shades soon?" I asked her.

"No, everyone's seen my eyes, there's no point in hiding them now."

"Why didn't you want people to see them?"

"They aren't normal."

"But they're so cool!" I retorted, the eye shape and the colour were both mesmerizingly beautiful. She laughed timidly; a slight blush crept on her face. "Where did you get your new cane by the way?" I asked.

"Oh, I've had this for a while, I just preferred my other one. This one's kind of heavy."

"It looks good though."

She smiled, "thanks. Do you want to try it?"

I laughed, "is it hard?"

"Not really." She taught me how to walk with the cane and I closed my eyes, trying to resist the urge to open them, and did so. I laughed, "did you bump into something?"

"No, but I almost stepped into this puddle." She laughed. I walked back to her the way she taught me. "Okay, I'm going to try to come back."

"Ow," she joked when I hit her leg.

I laughed, "I'm sorry. Here." I handed her her cane back. "I'm starving, do you want to go eat something?"

"You're always hungry," she laughed.

We walked to the cafeteria and met up with Butch, Blake and Bunny. "Where's Blossom?" I asked the group.

They shrugged, "haven't seen her since classes ended."

"Probably in the library," Bunny suggested.

"Where have you two been?" Butch asked us.

"We just walked around. What about you three."

"We've been here this whole time."

From the corner of my eyes I spotted Boa holding hands with some chick. I thought he loved Brookelle. I can tell just by looking at her she could hear the two talking and laughing. Her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes hurt. If she were wearing shades, I wouldn't have noticed her insecurity and uncomfortable shifting of her hands. I grabbed one of her hands underneath the table and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Throughout this whole entire time, I was talking to Butch and I don't think anyone at the table noticed the interaction between us.

Blossom.

I was strolling aimlessly around the school. I'm not hungry and I just don't want to talk to anyone in my little group. I passed by Brick at the hallway, I wanted to talk to him so badly, but I wasn't sure how to approach him. I didn't even know what to say. "Hey!" Brick's voice called from behind me, I turned around, smiling. I frowned when I realized he wasn't referring to me. I felt embarrassed that I even turned around. I quickly walked away.

Once more, I passed him. 'Talk to me, please.' I begged in my head. He didn't talk to me. He just walked right by me, without even a glance in my direction. "Blossom?"

This time I turned around, but it wasn't who I thought it would be. "Elizabeth," I smiled.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know. This is the second time you passed this area. Are you looking for someone?"

I'm waiting for someone to talk to me, "no. I guess I'm just kind of tired," I laughed it off.

"Okay, you can join me for dinner if you want?"

I gently declined her offer, "no, thank you. I'm not very hungry."

She nodded, "well, I'll be there if you change your mind." Our conversation ended there.

I don't know how or why, but I passed him once again. Three times a charm, right? "Hey," Brick said. I didn't turn to look at him; he probably wasn't even talking to me. "Blossom."

I stopped in my tracks, a huge smile rested upon my face that I tried to shrink it down before facing him, "yes?"

"Do you need help?"

"What?"

"You've passed me three times now. Do you want to talk?" My cheeks felt hot, was I that obvious? I knew I shouldn't have stared at him too long.

"Sure," I said, pretending it was never my intentions in the first place.

We walked to a bench and sat down, "so, what's up?"

"Nothing, kind of bored."

"Yeah, I would get bored of this place pretty quickly," he muttered.

I nodded, "and there's not that many people to talk to." It was silent. Oh god. He's bored. How do you talk to someone? What should I ask? "So, where are you from?"

"Well.. I'm Russian," he stated the obvious and laughed. Stupid question. The ACJ's main base is located in Russia. His accent is even Russian. Now he thinks I'm stupid.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, I had a little brother."

"Had?" Stop being nosey, Blossom.

"Yeah, when I was ten, we were driving and his seatbelt failed somehow and he flew out the window," he paused, "I still remember how devastated my mom was when she got out of the car to find my little brother's body far from us. He wasn't bleeding, so we thought he would make it, but he died from internal damage." I stayed quiet, letting him continue, "my dad buried himself in work, my mom would sulk in her bedroom and I'd have to take care of myself. That's when I started to do my best in school, skip grades and receive awards to get my parents to look at me. They never did, not in the same way at least."

I wanted to hold his hand, tell him everything would be okay. I wanted to hug him and comfort him. I wanted to do something, "oh, I'm sorry I asked," but I couldn't do it.

"No, it's okay. I'm kind of glad I told you. I just wanted to get that out of me." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I should be sorry for ranting like that."

"That's okay," I smiled. I want to go somewhere with him. I wanted this silence not to be uncomfortable. I wanted to sit here with him. "How long are you staying here for?"

"I still have a month." A month? But we hardly got to talk. I wanted to get to know you more.

"A month? That's so quick."

"Yeah, we still have to go to West High School, see how they're doing. Although, we'll probably only be there for a few weeks and come back here, because of all these 'accidents'."

"Right," I said.

"So, what do you do during Christmas Break?"

"What?"

"Well, seeing as that's coming up.. What are you doing then?"

"I don't know, my family kind of abandoned me here so I guess I'm just going to hang around at school. What about you?"

He shrugged, "I don't have any plans. Maybe, if nothing comes up, I can take you outside and I can show you these cool places nearby." Did he just ask me out on a date?

I smiled, "that'd be so cool."

"Great, I think I have to go," he told me, signaling with his head to another man, that I recognized from his room and in the headmaster's office.

"Alright, bye," I smiled.

"Later."

I didn't think anything could wipe this goofy smile off my face the rest of the night.