Oh my good golly gosh people actually took the time read my ramblings! To all of you who faved, followed, and reviewed: thank you! Sincerely, no joke, thank you. I had to keep checking back to look at them while writing this chapter to confirm with myself that, yes, people do like this. I'm not gunna lie, that last chapter was probably only posted due to a lack of sleep that was shutting down my logic center and that Dr. Pepper buzz that was revving up my confidence. But this is being posted on nothing other than a mug of earl grey. And it's all because of you guys, so again; thank you.
Also I didn't even notice that I never put Candy as one of the stories character tags. There, I fix.
Anyways long chapter is long. Maybe give yourself some time for a bathroom break on this one.
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Chapter 2
You'd make a Terrible Watson
…
Dammit. Why did I have to be such a gentleman? Because I like to screw myself over apparently.
Third period history had finally rolled around and as soon as roll call was finished Mr. Faraize had asked if anybody would like to go first. And of course, because I'm an idiot; I acquiesced to let Malory go first. And now Mr. Faraize was practically swooning over her choice to dip her feluccas sails in to tea in order to give them a nice stain effect. Dammit, that was my idea! I did the same exact thing with my mummy's gauze but it was Malory who Mr. Faraize was going to notice.
Why did I let her go first? Father is always trying to tell me how much of a push over I am, and you know what, he's right. He is absolutely right.
The tub of plastic she'd brought was suddenly in my field of vision. Iris was going up and down the isles passing out the hard-tak. She smiled down at me already biting into her own biscuit.
I smoothed my features and smiled back at her pleasantly, my mother's voice in my head; appearances, always keep up appearances. Iris noticed nothing and moved on after I'd taken one. In fact nobody in class noticed that I was sitting here fuming. Amber wasn't the only one who was a good actor. On the outside I looked as calm and collected as ever.
But inside…
Just watching the way Mr. Faraize was holding up her felucca so that it could better catch the light, praising its craftsmanship and dedication. And the whole time Malory smiled her own pleasant little smile. But while my lips where doing this to cover up my frustration, hers where covering up just how pleased she was with herself. I knew full well that if a teacher wasn't here, she'd look right at me and give me that annoying obnoxious grin of hers, maybe even stick her tongue out just to be petulant.
I bit into the hard-tak to keep my teeth from grinding. It was disgusting just like it was supposed to be, and just like she'd explained to the class. Everyone had laughed but were eating it anyways because it was fun and because lunch was still a couple hours off. Clever of her really, passing out food to a bunch of hungry teenagers.
Gods how I hated her.
Breath, just remember to breath.
I did not like public speaking. I barely even had a grasp of non-public speaking. And now to make matters worse, Mr. Faraize would just not shut up about my stupid ship. I'd given my presentation, made sure to keep eye contact throughout, showed off the felucca, and Iris was just finishing passing out the food. I should be done. I just wanted to skirt back to my seat and be done.
Blondie could have his go, I don't even care right now if his is better. I mean, I will care in about a minute or two when I'm back at my seat and calmed down. But right here and now, in front of everyone staring at me, and with the florescent lights glaring down, and Mr. Faraize complimenting! I hate compliments even more then I hate public speaking! Did he really have to smile at me like that?
Why did I ever agree to show him around on his first day last month? I was practically his favorite now. I didn't know how to be a favorite. And Mr. Faraize was kind of a doof, but he was a nice enough guy and as far as teachers go he actually wasn't half bad, which was really saying something when talking about the public school system. I seriously did not want to be his, or anybody else's favorite. My track record has proven me to be shit at these kind of things, and sooner or later I am going to let him down.
All I could do was smile and breathe, and try to keep from fidgeting.
Finally, finally, he told me good job one last time, and I could scurry back to my seat in the most dignified manner I could manage. My tupperware got passed back to me and there were only four biscuits left, meaning that most people had taken at least two; a good sign.
Focus shifted to Nathaniel as he stood, graceful as ever, not even squeaking or scraping his chair, and walked to the front to give his presentation. I took a moment to breathe in deep through the nose a few times.
I really, really did not like giving presentations. It was hard to keep my words from stringing together, and even harder to keep my head up and looking at all those people staring at me. It certainly didn't help when Nathaniel was watching me…judging me. Because he was the only one in this class who I considered qualified to do that, even counting Mr. Faraize.
Council-Pencil-Pusher was just so…gah, perfect! He knew all the right answers, not just to book things and writing papers and stuff. But to real things, like how to talk to teachers, and how to compromise so that the student body was both well taken care of and happy, and how to stand up in front of a room a piers and be completely at ease. I watched him standing perfectly tall, but not ramrod straight, his voice carrying evenly and clear but without shouting, and his eyes attentively making contact but without being overbearing.
Those bright golden eyes landed on me briefly and I tried to remember how to sit straight, not that I actually had ever learned how. But I'd had enough people telling me to do it over the years that I think I eventually figured it out…more or less.
Not fidgeting was another matter entirely.
The second his eyes left me my hands were back to twisting scraps of paper loose from the spiral of my notebook. I tried to keep sitting up though, just in case he looked back again. Which he would, and when he did: I'd hold still, sit up right, and keep my chin high, maybe even throw in a little smirk.
I'd show him, I could be perfect too.
I never cared much for the whole 'oral presentation' thing. I wasn't bad at it, far from it, stage freight wasn't really an attribute an aspiring musician could afford to have. I just didn't think they were very beneficial to learning. Unlike what most people thought about me, l didn't actually hate school, I just hated going to school. But I could still recognize the benefits of it, it's simply that none of those benefits apply to me. My time is much better spent practicing guitar and coming up with new melodies than it is learning about ancient Egyptian burial rights.
Which was where I was right now, listening to Prez explain the oh so fascinating art of wrapping up dead corpses. And this is why I hate student presentations. The teacher could never give you any real assignments because if you ended up getting wrong information, or you just flat out sucked, then the class wouldn't be learning anything. But by giving you useless topics to research the class still might not be learning anything but even if they were, its just useless information. This meant that just about everyone spent the class period either doodling or discreetly playing hangman with their neighbor like me and Lysander were doing right now.
I did have to admit that Rorys felucca was pretty neat though. Still completely useless information, but I had learned something. True, that might have only been because Lysander had hissed at me that I better pay attention at least for her assignment, but once I started to it wasn't that hard. Rory was good, she had just enough necessary facts to teach you something, and just enough frivolous facts to keep your attention. It definitely helped that she had provided food.
I took a bite out of one of my biscuits while drawing another limb on Lysanders hanging stickman. The hard-tak was awful, there was no flavor to it besides the barest trace of salt. But they were filling and that made them absolutely delicious. Both me and Lysander had taken four, we knew how Rory worried about people not liking the things she'd done. And while it was amusing to watch her flail about trying to please anyone and everyone, I wasn't without mercy. So I could eat an extra few of the stupid biscuits. Plus lunch was still two hours off.
Lysander wrote a G on the paper, and just like that I knew he'd figured out the word. It was short work then as Lysander wrote down the remaining four letters to gladiator and I filled them in. I don't know how the guy did it. As with most things in life, Lysander seemed completely clueless, guessing strange and odd letters, but then he just knew what the word was when he only had like one or two misses left.
Stupid Prez finished up his report, and then Peggy went, and then maybe that Kenny kid, I kind of zoned out once Prez started talking. The rest of class was a blur of playing stupid paper games with Lysander, and doodling a couple of pointless melodies on my notebook, I really only paid attention again when Lysander elbowed me into listening to Rosa. It was kind of hilarious to watch her, she'd gotten Egyptian fashion, and surprise surprise, she was all over it. I'll bet money that Leigh will be carrying a new exotically inspired line of clothing by the end of the month.
But finally the bell rang, and I was all too happy to bug out. Lysander followed me, although at a bit more dignified pace. Out in the hall we caught sight or Rory talking to the Kenny dork. Was he…crying?
Rory looked supremely uncomfortable as he grasped one of her hands in both his own and tried to give her a formal bow. But it was clunky and awkward even from where I was standing. He caught sight of me and Lysander, and he suddenly paled.
"Uh, a-anyways, it was nice getting to know you. Thank you, and, and bye. Okay, thanks" he said, before scurrying away.
"Seriously why are you friends with that dork?" I asked, coming up behind her.
Without missing a beat, she smacked my arm. "Because he's nice. Unlike you, you cretin."
I shrugged. Not really caring what she called me. Honestly that was one thing I kind of liked about Rory, she was like a walking thesaurus for insults.
"Why was he so upset" Lysander asked.
Rory immediately straightened up. She was still a little awkward around Lysander. She was just in that be on your best behavior, make a good impression stage with him. It wasn't all that surprising, seeing as it took her a good two months to get used to me. I think me not giving a damn about any of that stuff is actually one of the reasons she's so loose around me. Hopefully she'll get to there with Lysander soon.
"Um, actually he's leaving" Rory said, in answer to Lysander's question, "He just wanted to say goodbye."
"I didn't know you were that close" Lysander observed.
Rory shrugged. "We're not. Honestly I feel kind of bad for the guy. He only came to this school to follow his long time crush. Only problem is; he followed the wrong Malory".
I started laughing, "Wait for real? That's got to be the most pathetic thing I've ever heard".
She slapped my arm again, and Lysander let out a big sigh. I just kept laughing.
"Anyways" Rory said, "He came and found me on our first day and when he found out I wasn't his Malory he just sort of started sobbing, and I felt awful, I didn't know what to do, and so I was trying to comfort him, but you know how bad I am at that stuff. But then Amber and her two cronies came and started picking on him, and that I could handle. So I pretty much told them to stuff it where the sun don't shine, and from then on I guess Kenny I where friends…so…yeah".
Both Lysander and I just looked at her.
And then I started laughing again.
"It's not funny Castiel!"
"Admit it's a little funny" I said.
Lysander sighed, but said "it is a little funny Rory, at least in a comedy of errors sort of fashion"
Rory opened her mouth about to retort, when a screeching noise not unlike a constipated banshee sounded from down the hall. I knew that noise.
"The beast awakens" I groaned, rolling my eyes towards the ceiling.
The principal rounded the corner and came clomping towards us. Rory shuffled behind Lysander. I groaned again trying to remember what I could have possibly done this week to piss her off. But then the Principal went right past us.
"Nathaniel!" she shrieked.
Nathaniel looked at her surprised, obviously not used to being addressed in such a fashion. Heck most of the kids assembled where now looking at her in shock. What the hell could perfect ickle little Nathaniel have done to provoke the gargoyles wrath?
"Follow me!" she yelled, and then she stormed back down the hallway, a concerned but still surprised student body president in her wake. They went into the teachers' lounge, the door slamming behind them. Peggy immediately perked up, turning on her recorder and rushing after them.
"What do you suppose that was about" Lysander asked.
Rory was already wandering down the hall, her eyes doing that big round and curious thing. Gotta hand it to that girl, she is truly skilled in the art of getting herself tangled up in every mess that passes through these halls.
Being the gentleman that he is, of course Lysander followed after her, most likely to insure that she stayed out of trouble. And being the jackass that I am, I followed too, mostly because I knew that keeping Rory out of trouble was completely impossible, and therefor this was going be very entertaining.
I got closer to the teachers' lounge right as the principal was reaching what sounded like the apex of her rant. The lounge door suddenly burst open nearly clipping me in the chin as our wild hair, crazed eyed principal stormed out.
"Nathaniel, I'm warning you for the last time, if this isn't settled quickly, it won't be one hour of detention you risk, but definitive expulsion from the school!"
Geeze-le-weeze what is she screeching about now? Expulsion!? I know I'm not the best at understanding people but I'm pretty sure I've got a solid enough read on Nathaniel to know that he would never in a million years do anything to warrant such a punishment.
The principal finally noticed me standing right next to her…uh oh.
"And you! This does not concern you! Leave here this instant!"
"Yes ma'am!" I quickly turned on my heel and fled from the angry kraken the posed as our leader of education. I grabbed Lysander (who had apparently followed me) by the wrist as I sped past him, forcing him to spin on the spot. I dragged him down the hall and around the nearest corner only to find a snickering Castiel.
"Jerk!" I said, smacking him on the arm. This only got him laughing more.
"Never a dull moment with you Rory" he said, smirking down at me.
I glared, "you could have come with us. You have more practice with the principals rage fits after all".
"Which is why I stayed away, see I actually learn from past experience".
"I've learned!"
"Yeah but does it stick" he said leaning over me and giving me a good poke in the forehead, "because I give it a week, tops, before you're suckered into some new 'quest', all because you couldn't keep a handle on your curiosity".
"I can too" I mumbled rubbing at my forehead and probably sounding like a petulant four year old.
I think Castiel was about to start a can too, can not, can too war with me when Nathaniel came around the corner. He was rubbing at his forehead as well, and looking way to warn down for a teenager. He caught sight of us and froze. Immediately he and I dropped our hands and stood up a little straighter. I could still hear Castiel snickering behind me so I not so subtly elbowed him in the gut. That got him to shut up. I'd be damned if I looked like a simplistic ruffian who'd been goofing off in front of Nathaniel. Lysander at least always had an air of respectability around him.
Nathaniel's eyes bounced between the three of us, obviously measuring us up. I think he was about to just ignore us and keep walking but then he sighed and his shoulders drooped further than I thought he was capable of. Actually come to think of it I don't think I've ever seen Nathaniel slouch.
"I guess you heard all that" he said glaring at the floor tiles.
"Uh, duh" Castiel said, "what're you gunna pay us to pretend we didn't?"
I almost elbowed him again but then I noticed Lysander giving him that look. Say what you will about Lysander's spacyness, he was a pure genius when it came to Castiel-damage-control.
I turned back to Nathaniel, ready to say something dignified yet snarkily clever. But my tongue caught on the roof of my mouth when I saw his expression. He'd turned his glare from the tiles and it was now pointed at me, but it wasn't his usual 'it's on' glare that was typically sent my way. It was more of a defeated I'm so stressed out and I just don't care what else the world will throw at me today so whatever, kind of glare. I felt a little niggling in my stomach at the idea of me being just a 'whatever' to him.
"We didn't hear anything" I said, my eyes shifting away as I rubbed my arm "just the principal yelling as she stormed out". I'm a terrible liar and I'm pretty sure he knows that by now, so at least he knows I'm being honest.
Nathaniel straitened up a bit in surprise. Usually I'd relish throwing him off, but not this time. He quickly regained his composure and said irritably "someone stole some important documents that are kept safe in the teachers' lounge".
"Wow Prez, I didn't think you had it in you" Castiel said, obviously just to goad him.
And, of course, Nathaniel rose to the bait. Boys.
"Yeah, you know I thought about it, but then I realized that's something you would do" he said.
"Hey, I'm not a thief" Castiel bit back.
"I'm sorry, I must be hearing things, tell me how exactly did you get those keys to the roof and basement? Come to think about it, this whole thing got started because my keys are missing".
"You trying to say something, Prez!?" Castiel took a step forward and passed me, his fists clenched at his sides.
"You're not that stupid are you? You know exactly what it is I'm implying". Whoa, Nathaniel's never gotten that visceral that quickly in the time I've been here.
Nathaniel looked Castiel dead in the eye, squaring his shoulders and balling up his fists as well, practically daring his red headed counterpart to make a move. Instead, Lysander and I moved at the same time.
"Okay, enough chimpanzee styled male posturing" I said. Using my small size, I quickly ducked in between the two of them, my shoulders bumping against each of their chests. They were still starring each other down over my head so a placed a hand on each of their chests and gave a mighty shove…which did absolutely nothing. Seriously I'm not sure whether to curse them for their male physical prowess or my tiny useless sticks that pretend to be arms. At the very least they weren't going to start swinging while I was here, Nathaniel because he was a gentlemen and Castiel because I'm reasonably sure that deep within the blackened abyss of his heart that he sort of kind of likes me. At least enough that I'm tolerable.
Thankfully Lysander, the confrontation guru, was still present. With a simple but firm hand on Castiel's shoulder and another look he was able to get the red head to back down. Castiel grumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like a colorful reference to Nathaniel's manhood but we're all going to be adults here and pretend we didn't hear anything, right Nathaniel?
I focused on the blonde now that the immediate Castiel threat was out of range. Nathaniel was still glaring so I cleared my throat. His chin didn't move but his eyes flicked down to mine and I tried to imitate Lysander's look, to the best of my limited ability. I don't think it did anything other than confuse Nathaniel.
But then we both noticed that we were standing only an inch or two a part, and we each quickly took a step back. Nathaniel looked away, and I suddenly noticed that our floors while appearing white upon first inspection are actually a very pale shade of lilac. Oh look the janitors missed a spot while waxing.
Awkward.
Nathaniel coughed still looking away, "anyways the principal thinks I took the documents, but really I have nothing to do with it. And if I don't get this sorted out quickly I'll be expelled".
Lysander grabbed his chin looking thoughtful. Castiel just crossed his arms and shrugged, the epitome of indifference.
Nathaniel sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose "I don't know why I'm even telling you guys this. See you later". He stepped away from us and suddenly always in control Nathaniel was back as he briskly walked down the hall in his usual assured confident way.
"That is…unfortunate" Lysander said once the blonde was out of earshot.
"Pfff, if we're lucky he'll be gone by the afternoon" Castiel said, but he wasn't looking at us.
"Ye….yeah" I said, deciding to agree with my friend. I'm pretty sure that's another thing friends are supposed to do, even when it makes your stomach turn a little.
Castiel shoved his hands in his pockets and stormed off, a bad mood clearly radiating about him, telling students to get out of the way. I figured Lysander would follow to do more damage control, but then I noticed him looking at me. Now I was getting a look.
"What?" I said, perhaps a little bit irritably. I didn't like this, and was trying really hard not to fidget.
Lysander didn't say anything, just blinked once at me, then sighed, then looked in the direction Nathaniel had gone. "I hope he knows what he's doing" he finally said, before taking off after his red headed friend.
And now I was fidgeting.
What the hell was that for? What did he expect me to do? It's not like this was my problem. Just because I'd helped people with a few arbitrary things before didn't suddenly make me the patron saint of ludicrous conundrums! It's not like I cared if Nathaniel was expelled or not. No sir, it wasn't my problem.
Not my problem.
…
So not my problem.
…
Not. Going. To. Help.
…
Nope.
Nu-huh.
…
…
…
Dammit.
I headed off down the hall in search of Nathaniel.
Nathaniel hadn't looked very happy when he'd come in. In fact he'd stormed into the student council room and gone straight to his usual table and started scribbling away at paperwork, a big dark cloud hanging over his head. I knew it was best just to leave him alone when he was like this. He preferred that, and I'd been working with him on the student council long enough that I'd gotten pretty good at figuring him out.
"Here you go Melody" Daniel the student body VP said, handing me another stack of paperwork.
I smiled at him in thanks and went to put the folder in the necessary filing cabinet. But then the door burst open and in stormed a wild eyed Malory Jones.
"All right prim press listen up, I'm only going to say this once so listen good! Are you listening!" she walked straight up to the table Nathaniel was sitting at and slammed her hands down flat across all his paperwork as she leaned over him. Nathaniel looked at her like she'd lost her marbles, we we're all looking at her like that.
"…you just said listen three times" Nathaniel finally said.
Malory started pacing briskly like she hadn't heard a word, in fact I think she actually didn't. "If we're going to catch this perpetrator, then we're going to need clues! I say we stake out the teachers' lounge, we might find something there".
"Wait," Nathaniel said, standing up, "are you…offering to help me?"
"Now obviously you don't have the key anymore, so step one will be to uncover its location"
"Malory…."
"And if we're lucky it might actually lead us to our thief"
"Malory…
"Now let's think, who would likely take them and where would they keep a stash"
"MALORY!"
The volume of his voice got her to stop as she jumped about a foot in the air. It made me jump too. Malory finally looked at him, her eyes rounded in surprise.
"I can't" Nathaniel started, but then his face took on a confused expression and he turned to her, "-do you read detective novels?" he asked with a hint of surprise.
"…Yeeesss" she was looking at him like he'd suddenly grown a second head. Admittedly it was a weird question, but I knew how much Nathaniel loved detective novels. And she was throwing around all that terminology, so he probably hadn't expected that of her. I know I hadn't.
Nathaniel was looking at her like he didn't believe her.
"Roderick thorp?" he asked.
Malory shrugged, "little dry, but he usually keeps me guessing"
"…Agatha Cristie?"
"Well I'm always a supporter of woman authors, not to mention the whole mystery debacle surrounding her own life is a constant source of intrigue".
"Sir Arthur Conan?"
She just looked at him, "please" she said.
Nathaniel was the one who now looked surprised. I couldn't blame him I probably did too. The last thing I'd expect of no tact Malory was to have read any of the greats.
"Jo Nesbo?" Nathaniel asked.
". . ."
Ha, he'd got her. Mr. Nesbo had only been writing for a few decades. She only knew these big famous names, authors whose work had been around for nearly a century. I sighed a little inside, I'd read a few of that authors books because Nathaniel had suggested him to me. Honestly I thought he was a little bit dark but it was still something that just Nathaniel and I shared. Wknowing that at least Malory was unaware of one of Nathaniels favorite authors was a good-
"You've read the THE HARRY HOLE SERIES!" Malory shouted.
…seriously?
"I thought I was the only one who'd read that!" Malory said rushing up to the table and leaning on it again. Only now Nathaniel was standing and she was leaning right into his personal space looking up at him with big eager eyes.
I pressed my lips together not liking how she was right there. Couldn't she see she was bothering him? Malory was nice, just horribly uncouth. And I didn't like how much she bothered Nathaniel. It just concerned me that he was always ranting about her. I took a step forward and opened my mouth to tell her to leave him alone and to lightly scold her, but then she started talking non-stop.
"Have you gotten to the Snowman one yet? It's creepy as all hell but amazing. I mean, usually I like knowing who the villain is from the start, especially when it's a murder mystery, because we get to watch the story unfold from their perspective too, but with that book it was absolutely perfect not knowing. And what about his Doctor Procter series? There not so much mystery but they're really fun. Or, oh oh! Did you ever read anything he wrote under his pen name Tom Johansen? And what about-"
"Malory!" Nathaniel yelled.
She stopped with her mouth still formed around her next word. She seemed to have finally realized what a spectacle she was making as she looked around and noticed everyone in it was now starring at her in utter bewilderment. Slowly, she backed off the table drawing her hands behind her back and began to fidget a little.
"Um…yes, I've read him" she finally said. "But-but anyways that's not why I came in here".
"Right" Nathaniel said, rubbing at his forehead, he did that a lot when she was around "you…want to help me?"
I raised a skeptical eyebrow at that. More likely this was just some elaborate mean spirited prank. And even though she hadn't necessarily done anything yet aside from her mini war with Amber, she was friends with Castiel and she was Malory, the girl Nathaniel could never stop complaining about.
"Well…yeah" she shrugged. "I mean no, I don't want to help you but…"
"But?"
"I just, well…Lysander was giving me this look" she said crossing her arms and looking like she was the victim here.
"That, makes zero sense" Nathaniel said.
"Argh!" Malory threw her hands in the air, "what does it matter? I'm helping you, end of story, yippee yea, let's go!"
She suddenly grabbed him by the wrist and before I knew it he was being dragged around the tables as Malory stormed off with him in tow. He nearly crashed into me and I almost lost my armful of paperwork. Luckily, Daniel caught me.
"Sorry!" Nathaniel called back but Malory had already rushed him out the door.
"What are we doing?"
"I already told you, we're interrogating the suspects!"
"Interrogating means asking questions, not hiding behind a low rock wall and starring at people"
"We're analyzing them so that we can better understand their movements!"
"…you are insane"
"Shhh, someone's coming, and crouch down already!"
"I am crouched down!"
"Then stop being so tall!"
"I can't just-"
"Hi Nathaniel, hi Rory"
"Oh, hi violet!"
"What are you doing?"
"Analyzing! Wanna help?"
"Why doesn't she have to crouch down?"
"Psh, violet is the most unassuming person in the world, no one will suspect a thing of her".
"Right, especially when it looks like she's talking to a brick wall".
"You are such a pessimist, now be quite, we're analyzing".
"Okay so not Melody, definitely not Violet, Iris is out too, and Kim is in the clear, let's try this classroom".
"Does your method of uncovering information primarily involve wandering? Because so far we've gone in six circles around the school. I've been counting."
"Oh I'm sorry are you bored. Here!"
"Why are you giving me a notepad, and a-Hey! I'm not your Watson!"
"Come along Doctor!"
"Malory!"
"So, Capucine was it, tell me have you noticed anything out of the ordinary in these halls over the past twenty four hours?"
"Hmm, nooooo…he-he. Oh wait, your Malory? Amber warned me about you".
"Amber what now?"
"He-he, nooothing"
"Is she spreading rumors about me behind my back now? Oh that is so typical. What lies has she told you?!"
"Hey, stay out of my personal space!"
"Answer me!"
"Okay, we're leaving".
"What, no! Nathaniel, let me go! I need answers! This isn't over Capucine! You hear me!? Gah! Nathaniel put me down!"
"Are you sure it wasn't Castiel? This seems like the kind of thing he'd do"
"Maybe, but it's not his style. I mean if he wanted to get at you then he probably would have just spray painted the student lounge or something like I did with Ambers locker-I mean…um…"
"…what?"
"What!"
"So anyways I'm pretty sure Peggy knows something but she isn't the one. Still it does beg the question of what she's hiding and why. And more importantly how can we get it out of her and-Nathaniel? Hey why'd you stop?"
"Malory…I'm not following you into the girl's bathroom".
*Sigh* "Hello Lysander"
"Good day Nathaniel, how goes the investigation?"
"Do I even want to know how you already found out what we're doing?"
"Gossip has a way of travelling in this school. So?"
"Let's just say that there are a lot of adjectives I could us to describe this morning"
"Nathaniel what are you doing? Lysander's not a suspect, we don't need to interrogate him. And Lysander, you see this, you see what I'm doing, so you don't need to be looking at me okay!"
"Okay Rory".
"…why are you smiling like that?"
"You realize that we're getting nowhere"
"Well maybe if you would just tell me what was taken out of the teachers' lounge I could actually start cross examining witnesses or something"
"There weren't any witnesses. That's kind of why I'm being blamed remember?"
"My point still stands that you could let me in on what you know. I mean gosh what kind of partner are you?"
"We are not partners"
"Whatever"
"...it was the upcoming exam sheets"
"What!? No way! I-that's…no way."
"Yeah"
"Oh…gosh, this is bad"
*Sigh*, "yeah"
"I'm telling you Amber has something to do with this"
"Malory can we please not talk about this during class?"
"Did you take them or didn't you!"
"I already told you I haven't touched your precious keys!"
"Okay Nathaniel, if Castiel said he didn't do it then he didn't do it…probably"
"Hey! Whose side are you on?'
"The side that gets Lysander to stop looking at me!"
"…what?"
"Yeah, seriously what?"
"Oh sure, now you guys agree on something"
"FOUND 'EM!" Malory sprung up from the bush she'd been shuffling around in, and to both my shock and delight she did indeed have my key ring dangling from her hand.
"And this is why we always inspect shiny things" she said, grinning from ear to ear while hurriedly working her way out of the foliage. I quickly made my way over to her and grabbed her elbow to help stabilize her, if there's one thing this morning has taught me it's that Malory has a tendency to lose focus when she is focused on something. I'd been using that notepad she gave me to keep a tally of all the oddities I'd observed during our little adventure. So far Malory has run into three open lockers, tripped over seven backpacks, collided with two desks, and gotten into twelve arguments, only three of which were with me. Gods help the man who marries her.
She handed the keys off to me and after checking that they were all there I quickly pocketed them. She was still grinning up at me, and I still had her elbow. She was completely filthy and covered in leaves from her venture into the school gardens undergrowth. It was only on a whim that she decided to search here, saying that someone might have just chucked the keys once they were done with them.
I sighed, I knew what needed to be done, and I honestly was grateful to her. And even though it was Malory, the most annoying, obnoxious girl on this planet, I still owed her the cuortesy her actions had earned her.
Shifting the hand that gripped her elbow down her arm so that I lightly held her hand in my upturned palm, I shifted my other hand to my lower back and bowed to her. "Thank you for your help today my lady" I said, drawing on all those phrases and gestures I'd had drilled into me since nursery school.
"Oh, um…y-your welcome" she said, already fidgeting. I wonder if she's ever had a proper thankyou delivered to her, or if she's ever even dealt with courtly life. She didn't seem the type.
People like me had been raised on the stuff. My family was actually descended from nobility, though we'd lost the fortune and therefor power several generations ago. My father was the one trying to build it back up, with the hope that our family could reenter the court. And that meant Amber and I where, to an extent, being groomed. It was actually pretty run of the mill proceedings as far as court intrigue went.
I didn't really ever want to be involved in politics, and I don't think my father does either. But father does want to run his own corporation. And that means power. And the more power he can leverage in court the more maneuverability he has for his business.
But Malory didn't understand any of that. She was just your average girl, living her average life. In a way, I envied her.
"Uh, you know actually" she said snatching her hand back, "you really shouldn't be thanking me yet, we still have to catch our thief"
I pinched the bridge of my nose, still fighting off that headache. "Malory we've already talked to everyone and then some, what more is there to do?"
"Well, we haven't searched the teachers' lounge yet"
"…no"
"Oh come on! It's the only place to look for clues."
"No." I started to walk away from her, intending this discussion to be over with. But of course Malory just jumped right in front of me.
"Look, I'll go. That way if something does happen they can't blame you any further"
"I'm not letting you do that!"
"But I'm offering-"
"That doesn't matter! I'm not risking your expulsion as well"
"Come on, even if I get caught the worst I'll get is detention. Trust me, I've done this before"
"You've what?"
"Well- I mean not at this school obviously, but…look it's not that big a deal!"
"Malory" I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut and pinching the bridge of my nose. "Look, I appreciate what your trying to do here, but please do not trouble yourself further with this. I'll figure out a way to handle things"
I opened my eyes expecting another argument from her. I was not expecting to see her running away from me and back towards the school at full tilt. Wait a minute. I felt around in my pocket, the pocket I'd just put the keys in, the pocket that was now empty.
"Malory!" I shouted taking off after her. I was a lot faster than her, but she wasn't above using her small stature to her advantage as she ducked and weaved through the throng of students. I didn't even care about what a spectacle I was making as we careened down the hallways towards the teachers lounge.
I caught up to her just as she was unlocking the door, I had her. Or I did, until she ducked. The arm that was supposed to wrap around her middle flew just over her head as she practically somersaulted inside. The door was kicked shut and there was the clicking sound of a lock falling in place. Gods dammit!
"And, huff, she's, huff, safe!...huff"
Wow could that boy run, I couldn't believe he'd actually caught up to me. I was no athlete but my life had taught me how to kick it into high gear when the situation called for it.
I leaned against the door just panting for a moment. I could hear Nathaniel jiggling the handle. I think he was saying something to me too, or he could just be cursing under his breath, who knew.
What I did know was that now I needed to search for clues.
Five minutes later and I was still searching. Geeze what a boring teachers' lounge we have, and seriously who picked vomit orange as the furniture color? The microwave looked like it had had more than one lunch explosion in it, and I'm pretty sure that coffee table is being held together by cellophane. Man the next time I hear a teacher complaining about budget cuts I might actually believe them. Seriously Sweet Amoris was supposed to be one of the best schools in the country, and our teachers didn't even have a working coffee pot. The box next to it labeled 'confiscated' was kind of interesting though.
I don't find anything and am about to write it off as a lost cause when I spot a cheap looking bracelet near one of the chairs. It doesn't look like anything one of our teachers would ware. I pocket it. Mostly I just don't want to go back empty handed to Nathaniel, because then he'll get that whole see-I-was-right face.
I heard the door click and open. Uh-oh.
"What!? What are you doing here?"
Oh joy its crazy mccrazypants principal. Quick: fight or flight instinct, now's when you kick in. Just, don't make me punch the teacher. You made me do that last time, and seriously it didn't work out. Also let's avoid kicking.
"LEAVE IMMEDIATELY" she shrieked, "IMMEDIATELY!"
Flight instinct, activate!
I hurried passed her and out the door. I fully intended to just keep going till I hit the courtyard, and maybe even passed that, but a pair of hands grabbed my shoulders and changed my trajectory.
It was Nathaniel. He steered me into a secluded part of the hallway and then immediately began drilling me.
"What were you thinking? Do you realize how lucky you are?"
"I'm fine, stop worrying. I didn't even get a detention"
"As I said, do you realize the kind of luck you have?"
If I had any kind of luck to speak of I probably wouldn't have been caught in the first place.
"I found this" I said hoping to distract him from the lecture he no doubt had been working on. I held up the bracelet for him to look at, "do you recognize it?" I asked.
His face took on a confused expression, "yeah, but…I can't place it"
I pulled out another object from my pocket while he looked the bracelet over. Nathaniel didn't notice what I was doing until a bubble literally popped against his nose.
"What…is that?"
"Elementary my dear Watson, elementary" I said blowing more bubbles out of the toy pipe I'd found in the confiscated box of the teachers' lounge. They flew about us in little rainbow orbs, popping at random intervals and occasionally sticking to our clothes.
"…you're going to be playing with that for the rest of the day aren't you"
"Now you're catching on"
During lunch we questioned everyone again, only this time on whether or not they'd seen anybody wearing the bracelet before. Malory continued to play with her pipe, and it both annoyed and amused me. I was still royally screwed if we didn't figure this out and that had me constantly stressed, but I think I was keeping it all together mostly because I knew that we we're doing something. Even if it was just following a random, probably useless lead.
We'd eventually talked to everybody, and unfortunately we had no answers. But I just couldn't shake the feeling that I'd seen that bracelet before.
"Maybe if we asked the teachers if they've ever seen it?" Malory was saying. "It's possible. Mr. Firaze seems like the kind of guy who would try to win over his students by complimenting them on silly things like this…maybe". Malory was mostly thinking out loud at this point. I think her enthusiasm for this project was beginning to wane as even she realized how pointless this whole endeavor was.
She had followed me into the lunch line as she continued to spout her theories. I mostly just let her. The morning and the fact that we were at another dead end were beginning to weigh on me too.
We reached the end of the waiting line and I grabbed a tray before heading into the kitchen area. Malory's out loud thinking suddenly stopped. I glanced at her and saw that she was staring at the kitchen wide eyed. Looking back I couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. The chefs were all behind their stations, the salad and fruit bar hadn't been tipped over or anything, the coffee stand had an incredibly long line behind it as usual.
"What?" I said.
Malory seemed to come back suddenly. She shook herself, mumbling "nothing" and shuffled closer to me indicating that I should keep going.
It was then that I noticed the simple paper bag clutched in her hand. I'd never even thought about it before that Malory brought a bag lunch to school every day. Sweet Amoris was one of the more elite schools in the country, and even though it was technically a public school, it didn't stop parents from making massive 'donations' to ensure their kid got at the top of the enrollment list. Even the town we we're based in catered to an expensive lifestyle. So while it wasn't completely unheard of to see kids who brought bag lunches, it still wasn't considered common. And for Malory to have only a simple paper bag, it just seemed so…ordinary. Which was not a word I would ever use to describe her.
I got my lunch, an Alfredo pasta with fresh garlic bread. She followed me around to the various stations as I got myself a salad, a side of fruit and a glass of milk and a glass of wine. Amber and I were allowed to have a bit of alcohol with our meals thanks to our family standing, it was actually kind of expected of us that we would.
As we went, her chatter began to slowly start up again, which I have to admit I was kind of glad for. This whole possible expulsion thing was already making me extremely unnerved. And having her uncomfortable was not helping my comfort. By the time I'd ran my student credit card through the machine she was even back to blowing her bubbles.
We sat down together, which got us a few looks, and several students even relocated to different tables. Everyone probably thought we were about to have and eating competition or something. I couldn't exactly blame them for the assumption.
Malory didn't notice, she was too busy going over my 'notes' occasionally commenting on what a terrible Watson I was. I was again examining the bracelet. Something about it was just so familiar.
And then it hit me.
But…no, it couldn't be…she wouldn't…would she?
"Malory?"
Malory looked up, she was in the process of correcting my notes.
"I need you to do something for me" I said, trying hard not to gulp.
Gods what a day that was. I still can't believe Amber did that. I mean yeah Nathaniel can be a pompous ass sometimes and I'm sure having him as a brother must be a never ending trip in frustration, but still. He didn't deserve that. Amber has been petty and obnoxious to me since I got here but what she did to her brother today was just plain mean.
I'd gone to confront her in one of the classrooms while Nathaniel stood just outside the door listening. The look on his face afterwards was…bad. Thinking about it made my stomach knot up again.
After that the day had gone on relatively normal. I'd hung out with Iris and Rosayla during study hall. Lysander lost his notebook again. I caught Castiel smoking and took away his cigarrete. I hadn't seen Nathaniel or Amber once, even though I had several more classes with each of them.
I shoved the rest of my things in my backpack and slammed my locker shut. I couldn't wait to get home and to just make some tea and relax. Maybe read a book.
"You! Don't move!"…or not.
I turned around, only to see Amber coming at me in a fury.
Oh no, fight or flight, fight or flight!
She came right up to me and shoved me, hard. I fell back against the lockers with a thud, the noise attracted people's attention and soon we had a little ring around us of onlookers.
"All of this is your fault! I hope you're happy, I've been suspended for several days! You better watch out, you are going to regret it when I get back!"
She jabbed me hard in the chest with each sentence. Fight instinct stay back, she's not worth it.
"You're the one who brought this on yourself" I shouted. No bad mouth, keep quite.
"Wh-what?!" she shrieked. "That's it! You're going to regret this right now!"
She drew her hand back and I had a brief moment to marvel at just how many rings she wore as they sparkled in the florescent hall lighting. She's going to slap me…she actually going to slap me!
My instinct was to throw one arm up to shield myself while the other delivered a well-aimed jab right to her nose. But right before I brought up my fists I shoved the urge back down.
Just take it, I told myself. Let her do what she wants. You like your life right now. Sure it's not perfect, but there's a roof, and its dry, and you even have an actual bed, and there's food, really good food. Yeah you still miss of few meals but that's mostly your own fault. And while your place isn't spotless it's clean, your bathroom door actually has a lock on it, and you've got a toothbrush that's all yours! Don't ruin this!
I braced myself for the slap, I can't imagine that Amber really knows how to throw any weight behind it, so the worst thing that will sting is my pride. But then a shadow suddenly passed over me.
My vision was completely taken up by the back of Nathaniels prim-press white button down. He was standing directly in front of me, his broad shoulders shielding me from his enraged sister. I was still pressed up against the lockers so I couldn't exactly move or see around him. But I could hear him.
"What are you doing now!? Dammit Amber I am fed up with your antics, you are going to calm down right now and go straight home. Got it?!"
Everyone in the hall was speechless, I don't think any of us have ever seen Nathaniel like this before. I couldn't see his face yet even I could tell how livid he was. He grabbed Amber by the arm and steered her away. She didn't say anything obviously too gob-smacked herself. The throng of students quickly parted to let them pass and it was only then that I remembered I was supposed to say something.
"Th…thank you" I called out meekly. But I don't think anybody heard me, certainly not Nathaniel.
Everyone awkwardly looked between me and the retreating blondes. Slowly the crowd began shuffling away and I joined them in it, carefully avoiding eye contact. Now I really just wanted to get home.
All my hopes of a simple quick, walk back to the apartment were dashed however the second I stepped outside.
It was pouring.
Big globs of rains pounded against the pavement, and with just enough wind behind it that every now and then a gust would throw the rain horizontally at you. Kids were hurrying to cars or busses, and occasionally a parent would step out with an umbrella guiding their child into their heated dry vehicle.
I shivered.
Dammit, I knew I should have warn my thicker jacket today. Looking up I squinted at the sky trying to judge if I should stay at the school for a little while in hopes that it would get better. But really, it looked like a full thunderstorm was brewing, so I should probably get out of here before it gets worse.
Sighing, I shuffled my way over to the nearest trash can. I quick poke about and I got a handful of three or four school newspapers. If I hurried they would be just enough to act as an umbrella until I got back to the apartment. Glaring at the sky and cursing my luck, I set off.
To think I'd actually been in a good mood only ten minutes ago.
At least we found the exams and Nathaniel managed to get them back in the teachers' lounge. If he's lucky and plays his cards right the principal might even apologize for yelling at him and try to find a way to make it up to him. He could probably wheedle a new filing cabinet out of her, he's been complaining about the student councils clunky one since I got here.
…Nah.
Even with that little display with his sister, I still knew that Nathaniel was too nice and possibly too much of a dolt to ever attempt something like that. He's all mister altruistic and do right by others, and no don't stand up for yourself it might gasp offend someone.
Don't know why I even bothered helping him today. I guess I kind of just felt bad for him. He's always helping others but, honestly, in the whole time I've been here I don't think I've seen anybody help him. Like really help, not just sorting out files like Melody does or bringing him to the nurses like Lysander did that one time I put a plant in the student council room that he was allergic to. (In hindsight that had actually been pretty funny). But people honestly helping him with big problems, things that weren't just a common cuortesy or a nice gesture, actual this is bad we're in the shit, problems: haven't seen anyone help him with those.
I guess I just hate to see anyone in a sink or swim situation. Especially when they're trying to swim but nobody's bothering to throw them a damned life raft.
Because one thing I have to admit that I kind of like and maybe even admire about Nathaniel, is how he never gives up. That boy would do paperwork until his eyes bled if he felt it was important enough. And with his sarcophagus today, I have to acknowledge that it was pretty damn impressive. Anyone with eyes could tell he worked his butt off for that thing. It still wasn't as good as my project of course, but it was a close second. I wonder what he's like in Kendo? Nathaniel definitely seems like the type who would practice a move over and over until he had it perfect. Maybe there's a way I could sneak into his dojo to watch? I guess I'd have to figure out where the dojo is first.
I suddenly stopped walking as I realized where my thoughts had taken me. Was I seriously considering spending my time just to watch Nathaniel and a bunch of other guys getting all sweaty and smacking each other around with fancy sticks? Ugh, no! Gods why had those thoughts run through my head? I felt ridiculous just with the notion.
I nearly growled at myself as I glared at the sidewalk and continued on my stupid waterlogged walk home. I definitely did not want to watch Nathaniel at practice. So what if he was probably really good at it, and so what if it was kind of cool when he'd kicked that trash can last week, the very idea of watching him intentionally was completely preposterous!
And besides he'd probably make fun of me if I did. Not in a mean way, Nathaniels not like that, but I know exactly what he'd be thinking. He'd think I was some pathetic little girl who didn't have a life of her own so she had to come and ogle all the boys since she had nothing better to do. Well I could think of better things to do then go to some stupid practice!
Then again…maybe if I found an excuse to come to one of his competitions it wouldn't matter. And then I could even see all the good stuff, not just the boring practice moves. I mean, I could have an interest in Kendo right? Or maybe Auntie could.
After all Kendo was a well-respected art here in Frence, heck in most of Eurode. The nobility and royalty still use it to settle impossible disputes, usually not to the death but even that still happens from time to time. As for the working class; the people love it. It's considered a necessity for anybody who's looking to pursue a life in business or politics. And even with all the modern equality and political correctness Kendo is still considered the best and often times only way for a 'commoner' to rise above the ranks.
Now personally I don't give a rat's ass about any of that, but I could fake it. Which would give me the perfect reason to go to a competition. And then Nathaniel wouldn't be able to think I was being ridiculous, or…okay no, stupid thoughts, stupid thoughts. I am not considering this.
The image of Nathaniel in full kendo armor, only without the helmet, suddenly popped into my head. My spine stiffened and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Also my face was probably representing a strawberry right now. Ugh, stupid brain!
Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, a sudden buckets worth of water was dumped on my head as a restaurants overhanging canopy upturned dumping all of its collected rain right on top of me. At least it cooled my face down, also it completely ruined my newspaper umbrella, and my clothes. All the dirt and leaves that it had been gathering up the past few weeks was now dripping off of me.
And because things just couldn't be complete until I was shivering and my teeth were chattering away like a chipmunk, the rain was now hitting me right in the face as I tried to ring out my shirt to the best of my abilities. I could feel the biting cold water soaking into my hair and dripping down the back of my neck like a slimy packet of meat right out of the freezer. I was seriously contemplating using one of my few remaining bus tickets, even if I was already half way to the apartment.
But then…the rain stopped.
"Need a hand?"
I looked up, surprised, to find a large black umbrella shielding me from the weather and a smirking Nathaniel looking over my wretched form.
And my face is red again.
.
.
.
.
.
AN: So in the actual MCL game I think we can all agree that Candy is a bit of a dunce. I definitely noticed that when revisiting the game chapter this was based off of. My goodness, her logic trail is practically nonexistent. So hopefully Rory came off a little bit more *cough* capable.
If you made it through this, good job. I seriously did not intend it to be that long. But it just. Kept. Going. Originally I wasn't even going to write that whole section of Nathaniel and Rory playing detectives, but then it ended up being my favorite part of the whole chapter. Although I am wondering if it was confusing for people?
Oh and by the way, Castiel is wrong. Oral presentations are important. They're how we learn to do critical thinking and analysis, and are also great practice in self research, and how to properly organize and present that information. It's something you will need in 99% of the careers out there, even a musician. Castiel is just being his usual silly self, and not seeing the bigger picture. And there's your public service announcement for the day. Stay in school kiddies.
Also those of you who are good at keeping track of sequences of events will no doubt have noticed that Kentin was supposed to have left two in game chapters ago…deal with it. I needed to clarify that Malory, while being Candy, is not in the same situation as in game Candy. And therefor her and the little goofball don't actually know each other.
Also random non-sequitur for of the day; do you think I spell gunna wrong? Both Microsoft Word and Google are saying it should be 'gonna'. And I guess that makes sense, it being a reduction of 'going to'. But even though my logic's telling me that that's correct every time I look at 'gonna' all I can think about is gonorrhea. Thoughts?
Anyways, there we go. I don't think it was as good as the last chapter but once again, feel free to leave a review. Seriously they help. And I'm 99.9% certain there's going to be a few grammar mistakes in this monstrosity. I did proof read it, but I needed to publish the damn thing or else I'd just keep sitting on it and fretting over it.
Thank you for your time, and please have a wondrous day!
