The Holmes Gene Kicks in
Sorry if the last chapter was slow, I have a bit of writers block at the moment. Hopefully this chapter will move on a bit.
Nothing could quiet the students in Miss Darbus's homeroom. And that was on a normal day. She sat, in her usual flowing robes on her 'throne' at the front tiredly watching her young thespians ignore her and talk away. Although she kept her dignified figure, her mind was whirring away. Another disappearance that day, a young girl she had taught in the sophomore year. It wasn't the first time; a junior boy had gone missing a few days before. What if more would start going? They were being taken one by one…it was too disturbing for Miss Darbus. Luckily she had heard that they had people on the job, all the way from London, the best it was thought. Just then, Taylor McKessie strode in towards Troy, Gabriella and her boyfriend Chad, carrying a newspaper with a worried look on her face.
"Another one guys. And we know her, look!" Taylor shoved the paper into Gabriella's hand and they all read it together.
2nd in a Week
Yesterday evening, a woman reported her daughter Rachel Carter, a sophomore student at East High, missing to the police. Her disappearance was similar to the one of Josh Green, also a student in his junior year at East High. Rachel's mother had reported that her daughter had gone out saying she had to meet someone at 6:30pm. It was 11:00pm when Mrs Carter had contacted the police. So far no suspects have been caught.
Continued on page 5.
"Oh my god," Gabriella murmured, staring at the photo of Rachel, "She's one of the cheerleader's younger sister."
"Rhiannon Carter? Yeah, I saw her today; I wondered why she was so sad." Troy muttered.
"They'd better find this psycho fast." Chad took the paper and skimmed over the rest. Miss Darbus clapped her hands.
"Silent young thespians for I have news. In the circumstances that the freshman classes were full, two girls from London will be joining this home room for the time being." It was then that someone knocked on the door, "Enter!"
The door opened and two young girls, one blonde and one brunette, slowly walked to the front of the room.
"Hi, I believe you were expecting us?" Jessa asked nobody in particular.
"Oh yes, these two girls are Jessa Quinn-Holmes," Miss Darbus gestured to Jessa, "And Claire Holmes," she gestured to the other sister. They both slightly bowed their heads in acknowledgment and sat down at two window seats at the back before Miss Darbus could say anything. A second later, Jessa saw a dark-haired girl sit down near them.
"Hi, I'm Gabriella Montez," she had the kind of sickly-sweet smile that Jessa hated, but Claire nodded back politely. Mere seconds later a tall guy, quite good-looking to normal girls, the sisters guessed, made them swoon at a wink. But they were the daughters of Sherlock Holmes, they didn't do swooning. He was with an African-American guy with a huge afro, an African-American girl dressed in a pristine red sensible dress and a small timid-looking girl with glasses.
"I'm Troy Bolton," the tall guy smiled, putting an arm around Gabriella and pulling her close. Both sisters looked at each other, both wanting to retch.
"Chad Danforth," Afro Boy spoke up, "And these are Taylor McKessie and Kelsi Nielson."
"Pretty scary, isn't it?" Gabriella asked the two girls with an understanding look in her eyes.
"Well you can always hang out with us?" Troy offered politely.
"I didn't think you'd have the time; being the captain of a basketball team must be tough," Claire said loudly. The smile on Troy's face faded a touch and surprise sparked in his eye. There was a pause.
"How did you know that?" He finally asked, frowning slightly. The other four looked at them in confusion.
"Isn't it obvious?" Claire asked, as if they were stupid, "that isn't tan, its muscle. Show's you're more of a sports person, especially as there is more tone in your arms, suggesting you play an upper body sport. There are no bruises or marks on you, saying that it's a no-contact sport. To be honest the basketball was a bit of a shot in the dark." She finished to five slightly amazed faces; Chad's mouth was even hanging open until Taylor closed it for him.
"But…" Troy stammered, "How did you know I was captain?"
"The way you were sitting," Jessa spoke up this time, "you sit or stand with everyone surrounding you at the front suggesting you were in charge," Jessa shrugged like it was nothing. Troy's eyes were wide.
"That…was brilliant. Are you…can you read minds?" Jessa looked at Claire. A moment passed and they burst out laughing. The five older ones stared at them.
"Not exactly," Claire gasped for air, "Why? Do you want us to try again?" She challenged.
"Okay…what do I do?" Kelsi was the one who spoke up. Jessa looked at her, all was still, and smirked.
"Composer." She said in a somewhat bored tone without a hitch. Kelsi raised her eyebrows.
"You have books scattered across your desk," Jessa started, "might just like reading but those are notebooks. Could be an author, but you have a mark right on the heel of your right hand. You rest it in a specific manner at times with it facing upward, such as a piano player leaning their hand on the stand to right the notes."
By the time Jess had finished her explanation; all five of the group had utterly gobsmacked plastered to their creepily perfect faces. Jessa smiled innocently. Finally Chad broke the silence.
"You two could solve this in one day I bet," he held up the newspaper Taylor had brought in. Almost immediately, Jessa's smile vanished.
"Let me see that," she demanded. She quickly got up and snatched the paper clean from Chad's hand. She studied it for a few seconds before grabbing Claire's arm and pulling her next to her pointing to the article.
"Umm…" Claire said hesitantly, "Can we borrow this?"
"Uh, okay," Taylor sounded suspicious but let off. It was then that thankfully the bell went. When no one was looking at her, Jessa ripped the article out of the paper and stuffed it into her bag and threw the rest into a bin. She grabbed Claire again and they set off quickly with the five staring after them.
There was one person though that wasn't noticed. Tiara still sat at her table frozen to the spot with her eyes wide like marbles and her mouth a perfect 'o' shape. It couldn't…she thought…why…here? She kept staring out of the door. Sharpay was telling her something but she wasn't listening anymore. She mumbled a reply and left her stood alone with Ryan and followed the girls out of the door unnoticed. She had a score to settle…