"I honestly don't remember what happened." Kaylee told the principal. "It was kind of like a blur. I remember getting on the raft then boom! I'm here."
"Exactly!" Kerri agreed with her friend. "I'm still trying to get over Drew's death!"
"Girls, I realize that you won't do that to our fellow student Drew, but we still have to take you as suspects. The police believe there is a possibility that one of you done it since you're on the same raft."
"If somebody did it, I didn't see it." Kaylee said boldly. "And I normally see everything."
"What did Ms. Indigo said?" Kerri asked quietly.
"Nothing," The principal frowned. "She left town with a resignation letter in my office before I got a chance to speak to her."
"Wh-Why?" Kerri's eyes widened. "I have something to tell her!"
"I hope you girls haven't done something terrible making her want to leave."
"No. We haven't." Cat's firm voice broke in. "Thank you, Principal for interrogating us. I believe we have to get back to class now. I'll contact Ms. Indigo myself."
"How? Not even I have her contact now." Principal protested as Cat led Kerri and Kaylee out of the office.
"Piper, want to come shopping with us later?" Hazel asked her friend. They were planning on christmas shopping for gifts, decorations and anything they needed.
"Sorry! Not today!' Piper shook her head sadly. "I'm going to Cat's house. Sorry!"
"I thought you guys weren't friends?" Hazel raised her eyebrows.
"We are now!" Piper grinned. "Sorry, but it'll be nice to catch up with each other especially since I haven't talk to her for years!"
"Alright. See you tomorrow!" Hazel waved to Piper who is heading towards Cat.
"See you!"
"Not coming again?" Annabeth had a strange smile on like she knew what was going on.
"Nope. She has to catch up with Cat though!" Hazel said defensively. "They were best friends! I mean, if you haven't seen us for more than three years, won't you want to spend some time with us?"
"Stop." Reyna said. "You don't have to defend Piper for practically ditching us on everything. She has Cat now."
"But!"
"Hazel, let's go." Annabeth dragged her friend towards the bus stop. "
"Have you seen Rachel at school today?" Grover asked.
"Nope." Percy shook his head. "Why?"
"Have to finish the environmental project with her." Grover replied. Right, who in the right mind would take classes all about conserving the environment and saving our planet? Apparently, when Grover and Rachel saw it on one of their choices, they knew it was a subject they had to take.
"I haven't seen her around lately." Percy stated. "It's almost like she's avoiding us or something."
"Why would she avoid us though?" Grover wondered aloud. "It's not like we've done anything bad to her or something. What, does she have something she wants to hide from us?"
Rachel Elizabeth Dare is at the door of Grover's house about to ring the doorbell to finish their project. She heard the loud conversation of the boy's and stopped herself from pressing the doorbell. Yes, avoiding them. Something to hide. It's almost like Grover already knew it. He has hit the bulls eyes.
Percy wondered about and said, "If she had a secret, she probably told us. We are her friends!"
Rachel closed her eyes. They are friends so why couldn't she just tell them? They won't laugh at her or do anything terrible to her. Friends are there to support each other and they all knew that. If only it wasn't because of Them. Whatever, Rachel told herself. That was the past, They can do whatever they want now she has done what they asked. They can't bother her anymore, they had a deal and she is not to reveal Them.
"I'll go check if she's online." Grover sighed. "She's probably going to be there in the next lesson, we can work then."
Rachel slumped down feeling useless. She didn't have the guts to continue the project - not because she haven't done the research or anything, but because Grover is too close to the truth. What if they confront her inside like what Annabeth's done? She couldn't answer their questions. Not for the first time, Rachel wondered if they would still be friends with her if they knew the truth. Probably not, and she couldn't loose them either.
"Don't speak so loudly!' Kerri hissed.
"I'm not!" Kaylee muttered indigently. "But I can't believe Ms. Indigo would ditch us like that."
"We made the deal!"
"Where's Cat?" Kaylee demanded.
"With Piper." Kerri answered. "She would be..useful."
"Yes. Piper McLean." Kaylee's gaze seemed faraway. "We have been hunting a long time for her. She would be the key."
"Shh! I think someone is coming!" Kerri pushed her hands onto Kaylee's lips and dragged her behind the lockers as Annabeth walked down the hallway.
"Mmm!" Kaylee muttered evidentially trying to speak while being muffled.
Annabeth doesn't have the best pair of ears but it seemed to pick up everything that seems wrong. From what she picked up from Kerri and Kaylee's conversation, Cat is not going to be a good friend for Piper. Annabeth shook her head, how is she going to break it to Pipes without any actual evidence and with Hazel sticking up for her? People would probably think she is going crazy.
How is she going to break it to Piper?
"Shh!" Hazel put her finger onto her lips.
"Okay." Leo whispered "I'm just walking quietly."
BANG! Leo bumped into a potted plant.
"Leo!" Hazel yelped.
"Sorry!" Leo mouthed and walked away from the plant slowly making sure he wasn't making any noise.
SCREECH! Leo's shoe hit the floor as he froze refusing to meet Hazel's eyes.
"Take off your shoes." Hazel urged.
Knowing that he doesn't have a reason not to, Leo reluctantly took them off and placed them carefully behind the potted plant.
"You are clumsy." Hazel scolded her friend.
"I can't help it!" Leo defended.
"Okay," Hazel nodded. "Now let's get onto stalking Brad Marshall." She got out a notepad with notes written neatly across the pages. "So he should be living around here."
"Why don't lets ring on his doorbell and pretend to be selling girl scout cookies?" Leo asked.
Hazel raised one of her bushy eyebrows. "Leo, a boy. Selling girl scout cookies?"
After realizing the teensy gender flaw in his plan, Leo scratched his curly brown hair. "Do you have a wig? Like how Miley has her blonde wig when she's Hannah Montana?"
"Hannah Montana?" Hazel frowned. Leo sighed, she is really out of what's going on in the 21st century. Her family is obsessed with the 1920's or some other eras and bought her up with the surroundings of it. They have absolutely no clue of what's happening now.
"As I always say," Leo shook his head. "You are missing out a lot."
"How about I pretend to ask him questions for our school survey?" Hazel asked.
"Sure!" Leo nodded. "I guess but the girl scouts cookie idea is less suspicious."
"Leave all the talking to me." Hazel instructed as Leo groaned but reluctantly agreed.
Ring! Hazel rang the doorbell and held her notepad out trying to look responsible and on task.
The door opened and a middle aged woman stepped out. "Hello, what do you want?" Her voice wasn't particularly icy but not very warm either.
"I am just-" Hazel squeaked and found herself lost of words. She was expecting either Dr. Marshall to appear when she can imagine herself speaking rather boldly or at least a kind-hearted woman.
"We want to conduct a school survey." Leo finished her sentence ignoring her request to do all the talking.
"A school survey, huh?" The woman placed her hands on her hips. "Make it quick, I don't have all day."
"For starters, may we ask what your name is?" Hazel managed to mumble.
"Lilah. Lilah Marshall." She answered.
"Do you have a husband?" Leo asked.
"Yes." She paused. "Why are you asking this?"
"It's for our school survey," Leo shrugged. "I told you."
"Yes, but this is my private information." She argued. "What is your survey about? Why does it need to know my name and if I'm married or not."
"It's for our project, on married couples." Leo smirked.
"Right." Lilah Marshall nodded still feeling suspicious. "Next question?"
"Do you love your husband?" Leo asked.
"Yes, very much."
"How often do you have sex with him?"
"Leo!" Hazel punched her friend's arm. "What kind of question is that?"
"I'd rather not answer that." Lilah stiffened up.
"Moving on," Hazel glared at Leo. "What profession are you currently in and your husbands?"
"I'm a housewife, actually." Mrs. Marshall told them. "You may have heard of my husband, he is Brad Marshall. The famous doctor."
"Sorry?" Leo pretended to be ignorant of him which he probably will be if he wasn't friends with Jason. "I never heard of him. I'm really sorry, I don't know any celebrities." And glancing almost teasingly at Hazel, he added. "I only know celebrities or anybody famous from the 1920's. I mean, yeah the wall street crash! Wait, is this the right decade?"
Hazel frowned. What the..? "Sorry, my partner is rather silly sometimes. Everybody knows the 1928's aren't only about the wars! They have-"
"Got it." Mrs. Marshall said rather hastily. "Any other questions? I have a feeling my son would be waking up soon."
"Your son?' Leo repeated. "Ah, that makes everything more interesting! May we ask a few questions about him?"
"I would say no but that would sound rude so let's just quicken the pace."
"What is his name and how old is he?" Leo asked trying to sound professional.
"Ryan and he's only 6 months old."
"I see you had sex around 15 months ago then." Leo nodded. "Not bad."
"Leo!" Hazel cried rather alarmed. She sighed, what kind of 16 year olds would go around and ask strangers whether or not they had sex with their husbands and figure out when the last time they did it was? 21st Century kids. This is why she never really fit in with the other kids. Everybody had moved on, a lot.
"Okay! So um, does your husband earn enough money to support your family? Do you often borrow money from the bank or fall into debts?" Leo tried steering his questions to the less suspicious kinds.
"Yes, I told you he's famous. Naturally, he earns a lot. We do fall into debts from time to time but we..well, we pretty much get back on track easily." Mrs. Marshall replied hesitantly.
"Debts ah." Leo nodded having no clue where he is going but wanted to sound like he's having a proper survey. "What kind of debts? Like from buying a new house, a sleek sports car, education fees?"
"They aren't exactly debts." Mrs. Marshall said tensely. "I don't know if I should be telling this to you or not. You are teenagers, you probably knew about the society we have out there more than me but I don't want to risk it."
"The society we have around is quite dodgy." Leo seemed to knew what Mrs. Marshall talked about but Hazel did not have a clue. "So you got into debts from it?"
"Yes." She answered, for some reason sadly. "I wish we aren't involve though, but we're way too in it to get back out now."
"Your husband too I'm assuming is involved in this?"
Mrs. Marshall nodded as she covered her hands on her mouth. "I honestly don't know why I'm saying this to a couple of strangers. I don't even know you! I think it'd be best if I went back inside." She gestured to her house.
"Maybe you should." Leo shrugged. "Don't worry, I obviously won't repeat what you told me for my project. In fact, I'd probably forget about it within a few days. I have a poor memory."
"Whatever your names are," Mrs. Marshall glanced at Hazel and Leo and whispered in such a soft tone that they won't guess she have. "Don't follow my footsteps into this. You'll regret it, I swear. Get the hell out of the deal and try to lead a normal life." Without looking back again, she slammed the door.
AN: Sorry for not updating for a long time! I was busy with the 12 Days of Christmas story on time but after Christmas, I would probably update more frequently! :)
Anyway, RIP to all those who died in the Connecticut Shooting. It's kind of ironic as it happened when I'm writing this story about a shooting but it truly is something devastating to happen. I hope everybody involved in the shooting, people who are connected to anyone who died or suffer or technically everybody is alright. Also, at least the world didn't end today...or would it? ;)
~Kisses, Emily