Norville did everything he could not to start screaming and freak out. He tried to keep his composure, which he found to be near impossible, as he raced back into the classroom. Mr. B appeared to have started the lecture, but Norville knew he needed to say something as soon as possible. Another thought that lingered at the back of the boy's anxious mind was that given nobody was around, he could be blamed for the death of this kid. Clearly this kid did not die of natural causes, given there was blood. That meant somebody would have had to have murdered him. Norville wasn't going to let anybody think that he was the murderer. Instead of disrupting class and causing a panic, Norville walked right up to Mr. B as he was teaching.
"What's the matter, Norville?" Mr. B asked.
"Like, I…uh…think you should come out in the hall if you have a minute." Norville gulped.
Mr. B didn't respond; he just quickly rushed out into the hallway to see what was perturbing Norville so much. When he opened the classroom door, Mr. B's jaw dropped. "Good god!"
Their instructor's disturbed reaction caused many of the students to jump out of their chairs to see what was going on.
"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed a redhead, who Norville believed had introduced herself to the class earlier as Daphne. "Elliott's dead!"
"Students, remain calm." Mr. B tried to assure his students, even though the tone of his voice came across very distressed. "I'm going to phone Headmistress Quinlan and our security team at once."
"Norville, did you see what happened?" Fred asked, as he stood by the doorway with Norville and the other students in shock.
"Like, no. I just came back from the bathroom, and he was like, dead. The weird thing though is, like, I didn't see him lying there when I was walking to the bathroom. It must have happened during the few minutes I was in there." Norville revealed. He bit his tongue, not sure if he should say this next bit or not. He was going crazy bottling it up though, so he felt like he had to say it. "I hope nobody suspects me."
"I'm sure nobody does." Fred comforted.
Norville let out a gulp in response. "Like, I hope you're right."
These past two days couldn't get any worse for Velma. Her roommate wouldn't talk to her, she had one of the most terrible sleeps of her life, she was skin-crawlingly anxious about the transition, and now, on top of all that, a classmate had died. She didn't know the kid, but she thought she heard the redhead say that his name was Elliott.
Part of her had admittedly wondered if the shaggy-haired kid had done it, but he seemed like such a bundle of nerves that she very much doubted he could that convincingly pull his anxiety off if he wasn't actually experiencing it.
"Everyone, I just got off the phone with Headmistress Quinlan. She is calling the police, and they are coming to investigate. There may still be a threat to your safety wandering around the halls, so you all will have to stay in the classroom, even if the bell rings to go to your next class." Mr. B said.
While this should have been a comfort to Velma, it only made her more anxious. She began to feel her heart palpitate like crazy. Not only did she like structure, she liked being alive. She didn't want to be stuck in some room where whatever fiend killed that boy could come and get her. She understood that the school needed to keep them all in that room as a liability, but the only thing she wanted to do was run far, far away.
Daphne was internally freaking out. She tried to keep it inside, but tears welled around her eyes enough for people to likely notice that she was having an emotional episode. She felt even more like a horrible person because she wasn't crying with grief from Elliott's demise; she was crying because she was scared.
She recognized the kid from her old school. Elliott Blender was his name. She'd never talked to him much, but she knew that he was very interested in robotics, so much so that he'd created a Robotics Team at their high school. Beyond that, she really knew nothing about the guy, but she certainly felt awful for him that he had met such a tragic demise. She couldn't even imagine dying this young, so what had happened truly frightened her on a psychological level.
The minutes went by very slowly following Mr. B's announcement that he'd talked to the Headmistress. She could hear what she presumed to be the police clunking around in the hall for a bit, which seemed to frighten the others as well. She was secretly a little glad about missing second period, as math was her least favorite course, but she quickly purged that thought from her mind as she felt it was a bit insensitive.
The noise in the hallway died down after a few minutes, and Mr. B received a call on the phone. It seemed every student in the room had their eyes glued to the instructor as he talked to the person on the other end, who was presumably the Headmistress.
"Sounds like she's saying it's all clear." Mr. B replied. Before he had a chance to elaborate, Gibby, the student who'd been flirting with her, Dusk and Luna at the beginning of class, interrupted him.
"But what about the killer?" Gibby blurted.
"Well, according to Headmistress Quinlan, Elliott died of natural causes. He had a heart condition, and apparently, something must have triggered him to have a sudden heart attack." Mr. B explained.
"But, like, I saw blood!" Norville cried out.
"I see your point, Norville, but I'm not sure how to explain that." Mr. B shrugged. "Perhaps the heart attack caused some other internal injury that led to bleeding. Regardless, Headmistress Quinlan gave the go-ahead, so you all can leave if you feel comfortable doing so. Otherwise, I'm happy to stay here and talk with anyone if they need to process the situation. This was a very traumatic thing to happen on your first day here, and I'm so sorry that you all had to deal with this."
Mr. B seemed a bit shaken up himself, but he maintained his composure well throughout the incident. Daphne really liked him as a teacher; he seemed quite personable and enthusiastic about what he taught, unlike some of the teachers she'd had at her old school that were miserly and strict.
"Do you guys feel safe leaving?" Daphne asked Luna and Dusk.
"Yeah. Like Mr. B said, he died of natural causes. There's no killer. That Gibby Norton guy is just an attention-seeker." Dusk replied.
"Yeah…I guess I feel safe." Luna responded. Daphne could tell she didn't really feel all that safe, but she was sucking it up so as not to look like a fraidy cat. "How about you?"
"I think so." Daphne nodded. She didn't particularly feel in danger, but there was a nagging level of doubt inside her. That Norville guy had a point. She'd definitely seen blood when she peered out into the hall at Elliott's body, and blood was not usually involved with heart attacks. She hoped she was wrong, but a part of her did wonder if Gibby's theory was legitimate.
The rest of the day's classes had passed enjoyably for Velma, other than perhaps her most dreaded class, Gym. She was so uncoordinated and not athletic in the slightest that the class was painful to get through for her. Thank goodness that like most of her classes today, the teacher had spent it going through the syllabus and course schedule.
Now, she was back in her dorm. Thorn was in their room listening to music and doing homework, and once again, didn't really engage with Velma.
Velma wasn't going to let herself sit idly by for another night and feel miserably unsure of what to do with herself. She wasn't satisfied by Headmistress Quinlan's sudden reversal of the lockdown. Heart attacks did not lead to as much blood as Velma saw on the floor; it was clear someone had attempted to harm the boy. Yet for whatever reason, Headmistress Quinlan had decided to come up with a nonsensical explanation for what had happened and let everyone go. It seemed to her like something was up.
Although Velma was certainly a bit afraid, sitting on her own not knowing what to do with herself seemed equally as frightening if she were being honest with herself. Her curious mind craved the answers, so she planned to go investigate the scene of the crime.
She didn't bother to say goodbye to Thorn; she was clearly preoccupied with her homework and Velma wasn't going to distract her.
Velma walked down the hall and past the dining area, which she didn't really feel like eating at tonight. She wasn't really all that hungry, and her stomach was queasy enough with anxiety that she felt putting food in it might cause her to get sick. She quickly arrived at the area outside their classroom where Norville had discovered the dead body, and prepared to look for clues.
The school walls were painted a drab shade of white, but Velma noticed a curious detail: there was a tiny red splotch on the wall. She couldn't tell for sure, but it appeared to be blood. She didn't want to touch it with her fingers, so she quickly looked to make sure nobody was around, and lightly sniffed it.
Yep, it was blood alright. There was no mistaking that smell, even if it was faint.
"What are you doing?" a familiar voice called.
Velma spun around and looked to see who the voice was attached to. She rapidly saw it came from one of her classmates, a boy wearing jeans, a white shirt, and an orange ascot. Velma recognized him from her History class this morning. Norville, whom she definitely recognized due to the events of today, quickly joined him at his side. She realized how horribly silly she looked sniffing a wall. She wanted to come up with a flashy excuse that would immediately explain the situation and make them think she wasn't a total weirdo. However, she realized there wasn't one, so the truth would have to suffice.
"Well, I was investigating where that boy, Elliott, died earlier today. Something about the quick response from Headmistress Quinlan seems a bit fishy, so I thought I'd check into it on my own." Velma explained.
"Like, yeah, something seems weird to me too!" Norville enthusiastically responded. "It, like, doesn't make sense that one minute the school's being stormed by police, and the next everything's like a summer day."
"Do you think she's hiding something?" the white shirted boy asked.
"I'm not sure, but I'm going to find out." Velma vowed. "By the way, was your name Fred or something?"
"Yeah. I'm in some of your classes. Isn't your name Virma?" Fred inquired.
"It's Velma, but close enough." Velma chuckled.
"But, like, how are you going to find out?" Norville asked. "If someone else did this, it's not like they would have left any clues."
"I think they already did leave one, Norville." Velma said. "There's a tiny little blood splotch on the wall. This would imply that there was some sort of blunt force that caused the bleeding. If his bleeding was internal, it wouldn't have splattered everywhere like that. It's not like a heart attack would cause Elliott to implode."
"That's really smart to think of. You're right." Norville nodded.
"But what can we do with that information?" Fred asked. "It doesn't look like there's any more clues around here. Maybe we should just take this to Headmistress Quinlan."
"But, like, I thought we established she might be hiding something! We don't want to alert her that we found a clue." Norville gulped anxiously.
"No, Fred's right. If we don't take a risk, we're not going to find out any more information." Velma replied. "Besides, it's unlikely that she killed him. Perhaps she's just hiding it to save the school's reputation."
Fred checked the watch on his wrist. "It's just after 4:30 now. I think her office is on the fourth floor, so we need to get going if we're going to catch her before she's off for the day."
"You're right." Velma said, as she scurried off to the elevator. She realized she probably should have given some sort of clue to the others when she began walking away, but she figured they would know what she meant.
"Where did you go to school before this?" Fred attempted to make small talk in the elevator.
"I was on the west side of town, so I went to South Crystal Cove." Velma replied. "How about you guys? Did you guys go to school together?"
"Like, no. I'm from the eastside, he's from the westside." Norville responded. The elevator quickly dinged, causing them all to rush to Quinlan's office. Velma didn't look too closely at any of their surroundings, but it appeared to be mostly offices on the fourth floor, interspersed with a couple of small classrooms. Luckily for them, it appeared Headmistress Quinlan was just locking her office for the day.
"Headmistress Quinlan!" Velma shouted down the hall, causing her to spin around.
"Oh, hi. Are you folks new students here?" Headmistress Quinlan questioned.
"Yes, and we had a question for you. Do you have a moment?" Velma wondered.
"Sure. What's your question?" Headmistress Quinlan responded.
Velma was planning to ask the question, but before she could, Norville began to speak. She rapidly realized that this was a very smart move.
"Like, I don't mean to bother you, but I'm the guy who saw the dead kid today." Norville informed.
"Oh dear…" Headmistress Quinlan whimpered, lots of sympathy present in her voice. "I'm so sorry you had to see such a horrible thing!"
"Like, it's okay. But I was wondering how you guys determined that Elliott died of natural causes. I don't mean to be gruesome, but like, I saw blood!" Norville shared.
"Well, usually I'm not really permitted to talk about that sort of thing with students. However, I can share a little detail off the record, since you were the one who discovered him." Headmistress Quinlan informed. "It seems like Elliott had a heart condition that was already bad. The doctors determined that his heart rate increased to a dangerous level right before his death, likely due to being scared, causing his heart attack. We assume there was blood because of how fast he hit the floor."
"What do you think scared him?" Velma wondered.
"Oh, I imagine he was likely on edge because of the rough transition to a new school, just like you all are." Headmistress Quinlan rationalized. "For someone like him with a tedious heart condition, that can be pretty disastrous."
"Well, thank you for your time." Fred chimed in.
"Of course! Again, I'm really sorry you had to experience that. If you need to talk through what you saw with anyone, I'm here." Headmistress Quinlan kindly replied.
"Thanks, we really appreciate it!" Fred added, as all of them began walking in the other direction back towards the elevator.
The three sleuths waited to say anything to each other until they were back in the elevator, where Quinlan couldn't hear them.
"Smooth move being the one to speak up, Norville." Velma complimented. "I think you being the person who discovered the body is what made her talk."
"Liek, thanks! So, what'd you guys think of her answer?" Norville inquired.
"It sounded good to me." Fred shrugged. "Clearly something scared him and caused the blunt force when he hit the floor."
"That's exactly what wasn't convincing to me." Velma responded. "She failed to give any suggestions for what might have scared him. Yes, the transition to a new school has been stressful for all of us, but it generally doesn't literally cause people to die of fear, even those with a heart condition. Something more specific would have had to have scared him."
"Yeah, but what?" Fred wondered.
Norville gulped. "Like, that's a real spooky question. I don't know if I want to hear the answer."
"I do." Velma replied determinedly. "Quinlan is hiding something, and I'm determined to figure out what."
Daphne noticed that Luna seemed like a scared rabbit following what happened in History. Besides getting food, she didn't want to leave the room or run into anyone under any circumstances.
"You don't want to join us for a moonlight walk, Luna?" Dusk teased.
"No thank you." Luna politely said.
"Oh come on. The kid had a heart condition! Nobody killed him or anything. Why would somebody murder a guy in the middle of the hallway? They probably have security cameras everywhere!" Dusk reasoned.
"That's not why. I just don't feel like it is all." Luna tried to keep her reply cool and collected, but there were strong undertones of anxiety that Daphne could sense. Daphne admittedly found it a bit adorable that Luna was so clearly afraid yet wouldn't admit to it, but also sad that it affected her so deeply.
"Okay, suit yourself." Dusk shrugged. "C'mon, Daphne."
The girls headed out in the hall, and headed downstairs in the elevator.
"You should really be less hard on her, you know." Daphne stated once the elevator doors had closed. "My parents always taught me that we should be sympathetic towards others when they are feeling sad or anxious, even if we don't understand why."
"Wish I could say the same." Dusk muttered.
"What?" Daphne cried out in confusion.
"My folks are never sympathetic towards me. Whenever I'm feeling upset or emotional, they just tell me to suck it up. Thank God I'm out from under their roof, because I don't know if I could stand another moment there." Dusk harrumphed.
It made a lot more sense now to Daphne why Dusk acted so tough and hardened by the world. Clearly her parents were not very sympathetic, and they seemed to actively discourage open discussion of feelings. Daphne couldn't imagine having a relationship like that with her parents, and she was incredibly thankful that her parents always listened to her and took her seriously whenever she had a problem.
"Dusk, I'm so sorry." Daphne gave the blonde her sympathy.
"I don't need your pity!" Dusk snapped. "It's fine. Some kids have awesome parents, and I guess I was just unlucky enough to get stuck with crappy ones."
The two girls walked out the front entrance and headed towards the arboretum trail they'd walked the previous night. The night air felt chilly, as the moon shone down on them to light up the otherwise foggy evening.
Daphne admittedly didn't really know what else to say to comfort Dusk, but she tried to come up with something that would hopefully assure her. "I'm sure your parents love you very much, and are supportive of you in their own way."
"Maybe they love me, but I don't think they're supportive. Just before I came here, I told my dad I wanted to be a songwriter when I grew up, and he basically laughed in my face." Dusk revealed.
"Oh Dusk…that's not right." Daphne tried to be supportive. She had a tendency to want to fix situations for her friends, but she couldn't fix this.
"I mean, I kinda get it. He says it's not a profitable career that can give me a regular cash flow, and I guess he's right. But I love songwriting, and I want to have a career that makes me happy." Dusk reasoned.
"We're young. Even if you don't plan to go to college, you've still got four years of high school to figure out what you want to do, and I don't think you need to automatically default to whatever your dad wants you to do. These are the times in our lives where we have the space to figure ourselves out. Increasingly so for us, since we're now basically living on our own away from our parents." Daphne comforted.
"Yeah. You're right." Dusk smiled. "I guess I can figure myself out here. There's time."
Daphne attempted to change to a different subject to leave the former subject on a hopeful note.
"Weird about that kid today, huh?" Daphne pointed out.
"Yeah. I guess." Dusk shrugged. "People have health issues all the time. I don't see what's so weird about it."
"You're not wrong, but I can't say I expected to see a kid literally die on my first day here." Daphne counterargued.
Suddenly, Daphne and Dusk heard a rustling in the bushes. Daphne swiveled around to see which part of the bushes the noise was coming from, but couldn't see anything in the darkness of the night. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a shadow. The shadow stood there for a minute, almost as if it were watching them. Then, suddenly, the shadow quickly burst out of the bushes, and sprinted away in a flash before Daphne could make out any facial features.
"What was that?" Dusk asked.
"I don't know." Daphne shuddered. "Maybe it was the same person who killed Elliott."
"Oh come on, don't turn into Luna." Dusk rolled her eyes. "It was probably just some moron thinking they were funny by trying to scare us. There is no killer."
Daphne wanted to agree with Dusk, but she wasn't so convinced. She was already on edge as it was with what she witnessed this morning, and it just felt like there was something very weird going on at this school. She found it very creepy that the shadow was watching them for a minute, and then hurried away at such a fast pace. If the shadow person had been minding its own business, why would its movements be so unnatural and erratic like that? And why would it have been staring at them from the bushes?
"I sure hope you're right." Daphne finally replied with an anxious sigh.
Velma had a far better night of sleep last night. She wondered if it was just the fact that her body was so tired from sleeping poorly the prior night, or if it was the distraction of doing something new with somebody. After her adventure last night investigating the crime scene and questioning Headmistress Quinlan, the brainy brunette felt like she was on a bit of a high. She knew it was pitiful to be excited about only spending a few hours with people who weren't even technically her friends yet, but she loved spending time with people who seemed as intellectually curious as her.
She rubbed her eyes with grogginess as she stretched and got out of bed. She felt a rumble in her stomach, due to not eating anything for dinner the previous night. Her stomach wanted her to go right down to breakfast, but her brain felt she needed to look presentable before doing that.
She headed to the shower mindlessly, figuring Thorn had already gone down to breakfast. Velma was about to walk in the bathroom and shut the door, until she saw Thorn walking in that direction with a towel in her hand.
"Oh…I'll wait. Sorry to bother you." Velma meekly replied, as she turned around.
"You're not bothering me." Thorn assured in a kinder voice than Velma expected. "You know, you don't have to hide in your own room like a scared rat. I don't bite."
Velma felt a wave of panic wash over her. She couldn't really tell if Thorn was actually being kind or subtly harassing her with the "scared rat" remark, but her fight-or-flight response didn't want to wait to let her find that out. Velma supposed she'd have to confront the situation head on though, as running away would make her look even more silly at this point.
"You just don't seem like you want company. You always do everything on your own, and you never talk to me." Velma said, before her fear pushed her to add a caveat to that statement. "I'm sorry. I hope that didn't come off as bad as it sounded in my head."
"It didn't. In fact, I would say the same about you." Thorn said.
Velma quirked an eyebrow of confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Well, on the first day, you didn't ask me anything about myself, and we just sat in silence the whole time we were walking to the gym together. I figured maybe you were that type of person who didn't want to have much of a relationship with their roommate, and I'm chill with whatever." Thorn admitted.
"I'm sorry. I guess…I just didn't know what to say." Velma blushed. She felt like a complete heel. She had worked up this huge story in her mind, but it seemed none of that was even true.
"Oh…okay." Thorn said, seeming a bit awkward. It was almost like she was unconvinced. "That makes sense. Well, you can shower first if you want to."
Velma wished she had the words to convince Thorn, but she didn't want to go down the rabbit hole of how she often lacked the social skills others had because she didn't have any friends her own age. Given this, Velma decided to stick with a simple reply of "Okay. Thanks!"
She was glad Thorn was at least receptive, and her comments seemed to come from a genuine place, but Velma was still uncertain about her. The fact that Thorn seemed so unconvinced of Velma not knowing what to say bothered the brunette a bit, and she wasn't sure how to quench that discomfort of Thorn being so quick not to believe her.
Norville and Fred walked out of the cafeteria with their bellies full and minds ready to learn some history.
"Man, that was a good breakfast." Norville exclaimed.
"Yeah, the food here really hits the spot." Fred agreed.
Out of the corner of Norville's eye, he could see Velma's familiar face, putting her dish on the conveyor belt to be sent into the washroom.
"Like, hey, it's Velma!" Norville pointed out, as he began walking over towards her.
"What's up, Velma?" Fred inquired.
"Oh, hi!" Velma greeted. "Headed to history?"
"Yeah." Fred nodded. "Do you want to wait for your roommate before we leave?"
"No. I don't even know where she is. She doesn't really talk to me, so I doubt she'll care if I leave without her." Velma vilified.
That sounded horrible. Norville had worried about getting a terrible roommate, so he felt sorry for Velma that she was dealing with that.
"I'm sorry she's like that." Fred sympathized.
"It's fine. Guess not everyone can have a perfect roommate." Velma shrugged, her cheeks blushing just faintly. She almost seemed like she was a tad embarrassed about badmouthing her roommate.
"You two go ahead to class. I've gotta quick go to the bathroom." Norville informed, as he scurried to the right whilst Velma and Fred headed to the left.
Just as he was about to open the metal door to the bathroom, Norville saw something that frightened him: the same curly-haired redhead that had tried to antagonize him out of his seat yesterday. He had a boy with long blond hair pushed up against the wall.
"Gimme your lunch money, dingus!" the bully exclaimed.
"But, my lunch money is in a digital account-based platform at this school!" the blond kid whimpered. "Please put me down!"
Norville tried to walk into the bathroom as nonchalantly as possible so that the bully, whom he believed was named Red, didn't see him. Unfortunately for him, he quickly realized that likely wasn't going to work when Red spun around and looked Norville dead in the eyes.
"What are you lookin' at, ya weenie?" Red snapped.
"Like, nothing." Norville gulped as he rushed into the restroom. That was a close call. He just hoped Red wasn't going to become a persistent problem for him.
"That about does it for our lesson today, folks!" Mr. B concluded the lecture. "Tomorrow, we'll be working in discussion groups to talk about some different questions with our American Revolution readings. No homework tonight."
Fred breathed a sigh of relief. He was already feeling a little overwhelmed with the new environment, plus he was still a bit on edge about Elliott's death, so the break from homework was a welcomed one.
"Like, Mr. B's pretty cool!" Norville exclaimed.
"Yeah, he really is." Fred smiled. Fred's other teachers were quite similar to the ones he'd had at his old school: strict, not much personality, and many of them likely should have retired years ago, as they genuinely seemed to hate the job. Mr. B, on the other hand, did not assert himself to be above any of his students. He was laid-back and pretty chill, and taught the material in a way that was actually interesting.
"Psst, guys." their orange turtlenecked acquaintance whispered as she walked up to them. "Do you want to do a bit more snooping around tonight?"
"Sure." Fred shrugged. He was really enjoying spending time with Velma. Their conversations were more than the mere bravado that he got from his previous friends at his old school. Moreover, the intellectual stimulation was a bit exciting to Fred; he liked the fact that they were bonding over something other than sports.
"Like, yeah." Norville said. His uncertain tone did not match up with his words, which Fred found a bit odd.
"Where should we meet?" Velma inquired.
Her question was met with complete silence from Norville, so Fred figured he should take the lead. "How about 6:00pm tonight, after we all eat some dinner?"
"Like, we could all eat together in the dining hall at 5, and then look around afterwards." Norville suggested.
"That sounds great!" Velma smiled.
Fred was delighted that he was finally getting a gleam of the social interaction he'd always wanted. Not bravado, not posturing and ego-stroking disguised as teasing, but actual bonding with others over something meaningful. Fred only hoped it would last.
Daphne and Dusk had just arrived in Algebra. Luna had gone to use the restroom, so the two girls sat alone towards the back of the white-painted room and saved a seat for their friend.
"Man, Luna seems super out of it today. Ever since that Edmund kid died, she's seemed like a scared rat." Dusk gossiped to Daphne.
"Elliott." Daphne corrected. "I think Luna's just having a rough transition."
"That's kinda lame. This is her one chance to get away from her parents, and she's wasting it being afraid of her own shadow?" Dusk sneered.
"Not every kid follows the stereotype of hating their parents." Daphne rebuked. "Luna seems to have really liked being at home, so it's hard for her to be away and immersed in all these new people."
Before Dusk could respond, Luna walked back in the room, which caused her to stop gossiping. Daphne was quite frankly glad that had happened, as she really hated how judgemental Dusk could be at times.
"Sorry it took so long to catch up with you guys. I got a little lost trying to find where the bathroom was." Luna admitted.
"Alright class." the instructor, Mr. McDabble, began. He was a gray-haired man wearing a blue suit and black pants. "It's time to resume our unit on probability. Just to refresh your knowledge from yesterday, if there are three different numbers on a lock box from 0-9, what is the probability you'll get it right on the first try?"
Daphne raised her hand.
"Yes, Daphne?" Mr. McDabble called, pointing his hand at the redhead.
"It'd be 1000, Mr. McDabble. The combinations could be any number from 000-999." Daphne deduced.
"Yes, that's correct! Good work!" Mr. McDabble smiled.
Geometry last year had been one of Daphne's worst subjects ever. Everything about the subject perplexed her despite always being good at math in the past, and she was worried she would struggle again in Algebra. She felt excitement in her heart that this didn't seem to be the case this year.
"Let's do another refresher question from yesterday." Mr. McDabble stated. "If there were 6 numbers on a lock box with 0-9 being an option for each digit, how many possibilities would there be?"
Luna was the first to raise her hand.
"Yes, Luna?" Mr. McDabble asked.
"It'd be 1,000,000 possibilities, Mr. McDabble." Luna answered politely.
"Absolutely right!" Mr. McDabble exclaimed. "Let's do one more before we start today's lesson. Now, let's change the scenario. Let's say there is a six letter password on a computer, with the possible letters being anything from A-Z. The password is all lowercase, and letters can be reused. Feel free to use your calculators for this one. How many possibilities would there be?"
"Watch this, teacher's pets." Dusk whispered playfully to Daphne and Luna, whilst raising her hand. "It'd be 156 possibilities."
"I'm sorry, but that's wrong." Mr. McDabble said. "It's 308,915,776 possibilities. Remember, the correct way to calculate this problem is to use exponents. You need to calculate 26 to the sixth power, but it appears you simply calculated 26 times six in your head. That's why I hinted that you would need a calculator."
A couple snickers could be heard around the room.
"Ugh. I'm so stupid." Dusk mumbled.
Daphne felt a bit bad for Dusk. She was just trying to playfully show off, but all she ended up doing was embarrassing herself in front of the whole class.
"Ugh, I am such a dummy for screwing up that math problem. I knew it was 26 to the sixth power. Why did I do 26 times six?" Dusk harrumphed.
"It's fine, Dusk. You just had a little brain freeze." Daphne assured.
"Yeah, I don't think it's too big of a deal." Luna added.
"But everybody thinks I'm stupid now!" Dusk sighed.
"Nobody thinks you're stupid." Daphne comforted. "Even if they do, they aren't going to sit around thinking how stupid you are for very long. It was a little mess up that a few people laughed at, and I bet by next week, nobody's even going to remember it."
"I guess so." Dusk cautiously admitted. She didn't seem fully convinced.
"It's not a big deal. I don't think you're stupid for it, and neither does Luna, and that's what's important. Even if the worst case scenario happens and people continue laughing, which they won't, we've got your back, Dusk." Daphne smiled, patting her friend on the back with a comforting touch.
"It's just…" Dusk began her sentence, but then hesitated.
"It's okay." Daphne assured. "You can tell us if you want."
Dusk's hesitant glance began to disappear little by little, as she finally gave in and opened her mouth. "With my dad, I feel like I have to be perfect all the time. Like I was telling Daphne last night with the music stuff, my dad wants me to be in a perfect job, I have to get A's in every class, and I have to be involved in stuff at school otherwise he's mad. I just want to be myself. Is that really too much to ask?"
"No, it isn't." Daphne's tone grew somber. "I'm sorry that he treats you like that."
"It's fine. I'm probably overblowing it in my head or something. At least, that's what my mom always tells me." Dusk admitted.
"I don't think so." Luna spoke up, which surprised Daphne a little given how meek and quiet she was. Daphne would have thought Luna for sure wouldn't have said anything in an uncomfortable, emotionally tense situation like this one. "Grades and activities are important, but they aren't everything."
"Thanks for saying so." Dusk said, as she put the last tater tot in her mouth and got up. "Well, I'm ready to go back up to our room. Maybe we can take another walk tonight or something."
Daphne smiled a little bit at the irony of Dusk leaving the second the situation got slightly deep. For how much she harped on Luna for being a scared rat, the little bit of the conversation they'd just had hinted that Dusk was scared in her own way. It seemed she had a tough outer shell so that she wouldn't have to be vulnerable.
"That was abrupt." Luna let out a chuckle.
"It sure was." Daphne chuckled back, as both girls got up to follow their roommate to bring their trays into the dishroom. Once they'd done so, they began heading out into the main hall, leaving the busy bustle of the dining hall behind.
"Wanna join us on the walk tonight, Luna?" Dusk asked. "It might help you feel a bit more comfortable with this place."
Daphne noticed the deflection Dusk had just done, trying to bring attention to someone else's anxiety other than her own, but Daphne chose to ignore it. "Dusk's actually right. The exercise can be good to clear your mind."
"You know what, sure." Luna shrugged, pressing the 'up' button on the elevator. "It'd be good to get some fresh air."
The elevator door dinged, as Daphne prepared to see the beautiful mountain painting once again. However, much to her shock, the redheads and blonde instead gazed upon a horrific sight. There was a kid laying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, and he wasn't moving.
"Wait, so let me get this straight." Velma said with a light giggle. "Your nickname at your old school was Shaggy?"
Norville let out a chuckle in response. He wasn't really bothered by this; even though she was teasing him, it was in a playful way. "Like, yep."
"Well, the name certainly fits." Fred said with a laugh, in between bites of the fish sticks on his tray.
"Like, kids used to tease me with that nickname all the time. But after a while, people called me it so much that it didn't feel like it hurt anymore. You might, like, say I took the name back, because, like, I think my hair is pretty cool." Norville responded.
"That's a great attitude to have." Velma smiled.
Norville was really enjoying his time with Velma and Fred. He wasn't really sure what to think when he first met Fred, given how awkward their conversations had been. However, they had seemed to really turn it around. Even if they weren't super close yet, for the first time in his life, Norville felt like he had friends. They weren't just people he talked to or got study help from, like at his own school. These were people that acted like they were on the same level as him, and that he related to.
He wasn't going to lie, the creepy murder mystery investigation part admittedly made him a bit nervous. but he tried to keep telling himself that there was no murderer; the kid just died of a heart attack. What reason would a Headmistress have for covering up something like that?
"Where do you think we should start looking for clues?" Fred inquired.
Velma had a puzzled look on her face for a moment, looking like she was deep in thought. In a matter of moments, Velma snapped her fingers and looked up with an excited gaze. "I've got it. There's a window in the hallway where Elliott died. If there was a killer, maybe they dropped a clue or something outside if they snuck out the window."
"Great idea, Velma!" Fred exclaimed, taking the final bite of his last fish stick.
Norville, who had inhaled his food almost as fast as he got it, chimed in. "I need to go back up to our room and get a jacket. It's, like, chilly out there tonight."
"That's a good idea. It's supposed to dip below freezing for the low tonight." Fred recounted.
"You guys ready to get going?" Velma inquired.
"Yep." Fred nodded.
"But, like, you didn't eat your last fish stick yet." Norville pointed out.
"I don't really want it. Fish sticks aren't my thing." Velma shrugged.
"Like, I'll do the honors then." Norville reached over onto Velma's tray playfully to grab the remaining fish stick, and plopped it in his mouth.
Velma let out a hearty chuckle at Norville as she got out of her chair and headed over to drop off her tray. "Alright, come on, you guys."
Norville, Fred and Velma dropped their trays off and headed towards the elevator to get upstairs.
"I could barely stomach those fish sticks. You must sure like to eat, Shaggy." Velma joked, before she got a bit of a self-conscious look on her face. "I hope it's okay that I called you that."
"Like, of course." Shaggy shrugged. Like he'd told them, he'd taken that nickname back, so the name that kids once used to torment him with no longer bothered him.
"Hey, what's going on by the elevator?" Fred gasped. He saw three girls, two redheads and a blonde with pigtails, sitting over by the elevator, looking very distraught. The first redhead donned a purple shirt and blue jeans, while the other one wore a turquoise blouse and black sweatpants. The blonde wore a black t-shirt and red trousers.
"I don't know, but I think we should find out." Velma responded, as she curiously walked over towards the elevator doors.
Fred and Norville headed over there with her. Norville thought he'd recognized those girls from a few of his classes, and he wondered what had gotten them so worked up. He hoped it wasn't something frightening.
As Norville got closer to the small area by the elevator, his heart began racing when he saw what the girls were so frightened about. It was like his worst nightmare had been confirmed: there was another kid lying dead on the floor in a pool of his own blood. The dead kid had long blond hair and donned a gray shirt. Although Norville didn't know him, he seemed oddly familiar for some reason. That was when it hit the shaggy-haired boy: this was the same kid he'd seen getting bullied by Red this morning by the bathroom. A pattern began to connect in Norville's mind, because the previous victim, Elliott, had also gotten bullied by Red.
This realization made Norville even more terrified, because he had also been bullied by Red on the first day of classes, when Red tried to trick Norville into surrendering his seat. Norville's mind began to race with all sorts of anxious thoughts, but the one that was perhaps the most terrifying was: did the fact that all of the victims had been bullied by Red mean that Norville was going to be next?
Author's note:
Hope you're enjoying the story so far, folks! Just wanted to pop in to explain a brief obscure reference. The gang's Algebra teacher, Mr. McDabble, is the gang's teacher who briefly appears in "The Crazy Carnival Caper" of The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show.