In The Clear: Introductions II
Amadis Navarro, 17, Brandon MB
Amadis drops her phone back into her pocket and resets her gaze on the lab manual. Her mom still hasn't answered, but that's not exactly a surprise. Amadis knows how her mom can get about work. She just wishes she would've thought to bring the notebook she usually leaves in her locker. It's not like she has anything else to do.
She flinches as a bag drops down onto the bench beside her. Amadis looks up and offers a half-smile before returning to her notes. She's gotten to know Lyanna Coramar over the past couple of weeks, but she's not quite sure what to say outside of their tutoring sessions. Considering one of them just ended, Amadis is content to stick to her studies.
"Amadis?"
She turns quickly to see Lyanna staring at her. "Sorry, did you say something?"
"I was just asking if-"
Amadis doesn't hear the rest as she spots her mom's Civic pulling into the pickup lane. She quickly closes her manual and slides it into her bag without a backward glance. Amadis gives a hasty wave as she jogs to meet the car.
She pulls on the passenger door before her mom has a chance to unlock it. She waits impatiently for her to reach over and click the button. Thankfully, seconds later she's resting against the headrest.
"Long day?" The pair smile as the words come out in unison. Despite the age difference, sometimes it feels like they're the same person occupying separate bodies. Since the day she was born, it's always been just the two of them. Quite honestly, Amadis has never thought of wanting anything else.
Her mom smiles as she turns out of the school. "You first."
"I don't know how much the tutoring is helping," Amadis admits. It's been just over two weeks since she started meeting with Lyanna, but she's already getting impatient. Her real issue is time and she's doubting whether a tutor can really help with that. Amadis just needs more time to absorb the lab content, but each week they only get a couple hours with the equipment. She can read about it all she wants but, like Mr. Wilson always says, to do is to understand.
"Give it time, Ami," her mom smiles. "You have to be patient with yourself."
Amadis makes a face in the side mirror as her mom chuckles beside her. If there's any difference at all between the two members of the Navarro family it's exactly that - patience. Amadis would rather already have everything she's been working so hard for. She needs to know that it's going to pay off.
"What about you?"
Her mom sighs. "The case isn't going well."
Amadis feels the mood deflate. She hasn't been told a lot about the newest one, but she knows the defendant is only sixteen. Those two years are the hardest for her mom. Carmen Navarro knows very well what's at stake with this class of defendants.
It's not just a fight for a softer sentence. At that age, it's a fight for their life. Her mom's defended six kids that have eventually died on The Cut.
Amadis leans her head on her mom's shoulder. She's not the comforting type, but truthfully neither has ever been. Her mom runs a hand over the top of her head and tucks a stray strand back towards her ponytail. The moment is just that and both are back in their pensive silences a minute later.
They'll get through this.
They always do.
If the door's locked, I'll just go home.
Amadis isn't sure if she lets out a sigh of relief or worry when the doorknob turns easily in her hand. The tumbling anxiety in her stomach tells her to close the door again, but she manages to shake it just long enough to step inside. The overhead lights to the chemistry lab flare alive with her presence. It doesn't look any different than it had earlier this afternoon.
Why would it? Amadis asks herself, but she doesn't pause to consider. Mr. Wilson is still at the science faculty meeting, but she doesn't know for certain how long that'll last. It's four o'clock, well past the time when most students are already on the bus home. Amadis still has another thirty minutes before her mom is due to get here. That's plenty of time.
Still, if she hesitates much longer she knows she won't be able to go through with this.
The idea's been growing for weeks. Amadis doesn't remember what planted it, but lately it's become all she can think about. Today, when the students' lab reports were handed back, was the final straw. It wasn't even a bad grade - Amadis managed a B - but that almost wasn't the point.
She can do better. She knows she can. Even Lyanna's said it's possible near-every time they've met up for tutoring. It's not Amadis' fault she needs more time with the material. That's simply how she learns.
This is probably the most harmless excuse a student's ever had for breaking into the chemistry lab. Still, Amadis knows it's wrong.
If the cupboard's locked, I'll just go home.
She pulls it open with barely a hint of resistance. Amadis swallows and scans across the labelled vials. She needs the material for the next lab on the copper cycle. She knows it, has been studying it for weeks, but that never seems to matter. It's always on the day of that she chokes. She rushes through a step or over-purifies at another. Her results are never good enough because she only gets one chance.
Amadis grabs the labelled jar and brings it over to the lab bench. The material itself isn't toxic, but she grabs a pair of gloves anyways. If she's remembering correctly, she only needs one gram per attempt. If she takes three grams, that's three extra tries before the lab on Monday. That's more than enough.
She shakes out what looks like the right amount, for now ignoring the bits that spill on the bench. She should have enough time to clean up and put everything back where it should be. Mr. Wilson won't know, with any luck no one will ever find out.
Her blood runs cold as she hears someone moving around in the shared computer room. Amadis turns quickly and sees a shadow moving across the closed door. Only science faculty can unlock that room since it's shared between the labs. If someone's inside, that means the meeting's over.
It means Amadis needed to be gone five minutes ago. She grabs the bag of material and shoves it into the front pouch of her backpack. Part of her expects Mr. Wilson to already be standing outside the door when she shoves it open.
She's never been so relieved to see an empty hallway.
Amadis holds tight to the underside of the table as she stares at the article. She can practically feel the stray splinters entering her skin, but she can't make herself let go. Right now, this is the only fathomable way to keep the rest of her calm.
So much has happened in the past week. Amadis can't say she understands much of it.
She swallows and looks around the meeting room. She isn't imagining where she is no matter how many times she's been able to trick herself into believing that. Amadis is sitting inside the Brandon Correctional Centre - a building she didn't realize was just five minutes from her high school. She was arrested six days ago.
She's being charged with terrorism, manslaughter, and a slew of other "minor" offenses.
When Amadis thinks about it like that, it makes no sense at all.
"Did you meet with them?" She tries to keep her voice level, but her hands are still shivering under the table. Her jaw feels like it's being crushed between boulders, but Amadis can't seem to let go of the tension.
The worst part of it all? The lawyer sitting across from her isn't her mom.
No, Carmen Navarro was placed under arrest that same night. Amadis doesn't know where she is.
"Yes, Miss Navarro." The woman starts to pull the article back into her folder but one shaking hand stops her. Amadis stares at the greyed out photo of herself before her teary eyes move to the one beside it. She tells herself not to read the headline but her mind doesn't listen.
Mᴏᴛʜᴇʀ & Dᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀ Aᴘᴘʀᴇʜᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ Fᴏʟʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ Dᴇᴀᴅʟʏ Exᴘʟᴏsɪᴏɴ ᴀᴛ Pʀᴀɪʀɪᴇ Hᴏᴘᴇ Hɪɢʜ Sᴄʜᴏᴏʟ
That part Amadis can almost wrap her head around. There was a mistake, maybe the beaker was labeled incorrectly or maybe she read it too quickly in her haste. When Mr. Wilson returned to the lab, he must not have noticed the traces Amadis left behind on the bench. Maybe he didn't realize what it was. Truthfully, neither did she but no one seems to believe that.
Regardless, the events leading up don't matter to anyone but Amadis. Some kind of heat source was placed on top of the left behind chemical. The entire lab was ignited within seconds.
She can feel her chest shaking as she sucks in a slow breath. It doesn't help and neither does the next one. Nothing calms the guilt-ridden pit that sits at the center of her stomach because, really, the details don't matter.
Amadis killed him. She didn't mean to. It was supposed to be copper powder; it was supposed to be harmless. She never would've entered the lab if she'd suspected it was anything else.
If she could go back in time, she'd do it in a heartbeat.
Unfortunately, that's not one of her lawyer's proposed options. Amadis doesn't understand even one of them right now. She spent a lifetime by her mother's side and years reading her law textbooks, but she can't access any of it.
Amadis would give anything to speak to her mom right now. She's not allowed. As per the investigation, they're co-conspirators in something much bigger than Brandon. The chemical Amadis apparently stole from the lab - picric acid - is the same one that's been involved in a string of crimes across the nation. It's the same one that's supposedly behind the deadly North Bay explosion nearly a year ago.
Amadis clamps down hard on her back teeth. She's not behind anything except what happened at the school. She's guilty of nothing except one horrible, lethal mistake. Her mom's innocent. This is all a big coincidence, one that the courts are going to see through when her case heads to trial.
There's no other option.
Casimir "Casi" Kaminski, 17, Revelstoke BC
If there's one thing on this planet that Casi hates it's… not exactly a thing. It's more like a person - an aggravating, know-it-all type of person named Aris Vicenti.
And the fact that Casi's currently sitting on a beanbag chair in her room means absolutely nothing.
It's hard to explain how this happened, but they're not going to sit and moan about it either. Things happen for a reason or something like that, even if that reason happens to be that Casi simply has nowhere better to be. Home would be a brilliant start if it weren't for the fact that Catarina is probably there and that's gotten… complicated recently. They haven't actually spoken to their twin in almost two weeks. For the first time in his life, Casi just doesn't know what to say to her.
Besides, Aris and Casi share all of the same classes and, consequently, the same homework. Most days, that's all they talk about.
Well, that's what Casi tells themself anyways. Truthfully, he'd be hard-pressed to explain exactly what they've talked about on any given afternoon.
That's not important. What is important is the webpage that Casi practically shoves into Aris' lap. He shoots them a look that's somewhere between annoyance and disgust, but Casi barely notices. They press their finger to the touch screen of their laptop until the page minimizes in favour of a runescape tab he'd forgotten to close.
"Are you seeing this?" Casi demands as they hastily try to pull the page back up.
Aris snorts. "All I'm seeing is that you're shit at runescape."
Casi rolls their eyes. Once the page is settled again on the screen, they flick the side of the laptop to pull Aris' attention. A rare silence falls across the bedroom as he reads, but that doesn't last long.
Casi jumps to his feet and begins to pace between the beanbags. "I told you! That's two deaths, both uninvestigated and both within weeks of an election. It's not a coincidence who they were. They're the only two mayoral candidates that ever had a shot against your family. They-"
"Take a breath, why don't you?"
"Listen!" Casi insists. For all of Aris' flaws, this is one thing they've never had to ask of her. Casi doesn't understand why they have to now.
Doesn't he realize what I've found? This is exactly the proof we've been looking for!
Casi's always had… theories. It's something that seems to come with the territory of "smart kid with too much time on their hands". Whether it be the truth about the moon landing or the "earth's broken rocket ship" hypothesis, Casi has no limit. He can get lost in internet forums like no one else he knows. Most of them are stupid, even they have to admit it, but some make almost too much sense when they really think about it.
And unlike any of their other theories, this one can be proven. Casi has the proof right here. Aris just has to look and they'll realize.
Instead, she closes the laptop and turns to Casi with a look they don't recognize. "This isn't some alien clone shit, Casi. This is my dad."
"So?" Casi exclaims. This is huge, the first thing they can actually promise is true and mean it.
"So go back to your government kidnapping stuff," Aris says, shoving the laptop onto the floor between them. "And leave me out of it."
"Casimir!"
They grit their teeth as their mother's voice rings through the pause in his music. That certainly doesn't sound like a first time name summoning. Casi stands from their desk chair, barely catching their laptop as the headphones yank it forward. They shrug. It's not like it would've been the first time old faithful hit the carpet.
He takes the stairs three at a time trying to figure out where she is. They skid to a stop at the bottom of the main staircase when they see their mother waiting there. Actually, that's a lie because Casi isn't looking at her at all. Their eyes are glued to the figure that looks as out of place in their home as the Lochness Monster itself.
"Why are you here?" They ask without thinking as they creep down the steps.
Who they'd assumed was Aris turns towards them and it's all they can do to keep from gasping aloud. The simple fact of the matter is that Casi has never seen her with red-rimmed eyes or stained cheeks. They freeze midstep, their body torn between running towards him or sprinting back upstairs.
Casi chooses neither. In fact, they just stand there for what feels like several seconds until his mother clears her throat. "Why don't you two head upstairs and I'll bring up some snacks in a bit."
Casi barely registers her words. They're staring at Aris, at the dried tears they can still see and the embarrassment in her gaze. He doesn't remember grabbing their hand or the walk back to their bedroom. They process nothing else until their legs are once again crossed in their desk chair.
He stares at Aris, not sure what to ask or even if they want to ask anything. Finally, Aris raises her gaze to meet theirs and the pure defeat makes Casi want to throw up. "I'm sorry. I didn't know where else to go."
Without thinking, Casi wraps their arms tightly around him as she continues. For the first time they can remember, there are no frantic thoughts clouding them. They hear every painstaking word. They hear the wishful prayer that Aris' father would support their identity. They hear the crushing defeat of the agreement Aris had to make just hours before coming here.
She would try to be "normal" or he'd be shipped away to boarding school in the States.
Mayor Vicenti had morbidly intrigued Casi before. There was so much uncertainty clouding that perfect family and years of political power. Now, Casi hated the man more than they thought possible.
And as the night faded to early morning, they made a plan.
Their bedroom is unpleasantly silent as Casi waits for the document to transfer over to the USB drive. Aris is right, as much as they hate to admit it. It's too dangerous to keep any of the files on Casi's computer.
Truth be told, it's too dangerous to even step foot outside. The pair have already talked about this and Casi has no desire to do it again. The security footage barely caught more than a glimpse of Casi leaving Mayor Vicenti's office. The problem is, that glimpse has been magnified and shared more times than either of them wish to count.
Casi holds the USB tight in his hands. If they can lay low for a few days until everyone forgets about this whole thing, it'll be worth it. Honestly, to them, it already is.
This is all the proof they need. The Vicenti family has been involved in dirty politics for decades, probably longer. Casi found fraudulent invoices for stolen money, data proving a rigged voting machine, and even message receipts detailing the mayor's long list of affairs. It's all right here between Casi's fingertips.
They were right.
Despite his fear at the circulating images, that's what they're choosing to focus on. Casi's hunch is no longer just a bunch of unrelated facts that other people might dismiss or call coincidental. In this USB drive, there's concrete, rock solid proof. Casi doesn't have to use all the air in their lungs to explain themself. Aris looks at him and believes them, and not just in a way that only serves to entertain their wild theories.
Is this what peace feels like? Well, not exactly. For one, it's hard to keep one's chakras aligned when there's an incessant pounding on the front door.
Casi's head snaps towards his bedroom door. It might be just an inkling, but they're not in the business of negating their own suspicions. That doesn't sound like any knock they've heard on their door before. Combine that with the fact that there's currently security footage out there featuring their luscious locks and it spells bad news.
"Police, search warrant."
Casi is already dragging Aris by the collar across the room, but those words only make him move even faster. She tries to push them away but Casi shakes their head. They can hear footsteps stomping up the main staircase and that's as close as they ever want Aris to get to the police. This was their theory. Getting caught on security was their fuck-up.
As far as he's concerned, Aris had nothing to do with it.
Before she can protest any further, Casi shoves them hard through the open window. Aris is too surprised to even put his hands out, much less stop them. They pull the pane down as quickly as they can, barely ensuring Aris' hands aren't somehow stuck there. Thankfully, Aris is smart enough not to scream up at them. Still, it's not hard to infer that he's upset with the current arrangement by the middle finger that greets them just before they close the curtains.
Casi would feel bad about it, but there's always been a small part of them that's wanted to do that.
A/N: Welcome back! I'm hoping to get one intro out every five to seven days, simply because there are a lot of them. Since there are only two kids per chapter, I'm hoping this won't be overwhelming. Feel free to leave me thoughts if it is. I'd also love to hear what you think about Amadis & Casi if you have the time.
Next up will be Lilliana & Riley!
~ Olive