A Year Full Of Surprises

A Year Full Of Surprises - Chapter Twenty-Eight.

Chapter Twenty-Eight…

A week passed and nothing much changed. Mel and I still hadn’t even spoke to each other, never mind even considering a reconciliation. The police hadn’t so much as been near the school again and Grace still wasn’t bugging me for answers, despite her obvious curiosity.

The only thing that had been worth remembering was that the police had indeed talked to Mr. Armstrong. It had been out of school time and a couple of days after they had spoken to me.

They had asked him similar questions to the ones they asked me. ‘What is your relationship with Jessica McCarthy like?’ ‘Have you influenced her in anyway throughout the investigation?’ Things we had been expecting, yet still dreading. Any of those sorts of questions meant that they were still suspicious of us, which was most definitely not good.

Matt’s car horn blared from outside, it was a sound I was getting used to now, only not this early in the morning. Matt was at least half an hour early, meaning I hadn’t had time to eat my breakfast. Luckily, I was otherwise ready.

I rushed down the driveway, confused as to why he was so early. As soon as I got into the car, I was met by his anxious looking face. “Sorry I’m here so early, but I need to talk to you and Jordan, it’s important.” He explained vaguely, speeding off before I had even had time to fasten my seatbelt.
“Okay.” I said quietly, deciding I would leave the questions until later.

Our drive was a quick and silent one as Matt broke the speed limit on nearly every road, clearly in a hurry as we hurtled towards school. Whatever had happened had Matt on edge.

After pulling up in a place that I wasn’t even sure was a parking spot, we were practically running towards Mr. Armstrong’s room, Matt a whole stride in front of me.

He opened the door without knocking and we came across Jord, who was sat peacefully at his desk, marking papers. His head snapped up when he heard the door and his calm expression was immediately replaced with an alert one. “What’s wrong?”

I shut the door behind me. “God knows, ask him.” I gestured to Matt. “He came half an hour early, drove twice as fast as he should have been doing and then sprinted to your classroom, all without saying a word to me!” I exclaimed incredulously.

Matt looked like he wanted to hit something and I had a feeling my outburst wasn’t helping. “Sit down. I might be here a while and you may be a bit shocked.”

I sat down in my normal seat for talking to Jord - on top of my desk with my legs swinging. “I had a visit from the police last night.” Matt stated, causing my legs to go rigid.

“What?!” Jord exploded, jumping up from his seat. “What the hell would the police want with you?”
“They asked me about you two.” Matt explained, trying to remain calm.

“They what?!” I asked angrily. Not only had they been pressuring me and Jord about our relationship, but they had actually asked his brother about us. They had made the effort to find his brother and ask him about us. Something hit me then, how did they even know Matt knew who I was, never mind thinking he would know anything about me and his brother. “How did they even know you knew me? Someone must have been filling things in for them. I bet someone told them me and Jord were together and that’s why they’re being all suspicious.” I stated, the little wheels in my head beginning to turn.

Matt nodded. “Exactly.” Before he explained the rest of his story, he turned to Mr. Armstrong. “Got yourself a smart one.” He teased, nudging him in the ribs.

Jord pulled a face and punched Matt in the shoulder, causing him to groan in pain. “Shut up.”
I watched with my eyebrow raised at their exchange, I wasn’t even going to bother asking questions about it. “The police said that someone had given them information suggesting you and Jordan were having some kind of secret affair.” He informed us, bringing back the seriousness to the conversation. “I told them it was all a load of bullshit, obviously, but they knew that I gave you rides to school and asked how I knew you.”