Aces

SIXTEEN

Avery

"Is she going to be okay?" Anxiety had completely possessed me.
"She'll be fine, no need to worry."
"Thank you, Mother." I turned to the boys as she left the room.
"Hey Aves, you look tired. How about you get some rest? If Amaya wakes up whilst you're out, we'll wake you up."
"Thank you, Axel, but I want to be awake when Amaya wakes up."
"And you will, please just at least rest your eyes."
"I mean, it won't do any harm, right?" I layed down on the sofa beside Axel and immediately fell asleep.

I was woken by an inaudible voice and a light tapping on my shoulder. "Avery, wake up. It's me. You've been asleep for a while."
"Amaya? No, the boys said they would wake me up as soon as you got up."
"They were going to, but I told them to just let you sleep."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry about earlier. I overstepped."
"You have nothing to be sorry for. I was in a bad mood and I took it out on you. I'm sorry."
"Everyone has their bad days, right?"
"Yeah. Anyway, are you okay? You don't seem like you took that text well."
"It was just a shock."
"I don't blame you; all within 24 hours you found out you were an Ace and when our teacher got murdered, the details were sent to you."
"They were sent to you as well."
"Well, obviously, but the three of us had time to prepare because we've known each other and therefore the not-so-secret secret for years. Speaking of, where are the boys? It's awfully quiet without them here."
"They're upstairs doing 'guy things'. What's that even supposed to mean? I think they mean they're doing stereotypical 'boy things' like playing video games, but for all we know, they could be doing what they'd class as 'girl things' like watching sappy romances and giving each other manicures."
"Has anyone ever told you how fun you are to be around?"
"I don't think so."
"Then let me be the first: I think you're an incredible person. You're like the sun on a gloomy day, y'know? Things could be going horribly, but then you walk in and just like that, everything is back on track. Amaya, I love-" I stopped myself from finishing the sentence and quickly changed what I was going to say. "-having you as my best friend." A smooth recovery, if I do say so myself. We sat there in silence, staring into each other's eyes. My heart was pounding and butterflies were fluttering around aimlessly in my stomach. The moment was ruined by the thundering of the boys running downstairs.
"Oh, Avery. You're awake."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Aiden mocked.
"I hate to interrupt this wonderful conversation, but whilst you sleepy heads were down here, Aiden and I were upstairs analysing the message."
"Show us what you've got boys." Amaya nodded.
"So, first things first, we know that the murderer has to know all of us in person, and would also have to know that we've all found each other, correct?" Axel established.
"Correct." Amaya and I agreed.
"So that means it's likely to be someone at school." Aiden added.
"I'm not ruling them out of the equation, but would it be any of the year sevens? In my opinion, it's more likely to be one of the teachers."
"Amaya, we can't jump to conclusions. We have to get this right because if we don't it'll happen again." Axel cautioned.
"What?" Bewilderment swept across Amaya's face.
"Do you not remember what the message said? We have 24 hours from the time it was sent and just one guess as to who this person is, and if we're wrong, they'll kill someone else, and keep going until we get it right." I stepped in to explain.
"That's awful."
"Yeah, it is, so we have to get this right."
"I see."
"Look at this." Axel said, showing us his phone. He read the message out loud to us again:

"Oh dear! Looks like your maths teacher had a small accident on her way to work. Isn't that unfortunate? I wonder what would happen if the same thing happened to Coach Ashcroft? I'm sure poor little Amaya wouldn't like that. Perhaps she'd even have to go back to where she belongs. You have 24 hours and ONE guess, Aces. Watch your backs.
Sincerely,
X."

"They won't hurt Coach, they can't. If they do, then I'll have to leave because there won't be an athletics programme until they find a new coach-"
"Amaya, listen to yourself. Don't you realise? They want you gone." Axel tried not to make it sound personal.
"Really? This is a racial thing now?" She was obviously in disbelief. I moved closer to her to comfort her and Aiden shot me a dirty look.
"Look, nothing will happen to Coach Ashcroft, okay? We're going to get this right, and we're going to catch them." I gave the boys a look that told them to back me up.
"Yeah, it's going to be okay. We can all look out for each other." Axel said.
"Us against the world." Aiden smiled.
"Does this mean that they've known me since I was in my old school?"
"Good point. Amaya, we really need you to think: is there anyone you've seen at Maple Park that you also saw at your old school?"
"I- I don't know."
"Well, just have a think, okay? You're the key to the answer."
"Axel, don't put so much pressure on her."
"I'm sorry." he glanced at his watch. "We're down to 21 hours and 39 minutes left and we're not getting very far."
"Boys, why don't you go to the shop and grab some snacks for us? We're going to be here for a while working stuff out. I'll stay with Amaya and we can set up something comfortable. Whilst we're split up, we can keep working."
"Okay, sounds good." I was surprised they agreed to my plan. Really, this was just a way for me to spend more time with Amaya without them there. As Axel was walking out the door, he smirked at me and winked, bringing a smile to my face, even though I shook my head at him.