The Framing

Thirty.

February 21st, 4:45pm. My bedroom.

I was sitting in my bed scrolling through my phone when I got a call from Alex.

"Hey I was wondering if you could come over early and help me set up for the bonfire," he said.

"Yeah I'll be over in a bit," I told him. I hung up and went downstairs.

"Hey I'm going to Alex's I'll be back by 11," I said to my mom.

"Is it just you two?" She asked.

"No some other people are coming too."

"Like who?"

"Thomas, Kevin, and John," I told her.

"Well I want to meet them at some point if you're going to keep hanging out with them," she told me.

"You already know John, and Thomas was over here when we came home from the bomb threat."

"Mhm okay," she said which meant I could go. I grabbed my coat and went out to my car. As I was putting some stuff in the passenger seat, I looked up and saw an envelope under my windshield wiper. At first I thought it was a ticket, but I was parked in my own driveway. Then I thought it could be an ad for something, but I looked around and saw that I was the only car that had it. I took it out from under my wiper and read it in my car.

Ally,

Things have been slow these past few weeks, but I'm not done. If you want it to stop, meet me here 2/25 7:30pm
42.5804289 , -70.6642004

I put the note in my pocket and drove to Alex's as fast as I possibly could. When I pulled into his driveway, I saw him in his backyard putting logs into a fire pit. I ran up to him and he turned around.

"Woah where's the fire?" He asked.

"Dude I'm freaking the fuck out," I said.

"Why? What happened?"

"This was under my windshield wiper," I said and took the note out of my pocket.

"What the fuck?" He said and read it again.

"Yeah what do those numbers even mean?" I asked.

"I think they're coordinates," he said.

"Okay but to where?"

"I'll look it up," he said. He took out his phone and typed the numbers into his GPS. "This says it's the Eastern Point Lighthouse in Gloucester, Massachusetts."

"How far away is that?" I asked.

"This says it's a 28 minute drive."

"Can you come with me? I don't wanna go alone and like... get murdered."

"Yeah of course I'll come with you," he said. I think that we were being kinda loud because eventually Thomas come walking up to us from his house next door.

"What's going on?" He asked. Alex caught him up to speed. "Damn," he said, "that's wild."

"Yeah. Maybe now I'll get to the bottom of this," I said.

"I can come with too," he said.

"Yeah I'm gonna need a lot of people to back me up on this," I said.

The three of us got Alex's backyard ready for the party. When we were done, we went inside and sat in his living room to get warm. Alex put on the TV, and we watched it until Kevin showed up. About ten minutes later, John pulled into the driveway.

John walked in holding a pretty big bag. "What's in that?" Alex asked. He put in on the coffee table and pulled out a 30 pack of beer.

"Hell yeah," Kevin said, "this one knows how to party."

"Where did you even get that?" I asked.

"My brother got it for me," he said.

We all walked out the door that went from Alex's kitchen to his backyard. He had some camping chairs set up and we all took a seat. It took him a couple minutes, but eventually he was able to get a steady fire going. John reached into the box and handed everyone a drink. I was the last to open mine because I had never had alcohol before. I made a face when I took the first sip because it was bitter.

"You don't like it?" Alex asked.

"It's okay I guess," I said. I guess this is what peer pressure feels like.

I kinda sat around in silence while they all talked about boy stuff. I wanted to enjoy the party, but I couldn't stop thinking about the note. Who wrote it? Why is someone after me? I've never done anything to hurt someone before.

"Is everyone okay?" John asked. I snapped back into reality and looked away from my phone.

"I guess," I said.

"You can tell me if something is wrong," he told me, "is it about Nate?"

"Oh god I wish it was about Nate," I said.

"Why? What's going on?"

"You should tell them," Alex said.

I told John and Kevin about everything that's been happening. Obviously they knew some of the details, but I told them every last one. From the dead fish in my locker, to the gun in my locker, to the knife in Thomas's locker, to the note in my mailbox, the note in my car, and the bomb.

"Holy shit," John said.

"That's fucking crazy," Kevin said.

"You can't tell anyone about this," I said, "I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"Well we'll all go with you to the lighthouse," John said, "and we'll beat up whoever is doing this to you."

"Who do you think it is?" Thomas asked.

"That's the thing. I literally have no idea. The only person I've pissed off is Nate, but him and I were still friends when this whole thing started, so it couldn't be him."

"What if it actually is Nate and he's secretly hated you this whole time," Thomas said.

"I mean, I guess," I John, "but I doubt he'd go as far as putting a whole ass bomb in her locker. He's not even smart enough to make one."

"Oh my god," I said, "that's it."

"That's what?" Alex asked.

"It has to be a smart person," I said.

"Okay? Lots of people are smart," Thomas said.

"No but I mean like, actually smart. Smart enough to know how to break into my locker, write me all these notes and go undetected, and build a working bomb."

"So who do you know that fits those characteristics?" Alex asked.

"This bitch Charles Bowman," I said.

"Who the fuck is Charles Bowman?" Kevin asked.

"He's in our grade," I said, "and he's in second place to be valedictorian. I'm in first, and it absolutely kills him that it's me over him. He's been out to get me since elementary school because I've always been just a little smarter than him."

"That's why he put the knife in your locker," Alex said, "he wanted you to get expelled."