The Last Chance

(1) The Past

I can clearly remember the day that Amelia More's body was found. It was a freezing February morning. It had to have been at least below fifteen that whole day. There had been a snow storm about a week prior to the discovery of her body, and I remember wondering if they had found her frozen in the ice. Before any news came out about how she died, I remember wondering if her body had been frozen in the ice. Her beach blonde hair floating around her in true ice queen fashion, her lips red and chapped from the cold. Her eyes wide open, the terror of what had happened in true affect. I have no idea why this was the first thing that came to mind when hearing about the death of Ridgewood High's very own queen bee's death. Maybe it was because I had just read about the dreaded snow queen the night before. The night she died. It came as a shock to most people; her death. It would be naive to say that crime was a rarity in Cotton View. Crime happens everywhere. Some crime you didn't hear about, and other crime was shared throughout the town through the tunnel of gossip. This crime, the death of Amelia More, would forever live on in our legacy.

The morning that Amelia's body was found I was sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of Fruit Loops cereal in front of me. My brother Jack and his friend Wyatt were at the other end of the table deep in a discussion about who knows what. At the time I couldn't care less. I was four years younger than my brother and his friend. They were seventeen, and I was thirteen. My brother and Wyatt had been friends since elementary school. Either Wyatt was at our house, or my brother was at his house. Wyatt had spent the night at our house the night prior. It was Saturday, and I was in a rush to get out of the house. I had planned to go ice skating with a group of my friends, and couldn't wait to be chasing them around the lake. I was down to one fruit loop when my mom came in, hit me on the back of the head. I abruptly stopped mid bite, and my spoon fell into the bowl with a clank.

"Don't eat so fast, or you'll choke." My mom scolded me. I looked up at her, a sheepish smile played on my lips at her frown.

"Sorry mom, I'm just excited." She shook her head at me.

"I know, but expect you to be safe." My grin grew.

"Always am,"

"What about the time you skinned your knee walking down the stairs?" My brother asked. I turned to glare at him.

"Everybody has to fall at some point; it's just the law of gravity." His right eyebrow raised, and his eyes turned mischievous.

"There was the time you ran into a tree," He provided, his voice mocking. I scowled.

"I am careful ninety nine percent of the time, the other one percent is when you're in the room." He raised his eyebrow even higher, as Wyatt laughed beside him.

"You two knock it off," My mom hit the back of my head again.

"Ow," I murmured. With that she walked off into the kitchen.

"Where are you even going today?" Jack asked.

"Grace and me are going to go skating on the lake behind the red barn." Jack and Wyatt looked at each other. An unspoken conversation went on between the two. After about a minute Jack turned back to me.

"Why don't you go to the arena behind the school?" He asked. I rolled my eyes, everyone knew that the ice arena behind the school was always filled with snow; especially with the storm we got last week. If we went there we probably would make it out to the arena let alone get to skate.

"We just had the storm last week, and I'm betting no one's been out to plow yet. Besides, Grace said Johnny Miller's brother and a couple of his friends plowed it and then ran the gazebo over it. It is completely safe, and you go out there all the time. Why does it matter if Gracie and me go out there?" I explained. Jack's eyes hardened, and I had no idea why. Somebody slept on the wrong side of the bed.

"The ice might just be a little thin yet, and nobody wants you or Gracie to get hurt." Wyatt said softly. My eyes snapped over to him. Why did he even care? This was just Jack being his hypocritical self.

"We'll be fine. Remember I'm always careful." I smiled at him. Wyatt's face fell, and Jack's scowl deepened. Before either of them could respond there was a knock at the door. I stood, abandoning my half eaten bowl of Fruit loops, and raced to the door shouting I'll get it after me. My socks slid across the linoleum floor as I went through the kitchen. Reaching the door, I jerked the door open to see my best friend Gracie smiling at me.

"Hey," Came her soft greeting.

"Hey, come on in. I'll be ready in a couple of minutes." I waved her in, walking back through the kitchen.

"You'll never guess what I heard from Danny," She said walking behind me. I grabbed my half eaten breakfast and walked into the kitchen dumping the leftover fruit loops in the trash, depositing the bowl in the sink.

"What?" I asked her, bringing my boots to the dining room table. I sat in my chair, and she leaned against the wall.

"Hey Gracie," My brother greeted.

"Hi," She replied. Her pale freckled cheeks were dusted with a light blush.

Before my brother could say anything else I asked her, "What did Danny say?" She turned back to me, rolling her eyes at my impatience.

"You know Donna?" She asked. Everyone knew Donna Renolds, she was the mayor's daughter, and one of the worst girls in our grade.

"Yeah, what about her?"

"Do you know who Timmy is?"

"Isn't he the eighth grader who tried to get Johnny to dress up like a scarecrow, so he could stick him in the Thompson's field on halloween?" She nodded, and I waited for her to continue. When she didn't I prompted her, "And? What does he have to do with anything?"

"Danny said he heard Timmy took Donna out to the old barn," I looked at her dumbfounded. If Timmy took Donna to the old red barn, that meant a lot of things could have happened. But one thing was for certain, if Timmy took Donna to the barn it definitely wasn't because he wanted to talk to her.

"Can we really trust Danny?"

"He overheard Timmy telling his older brother."

"What do you think happened?" She gave me a look that said 'are you stupid?'

"This is why you two are going to stay away from middle schoolers," Jack put in. I looked at him.

"You're a high schooler dummy, and besides we're going to be in high school in a year." I reminded him.

"Gen, I've seen what goes on at high school parties, and I know what goes on through high school boys' minds. Trust me when I say, you're going to stay away from high schoolers."

"Can we go before he starts to break out in song?" I asked Gracie. She giggled, nodding. With that we took off to the lake, leaving behind my annoying older brother and his friend.

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Thank you for reading the first horrendous chapter of the Last Chance. I apologize for any grammar or spelling mistakes that I made. I hope to have the next chapter up soon. Thank you for your patience.

RJ