The heartstopper

Chapter 12

Every student received the same Email early that morning. The message was sent out at four A.M, when the majority of students were still asleep, although there were a select few who were already awake and woke up their roommates to immediately share the odd message sent at such an early hour. They made sure to send a reply back to their teachers letting them know they received their message.

All students were up by the time a second Email was sent out at ten. On the schedule that each student was Emailed before the trip, it stated that breakfast began at 7 and finished at 10, so in most hotel rooms, at least one of the students would have an alarm to wake them up at a reasonable time.

The second Email was a bit longer than the first Email but still didn't answer many questions that the students wanted answers to.

Students,
Breakfast will be served in the restaurant now, please be mindful as you descend to the main level. Once everyone has eaten, we ask for everyone to meet in the hotel lobby for an important announcement, preferably by no later than 10:45. We'll be spending the day here in the hotel but after dinner, Mr. Ajayi and I have decided to take everyone out for an evening walk around the city. Lunch and dinner should be served at the usual time and the rest of your day is up to you. Do not forget to meet in the lobby, attendance will be taken beforehand. As always, Mr. Ajayi and I are here to talk if needed, feel free to reach out to us.
Mr. Farouq

Their teachers had moved onto Email communication and it was odd, but nonetheless, the students of Truman and Higgs began to head out of their rooms all at once to drag themselves to the elevator.

As they stepped out of their rooms, those who were located on floor four and in rooms 409-437 caught sight of one specific door.

Students crowded the hallway as they saw one bedroom door with caution tape around it. This got students whispering.

"Does anybody know whose room that is?" Asked a panicked voice.

"What if we have a murderer on the loose!" Someone else cried.

"What if a killer attends one of our schools?"

People started to shout out random 'what if' questions, 'what if they're in danger,' 'what if it's just a prank,' 'what if....'

"If they did, they'd have to go to Truman, right? It couldn't be a girls doing," A boy laughed.

"I bet some old lady slipped in the shower!" A boy scoffed.

"We're gonna die," Another person panicked.

"No we aren't, stop crying, it's obvious just a prank,"

"They killed Ben and now we're next!"

"Isn't that the room of a couple of year ten girls?"

"No, I think they're from Truman, guys from the rugby team," Someone piped in.

"Is Nick okay?!" A high pitched voice shouted.

"Nick Nelson? He stopped hanging out with those lads, didn't you hear?" Another voice spoke.

With all the commotion that was catching the attention of other people staying in the hotel, the door to the blocked off room opened. "Partez tous!" A French police officer shouted, stepping out of the blocked off room and closing the door behind him.

"What did he say?"

"He told us to leave," Nick translated.

People were still shouting, and the officer continued to yell in French. Those students taking French, or those who are fluent in French and could comprehend what he was saying started to back off and those who didn't understand a word he spoke, only backed off out of fear of the fast speaking Frenchman as he yelled - what sounded like - gibberish.

Their teachers, hearing the shouting, had to come and intervene, directing their nosy students to head down for breakfast and they'd only then get an explanation.

The restaurant was packed, full of other guests of the hotel who appeared to have also been stuck in their rooms all morning and not gotten breakfast.

All through breakfast people were chatting and there could be seen an unusual amount of guests checking out of the hotel, looking distressed as they typed different things into their phones.

"Have you guys heard what happened?" Tara asked the boys as they sat down at their usual table.

"Not a clue, a door was caution taped off in our hallway though," Nick shrugged.

"People are saying someone was murder," Imogen said, looking nervous.

"But that's just a rumor, right? I mean, people are saying all sorts of things," Charlie questioned.

"I don't know, that's just what I've heard, the other guests are looking distraught though, right?" Elle questioned as a couple was seen walking out the doors of the hotel with their luggage. The door to the hotel was just barely visible through the doorway of the restaurant but from their seat, the angle was just right to see the revolving door turn as people entered and exited.

"There better not be a murderer on the loose, if I die who will look after my mom?" Tao tried to add a bit of his usual humor into his voice but there was also very little to joke about.

"Ben was poisoned, right? Why him?" Asked Darcy, before adding, "And I mean beside the fact that he's a gross amount of straight, now that I thonk aboutit, convenient for him to die on the last day of pride month,"

"Woah, let's not talk as if there's a murderer on the loose when we don't know anything, maybe an old man died in his sleep and now they're trying to figure out if the cause of death was age or medical reasons," Elle reasoned, shutting down their murder talk, even though it would be unlikely to shut down everyone's morning for the death of an old man, especially not when some of their classmates seeme persistent on the fact that the same room now taped off belonged to members of the rugby team.

"If we were in any danger we'd have gone home by now," Tara pointed out.

"Yeah but a murderer loose in a hotel would be a good story line," Isaac piped in.

"Turn it into a movie and I'd watch it," Tao claimed, taking a bite of his scrambled eggs.

Most people rushed through breakfast so that they could hear what their teachers had to share with them but regardless, not everyone would move at the same pace. By ten forty, most of the class had looked to be in the lobby by then. People were scattered everywhere and were blocking others who were trying to leave. The hotel lobby was turning out to be a very inconvenient meet up spot for their school.

A/n - Happy Pride 🏳️‍🌈