Odd One Out

CHAPTER 5

Bailey
Friday, September 26

"Everyone, back to your classrooms, now!" Principal Wes boomed out, causing me to slightly flinch as my friends gasped in surprise beside me. The entire hall went silent. A strange numbness took over my auditory system to the point where even Mrs. Salazar's screams dimmed into a distant buzzing.

Almost like we had walked out, every student began to very slowly, one-by-one re-enter their classrooms. Completely shocked, completely silent.

Detective Summers, who I'd investigated when they assigned her to Francisco's case, was trying to desperately console Mrs. Salazar, who could not seem to stop hyperventilating even as we all walked past her.

Back inside the classroom, our teacher was as stunned as we were but tried to mask it by continuing on with the lecture, even though there was a nervous tinge to his voice. No one paid attention to what he had to say.

About ten minutes later, Principal Wes's voice shot through the overhead speakers. His voice sounded hoarse and tired when he spoke, but authoritative, nonetheless.

"I need Bailey Phillips, Jake Owens, Viktor Henderson, Harry Ellis, and Naya Mendoza in my office, now. Again, I need Bailey Phillips, Viktor Henderson, Jake Owens, Harry Ellis, and Naya Mendoza in my office. Now."

A wide and contagious silence spread across the room, so much that the slight sound of breathing seemed to echo throughout every corner. It took me a couple of seconds — or minutes maybe, but I finally stood up slowly, watching as my friends and classmates stared at me in anticipation.

I knew what this looked like to the rest of the school. Francisco had basically been declared dead, and suddenly I was being called into the principal's office along with the other four students I had been with the night of the party. I opened my mouth to say something, but instead snatched my backpack from the ground and walked over to the door in disturbing silence, slower than I actually intended it to seem like. After leaving my classroom, it took no more than a minute for Harry Ellis to suddenly open the door to a classroom beside me.

His eyes were focused on the ground, and he almost didn't see me. Finally raising his head, he seemed shocked to see me at first, but then gave me a small nod as a greeting before focusing his gaze ahead of us, into the hallway that seemed inexplicably long today.

Jake was the next person we saw; he tumbled out of his classroom in a frightened daze, and he seemed jumpier than ever. Once he saw us, we saw him flinch slightly before following us as we continued to walk past him.

"You don't think they'll kick us out or anything, right? I was in the middle of a test."

"Dude," Ellis blurted out, his voice a bit raspy, "Shut up."

The doors towards the field suddenly swung open and Viktor stepped into the hallway, looking confused at first but then staring at us. His eye caught mine and for a couple of seconds we just stared, until he finally swallowed and turned, walking in the same direction we were. As soon as we turned the corner we were met with Naya, who was frantically adjusting the strap of her backpack. Her wide eyes looked up towards us, all of us freezing our movements and just staring at each other like idiots before Viktor slightly shoved himself through the group and continued his walk.

We all followed, one by one, walking in complete and nerve-wrecking silence.

Passing the front office staff and ignoring their stares on us, we continued our walk to whatever we were about to be faced with. Once we reached it, Viktor opened the door to the principal's office and we all tumbled in to be met with Detective Summers, Principal Wes, and a couple of officers standing inside. Principal Wes was sitting down at his desk while the detective and the two officers stood across from him, all of their attention fixed on us. I tried to decipher the expressions plastered on their faces, and though I couldn't quite do it, I knew they weren't at all good.