The Miracle Clinic

Chapter 10 - The Cafeteria Conundrum (2)

"How is this here?!" Ronnie asks.

He along with Elizabeth Moore are in the kitchen of Starlight High and the thing that has them so shocked is a tray filled with stacks of cash. Ronnie sets the book Alex gave him down next to it as he looks at the bills.

"Is this real?" Elizabeth asks as she goes to touch the money. However, the two begin to hear whistling causing them to quickly hide under a table.

The source of the whistling is the sole kitchen employee of Starlight High, Gabriel Griffon. Gabriel's a recent young hire at the school who is quite popular among faculty & the student body alike. He has short black hair, white skin, a slim yet muscular physique, and a smile that could make anyone's heart skip a beat. He's wearing a black t-shirt underneath an apron, white gloves, brown pants, & black shoes.

"Hm? That's odd," Gabriel says to himself as he goes to turn off the lights, "I could have sworn I already did that."

As Gabriel walks past the table, Elizabeth & Ronnie cover their mouths. Gabriel manages to turn off the lights and then heads toward the back of the kitchen where he continues to mop up the floor. Ronnie & Elizabeth sigh as they get out of their hiding spot.

"If we get spotted by him we'll get kicked out," Elizabeth whispers.

"Yeah and besides," Ronnie begins to whisper as he glances at the money, "if I knew school lunches served this I would have never packed my own lunch!"

"I think that dude might be using that money for something, but for what?"

As Ronnie & Elizabeth begin to look around the kitchen, they notice that there seems to be a trail of blueberries on the ground.

"Didn't Hamster mention how the muffins had blueberries?" Elizabeth whispers.

"Hey yeah, you're right! Maybe they can lead us to the muffins," Ronnie replies.

The two follow the blueberry trail until they get to another wooden door that seems to have people chatting on the other side. Ronnie looks at Elizabeth and the two nod at each other before they slightly begin to open the door to see that it leads to the teacher's lounge where Ray Ramirez, the teacher aide, is eating some muffins.

"Damn those kids weren't lying, this shit is so good!" Ray says while stuffing his mouth with another muffin.

Next to him is the chemistry teacher Sam Penningberg, a posh young teacher who seems to be around Ray's age. Sam has short gelled brown hair, green eyes, glasses, white skin, and a slim body. He is wearing a white button-up shirt, brown pants, and black dress shoes. Sam is pouring himself some coffee while Ray continues to eat.

"You know, you probably shouldn't have bought all of those muffins off of him," Sam states as he sits down next to Ray.

"And why? So I could save some for those toddlers? All those kids have ever done for me is give me headaches."

"I won't deny it, but still something about that guy just seems off."

"Whatever you say, man," Ray says as he continues to stuff his mouth with muffins.

Elizabeth & Ronnie close the door quietly as they turn to each other.

"So I guess we found our culprit," Ronnie states.

"Yeah we did, but... there's just something that doesn't sit right with me about that Griffon guy," Elizabeth begins to reply, "why would he sell the muffins to some teachers? He practically caused a riot in the cafeteria and for what?"

As Ronnie & Elizabeth continue to ponder, Ronnie looks around and sees that Gabriel's still whistling away even in the darkness.

"Well, if you ask me, if he's working in the dark and has the cafeteria so loud people can't hear what's going on in here," Ronnie begins to say, "Then he's gotta be hiding something."