I'd Sell My Soul

Chapter 7: Everyone's stuck in High school

Katie Aberdeen's pov:
I arrived to work ten minutes before my shift as usual. I put my coat and purse in the mangers office. I was shocked to not see Levi. It was too early to take his break so he must've ran to the store I had concluded. I wander over to the host station where Brianna was whispering with Daria, one of the hostesses. As I approached they seemed to take note and stop, turning to face me.

"What are you little girls whispering about?" I smile as I put my hair up into a loose bun using the tie that usually sat on my right wrist.

"Nothing really...this chick was in the office with Levi." Daria shrugs.

"Oh come on Brianna knows how that goes." I continue to smile.  Brianna and Daria are notorious mean girls. Interacting with them reminds me of my high school days. I tend to steer clear of them, they're always at the center of some work drama.

"Ugh no this woman was like...old." Brianna scrunches up her nose. I narrow my eyes at her. I assume it must've been Allison. She did say she would come by. I feel protective of Levi in regards to Brianna. She's a drama queen and Levi loves this restaurant. I wouldn't put it past her to do something to hurt him when poked at and I hate to see bad things happen to my friends.

"It was probably just Allison, she's not a threat Bri." I wink at her.

"Who is she?" Brianna huffs.

"She's my high school best friend, she's Sophie Monroe's aunt." I explain as I look over her shoulder at the iPad to find out where my section is today.

"Sophie Monroe? She's in my little sister Willa's class. Willa said she's a weirdo." Brianna laughs. Daria giggles.

"Sophie is a good kid. Her mom just died, lay off her." I sigh.

"Whatever it's not like she's in the room. That old lady, her aunt, what'd you say her name is? Callie? Anyways, she was wearing skinny jeans and I'm like...are you a boomer? No one wears those anymore." Daria laughs.

"Allison. Bitch I wear those! They're comfortable. They'll come back in style, everything's a cycle." I playfully hit her on the arm.

"Sure. Whatever you say Kathryn." Brianna laughs. I walk away because I'm positive I can't play nice anymore with those two. I start rolling silverware at a booth in the back, waiting on my first table. Eventually, an hour into my shift Daria seats a man in a sheriff uniform at one of my tables. I wander over to the table as he sifts through the menu. It's Sheriff Ralph Tyler.

"Hey Sheriff. How are you doing today?!" I ask him.

"Hi Katie...uhh coffee. Black. Strong please." He sighs and returns his attention to the menu.

"Sure thing." I nod. I walk over to the drunk station and brew a fresh pot of dark roast. As I watch the coffee drip I think about the sheriff's disposition. He seemed off. Distracted and tired if he was asking for a strong coffee. Maybe he had a late night. From what I wonder though. The pot blinks a red light at me signaling the end of the brew. I dislodge the pot from the machine and bring it over to the sheriff's booth. I flip his mug upside and fill it full with a hot black coffee.

"Now. Wanna share what's on your mind?" I ask him. He looks up at me and glances around the empty restaurant.

"Kathryn, you Aberdeens are no busybody's which I appreciate about you. So I'm sharing this with you in confidence and mainly sleep deprivation." Sheriff Tyler sighs and closes his menu, folding his hands and placing them atop.

"You have my word. Not a soul." I put a hand on my heart. "Scout's honor."

"Well I appreciate it...there was a party at the creek this past weekend." The sheriff starts.

"Oh? I'm sure it was just some teenagers." I shrug.

"Right it was teens from the high school and actually students from the university over in Pullman." The sheriff confirms.

"Big deal, that's routine for us right?" I set the pot down.

"Right except what's not routine is we uncovered two bodies in the creek." The sherif whispers. I put a hand over my mouth.

"What?" I drop my voice low.

"It was two girls from the high school. It was grizzly." He shivers. Sheriff Tyler has been at this a long time. It shocks me to see his extreme reaction which can only make me wonder what the scene looked like.

"Are y'all doing a press conference?" I whisper.

"We will do another town hall. An emergency meeting. I'm not sure what exactly this threat is to the community...but two in one night points to multiple suspects." The sheriff murmurs.

"That's scary..." I pause considering my words. Would he want to know Sophie was there? Would he want to know we showed up to pick her up? Are we suspects?

"It's unnerving for folks for sure. I'm hoping lab results to come back within a couple days. But you know that's wishful thinking." The sheriff continues.

"Certainly. Well that's one town meeting I won't cause a fuss at then.." I try to lighten the mood with a joke.

"Yeah that last one was quite interesting. Good thing Levi's a good man otherwise I would've had to kick you out and I wouldn't have been as kind." The sheriff chuckles and picks up his coffee, blowing on it gently to cool it.

"To be fair, I was intoxicated. I had a couple of shots after work in between the meeting." I chuckle.

"Brave admitting public intoxication to a man of the law Katie." He set his mug back down.

"Ballsy. Which I know you can respect, Sheriff." I elbowed him.

"Alright we'll you might as well get me a bacon and egg platter for all my troubles. Over easy Kathryn." He hands me his menu.

"You got it!" I smile and accept the menu walking back to the kitchen to put in the order. All I can help but think is "damn. Two girls forever stuck in high school."