Now There's Drama

Prologue

Marc Cavener was third-wheeling or rather, as he preferred the term, chaperoning. He had no choice in the matter. Handcuffed to his left wrist was a scowling Tegan Baxter, whose bushy brown hair was flying as she ran towards the local café. She checked her watch every few seconds, whilst pulling Marc along with her.

According to Tegan's mother, she and her boyfriend, Roland, "became too frisky" resulting in a three week ban of one-on-one dates. Considering Marc ratted her out to her father during a male bonding session he had the reward of being stuck to her for the rest of his Saturday evening.

"You are not to open your mouth or look anyone in the eye or make things awkward," Tegan said through clenched teeth as they reached the cafe door. She checked herself in the window, pushing back hair so her vivid blue eyes, arguably her best feature in Marc's opinion, were visable.

The two of them squeezed into the local cafe, pushing and shoving each other, trying to get through the door.

Tegan hastened her steps once she laid eyes on Roland Spencer. Marc felt the tug on the handcuffs and walked faster to catch up with her. For a six foot five rugby player he was pulled along rather easily.

Tegan threw her arms around Roland as she got to him. They entwined in a long and passionate embrace. Tegan brought her hand up to Roland's hair smiling as she fingered his black hair. She succeeded in leaving Marc's hand hanging loosely in midair as he watched the two who were more than happy to give the whole cafe a free show. His eyes flitted around the cafe catching sight of the blonde and beautiful Christie Claythorne who was surrounded by stacks of paper and empty coffee cups.

After giving them what felt like an hour -but was in reality a minute to kiss, Marc's hand began to twitch. He smirked as an idea struck him.

An ingenious idea.

With his right hand, the hand that wasn't cuffed to Tegan, he reached out and began to stroke Roland's back.

The kiss ended abruptly as Roland pulled away frantically twisting his head to find the perpetrator. His eyes narrowed when he saw Marc.

"Marc, buddy, I love you but not that much," Roland said, leaning over and punching his chest, shaking his head as Tegan kicked Marc in the shins.

Embarrassed Tegan wouldn't meet his eye but proceeded to kick the robust boy.

"Sorry mate but it's like watching a mother bird feeding a baby," Marc said, looking around the cafe and avoiding eye contact from his friends. His eyes scanned the room and once again landed on Christie Claythorne who had a fist in her mouth, choking on laughter with her green eyes focused specifically on Marc. As if the night couldn't get any worse.

Tegan shuffled over to the bench and threw herself down on the padded seat. Roland slid in opposite taking her hands in his.

"Tegan do you need some help with your charm bracelet?" Christie yelled from the other side of the cafe. "Or is this a special arrangement?"

"If you could I'd owe my life to you," Tegan said.

Christie pushed past all of the papers and shifted the coffee cups out of the way. Her slender body moved quickly across the tiled floor before arriving at their booth.

"Marc, you'll need to move," Christie said softly.

Marc knelt down next at the head of the table. Christie climbed onto the seat and pushed herself up against Tegan, as far away from Marc as possible. She put five bobby pins onto the tablecloth and tucked a blonde curl behind her ear.

"Dad won't let me pick the household locks anymore," she said. Christie inserted a bobby pin into the lock and wriggled it around. Click.

Tegan threw the handcuffs towards Marc. She flexed her wrist and started to rub out the red pressure marks.

"Christie if I give you twenty dollars can you keep Marc fed and away from us?" Tegan asked, opening her bag.

She took the money out of her wallet and handed it to Christie who put it in the front pocket of her black waitress' apron. Christie stepped off the seat and hit her leg against Marc. She jerked back and tripped over her own two feet. She reached out and steadied herself on the booth.

Christie gestured for Marc to follow her as she slipped back into the booth she was previously occupying. Marc slid in opposite her. The air was filled with the stench of coffee and all he could hear was the clattering of coffee cups being pushed aside. 

"You can either help me track down the Maiden of Darkness or we can watch a bootleg copy of And Then They Were None and it's the crappy 1970s version," Christie said.

"Maiden of Darkness?" Marc asked.

"She's like a superhero on the other side of the city and have every article ever written on her in this folder. This chick must be amazing," Christie said, holding up a blue manila folder.

Marc raised his eyebrows before reaching out for one of the articles strewn across the table. It read: Girl In Black Saves Hostages.

Christie was scribbling something on a piece of paper with a green pen. Certain parts of the paper where highlighted. He should have chosen the 1970s movie. The silence was deafening.

"Have you ever looked at people and tried to work out things about them?" Christie asked.

"Like the airport game?" Marc replied. Anything to save him for the Maiden of Darkness.

"No, I'll show you. Tegan is on her period. She looks uncomfortable and she keeps sliding forward to readjust her...thing. She must have a backward flow from the way she's moving. She's more irritable. Her diabetes is playing up as she has more marks than usual on her pinkie finger. Her period effects that," Christie said.

Marc uncovered his ears. "Thank you but I don't need to know about my friend's tampon problems," he said.

"Marc it's a pad." He squirmed a little. Christie shook her head. "Stop squirming it's a natural part of life."

Note to self. Always choose the movie, Marc thought.

"I have a Sherlock Holmes complex. I notice things others don't," she said, before returning her gaze to the papers and picking up a local newspaper clipping.

Marc guessed it came with a name. Christie Claythorne. Named after Agatha Christie. The girl had grown up on a diet of mystery. Nancy Drew progressed onto Poirot and Sherlock Holmes. Soon reading mysteries wasn't enough and the obsession with the Maiden of Darkness began. Luckily the Maiden was a success story so she wasn't considered to be 'morbid'.

While Christie looked at the clipping Marc moved closer to the girl. Christie shuffled further away. He expected it to happen. With a brain like hers picking up a high school crush was easy. She'd probably known his feeling since Year 8.

His feelings were hardly disguised. The way he diverted his gaze, the profuse blushing, him running away from her, the stuttering. He'd never acted on anything before and that was they way Christie intended on keeping it.

Over the course of two hours Christie was no closer to finding the Maiden of Darkness and Marc had gone through three packets of complementary peanuts. Marc finally got the hint about moving closer when Christie left the booth to find "the new waitress" and came back with the girl from the bookstore.

That night Christie showered for half an hour, scrubbing particularly on her right leg.

Marc on the other hand decided to jump ship once he reached the Baxter residence and witnessed his best friend throw a pair of handcuffs at her father. He ran all the way home, barely stopping for traffic and collapsed in his room, thinking about his newest attempt at receiving the intelligent Christie Claythorne's attention.

A/N: I wrote this back in January so I've tried to salvage it as my writing style has changed. I'm excited for this story. Any mistakes let me know. Thanks for reading! 

Carice :)