Lookism: What Am I Even Doing?

Chapter 66

(Daniel's POV)

Yesterday's double meeting with Jace and Ila's Uncle has left me very confused. There is the deal with what we discussed in the park and all the strange information we received later. Some things were clear though. Both Ila and her Uncle were hiding something from each other.

Ila seemed to have a lonely life displayed for everyone to see, including her family yet she knew things she didn't have. Meaning that some way or another she was in connection with someone else. Some I'm guessing that is, or was, part of the Four Major Crews.

Her Uncle never really answered the way we wanted him to and he was taken aback about what he could answer. It was almost as if he was expecting us to have jumped that hurdle already. Towards the end of our conversation, he mentioned something about his family being connected through coincidence and changing two similar lives for another.

Yet neither of them seemed to connect each other to the Four Crews. Did they really so blindly believe that neither of them would get involved in such dirty groups? Or were they not as close family as I thought?

I sighed. All of this is giving me a headache.

Just then I got an idea. While everyone else chatted amongst themselves during self-study, I pulled out the flip phone I had acquired. If this really belonged to Ila's Uncle then maybe there was some sort of clue to all of his strange words. Something that would help connect at least some of the dots together.

The headphones were wrapped carefully around the body of the phone and I was quick to untangle them and set them on the table. Contacts, pictures, notes, downloads. I bit my lower lip as I checked them all.

Huh?

As I scrolled through the gallery, something seemed off. Most people would keep pictures of dogs, family or friends in their phones. Maybe even some pictures of landscapes to keep memories. All of these photos seemed so random and at the bottom of each one there was a single digit number written in black.

A cardinal: 9

That American president with the big hate: 9.3

A lighthouse: 12

The pictures went on and on. Was this completely useless or another mystery I had to solve?

Jay tapped on my table, "..."

"Hmm? Oh, no, don't worry I'm not using this phone because I broke my other one."

"..."

"No! No! It's okay. I promise! You don't have to buy me a new one!" I pulled out my own phone and showed it to him, "See?"
"..."

"Whose phone is this?" I looked at Jay. He looked at me with a curious expression on his face. Maybe it was about time I told him about this. Keeping everything I knew from him felt wrong, "I'll tell you later okay?"

His expression stayed silent but after a few seconds he simply nodded at me. I smiled at him then continued going through the phone. The only other thing beside these photos were songs. Most of them had titles in English so I was only able to read out some of their titles. Though there is one I could understand, I think it was from a Japanese artist. Ila's Uncle had a very diverse taste.

I sighed. This was getting me nowhere. As I put the phone away I saw an older figure entering the classroom in a rushed manner. That's strange, he wasn't a teacher. The way he was dressed told me he was probably a parent. He looked around the room with an anxious look on his face and then rushed towards Mira. Before I could do anything, he took her hands in his and began to cry.

"I heard you were the last one to meet Jasmine! Has she contacted you recently? She hasn't come home for the past few days."

Jasmine? Wasn't she in our class? I remember her name mostly through the rumors going around the class. I've talked to her a couple times but it really didn't go anywhere since she started boasting about her life. People say that she's a habitual liar that only says those things for attention. I think she's just misunderstood. Some people lie because it's the only way they know how to be seen.