Ward 48

Chapter 9 [Edited]

Nicole was upstairs, attempting to straighten out her dress. Her ponytail was the highest it had ever been, and her heels, well, they were proving difficult to walk in. Why would Rachel make me walk in 4 inch heels? I know I'm short, but...

"Nicole! Are you ready yet?" Vera called from downstairs.

"Yeah, I'll be down soon! Just give me a minute!" Nicole replied. "These heels are impossible to walk in!"

"You're telling me! It's taking all of my mental strength to walk in these things!" Vera replied.

"Vera, they're only 2 inches high! Why are you having so much trouble walking?" Kayla asked.

"Because, the highest heels that I've ever worn are maybe flats," Vera replied.

Kayla sighed. "Flats aren't heels Vera," Nicole laughed from upstairs. The little disputes that they had made their friendship all the more valuable.

"Nicole, hurry! The dance starts at 6, and Rachel is here to pick us up!" Kayla yelled from downstairs.

Nicole ran down the stairs in a hurry, nearly tripping over her heels doing so. When she came down to the bottom of the stairs, she laughed in surprise.

"What's so funny?" Lucy questioned, adjusting her black heels.

Nicole continued, trying to muffle her giggles. "It's just that, I've never seen Vera in a dress, other than our orchestra concerts,"

Vera flushed a bright red, and averted her gaze to the ground. "Shut up! Let's just get going! We need to catch the perpetrator at the party!" Vera said, leaving the other girls in a fit of giggles.

A black car was waiting outside for them, along with an ecstatic Rachel.

"Hey guys! Hurry up!" Rachel said, waving. The girls all climbed into the car.

Nicole sat in the backseat, plugging in her headphones and thinking about the criminal and how he would be caught.

Okay, so there are going to be cops at the dance, because this IS a public event. As soon as I spot him, I'll let them know. But, what is the guarantee that he is going to be there?

"Oi, Nicole. Are you okay? You've kinda spaced out a bit. Is everything okay?" Kayla asked.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking," Nicole replied. Lucy turned towards Nicole and noticed her dazed expression.

"What are you thinking about?" Lucy asked.

"Oh, just the probability of him being there. I'm a little unsure of him being there. If he's not at the dance, then this would have been a total waste of time," Nicole sighed.

"Well, lucky for you, I managed to accidentally grab some papers off of his desk after class yesterday. I forgot to tell you," Lucy said, pulling random papers out of her bag.

"Where did you get your bag? From Hermione?" Nicole said, examining the papers. There was a small sticky note attached reading "Arrive at the dance at 6:00." attached to a chaperone form for the dance.

"Lucy, what's that notebook paper?" Nicole asked, pulling at a white piece of torn paper. It seemed to be a schedule, based on the numbers and writings.

"It says, 'release gas at 7:30. They will most likely be there. 8:00, take them to hospital. Nicole needs to be put in a special chamber.'" Lucy read.

"When he says 'them', he means us?" Nicole gasped in shock. "I don't want to go with that creeper! We at least know what time he's going to do it,"