Queen Of Hearts [under editing]

Prologue

Brynn •

It started like the last day of the school year should. I had breakfast. After eating I headed upstairs. I threw my hair into a ponytail, pulled on jeans and a sweater and left for the hellhole also known as FRHS.

I met Mackenzie at her house like I had every morning since the third grade, when we'd become best friends. That morning she came out of her house looking harassed. "Sorry Brynn, it was hectic in there!" She muttered, rolling her eyes. I patted her arm sympathetically as we started to walk towards the last day of torture.

"How come?" I asked.

"Mom found Maddie's cigarettes." Kenzie sighed sadly.

"Ah," I replied.

Maddie and Mackenzie's grandmother died of lung cancer a few years back. Consequently Melissa, their mother, would have been more accepting of a lion trained for the circus than a smoker, for a daughter.

"I bet that was a nice conversation over breakfast!" I had said sarcastically, trying (and failing), to make her laugh.

"Oh ha ha." She had retorted, the sarcasm positively blindingly "Very funny. I had to take the maple syrup off mom to stop her from throwing it!"
I had put my arm round her shoulders and given her a little hug. Mackenzie hated confrontation more than anything.

We walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence. Another thing Kenzie hated was people fussing over her. When she was upset it was best to let her come to you otherwise you were in danger of upsetting her further.

School was boring. The classes were full of people talking about their different vacations at the tops of their voices. Kenz and I sat at the back of each of our lessons and played card games. We were both highly competitive and loved to win. We both enjoyed poker, that day we played for sweets. Betting for chocolate was always fun.

We were sat on the school field eating lunch when the school secretary found us.

"Miss Ziegler the headmistress wants to see you. You'd better come too Miss Rumfallo." We looked at each other, startled. We never ever did anything out of line. Well, except for lying about why our assignments were late. Although even that was a rare occurrence, but hey, who didn't? We followed the secretary to the office. Our head was sat behind her desk. She looked flustered and upset.

"Ah, girls you better sit down," she said kindly. Was that pity in her voice? Kenzie looked at me worriedly. The feeling was mutual.

The head cleared her throat. "Mackenzie there's no easy way to say this... But... Mackenzie your sister is dead."

***

So this is my first go at writing murder mystery and I'm so excited. I'd also like to say a big thank you to my lovely friend who made this cover for me! As a way of giving her the full credit she deserves I have dedicated this book to her x love you lots Megan