The Keepers

Chapter 3: Off We Go

          We left Physics and went on to our own electives before lunch, mine being Criminal Forensic Science and Virgil going to Art II. When I walked in, I took my seat and once again waited for the teacher to show up. That's when I saw her. The same girl from Spanish Class was walking up to her table, a stride in her wake. This time, I got a good look at her face, and (after five seconds of staring-not a creep I swear) it was there that I finally recognized who she was. Her hair was now different, yes, and she lost her glasses too, but I still recognized the freckled, roughed up long face of Luna Elkins, the twin sister of the more popular pop prince twin Ray Elkins. I've known Luna ever since she and her brother came along to the district in Sophomore year, and let me tell you something. If she sees any kind of behavior that she considers suspicious, you are done for if you can't come up with an excuse that she can fall for.

        "Oh dear gods no....Please, please, please don't tell me she wasn't affected by Virgil's trance!" This would not be good for him, and on his first day here too! I couldn't leave the class and find Virgil at this point; the teacher had already walked in and the period bell was going to ring in a minute. All I could really do was hope that she wasn't in any of Virgil's classes, and that maybe she would just, forget all abo- oh my gods she's staring right at me now what the hell what the actual fresh gods almighty!

         There she was, even as our teacher started his lecture, glaring at me, her eyes burning deep holes straight into my head. "WHY IS SHE STARING AT ME?! WHAT DID I DO?!"  I mentally screamed at myself. Then I realized why. She saw me talking with Virgil and being all friendly with him. She probably thinks I had a part in what he did. Crap.

"Random crime question of the day! Ms. Elkins! How is one supposed to tell if this person died from either drowning or poisoning?"

      The teacher motioned at the picture on his smartboard, which showed a cartoony young woman drenched in water splayed out on the pool grounds. Luna rose up from her stool.

      "It's simple, really. The woman may be covered in water and is next to a pool, however, by the looks of it, there is dried blood in her throat, mouth, and the corners of her mouth. Her left arm muscle also looks really red and irritated, possibly from the injection of said poison." Luna sat back down in her stool, a stoic face appearing on her facial features.

         "Oh, oh how wonderful! She knows how to commit murder! Which is probably what she'll do if I don't get out of this class and away from her!"  I fidgeted in my stool as our teacher went over the effects of different poisons and how to find the signs of it. I tried taking notes on it, but I could still feel the holes Luna practically burned into my skull, sending a shiver down my spine. The period ended faster than I expected (thank every being out there), and I sprinted off to the cafeteria downstairs, practically tripping over the flight of stairs. I ran to my locker, grabbed my backpack, and went off to the lunch room. I got my lunch from the lunch ladies and immediately went searching for Virgil. I finally spot him sitting alone at a table with his lunch sack. I wave to him and walk up to the lunch table, placing my tray down. "So, Ruzna told you where our usual lunch table was?"

      He looks up from his sandwich and nods. "Yeah, he texted it to me not long before I walked in. He said it was pretty easy to spot, what with all of these....."glittery pony stickers"?" he looks down at the lunch table in confusion and gestures to it, down at the stickers messily covering the table.

I look down at the stickers and laugh. I had completely forgotten that Ruzna and I decorated the table with embarrassing glitter stickers on the first day of Junior year. "Oh man! We placed these here so that no one, especially the Seniors, would try to take our table." My smirk turns into a grin. "Think of it as us "claiming our territory"." I make finger quotations in the air, getting a soft laugh out of Virgil.