Murder at School

Continuing the case

What?! I thought; my mind was swirling. It was as if a hurricane had been born inside my head. Who is this from? What does it mean? Stop? Stop what? I began to feel dizzy as a horrible realisation came crashing down on me. I had to sit down. There's only one reasonable explanation: the murderer knows we're on to them.
... And that means we're all in danger...
After French, Tazmin and Saffron cornered Emerald and I. Again. Seriously, what's their problem?
"Hey, Christmas," Saffron began, ignoring Emerald. "How was French without your only friend?"
"Fine," I replied, spitefully. "I like French either way. Unlike you-you can't do anything without each other."
"No need to be so mean," Tazmin smirked, seemingly feeding on my comment. Her hair was in a ridiculously high ponytail, that was permanently in her eyes. "Just because you lost your only friend-"
SHUT UP! I yelled in my head.
"No," I said, sharply, walking up to her and poking my finger close to her face. "Not my only friend. Plus she was murdered." They tried to interrupt, but I wasn't in the mood for that. "Even if you didn't particularly like her-for a stupid reason-, you must still realise that no one deserves to be killed, especially not like that. So if you don't have anything nice to say, then fuck off."
"No, why should we? Give us one good reason."
"Because you're making a stronger motive for yourselves. What's to say it wasn't you?" I knew I was taking a risk-what if it was them, and I was only putting myself in even more danger? They froze, before smiling and chuckling to themselves.
"Oh, really? Well, for your information, we got a lift from my mum: she can prove it. Unlike some people's stories." My throat went dry: did they suspect me? "Besides, how can we be the murderer if the murderer is someone else in this room?" Saffron finished, and turned on her heel with a smirk, then sauntered over to the door.
I wanted to melt into a puddle on the floor. They did suspect me. And if they suspect me, and have an alibi now, then... That means... It's down to two.
But the police would say three...
At lunch, we returned to the field; Summer and I arrived first. Once we were all there, Alex said that he had good news about the case.
"I was talking to Jay earlier-and it turns out that the police checked with his mum: she did pick him up at 4:25 precisely because he had football club after school and it was an important session or match or something that day."
"Stone solid alibi: there's no way his mother could be in on it!" Hartness nodded, impressed with Alexander's detective skills.
We all nodded, as Hartness put a clear, black line through Jay's name.
It was only now that I felt a sinking feeling. "Guys?" I began, shakily.
"Yes?"
"I-I know who the murderer is."
"Who?" April demanded.
"How'd you find out?" May asked simultaneously.
"For a start, at the beginning of French, I argued with Tazmin and Saffron-"
"It was them, wasn't it? I knew it!" cried Melody, cutting me off.
"-then I got a mysterious note saying 'stop'. I had no clue who it was from, but now I'm rather paranoid that the murderer wrote it and knows we're onto them.
"Then afterwards, they cornered me again. They were horrible about Brooklyn again, and I...I said that they could be the murderer." I took a deep breath. "They denied it; said that they'd gotten a lift and that their mum could prove it. Unlike some people.
"Finally they said that they couldn't be as the murderer was someone else in that room: they think it's me, just like the police."
"And? You said you know who it is?" Ivy prompted.
"Yes: it's Emerald. She's the final suspect on the list," I burst. I didn't want it to be true, but it was. It was Emerald. "And...oh-do you think Tazmin and Saffron meant her? She was there with me after French. Did they know?"
"But how would they?" Melody enquired. "Maybe they just assumed it was one of you." Everyone agreed with that, so I sighed: it had been Emerald. I dropped my head to my hands. Why did it have to be Emerald?
"So what do we do now?"
That was the thing I was least worried about; once Melody had said it, it was all I could think about. What do we do now?
"It's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Ivy suddenly said. I looked up at her; slumped over the tree, but without Danny,who had a club. She looked determined, and her determination made me feel stronger, so I sat up straight.
"What?"
"We confront Emerald. All of us together. She can't fight all of us-and she's smart enough to know when she's beaten. We'll get to the truth."
That would work, I realised. "But when?"
"Now," April began before Hartness told her that there was no time.
"We only have ten minutes of lunch left and we'd still have to find her."
Alex and I agreed, so we agreed to confront her tomorrow morning, during registration. The plan was that I'd lure her out of form and we'd question her in the corridor.
Quite frankly, I was worried. I couldn't shake the feeling that we were missing something; nor the feeling that Saffron and Tazmin knew more than what they say. If they hadn't thought it was me and they really did know it was Emerald, would we be doing a worse thing by confronting Emerald so soon, without triple checking that she was working alone? And-most importantly of all-what if we made that mistake and something even worse happened?
Something worse than bullying.
Something worse than theft.
Something worse than death.
And even worse than murder.
Mass murder.