Murder in Winter

Group chat

I got home, sliding my bag off of my shoulder and pulling my phone out of my pocket. After texting is everyone here? I began unzipping my coat, which was dripping with melting snow. Then I folded it over the side of the bathtub so that the icy cold water couldn't create a puddle on the floor and headed into my room. I had quite a lot of homework, so I chose to make a start on my art.
As I sat at my desk, my phone rang, shaking the desk significantly. 'Here' Alex replied. 'Present, with Mel' Hartness added. A few minutes later, we were all online, so the meeting 'officially commenced', using Hartness' words.
'Okay, report' she texted.
As I was walking to form from RE, I tripped over Ivy's leg. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that she had been stabbed in the neck with a compass. We all know where.
'When do you believe the crime took place?'
I thought about it for a bit before answering. Not sure, she went missing during PE-first-but it's possible she was killed on her way back from the support session.
'Poor Ivy!' May texted. 'That's horrible! Who would do such a thing!'
I agreed, naturally. Murder is a horrible thing. It doesn't matter whether the victim is a horrible person, they still shouldn't be killed. I always lived with this rule, but as sympathetic as i was for others, I never truly understood just how awful it makes the lives of the victim's friends. When Brooklyn died, I thought I understood. But I was wrong. As sad as I was, what I was feeling now was ten times worse.
Guilt.
If I'd teamed up with Ivy from the start, I would've been able to prevent one of my best friends from getting murdered. Or at least seen the culprit. Images from past memories that I shared with Ivy flashed in front of my eyes. I attempted to shake the thought from my mind, and-despite a little devil repeatedly saying it was my fault in the back of my head-I returned to the task at hand. Hartness was typing.
'PE is your class and 10B, right?'
Yeah. What's she getting at? I wondered.
'Well, you were supposed to be in the gym, due to the snow' she explained. 'So the murderer must be someone in those classes, assuming the murder happened then.'
'Yeah, you've got a point' April texted what I was thinking.
'Using the same reasoning, the murder couldn't have been planned in advance. It must've been risked in the moment.' Alex wrote after a while, with everyone agreeing.
I'm assuming you're taking notes, Hartness I texted, with the laughing-so-hard-I'm-crying emoji. As always with her, I knew the answer before it came. Of course she was. She'd never leave it for later; she has to be organised.
'Before we get carried away, what if it wasn't then, and it was after her support session.' Eventually April's words set in and I began doubting what we thought we knew. What if she's right?
'Well that's easy to solve: ask the lady who runs it. Obviously, if she didn't see Ivy there then there was a reason for it...' Alex's text rang through.
'Melody's made a good point: also 10B's form room is in the history block.'
'How's that helpful?" April questioned Hartness, who proceeded to enlightening us.
'If Ivy went to her session, which is in the support room, why go down the path she did? Where else would she go besides her form? Since it was cold, it would make the most sense to take the path that runs directly from the support room to history block.' True. Annoyingly true. It's someone from either my form or her's.

'Christmas, Danny and I were all together for the majority of the lesson. I give you my word it wasn't me.' I partially rolled my eyes at Summer-as if we'd even dream it was her!
Same here. [rolling eyes emoji]. Yes, I was with Summer from about 9:15 and Danny from around 9:25 to 9:55-most of PE. Also I doubt Danny could imagine harming Ivy. We all saw his reaction to seeing her body.
'Very true. Okay, any last notes to add before I begin the suspect list?'
Yes. I had to tell someone: relieve my shoulders of my guilt. At around 9:50 the three of us went to find new targets. It was then I noticed Lia wasn't there. NOR IVY. Up 'til that point I'd been worried about Lia being targeted-like Brooklyn. When I saw her again I forgot about Ivy, who never returned. I should've searched for her. My eyes were welling up; my vision going blurry. What started as a pang of guilt had grown as time passed; me dwelling on it every spare second.
'I'm sorry-I was the one who reassured you that she was probably inside or something.' My phone vibrated as Summer's message flashed onto the screen.
'It's not your fault guys.' May insisted, but I couldn't help but feel this way.
'Suspect list.' Hartness changed the subject. 'Everyone in A and B apart from Christmas, Summer and Danny, I suppose.'
'Yeah, probably. Personally, I'd also cross off the new girl, Lia. She has no reason to hate Ivy.' I began typing before remembering that moment at the start of the lesson. The awkward tension between Ivy and Lia. Then I deleted all but the first two words which I then sent. I'll look into that more first before announcing it to the group, I thought.
'Okay, I've got to go now, I guess that's all for now. Plan of action: collect alibis. See you tomorrow." Hartness said, where upon i pressed the off button of my phone and left it on its charger.
A minute later, a bright light flashed from my phone, illuminating that corner of my room. 'Wait guys: be careful!' came up under May's name.
Of course, we always are. I was rather confused. Why wouldn't we be careful? We're dealing with a murderer!
'No you don't understand: we've solved two cases at school. Everyone knows it. We're no longer a secret. The murderer will know we're onto them...'