Penhallow

II

I was in the school’s cafeteria eating lunch with my friends- my best friend Jennifer ‘Jenzy’ Kendrick, her boyfriend Maddox Gray, Phineas Vega and his girlfriend Nancy Carson. So well yeah, I’m the only one without a partner, the epic fifth wheel. I had one a few months ago but we broke up. It sucks. It was just another case of “it’s not you, it’s me” thingy. We were seated in the far left corner talking about the death of Mr. Jenkins. It’s been only a week since his death.

There were only a few people present in the Cafeteria at the moment. The rest of the students are still afraid to come to class. What with two murders in a row. I reasoned out to my parents that there’s no sense hiding in the house. The murder didn’t take place in the school this time. The killer or killers can be anywhere and everywhere as they proved by trespassing into Mr. Jenkins house without being seen.  Nowhere is safe. Not even our house. And so they let me go to school.

“Do you think the culprit this time is the same one who killed Laurel?” Jenzy asked, a redhead with green eyes. Jenzy had been my friend since forever, well, since the second year of middle school. A transferee who is new in town and I happened to be the first one she approached. Surprisingly we clicked together seeing as we are night and day of each other.  Her, being Ms. Sunny Sunshine and me the nerdy one with an attitude.

“Laura” I corrected munching a quarter pounder burger.
“What?”
“It’s Laura not Laurel.”
“It’s Loreen,” Phin hissed. “for the umpteenth time.” he can’t help adding.
Jenzy and I just rolled our eyes while Nance muttered “Trust the guys to remember that.”

Nancy had been a new addition when high school started. All of us shared the same middle school, as there is also only one middle school here in Penhallow. But we were not close during middle school years. We had different set of friends then. Nancy decided to join me and Jenzy, when we asked her why, she said that she had enough of bitches as friends and if were looking for one, she’s in.  Nancy is fun to be with, the no-nonsense type of person. Her witty and bitchy remarks is one of a kind.

The evil bitchy witch whom everybody eluded. Kindred souls. Phin had been the pleasant addition during our sophomore year, though even back in middle school, he was Mr. Friendship with everyone. Gray had been the unexpected addition. I knew him from middle school, sort of. I never talked to him. He was too serious way back, and I remembered him being Barry’s old friend. He pursued Jenzy from the very beginning of our freshmen days and my girlfriend was instantly smitten. She lasted for about five seconds. Gray was okay. More thank okay to my surprise. Not too serious like we suspected… just cool.

We were currently talking about the incidents as were everyone else.

“She had been our school mate for years guys! How can you not rem-” The sandy-haired began but Gray cut him off.

“Drop it. You’ll just make it worse. Haven’t you learnt never to argue against a woman?” Phin opened his mouth but then close it like a fish. We tried to hid our smile. It was a secret joke to us. When Gray speaks, everybody must listens.

“Anyway, my Dad suspects that the culprit is the same person.” Gray’s dad is the town’s sheriff. Another perks of having a police officer as your friend’s Dad, you’re updated faster more than others. He’s our means of news.

“I thought there were no clues found that may connect to Loreen’s murder?” I asked. No fingerprints were found on the knife used to stab Mr. Jenkins. No forced entry either. Mr. Jenkins was a middle-aged man living alone at his apartment near our school. He had started teaching at Stevenson last year. He used to live in Penhallow years before but decided to go abroad. He just returned in our town last year and decided to live here for good.

According to Uncle Gray (yeah, we’re close), the owner of the knife used to stab Mr. Jenkins was Mr. Jenkins himself. A cake knife. He was having a cake when he died. The police deduced that he was having a visitor and that it was the culprit. It was a Saturday morning when the crime happened. But his body was found four days later by a colleague who visited his house for some school related stuff. He found his corpse in a state of degradation and wearing a shock expression.

Again, there was no witness. No one saw anyone entering his house that day. Nothing went missing so burglary is out of picture. Another clean crime. The investigation is longer this time and still no enough evidence found that will direct to the culprit. Everything is a speculation. Everyone is a suspect.

“No, but well..” Gray answered.

“Having two murders in a span of five months, don’t you think the probability that there is only one killer is high? Dad said its gut feeling” Who would fought over the gut feeling of a police officer?

“I haven’t heard of someone new to town to suspect.” Jenzy said eating a new slice of pizza. I hate her sometimes. She’s one of those cheaters who don’t get fat no matter how much they eat.

“Forget about strangers and visitors. They wouldn’t be able to go to school unnoticed in the first place. Two deaths from our school, my hunch’s telling me that it is someone among us, a student for sure. Just waiting for his next victim” Nancy said widening her squinty eyes for emphasis. She’s a fan of melodrama.

“And that might be one of you …” came a snotty voice from behind us. Slurry and annoying. “You guys should have a stayed at home, now with a killer on the loose. Who knows? My gut’s telling me your next.”

Enter Rebecca Shaw, our resident bitch. Her and her two ever present minions-no scratch that- minions are way cuter. School life won’t be complete without this type of people. We all hated each other at first sight, since our freshmen days. Our group is kinda famous in its own way. I’m academically famous being the first in our year. Jenzy too, she’s a cheerleader in the same team as Rebecca. Gray is famous being one of the hot shots, Nancy is our very own bitch (sorry Nance), and last but not the least, the funny-friendly-running-to-be-an-ambassador Phin. How we all became friends? It just happened. But it was mostly Gray’s fault that Rebecca’s is picking on us worse than ever, ever since Gray and Jenzy became a couple about two year ago. Rebecca was crushing on Gray since forever. As I’ve said, he’s one of the hot shots- dark good looks and stormy eyes (yes, his eyes are gray, funny). I pity Rebecca. Gray only has eyes for Jenzy.

“And my gut is telling me that you’re the next one Rebecca.” Nancy replied, her squinty eyes in the process of disappearing any second. Her apple cut black hair and porcelain skin made her look like the villain more than Rebecca, with her angel curls and eyes. “I believe in my guts more.”

“How sure are you? Unless you’re the killer? Careful.” Rebecca continued ignoring Nancy. Unfortunately-or fortunately- there were no teachers present in the room at the moment to witness this face-off.

“Between the two of us, you’re more like the suspect Becky.” Rebecca’s eyes narrowed on that. She hated being called Becky and only Nance called her that. I do too, sometimes. “You are the one with more motives to kill Loreen.”

Silence. Everyone was tongue-tied to hear such blunt accusation coming from Nancy. She dislikes Rebecca more than anyone of us here. They quite have a long-standing history. They used to be best friends back in middle school. But Rebecca being the bitch that she is, decided that Nancy is not worth keeping for when she started gaining fame in high school.

Now that Nancy mentioned it. Rebecca really does have a motive for killing Loreen, albeit a petty one. Jealousy.  She and Loreen are rivals in terms of boys, boys and boys. They love their popularity like that. They don’t fight publicly. It was beneath them, they said. But if looks could kill, they’d be dead the first time they’ve met. They had their first ever public row a few weeks ago though, before Loreen’s death. Something about ‘sabotage’, ‘envy’ and ‘slut’. I can’t say if that is enough reason to kill someone. But as I’ve said, everything is a speculation. Everyone is a suspect.

Rebecca lost her smile- sneer. She finally turned her full attention to Nancy and said. “Are you accusing me of something?”

“I am suspecting you, yes”
“Careful Nance, if I did indeed kill Loreen, then you better watch your back.” She gave her another queenly sneer before greeting Gray with a stunning smile. Amazing. Gray returned one out of politeness which earned her an elbow from Jenzy.
“What?!” He complained.
“How can you smile at her? How can you?!”  Jenzy screeched watching the retreating back of Mean girls v.2.0.
Gray sighed not bothering to answer.
“Did you really believe that she’s the one who killed Loreen?” Phin asked.
“Everyone is a suspect until the culprit is identified. Though I don’t think she’s capable of killing someone for some petty reason.” I answered.
“I wouldn’t put it past her. Heard what she said?” Nancy said and Jenzy nodded with fervently.
“But you know, I don’t really mourn Mr. Jenkins’ death. You all agree that he’s bordering on being professor Jerk.”

Gray said that had me look up. It’s not in his character to speak ill of someone especially a teacher. But what he said is indeed true. Mr. Jenkins- or professor Jerkins- as what the students used to call him was unpopular even to his colleagues. What with his balding hair and ugly lousy face and with him being so uptight and a spiteful old man.  Maybe he was just suffering from mid-life crises. So we could only nod at Gray in agreement. “The murderer have done us some good”

“He was not bordering to it Gray. He was Professor Jerk.” Nance replied.