One Year Before High School

Chapter 15

It was 3:30, around the time that the pour of people from the main area of the school had thinned out somewhat, and the noise level dialing down gradually as if preparing for nighttime. Ella had hopped straight to her laptop, and brought up her profile. She wanted to get it done today, since it had been nagging at her for the past hour.

Even though she was convinced that there was no one investigating into her-she hadn't done anything too rash lately-but there was always the thought at the back of her head. It wouldn't go away until she had the profile up and running, and since she had a rare day of no homework today, she might as well.

Q38) What is your pet's name?

Why do you need to know that?" she asked the compter. Her fingers flew as she typed in "Not applicable"

Because she never had a pet..

Ivy chose that moment to poke her head in to check up on her.  "You're at it already?" she asked. When Ella nodded, she took that as an invite to come in.

She walked over to her, and peeked over her shoulder. "For question number thirty-nine, it's cats" she said.

Ella input that into the laptop for What is your preferance of a pet if the above does not apply.

"I'm almost done" said Ella, "I just gotta finish up the quiz, give it to Mrs. La'Lune, and then it'll be one weight off my shoulders"

Ivy narrowed her eyes at the screen. "Well, you might want to restate that statement" she said, pointing to the thirty-nine out of fifty questions icon on the upper-right corner. Ella didn't follow, and took the mouse and hovered over it.

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Ella's forehead made contact with the laquered wood desk.

Your search for Ivy McKay didn't come up with any results. You can try using different key words, or try again later.

"This confirms it" said Stephany as she scibbled something down onto her journal, "There's something big going on with Ivy"

Rylan poked his head into the room, took one look at Stephany, then sighed and shook his head. "Babe, you know I love you, but don't you think this is a little overboard?" he asked. Stephany shook her head vehemently. "No way. Think about it, what good reason could there be for someone not to be registered unless there was something wrong?" she asked. Rylan made a vague gesture with his hand. "I don't know, problems with the system, maintance, ordinary reasons maybe?" he said. Stephany glared at him. It was times like this that she thought he was annoying, and didn't understand.

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"What if I was right?" she asked. Rylan shrugged, "I don't know, but what if you were really right? What difference would that make?"

Stephany gave him a know-better smile, "That's where the money's at. If we found an error, the annoying McKay girl would be out of our hair, and we'd get some major compensation for this" she said. Rylan shook his head and left the room, leaving Stephany to her...whatever it was that she was doing.

After about two hours of non-stop typing, Ella finally called quits. Her eyes were red, her face covered with a sheen of fatigue.

"Whoever ordered pizza, if you don't come downstairs, it's mine!" called Maci. Heavy thumping could be heard as everyone made their way downstairs. The mention of pizza reminded Ella how hungry she was. Her stomach growled as if in protest of her negligence. Ella debated whether to get up and eat, or keep wasting herself away in fromt of a laptop.

Pizza won.

Getting up, then groaning as she eased out the kinks from sitting too long, she stumbled to the kitchen, which was already brimming with people. Maci waved to her. "Come on Ella! Get some pizza!!" she said, holding up her half-eaten slice. Carla gave her a glare, and wiped her own mouth with a paper towel, as if saying that she was better. Maci didn't seem to notice.

Ivy motioned her a seat, which she gratefully took.

"You look a little pale, have you been cooped up in that room again?" asked Maci. Leave it to her to notice. Ella shrugged, a faint blush on her face, "No, just some work" she said shortly. Maci gave her a frown, which looked uncharacteristic on her normally happy face, but didn't press her on the matter.

They ate in silence, Maci occasionally interjecting with a tidbit of the day, or a comment on something. Tanya and Emily always listened, Carla never did.

Late into the night, into the small hours of the morning, Ella finally finished typing. She leaned back in triumph as the last question box was filled. "Finally, no more!" she said, happily but quietly (since everyone was already asleep). She slowly got up from her spot, and changed into her pjs. She sighed contendedly and flopped backwards onto her bed, and snuggled into the sheets.

The next day, Ella delivered the file to Mrs. La'Lune. She gratefully accepted it, and La'Lune uploaded it to the student profile list.

"Look! I'll prove it!"

Stephany snatched up her laptop and typed in Ivy's profiel for her to see. Rylan raised one brow at her rapid typing, coupled with her red face. She was mad that Rylan didn't agree with her, and was going to prove it!

"See! Ivy's name doesn't show up, therefore there's something fishy!" she said triumphantly. Rylan pointed to the first search result, "Then what's that?"

Stephany followed his look to where he was pointing at, and gasped. "That's...that's not...what?!"

She hurridly flipped the laptop around again so it faced her, and clicked on it. Surely enough, it displayed Ivy McKay's name, her profile, and her face. Rylan sighed and walked away, leaving Stephany to ponder.

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Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you again next time!