A New Identity

Chapter 8

With the unfortunate disappearance of Chris and the absence of Monty, me and Ben were forced to take the school bus.

I still felt shaky considering what had happened on Friday and I wasn't ready to go back to school.

When we got on the bus, the noise level was really high that I had to close my ears discreetly. For a moment I thought little kids were on the bus but it was just a group of immature teenagers screaming. We passed three rows of seats before we finally found two spare seats. I placed my bag on the floor and stared out of the window. As usual Ben ignored my presence and found something interesting on his phone.

I was staring at the beautiful scenery that passed by when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around and found Jon and Cher grinning behind us.

"Hi guys." I instantly smiled.

"Hi Venice, oh my god I actually missed you. Where did you go on Friday? I didn't see you."

I stared at Cher. I had only met her for a day and she had already missed me?

"Oh I had something to take care of." I said with a dismissive wave.

"You sound like a drug dealer when you say that." Jon cheekily said and I grinned happily at him.

Cher punched his arm. "Stop being so rude."

Jon rubbed his arm and glared at Cher. Cher ignored him and turned to me.

"So, how did you find our school?"

"It's okay. It's better than some schools I've been to."

"Okay? Our school is the worst." Jon said while he snorted.

"Why is it the worst?"

"Well people get attacked for no reason. It's more like a zoo than a school. And sometimes people don't even know who attacked them."

I frowned. Maybe I was getting somewhere?

"What do you mean attacked?"

"Didn't you hear about Tiffany?"

I shook my head, playing dumb. I needed to know what people saw.

"She was attacked and nobody saw the attacker. But somebody hit the attacker or something and nobody ever saw who it was. Some say it's a girl who goes to our school but nobody's sure. Not even Tiffany knows who her 'hero' was."

"Did the police say anything? Were they even called?"

"Yes. But they couldn't do anything or find fingerprints."

I nodded.

"So what was Tiffany's view on this?"

"She said that she was grabbed by the neck and the attacker held a knife against her neck. Before he could hit her, somebody kicked the attacker and the attacker ran off and so did the person who saved Tiffany. Tiffany knows her helper was a girl."

"So how do other people get attacked?"

"It's outside of school. Someone or a group of people target one person to hit everytime. Nobody knows why but I think it would have to do with the fact that the person might know the attacker/attackers."

I nodded again.

"I just think it's a gang of drug dealers to be honest." Cher interrupted.

"Why?" I asked.

"Well most people in our school are known to meddle with drugs. What about if they're getting attacked because they didn't pay enough for their drugs or they're not loyal enough?"