No Honor Among Thieves

Chapter 10 - "Unless..."

Jason tells the story since lunch, "Ron said he went home because..." and the part where Maria told him the story Ron told her, "...he went home to play with his friends..." up to the part where he talked to Ryan, "...she also has a boyfriend..."

Rodrick focuses on Ron. "Ron's story could be connected somehow."

Jason asks how.

"Alright. There are three individual pieces in Ron's story. He went home because of his heart problem. That's one. Two is that he went home to play with his friends, and three would be that he stayed in school that day to play with Klein, right?"

"Yep, three pieces."

Rodrick nods. "Okay. Now we try putting them together: He went home because of his heart problem, so he takes his medicine; and after that, he plays with his friends. Then he goes to school again, and played with Klein that noon."

This analysis elicits a groan from Jason. "Could be."

Elle, however, kept her focus on Jane, which is probably why she was silent the entire time Jason and Rodrick was discussing their thoughts.

"So her family's going broke, she has a boyfriend, she's been missing classes lately, and she might not be able to enroll next term."

Rodrick and Jason shifts their attention to her.

Elle shrugs. "Assuming she did took it, why would she need an iPhone?"

"It's not like it can pay for tuition," says Rodrick.

Realization seems to have struck Elle as she shuts her eyes tight and places a hand on her head. "Unless..." She groans. "Oh, crap. I hope I'm wrong."

Being clueless, Rodrick shakes his head. "Unless... what?"

She opens her eyes and continues. "Unless she's pregnant."

Jason's eyes widen in surprise and Rodrick scratches the back of his head. "That would make sense," says Jason. "She won't be enrolling next term 'cause she'll have a kid to worry about."

Rodrick groans like a zombie. "Teenage pregnancy sucks."

Jason wonders at the thought, and after a few seconds... "How do you tell if a woman's pregnant, besides feeling her stomach and testing her piss?"

Elle gives a short-lived chuckle. "She'd get cravings; vomiting, maybe; hates the smell of burning meat; nausea, but I'm not sure about that."

"Well, we can't throw a fruit-and-vegetable party whenever we want; it needs scheduling. And we can't always keep an eye on her to catch her throwing up, which could also be induced by many different reasons," Rodrick says.

Jason says his piece as well. "Yep, so scratch barbecuing as well. For nausea, however, she did fell unconscious a few weeks back when we were standing in the shade for 10 minutes with a big fan looking our direction."

Elle thinks again. "Uh... You could also check her for a quicker heartbeat. Of course, not after a strenuous activity."

Rodrick interjects. "We do have a scheduled clinical test tomorrow."

Jason nods. "And if she goes missing, this puts her under a red flag."

Elle sighs deeply. "Alright, that's it for us now. We have another day to look forward to."

Rodrick pats his companions on the back. "Alright, then. See you both tomorrow." He then splits from the two.

Elle and Jason waves him goodbye.

She bids Jason farewell. "See you tomorrow. Get a good sleep, okay?"

Jason chuckles and smiles. "Thanks. You too. Bye."

She smiles back. "Goodbye!"

And they go their separate ways as well.