What's The News? • Lemoxie

Chapter Five

I quickly told Lemony about my theory. He seemed to think for a moment before saying, "We'll have to remember that's a possibility."

I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration, "Fuck this is stressful..." I muttered, walking up to my jeep and sliding into the driver's seat. Lemony followed intently, chuckling at nothing. I looked at him quizzically and he smirked.

"I was just thinking about how hot it is when you swear," he said in an amused tone. I chuckled and agreed with him.
"Well of course it is! Only a dumbass would disagree with that statement!"

He laughed lightly as we drove to Wade Academy. It was getting a bit dark so I turned around halfway there. "What are you doing, Mox?" Lemony asked.
"We're heading to Hungry's so I can drop you off at your bike. My mandatory family dinner starts in thirty minutes and it's going to take twenty five at least to get back home. Not to mention it'll be easier to search for a sample of poisonous mushrooms when it's light out." I said.

Lemony seemed to understand. I'd love to hang out with him too since I haven't seem him in four years. I considered inviting him to dinner but that would complicate things to extravagant proportions... Ellington always ate with us and having Lemony there would probably cause a schism between the friend group...

I dropped Lemony off at Hungry's. "It was um... Really nice to see you again. After all these years." I said with a weak smile.
"Back at you." He said, giving me a kiss and beginning to get out of the jeep.
"Wait, Lemony." He turned around and looked at me. "What are we?"
"I thought we were prime associates?" He said, slightly confused. Then I realized what he meant by that, and every other time he called me his prime associate. I also realized why it made me so smiley.

I took a drive back to my house, smiling so hard that my cheeks hurt! I pulled up and saw a certain someone's dumb lavender car in my spot! Not that I was surprised since I found it there nearly half of the time. "You know I always park there, Ellington," I muttered frustratedly and parked next to the sidewalk.

"Dad, I'm home!" I called as I closed the front door behind me. I walked into the kitchen where Ellington was sitting at the table.
"Kellar told me your little boyfriend is back in town," she said.

I told her that is correct. Ellington sighed and said that although she hated to admit it, Lemony had done the right thing in getting rid of the unhinged villain and she forgave him for what he had done; Kellar helped her get over his death but until now I didn't know if she had forgiven Lemony (She did not show it). "That's really big of you, Ellington. And thank goodness you're on our side now, because we're going to need all the help we can get."
"Lemony assigned us to another mission?"
"Lemony and I are assigning you and the rest of the gang to a mission."

She smirked because she knew exactly what was up. "What's the sitch?" I pulled the notes on the Medusoid Mycelium out of my typewriter case's folder and handed it to her. Ellington's eyes widened. "Stew... These mushrooms... Stain'd-by-the-Sea?"
I nodded. "Unfortunately, yes... We're might need the full force of the ad hoc branch of V.F.D. to save this one."

Ellington agreed and Kellar walked in, telling us my dad will be here soon. I nodded and filled him in on as much as Ellington knew, which wasn't the whole thing since I thought Lemony might get mad for me sharing too much information on this issue. 
"Oh my God! How can we stop him? How many samples are there?" Kellar was on the verge of hysteria and I kind of felt bad. Ellington managed to calm him down after I answered his questions: both answers were "I don't know". I'm always amazed by how he can be so stressed and she can fix it quicker than I can sniff out a story!

"So... What now?" Ellington asked me after dinner.
"Lemony and I are going to search Wade Academy tomorrow to follow up on a lead."
"Let Kellar and me help! We can cover more ground with twice the eyes!"

I reluctantly agreed, a little disappointed that it wouldn't just be Lemony and me. I tried not to let that show, though. It's quite unprofessional to be rekindling a romance while we're supposed to be saving Stain'd-by-the-Sea, I thought.

Let's just say I don't always listen to myself... Ellington ended up asking me about what happened between Lemony and I earlier today.
"Nothing." I lied, feeling kind of weird about talking to her about my relationship with the guy she hated at one point...
"Okay." She said, "I'm heading to my place for the night. See you tomorrow." She walked into the living room to say bye to Kellar and probably tell him that she practically signed him up to search for poisonous mushrooms in a school that once slipped its students chemicals...

I couldn't sleep that night. I went up to the beacon room where the unfolded newspaper was made and printed. I watched the breeze blow around the unsettling expanse of the Clusterous Forest. I felt in the mood to view something unsettling despite it being nearly midnight at the time. I didn't just see something unsettling: I heard something too.

A gunshot, followed by a scream. I would come to learn that it wasn't an ordinary gun that shot Ethan Lost.