The Problem Solvers Club

Part 1

Hippolyta

    I couldn’t help but be pissed at Logan. Even when he was late to a meeting, it was only ever by a few minutes, but half an hour, inexcusable. I turn to the others in the room, seeing they all look more relaxed than angry. “What’s wrong with you all! Don’t you realize how late it is! He should be here already!” The remaining members of The Problem Solvers Club, Keira the bitch, Autumn the level-headed and Rory the sweetheart, are all great, but have never really had their priorities in order. I have no idea where they would be without me.

   

“Maybe he’s just, I don’t know, late. Did you think of that Polly?” Keira says tossing her long blond hair, the undisguised sarcasm making my blood boil. She was even more annoying than Logan. I can’t help but want to hit her as she starts to spin around in her chair, the obvious reason why we’d chosen the computer lab as our clubroom. A throat clearing noise from the door, brings me back to reality.

   

Turning, a familiar figure stands in the doorway, awkwardly playing with a strand of his hair. Logan. “Sorry, I’m late.” No shit, the meeting was supposed to start half an hour ago. I glare at Logan, angered by his tardiness. Does he even care? Keira’s completely useless and even she arrives on time. This is important to me.  But as angry as I am, I can tell something is off. Before I can do anything though, Rory rushes over to Logan.

   

“Hey! You're late. Did something happen?” I can’t help but smile as Rory beats me to the question. What a sweetie. Keira spins around again and begins scooting her chair towards Logan. When she gets close enough, I watch as she grabs onto his arm. God, she really makes me want to hurt someone.

   

“What took you so long? I was worried?” You were worried?! I was the worried one! God, she’s awful. Sometimes I wonder why we’re friends. She pulls Logan’s arm around her shoulders, causing him to lose his footing. I can’t help but laugh as the chair falls backward, bringing them both to the floor. “Fuck!”

   

“Alright, are we going to goof-off all afternoon, or are we going to get down to business.” Per usual, Autumn seems ready to go, her laptop balanced on her knees. “We have a few new requests from students around the school.” As Logan and Keira get back on their feet, I head over, glancing at the computer screen.

   

Autumn has up the clubs official Gmail, and she looks lost in her own little world as she scrolls through the fair number of emails in our inbox. Most are simply pranks, certain messages full of vulgar language or disgusting requests. Some ask for help with simple, easily solvable problems, like a jammed locker or a missing notebook, the sort of things people can solve on their own. Then finally there are the most important ones, the requests from students who really need our help, the reason I started this club in the first place. When I was a kid, I was never good at anything, except for helping people. Coming into high school it felt like something was pulling me to finally do something with that talent. And so I did.

“See anything interesting boss?” she asks, glancing over her shoulder at me. I sigh, not annoyed, just disappointed. Ever since she joined the club, Autumn has never called me by my name. I’ve told her hundreds of times there is no reason for the formalities, but she’s even more stubborn than me. I’d always been happy to have her around though, her being one of the two people in the club who actually seems to care about what we do. I guess that’s what best friends are for.

I give the list a once over, feeling Rory brush up beside me. Autumn adjusts her glasses, looking interested. Nothing really stands out to me, not even the emails with subject lines like: “URGENT!” or: “Save Me!!” Those are usually the smallest problems. I shake my head, turning away. We’d already lost an hour, and I really wasn’t in the mood to read emails late into the night. “Guys, maybe we should just-”

“Look at this!” I nearly jump as Rory calls out. The rest of the club gathers around the screen to see what has gotten Rory so riled up. I spin back around and attempt to squeeze between Logan and Keira, glancing at the screen.

The email reads:

To the Problem Solver Club,

I need your help. I know you may overlook this, since I know it’s hard to get you to notice some of the problems, but this is urgent. Recently I’ve felt like someone is following me. At first I thought I was just imagining it, but I’ve started seeing them more and more. I only ever see them lurking in the shadows, but whenever I see them, one thing is always very clear, their piercing purple eyes. I don’t feel safe. I tried to contact the police, but they don’t believe me. I need your help.

-Lola