Anonymous

Two

Kids are waiting to go to their classrooms. Where are you guys? Seriously, you come to school on the weekend, but not on a Monday, well Mondays I can see, but I got up early for you guys, so hurry up. Oh, here he comes.

"Jake," someone called.

Oh yeah, that's right you need to know who everyone is. The boy from the last chapter is Jake, the girl from the last chapter is Eve, and the boy who just talked is...Mike? Clark? I think it's Mike.

"Hey, Chris," Jake said. Okay, so his friend's name is not Mike, it's Chris. Good to know.

"Did you hear about the teachers?" Chris asked, smiling.

"I just got here," Jake said. "How would I know anything?"

"Okay, so you know the concrete around the outside of our classroom?"

"Yeah..."

"Someone broke in and spray painted Starry Night on it."

You don't say.

"What?" Jake asked, smiling.

"I know right," Chris laughed. "The teachers are freaking out. My mom was going ballistics this morning."

Oh right, Chris's mom is one of the lower elementary teachers. Elementary and middle school are in the same building. First through third grade are in the same room, fourth and fifth grade are together, and middle school is in one giant classroom. It's a small school.

Jake laughed. "I wonder who did it."

Gee Jake, I don't know. Who do you think did it?

"Okay," Chris said, "which eighth graders do you think would be the most likely to do something like that?"

"Not Abe," Jake said. "He is too much of a rule follower."

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "What about Maggie?"

"Eva's friend?" Jake asked. "No way."

"What do you mean?" Chris asked. "She would so sneak out to vandalize school property. Plus, she is a good artist."

"Not good enough to recreate a Vincent van Gogh piece," Jake explained. "What about Claire?"

"She couldn't keep something like this a secret," Chris said. "Ali?"

"I doubt it. He would have told us and we all would've been there." Jake said. "What about Bailie?"

"She's an amazing artist," Chris agreed. "Do you think she actually could have done it?"

"Maybe," Jake said. "She lives sort of close to here, right?"

"Yeah," Chris agreed. "Wait, we forgot about Eva! I mean, she moved really close to the school this year. Doesn't she walk here everyday like you?"

"Maybe," Jake agreed. "I never paid attention."

"Of course you never paid attention," Chris said. "You are about as observant as a rock."

"Okay, you're not wrong," Jake admitted, "but still..."

He was cut off by a teacher. Stupid teachers ruining kids' fun.

"Settle down," she told them, "and follow the upper elementary students."

The middle schoolers didn't stop talking. They just whispered until they got past her then, started talking at regular volume again once they entered the building. Next comes boring, boring, boring. Chris and Jake sit at the same table, they started taking notes on some subject or whatever, another boy sits with them, Caleb's his name and he's in seventh grade, and then Eva enters with some girl, I think her name's Maggie.

"Hey," Eva said, "you can always come stay with me. My parents won't mind."

"I know," Maggie said. "I just want to give him a...second...chance."

She faltered over her words as she...shit I did walk into a romance novel. She and some boy locked eyes. Eva swatted her arm playfully.

"Get a grip, Mags," she said. "He doesn't like you."

Thank you!!!!

"How would you know?"

"Ali told me."

"And you trust everything Ali says."

"No way," Eva argued. "All I'm saying is judging from Arthur's reaction when he found the note." At that Maggie shushed her. "I think you are just setting yourself up for disappointment. You've liked him for how long? Two years, and has he ever acted like he had any interest in getting to know you?"

"Well, no, but," Maggie argued.

"No," Eva cut her off. "I don't want you to get hurt. We are leaving the school in two months anyway, and he has one more year here. It's not worth it."

Thank you, Eva. I wanted to tell your friend Maggie that, but that's kind of hard for me to do now isn't it? Now they are doing school work, blah. I'll be back when something more exciting happens