Braxten High

Chapter 20

Scarlett's POV:

Friday morning was like any other day. I hadn't finished my English assignment due the day before, so I was not looking forward to that confrontation after the lunch hour.

With everyone looking forward to a weekend full of partying and sleeping, the day seemed to drag by really slow. We still didn't have anything on the murders and the threats, and it was starting to piss me off. Seeing as Ayden's ankle got better and we didn't exactly have plans after school, I decided we all were going to meet up as Salty Beans to find leads.

With this plan set in my mind and shared with (or imposed on) the others via text, I abandoned Zara at the arrival of Azriel and headed down to wait by Ayden's locker.

"You're late like 4 out of 5 days," I commented while sulking once he finally got to his locker.

"How can I make it up to you?" he smirked and pushed me against the locker.   

I smiled at him mischievously after the initial shock and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I can think of a few ways you can make it up to me but we're in a very crowded school hallway."

"I'm pretty sure we can find ourselves an empty classroom," he whispered and brushed his thumb against my waist.

"As appealing as that may sound, we have to get to class," I said, pushing him away before I gave in to my instincts.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me under the stairwell, knowing no one ever came there.

"You know better than pushing me away," he whispered and kissed me.

___________________

It was nearing the end of lunch break and I was seated beside Zara, much to the annoyance of Azriel.

"Did you complete your assignment?" Zara asked as she took a bite of her sandwich. 

"Oh right, shit. I have to turn it in next period," I said, looking through my mess of a backpack for the file. "Found it!" I exclaimed and straightened the mildly crumpled papers. "I'm going to go in early and beg for his mercy, see you losers soon," I said and stood up.

I was already almost outside when I heard Zara call after me. Oh well, maybe I just left something behind, I thought, and turned the corner to the English classroom.

The air felt eerie, but then again it could've been just me being paranoid. I knocked twice, and waited for Mr. Murray's permission to enter. I never got a response. I knocked a few more times, getting ready to enter if he didn't reply after five knocks.

"Asshole," Zara smacked my head and continued, "I called after you so many times. Anyway, change the date to the date of submission otherwise he'll deduct marks."

"Ow, okay jeez," I said, massaging the spot she smacked. "Alright, I'll borrow a pen from him and change the date, which brings me to the fact that he isn't opening or calling out a 'come in'," 

Just as I finished speaking and glanced at the door handle, I noticed a smudge of ..blood? Oh crap, it better be just ketchup.

"Stay out here. I'm going in to check, okay?" I turned to Zara, cutting her off and smiled despite the growing dread blooming at the pit of my stomach.

"Okay," she smiled back and I pushed open the door.

Training my eyes to the floor till I was right in front of the table, I looked up. 'I wish I hadn't looked up' was my first thought. I took a clumsy step back, causing the books we were supposed to discuss today to fall to the ground.

Blood, so much blood. Blood everywhere. Dripping down his neck and soaking Mr. Murray's crisp white shirt. On the floor. A pool of blood on the table, where his glasses and our quiz papers were.

His neck was slit open, and his head thrown back. I noticed more blood around his hand, his ring finger in specific. Wait, where was his ring finger?

I wanted to scream, I wanted to run. What had I just seen? My throat felt blocked, and all I could do was grip onto the desk behind me and stare.

"Are you fine? I just heard-" Zara walked in and stopped speaking midway upon seeing blood. Mr. Murray's blood.

Zara pulled me out of the classroom and closed the door behind us. "Drink some water," she said, pulling out a water bottle from her bag and holding it out to me. I shook my head. What the fuck had I just seen? I couldn't focus anymore.

A crowd was soon gathering in the hallway and in front of the classroom. "Don't go inside," I heard Zara tell the group of students headed to the class we just got out of.

Amidst the crowd, I saw Azriel and Ayden give us a weird look since we were supposed to meet in class, and then hurrying towards us when they noticed how pale and shocked we looked.

Azriel reached us first. He gently placed a hand on Zara's cheek and seemed to ask her if she was fine, hugging her when she nodded unconvincingly.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Ayden asked and pulled me into a hug. "We can skip the next three classes if you wanna," he suggested while stroking my hair and looking at Azriel over my head for confirmation. I nodded. "Please."

________________

I took a long sip out of my Oreo milkshake and set the glass back on the table, resting my head against Ayden's shoulder. We all were seated at our usual seats at Salty Beans and none of us had really spoken after Zara told them what had happened on the way here.

"Seriously, how is it always Scarlett who finds the late victims of the psychopath?" Azriel muttered from beside Zara. I glared at him, which seems to be the expression he most often receives from me.                                                                                                                                     

"I don't ask my guardian angels to specifically show me dead bodies of people I know, jerk," I said, threatening him with a spoon. I heard Ayden snicker from beside me, which earned him an elbow jab to the ribs.

"Enough, both of you," Zara shot us warning looks and pulled out the yearbooks that dated back to the 1980s and 1990s. I saw Azriel lean down and whisper something in Zara's ear, making her blush. I cleared my throat and raised an eyebrow at Azriel who was now smirking.

"Do we have to go through all of these?" I whined, grabbing the closest yearbook to me and flipping through to find someone with a suspicious yearbook quote when everyone muttered a collective yes.

"Listen to this weird as hell yearbook quote, 'If I were a bomb, I'd blow this school up'. It sounds rather violent doesn't it?" Ayden said.

"Someone actually chose that as their senior yearbook quote?" I asked, amused. "Show me who it is."

He passed me the yearbook and pointed at the girl. Zara leaned in to see as well. To our surprise, she was my mother.  "Wait, isn't that your mom?"

"Yes, yes she is. Hey, you think she could be connected to Mr. Murray?"

-zoie and dawn