Braxten High

Chapter 31

Zara's POV:

"This is literally the saddest looking fridge I've seen in my life. It's emptier than Alaska!" Azriel called out from the kitchen, where him and Ayden struggled to come up with a meal as they had been assigned with dinner duty today. "He isn't wrong, you know. The cabinets are empty too, except a bottle of hot sauce," Ayden added, leaning over the counter.

"Oh, I was busy studying for the SATs so I forgot about the groceries," I said while pouring myself a glass of water.

"Yeah, my excuse is that I don't care," Scar chimed in from the living room couch.

"Y'all can at least give us a list for the grocery, we can go get it," Ayden suggested while chuckling at Scar's remark.

"I'm pretty sure Zara here has a list, but her and I are going to go visit my mother so have fun grocery shopping together," Scar said, laughing at Azriel's less than ecstatic expression.

"We are going to visit your mother?" I asked while texting the list to Ayden.

"Yes we are," Scar answered, handing scowling Azriel and amused Ayden their coats and ushering them out. "Happy shopping, kids," she called out.

Scarlett's POV:

I shut the door and turned back to face a confused looking Zara. "Why are we going to visit your mother at this random hour? Azriel and I were planning to have a movie night. Alone," she said, folding her arms.

"Yeah right, like any actual movie-watching is going to happen. Anyway, we'll be back in time for your little movie night. Can't I just want to pay dear mumsy a visit," I replied, saying the last sentence with a horrible British accent and grabbing my stuff along with hers.

"It's not every day that you want to visit your dear mumsy," I said mocking her with an unimpressed look on my face.

"Okay, fine. I don't want to see her out of an unexplained burst of emotion for her. I have a little theory, and I don't think you'll like it very much."

"Oh, another one of your theories. Do ever think of anything else?"

"I do think of other things, actually. Like how you and Azriel should shut the door while doing the nasty and try to be more silent, at least when there are other people with the ability to hear and see at home. Besides, my theory does make sense."

"Tell me about your theory," Zara replied with a scowl.

"My mother dated Mr. Murray. She had a motive to make a move against him because he came to his senses and left her. Everyone hated her in this school and she hated everyone. She's a psychopath; her yearbook quote suggested that. You see where I'm going with this?"

"Everything with Mr. Murray was really brutal, I don't think she's capable of it or will go to that extent."

"She kicked me out when I was fifteen. All because I was out at a party and got home 15 minutes later than my curfew. She kicked out her own kid of fifteen for being 15 minutes late. And ever since dad passed away, it's like her craziness increased tenfold. I wouldn't be surprised if she set someone up for all this for her sick twisted revenge for getting expelled right before graduation," I explained, trying to show her how it made sense to me.

"We have to go see her to know for sure," I added.

"So you're trying to say that she's the one behind all of the strange events that have been taking place lately?" Zara said while grabbing the car keys. "I'm driving."

"Her psychotic ass could've hired someone for all this," I insisted, grabbing my coat and bag.

"Tell me more about it on our way there."

____________________

After a considerably long drive of explaining, arguing, and informing the boys about our whereabouts, we finally pulled into the driveway of my mom's normal looking, two-story suburban house.

All the lights, except the ones on the porch, were off. "She's probably not home yet," I said, getting out of the car at the same time as Zara.

"Or she's had an early night?" she suggested, putting out a flashlight and directing the beam to the keyhole as I struggled to break in with an old key.

"We better not get in trouble for this; SATs are approaching," Zara mumbled.

"Yeah yeah, she can't really do anything. I'm still not of age, and thus allowed to enter my parent's house."

"Whatever you say," Zara said, holding the flashlight for me.

I finally got the lock to give in, and we both walked in the dark to find the light switches. "I guess she's not home, her coat and bag aren't where they're supposed to be," I said, narrowly missing an expensive looking vase.

"What now? Are we going to wait for her to get home?" she asked nonchalantly.

"I don't know, sneaking into her office seems better. We could find clues there?" I suggested.

"Okay, but hurry up; I have a movie night to get to," Zara called out from behind me as I tried to break into the office.

"Don't worry, you'll be just in time for your -quote on quote- movie night," I said with a smirk. "You may wanna stop by the convenience store on the way for your nightly necessities."

"Shut up," she mumbled, shining the light onto the boring grey wallpaper and messy black desk of my mom's office.

We decided to 'divide and conquer' the office; Zara was assigned to check the file cabinets and the desk while I looked at the drawers and her Email.

"Look at this!" Zara exclaimed from behind the desk.

"Did you find something that could hint to my theory being right?" I said, jumping up from under the table and looked at her excitedly.

"No, your mother had my favorite bonbons on her desk," she answered while popping the bonbon into her mouth.

"You- are you serious?" I threw her the most unimpressed look and went back to looking for clues, but not before smacking her upside the head.

After a while of scrolling through her trash mail, I found Mr. Murray's Email address. "Hey, that's his address isn't it? There's continued correspondence till the day before his death."

"I found something too," Zara walked up to the desk and set a huge book in front of me. "There's a mysterious transaction of 100,000 Dollars and it has been named as miscellaneous."

"Click a picture of that; I've forwarded all her emails to mine. Hurry, I think I see her car in the driveway," I said.

"I already did," she smiled and grabbed another bonbon from the desk.

"Grab me one of those too," I mumbled and grabbed the old key I used to break in.

We both silently shut the door to the office and locked it when we heard someone clearing their throat behind us.

"Mom," I started, sounding steadier than I felt.

"What an unpleasant surprise," she said, not even bothering to look at us.

"We'll just be on our way then," I replied, grabbing Zara's arm and pulling her towards the door.

"Not so fast. What was your cockroach self doing in my office? And why are you two here in the first place anyway?"

"Can't I just want to see my lovely mother?" I tried. She narrowed her eyes at me.

I sighed frustratedly. "I wanted something, and I got it. I will be leaving you alone so you can do your daily psychopathic scheming to your heart's content." I stated and pulled Zara, who seems to have decided to shut up seeing the awkwardness of the situation, out the door with me.

-zoie and dawn