Six Feet Under

Chapter 6: Where it all began (Penny's POV)

We were back in our rooms, except for Willow, who was running an errand for our lecturer in Geography, Ms Tina. I flopped down on her bed, and grumbled, "Come on, Lia. You obviously had no good reason to blurt that out!" Lia rolled her eyes. "You started it and you do like him, right?" Lia replied. She made sure she announced this relatively loudly, so the students around us would definitely hear.

"Maybe," I muttered, "but even if it was true, you didn't have to blurt it out to the whole level!" Lia sat down on Willow's bed beside me. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? Chill. But I'm not going to let the matter pass. It was an obvious attempt to divert Caden's attention away from Henry, even if it meant screaming in class, which is against the rules. I'm not blind, okay? " She apologised, and thankfully, any trace of anger left my face, replaced by the slightest hint of a smile. " Tantrum guy probably broke that rule 20 times already, " I joked, and she heaved a sigh of relief. One step closer to tagging along to meet Rory, and probably his other roommates too. They're never separated, him, Henry, and the other guy Sabastian.

At that moment, Willow flung open the door, and I let out a small yelp. Willow clutched her sides, panting for breath. "Ms Tina...made me walk...from level 6...all the way down...and I had to...come back...up..." she managed to get out in between breaths. By the time Lia had processed the situation, I was already on my way to Willow, a full glass of water in my hands. "That's seriously cool- how I didn't even notice you leave your side of the bed." Lia said shocked.

After Willow's breathing rate had finally stabilised, Lia filled us in all about the return of the diary, Rory flipping through it without permission, and finally the note. ( Of course leaving out the part about her developing a crush on him.) "Oh well, I totally get him. You just can't help it when you sense that there's got to be something interesting in there...so you open it, and you just can't stop until you've finished reading," I sighed. "Like the time you put your ear to Taylor's door and figured that Leonard had called her up?" Willow asked, but Lia cut me off before she could even open her mouth.

"Guys! We're sidetracking! We actually need to focus on the main point-whether or not to attend the meeting!" She tried to get the full attention of us. "I'm in! Duh," I immediately nodded my head. Willow, however, took a moment to think. "Could this be a trap? Perhaps they want to get us into trouble?" she mumbled to herself, but loud enough for us to overhear. "Please, Willow? We need you! What if it was something important?" I pleaded, and after another few moments of antagonising waiting, she nodded. "Ok then, since it has been decided. Let's meet outside the library at 3.50. Don't be late." Lia reminded.

*Time skip*

It was already 4.05 pm and the girls and I were waiting in the library. "Ugh. They must've done this to trick us. How can we be so gullible! They are probably not even going to come!" I grumbled. "Come on, Penny! Wasn't it you who didn't think twice before agreeing to come along?" Lia pointed out. I sighed. Boys are not to be trusted for their punctuality, even if they do turn up in the end. Just then, Rory showed up along with 2 other guys, Henry and Sebastian. He greeted us before taking a seat at the table we were sitting at. "Why bother telling us to meet you here at 4 if you were going to be late? I actually rushed out of class to be here on time!" I complained.

"Time's running so cut to the chase. What did you want to discuss with us here?" Lia questioned. "Oh yes. About that, the stuff you wrote in that diary. All of us here are on the same page. I've been trying to figure out why since my sister, Taylor was admitted to this school. The school sends a letter every month to our parents to update them on us, about, you know, the usual stuff. I know that. It seems normal but I sense that there is something fishy. We do not know what kind of intentions this school has, good or bad but they are definitely trying to hide something. The school itself is actually really like any other boarding school." Rory said in a low voice.

"And what are you trying to convey with this?" Willow finally spoke up. "We were thinking to team up with the 3 of you to find out the truth...and I'd think we'd make a pretty good team, especially since we already have the same interest. What do you say?" Henry asked.

At first we were hesitant. The three of us whispered among ourselves, "What if this is a trick to get us in trouble? "Willow warned. "No, it can't be. He could just do that without having to go through all this trouble. Besides, he's popular, and anyone would listen to him." Lia stated. "Well why don't we just give it a go? I mean it will be fun right?" I hurried them. "Easy for you to say," Lia said, looking at Henry. "Ok, fine, but other than that. There's nothing to lose right?" I egged on. We continued bickering among ourselves for a while before Lia said confidently, "We're in."

Rory threw his fist up into the air and shouted, "Yes!" With that, new friendships were forged. I suggested we should play tag to get to know each other a little better and get more comfortable with each other's presence since we would be hanging out a lot more due to the discussions. Other than us, there was literally no one else in the library so we all agreed.

I was running away from Lia who was the tagger. She was hot on my heels and when I turned my head around to see how far behind Lia was, I heard her shout, "Penny! The shelf! Be careful!" However, it was too late and I had already collided with the bookshelf.

"Ow!" I exclaimed in pain, causing the others to come running towards me. Rubbing my head, I turned to look at everyone else who were all looking at me with worried expressions. "Don't worry, I'm fine." I confirmed. Out of the corner of my eye, I espied a book that had fallen out of the bookshelf due to the impact earlier. I picked up the book to put it back on the shelf but it felt so light, even though it was a rather thick book. I opened the book and gasped in shock. I gestured for the rest to come look and they all had the same shocked expression.

"Bingo!" Sebastian shouted.