Ciphers of Chaos

Chapter 2: In which a decision is made, and a dramatic moment is ruined

5th year Creative Writing teacher Ms Luna Heller has been found dead. Classes for today are canceled.

The words rang in my head as the eight of us ate our breakfast in silence, possibly for the first time in five years. The entire of the Mess Hall seemed silent, the clinking of forks and plates as loud as a gunshot as we held back our tears and choked down our oatmeal. I noticed Danny eating slower than she normally does, blinking rapidly every so often.

"Are you okay?" I whispered in her ear. She flinched, and turned to look at me, before motioning for me to turn my head.

"I feel like I needa cry but this mascara was for'dy sovereigns!" She whispered back, before choking down another tiny spoonful of oatmeal. I held back a smile.

"So, what should we do today?" Drake asked once we had finished breakfast and started walking back to the dorm house. The others shrugged and I looked at Danny.

I always felt bad for her, what with her living with us and all, even if it wasn't our fault. First day we arrived and got the roster, it specifically said that Danny was to be with us, in the Serpente house, but later, when we were unpacking and one of the teachers came in and found us all playing cards, he lost his mind because there was a girl in the room.

Apparently, when Mr. Mendoza sent in the application letters for the school, he had written "Danny" instead of "Danica", so the school thought he wanted to send his daughter Penelope, and his son Danny. By then, however, all the girl's dorm houses were full, what with there being only eight mats a house, only two girls houses and two boys houses that year, and there being fifteen boys and seventeen girls. There was no room for her in the girl's houses, so she was stuck with us, and still is, not that we're complaining. She was the one who came up with the chores schedule, and taught us how to cook properly. Her mother, Detective Mendoza, was an excellent cook, because apparently so was her grandmother.

"Should we just stay inside today?" Bryson asked, "I got a headache."

"Maybe," Danny shrugged, "But at the very least, I wanna change."

Another reason I felt bad for her, the girl's uniform looks nothing short of horridly uncomfortable. Of course, I've never in my life worn a white blouse, a black skirt, a pair of light brown tights, a pair of black 2 inch heels, nor a brown corset, and I never plan to, but just the idea of the uniform seems more uncomfortable than my mind can fathom. We always knew Danny was strong, but the fact that she can wear that everyday, even during her dreaded week once a month, showed a sort of strength us boys could never fathom.

Once we were all changed, all eight of us sat in the common room in a circle, a sad silence over us. Danny picked up a deck of cards and started dealing us all in. We all knew the game. Cards up to 45, winner picks what we do today. I picked up the three cards she gave me: a nine of spades, a four of hearts, four of clubs.

"17," I said, putting my cards down in front of me.

"Roll," Chris called, and Danny handed each of us another card. "Call it." He told Houston.

"21," He said, then put his cards down and sighed. "I need a coffee."

"Yeah, me too." Bryson rubbed his face and sniffled, putting down his cards too. "I just, I just can't-" He stopped, and rubbed his face again. "Call it."

"35," Connor sighed. He put down his cards. "How do you think it happened?" He turned to Evan. "Call it."

"39." He covered his mouth, a tear falling down his cheek, "R-roll." Connor quickly pulled him into a tight hug.

"Penny told me it was a hangin'," Danny explained, giving everyone a card. "In the Library."

"How'd she know?" I asked. "Call it."