It Started With a Murder

Chapter Four

Adrian:

I stand just outside the school, groups of friends walk past me, chatting and laughing; none of them see me, no one ever really sees me; though I think people may start looking for me more now, looking for me so that they can avoid me.

Sighing, I try to build up enough confidence to step into the school. I didn’t want to come in today but I thought that anything would beat sitting at home with my father constantly sending death threats my way.

Anyway, home's getting really dull. I’m not allowed to do anything; I’m not allowed on the internet because my father seems to think that I’m going to search up girls in the local area to kill next. I’m not allowed in the garden because the neighbours might see me and remember that my father is related to a murderer. Nothing is allowed to spoil my fathers reputation.

I stare up at school again, I always say that I don’t care what the pathetic students in my year say and I don’t, but having an egg (shell and all) chucked at your head is pretty painful.

“Adrian!” I turn to the cry of my name, bracing myself for an egg in my face, instead I see Josh and his green furball of a girlfriend.

“Hey Josh, hey Murphy.” I smile, glad I won’t have to walk in alone.

Josh comes up to me and slaps me on the back. “It’s good to have you back so soon.”

“I couldn't stay away! You know me, I love school, I was having withdrawal symptoms whilst I was away!” I say, rolling my eyes.

Murphy sidles up to Josh and takes hold of his hand. “So, you’ve finally grown enough balls to stand up to these pathetic idiots?” she says, her hair bouncing in time to her words.

I sigh. “It’s always nice to know I have your support, Phee, it really is!”

Murphy smirks. “Believe me Adrian, if you didn’t have my support, you’d know it.”

Josh shakes his head and smiles, fondly down to Murphy. “We better get going, don’t want you to be late on your first day back,” he says as he leads Murphy through the doors.

I follow closely behind them, dreading the day that’s to come.

Surprisingly, by lunch time, the worst thing to happen to me was when some twat threw a copy of Pride and Prejudice at me during English; whoever it was should never partake in any sports that involve aim, it was a terrible throw.

“Enjoying school, Adrian?” Murphy asks, between mouthfuls of a strange looking, blue sandwich.

I glance over at her. We’re sitting on a bench just off school grounds. Josh is in the middle with Murphy sprawled out, like a cat, on his lap; which leaves me about an inch of space to squeeze into - thank god I’m skinny.

“It’s amazing, you know how I love school!” I reply, sarcasm practically dripping from each word.

Josh smiles sadly. “Has it been that bad?”

I shrug, not wanting a pity party. “It’s fine, I can deal with it.”

I look over at the pair of them, the only two people that I know, that don’t want me dead. Murphy’s gone back to eating her sandwich, she’s accepted that I’m fine and now she no longer cares. Josh shoots me a sympathetic look but doesn’t say anything, I think he understands, partially, how I feel. He’s good at empathising with people in difficult situations. He’s a good friend. So is Murphy but in a different, less simple way.

I take out my phone and see that I've got a warning text from my beloved father, to remind me that if my arse isn't home by four, I'm going to be in serious crap. He always uses the nicest of language.

“Twenty-five past guys, time to go back to prison!” I cry out, swinging myself onto my feet. I delete my father's text and push my phone back into my pocket.

Murphy and Josh take a while to untangle themselves before getting up and making the short walk back onto school property.

“You!” I hear a screeching voice cry before a face lunges into mine, close enough that I can smell everything that they’ve just eaten. I step back and get my first clear look at my attacker, it’s one of the twins. The scary one.

“Can I help you?” I ask, forcing my voice to sound bored.

“What the fuck do you want, Pearl?” Murphy shouts, stepping forward.

“Piss off Murphy, go wash your hair or do something to make yourself slightly less unattractive!” the twin hisses, without taking her eyes off of me. I glance at Murphy, but Josh has pulled her away and is obviously saying something calming because she’s not resisting him and trying to aim a punch at the twin’s face.

“What do you want?” I ask the twin, taking all my self-will not to shout.

“You are a disgusting piece of crap!” the twin begins, advancing on me, just as I'd imagine a snake to advance on it’s prey. “How dare you show your face here after what you did!”

I shake my head. “I didn’t do anything. Maybe you should get your facts right before attacking me and making yourself look like a bigger twat than you actually are.”

The twin snarls at me, like some wild beast, her face contorts in a violent manner before she continues with her silly rant. “I can’t believe you would murder an amazing girl like Annabelle then dare to lie about it, you deserve to die.”

“Pearl,” a voice shouts, stopping Pearl's rant.

Both me and Pearl spin round to see who this new voice belongs to, unfortunately it belongs to the other twin, Cassie or whatever her name is. She probably wants her chance to attack me with false accusations.

“It’s time for class,” the Cassie girl says, walking towards us. She doesn’t even glance at me.

“What?” Pearl says, her voice echoing the confusion that I feel.

“It’s time for physics, you don’t want to be late again, Mr Fuller would kill you!” Cassie says, a small smile playing at her lips.

“Cathie, can’t you see that I’m busy!?” Pearl asks. So the other twin’s called Cathie, not Cassie, I was close enough.

“I’m sure you were just about done, weren’t you, Pearl? I'm sure everyone can see you opinion,” Cathie says, a small challenge in her eyes.

I look at Pearl, wondering what she’ll do. After a short silence, she smiles coldly, her lips pinched together, “You're right, I don’t want to be late for science again.” Pearl gives me one last, hatred-filled look before storming off.

Cathie glances at me once, before turning on her heel and following after her sister.

I stand still, watching her fade into the distance, wondering why Cathie would stop the scary twin from screaming at me. Something didn't add up. “What the hell was that about?” I wonder aloud.

Murphy and Josh walk over to stand with me. “Who knows?” Josh shrugs. “Maybe Cathie’s nicer than Pearl.”

“Maybe.” Murphy smiles, a worrying, I’ve-got-a-really-dumb-plan smile, and I’m left praying that her plan has nothing to do with either Cathie, the scary twin or me.