Chapter Five

“Ah, victory is sweet.” Grace announced triumphantly from a game of air-hockey. She had just once again beaten Dave. Rynk was watching and refused to play due to fearing either losing too much, hoặc getting too aggressive.

“Are bạn sure bạn don’t want to play, Rynk?” Dave pleaded. “My ego can’t take much thêm of this.”

Rynk shot a glance to Dave, then to Grace, then back to Dave again. “Okay” she sighed while shrugging, “but I don’t blame me if I end up making the puck hit the window hoặc something. Who am I playing against?”

“Gr-“

“Him!” Grace interrupted, tossing down her handle and twisting her wrist in circles. “Just because I’m good doesn’t mean I can do this forever.”

“… Okay.” Rynk snatched up the piece and waited for Dave to start the round. Dave eyeballed the puck, making sure he had a good shot. *crack* He hit the puck sending it banking off the middle-left of the court and towards Rynk’s goal. Rynk quickly reacted with a slam to the puck, making it fly phía trước, chuyển tiếp and hit Dave in the hand.

“Yeouch!” Dave dropped his mallet and shook his hand vigorously.

“I’m sorry!” Rynk dropped her own handle and ran to the other side. “Is your hand alright?”

“Yeah. It’s alright.” Dave assured. “You’ve got quite an arm.”

“Too much of an arm.” Rynk sighed.

“Oh come on, Rynk. Don’t beat yourself up.” Grace chimed in. “You didn’t mean to, and he’s alright.”

“Alright. Still, sorry about that. Do bạn want to try again or…”

“Sure.” Dave picked his handle back up and prepared to play again.

Rynk cautiously played now. She did not hit as hard hoặc quickly, which costed her quite a few points, but still Dave and she were competing alright. They became so enthralled in fact that they went into hours playing simple Air Hockey. They had not even noticed that Grace was gone about an giờ into it, hoặc the fact that she had come back with tacos.

“Guys, take a break!” She ordered.

“Never!” Rynk defied teasingly.

“You need to eat… and rest your hands. They’ll get bloody if bạn do that too long.”

Dave stopped as soon as he heard “bloody”. “Tacos sound nice.” He walked over and pulled out one from the bag Grace brought them in.

“How much do we owe ya?” Rynk asked, following suit with Dave.

“You don’t need to pay me.” Grace shrugged.

“You sure?” Dave pressed.

“I can be nice without needing something back.” Grace held her palm out to hiển thị she wished to end it at that.

“… Okay, if bạn say so.” Dave bit into his crunchy taco. “So,” He began, “Does everyone in this city have a special story?”

“Well Kyle used to have blonde hair but a chemical thing changed it to black.” Rynk chuckled. “Kind of a shame. He looked nice with blonde hair, but black looks nice too.”

“Well bạn have black hair, so I would hope so.” Grace added. “To answer your question, yeah there are a lot of people here with strange pasts- er interesting pasts. Don’t really know which I’d call them. Then again hair-color-changing sounds thêm weird than interesting to me.”

“Well what about bạn two?” Dave questioned.

“What about you?” Rynk retorted.

“I grew up in a house, went to a High School, I was part of a band, that’s pretty much it.” He shrugged. “I wish I could say more, but really my life was pretty uneventful till I came here. Even when I was in the band.”

“Well no offense there, but our pasts weren’t so uneventful.” Rynk pointed out. “It would take some convincing to make me talk, and I doubt Grace wants to either. It’s just not a pleasant topic.”

“Well could bạn maybe write it down hoặc something?”

“You seem pretty curious.” đã đưa ý kiến Grace.

“I-I’m not trying to do anything. Sorry.” Dave backed up with his hands in defensive formation. “I’m just curious. If it’s that hard of a topic I won’t pressure.”

“Well…” began Rynk, “it’s that… and we might get in trouble for telling. An example would be that Casey keeps a gun, even without a license.”

“Weren’t we supposed to keep that a secret?” Grace reminded.

“Well I don’t like her having a gun, do you?”

“Wait so bạn guys did something illegal hoặc something?” Dave pressed.

“Not gonna pressure?” Grace quoted.

“Right, sorry. Well is there any other topic you’d like to talk about?”

“Erm… school coming back?” Rynk suggested. Dave and Grace gave her questioning stares. “What? bạn think of something!”

“Well actually I would like a tour of the school.” Dave informed. “Either of bạn willing?”

“Noooooooooooot really.” Rynk replied with a faint chuckle. “Sorry I’d just like to enjoy my freedom while I can.”

“You could ask Casey.” Grace suggested. “She knows the school really well, mainly all its hiding places.”

“Alright, I’ll ask her.”

“Why did bạn want to know about our stories in the first place?” Grace inquired.

“Well I wanted to know what the town is like and everyone in it. And I don’t know almost anything about anyone.”

“Well you’ll probably find out sooner hoặc later.”

“Craiger’s here.” Rynk announced, waving to her bro. Craiger was outside of the building and waving to them from a window. He walked inside, greeting allowed “Allo bạn three.”

“Hey you.” Grace greeted, walking up and sharing a quick hug. Rynk waited her turn and got one as well. Dave just waved.

“Ah came ovah to inform Rynk that a package arrived for her.” Craiger informed. “Ah could drop bạn off at your house if you’d like, Dave.”

“Oh, and I’m walking?” Grace hinted.

“No Ah had something special planned for bạn and Ah afterwards .” Craiger đã đưa ý kiến smugly with a growing grin. Grace grinned back.

“Aw…” Rynk teased as she walked out. “C’mon, Dave!”

“Alright, coming!” Dave replied, dashing after her.

The group played some pop music, which they sang to, as Craiger drove them back to the neighborhood. It was only for a few minutes, but fun none the less. As they approached Rynk’s and Craiger’s house, which was first in the row, Rynk got the idea “Hey Dave, bạn want to see what I got in the mail before bạn get home? bạn can probably walk back afterwards, right?”

“Sure.” Dave shrugged willingly. The two teens hopped out of the car and ran up to the front porch of Rynk’s house. At the porch was a large package.

“Cool!” Rynk cheered, making quick work of the packaging. Inside were an assortment of various items. The first she pulled out was a pair of long pinkish-red ribbons with wrist-bands at the ends. The một giây was a black and silver dagger, which startled Dave a bit. After that came three different types of necklaces.

The first chuỗi hạt, chuỗi hạt cườm was a pearl one (fake hoặc real, Dave did not know), which Rynk set aside. The một giây was a chain-necklace with a gem-locket in the middle, which Rynk also set aside. The third was a choker-collar necklace, vàng and shaped somewhat like a sideways triangle, with the left side being, small and the right being large, and a blue triangular shape in the middle of the right end.

Rynk first tried on the pearl necklace, “What do bạn think of this one?” She asked.

“! Uh…” Dave did not want to give advice. He was terrible at advice. But it was not like he could keep her waiting. “Maybe…”

“Hm…” Rynk took off the pearl one and moved to the locket one. But she stopped, put it down, then put the cổ áo one on. “What about this?”

“Well…” Dave thought quickly “It… m-matches your outfit and current jewelry?”

Rynk gave her attire a quick look then realized “Oh yeah. It does. Alright, I’ll keep this one.” Then she looked at the remains. “Er… do bạn want the others?”

“Um…” Dave nervously picked up the other necklaces. “What would I do with them?”

“Well bạn could give Casey one if bạn want.” Rynk suggested. “She might like it.”

“Alright. Hey, how did bạn afford all this anyway?”

“Oh. Well it’s kinda different for each set. See,” Rynk pointed to her new chuỗi hạt, chuỗi hạt cườm “I got this and the other two from Craiger for getting good grades in school, all A’s; kind of his way of keeping me smartish.” Then she pointed to the ribbons “I saw these on a field-trip I took for school, and I really wanted them but we left before I could buy them, so Craiger had them sent to me.”

“And the dagger?”

“Family Heirloom.” Rynk answered bluntly. “It’s all I really have from my parents, and I wanted to keep it with me, not that I plan to use it. I like whips thêm than daggers anyway.”

“Oh… kay… as long as I don’t see bạn swinging it around.” Dave replied nervously.

“Well anyway bạn might wanna talk to Casey while bạn can.” Rynk suggested. “It’s kind of hard to catch her because she walks about a lot. She doesn’t like being bored and she’s rarely trang chủ because she finds it boring. She might be gone already.”

“Alright.” Dave got up and started to walk off, but he quickly stopped, turn back around and đã đưa ý kiến “Thanks for the necklaces. I’ll see bạn later?”

“Sure.” Rynk waved a bit, “See ya”, then walked into her house.

Dave carefully held onto the necklaces then jogged down the street. Along the way he slipped, fell, and ended up yanking accidentally on the pearl necklace. It snapped and the pearls went everywhere. “Oh crud!” Dave groaned under his breath. He picked up the pearls he could find then quickly stuck them in his pocket. “Maybe I can tie it back together later.”

Dave still had one chuỗi hạt, chuỗi hạt cườm however, so he kept to his path and made it to Casey’s house without harming the locket. *knock knock*, there was no reply. Dave waited for a bit, then knocked again. Still no reply came. He was about to walk off, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Casey was home. He saw her through her bedroom window, typing away at her computer.

“Casey!!” Dave called out, cupping his hands over his mouth. She did not acknowledge so he began jumping up and down. She did not see him. A bit irritated, Dave took a wad of snow and hit her window with it. This got her attention.

Casey stormed to the door, flung it open, then gave Dave a narrowed-eye stare. He could tell why she was upset about being interrupted bởi the bruises she had from the snow-burns before, that had still not healed completely. “What was that for?!” She yelled.

“I was trying to get your attention!” Dave replied. “I was yelling and knocking, and jumping! I had to do something!”

“Why did bạn do that?”

“I wanted to ask bạn something?- Oh! And Rynk wanted to know if bạn wanted this.” He pulled out the locket. Casey looked a bit surprised at first, but settled gradually.

“Where’d bạn get that?” She asked.

“… From Rynk.” Dave answered as if it was obvious. “She got three of them, and wanted to know if bạn wanted one since she had extra, and I offered to deliver it to you. I would’ve được trao bạn the other one but it got broken on the way here.”

“… What do bạn want in return?”

“No-nothing!” Dave assured. “Well I WANTED to know if bạn wanted to help me with something, but that was before I got the necklaces.”

“Hu huh?” Casey was not convinced. “Alright, what do bạn want me to do?”

“Well I was just wondering if bạn could hiển thị me around the school before it opens again so I know how to get around is all.”

“Hmmm…” After about a một phút Casey replied “Alright, tomorrow, Six O-clock sharp!”

“… Why six-“

“If I’m gonna be at that school, I’m gonna have someone be miserable with me.” She interrupted. “Anyway thanks for the necklace.” Casey snatched the locket-necklace.

“Er you’re welcome.” Dave answered. Casey tried on the chuỗi hạt, chuỗi hạt cườm for size then asked “Is it too big?”

“Uh… no. It looks nice.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Alright. Anyway, did bạn need anything else?”

“No that’s all. I should be getting back trang chủ anyway.”

“Alright. Bye.” Casey closed the door quickly, as if flustered, which surprised Dave seeing how he had just được trao her a gift. But since he had a simple male mind he did not consider that the reason was that she was flattered bởi the gift and therefore nervous about continuing the conversation, though she hid it very well.

Dave walked trang chủ and decided he needed to spontaneously plop onto the living-room couch. *plop* the current topic on his mind: girls. What else?

It seemed that the only girl that wasn’t on his possible-love danh sách was Grace, mainly because she was with Craiger. Casey herself seemed to like him well enough but he did not know if he wanted to follow that relationship. She seemed a bit too wound-up and quick to judge, but perhaps he was simply judging her himself. He barely knew her; there must have been many likable things about her. All he had to do was hang around long enough to find out what.

Then there was Rynk, who seemed almost uncomfortably open and friendly. She didn’t mind having one boy over at her house, she asked him about the jewelry she wore, and she had been quite friendly to Dave ever since they met, but it seemed as though she did the same with the other boys as well. Perhaps she was just flirty to all the guys hoặc something along those lines. Again, this was something Dave would have to find out over time.

With Saber he knew the least about her, and hadn’t seen her in a while. She was his age, but she seemed to be older in a way, similar to Grace, aside from the boyfriend part. They both were quite mature, at least they seemed mature, and while Saber did seem a bit flirty, it felt thêm like simple teasing then flirting. And Dave had to admit that he could not actually picture himself with her, despite how good-looking she seemed.

Rin was bound to come up some time in his mind, and this option seemed to be the most-possible, according to any romance stories Dave had seen/read. But while he felt the urge to know the most about Rin, it was not necessarily out of a crush hoặc romantic feelings. It could just as well be simple curiosity.

“I’m going to end up going in circles.” Dave groaned. “Well… guess I’ll just… uh…” Dave did not know what in the world he would actually do just then. He did not feel like playing video games, alone at least, and he had just hung out for hours, so what would he do?

“Maybe I could go find where Rin is.” He thought. Hopping off the couch, Dave dashed out the door, got hit scooter, and motored off. The first place he would try was the lot he met cây ô rô, hoa huệ, holly and Ira at.

As soon as Dave arrived at the lot, he was shocked to see Saber, talking, with Ira. “What’s going on there?” Dave murmured. He hid his scooter in a bụi cây, cây bụi, tổng thống bush then hid inside of the large tubes, while pretending to be relaxing, in case they saw him. He did not want to be yelled at bởi either of these girls.

“… where the cỏ meets the fence.” Was the first thing Dave caught on to from Saber’s mouth.

“Better be.” Ira replied.

“Is that a threat?” Saber’s tone was hostile now.

“It could be.” Ira replied calmly. “I don’t trust people in general, least of all people who come from where bạn come from.”

“As if that’s a step-up.” Saber scoffed back. “Like it hoặc not, bạn are gonna have to trust someone. It’s unavoidable. Either way believe me hoặc don’t. You’re the only one who will hurt.” Then the sounds of footsteps leaving came.

“Don’t be too sure.” Ira retorted as she too walked off.


Dave made sure the area was clear before walking out again. “These girls… THESE GIRLS!” Dave continued in his tìm kiếm for Rin for a while, but the puzzlement of what Saber had told Ira made him too mind-boggled to actually concentrate, so he began to motor home.

The tiếp theo morning Dave was woken up bởi a large whistle. His eyes went from slit to Plate-size in half a second. They focused on Casey, who was still whistling loudly in front of him, wearing black and grey clothes.

“I’M AWAKE!!!” He yelled. Casey stopped.

“Goooooood mornin.” She greeted. “Get up and let’s go.” She ran out.

“How did she get into my house…” Grumbled Dave. He went to the kitchen, nibbled at bit at some leftover pancakes, then was dragged out bởi Casey.

“Just wondering, why are-“

“Didn’t want it to get broken.” Casey interrupted.

“… What?”

“You were asking about the necklace, right?”

“Oh! Uh no, I was wondering about why you’re wearing black and gray.”

“Oh, so I can hide easier.”

“Hide?” Dave stopped walking. “Why?”

“So no one sees us sneaking into the school, duh.” Casey rolled her eyes. Dave chuckled a bit, “Hilarious.”

“… I’m not kidding.” Casey assured with a serious tone.

“… Wait couldn’t we just get an adult to hiển thị us around?”

This time Casey chuckled, “Are bạn serious? The adults? There are around two ways to get into that school, either sneak in and see around it, hoặc go in when school starts and find nothing with all the crowds. Plus I got all ready. I almost never get to wear this!”

Dave was still a bit shocked. He did not reply. Casey shot him an annoyed glance and continued, “We’re not breaking the windows, hoặc cutting chains hoặc anything. Relax. Just picking a lock and looking around.”

“And what about the security?”

“Magnets!” Casey pulled out a few refrigerator magnets. “Perfect for sneaking.”

The teenage boy was still unconvinced. Breaking into school? Just to look around? If they were caught he’d hear about it for months, if not years. “This is what I get for listening to a girl with moon-tattoos.” He grumbled. It was an insane idea. He did not need to see the school THIS badly… and yet… he was tempted to go along with Casey’s idea.

“How long would this take?” He asked.

“An giờ hoặc so. Are bạn gonna come hoặc not?” Dave could tell that Casey was beginning to get impatient. He did not want to make her angry, and he did not want to get in trouble.

“I must be crazy, let’s go.”

Casey shot the boy a grin then dashed off ahead of him. He followed tiredly, and was out of breath bởi the time they reached the school. Casey took out some hairpins and got to work on the door-lock. *click* It opened.

“Where did bạn learn to do that?” Dave asked. “Splinter Cell?”

“Yep.” Casey replied bluntly.

“… Really?”

“No idea.” The female walked cautiously inside, looking carefully around for any security measures. “Clear.” She whispered. Dave walked inside slowly. He was still surprised he had decided to do this. “Y’know now that I think about it we probably could have-“

Casey grabbed Dave’s arm and dragged him forward. “C’mon ya wimp.” She teased. Casey first led Dave to the first classroom. It was small, and quaint, with a chalk-board, chairs, desks, a supply cupboard, and a few windows. Dave wondered if all the rooms would be this boring. He could only assume that Casey had the same mindset, because she was dragging him to the tiếp theo room after only about ten giây of looking.

“What room was that for?” He asked as they carefully jogged.

“Math.” Casey replied before going into another classroom. It was quite similar to the first, only on a different side of the wall.

“Uh maybe we could go to just the main rooms and the main halls?” Dave suggested.

“Good idea.” Casey complimented, “Race bạn to the gym”, then ran off. Dave tried to keep up, and did so cautiously as he did not want to set off an alarm. Seeing how fast Casey ran reminded him of the gần đây Christmas, and how he had to take a shortcut to beat her, and even then he was much thêm worn out.

The gymnasium was quite large, and had multiple square sections, which outlined the different sports areas, each labeled, and each a certain color for each sport. bóng rổ was red, bóng chuyền was blue, the running-track was yellow, and there was even one for sparring with boxing gloves.

Another thing in the gym was a folded-stage, and a large closet tiếp theo to it, which he assumed had musical instruments. “If only.” He mumbled.

Casey turned to face Dave, “You ever box before?”

Dave knew where she was going, “You like boxing?” He replied.

“Girls can like boxing.” She retorted, feeling a bit insulted.

“I didn’t mean that. I was just wondering… Uh, to answer your question, no. Haven’t. Have you?”

“Not that much but I’m thinking about joining, y’know, to get out some aggression. Some people in this town can get pretty irritating.”

“Like who? Ira?”

“Yeah her, then there’s Dia, and Rin being all secretive annoys me, then… well… I tình yêu the guy, but Kyle’s just... too nice.”

Dave knew what she mean bởi “too nice”, but Kyle was his first friend at this town, and he hadn’t annoyed Dave yet. Dave actually found it rather refreshing to meet someone who wasn’t a jerk compared to his old school. But Casey had been there longer, so she probably had thêm incidents. Still, it seemed a bit much that Kyle would be so annoying to need boxing.

When Dave did not reply, Casey continued “N-not that he’s super annoying. I’m just not used to super nice people all the time. Not saying it’s a bad thing.”

“I get what bạn mean.” Dave nodded. “Well do bạn want to try boxing? I don’t see the gloves.”

“Be right back.” Casey ran to the boxing square, then past it, then to a closet which she began to pick the lock of. Once it was open, Casey walked over with two sets of boxing gloves.

“Here.” She tossed a pair to Dave, then slipped her pair on. Dave struggled a bit to get his on; they were quite tight, but he managed.

“So bạn just want to box with me? Right now?” Dave questioned.

“No, I gave bạn the gloves to see If they fit.” Casey answered sarcastically.

“Alright, alright.” Dave got into a defensive pose, holding his gloves over his face. He never found much interest in watching boxing, but he knew some of the moves, mainly blocks.

Casey gave a hard jab to Dave’s gloves, repeating quickly with one hand, while aiming for his side with the other. Dave was hit once on the side, but quickly moved to block another, leaving part of his face exposed, which Casey hit.

Dave made a gulping stun-sound as he staggered back. Casey shot him a smirk, and got ready to continue. Dave began jabbing at her. “So,” He began while aiming for her shoulder, “weren’t we just doing a tour?”

Casey moved to the side and jabbed Dave twice in the arm, “We have all day. It’s not like bạn have something to do, do you?”

Dave quickly blocked a head-shot from above, while pondering if he DID have something to do. “No,” he answered before giving Casey a careful jab to the stomach, knocking her back a bit, “I guess I don’t.”

“Well you’re doing pretty good at this.” Casey complimented as she went back to jabbing at his defenses. “You ever watch boxing?”

“I have,” Dave moved Casey’s arm to the side and struck for a collar-bone-shot, which Casey knocked down, “but not often. I stick to âm nhạc mostly.”

“Oh yeah, bạn play.” Casey remembered while ducking a head-shot. “You want to try the đàn ghi ta, guitar here?”

“I’d rather not, no offense.” Dave barely dodged a groin shot, “Youch! Hey! Off Limits!”

Casey chuckled a bit, going back to a standing position, “If there was a war between boys and gi-“ *Ch-click!*

Dave spun around, “What was tha-OOF!” Casey clocked him in the jaw, not knowing he was turning.

“Oop! Sorry!” She apologized.

“What was that sound?” Dave asked, rubbing his pained jaw. “Sounded like a door unlocking.”

Without answering, Casey grabbed Dave bởi the áo sơ mi and dragged him into the closet, got in herself, then closed the door almost completely.

“Do bạn see anything?” ask Dave, who was stuck in a position not facing the door.

“Not yet…” Casey whispered. They stayed inside the closet for a good thirty giây before Casey đã đưa ý kiến “You better not have done that just to get in the clo-“

“I didn’t! I really heard something.” Dave defended. {And it wasn’t my idea to go in the closet} he grumbled in his thoughts.

Fortunately hoặc unfortunately, someone did appear. Dave knew because he heard footsteps. “What does the person look like?”

“… Wearing black, I think it’s a girl.” Casey replied.

“Ira?”

“No idea. Ira’s not the reason for everything bad in the town, y’know.”

“I guess. What is she doing?”

After a short pause Casey answered “She walked out of sight, but I think she was moving towards the other closet.”

“Doesn’t that one have instruments hoặc something?”

“Correct. Don’t know what she’d want with them though. Let’s go take her down!”

Dave grabbed Casey’s arm before she even attempted to burst through. “WE’LL GET CAUGHT TOO!” He whispered sternly. “We’re not even supposed to be here!”

“… Right.” Casey yanked her arm free. “Then what do we do?”

“… We could wait till she leaves to follo-“

“She’s gone!” Casey opened the closet door and quickly tip-toed forward. Dave followed close behind. The two teenagers stealthily searched the school, but found no one. At least Dave got to see what the cafeteria looked like. “Let’s check the closet.” Dave suggested.

They made their way back to the gym, and looked through the instrument closet. Nothing was out of the ordinary… except for a guitar. It was opened up, but with nothing inside. “… She… took something from it… But that means someone else had to have put something in there.” Dave guessed. “Something they wanted hidden.”

“Ten bucks says drugs.” Casey bet.

“I hope not, but it might b-!” An idea struck Dave, “A-are there any fences, right tiếp theo to grass?!”

“Uh yeah, why?”

“I heard Sa-… someone talking with Ira about getting… something at a fence, I-I think.”

“Well c’mon!” Casey ran out of the school with Dave following, and they soon began to look around the cỏ in the school. Inch bởi inch, Dave and Casey eyeballed the ground at the base of the fence. Then Dave noticed a part where the cỏ was overturned. He lifted it up, and sure enough there was a large hole.

“DAVE! LOOK!” Dave spun his head around to see Casey pointing at the black-suited girl running off through the neighborhood. “Let’s get her!”

Dave had no intention of giving chase, but he had no time to argue with Casey, who had already dashed off, so he followed.

Dave knew they would not catch the girl, and he was correct. Casey eventually stopped four houses down, and walked back angrily. “Now what do we do?!”

“We could tell the police.” Dave suggested. “Say we saw someone walking into the school, and followed them.”

“Hm… alright.”

One phone-call later…

“They’ll be over soon.” Dave informed. “We should probably leave. I don’t want to be in thêm problems with the cops.”

“I hear ya.” Casey started to jog off. Dave followed. “Thanks for hiển thị me the school though. That was nice.”

“You’re welcome.” Casey replied. “I gotta go though. I don’t want people seeing me in black and grey.”

“Point taken. So do we just part hoặc should I follow then wait for bạn to change?”

“Uh… I’ll call bạn when I’m ready, how about that?”

“Alright,” Dave shrugged, “see bạn later then.”

“Later.”

Later that day, Dave wondered why Casey never called him. He figured out why when he remembered he had never told her what his number was.