Thursday, March 22, 2018

Chapter 14 - The Game's Afoot

Lost hurried out of the bathroom just as the bell rang. Keeping her head down, she rushed through the crowds of students, all going to their next classes.

Lost knew she should have gone back to her English class but after what had happened, there was no way she was going back to face all those people who had just seen her run out of class. So, she had stayed in the girls bathroom, hiding.

Reaching the door to her Art class, Lost scurried into the room and sat down at her desk. She slouched slowly as more students came rushing in. What if one of them was in her English? If they noticed her, would they tell everyone what had happened? Will the whole school know that the new kid ran out of class, crying?

She was going to stay low. Not talk to anyone. Get through the day and then stay in her dorm. For the whole evening. Maybe the whole next day too.

I'm being dramatic. Calm down, Lost, I can do this.

Lost's mind drifted back to what had happened in the hallway.

I wish I knew why Headmaster Clark and Mr. Greely were talking about me. And probably Koolest too. Its not fair that I don't even know what we did!

"Hey!" Snowyclaw said as she sat down a few desks away from Lost.
 
Lost gave a quick smile before going lower into her seat.

It was going to be a long class.
 
***
 
"Lost? Helloooo? Lost, you alive?" Swirl asked loudly, waving a hand in front of Lost's face.
 
"Hm?" Lost blinked, trying to push away her bothering thoughts out of her head. Like how Ms. Liza had come to her earlier and talked to her about not running out of the classroom again. Lost was lucky it was just a warning.

The girls were sitting in a corner at Drama class, practicing their lines. All the students had separated into groups, getting ready for the audition which was apparently coming up soon. Ms. Tavie hadn't given a date since she thought it'd be best if it was a surprise. She claimed that it was better that way.
 
"This is the third time you've left me and gone deep into thought," Swirl replied, frowning worriedly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," Lost said.

Swirl quirked an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"
 
"Fine. No," Lost sighed. "In English, I was supposed to read my report out loud in front of the whole class. But I chickened out and ran out of class."

"Aw, I'm so sorry!" Swirl said gently. "I know public speaking can be really hard."

"But that's not all! When I ran out, I bumped into Mr. Greely and Headmaster Clark. They were some deep, secretive discussion," Lost said.
 
"Really? Did you hear what it was about?" Swirl asked.

"It sounded like it was about me," Lost whispered.
 
"What?! Why would they be talking about you?" Swirl cried. "What did they say that makes you think it was about you?"

"Well," Lost thought back. "They mentioned a sister and that... they were new? And something about a misunderstanding? That's all I got, really. It didn't make any sense."
 
"I'm sure they weren't talking about you. Maybe their talking about Headmaster Clark's new-new... cat! And the cat has a sister but it was a misunderstanding when he bought both!" Swirl declared.

Lost laughed. "That's crazy! Did you just randomly think of that?"

"Yup," Swirl admitted, grinning.

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't about a cat but good guess," Lost said, teasingly.

"Hey, a girl can try," Swirl joked. "Well, in all seriousness, maybe we should talk to our other friends and bounce off ideas about this."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan. Maybe at supper?" Lost said.
 
"Sure! We should probably keep practicing our lines otherwise we're going to get in trouble," Swirl said, holding up her many papers that were full of lines.

Lost nodded and looked down at her own sheet of papers. "Now where were we?"

***
Lost hurried over to her table, trying to keep her tray of poutine steady. She dodged a chair getting pushed out quickly by a boy and kept on going.

This is like an obstacle course.

Quickly, Lost scooted into her chair next to Swirl and Ja. Sarah and Karalee came over, balancing their trays and sat down.

"Where's Gracie and Fang?" Lost asked through a mouthful of fries and gravy.

"Mm!" Karalee swallowed. "They said they had to go study for some paper in history or something."

Swirl pounded her fist on the table, making Sarah jump. "Lost has something to tell us. Right, Lost?"

Lost slowly nodded and swallowed her fries before saying anything. "Alright, so, Swirl thinks that you guys can help with a problem... thing."

"A problem thing? What's wrong?" Ja asked.

After Lost finished explaining what she overheard Headmaster Clark and Mr. Greely talking about, all her friends looked confused.

"That's... weird," Sarah said.

"Really weird," Ja agreed.

"How do you know they were talking about you?" Karalee asked, leaning back in her chair.

Lost thought for a moment. "Well, I'm new and my sister, Koolestkat, is new too. I guess two other sisters might also be new this year but still. Doesn't it sound like it's about me? Like the way they acted around me?"

"Hm, this is very interesting," Karalee mused.

"Kind of like a mystery," Ja said.

Karalee's eyes brightened. "Yes! A mystery! A mystery that needs to get solved!"

"What are you saying?" Lost asked, although she had a good idea what Karalee was going to say next.

"I'm saying, we have a mystery to solve," Karalee announced.

No comments:

Post a Comment