Club meetings and hang-outs with the Student Council. They're actually … not so bad. I think I might like them.
A few weeks into March, I actually get a response back from one of Jenica's classmates.
“Guys,” I whisper, standing up suddenly from the chair in the corner of the culinary classroom. “We've got a hit!” Ranger's across the room in a white apron with a vintage strawberry print, snatching the phone from my hand and scanning the message. It's pretty simple: yeah, I knew Jenica. And sure, I have the yearbook. What do you need?
Ranger looks up, licking his lips.
“Text them back?” he asks, and I nod. It's not long before the pictures start coming in, all these photos of the old yearbook pages. Jenica's in a lot of them. A lot.
“Your sister was pretty popular, huh?” I ask as I look at her smiling face, her eyes and hair so similar to Ranger's it'd be impossible to miss the family resemblance. This one's a group shot of the Culinary Club, with Jenica as their president. Around her neck … there's a key.
“This is the silver key, right?” I ask Ranger, tapping at the screen of my phone. The other boys are gathered around behind us. “The one you already had?” He nods, and I keep skipping through the photos. There's her class picture, the only female face among all those dudes.
About halfway through, we find a picture of her with her arm around Mr. Murphy. Only … Mr. Murphy's wearing a uniform.
“Mr. Murphy used to go here?” I ask, and Church replies, still holding a cup of coffee in his hands.
“Most the staff are alumni. I'd say a good seventy-five percent of them.” He takes another sip as we all stare at the picture.
“Were they dating?” I ask, but Ranger gives me a really weird look, like I've lost my mind.
“No, definitely not. She was dating her childhood friend, Rick.”
“As far as you know,” I tell him, giving him a look that says I'm a girl, trust me, I know these things. “The way they're holding each other, that goes way beyond the casual. You don't hold someone like that if you don't like them.”
“So … you're saying we need to kick Mr. Murphy's ass?” the twins ask in unison, but I give them a look.
“No, we need to talk to him,” I explain, and they both make a moue of disappointment. “In fact, let me do it. There's that fitness test thing tomorrow that I'm excused from. It'll give me a minute to speak with him privately.”
“What are you planning on saying?” Spencer asks as I keep thumbing through the pictures. The guy who's been texting us lets us know that's all he has, but says if we have any questions to let him know. I plan to grill him later. For now, I just focus on Mr. Murphy.
“I'm not sure, but I'll figure it out; I have all night.”
“Good, back to cooking then?” Tobias asks, and I nod, turning just in time to get a cupcake in the face from Micah.
“You … fucking ass pig!” I shout, and even though the kitchen's a mess by the time I'm done with my revenge, I do manage to peg him right in the face with a custard tart.
All's fair in love and war.
The physical fitness test is being held from eight in the morning until around noon. Of course, I'm the only student in the entire school that's excused from it.
That doesn't make me stand out at all.
“Hey Carson,” Eugene calls out, flicking a jock strap at my face as I head down the hall. “Nice to see being the headmaster's son comes with so many benefits.” Fucking prick. I flip him off, but that's pretty much the extent of what I can do right now. He's got six of his huge football friends behind him. They could kick my ass in their sleep.
Currently, I'm on my way to the library. That's where I'm supposed to be for the whole day, but first, I'm going to snag Mr. Murphy and pull him aside to talk.
Since the entire third year class is present outside the gym, most of the administrators are on-hand for supervision, but don't have much to do but mill around while the health and fitness teachers handle the actual testing.
I slip in the side door and look around for Lionel Murphy (I know, the name is hilarious, I thought so, too) and his head of sandy blond hair.