by Maisy Morgan
“Seriously?” he grumbled and shook his head, hurrying down the hall. He did realize that Hannah probably needed a bit more time to navigate the crowds in the hall than he would, and now he felt bad for not having foreseen this need. Obviously, she didn’t want to be late for classes on her first day.
He slipped into his homeroom class, English, and found a seat by Hannah. “Sorry about that,” he said to her, and he shrugged.
“It’s fine,” she said. “So what party is this you’re going to this weekend?”
“This guy Bradley that Draco and I met in Helen,” Tripp said, “he happens to go to school here, and he invited us to a pool party.”
Before he could tell her much more, their teacher, a short and slightly plump woman, called for their attention the moment the bell rang. The rest of the day was normal. He found that he liked all of his teachers, much to his surprise. He was particularly fond of his and Draco’s Spanish teacher, an uppity woman with long, flowing black hair, and the math teacher he and Hannah had together—a fat and balding man who liked to make lame dad-jokes.
Hannah didn’t ride the bus, but after their drama class, Tripp and Draco made sure to escort her to the carline pickup. She laughed, calling them little gentleman, and wheeled herself out the door that Tripp held open for her. The boys then darted down a back hallway towards the bus routes, and they sat next to one another on the bus.
“What do you think?” Draco asked.
“About?”
“First day of high school.”
Tripp nodded approvingly. “I liked most of my teachers. That drama teacher… she was… interesting…”
Draco laughed. “I liked her. High energy. Hey… so, Hannah and I have a class together second period… she told me you kind of blew her off in the hall this morning?”
“Yeah, that’s totally my bad,” Tripp said as the bus took off towards Brooks. “I need to apologize. I ran into Kara, and we started talking about Bradley’s party, and I forgot Hannah was there for a second.”
“Jerk,” Draco said half-jokingly.
“Man, shut up,” Tripp said.
The bus ride to Brooks was a bit long as there were a number of students who lived significantly closer to the high school, so Tripp and Draco were among the last ones on the bus. Draco was dropped off at the end of his neighborhood, and Tripp was dropped off in front of his grandmother’s sweets shop, something that tickled the bus driver for some reason.
“Have a good un’ kiddo,” he sang, and Tripp thanked him before darting into the shop.
His grandmother was wrapping up some vanilla fudge, the current special, for a client while Sweet Feet slept quietly under one of the benches. Mary beamed when she saw him. “Well, how was it? How was your first day in high school?”
“It was great,” Tripp said, smiling as the customer nodded at him on his way out. “Draco and I got invited to a party by Bradley!” Tripp exclaimed.
“Draco too?” Mary asked.
“I told you he wasn’t being mean that day,” Tripp said. “Yes, Draco too.”
“I suppose I ate my words, didn’t I?” Mary said, shaking her head.
“Can I go?” Tripp asked hopefully. “It’s at his parent’s house, and they’re doing a pool party before the weather gets too cold.” Tripp glanced at the message on his phone Bradley had sent him. “His dad is going to barbeque.”
“I suppose that’s fine,” Mary said. “Go sit and get started on any homework you’ve gotten.” She waved her hand towards the empty tables and chairs. “When you’re done, you can come help me get the kitchen cleaned up.”
Tripp nodded and went and opened up his backpack, smiling at the thought of going to a pool party with upperclassmen. He felt that it was a good way to start his high school career.
Chapter Six
The weekend couldn’t arrive fast enough for Tripp. His first week had been decent enough as far as school went. He liked all of his teachers thus far, and he hadn’t been assigned too much homework. He had managed to get everything done most days while his grandmother had finished up at the shop for the day, so he’d had most of his afternoons free at the house. Now, it was Friday, and he zipped through his homework at the shop knowing that Draco’s parents were going to be dropping him off soon as Mary had offered to drive both of them to the party.
When he arrived, Tripp was thankful Draco was wearing his less-than-flashy swimsuit that he had worn the weekend at Helen—he knew for a fact Draco owned some rather outlandish looking ones. Tripp headed to the bathroom of the shop, throwing on his swim trunks and a t-shirt. As he was getting dressed, he could hear his grandmother bid the Morris’ farewell, with Draco’s little sister whining about not being able to go to the party as her parents dragged her out of there.
“You boys excited?” his grandmother asked, snagging her keys off a nearby counter.
“I guess,” Draco said, but he smiled. He had not seemed quite as enthusiastic as Tripp had felt all week.
Tripp nudged him. “Bradley told me that Becky was going to be there,” he whispered, and this seemed to perk Draco up quite a bit.
Tripp gave his grandmother the address and he and Draco sat in the back of her van and talked about their first week of school—chattering away about classes. Draco was particularly fond of the drama class they had with Hannah. Tripp had become surprisingly fond of the class as well despite the slightly out-there teacher who was already trying to entice Tripp to try out for her fall production.
When they finally arrived in Bradley’s neighborhood and Mary pulled up to the curb, Tripp was quite horrified to see her getting out of the car. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“I was going to say hello to Bradley’s parents,” she said, raising a brow. “Don’t start,” she warned, and though Tripp felt embarrassed to have his grandmother walk them up to the door, he elected not to press the issue.
They rang the doorbell, and Tripp felt relieved to see that other parents were present, too. Stacey’s mom and dad were there as were Kara’s—all hanging out in the kitchen with Bradley’s parents. “What’s up!” Ken, Bradley’s father, exclaimed and opened the door wide for them to all come in. “Mary, good to see you. Bradley told me he had invited Tripp.” The man smiled at Tripp and then pointed towards large, glass double doors that led out onto a back porch. “Kids are all out back by the pool,” he said, and Tripp and Draco darted in that direction—leaving his grandmother in the dust.
Once outside, Tripp could see that the party was fairly tame, though he did feel rather important to have received an invite. He spotted half of the school’s varsity football team all hanging out in a corner and a few other faces he didn’t know. Bradley spotted him right away, and he waved him over. “Hey guys, this is Tripp and Draco,” Bradley said and put a hand on Tripp’s shoulder. “Met him in Helen, and he just so happens to go to school with us. Weird, right?”
Tripp heard some shrill laughter from the pool, and he could see an irritated-looking Becky climbing out of the pool and making an obscene gesture towards Kara and Stacey, who were both laughing at her expense, sitting on the edge of the pool with their feet in the water. One of them had likely pushed her into the pool. His eyes lingered on Kara who was in a two-piece bathing suit, bright red and shimmering. “Go on, man,” Bradley said, laughing and giving him a shove. “Kara’s got a thing for him,” Bradley informed his posse standing nearby, and they all seemed to grunt approvingly.
Tripp didn’t hesitate. He headed right to the side of the pool and confidently sat himself down by Kara. “How was your first week of school?” Tripp asked her, only just realizing that Draco had followed and was now talking with Becky, who was squeezing her wet hair out. She was being polite enough, but Tripp could tell she had other people she’d rather be talking to.
“It was good. I got all the classes I wanted,” Kara said, smiling. “And, tryouts are next week. I think Becky said she was going to go for twirling instead.”
“Yeah, after
wasting our time all summer helping her practice cheer moves,” Stacey groaned.
“Whatever, you’re just jealous,” Becky proclaimed.
“Twirling? That’s cool,” Draco said.
Becky shrugged. “Yeah, I guess,” she said and glanced down at his swim trunks with the Slytherin. “I remember you wearing those in Helen, and I meant to ask—you’re not actually named after that book character, are you?”
“Draco Malfoy,” Draco said and then laughed. “Yeah, my dad was an extra on the movies, and he and my mom met on set. So… they kind of nailed me with that one.”
“Oh, that’s actually kind of cool,” Becky said, and a slight smile appeared on her face.
Tripp felt relieved. He was starting to worry that all of his new friends were going to think that Draco was lame. Just when he was starting to feel relieved, Draco ruined it. “What about you, Kara?” Draco asked. “Your parents geeks too?”
“Huh?” Kara questioned, looking away from Tripp and glancing over her shoulder towards where Draco and Becky were standing.
“You know, Kara,” he said. “As in Kara Zor-El.”
“Who is Kara Zor-El?” Kara asked.
“You know,” Draco said. “Supergirl?”
Kara laughed. “Um, no. Kara is a Scottish name. My grandfather is from Scotland. Wow, you really are a big geek, huh, Draco?”
“Well…” Draco started to say.
“Wait, is your sister named after a book character too?” Kara asked. “What was her name again? Sarah Jane? What’s that from?”
Tripp pleaded silently that Draco wouldn’t say. “It’s from Doctor Who,” Draco said, almost proudly.
“Oh my gosh, your parents are so lame!” Kara said, laughing hard.
“They’re not lame,” Draco said. “They’re actually really cool. They work on movie sets a lot, and they run a cosplay shop out of our house too.”
“What is cosplay?” Becky asked, though by her tone, Tripp suspected she already knew. “Oh, wait, you mean grown people dressing up in fancy Halloween costumes, right? That would explain that goofy looking coat you wore to school all week! It’s a Doctor Who cosplay! You are so lame!”
Bradley had arrived after having jumped into the pool, splashing Tripp, Stacey, and Kara. The girls squealed slightly as his head popped up a moment later. He propped his elbows up by the side of the pool. “What are you whining about over here, Becky?” he asked, smirking—evidently having heard Becky’s last comment.
“I’m not whining,” she said and then pointed a finger at Draco. “I was just talking about how he’s been wearing goofy costumes to school all week.”
“They’re not costumes,” Draco said.
“Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that,” Bradley said. “What’s up with that brown cloak thing?”
“It’s just an overcoat,” Draco said, now looking a bit embarrassed.
“It’s not just an overcoat,” Becky said. “He’s trying to dress up like Doctor Who! His sister is named after a character on the show, and he’s named after a book character. It’s so weird.”
Draco shrugged, trying to let Becky’s enthusiasm on the subject roll off him, but Tripp could tell it was bothering him. Yet, for some reason, Tripp found himself remaining quite silent. “Really?” Bradley asked him. “And you dress up like the characters?”
“He just told us his parents run a cosplay shop out of the house,” Becky said.
“Dude, seriously?” Bradley asked. “That’s freakin’ weird. You go to those lame comic book conventions?”
“Sometimes,” Draco said, and everyone laughed loudly at this. Tripp noticed Draco trying to catch his eye, so he kept his head down and avoided looking at him.
The taunting started to escalate, and Tripp loathed himself for his inability to speak up. He suspected it was meant to be light-hearted fun, but he could tell Draco wasn’t exactly taking it that way. He looked embarrassed, and he wasn’t exactly quick-witted, so he just wound up standing there looking more and more embarrassed by the moment.
“Yes,” Mary said, laughing a bit as she spoke with Ken and the others. “I think Tripp is enjoying high school so far. I think it helps going into it knowing a lot of people. I was worried, you know? Moving from LA.”
“Oh, we totally understand,” Jaden said, hooking arms with Ken and smiling. “Bradley likes Tripp. I’m really glad that the coach has been having them do that whole mentoring thing with the freshmen. I think it’s been good for him.”
“I wish they had the girls doing it too,” Lana said, shaking her head. “Stacey is doing everything she can to avoid all the freshmen since her sister is part of the group coming in. She’s being a little bratty about it.”
“Our daughter’s not a brat,” Bob said, laughing. “She’s just a teenager who thinks her little sister is embarrassing.”
Mary laughed. “Sounds about right.”
“I think our Kara has a little crush on your Tripp,” Nat said, nudging her husband, Darren, who was shoving half a burger into his mouth. Darren nodded in agreement, smirking.
Mary smiled. She liked these kids’ parents. They had a nice, close group. They seemed like responsible PTO type parents, and that made her feel a lot better about Tripp hanging around this new group of kids. By the time she was leaving, she had nearly convinced herself that she had been worried about nothing. As she approached her car, she jumped a bit to see that Draco was seated on the curb. “Draco? What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m just feeling a little sick,” he said, and she could tell it was an outright lie. “Can you take me home?”
Mary stared for a moment, contemplating. “Draco, is everything okay?” she asked.
“It’s fine,” he said.
She stared at him. “Draco? Did something happen?” she asked.
They were quiet for a moment. Draco seemed to be contemplating telling her something when they suddenly heard shouting. Glancing back, Mary saw movement up on the roof. It was Ken, Bradley’s father. He was fumbling, and the next thing Mary knew, she was watching as the man fell head first off the roof, landing with a hard thud as he hit the pavement.
Chapter Seven
“Get in the car,” Mary said, practically lifting Draco off the ground as she latched onto his arm, shoving him into the passenger’s seat. She almost slammed the door in his face before bolting back up the driveway. She glanced back over her shoulder for a second, getting a glimpse of the wide eyes Draco was wearing.
Jaden came bursting out of the house a moment later, and she screamed bloody murder when she saw Ken lying in the driveway. Bob and Darren arrived seconds later, and they both seemed to turn a bit green in the face. Mary turned to the men. “Keep the kids in the backyard,” she said, and both men nodded and dipped out quickly to go rally the children to make sure none got a peek of what was taking place in the driveway on the other side of the house.
Mary put an arm around Jaden, who looked frozen in place, and she walked her to the front porch and helped her to sit down just as Nat and Lana exited the front door, each looking quite mortified at what was in front of them. Mary knelt next to Ken, checking his pulse, but he didn’t have one—not that she had honestly expected there to be. He had landed head-first on the concrete from the roof of a two-story house. “What happened?” Mary questioned, looking up at the roof. “Why was he up on the roof?” No one seemed to have any answer for her.
Nat called the police, and Mary felt like the paramedics took their time getting there. The coroner pronounced Ken dead almost immediately, having arrived first. A police cruiser came pulling up only shortly after the paramedics, one of whom was speaking to Jaden, making sure that she was okay because she looked like she was going to pass out from the shock of it all. Out of the police cruiser popped Preston, and he bypassed Mary’s car, doing a double take and pausing to talk to Draco before heading up towards them. “Can any of you tell me what happened?” he asked. “Ma’am, are you all right?” he asked Jaden, who s
imply shook her head and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
“I didn’t see much,” Mary said. “I was over by my car, but I glanced over in time to see him diving off the house. It was awful, Preston. He hit head first.”
The coroner, who had been knelt down beside Ken and was peering under the blanket they had covered him with, waved Preston over. “Officer, look here. He’s got some weird puncture wounds on his chest and one on his neck.”
Mary could see Preston’s face contort slightly. “I doubt I would have noticed those little things,” Preston said. “They’re really small…”
“I’m assuming no one has been messing with the body?” the coroner asked.
“I checked him for a pulse, but that’s all,” Mary said.
“So, those obviously happened before the fall,” the coroner said, covering Ken up again and waving some people over to come and remove Ken’s body from the scene.
“Someone stabbed him,” Preston said, looking up towards the roof. “Before he fell. Hold up, leave him there for a moment. I’m calling in our crime scene unit.”
Jaden began blubbering. “You think someone killed my husband?”
“I think it’s possible someone stabbed him and pushed him off the roof, yes,” Preston said. “Though I have no idea what could have caused those little puncture wounds.”
“I need to call Draco’s parents to come get him,” Mary said, and Preston nodded. She walked back to her car and climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Is he dead?” Draco asked, sounding mortified. “I saw him fall… is he dead? He’s dead, right?”
“He’s dead,” Mary said. “I’m so sorry you had to see that, Draco. I’m going to call your parents to come get you.”
Draco nodded and leaned back in his seat, looking really bothered by everything that had just taken place. He kept shaking his head and looking down. Mary got on the phone, telling Draco’s parents what had just happened to Ken and how Draco was waiting for them in her car. The whole time she spoke to them, she kept glancing towards the side of the house, making sure that Bob and Darren were keeping the kids away.
