by Milda Harris
Kyle turned pale. Suzie turned red, but answered looking straight at Kyle, “Not yet. I don’t have a date.”
Chapter 10: Power Lunching
I could have kicked Kyle. Suzie gave him the best lead in ever and he blew it by saying the following words, “Oh, that’s nice.”
I mean, dude, the girl you have a massive crush on tells you she doesn’t have a date to the dance, well, maybe you should take that as a lead in and ask her. Poor Suzie, I actually think she was hoping he’d ask her too, the way her smile faded after that. Then they just stared at each other in silence. I didn’t know what to do. Thank goodness the bell rang and saved us all from more horrendous teenage awkwardness.
I managed to chew Kyle out in whispers while working on our Chemistry experiment. He was just quiet about it. I know Kyle totally knew he had messed up. I did notice poor Suzie looking over at us all during class, so maybe all hope wasn’t lost. He just needed a swift kick in the ass.
“So, what were you and Suzie talking about anyway?” Kyle asked as we started to set up for our latest Chemistry experiment.
“Just girl stuff,” I said vaguely, not wanting to get into details about Ethan Ripley.
“Oh, okay,” Kyle went back to concentrating on the experiment, not even trying to get more details out of me.
We were quiet for a little while as we each measured liquids for our experiment. I was thinking about what Suzie had said, the murders, and heroin overdoses.
“Hey, Kyle,” I said after a few moments.
“Yeah?” He was carefully pouring into a beaker.
“What do you know about heroin?” I asked.
He almost dropped the beaker.
“What?” he whispered, looking around for the teacher.
I repeated my question and added, so that he didn’t think I was trying to buy some, “I know one of the girls who died at Laurel Community College and you’re a science guy and all, so I thought you might know. It is a chemical substance.”
“Well,” Kyle started, “It was originally an over the counter drug by Bayer that they claimed was a non addictive substitute for morphine.”
Kyle knew everything science related. He was my own personal Wikipedia. Still, I didn’t need to know everything about heroin as a drug. I shook my head, “Well, actually what I wanted to know is could you murder someone with it? I mean is that possible?”
“You mean injecting someone, like those girls?” Kyle thought for a moment. “Sure, you’d just need to have a needle ready and then inject them. Supposedly you don’t even need to heat the stuff anymore, just add water and go. That’s easy enough if you have a supply. After that, it would be quickest to inject a vein, but even intramuscular injection would only take about 5 minutes for the effects to happen.”
“Then what happens?” I didn’t want to ask, but I had to know.
“From what I’ve read, you feel a sense of euphoria and then your system slows down, particularly your respiratory system, your heart stops, then you die,” Kyle looked somber.
“Okay,” I said, feeling a wave of sadness as I thought about Liz and the other girls. It was so sad. My eye caught Suzie’s, across the room. She was looking at us. It was time to change the topic anyway. If I thought about it, really thought about it all, I’d just feel depressed and I needed to be productive.
“She’s looking over here again,” I mentioned, as we were getting ready to start mixing liquids.
Kyle looked over at Suzie and I thought I saw that “it” as his and Suzie’s eyes met. I felt a pang. I wanted that. And, they were both too shy to get it. Life could be so unfair.
I had lunch, finally, fifth period. I usually sat alone at a long lunch table. Sometimes a few people sat down a few seats away from me because there was nowhere else to sit. I didn’t hang out with anyone in high school being the social pariah that I am, so I was used to eating lunch alone. I looked toward Ethan’s table, but he wasn’t there yet.
That’s why I was shocked when Ethan sat down across from me. I didn’t think he even knew we had the same lunch hour. I hadn’t brought it up last night, because let’s face it, I was meeting him after school. I didn’t want to push my luck by asking him to have lunch with me too, in front of the entire, extremely judgmental, and peer pressure ruled student body. Not to mention his friends, Dave and Mike.
I was minding my own business, eating cheese fries and a soda for lunch. I know it wasn’t healthy, but I was in the mood for grease after the long weekend and barely any sleep. Besides, there’s nothing like high school cafeteria cheese fries. Mmm, mmm, good. Although, nothing compares to the goodness of the peanut butter banana milkshakes from Wired. Have I mentioned that?
Anyway, I was working on creating an investigation notebook, so that Ethan and I would have a list of details about the murders in case we needed to look back on it. From all of the murder mystery movies I’ve seen on TV or read in books, there were usually a lot of interrelated details and sometimes it was just about finding something or really anything in common. I was trying to record exactly what Suzie Whitsett had said when I noticed that Ethan had sat down in front of me.
“Hey, Kait,” Ethan said grinning at me. “I haven’t seen you all day.”
For a moment I thought I had somehow gotten myself into an alternate universe, like the Twilight Zone. It was surreal. First, there was Ethan sitting with me at lunch, like it was no big deal and then there was the phrase, “I haven’t seen you all day” like he really was sorry we hadn’t run into each other this morning between classes.
I wasn’t the only one who wondered if we had entered an alternate dimension either. I could feel the looks and whispers of the tables around me, but for once I didn’t let myself care what everyone was saying. Ethan having lunch with me rocked!
So, I curbed myself from saying the words, where is the real Ethan and what have you done with him and instead said, “I talked to Suzie in Chemistry.”
“What did she say?” Ethan pulled a turkey sandwich out of the paper bag that was lying on top of his books, along with a bottle of water.
If I weren’t trying to be all cool about hanging out with Ethan, I would have flipped out about how normal he was acting. Like he sat with me every day at lunch or something. Like it was no big deal that we were having lunch together. But, then again, I was acting normal. Normal, normal, normal. At least I hope I was.
So, I read back to him from what I had already written down in my notebook about what Suzie had said and elaborated on the rest from memory. He listened as he devoured his sandwich.
“Well, now we have proof that Liz was going to see Troy. He’s there. We have him within the hour of her death,” Ethan said excitedly.
“Well, I’m not sure,” I said, sorry to disappoint him.
“What?” Ethan asked.
“Isn’t it hearsay? I mean, Suzie says that Liz said that and that they texted, but nobody actually saw Liz and Troy together in that hour. And, her texts are gone. And, I doubt Troy is going to admit to being with her that night,” I said.
“Then we have nothing,” Ethan was disappointed.
“It’s something, but just not enough. We didn’t expect Suzie to give us much anyway. Still, maybe we can find out the names of the other people in Olivia’s sewing class and talk to them? She did have one the week she died. Maybe someone other than Suzie remembers something weird,” I knew I was stretching, but it was worth looking into if something else didn’t pan out first.
We sat in silence for a few moments. I knew Ethan was disappointed that I didn’t think Suzie’s testimony would be enough to nail Troy for Liz’s murder. Still, we both now knew that going to the police with anything short of absolutely solid proof of guilt would be a waste of time.
“Did you get a chance to read Liz’s diary?” Ethan asked quietly.
I had forgotten about that. I nodded, “Yes and there was no mention of drugs or anything really interesting until the last few entries.”
“Wha
t was it?” Ethan asked.
“Well, it’s more for the Troy file for sure,” I said.
“What?” Ethan asked again.
“Okay, Liz said she got an email from a girl who claimed to also be dating Troy. She never said who the girl was, though. And, it’s the last journal entry, so I don’t know if anything happened with her and Troy or her and the other girl after that. Well, except that Suzie said that Troy and Liz were making up, so maybe they worked it out,” I said. “Although, if there is another girl, it actually makes things a little more complicated.”
“Or not,” Ethan said. “Maybe Liz and Troy had another fight about this girl, she threatened to break up with him for good, and then he decided to kill her. The whole if I can’t have you, nobody can scenario. It could be his thing. A girl wants to break it off and he kills her.”
“Or maybe the other girl has something to do with it or knows something,” I said, trying to be subjective.
“Or maybe the other girl is dead too,” Ethan said.
I thought for a moment, “What if the other girl was Vanessa Martin?”
Ethan looked thoughtful, “You mean the email she sent Liz? Well, then it brings it back around to Troy being the killer. It’s definitely something. Now we just need something concrete to tie it all together.”
“Yeah, but where do we go from here?” I wasn’t sure how to proceed.
“I think tonight will give us some better leads. As morbid as it is, I’m really looking forward to funeral crashing with you,” Ethan grinned.
I smiled back at him. It was definitely going to be an interesting night. Me and Ethan, the most popular guy in school, funeral crashing together. I never would have pictured that in a billion, zillion years and yet, it was really happening. It was almost like being in an alternate universe really, like on Fringe.
“Hey, E,” Dave Rickerson said, suddenly standing at our table with Mike Finnegan.
I felt myself stare up at them in shock. What were we going to do? I felt the sudden panic of any geek when approached by the popular crowd for doing something socially outside the box. Here it goes, I thought. They were going to say something to Ethan and then he’d have to ignore me. It was the way high school worked. Someone popular didn’t hang out with someone who was unpopular.
“Hey guys,” Ethan said calmly, like it was no big deal.
“So, are you eating with us today?” Mike said, awkwardly.
I felt myself hold my breath. There was a definite strange and tense silence. I knew what they were really asking, but Ethan didn’t seem to care or maybe he didn’t notice.
“Nah. I have some stuff to talk to Kait about. Catch you guys in Spanish, though,” Ethan said.
Dave and Mike nodded and quickly walked away without looking at me. I wondered what they were thinking. The whole school was going to be talking about me and Ethan having lunch now. They were all going to be wondering at his sudden interest in me. I mean, he rejected his best friends for me. I was the only one at our table who seemed to be thinking about this, though. Ethan didn’t seem to care. He was eating his lunch like there was nothing out of the ordinary in having lunch with me, even though I was a total social pariah. They probably thought he had made a bet or something. Like in She’s All That. That would be okay with me. That movie had a happy ending anyway. Geeky Laney Boggs got the popular guy. I could only hope for that outcome in my dreams. I didn’t think Ethan would badmouth me or anything, though. He was turning out to be the real deal – popular, good looking, smart, and a nice guy. I almost wished that he wasn’t.
So, let the school talk about me. It’s not like I hadn’t been there before. I didn’t like it, but they weren’t my friends anyway. And, it’s not like our peers were ever going to guess what we were really doing. That would really give them something to talk about.
Just when I thought I was home free for the day on the Ariel front, she found me. I was at my locker gathering my things before I met Ethan at his car to go to Vanessa’s wake and Ariel walked up to me demanding, “Did you and Ethan Ripley have lunch together today fifth period?”
The gossip train had worked fast. I put my Chemistry book into my backpack before I looked up at her. Ariel was standing there, hands on her hips, trying to look haughty in her designer, way too expensive for a school day outfit. I didn’t have time for this today. Especially not when I was keeping Ethan waiting at his car. Okay, I had read The Rules (for fun’s sake only, I swear), so maybe it was good for him to wait a little. Still, that didn’t mean I wanted Ethan to wait because I was being forced to talk to Ariel.
I decided to answer simply, “Yes, we did.”
“Why is Ethan Ripley having lunch with you?” Ariel demanded. “Are you helping him with math or something?”
Ethan was smarter than I was at school. It was a funny statement and I felt a smile forming on my lips, “Because he wanted to have lunch with me.”
“What? Why would he want to have lunch with you?” Ariel demanded, putting particular emphasis on the word “you” to emphasize her distaste.
With that, I slammed my locker shut despite the fact that I was supposed to bring my history book home to study for a quiz, grabbed my backpack, and left Ariel staring after me with her jaw open. At least, I hope her jaw was open. I was going for effect after all and it would only be worth flunking my history quiz if I really got to her. I think I did. At least I’m pretty sure, since she didn’t even have the energy to follow me and ask me more questions.
Ethan was waiting for me outside next to his Honda Civic Hybrid. It was more blue than silver during the day. I liked that he was environmentally conscious, what with the hybrid and all. Okay, I’ll admit it, I was looking more at Ethan than his car.
Ethan just always looked so good and yet, he looked even better in the suit he was now wearing. He had changed sometime after lunch into funeral garb, black pants and a white button down, although I could see a black jacket lying in the back seat of the car. It would be awesome if he started wearing suits to school every day. He looked really sexy in them.
I looked down at myself, hoping he was having an inkling of a similar thought about me. I was wearing a black skirt and form fitting black lacy shirt that I had changed into before last period. I had grabbed the shortest skirt I owned in fact, trying to be a little more sexy, at least. And, I thought my hair looked okay. At least it had in the bathroom mirror I managed to look into before last period. I was hoping the bags under my eyes had dissipated since this morning. There was no more cover up I could put on them without looking super powdery.
“Hey, Kait,” Ethan said as I approached him.
My stomach exploded with butterflies, but somehow I managed to say, “Hey.”
Ethan opened the car door for me and I felt my legs wobble a little as I got into Ethan’s car. What was wrong with me? We were on a mission! Yet, I do admit that all of a sudden this sort of felt like a date. It was the whole chivalry thing, I thought.
I felt a little, no a lot, nervous all of a sudden. This was funeral crashing with a twist. I really hoped something would come out of it – major evidence or at least a clue would be nice. And, as we drove out of the parking lot, I also secretly hoped that someone, hopefully Ariel, would see me driving away in Ethan Ripley’s car.
Chapter 11: Funeral Dating
“I just threw up chunks,” I told Anne via my cell phone as we drove to Worth Hills Funeral Home, where Vanessa Martin’s wake was being held. Anne sympathized as soon as I said the word chunks and told me not to come in. I didn’t ditch much, but I know how even saying the word chunks makes me feel, so I knew it would work.
I was ditching work for the funeral. I would have given Anne more warning, but since I went to school with three other Palos Video Store employees, I couldn’t afford to. I did not have their loyalty. Again, I was risking my cushy part time job for the sake of Ethan Ripley. It felt worth it, though.
We got to Vanessa’s funeral a little after 4 pm and I wasn’t su
rprised to find that Vanessa Martin’s funeral was a somber affair. How could it not be? She was another nineteen year old from Laurel Community College that had overdosed on heroin. Only, I got the impression that her parents were trying to keep everyone from talking about the h-word, but people were gossiping about it in hushed tones anyway.
As we walked into the wake, I suddenly felt Ethan’s hand wrap around mine. I felt my pulse speed up at the touch of his hand. I hoped my palms wouldn’t start sweating or anything really gross like that. My stomach started doing flips as his hand grasped mine a little tighter. Then I felt him looking at me. Oh yeah, we were supposed to be walking into the wake. I had completely forgotten what I was doing in the extreme bliss of holding his hand.
“You ready?” He asked.
“Uh-huh,” I managed to mumble, trying to get my thoughts back into a coherent state.
It was all Ethan’s idea, not mine, I swear. He wanted it to seem like we were dating. Yes dating, again, all his idea, although I admit to being really happy about having his warm, rugged hand clasped in mine…even if it was all just a charade. I mean, it felt real enough even if he wasn’t doing it because he like liked me. I would take what I could get. It made sense actually, that we should be dating if we came to the funeral together. Then we only needed one reason for being there…instead of two.
The heart of funeral crashing is the entire experience. You need to throw yourself into the funeral, but not too much. After all, the goal is to crash the funeral without getting caught. One of the main things to do is to solemnly walk up to the casket and view the body. If one was a good actor, managing a tear is perfect. If not, looking sad is definitely enough. Don’t smile. And, you don’t want to wait and stare into the casket too long either. This makes any anxious family members think you’re having some kind of a breakdown and they may get the urge to come over and hug you. If that happens, you better have a great story ready. A casual friend doesn’t break down at a funeral and posing as someone’s bff when you don’t even know them, is tough.
