Three Blind Mice

Chapter Five: Margaux

Meri babbled along about something that Brian had told her that Katerina had told him that Paula had told her that China had said as we fought our way through the bustling hall. It was a Sunday morning at Arford and almost everyone was headed to some type of worship service, so the entrance hall was completely packed with students checking out and even some students, like the Arabic girl who had gotten China and the other two off of me just the night before, checking back in, despite the early hour..

"There she is!" I exclaimed, grabbing Meri.

Meri turned to see who I was looking at, seeming shocked when she saw my rescuer. She laughed.

"Are you sure that's her, Margaux?" Meri asked.

"One hundred percent. She lied to them and told them a teacher was heading that way."

"Did she do anything else?"

"Uh..."

I thought back to the night, remembering what China had said when the girl had passed her the papers. I gasped.

"She did their homework!"

"Oh, well that makes sense. That's Amani Hakim. She kind of runs a business off of homework," Meri said, lowering her voice so that the teachers didn't hear.

We watched as Amani checked in, chatting benignly with the teacher there. She didn't seem like someone who would ever be willing to break a rule.

"Really?" I asked.

"Really. She's done some of my essays before."

I stared at Meri.

"Give me a break, I had a hangover," she muttered.

"That sounds about right," I teased her, jabbing an elbow into her ribs.

She glared at me.

"I need to talk to her," I said as Amani finished checking in and headed towards the cafeteria.

"For the record, I still think this plan is absolutely insane."

"Only if we take it too far, and there is no record."

"How are you going to keep it from going too far? And after everything these girls have done, what is 'too far'?"

I was stunned by Meri's sudden insight into the situation. She had been highly against the entire situation so far. She was, of course, angry on my behalf, but she saw no proper way to fight back. I quickly recollected myself.

"Well," I said, "I'll figure that out. First, I'm going to see if the Homework Girl will help me."

We stepped up to see the teacher in charge of checking us in and out. She clutched her clipboard to her chest, a smile on her face.

"Hello, Mrs. Briggs," I greeted her.

"Hello, Margaux, Meri. Where are you two heading?"

"Worship services."

We gave her the name of our church and were waltzing off campus only moments later. We walked until we reached the nearest town. We ducked into a gas station and hurried back to the bathroom.

"Time for the real fun!" Meri squealed as we quickly yanked off our Sunday dresses to reveal the swimsuits beneath them.

We stuffed the floral dresses into our bag and tore out the back door once we were sure no one from the school was watching. I would figure out the plan later, but a small party at the creek awaited me for now.

We stumbled back into the entrance hall a couple of hours later. We had stopped at the gas station and dried out our hair with a miniature blow dryer before we came back. Our dresses were chilling over top of our damp swimsuits. In all honesty, we looked like we had actually just come back from church. We checked back in and Mrs. Briggs didn't even give us a suspicious look.

"Man," Meri said, "that creek was freezing!"

She shivered again and wrapped her arms around herself. I glanced back at the teachers at the front door. We were about ten feet away from them now.

"Careful, teachers," I reminded.

"They can't hear us."

We hopped onto the first step and began our way up.

"So now what are you going to do?" Meri asked as we trudged up the stairs.

She removed her high heels again as we hobbled up the wide staircase. She stopped for a moment to massage a blister on her ankle before jogging to catch up with me.

"I guess I just need to go to Amani and see what she thinks. I'm sure we can find other people who would be interested in the movement against China and her lackeys."

Just as we rounded the corner, a lanky blonde haired boy came toppling around the wall. He landed on his butt right in front of us. If I hadn't stopped fast enough then I would've tripped over him. Meri wasn't so lucky.

She yelped as she fell right over his shoulder and landed, sprawled, across the castle floor. The boy jumped to his feet and hurriedly helped her up.

"Thanks, sorry for tripping on you," Meri said as she dusted her dress off.

"No problem," the boy answered with a British accent just as China and her two cronies rounded the corner.

"Oh, dear heavens," I groaned.

"Have a nice trip, Kilian?" China cooed as she shoved past him.

"What a lovely quip," the boy - Kilian - said, "must've taken you weeks to come up with."

From the looks of things, China had been the reason for Kilian's fall. He spun around to watch their descent on the stairs as he spoke, his insult ringing loud and clear through the halls. But he made no move towards them.

'Watch it, Gray. We both know who's got the higher ground here," she called back over her shoulder.

The two girls beside her giggled like wild hyenas. None of us turned our backs until they were gone. Turning your back on Arford's favorite princesses had been proven to be a fatal move. I turned to look at Meri, a grin crossing my face. Kilian didn't notice, he was still grumbling about the three girls as he picked his books up off the floor and shoved them back into his bag.

"I think we just found another person."