The Academy

Chapter Nine

"Bye, Mom," I said, hanging up my phone. Usually, I forgot to contact my parents, so they would call me in a huff, complaining about not hearing from me for days. I would apologize, they would forgive me, we would realize that we really didn't have much to talk about, and then the call would end. That cycle repeated every few days.

         I was in the middle of Serenity, sipping on a latte. My Shakespeare book sat in front of me, but for some reason, I didn't feel like reading. Wow. That was a first.

         As I was just about to set my coffee down onto the table, in came one of the only people who I wouldn't be happy to see.

         "Kayleigh," Chance Felderson said, taking a seat next to me at the table I was sitting at, "I've got to talk to you." He was dressed in sweats and his hair looked like it hadn't been brushed in days, maybe even weeks.
           "You could ask to sit."

         "Can I?"

         I rolled my eyes. An answer wouldn't change whether he was sitting there or not, so I motioned for him to continue with whatever he needed to talk about.

         "How've you been?" he asked, drumming his long fingers on the table.

         I raised an eyebrow at him. He had to talk to me about how I've been?
           "That's not what I want to talk about," he said, reading my mind. "I was wondering if you'd want to hang out or something later."
That didn't seem like something extremely important that he'd have to talk to me about, either. But, I didn't understand much of what Chance said or did or why he would bring up the most random things, so I just said, "I can't. Sorry."
      "Why?"

         There were a multitude of answers to this question. There was the fact that Carlisle was interested in him. After all, his name was her passcode. I couldn't tell him that; Carlisle would probably wring my neck. Also, I was kind of dating Tatum. I just couldn't hang out with someone that my boyfriend knew liked me. And, the most important fact of all, I just didn't want to.

         I said, "Well, I'm dating Tatum. Maybe you should talk to Carlisle, or someone else."

         "Tatum Hammond?"

         "Yep." It wasn't like Tatum was a common name, or anything.

         Chance's eyebrows furrowed and he began to drum on the table some more. "Really."

         "Yeah."

         "So I suppose you guys are honest with each other."

         "Well, we are both pretty honest people."

         Chance leaned in close to my ear and said, "If he was actually honest with you, you wouldn't want to be within ten feet of him."

         Before I could respond, Chance stood up and walked right out of Serenity, leaving me alone with my latte and book. I should've been happy he left, but now, I just wanted answers.

         Marisol was terrible at studying.

         In all honesty, so was I.

         Because we had a huge history test the next day (and history had always been my worst subject), we decided to take a trip to the Beaumont Academy library. Both of us got distracted easily, and maybe a change in scenery would help us focus. This was the second time I had stepped foot in the library, the first being when we were searching for the article about Vivienne Aldridge.

         I was using one of the library computers while Marisol was scanning the bookshelves for something that would help us pass tomorrow's test.

         "Kayleigh!" she exclaimed. When I turned around, she was holding up a book on the other side of the library. I couldn't see what it was from my location.

          I got up from my computer and joined her in front of the yearbook bookshelf.

         "What is that?" I asked as she flipped through the pages.

         "A yearbook from 1963."
I glanced over at the bookshelf. There was another one from 1963, but it was in terrible condition. Even though it was beat-up and multiple pages were ripped out, I pick it up and opened it. 1963 was the year Vivienne Aldridge died. Maybe her yearbook picture would still be in there.

         And it was. But that wasn't the only thing in the yearbook.

         "What the hell?" I said to myself. A key was glued onto Vivienne Aldridge's picture, completely covering up her face. I only knew it was her because of the caption.

         Marisol peered over my shoulder to see what was what-the-hell? worthy. "What is that?"

         I pulled the key off of the picture, part of Vivienne's face still stuck onto the handle. "It's a key."

         "To what?"

         "I've got no idea." I examined the key further, hoping that maybe there'd be writing on it or some type of hint to what it may unlock. Nothing.

          "Was it on Vivienne's picture?" I nodded. "Maybe it has to do with the case."

         I shook my head, although I had to admit it would make sense. The others would definitely be interested in it if we hadn't decided to completely forget about Vivienne. "The case was never ours to look into. We were all just trying to get in someone else's business." That was the truth. It never involved us in the slightest. Maybe we were all just in search of a little bit of adventure.

         "I know that. It was just kind of fun to read about it and play detective for a bit."

         I had to agree with that. The whole thing was extremely interesting.

         Even though it probably was just a useless little key and I would never be able to find what it unlocked, I slid it into my pocket. I had studying to do.