Grim Or Grin

Chapter 11: School (Part 1)

Chapter 11: School (Part 1)

MONDAY

I was drenched from head to toe. My physical education (P.E.) attire , an orange dry fit tee and FBT shorts (with the logo legally changed to my school's shorthand, SSC), clung to me and my pony tail, tied for the sake of meeting rules, was drenched, not in sweat but water. To be specific, rainwater. "Darn it, Ian," I muttered under my breath as I walked briskly to the toilet.

My caring brother, Ian, had so kindly pulled me out of bed and rudely interrupted my sleep. He demanded, or more appropriately commanded, me to head to school early to jog around the track. Ever since I went for that jog on that one Saturday, he had made me do a routinely Saturday afternoon jog at the sports stadium (it was open for public use) nearby. Since I had missed the jog two days ago, he forced me to make up for it this morning.

So I did but that was not the problem yet. After a few rounds on the track, it had begun to rain deceivingly lightly. As per normal, my pacing was off and I was already breathless. I would have had difficulty running all the way back to shelter so I had walked instead. Not so wise a choice on my part. All of a sudden, with no clue at all, the rain turned from a drizzle to a downpour and so I got soaked to the bone. Just my day.

I direct my anger at the cubicle, slamming the door shut hard enough for the "Bang!" to resonate throughout the toilet and in my eardrums. I winced and tried to calm down. Grumpy was what I was most mornings but are not most people?

Thankfully, I had brought a towel, some soap and shampoo. Changing into the school uniform with unknown leftover compounds from the evaporated rain mixed with those from my sweat clinging to me still would make my skin crawl. A shower would grant me a chance to avoid that horrorific experience, or at least the terrifying sensation my brain had conjured.

The quick shower did its trick and I had changed out into my uniform, My school uniform consisted of a stiff collared white blouse with a navy blue ribbon tied around the collar, and a similarly blue skirt. There is a pocket to the right of the ribbon with the school's golden insignia. The insignia, basically, is a circle surrounding SSC but elegant curls and twirling vines make it more intricate in appearance.

The apparent meaning behind the insignia was an inclusive, interconnected circle. As to where the circle part of the meaning came from, it was pretty obvious as for the rest of the meaning, the vines and the outward curls represented interconnectivity and inclusiveness respectively. It was made golden to say "We are winners." The overall message was basically "Win as a Team."

I only knew the whole meaning by heart because it caught attention. My friends from other schools, my cousins, my aunts... Almost everyone noticed the grand insignia so it was not occassional for someone to ask "What does it mean?"

Wow. I must be sufferring from an exhuastion induced daze to be studying the insignia so carefully now. Okay, that might have been an exaggeration but whatever endorphin I had gained from the jog was gone. To add on to that, I had not slept for as long as I should. I was practically a walking zombie with my shuffling feet. All that was left for me to do was...make zombie noises? A lot like a growl? A non-animalistic one?

My brain was sidetracking again, linking thoughts to random ones and straying further and further from reality. Snapping back only when I had reached my classroom.

Cole's POV

'Damn it, Daemon,' I thought, hoping he would hear that and explain the note he had left. The note was the epitome of vague and may even win the Guinness World Record for vaguest message. It simply said, "Met Lyla." It was infuriatingly vague for an entirely unexpected move of his, one that could land us in jail even if the chances were slim. While he had always prided himself for remaining, as how the newspaper had described, 'elusive', I had read and watched too many times a killer get caught for a single mistake. Why did he do this? What did he say to Lyla?