Ruby Ring

Chapter 10: VOLUNTEER

TARA

"Alright, let's split up, guys. I'm going with my friend Serena to recruit some people," Tara announced once they exited the library.

"Understood. You seem to trust her more since she's your friend. We literally just met," Krystal folded her arms across her chest.

"We'll meet back here in two hours," Marcus said as he and Krystal took off.

"Got it," Tara gave them a thumbs up. Once they were out of earshot, she pulled out her phone and contacted Serena.

"What's up, Tara?" Serena queried.

"I need your help. I'm going off on my own to put an end to this business. I saw a boy get kidnapped by some vampire. I'm putting together a group of people to help me find him and get to the bottom of this,"

"Alright, Tara. Where are you?"

"I'm at the local library,"

"Gotcha. Meet you there in five minutes,"

"Got it," Tara nodded. Five minutes seemed to fly by because before she knew it, Serena was here.

"You ready to go?" Serena giggled.

"Yeah."

"First stop---Kingsley High School!"

"Wait, why are we going to Kingsley High School?!"

"Simple. I know what happened to Hunter. Ever since she posted it on social media, it spread like wildfire around the school. I'm sure his friends would be willing to help us out,"

"Alright," Tara nodded.

---

Tara could not help but be awed at the vastness of the Kingsley campus. Still, this was no time to gawk at the sights. She and Serena had something to do. Serena said it was normally hustling and bustling with people roaming about, but since this was summer, it was mostly vacant except for a few people who decided to stay during the holidays for summer work. They mostly hang out.

"Who are we seeing first?" Tara bothered to ask.

"We're seeing Hunter's best friend, Dean Andrews. You follow Mikaela Watterson's blog, yes?" Serena winked.

"The blogger who does blogs on teens of minority groups? I know her. Of course I've heard of Dean Andrews. Duh, Serena. He's the Asian guy who plays basketball in a wheelchair," Tara answered. When she was a sophomore in high school, Serena told her about Mikaela's blog. Tara decided to check it out and found it very interesting, so she followed her online. That was how she learned of Dean's existence.

The two girls walked towards the male dormitories, which had a grid layout. They resembled the wooden school trailers Tara saw at her school. All of them had staircases leading up to the door except for their destination. Instead of a staircase, there was a ramp going towards the entrance.

"Is this Dean's dorm?" Tara questioned.

"Yep. You can tell cuz of the ramp," Serena led the way up the ramp with Tara trailing behind and knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" a girl's voice called out.

"It's Serena. I'm here with my friend Tara," Serena answered back. Moments later, an African American girl with a wavy ponytail opened the door.

"Hey, you must be Tara," the girl smiled. "I'm Audriana Nazuri,"

"Nice to meet you,," Tara shook hands with Audriana.

"You can also call me Audri if it's too hard,"

"Alright,"

"Come on in," Audriana stepped aside and gestured for the girls to enter. Behind her was a stout boy with dark hair sitting in a wheelchair. The dorm was tidy and contained little decoration. On the bookshelves, there were a few medals and trophies. Tara scrutinized them and saw that the medals has a basketball engraved on it.