Chon-Ji and Sparkles

Ch. 5: Ribbons and Noodles

Henrik and Vic had spent the night, like they do sometimes. They, of course, stayed in their own separate room. So I wasn't surprised to find Vic flipping rice cake omelettes this morning.

"Morning," I say as I ruffle my hair free from last night's tossing and turning. Vic smiles at me before placing a plate in front of me, "Good morning, sunshine."

"Are they still asleep?" I yawn as I dig in to the warm and soft rice cake. This boy is so good at everything, even cooking.

"No, they left for work a little bit earlier. Around the time I came down to fix breakfast." Vic shrugs before looking at me pointedly. Swallowing slowly, I stare back, "What?"

"What was Marin doing over here?"

Stuttering, I shrug, "Just wanted to talk about Algebra two."

"Ella Marie, you're in honors. He's still in Geometry." Vic points out and I shrug again, "He was asking which teacher was better for him."

"How would you know?"

"I knew him once," I say before looking away and whispering, "Before lies spread us apart."

"Hmm, well hurry up. I'm driving today and Zahir is already ready." Vic says before disappearing around the corner. Sighing, I rinse my plate and check my phone.

From Trevor
Serena's confession @ 10 am

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You guys took forever! I've been freezing my butt off." Zahir hisses as he hops into Vic's Hyundai Elantra. Vic rolls his eyes and surges forward before Zahir could fully close the door, sending Zahir face forward into his seat.

"Hey!"

"Just checking your reflexes." Vic chuckles as Zahir settles into his seat.

"Oh, hey, by the way, did you guys hear that there's gonna be testifies going on at our school?" Zahir asks as he chews through a mouthful of trail mix. Vic glances at him through the rear view mirror, "For what?"

"Those Glass twins that went missing a couple years ago?"

I stiffen at the mention of them, the movement did not go unnoticed by the boys. Zahir went to ask me something but Vic pulled into a parking spot just then. Almost instantly, I was being dragged out of the car. Looking up, I see Cecilia with her claws in me.

"Um, ow! What you got a death grip on me for?" I screech as Vic and Zahir call out for me.

"She'll be back, losers!" Cecilia shouts to them as she pulls me into the school building, "Serena's testimony got pulled to eight. It's seven fifty-five!"

"Seven fifty-five? Did the clocks move forward or something? We are late for first period!" I widen my eyes and Cecilia rolls her eyes, "It's homeroom day, which we get to skip anyways."

I silently follow her to the Principal's office and she has us wait outside the door. Footsteps scamper towards us and my eyes follow up its legs to see the face of Trevor. He waves at us as he slows to a stop.

"Sorry, I'm late. My bike wasn't starting." Trevor runs his hand through his curls before flashing me a small smile, "Morning, Ella."

"Morning." I smile back as Cecilia looks between us two in silent smugness before directing her attention to someone walking by. A yelp is heard as she grabs the person and pulls them into our huddle.

"Serena, what the hell is going on?" Cecilia growls and Serena gulps, "What do you mean?"

"Why do you all of a sudden remember things?"

"Why are you testifying?"

"What are you testifying?"

The questions fire at her between Marin and Evans. Serena shrinks back as each question is jabbed at her. Placing my hands on her shoulders, I turn her to face me. Sighing, I ask softly, "What changed?"

"I found something in my diary. Except I don't remember writing it. I'm not testifying what I told Trevor yesterday. I'm giving this information." Serena digs in her bag before handing it to us.

It was a simple pink notebook with golden intricate metal around the center. A small dial lock kept it secure.

"It's two-one-four-six." Serena whispers as Trevor raises his eyebrows, "The cornfield address?"

She nods as I unlock the journal and flip it open. "Page twenty four."

I skip to the page and gasp. The handwriting wasn't Serena's, for sure. It was stoic and sharp. Block like.

"That's Austin's handwriting." Trevor states as we read the words out, "In the cornfield, we began. On a summer's eve, we ran until I no longer felt that I can. Under the heat, she sang as the last toll rang, finishing what was left with a bang. Ready or not, he will hang from the very roots of the clan."

"That doesn't even make sense." Cecilia says as Trevor shushes her, "Serena, when did you find this?"

"The day Deon brought us in, I went back home and was going through this journal. That's when I saw it."

"When did you last use it?" I flip to the entry before and sigh, "Two days before the incident."

"Thing is, I don't remember giving this to Austin. Heck, I thought I lost it on the camping trip!" Serena says and Cecilia freezes, "When did you see it? Or find it?"

"A few weeks afterwards, I found it on my bed after school. I just assumed one of my siblings had gotten to it and had finished snooping." Serena shrugs.

"We can't show this to them, yet." Trevor says and I shake my head, "Uh, yes we can. It might help to find them. Maybe it's a clue!"

"Is there any other entries?" Cecilia asks and Serena nods, "Flip one more page."

The next page had another coded message. Then four pages later another. Then six pages later, a final one.

"Two, one, four, six." I whisper and everyone stares at me in realization.

"It was him, wasn't it?" Serena whispers, "He stole it and left notes. To help us find him. And it's been years. I never even knew."

"Well, now we all do. So we have two options: either we find out what each riddle is or we hand it over to authorities."

A call is heard on the PA for Serena as we all share looks. She bites her lip as we think about it.

Cecilia snatches the diary and hides it just as the principal comes out and jumps at our proximity to the office, "What are you all doing here?"

"We were planning the next Robotics club event." Trevor says and Principal Deon raises his eyebrows, "Since when did these cheerleaders join?"

"Well, the cheerleaders are gonna be there. To cheer our team on at the competition." Cecilia smiles as Serena jumps, "Go geeks!"

"Well, ok. Serena, we need you in the office, please. The rest of you, get to class."

We all nod before dispersing.