Chon-Ji and Sparkles

Ch.6: Pom-Poms and Popsicles

Sliding into math class, I jump as I see Vic's expectant stare. His body is leaning on his chair in a nonchalant way, the lean figure curved slightly as his face has a raised eyebrow. Somehow, this beautiful person is my friend. I've always found him attractive, but he was also my best friend. Besides Zahir. It would make things weird for our trio, if two people dated.

Smiling sweetly at him, I turn away to do the warmup on the board. Taking my sweet time, I could feel his gaze piercing into the side of my head, so much that I felt as though he had already taken a peek of my mind.

"Hey, guys. Do you think this is the right solution?" Zahir asks as he turns in his seat to face Vic. It was free seating in math, so he took the one in front of Vic while I took the one next to Vic.

"I think the first thing we have to figure out is how to get our best friend to start filling us in on what's going on." Vic says and Zahir scratches his head, "Is there an equation for that?"

Vic turns to glare at him before the boy realizes and blushes, "Oh, right. Sorry."

They didn't have time to ask me anything because right then, the teacher stood up to ask how to do the warm up. As class starts, Vic slips me a note.

You're hiding something which you never do. But I will find it out.

Rolling my eyes, I just shake my head at him before responding.

It's not my secret to tell.

Vic reads the note and furrows his long eyebrows which grace over his eyes so well. He scribbled something else down quickly before passing back to me.

Secrets don't exist between us, no matter whose it is.  It's us against secrets, unless you found a new and better group?

Reading the note, my heart sinks as I turn to Vic who now looks forward as he listens to the teacher.

Fine. I'll tell you. After practice, you and me are taking a field trip to the cornfield. I'll fill you in there.

Vic reads it before scribbling back and giving it to me.

What? Fill me in a grave?

I throw the paper back at him as he chuckles before he slips the paper into his jacket pocket. He goes back to learning math while I ponder how to make everything make sense by the time we met. Because, quite frankly, I didn't understand a bit of it.

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

"Here," a loud thud sounds the room as Cecilia drops the journal onto our lunch table, "I couldn't make sense of any of it. It's your turn to try."

I quickly slip the journal into my backpack as she walks away and Vic finally grabs it, "Ok, that's it. Tell me what's going on."

"Vic," I sigh before saying, "I'm just doing a project for Principal Deon. We all are. He gave us the diary of a student who knew about an incident involving deaths of other students. We are supposed to figure out if the entries point to anything."

"Oh," Vic sighs in relief before grinning, "Let me help. You know I do a perfect Dante analysis."

Sighing, I show him the page and he reads it. Zahir peers over his shoulder as they read the note.

"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," Vic reads out before gasping and looking at me, "You really are gonna murder me?"

"What? Ella Marie is a murderer?!"

"She said she was going to bury me in the cornfield!"

I try and stop the two, "Guys! Hush!"

Vic widens his eyes more, "are you going to make me shut up?"

"By shooting him like the poem says?" Zahir asks incredulously.

"Shooting? Where does it say that?" Ella Marie asks and Zahir points it out, "Right here. Finishing what was left with a bang. It's your own death poem and you don't even know?"

"Zahir, what else do you see that we don't." I ask calmly and he reads it over, "Mmm, here under the heat, she sang until the last toll rang, must be referring to someone trying to shoot someone by placing them somewhere hot and making them sing until time ran out."

I quickly stand and pluck the notebook from them, "I have to go. I'll see you guys later."

"Wait, are we still-" Vic never finishes as I dash off to the sports corridor.

"Trevor!" I yell as I spot him with his team. They all whistle as I stop in front of him, holding the journal.

"She's got her diary? Oh man, she gonna confess today! Don't break her heart too much, man!" Tim guffaws with laughter and I scowl at him as Trevor leads me away silently.

I turn to look at his annoyed face and huff, "You should really stand up to them. You're on the same team as them, act like you belong there."

Trevor gives me the side eye before opening the doors to the backyard of the school where the portable classes were and the tennis courts behind that. A small courtyard with concrete seats laid out in front of us, inviting us to come sit.

Trevor takes a spot and pats the one next to him. Sighing, I drop down and hand him the journal.

"Zahir figured out a sentence. That one," I point to the sentence, "Means something like someone being pinpointed and given a time limit to live until being shot. You think he was talking about Aureole?"

"I really hope not." Trevor mutters as he bites his lip.

"I really hope that we find out all this before the cops find out that we have evidence. We could get in major trouble for this, Marin."

Trevor grunts, "You think I don't know that? Or that we don't know that? Ella Marie, we are all academically advanced students. We are all prepping for the PSAT. For college. We have extracurricular activities and clubs. Trust me, I know we don't need anymore stress added to us. But I have a feeling that this goes deeper than just evidence. It's the cornfield, a place where we all began."

He was right. The cornfield is where our connections happened. Considering the town was small, it made sense that everything would happen at this mysterious cornfield. The beginning of a mystery and the end of us.

"Fine, but I don't want trouble with police. We hand it over if they ask for it." I say and Trevor agrees, "Agreed."

"Now, we just need to fill tweedle dum and tweedle dee in."

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

"What's the deal with you and Marin?" Vic nods as we all slide into his Elantra. Zahir slides his equipment into the back seat, somehow fitting his cello into the backseat. Vic starts backing out just slightly when we hear a yelp and a bang against the car. Looking out, we notice Zahir holding his foot in pain.

"Shit." Vic mumbles as he puts the car in park and rushes out to help Zahir, "Why do you do this to me, man?"

"I swear I thought you were inside the car."

Stifling a laugh, I bite my lip and spot someone dressed in dark colors staring right at our car. Somehow the stare down got me uneasy just as Marin slides into my view. He has Cecilia following after him, her arms waving around as she talked about something. As Zahir and Vic slid in, Cecilia turns and meets my eye. She flashes me a five with her hand and I knew to meet her at five, however, Zahir got another idea.

"OH MY GOSH. Did you see that?! Cecilia waved at me!" Zahir fangirls behind us as I cringe and shrink into my seat. Vic chuckles and says, "Yeah, buddy, sure she did."

"S-she did!"

"Are you sure I didn't hit your head?"

"Vic!" Zahir whines before pouting in the backseat, his cello sliding onto him as we rolled to a stop.

"At least, your cello likes you." Vic snickers as Zahir glowers at him.