Chapter 34: A Secret Conversation
KIX:
“W-What? Is that true,” somebody from the crowd spoke. I look amongst them and two girls emerge from Dianna’s back. One of them was a tall girl with dyed chestnut hair and the other one had short and dark bobbed hair.
Although I didn’t know their names, I could immediately tell that they were Jade’s friends.
“Ally, Nina, it’s not true,” Jade began to say.
“We didn’t believe Dianna when she told us you were bullied in high school and that your bully came back… So why, Jade? Are you really betraying Liam for him?”
The way that these girls say it was a little softer than Dianna, however, because of the earlier commotion, several people were still staring at us.
It was alright for me to be stared at but not my mate. Even without looking at her face, I knew she didn’t want this kind of attention.
I knew the kind of experience Jade went through after getting kicked out of school… She was always a shy girl, to begin with, but after the incident, she developed a fear for crowds and a fear of getting humiliated in front of large numbers of people.
Right now, I could already feel Jade’s skin turning cold and clammy just by looking at her agitated face…
“Look, whatever Jade and I do, it’s none of your business. If you don’t want to get humiliated in front of all your college friends, I advise you to shut your mouth, and leave us alone,” I said, sneering at Dianna’s pathetic face.
I saw the smile leave Dianna’s face as I said this. I turn to Jade’s other two friends and spoke as harshly as I did with Dianna.
“You two, you don’t know me, and you apparently don’t know Jade that well. If you did, you wouldn’t be siding with that snake… Did she not tell you what she did back in high school? By any chance, did she only talk about Jade and excluded herself from her wretched stories?”
After hearing those words, Jade’s eyes swung towards Dianna and then to me.
As soon as I spoke again, Dianna turned white. She stomped away from us and away from the crowd that had gathered, and thankfully, her two minions walked away with her as well.
“Kix, what did you mean? Did Dianna do something back to you in high school?”
I looked at my mate’s innocent face. I remembered the pained expression she displayed earlier when Dianna mentioned high school… Would it do her good if I tell her and remind her again of that painful past?
“It’s nothing,” I said softly. Maybe it should be a story for another day.
“Let’s get inside now. The ball’s about to start,” I remarked as a form of distraction.
The school grounds, which looked so ordinary during the day time, had suddenly turned grand and elegant that evening. The trees were adorned with light that looked like the stars. Oriental lamp lights were hanging everywhere, and at the center of the open court was a grand stage for the band.
“It’s lovely,” Jade remarked, looking around like me. “I bet your prom looked like this too.”
“I wouldn’t know. I didn’t attend it.”
“You didn’t attend your prom? How about the one in your senior year?”
“I didn’t attend that either,” I responded to Jade.
After Jade left, I lost all my will to study. Sure, I still attended high school, but I spent my time cutting classes, playing video games, getting into clubs and bars, and practically doing everything I could to piss my uptight parents.
I succeeded. My grades and reputation went downhill from there. After being an ace student for eighteen straight years, I earned the title “teacher’s headache” during my senior year at high school. My parents remained disappointed in me until the day they met their accident.
Despite doing all those things, my heart remained fixed in one thing – finding Jade and making it up to her…
“Then, this could count as our prom,” Jade said quietly.
I looked into Jade’s eyes. Did we just share a mind-link? How could she possibly read what was on my mind at that time?
“Hey, why don’t I get some refreshments first? The party won’t start yet, plus I don’t see the band getting ready at all. Let’s eat first so that we could gather more information later,” I suggested to Jade.
She readily agreed. I asked her to sit on one corner while I fetch her some food on the buffet table.
Just as I was about to get some food, my sensitive ears picked up the conversation of two male students in a distance.
“Go ahead, man, take this,” one of the boys in a black leather jacket said.
“What if I get caught?”
“You won’t be. It’s new stuff. It came directly from my colleague in the band…”
“Is it really good stuff?”
“Yes… Have you heard about those murdered girls?”
“Huh?”
“I heard that they were able to knock them out with just half of these pills… They were that powerful, bro!”
The hairs at the back of my neck stood out in alarm. I eyed the two boys as they exchanged a packet of unknown substance.
It wouldn’t have been apparent to ordinary people’s eyes, but because I was who I was, I was able to see what was inside that plastic pack they exchanged so secretively.
There were two small pills that were blue in color, and on it was an emblem that read BB…
What could those letters mean?
Frankly, I didn’t care if those two were using drugs, but if it was something that concerned Misha, or even worse, Jade, I won’t hesitate to find out who the source of their information was.
I pretended to hover around the buffet table, observing the two students, listening to their conversation that had now steered into the direction of music and the instruments they played.
After a while, I saw them finally break away from the conversation. I followed the man in the leather jacket, and I saw him enter a tent at the back of the temporary stage in the middle of the school field.
“Hey, Gary, man, I delivered it. He says he’s going to do it. Once he gives us the signal, you can go out and get the girl.”
“Good. Did you send him my regards?”
“Yes, man. That’s good stuff right there. I got a smell of it. That stuff looks powerful, but was it really true? Was that drug used by, you know… the killer?”
I strained my ears to hear his answer.
“Yes, it was… I could guarantee that it was used.”
“How did you know?”
“Simple. I had direct access to the killer,” the person he was talking to mentioned.
I peered from the folds of the tent across the man who claimed to know the killer, and I saw his face.
It was the same man in a black hoodie and cap that my Jade followed three days ago…
