Endbury Academy✔️

Chapter 10

Jennifer did a no show the next day for school.

Which I figured would be the case, it was all too familiar to Tenley. I had wondered if Annette and Sally got any information for Jennifer from the Office, and had planned on asking them the next time I saw them. Though I almost doubted they got any information at all that was at least useful into the knowledge of Jennifer's where-abouts. If they did I was for sure they were vague, like how we got with Tenley.

I pulled Leia behind me as I glanced around the Cafeteria, hoping to spot Annette or Sally to ask them if they knew anything. When I spotted the duo I continued to drag Leia behind me, determined to get my answers that I needed. "Annette! Sally!" I called out to them, making them both jerk their heads up in surprise. It must have been real surprising to see me literally drag Leia across the cafeteria like a rag doll. "Did you get any news about Massey?" I was eager to hear if they had or not.

Annette and Sally glanced at each other, frowning at my question before they simultaneously looked back at me. "Principal Blakely just told us that she went back home for a family emergency, which doesn't make any since. Jenny's not really close with her family, and they sent her here as a form of punishment..." Sally frowned deeper at the thought.

"Family emergency?" I blinked, turning to Leia who had the same awestruck look on her face. "Isn't that what they told us what happened to Tenley?" It seemed too much of a coincidence that they would both be pulled out of the school for a family emergency that happened back to back. Unless the families knew each other, but Tenley never mentioned knowing Jennifer, or mentioned her at all.

"Almost exactly..." Leia whispered. I could see the gears working in her head as she tried to process this information. It was puzzling how two people can get pulled out in a short amount of time. That almost didn't feel realistic for this school. Jennifer was also one of the more popular girls in the school and for her to go missing screamed suspicious.

"She never mentioned to us there was trouble going on at her home," Annette added, poking her food with her fork angrily. "Jenny told us everything that happened in her life, and we told her everything that happens in ours. There's no way she would have left out this information and kept it from us." She looked determined as she glared at her pasta.

"Something weird is going on here..." I murmured, surely it was no coincidence that both Tenley and Jennifer had gone missing? They both had family emergencies around the same time? That's about one to one hundred that could happen.

Annette's nose wrinkled at that comment. "Because both Tenley and Jenny are gone? Or because they have similar scenarios as to why they are gone? Or both?" She fired off. This was the most I spoke with Annette and Sally, and it's sad that it's about they're missing friend and our missing friend.

"Both," I chuckled, amused despite the situation. "Tenley never told us anything either, did she tell you Leia?" I asked, turning towards my roommate who had a far off look on her face. I frowned, waving my hand in front of her face to see if she was there. "Hello, Earth to Leia?"

At that Leia shook her head, as if clearing the thoughts that were there. "Oh, sorry. No, Tenny didn't tell me anything about her home-life, I don't know if it's good or bad..." She trailed off with a half shrug. "She rarely spoke about her home-life." That I could relate to. It seemed like everyone here had a bad home-life. Secretly I wondered if that was the main theme for this school? Everyone with bad family homes just get sent here to live out the rest of their school days until they can go off to college and start their own life.

"Yo! Leia and Jenna!" At Sloan's voice we turned our heads to see Mila and Sloan heading our way, Sloan with a big grin on her face. When she saw the gloom on ours it faded to a frown. "What's going on?" She wondered, feeling the tenseness in the air.

"Jennifer's still missing," Leia answered, rubbing the back of her neck. "Annette nor Sally has heard any news of her, and the Vice Principal said she had gone home for a family emergency..."

"Well that sounds familiar," Sloan remarked dryly, unamused. "Jennifer was a pain in the ass but I don't want anything bad to happen to her."

"We don't even know if something bad happened to Tenley!" Leia snapped, narrowing her eyes at Sloan in annoyance.

Sloan just chuckled dryly, it was void of any amusement. "C'mon, Leia. Do you not think something weird is going on? You know how hard it is to go back home once you enter here!" Mila looked nervous, giving me a side-ways glance. I'd never seen Leia and Sloan fight before, so I was understanding her apprehension. The entire situation had everyone at unease.

"Alright guys, lets not get testy..." I trailed off, placing a hand on Leia's left shoulder in hopes of calming her down. She did calm down, leaning into me for support like that anger drained her of energy. "We don't know what's happening. We can make accusations and theories, but we'll never know if it's correct." Wow look at me being the mediator. It felt weird being the one on this side of the spectrum. We were starting to gain an audience, wondering what was going on.

Breathing in a deep breath, Sloan relaxed her stance. Mila sighed in relief, probably thanking Sloan for not starting a fight. I couldn't imagine Sloan and Leia in a fist fight. I couldn't imagine Leia getting into a fight period. "I'm sorry. Just weird things have been happening and I don't know if we can trust this school," she had a point. Weird things were happening. "And we still don't know what happened with Tenley... they keep saying that she had to go home for a family emergency, but what emergency could actually get them out of school? Besides someone in the family dying..." She trailed off with a wince.

"It would be a huge coincidence if that happened with Jennifer as well..." I murmured, trying to figure out what was going on. I turned towards Annette and Sally, who both raised their eyebrows at me. "And you guys say she had a bad home life?" I questioned, just to make sure I heard right.

Sally nodded her head. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean her mom wouldn't pull her out of school if someone important passed away. Though she would have told us first..." Sally trailed off with a sigh. "This is a mystery all around as to what happened..."

"Maybe we should treat it like one?" I proposed, earning some skeptical looks. "Look, something is obviously going on here. I have no doubt that another girl will go missing. We need to keep our eyes peeled and look for some hidden clues. Surely they cannot keep this a secret for long..."

I was determined to figure out what was happening at this school. It was no coincidence that both Tenley and Jennifer went missing around the same time. There was no such thing as coincidences.