A Just Cause.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"I hope you all are ready for the lab today." Mrs. Bremnor yelled to the class, "Now remember, this is worth twenty percent of your grade. I think you guys are all smart enough to figure out what I mean."

I could only think of one teacher that I had who made me feel welcome at school. As I've grown to be an adult, I can see why some of the students end up where they're at now. I never realized that teachers are the key to the next generation since they are the ones shaping our future on a daily basis. These kinds of people held so much power in their hands, and most of them couldn't even realize it. However, for what the government is paying them now, I wouldn't care much about my job either. Such a broken system was built by broken people. All of them were misguided and manipulated; it was really just a shame.

I had put my safety glasses on, preparing myself to indulge in some scientific experiments. Standing right beside me was Lucas, my partner for the experiment.

"Turn on the bunsen burner," I said.

"Ok"

"Now pour the solu-," I was interrupted by Teddy knocking through the window of the school lab. He waved his hand, signaling for us to come outside to walk with him.

I catch Lucas looking over at Mrs. Bremnor, seeing if she was looking in our direction. He was a sneaky person and had decent skills to make himself valuable in specific environments. Seeing as the teacher was distracted with another student, Lucas slipped out of the lab quietly, signaling for me to follow.

"Try some of these," Teddy says as he holds out a handful of different color-coded candies.

"You just keep those in your hands all day?" asked Lucas with a teasing tone. "You are one big boy," he says, laughing, only to hear his laughs come back to him through the echoing walls of the hallways.

"Lemme try one," I said to Teddy, who was now smiling. I knew he would be pleased with such little things as this.

He reached his hand out, presenting the colorful candy, and as I was about to pick out a gummy, Lucas slapped Teddy's hand, dropping all of the candy onto the floor, sending more echoes of clinking sounds down the hallways.

"You asshat!"

I personally knew Lucas was the one that had to be checked. I had enough intel on his file, and by this time, all I needed was some hard evidence. This was basically the whole goal of this mission, to catch the criminal and catch them hard. The court couldn't put an end to the case unless there was some physical proof to prove the murder since the range of suspects was too broad. I wasn't too concerned, however, because I had that under control.

"Stop eating those, man," Lucas said, laughing, "they're bad for you anyway."

Even though I had to get these guys in some big trouble, I was starting to have second thoughts about my purpose here. I was aware of the reason why I was put in this position, and I knew I had to follow those orders. However, I couldn't see myself ruining one of these children's lives. Lucas was a douchebag. However, I could see him changing, and that applied to Teddy and Ava as well. I had to rethink how to do this the right way. If I was being completely honest, I felt like the suspects were the high school friends I never had before.

I walk around with Lucas and Teddy, doing nothing productive per usual, just going in and out of restrooms so that they could puff on their vapes. Of course, I shouldn't have let them continue as kids to keep doing those things, but I had more significant priorities. Plus, I wasn't that big of a snitch.

I had gotten another day of school over with and decided I had to do some deep thinking about the mission again. I felt off about the intentions I had here at Brooklyn Academy High, which meant I had to regroup my head again. I didn't want to go home right away since I knew I couldn't focus there today. As I had gotten closer to the crosswalk in front of the school property after parting with the suspects, Ava called out, waving her hand and telling me to walk back towards them again.

"Charlie! Come over here for a second!"

I began to casually jog back, making sure to not look like I was giving any effort, "why, what's up?"

"We're gonna go get some to eat real quick if you wanna just come with?" said Lucas invitingly. They had already begun to slowly walk in the direction they were heading while saying this, so I quickly joined in, brushing Teddy's shoulder as I started walking next to him. This group had something about them that was unique and special, and I genuinely was beginning to rethink what I had to do. I would rethink to myself alone from time to time, and I had realized Sarge had been the one to be blamed for all the confusion I was having. She had forced so much pressure on something that was so unsure to begin with. I knew the type of person Sarge was, and there was no possible way that, as long as she was alive, she would let this thing go.

I continue to let my mind race zoning out with thought after thought while the rest of the kids around me talk about their useless, degenerate topics. I think I overheard them arguing about which drug was responsible for all the overdoses that were happening throughout the city. This caught my attention since I wasn't aware if any of these students were doing opioids in their own time. I sure hope they haven't.

"The purple little rocks, right?" I asked. I knew which drug was which since I would get to see the confiscated loads in the evidence room back at the station. I was always observing everything around me.

I noticed Ava raise her eyebrows as she snapped her head up towards me. She had a worried look on her face like she was concerned that I had known that in the first place. She would react like this whenever I would lie about Carl's past as a teenager. I suppose she had wanted Carl to be more innocent than the rest of her friends.

"Yeah, that shit is absolutely crazy. I heard from one of the block boys that a couple little pieces could just straight-up kill you," said Teddy, cutting off Ava as she was about to speak.

Interesting, I thought.