The Mystery of Willowbrook

Chapter 1: When Summer Ends

The Golden Griddle Diner, the usual meeting place of the youth of Willowbrook, was the busiest it had been all summer as the various cliques swarmed into the place to regale tales of their summer break with their friends.

One particular group sat in the corner of the diner in one of the cushioned booths. This group was 'led' by Declan Bernard, the star basketball player of Willowbrook High. Declan had short, dirty blond hair, pale blue eyes and fair complexion. Donning his typical outfit of a black leather jacket, white t-shirt, black ripped jeans and white sneakers, he slid into the booth allowing his two other friends to join him.

The next to join was Matthew Rixon, assistant director of the Drama Club. Matthew was a tall, lanky individual with dark brown hair, chocolate eyes and a rather tan complexion. Straightening out his blue checked shirt, he looked towards his twin sister, Jasmine, motioning for her to join them. Jasmine gave a grateful smile as she slid in next to Declan, sweeping a hand through her long blonde hair as she looked between the two.

"So... this is the part where we talk about our summers... so, Declan, how was your summer?" She asked as she allowed her gaze to land upon him.

"Pretty good Jas, I got some practice in. Me and dad went fishing a bunch of times and me and Brittany kind of just hung out and went on a few dates, nothing special." Shrugging it off, he motioned between the twins with his right hand.

"Yourselves?"

Jasmine looked towards Matthew, trying to gauge who would speak first. Her twin seemed to be going for the old 'ladies first' rule as he remained completely mute so she spoke up.

"Well, Matthew and I holidayed in France, which was fun. Following that, I got some cheer practice in and Matthew locked himself away to his 'study' to work on his newest masterpiece, as he calls it." Laughing at the conclusion of her sentence, she shot Matthew a playful look as he rolled his eyes. Matthew was used to his sisters' incessant teasing by now and usually the only reaction she'd garner from him was an eye roll or a sigh of frustration.

"I'm just making some changes to 'Romeo and Juliet' so the crowd can understand it better, I don't think I ever referred to it as a 'masterpiece', Jas." Shaking his head, Matthew paused as he saw someone in his peripheral vision. Almost in unison, the group looked towards the new arrival that stood at the end of the table. The woman wore her bright yellow apron with 'Golden Griddle Diner' printed into it, holding a small notepad in her left hand and her pen in her right.

"Hey mom." Jasmine spoke up as the woman in her apron beamed at each member of the group, her two beautiful children and their friend Declan.

"Hey sweetie! What can I get you all today?" Theresa asked.

The group placed their orders in and Theresa set off with a smile. Of course, Declan had ordered his usual large Hawaiian pizza, chilli cheese bites and a large soda. Jasmine and Matthew had opted for the nacho sharing platter, a cheese burger each (Matthew had his plain, naturally) and two medium sodas. With the order out of the way, Declan looked between the two twins.

"So Matt, outside of rewriting Shakespeare. Anything else happen over Summer?" Declan asked, aiming to reignite the conversation to avoid the awkward lull of silence.

As the group settled back into conversation, they continued on with their tales of summer. Matthew shared the moment he forgot all of his lines at the last drama practice, Jasmine got both the guys laughing whilst telling the story of how she forgot to catch Brittany after she she dived off the human pyramid at cheer practice and Declan decided to tell the legend of how he managed to somehow dunk on a six foot six player whilst only being five foot seven himself.

Another group entered the diner, this one was led by Zak Martin; certified class clown and local skater boy of Willowbrook. Zak wore his trademark black and white striped jumper, black ripped jeans and chequered canvas shoes. His nails were painted black with his lip piercing on full display. You couldn't miss Zak as his mop of curly black hair practically bounced as he walked. Following Zak was Lily Avery, Peter Johnson, Chloe Jameson and Nadine Richards. Certainly one of the less popular groups at Willowbrook High, but they also didn't seem to care one bit about all that.

As the group passed Declan's table, his eyes followed Lily's every move; Declan was drawn immediately to Lily, just like every time before, for a multitude of reasons. Her long black hair seemed to flow effortlessly down past her shoulders to the small of her back, her dark green eyes almost glowed in the dimly lit diner and the way she carried herself with a quiet confidence only proved to further entice Declan. Completely zoned out, he couldn't tear his gaze away from the skater girl of Willowbrook. Declan knew he shouldn't allow himself to even entertain the thoughts of Lily when he was dating Brittany, however, sometimes you had to just let your mind roam free and that was exactly what he was doing. Unfortunately, he was soon rudely interrupted as Matthew snapped his fingers in front of Declans' face forcing Declan to come back down from fantasy land and engage in conversation.

"Earth to Declan? Who are you staring at?" He asked as he looked towards the object of Declan's interest.

"No one, I just zoned out... chill." He rolled his eyes with a chuckle but, the knowing look Matthew shot him told Declan he'd definitely been caught in the act. Jasmine, fortunately for Declan, looked obliviously between the two.

Declan shot Jasmine a coy smile, dismissing her curiosity as the group continued speaking about their summer plans. As the conversation continued Declan watched as the group that had just passed him sat in a nearby booth. He noted that Zak was animatedly telling some sort of story.

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