Adventures in Funeral Crashing (Complete Novel)

Chapter 9: Inquiring

Would he say hi to me if he saw me? Or, at school, will I have reverted back to the weird girl that nobody who wants to be popular can talk to unless they're harassing her like Ariel?

I tried not to think about Ethan too much, even though my brain wanted to go there. Besides staying awake, my focus this morning was Chemistry class, fourth period. I wanted to get there early, so I could spend a few minutes talking to Suzie. The morning flew by and I don't think I heard a word the teachers in my classes said. I spent the time in my head planning out what I was going to say to Suzie. I didn't see Ethan at all, or thank goodness, Ariel. And, I didn't see them together hand in hand either. I hoped he wasn't dating her. He deserved better. Like me, I wanted to add, but come on, that's still just wishful thinking on my part.

The bell rang signaling the end of third period and I raced to Chemistry class, making it there in such record time that nobody else had even arrived yet. I sat down at my lab table and waited for people to filter in. It felt like eons, but was probably more like seconds before Suzie walked in and toward her lab table.

"Suzie!" I called, as she was about to walk past me.

Suzie turned and looked at me, paused, and then walked toward me, stopping near the chair Kyle would be sitting in, when he arrived. That is, if he didn't have a heart attack first, that Suzie was standing next to his lab table.

"What's up?" Suzie asked softly, hesitatingly.

I had decided that it was best to be straightforward, "How did you know Liz O'Reilly and Olivia Reynolds?"

Suzie's eyebrows shot up and she stammered, "W-w-why?"

I didn't mean to scare her, so I whispered, "I'm helping Ethan Ripley look into his half sister's death. He wants to understand what happened."

Suzie sat down in Kyle's empty chair and stared at me, wide-eyed, "But..."

I nodded, "I know. Weird, huh? But I'm just trying to help. He's really distraught and we started talking, long story, but Liz seemed like a nice girl and I'm sure Olivia was too. So, I'm just trying to help."

Suzie wasn't a gossip, but I didn't really want to get into my long story with Ethan because then I might also have to explain the whole funeral crashing thing...again. I didn't really want more people to think I was a total freak. And, I liked Suzie. Maybe one day we could be friends or something.

Suzie nodded back, "Liz was great. We volunteered at the same animal shelter. She was always telling me that I needed to talk more and not to be afraid of the popular people like her brother. That some of them, like him, were nice. Not like I was going to talk to him or anything. You really talked to Ethan Ripley?"

I smiled, there was nothing like an unpopular girl talking to a popular guy that helped two unpopular girls to bond, "Yeah. So, did you see anything to indicate that Liz was on drugs?"

Suzie shook her head, "No way. It was so weird and sad to hear that she overdosed. It was so not like her. She was really nice and she totally loved animals too."

It would figure that Suzie loved animals. She was completely the sweet girl. Just like Liz.

"Wait, you said you worked at the animal shelter?" I asked.

"Yeah," Suzie said.

I felt suddenly excited, "You weren't by any chance at the animal adoption for the Palos Animal Shelter at the park on the corner of 135th street and Moorpark a week ago Sunday, were you?"

Suzie thought about it for a moment, "Yeah, I was there."

This was huge. Suzie Whitsett was one of the last people to see Liz alive. Not that I thought Suzie had killed her, but she might have seen something. That last hour or so of Liz's life held the key to the whole mystery.