Survival of the Fittest (Killer Instinct II)

Chapter 3 | Michael

Chapter Three | Michael

Wednesday morning brought the five together again in the school hallway during homeroom, ready for an update from Jordan on how everything went with the police station and if there was anything new to worry about. Since, for the five of them, there seemed to always be new things to worry about.

Michael walked into school with Mary, trying his hardest not to act suspicious or like he had anything to hide. He felt like he was forcing himself to act that way every day of his life at this point, but there was no getting around it: he had to be someone completely different than the football captain that the entire school knew and some of them loved. There was so much attention on him daily that he felt as if he were unable to have a moment of peace. Moments of peace were important when you were covering up murders and trying not to get kidnapped yourself.

Michael left his friends in the hallway and walked up to Mary, who was standing around with Jordan and Lindsey. The latter seemed to have replaced Kate as the third member of Mary's group, and Michael wasn't quite sure where the bubbly blonde had gone off too—most likely to join a group of friends who weren't constantly disappearing for days at a time.

Roland approached the foursome a few minutes later, head down and eyes moving nervously from side to side. Ever since he had discovered that his sister was alive and actively working against them, he hadn't been speaking much.

"I might just be paranoid, so don't take this too seriously." Mary addressed everyone else quietly, "But...do you guys feel like people have been looking at you all morning? I feel like everywhere I turn, everyone is staring at me and then they look away when I notice them."

"I agree." Michael nodded in agreement with his sister, "I feel like everyone is staring at us and trying to pretend like they're not. It's like when you see someone with bright purple hair and you're trying not to look for too long even though it's kinda cool."

"They're not looking at us like they think we're 'cool,' Michael." Jordan rolled her eyes, "They're looking at us like we're lost puppies or something. They look like they're pitying us."

Michael looked over his shoulder quickly, trying to see what they were talking about. As he did, he made direct eye contact with a girl from his physics class. She held the gaze for just a second too long before looking away, shaking her head slowly.

"I see what you mean." Michael turned back to the group, shrugging slightly, "But I don't see what we can do about it, or what it really matters."

"I just want to know why." Mary replied quickly, "I mean, Jordan did just take evidence that we knew nothing about to a detective who hates us, and we were last seen at his cabin, according to Jordan."

"Wait, what? That cabin belonged to one of the Easton detectives?" Michael asked.

"Barlow." Jordan nodded, "I gave him the evidence and he asked why we were at his cabin. He said that some weird stuff had been going on there recently and he was confused."

Michael shook his head.

"This all keeps getting more and more bizarre."

"All I'm saying is," Mary spoke again, clearly annoyed at being interrupted, "I think that we've done some pretty sketchy stuff over the past few days, and I think we should all be a little worried about it getting out."

"Guys, I think I know why everyone's looking at us." Lindsey had remained quiet during the conversation thus far, scrolling through her phone as if she didn't quite care that they could be on the chopping block for breaking multiple laws, "Look."