Devilish Detective ✅

I'm Almost Proud Of You

Though he's not looking at me, I notice the corner of his lips tug upwards ever so slightly and I beam at him.

"We just have to figure out who this person is before they make a move."

"Yes," Sam agrees. "We know they did it for you so the motive is love. That should have put Asher back into my primary suspect list, but this person is enraged that you are with Asher Reid, so who knows you're together?"

"Hmm..." I tap my chin, then I shrug. "Only the whole town. Tony made a post, and everyone in Northview is following the guy."

"Unfortunately, I know that. I follow him too," Sam absentmindedly adds and I stare at him, my eyes wide in surprise. "What? The kid is amazing with his camera and he makes fabulous content. I say he should become a photographer or a director. He'll make it big."

"You have an eye for things, don't you?"

"I do!" Sam nods. "So, on the list, we have most of the basketball team, swim team and the football team. I see Natalie's name on the list." Sam points to her name and I frown at him.

"That makes no sense. They're with Tiff and they would never hurt anyone," I defend my best friend and Sam lets out an amused chuckle as he shakes his head, disagreeing with me.

I smile, enjoying the fact that he's back to his jovial attitude, even though I know he is taking this as serious as he can.

"I still think they're the one. They're into poetry, they're one of your best friends so they're one of the first to figure out what is going on in your life. Also, Nat is into girls and they have a violent tendency."

"I refuse to believe it." I adamantly shake my head. "She – I mean they're an amazing person. Look, Alex was there. Alex has been a huge jerk to me. Perhaps it's because he's secretly in love with me," I tell Sam who just stares at me as though I have totally lost my mind.

"I refuse to believe you are actually considering that someone was terrible to you because they were in love with you. I may not be very vast in human emotions, but I can tell that is a whole bunch of dragon breath."

"I mean, it's plausible. Also, I imagine a dragon to smell like earth and fire," I note and Sam scoffs at me.

"That's because you've never had to smell an actual dragon before. Trust me, it's sickening. And no, your theory is not the least plausible. You really, really have to stop reading romance novels. It's clogging your reasoning."

I pout at him and I'm about to defend my theory when my eyes catch a name on the list.

"No! This doesn't seem right." I shake my head and Sam raises a brow at me, waiting for me to explain what has me confused.

I had previously read the list over and over, yet I somehow skipped the name. However, now that I've seen it, it seems to stand out against the others, refusing to be unseen.

"Zach!" I point out, remembering the scrawny boy with mousey brown hair that I mostly sit with at literature class. "He's a total wallflower. One of those people you just never notice. He's in the chess club and isn't into anything sporty, and I've never seen him hang out with any of the cool kids."

"So, there's absolutely no way he would have gotten a direct invite, neither does he have friends he could have tagged along with?" Sam strokes his chin in thought.

"Exactly. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen him hang around with anyone. I don't think I've ever even seen him outside of literature class. He has a way of just blending in."

"Is it the boy who always wear shirts that look like they're trying to assault him?"

"Bingo!" I snap my fingers at Sam, chuckling at his choice of words. "How do you know him though?" I have to ask as the chances of Sam paying attention to him seems totally inexistent.