Song: Money Power Glory by Lana Del Rey
The police found the bike used to chase us down. It's registered under Conrad Jones' name. Declan's father. Mum, Dad and I stare at Detective Shawn and the report in front of him. We'd been called this morning to get to the station ASAP and Shawn made it clear that I could get late to school for this. It's been more than a minute since the detective broke the news to us and the office has been silent since.
"So you're saying my son was attacked by the Jones?" Dad finally speaks.
"We can't say. This bike was primarily used by Declan Jones, his son but further investigation shows that Declan was nowhere near the scene at that time," Shawn replies.
"Yeah, he played a game that day," I confirm.
"Then who? Who has access to his bike other than him?" Mum frowns at the detective.
"That is under investigation."
"Can we press charges?"
"Dad," I stare at my father. He glares back at me.
"You and another innocent girl could have died that day," he seethes.
"It's still under investigation, besides, this could be connected to Avery."
Both of my parents simultaneously grunt and roll their eyes at the sound of her name but Detective Shawn perks up.
"About that, earlier you had said that someone was trying to threaten you because of Avery. Do you have any reason to believe that person could be Declan?"
"Well...i don't know. Declan did lie about not knowing Avery. Other than that I don't have anything else."
"He lied? When giving his statement he made it pretty clear that Avery was nothing more than a classmate."
"Yeah other people confirmed otherwise. I don't know why he's trying to keep it a secret."
"Is there anything else you know that could be vital?" Shawn peers straight into my eyes and for a moment my heart stops.
"No sir." He knows I'm lying. It's so obvious, but he says nothing.
"Thank you for your time Mr King. I'll be sure to inform you if anything comes up."
They shake hands and we walk out of the office and make our way to dad's SUV. When we get in mom turns to me.
"You should have told him about the diary," she reprimands me. Dad asks her what diary she's talking about but we both keep quiet. I pull out my ear plugs and zone out of their conversation.
I need to talk to Declan.
||
I get to school 10 minutes into third period. This is the class I have with only Damien in it. Usually he keeps a seat for me but today Quinn is sitting next to him. When I walk past him after asking for permission from the teacher I nod at him but he looks straight ahead like I never even entered the room. I take a seat behind him and stare at the back of his head.
Damien's been acting weird for some time, what's his problem? I'm caught between wondering about Declan and wondering about Damien for the entire class and when the bell rings I spring up like my seat caught on fire.
"Dude, what's up with you?" I ask him before he can walk away. He turns around and gives me a look that says you finally noticed but he doesn't say anything. He just turns back around and starts walking towards the door.
"Damien, if you don't tell me what I did wrong then I won't be able to apologize," I call to him as I rush behind him.
"You don't have to apologize, you just have to be truthful," he finally speaks.
"Shoot."
"You're trying to find dirt on Declan, why didn't you just come clean?"
Oh, he really shot.
I pause in my tracks and he pauses too. The hallway is packed since everyone's trying to get to their next class and so I nod at an empty classroom. He gets the memo and follows me.
"Okay, I'm sorry I didn't tell you the real reason I needed you to watch him. I just thought that the less you knew the better."
"I think you thought I'm a fool," he spits. This is where I get the realisation that Damien is actually angry.
"Bro, I do not think you're a fool."
"Then what was the need to involve Jordan? Was one spy not enough? Do you not trust me?"
"Woah Woah, back track for a minute. How do you even know this?" I stare at him.
"Because I'm observant! Jordan was practically always there, checking his stuff, watching his every move. Doing stuff that I was doing!"
"Yeah but that could easily have been her own thing. Maybe everyone has something against Declan."
"Yeah, which is why I asked you." He replies simply. It takes me a moment to realize what he'd done and when I do I can't help but be impressed.
"Good trick there."
"Thank you," he mock bows.
"Listen Damien, I only asked Jordan to help because she's closer to Declan than you. Not because I think you're foolish."
"But why are you watching Declan?" He frowns at me.
"Let's just say I'm trying to save him," I shrug. He watches me for a moment before letting out a loud sigh.
"You don't trust me."
"Damie–"
"They were looking for a phone at my house." The way he blinks at me makes me want to disappear.
"I was just making a statement."
"You could've asked me about the phone."
"This is supposed to be like top secret investigation, I can't go about asking people things," I cry.
"You would've asked Lee."
"That's totally–"
"Listen it's fine. I'm not sure I want to know about it, I just want you to know that I'm not going to do anything that could harm you. Or any of the others. I might not have stayed here for long but you guys have pretty much been my only friends. Whenever you need me to help, whether to spy on someone or hack into an account I'll be there to do it. Because I trust you." He smiles softly at me. I want to say something, I probably should but I watch him strap his bag tighter and walk out of the classroom.
One thing you might have noticed about me is that most times my feelings are surface deep. I'm never really too much of anything...but right now? I feel really really bad.
||
Declan is with Kavinsky when I spot him after school. They're heading towards the parking lot. I don't really know what I want to say to him but I still walk faster so I can catch up with them.
"Hey Jones!" I yell. The two of them turn around at the sound of his name, squinting their eyes immediately as the sun blasts at them. I can't hear him but I'm pretty sure Declan says something about idiots disturbing his peace before turning to face me.
"What do you want Squeaky!?"
Where did Squeaky come from?
"Bring your bike to school?" My tone is lower now since I'm closer to him. Declan's face scrunch up at the question.
"No why?"
"Nothing much, I'm just not sure you'll meet it when you get home."
"What?" Kavinsky looks at me like I've gone crazy.
"Yeah. It's under your dad's name right? Bro's gonna be pissed."
"What are you talking about?" Declan asks the same time Kavinsky chuckles and says: "The bike's under your daddy's name?"
"You tell me, you're the one who's been driving late at night," I shrug. At this point panic is written all over Declan's face. He doesn't wait to ask any questions, he just dashes off, Kavinsky trailing behind him. I hope Declan's got a legitimate story for this.
I turn around and start walking back to school, I've got some extra hours to put in for the school's newspaper. My one week break left a lot of stuff for me. When I get into the classroom I spot Jessica as well as some of the other Student Council members already working. Jessica shoots me a dirty look that I reply with a raised eyebrow. I don't have the energy for another secret beef. She turns away from me and focuses on her laptop while I go to my seat at the corner and turn on mine. I glance at the time real quick, 14:30. I should be done with everything in an hour max so that way I can still go eat at Lee's place. I heard Mrs Lee's making ttaekbokki tonight–
"Fancy seeing you here," Jordan's face pops in my eyes. I lean back and feel my eyes zoom out.
"Hey you. What are you doing here?"
"I promised to stay back with Jessica but she's in such a foul mood I'm starting to rethink my decision." Jordan takes a seat in front of me, blocking my view of the others.
"Yeah what happened to her?"
"A lot I guess but it's mostly because Damien's not talking to her anymore. He's been giving her the cold shoulder ever since that stunt she pulled that day."
"Wow, I had no idea."
"Do you ever?"
Well I can't argue with that.
"I saw you with Declan outside, everything cool?"
"I have no idea," I answer honestly.
"What happened?"
"The police identified the bike used to chase us. It's Declan's."
"What? "
"Well technically it's Declan's dad's but he's the one uses it."
"But Declan was at the game that night."
"Yes, that's his biggest alibi. However if he isn't able to explain how someone got access to his bike then things might get out of hand."
She sits back and digests the information.
"That's awful. How is Jessica going to take that? She told me Reyna assaulted Declan."
I stop typing.
"What?"
"Yeah, she doesn't really know what's happening so from her point of view Reyna just came to their house looking for a fight because her brother rejected her. She says Landon was there too."
"Well I guess I've got a meeting set with Miss. Diaz," I dead pan. Jordan gives me a side eye.
"Do you want ice cream?"
"Yeah sure."
"I'll go get some, you'll have to tell me about what you're writing though."
"Yes ma'am!" I whistle as she walks out to go get us ice cream.
||
Jessica ends up leaving before Jordan and I. I'm grateful for that, I'm not sure I could deal with the kind of energy oozing from that girl right now. Jordan had offered to follow her but she had looked her up and down and said: "Really?"
There seemed to be an understanding that passed through them because soon after they were giggling and stuff.
Anyways now Jordan and I are walking back home because I can't drive for now and she said she preferred taking a walk.
"Don't get too upset about the things happening okay? It's temporary. We'll find Avery and we'll put the bad person behind bars," she singsongs.
I can't help the small smile playing on my lips as I nod.
"Will you be free Friday night? There's this concert I got tickets for."
"Who's playing?"
"A local rock band, you'll love it I promise."
"Well I don't think I have anything to do Friday night," I shrug. I would've slept though, I can't help but think.
"Great! Friday night it is, this is where we part ways right?" She says as we get to the junction.
"Yeah, I could walk you home if you want though?"
"No it's fine, you still need to rest."
"And so do you" I remind her. She rolls her eyes at me but doesn't make a move to walk away. I'm about to ask her if there's anything else when she stretches her hand out for a hug.
"You're so short," I note as her hands wrap around me. The hug lasts for like a millisecond and then she waves me goodbye. So imagine my shock when I get home and open my phone to find pictures of Jordan and I on our school website with the horrible comment below:
Isle's King finally got a Queen?