Simon Death High (11 page)

“What are you doing?” she whispered, even
though they were the only ones there. “Did you talk to the ASB
kids?”

“No, not yet,” he paused as the page finally
loaded. “Wow.”

“Ew, what is this?” Linda said. “You're
going to get in trouble for looking nasty stuff up.”

He scrolled through the pages and realized
it was a web cam site. He pointed to an image that was the back of
a girl with long flowing curly hair. “That's Lucy!”

Linda pulled a chair next to Michael, and
leaned in closer. “No, it can't be. That girl's hair is too
neat.”

“Yes, I overheard Mr. Conner call her that.
He said something about if she needs money. Also, did you know that
Lucy is emancipated?”

“What? Really?”

“So, all this time we thought her family has
been traveling but really they haven't been.”

“So, then where is she getting money?”

Michael tapped on the computer screen,
“Here, duh.” He went back onto the main page and scrolled through
all the girls. “I don't know how she has time to do it, since we
are with her all the time.”

Linda gasped as he stopped on another
profile. “That's Mandy!”

Monroe Love was what the name of the girl
said. The age said twenty-one but it was obviously a lie. Although,
it wasn't a clear picture of her, Linda tried to remember Mandy’s
body and it seemed to be her.

“That is not her!” Michael said. “You think
all girls look the same.”

“Print it out,” Linda said as she ran over
to the printer. She stared at the profile that was being printed
and then felt bubbly inside. “We should take this to the
police.”

“Wow,” Michael said. “Over two-hundred men
have commented on her.” He paused on a comment that read, '
I
know this girl. She goes to my high school in Simon, Idaho
.
I hate her.
' “Look at this comment, Linda.”

“Is that person an idiot? Someone could have
easily found her in this town. There are only two schools. The
private one and then ours. All that person had to do was roam
around town for a few days and find her easily.”

“Obviously, that person doesn't care,” he
tapped on the screen. “The person clearly hates Mandy!”

“So, that's proof right there that someone
here might be a suspect.”

“Duh!”

The lab teacher walked into the room, so
Michael and Linda quickly turned off the computer. He grabbed all
the pages they printed and then they ran out the room.

“So, what do we do now?” Michael said as he
stuffed the papers into her backpack.

“I have to find out where her best friend
Cassidy White lives now. We need to talk to her to see if she knew
about this online life Mandy had,” she said as she pointed to her
photo in last year's yearbook.

“Online life?” he laughed. “That is clearly
not even her. And it doesn't explain the other girls' death.”

“We will get to that in a minute. Just do as
I say.”

He sighed, “Ugh, what are you getting me
into.”

Linda walked outside and spotted a guy she
knew who had to repeat his senior year over again. He was a member
of one of the motorcycle packs. She tugged on her shorts to make
them higher and seductively walked toward them in the drizzly rain.
He was hard trying to look sexy in rain, but Linda always made it
work.

“Hi!” she said as they smoked their
cigarettes. “Can I talk to you guys?”

“You're the girl who was arrested a few days
ago,” said one of the guys.

Linda rolled her eyes, “You're Kyle,
right?”

He walked closer to her and put out his
cigarette, “Yeah, why?”

“Did you know Cassidy White?” she asked as
she pointed to her in the yearbook.

“Maybe, why?”

“I need to know where she is.”

“So, you and your friends can kill her?”
said another guy.

“Funny, but no,” Linda snapped. “I really
need to get in contact with her.”

“Good luck getting in contact with her. All
I know is that she's in New York. I’m not sure if she's back yet.
She should be close to done now—”

“Done with what?”

“Finished with school. She went to some
center for mental people to make up credits. But, um, she should be
done. All I know is she was going to be done a few months before I
graduate.”

“Um, okay thanks,” Linda said.

“Well, she said she was coming back home
until she would leave for college. Most likely she is staying with
my friend Jordan and his family.”

“Thank you.”

Linda knew exactly who Jordan was. They
would occasionally speak in the hallways of school. His father was
the town's head doctor and his mother worked for the airlines,
which meant they lived on the richer part of town. She knew she
wouldn't be gone for a long time, so she text the gang she would be
back before school was out—that she was going to find Cassidy.

It didn't take long to find the biggest home
in town at the top of the hill. Her worst fear was that he would
shut his door on her or have her arrested for trespassing.

Linda walked up toward the huge front-door
and before she could knock, Jordan answered it. “Hi! Do you
remember me?”

“Um...” Jordan said as he shook his head no.
His hair was completely shaved off from what she last remembered,
and he seemed like he grew a few inches taller.

“I'm from Simon High—”

“More like Simon death High,” he joked. “I'm
glad I’m out that school. Look, I don't have money for any cookies
or anything.”

Ironically, Linda stared at his home,
“Really?” she chided. “Well, luckily I’m not here for that. I’m
here to see Cassidy White.”

“How would you know she's here?”

“I asked your friend Kyle.”

“Who is that?” said a soft voice from behind
him.

“She's here to see you,” Jordan said as
Cassidy walked toward the door.

“Who are you?” she snapped as she untied her
freshly shoulder length hair. “What do you want?”

“It's about Mandy—”

Cassidy pushed the door shut on Linda,
“No!”

“Please, I need your help!” Linda cried. “If
you don't help me, my friends and I could go to prison for a crime
we didn't even do.”

Cassidy sighed, “Fine,” she led her into the
huge home.

Cassidy was a different kind of beauty. It
was amazing that she came back to the town that once hated her. She
had a reputation of being mentally unstable, with her abusive
mother. Oddly enough, the last she was seen in town was for her
mother's funeral, which half the town attended—as if they liked
her.

Cassidy rolled her eyes, “I really don't
want to discuss Mandy, but what is it?”

Linda pulled out the papers from the website
and handed them to Cassidy, “Did you know about this?”

Her eyes grew large as she read the
profiles. “Um, nope.”

“Mandy apparently was on this site. Do you
know anything about it?”

“Damn, I said no! And plus this isn't
Mandy,” she laughed. “That's some other whore.”

Linda grew tense as she seemed to upset
Cassidy. “Well, you would help if you weren't so stubborn—”

“I remember Mandy was fired a few months
before her death and she still needed about two-thousand for a car.
So, she told me she was getting money from someone but I never
questioned who.”

“Well, maybe she met—”

Linda became quiet as Jordan sat on the
couch next to her. “Hey, I know this guy!” he laughed as he pointed
to the comment of the male saying he knew Mandy. “He went to Simon
High, or maybe he still goes there but he was held back I believe.
I don't think he graduated.”

“Him? Mr. 127?” Linda questioned as she
scrolled down to see another comment that read '
I know her too.
She's a bitch.'

“Yup,” Jordan said. “But, I forgot his name.
Something like Aaron, Arnold, Aston—”

“Adam,” Cassidy said. “He had a thing for
Mandy that whole summer. He wouldn't leave her alone.”

“Adam?” Linda asked. “Adam what?”

“I don't know,” they both said.

“We really have to get going,” Jordan said.
“We have a plane to catch in two hours and I know she is going to
take forever to get dressed,” he teased.

“I don't take that long,” she snapped, as
Jordan walked back upstairs.

“Can we exchange numbers?” Linda said as she
pulled out her cell phone. “I promise I won't stalk you guys about
this Mandy situation. I remember that memorial last year—eh.”

“Uh, sure,” Cassidy said. “I'm willing to
help. I just seem like a bitch sometimes but I’m really not—I
swear.”

“Um, where are you guys going? You don't
have to answer if you don't want to.”

Cassidy swallowed as her eyes began to
water, “Um, Jordan is going away.”

“Going away where?”

“He's being drafted.”

“Like in the military?”

“Yeah, he's going to war. He just shaved his
head a few weeks ago. We are going to visit family.”

“Oh, wow I’m sorry,” Linda sighed.

“You say it like it's such a dreadful
thing,” she playfully laughed. “He'll be okay...right?”

“My dad went to war.”

“And he's okay, right?”

“Um...he's had better days,” she muttered.
“But, everyone is different. I’m sure Jordan will be fine. He's
strong minded.”

“Yeah, I have no one else. I don't know what
I'll do if something happened to him,” she sighed. “Well, you
should get going. I’m sorry I wasn't much help.”

“No, way! You were a lot of help. I'll keep
in touch with you guys.”

Jordan walked back downstairs and shook
Linda’s hand. “Bye.”

“Good luck; you'll do good.”

“I hope so,” he winked and they walked her
back outside. “Also, that site you got those photos from isn't an
adult site. It's a social site...well, I change that...but, it's
more of a dating site. Facebook meets Match.com. A lot of the
seniors from last year have an account. So, it wouldn't surprise me
if Mandy had one too.”

“So, it's a dating site?” Linda asked.

“A dating site to find rich men. Well, there
were a lot of rich men on the site. Anyone could join, but if you
had a premium account you were connected to the richer men.
The
sexier you are, the better men you get
,”
Jordan said.

Cassidy laughed, “How do you know this?”

Jordan began to chuckle, “My dad has rich
friends and so, I’m nosy and I hear the stories. Also, don't forget
I was pretty popular in high school.”

“Oh, gosh! You should leave before his ego
gets so big,” she teased.

Linda laughed, “Thanks so much you guys!
It's all adding up.”

As Linda sat in her car, she organized her
notes. She crossed out the fact that the so-called web cam site was
really a dating site. There were only so many people in Simon,
Idaho so it was no shock that students would go onto that
site—especially, students who needed money.

11 | Busted Bitch

Michael walked into the gym where the glee
club members were sitting doing homework. The school was so broke,
they didn't even have an extra room for them. He strutted his
stuff, dreading to even have a conversation with his old
friends.

“Shh, it's the gay boy,” he overheard,
Debbie, an overweight blonde say—and they all laughed.

Aw, Michael’s face turned red as a fresh
apple as they pointed at him. Of course, he didn't want to be
called a murderer but he would much rather be called that than have
a rumor going around that he was gay—even if it was true. He would
much rather tell his family first.

He paused at the door, “What did you
say?”

“You're gay!” Debbie shouted. “I would
respect you a lot more if you would just admit it. I’m gay
too.”

“I'm not gay—”

“Oh, yeah...sure...like you and your friends
aren't murderers too. If I were you, I would avoid this school or
better leave this damn town!”

“Debbie, shut your ugly mouth up. You have
no right to talk so low to me. Firstly, you have no idea what is
going on. Secondly, you don't know my sexuality and it's my
business. Thirdly, you're an idiot.”

Debbie stiffened up as everyone began to
chuckle. She hated not being liked. Debbie was the type of chick
that enjoyed putting others down because she had low
self-esteem—
bully
.

Michael leaned on the door, with his arms
crossed. “I was here to just ask if you guys knew anything
suspicious about what is going on. Me and my friends need any help
because police are suspicious of us for no reason.”

The group stayed quiet as they put their
heads down, ignoring Michael’s questioning. He hated the glee club
members which made him dislike the show, even though he loved
watching it.

After a minute of silence, he sighed as loud
as he could and slammed open the door to leave. He spotted Adam
writing next to his locker and walked over to him.

“Did you get any info from the
cheerleaders?” Michael said as he tried to make eye contact with
him.

“Um, no I didn't. Did you get any good
stuff?” Adam asked as he continued to write. “Well, I have to go,”
he said, not letting Michael answer his question.

As he twisted his curls, Michael spotted
Hannah running out the school and onto the field. He thought about
running after her, to see if she got any information, but he
decided to sit next to his locker. He had enough adventure for the
day.

Despite being on the dance team, Hannah
hated being around the jocks. One, because believe it or not, boys
made her nervous. Two, she didn't like how they stared at her like
she was a slice of seasoned meat.

Nervously, Hannah walked onto the field
where the football players where clowning around with the
basketball players. She waved like an idiot and walked into the
center of the group. “Hi.”

“Hannah?” they all said.

With a smile, Hannah took a deep breath,
“I'll start by saying—”