| The next morning Piper walked through the halls of school. She was there earlier than most other kids since her mom worked there. Piper walked into room, 210, her mom’s room. She brought a mug full of water to the microwave and pressed start. She walked back out of the room and down the hallway. “Hey Piper.” Someone said from behind her. Piper turned around and saw her best friend, Erin, standing behind her. Erin walked towards Piper and they walked together down the hallway. “What are you doing here?” Piper asked her. “After what happened and stuff with Rose my mom didn’t want me to take the bus this morning so I said I’d hang out with you. Where are we going?” “Actually I’m looking for Melanie, have you seen her?” Piper asked as they continued to walk. “Last night she said she was really sick so I don’t think she’s coming in today.” Erin explained. “Actually, Hannah said she was sick, too.” “I heard the flu was going around.” Piper paused, and thought. “What? Did you call everyone last night?” Piper asked. “Well after you called me hysterically last night, I had to talk to other people. I talked to Hannah, Melanie, and Anna. That’s all.” Piper stopped dead in her tracks. “You called Anna?” “Yea, why?” Erin asked stopping as well. “Mulder and Scully are going to kill me.” Piper said sounding desperate. “They do carry guns but I don’t think they’ll kill you.” Erin teased. Piper gave her a strange look. “If they found out I called you to tell Erin that they were coming so she could prepare a story so the evidence wouldn’t point to her.” She rambled on. “What are you saying? Anna didn’t kill Rose, did she?” Erin asked dropping her books in the middle of the hallway. A nearby teacher ran to the hall to see what was going on. When she saw it was just Piper and a friend she retreated back into her class room. “No, Anna did not kill her. I’m saying, Mulder and Scully are either going to suspect I killed her or Anna killed her because we’ve been discussing a story to cover our tracks.” Piper said. “I think you’re paranoid.” Erin said smiling. She stooped down to pick up her books. Piper laughed thinking about what she had said. She did sound paranoid but after nights of man hunt she had a reason to be. Piper spun back around towards her mom’s room but then stopped when she saw a familiar figure walking towards them. “Billiam at two o’clock.” Piper said. Billiam was the nickname of a boy whose real name was William. He was a friend of Erin’s but he totally despised Piper. “Erin…Piper.” He said. “What is this? Party in the 210 wing?” Erin asked sounding a little like she was acting stupid.. “Nice sweater.” Piper said to Will sarcastically. She looked at Will’s greenish blue sweater. It had bright yellow stripes going down the front. “Will, it’s like eighty degrees outside, and you’re wearing a wool sweater, are you crazy? Never mind, I already know the answer to that.” “It was a present from Rose’s mother for my birthday. I’m going to Rose’s house tonight for dinner with Tom.” He explained. Piper quickly shut up. Rose and Will were really good friends and she knew that the death of Rose probably hit him really hard. “Why are you here so early, Will?” Erin asked, changing the subject. “My parents are flipping out over the whole murder thing so I decided to get away from them. I told them I was walking today so I left really early. Excuse me but as Piper would say, I have to pee.” Piper glared at him but Will walked past Erin and Piper and went into the boy’s lavatory. In the hallway, Erin playfully nudged Piper’s arm. “You know he’s having a tough time with Rose’s death. It’s shaking the entire school.” “Hey the seventh graders don’t even know. They tried to keep it a secret from as many people as possible. This is just like Christmas time.” Erin stopped and thought. She knew the past Christmas hadn’t been a fun time for Piper or her family. Piper was imprisoned for possible being an accomplice to murder. She turned up innocent but something inside Piper never was the same again. “Look Erin…” Piper began. “Piper.” Erin said at the same time as Piper. The two of them stopped but Erin continued. “I know you’ve been threw this all before and you know how hard it was. So, now you should know exactly how Will feels.” “I know, and I’m sorry. I should have been nicer to him.” The two girls laughed and walked into Piper’s mom’s room. Her mom was standing by the microwave mixing coffee mix into the now hot water. Her mom smiled at Erin. Erin weakly smiled back but felt a little weird. Mrs. Alexander was not only her best friend’s mom, but also her Girl Scout leader of eight years and her math teacher. It was awkward having her as her teacher but it was very interesting. Piper sat down at one of the desks and took out History homework that she hadn’t finished. Piper knew it was kind of bad to do her homework in the morning but since she had the extra hour she took it as an opportunity. Erin sat down in front of her and began to read a book she had to read for English. A few minutes later they heard a bloodthirsty scream. Erin was so startled she dropped her book. Piper slammed her pencil on the desk and ran to where the scream came from. Erin followed Piper but they both stopped short in the hallway. They didn’t know exactly where the scream came from but they knew it was somewhere in the hallway. Other teachers began to gather in the hallway but no one knew what happened. “Will.” Erin said to Piper. They stared at each other for a minute and then Erin ran towards the boy’s bathroom with Piper behind her. Erin barged through the door and let out a gasp. Piper looked over her shoulder and saw what she was staring at. Will was lying on the floor. His torso was covered black and Erin and Piper could see a sweater arm beginning to turn black. Will’s eyes were open and he seemed to be pleading for help. Piper and Erin ran out of the bathroom and slammed the door behind them. They stepped backwards into the wall and they both slid down it until they were sitting on the floor. One of the Social Studies teacher opened the bathroom door and saw what the two girls had found. Chapter 4 8:32 AM Scully woke up to the sound of a telephone. She opened her eyes and looked over at the clock. She sat up, straightening her hair. She picked up the telephone wondering who it was. “Scully.” She said. She listened intently and hung up the phone. Scully put on her robe and walked out to the hallway of the hotel. She went to Mulder’s door and knocked. After a few minutes and a couple more knocks he finally answered the door. “Scully, nice outfit.” He said. She managed a weak smile but then continued. “There’s been another murder at Nathaniel Greene.” Mulder nodded and closed the door. She went back into her own hotel room and got ready to go. An hour later they met outside and both tumbled into the car. They stopped for a quick donut and coffee and then continued to the school. They parked in the back and made their way into the school. “Who called you to report the murder? “Piper.” “Who was the murdered victim?” Mulder asked while walking up the stairs. “His name was William Colon and both Piper and Erin found the body in the boys bathroom.” They continued their way up the stairs. They reached the top floor and Scully walked into Piper’s mom’s room. Erin and Piper were sitting on the stage in the back of the room. The two girls sat there silently. Piper bit her nails nervously and Erin gazed into space. Scully walked towards them and hunched over in front of them. “Girls, I need to talk to you about what happened today.” Scully said. “It was the same thing that happened to Rose.” Piper answered taking her finger out of her mouth. “Did you talk to Will before it happened?” Mulder asked walking up behind Scully. “Yes.” Erin answered. “He came in early. Everybody’s a little shaken over the entire murder thing.” Piper said. “Why were you two here so early?” Scully asked. “Since my mom works here I get in early all the time.” “My mom dropped me off because she didn’t want me to take the bus. We were just walking through the hallway looking for our friend, Melanie.” Erin explained. “She usually comes in with me early everyday but we think she’s sick.” Piper explained. “So we were going to go back into Piper’s Mom’s room when we saw Will..” Erin said. “Are you guys friends with him?” Mulder asked. He took out a little black notebook from his jacket pocket. He began to write down everything that the girls said. “I am.” Erin said. “But I’m not. We got into a fight last year and we never really spoke, except for bad things, after that.” |