| As she went to turn back to the clock, the bell rang. She was the first to spring out of her seat. Her belongings were already parked away in her bag. She stood, waiting for Erin, Hannah, and Max. Erin was still writing some of the notes she had missed, Hannah was copying the home work into her agenda, and Max was bent over, trying her shoe. “Come on, guys.” Piper whimpered. “Not so fast.” Ms. Winchell said, coming up from behind Piper. The girls all looked at her. Piper sighed as she glanced around the room, making sure the last student had left. She dropped her backpack and then sat back down at her desk. “Can we make this kind of short? We’re sort of in a hurry.” Piper said. “No, you’re in a hurry.” Erin corrected. “This is your thing, not ours.” “And you say that even after you climbed through a window.” Max reminded her. “Hannah dragged me through!” Erin protested. “Hey don’t involve me in this friendship feud. I’m quite content staying out of this investigation.” Hannah said. “Speaking of that window.” Ms. Winchell chimed in. The girls all looked at her strangely. “Please tell me we’re not going to get in trouble for this. I got pulled out of the classroom!” Erin exclaimed. “Would you please stop trying to blame this on me?” Hannah stated. “Yea, Erin, it’s not like you really rebelled after she pulled you through.” Maxine said. The girls began to argue. Max took Hannah’s side while Piper took Erin’s. They continued arguing, raising their voices at one another. “Hold it!” Ms. Winchell finally said. “Why don’t you explain to me what’s going on?” “It’s a long story.” Hannah warned. “I’ve got time.” Ms. Winchell said. “Well. Let’s make it short.” Piper suggested. “It all started back in 1997 when I was at a Girl Scout Camp for the summer. A girl from my unit was murdered so FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were called down to investigate. Being interested in their work, I aided them in solving the murder. When they left, I thought it was going to be the last time that I would see them but then they re-appeared later when a friend of ours was murdered at a party.” The girls all looked at each other, remembering the sad night. “I’ve met them in seventeen different instances when someone I know has been killed.” “They even came to Hawaii once while we were all vacationing there.” Erin added in. “So you’re all involved?” Ms. Winchell wondered, not knowing the connection went beyond Piper. “Yup.” Max replied, happily. “The four of us and Kyla Maxwell and Candice Kane.” “So why are these agents here now?” Ms. Winchell asked. “Apparently someone was murdered right outside the school.” Piper explained. “And as soon as I spotted them, I had to know what was going on. We’ve been through a lot together, good and bad times, including the deaths of friends of mine and even the deaths of my parents. They mean so much to me even though sometimes I don’t show it.” Piper recalled the many times when she wanted to hate them but couldn’t. “So are we in trouble?” Hannah questioned. “Because I have other friends to meet and they’re going to start walking home without me.” “And I have a ride to catch.” Erin said. “And John is going to be meeting me here later on.” Max added in. “Guys, I thought you were going to help me and Mulder and Scully.” Piper whined. They all shrugged their shoulders. “Well, you won’t get in trouble on one condition.” Ms. Winchell said. The girls all looked at her with a puzzled glance. “You keep me updated on this murder investigation.” “Deal.” Piper said as she shook her hand. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go investigate.” She picked up her bag and began to walk away. “Of course, it would be nice if I had help.” She said, as she turned to looked at Hannah, Max, and Erin. The three of them ran to the chalk board. They each picked up an eraser and threw it at Piper. She tried to move out of the way but she got bombarded by the erasers. As they fell to the ground, she looked at her dark blue sweater. It was now covered in white, purple, orange, yellow, and light blue chalk dust. She brushed her hand over her stomach, trying to brush the dust off of her stomach. As it didn’t come off, she glared at the girls. They were standing by the board, trying not to laugh too loudly but it wasn’t working. Fire grew in Piper’s eyes as she became angry. She picked up the three erasers. The other girls know what was in store for them. It was Piper’s turn to get even. The girls dotted across the room, finally being cornered near the windows. Ms. Winchell looked on, knowing that the girls went on a rampage like this most days after school. Maxine glanced to her left and stared at Erin, hoping she had figured a way out. Erin shook her head and looked at Hannah. None of them knew how to get away from the doom of the erasers. Piper closed in on them. She raised her arm to throw one of the erasers. As it released from her hand, to hit Erin, Erin ducked. The eraser sailed out of the window. The four girls bean to laugh hysterically. Even Ms. Winchell couldn’t control her laughter. Piper dropped the last two erasers that remained in her hand as she slumped into a desk, still laughing. A shrill scream filled the air. “Piper!” “I think I’m in trouble.” Piper said as she looked at Max, Hannah, and Erin. “Don’t look at us to bail you out.” Erin commented. “But guys…I just…” Piper began. “Hit Scully with a chalky eraser.” Scully finished as she came to the window. She braced herself against the sill with her left hand and stuck her head through the open window. She brought her right hand into view and dropped the eraser onto the floor below. “I’m so sorry.” Piper apologized. “It’s okay.” Scully said as she tried to brush the chalk dust off her clean-pressed suit. “Did you find anything?” Hannah asked, quickly changing the subject. Scully didn’t respond. She looked at Piper with a strange look in her eye. Piper took it as a sign to get rid of her friends. “Well, you guys better go.” Piper said to her three friends. They all looked at her with a puzzled look on their faces. A minute ago she wanted their help and now she was kicking them out. Though confused, the girls took the hint. They each left, waving their good-byes. “Okay so what did you find?” Piper questioned. Scully eyes Ms. Winchell. “Oh…Scully this is my Geometry teacher Ms. Winchell.” Ms. Winchell walked over to the window and shook hands with Scully. “So you’re the one who got jumped out on earlier.” Scully speculated. “One of the many joys of being a teacher.” Ms. Winchell said. “Okay, enough of the let’s bash on your students time.” Piper barged in. “Show me what you found!” She began to become impatient. Scully nodded. Piper gleefully grabbed her things. “I’ll meet you outside.” She said. She wanted to jump out the window again just to make it faster but she decided against it and instead she walked out of the room to go out the door. “Bye Ms. Winchell!” She shouted as she left. Scully began to walk away from the window when she peeped her head back in. “It was nice meeting you.” She said to Ms. Winchell. “Same here.” Ms. Winchell answered. Scully left and began walking towards Mulder. The last thing she heard was Ms. Winchell closing the window behind her. Chapter 3 March 23, 2000 2:19 PM FDR High School Warwick, Rhode Island Students walked by, eying Mulder and Scully strangely. Cars drove in and out of the parking lot. Sirens were heard nearby. The entire community came alive, unlike moments earlier before the school had gotten out. “What do you think it means?” Piper asked as she gazed down at the sidewalk. The letters PAI were scrawled out in yellow chalk. Piper looked at Scully and then at Mulder, having her own ideas about what the mysterious letters meant. “It could be the killer’s initials.” Mulder suggested. “It could mean something to the killer. Important letters that maybe point to a verse from either the bible or something else.” Scully said. She looked at Piper, who had a strange look in her eye. “Well, what do you think it means?” “This was where the woman was murdered wasn’t it?” Piper asked. Mulder nodded. “I don’t know exactly what it means but I can’t help feeling that it has to do with Geometry.” Piper said. “What?” Mulder asked, confused. “Well, a few days ago Ms. Winchell was teaching us this lesson about proving that triangles are congruent.” Piper explained. Scully have her a weird look. “It has to do with proofs. The point is that there is this series of initials that correspond to parallel lines and congruency. PAI was one of them.” “What does it mean?” Scully questioned. “It means that if you have parallel lines, the alternate interior angles are congruent.” Piper said. “I guess I haven’t taken Geometry in a while.” Mulder said. |