Arabella's POV

READ TO THE END

"Breaking news: Nicholi Trevino was reportedly found dead; May 5th on campus grounds of the renowned Carter Hollow Academy. The sixteen year old fell twenty feet from a tree only one day before the start of school. It is said that he landed on his neck, fracturing his spine in several places; killing him instantly." The news anchor reports, her cheery voice blaring through the speakers in the most obnoxious of ways.

"Sources say that the prestigious academy may be gearing up to fight a hefty lawsuit against Rachel and Martin Trevino, who claim that the long standing academy neglected to protect their son while he was under their care. His girlfriend, Cordelia Mayfield, made a statement saying-"

"I can't believe this!" Adam growls, running his fingers furiously through his hair as he paces back and forth behind his desk. I jump slightly at the ferocity of his tone, losing my grip on my phone and clearing my throat as it clatters to the carpeted floor. It was a miracle that thing even worked anymore, I'd dropped it more times than I could count.

"Would you please relax? Everything is going to work out Adam." I snap, bending down to pluck the Blackberry off the floor and resting it on the corner of his desk. He flops down in his black leather chair and throws me a venomously disbelieving look.

"Work out? You think everything will just work itself out? Arabella, one of our students died on campus." He growls, an underlying quiver tinting his words. I nod, rolling my eyes slightly at his dramatics.

"Yes, he fell. It was an accident. The medical report claims that he died on impact, his neck snapped. Not our fault." I emphasize, enunciating each syllable. He scowls and rubs his hand over his chin, eyes staring out the window over the center courtyard.

"We have reporters lined up outside our doors, they're disrupting our students." He mutters after several moments of silence, clenching his jaw tightly.

"Leave them to me, I'll get rid of them." I comment, reclaiming my phone to send a quick text to my uncle.

"Fifty percent of our investors have pulled out and two-thirds of our student body have been taken out of the academy. Classes start today and I have no idea how we're going to keep our doors open long enough to make it through the quarter."

"It's only been two days since the incident Adam, give it a week and all those students will come crawling back. And I'll find us new patrons." He snorts distastefully.

"No one will give money to a school being sued for negligence." I pinch my lips together and level a glare at the bitter old man.

"You sourpuss, stop being so negative. If the Trevino's go to court they'll lose, their lawyers could never stand against ours. Have you no brain about you?" I wonder, quickly losing all patience with the man. He sighs and glances at me from the corner of his eye.

"I do, which is why I'm bringing this up. Whether or not they could win is beside the point, they could do irreparable damage to our reputation." He counters, I huff and drop my phone on my lap; a heavy weariness coming over me.

"Oh my - shut up! You're giving me a migraine, so, until your attitude has done a complete 180, do not talk to me. I imagine you have a class to attend to anyways, and I have some in depth observation to do. See you later." I snap, standing with a flourish and pulling the door wide. Adam sighs behind me and I dutifully ignore the rather obnoxious sound.

I walk briskly down the hall, swiping a notepad and pen from Jane's desk on my way toward the front doors. I was here to do a job and that was observe. So, I suppose I should go do that.

I wander out into the bright, sunny morning and make my way toward Brier Hall, where ninety percent of classes took place, save for gym and band which shared Clayford Hall beside it. A trickling of students - either ditching or switching classes - were scattered about the lush green campus, chattering quietly to themselves and glancing skeptically toward the yellow crime scene tape still wrapped around those trees outside the front office.

Supposedly, an officer would be by later today to remove the tape since the case of Nicholi Trevino was officially solved. But if one more pathetic, scrawny student came up to me and asked if they were going to die, I would go rip that damn tape down myself.

Ugh, yesterday. I couldn't even begin to describe the complete and utter chaos that ensued. Students and parents driving off so fast they left tread marks, professors cornering me in the hallway to see if they could quit and still get paid, and an undetermined number of angry investors calling to back out.

Somehow, without knowing exactly how, I find myself standing before the portrait of my ancestor, Carter Sparrow, the founder of the academy. Beside the painting, was one of his daughter, Daianara Sparrow, the girl responsible for turning Carter Hollow Academy into the reputable and impressive academy it was today.

Normally, I enjoyed being "Arabella Sparrow" the girl related to Carter Sparrow. But recently, it felt more like a curse than anything else. Maybe there had been a secret reason after all for why I chose to keep my married name over reverting back to my maiden name. Sparrow seemed like a death sentence at this academy.

"The founder, right?" A voice questions behind me. I jerk and swirl around, coming face to face with a man in a suit and tie with slightly graying hair.

"Yeah, Carter Sparrow." The man nods and comes to stand beside me, tucking his hands into his pockets.

"Despicable man." He mutters, glancing at me sideways. I blink and flounder for words, slightly shocked at his frankness.

However, it might have been more surprising to me that he, despite knowing who he was talking to, spoke the truth of the man. Carter Sparrow, though credited for being the founder of one of America's brightest academies, was truly a horrible being.

"Yes, he was. Poor Daianara, her life was miserable." He nods, shrugging one shoulder and giving me an indifferent look.

"Not all of it." I bite my lip, recalling the later years of Daianara's life and the way she managed to pry herself out from under the oppressive and abusive thumb of her father with the help of her to-be-husband, Alexander Dumont.

"Ah, yes. That's true, it got better." Then why wasn't it better for me yet? Why didn't I miss them any less?

"Arthur Knightgale, English professor." The man states, holding out his hand to me. I smile and take it, grasping it firmly under the intense gazes of both Carter and Daianara Sparrow.

"Arabella Blackwell." One corner of his lip quirks upward.

"Would you care to walk with me to my classroom? I fear, if I leave them any longer they might start disrupting the other classes."

"Only if you'll let me sit in and observe." Arthur gives a half shrug and nods, beginning a fevered pace down the hallway.

"By all means." He comments as I follow him through the silent hallways for a few short minutes.

I let my gaze wander, taking in the dull lockers and scuff-less floor with disdain and a slight sick feeling. I was back. Stuck, more accurately. In the same place that I was all those years ago and once again alone. Adam was right, nothing about me had changed.

Finally, Arthur stops before a closed door where rowdy students can be heard on the other side. He turns the knob and a heavy wave of silence descends upon the students, various jocks tumble back into their seats as every head swivels in our direction.

An air of supremacy swirls around Arthur as he steps before the class, leveling a fearful glare at each individual student. But he doesn't yell, in fact, he barely makes a sound at all as he takes a seat at his desk and gestures for me to join him.

"I trust that you all know who this is, Arabella Blackwell. She will be observing the rest of today's class." I glance out over the sea of faces and feel a quiver of discomfort run the length of my spine, but I didn't show it.

"Arabella, sit or stand wherever you like." Arthur says, gesturing around the room. I nod and walk swiftly toward the far side of the room, where a windowsill was calling my name.

Arthur gets to his feet and begins his lecture, capturing the attention of every empty eyed student in the room. Suddenly, I felt bad for our professors. They had to deal with bitchy, annoying teenagers all day without fail. I could never do that.

I lean my butt against the windowsill and cross my ankles, flipping to a blank page in the note pad and begin to observe. Whatever the hell that meant.

Half way through the lecture and two butterfly portraits later, I turn my head toward the center courtyard where two individuals were engaged in a hushed conversation. I blink and lean forward, squinting slightly to try and see who they were.

They were hidden behind a jumbling of trees, successfully obscuring their faces from view. But I saw when one pulled their arm back and punched the other in the face so hard they fell to the ground. I gasp and get to my feet, speed walking out of the room and interrupting Arthur's lecture.

I dash down the hall, dropping my note pad on the ground and barging through the closest door leading out into the courtyard. I stumble through the grass in my heels until I'm standing right where the two individuals should have been, except, they weren't.

Frowning, I glance around the now empty and silent courtyard, feeling a slight twinge of discomfort swirling in my stomach.

Later that evening, after sitting in on at least one class by every teacher and visiting our school nurse, librarian, and unnecessarily running into Gabby and Jane again, my day was finally coming to a long awaited close.

However, it was a rather unsettling screech that set my nerves on edge and had be flying down the two flights of stairs to ruin my dream of an early night. I still couldn't believe I was stuck on campus at all. I'd been assigned a new staff dorm after Nicholi's death. Apparently, my uncle had every intention of making my stay here as hellish as possible, including forcing me to live on campus.

I burst through the front doors of the dorm building, feeling the humid air assault my exposed skin. A strong hand grasps ahold of my wrist and tugs me around the dorm building.

I start to scream until Adam's desperate face is illuminated under the moonlight. I gasp and breathe in deeply.

"What the-" I begin but he cuts me off, an urgency about him.

"It happened again." He snaps, keeping his voice low. I blink and shake my head, not really processing much of anything.

"What? - What are you-?"

"Focus, Ari! Someone died." He growls, dragging his fingers roughly through his hair. An icy shiver runs down my spine and I press my palm against my racing heart, attempting to force oxygen down my lungs.

"What?" He nods, expression grim.

"A girl, Beth Rose, she was killed sometime within the past few hours."

"Are you sure she was murdered?" Adam clenches his jaw and lowers his gaze, staring intently at the ground.

"Her throat was slit, it wasn't an accident Ari. There's a murderer on campus." He glance up, meeting my gaze with eyes as cold and serious as ever.

There were too many emotions bubbling up within me, clashing together and squirming around each other in some intricate dance of cat and mouse. I didn't really know how to react other than to clench my hands around the fabric of my sweatpants and shake away the shadows of my past.

A darkness, an intoxicating rush of excitement and terror, comes over me and threatens my sanity but it dissipates just as fast. And with it goes any emotion I have left, allowing me to shut down and completely close off any ounce of emotional instability within me.

"Take me." Adam blinks and takes a surprised step back.

"What?"

"Take me to see her. I need to see it." He frowns, an unbelieving look in his eyes.

"Why do you want to see that?" He questions, a dumfounded expression on his face. I squirm and shift my eyes downward.

"Because Adam, I need to see what happened. I just...do." I didn't know why. I couldn't explain it. But I had to see her, Beth Rose, I needed to know that she was dead. It wasn't enough to hear it because it was easy to deny it, I had to see. I had to.

Adam sighs and shrugs, stepping out from the shadows of the staff dorm building. "Come on, it's not far." He mutters and begins a fevered pace toward the girls' dorms.

As we near the scene, I see yellow tape and a huddling of girls pressed against the glass doors, their pale faces worn with shock and fear.

Sitting beneath a tree sat the school nurse, Marilyn, and a girl with blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun. She had tear streaks running down her cheeks as she held her knees firmly against her chest.

"Who's that?" I wonder, gesturing toward the two. Adam glances over and sighs.

"Lily. Lily McCalley. She found Beth." My lips form a silent "O" as Adam flips his wrist toward a particularly gruesome sight.

There she was, thoroughly dead and utterly white as a sheet. Her hair and shirt were drenched in dried blood. A crimson puddle of sticky liquid had formed in the grass beneath her and empty eyes stared up at nothing.

"Oh my-" I grasp my palm over my lips as a surge of bile rises up in my throat. Adam makes a discouraging face and positions himself between me and her.

"Arabella? Are you ok?" He questions worriedly, I blink and look up into his eyes, attempting to piece together any shred of facts that I could.

"Despicable man." I jerk, a terrifying thought resonating throughout my mind.

"Ari?" Adam wonders as I take two steps back and swirl around, a hungry glint in my eyes as I hunt for one person in particular.

It takes me several seconds, but I finally find him comforting a pair of students, leading them back to their dorms.

And I snap.

"Hey!" He looks up, one eyebrow raised in question.

"Yes?"

"Arabella, what are you-" Adam attempts, catching ahold of my arm but I rip free of his hold and stalk forward.

"Arabella?" Arthur questions, blinking several times as I force him back from the students, almost shaking with fury.

"Despicable man? Were you talking about Carter or yourself? Huh? Did you kill her?" The look on Arthur's face tells me all I need to know.

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Hello all! This is your first challenge! It's two days after the death of Nicholi Trevino and classes have finally begun, after being postponed for a day.

So.......the challenge is either be apart of or observe something shiver worthy strange, unusual, or illegal. Also, you can write about the murder at the end in your perspective, but you don't have to.

It's a boarding school so don't think small. I mean, there are tons of things to choose from: fights in the cafe, sneaking alcohol in the dorms, going to a late night party, interviewing with a reporter, skipping class, a creepy teacher, sneaking off with a classmate, selling/taking drugs or steroids, sneaking test papers, vandalizing school property, etc.

Carter Hollow looks like a perfect academy but what do the students REALLY do?

Use detail and involve other participants. Feel free to collaborate.

You have until May 27th.

8Umbra, you have a special task. Arabella has called you out as the murderer and you've been arrested. Defend yourself, prove that you aren't the murderer of Beth Rose or admit that you are.

8Umbra, you have until June 1st (only involves the special task. Regular task is due May 27th.).

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How can I stress this enough? NO tiny paragraphs! You have a week, use your time.

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Also, murderers keep in mind, MACBETH and THE PAINTER you both HAVE NOT committed a murder yet. Understand? Neither of you have killed...yet. TRACE, you won the first murder. :)