(Ash)

May told us everything once class was over. We were all heading to the club room, with thought swirling around our heads constantly. That was the life of a detective, after all. Always thinking, trying to figure things out. Wondering what is next.

"The school has secrets?" Iris was thinking out loud.

"We all have secrets. That's an obvious thing," Serena pointed this out and she avoided eye contact with anyone, speaking in a discreet manner like she was hiding something.

"Enough talking about ourselves," May was the one thinking the most. She had encountered more than us, seen more and been through a lot already. I was wondering how she was keeping it together. Definitely one of the cool-headed types of people.

I opened the door to the club room and there was a small surprise waiting for us.

"Drew?!" Misty folded her arms and looked at Gary, who was stood next to the uniform-less Drew. "How did you get him in here?"

"I have a friend in the drama club," Gary winked and held up a wig. I heard Serena facepalm in the background.

"What?" Misty moved past me and stood in front of Gary. "You? Make friends?"

"How much did you pay him then?" Kenny piped up out of nowhere, slipping through the door to get in.

"Him?" Gary shook his head. "No no. SHE spoke to me first. I just asked for a little favour and she helped me out."

"Gary is getting friendly with a girl, eh?" I moved over to him and nudged him jokingly.

"Sure, whatever," Gary shrugged, as calm as he could ever be. 

"I wanted to be here. I don't care if I am suspended, I'll be here every day." Drew's voice was stern. He looked at May and I noticed that his face and expression instantly softened. He sat down and sighed. "So. What do we do now?"

"That's always the hard part about these things," May laughed and then she rolled the blackboard out, picking up some chalk and drawing a circle with 'Start' written in the middle. "Where do we start? That is the question."

"Are we brainstorming?" Gary looked around the room at everyone and then he frowned. "I have no idea."

"Of course you don't," Dawn spoke for the first time. "You never have any idea about anything."

"Yet I got Drew in here," Gary tutted and shook his head. "Strange how I have no idea about anything."

Dawn huffed and folded her arms, while Gary smirked, feeling accomplished. There was no real idea as to where we could start. Everyone knew that and the silence confirmed the thoughts we shared. My mind was floating away to something different, I was completely out of it.

"You okay, Ash?" Kenny slapped his hand on my back and raised an eyebrow in concern. "You look lost."

"I'm okay, I think," I nodded slightly and stood up. Time for some ideas, to keep my mind away from other things. "I think we could start by trying to dig up records about the school. You know, behaviour records of past students, test scores, incident reports. Get a whole list of what goes down. Clemont could help us access the digital files with ease." 

"Good idea," May span on her foot and wrote the idea down on the board. "I will talk to Clemont and handle that part of the operation."

"Can we just pause a minute and think about this," Iris stood up and everyone looked at her. "We haven't even been in this school one week and we are invading the school's files through illegal means. This isn't right." 

 "Well, all of the crap that goes on this school isn't right. If we want to be ready for the future then this is necessary. You know it, we know it," Cilan was looked at the wall, thinking while speaking. "We can also do a small operation in the faculty room for first-year teachers. Serena?"

"What is it?" Serena piped up.

"You will handle that operation. You can access the room easier, being a class representative," Cilan explained and Serena paused for a moment.

I felt as if her heart skipped a beat.

"You want me to lie and hide from Calem?" she asked the question and his name made me flashback to the conversation she had with him the day we walked. 

"Not hide, just do it discreetly when he isn't around. Offer to do things on your own. You know, let him go home," Cilan nodded at his own thoughts and stood up. "You know him more than any of us, so you can use that to get the job done."

"Cilan, that's pretty good going," Kenny seemed impressed. "I think that is good enough for now. Serena?"

"I...understand," Serena seemed hesitant. She glanced at me and then looked away. 

"I think that is a good starting point for now. What we can do for the rest of the day is head home," Misty spoke sternly. "Enough has happened today. Too much for some of us to handle."

"I'm fine," May almost snapped back. "I'll be fine."

"No," Misty was adamant. "We are all going home."

"I agree," Iris and Dawn both somehow spoke at the same time.

"Yeah, I have so much work that needs doing anyway," Gary stretched like he was super tired, clearly faking it.

"You won't even do it tonight," I said bluntly, with a straight face.

"So?" Gary tapped his nose and grinned. "Maybe I will. This amazing guy can multi-task, you know."

"Sure Gary," Drew laughed and I noticed him roll his hands in an arc. One was bandaged up and the other had a plaster, maybe two. "You are an amazing guy."

"I kno-," Gary paused, frowning. "Okay, I don't appreciate your sarcasm."

"You're used it, ya moron," Drew tapped Gary on the shoulder and then he grinned, looking down slightly.

I followed his eyes and saw Kenny jumping down on all fours, behind Gary. Drew pushed Gary and he tripped over Kenny, landing in a sitting position. I couldn't help but laugh. The fall had a lot of comedic value. 

"That wasn't nice," Iris folded her arms again and she frowned.

"It was funny, though," Kenny got up, brushing down his pants.

"I think I fell quite gracefully," Gary didn't even care. He got back up and his face became a grin again. "After all, people like me can't do anything wrong."

"You're such a moron," Iris instantly replied nonchalantly.

"And you said they weren't nice," Gary huffed and mocked Iris's stance, folding his arms.

"You guys, cut it out," May suddenly snapped and then she a finger on her chin. She paused for a moment while the room went quiet. "If we get caught, then our futures are in jeopardy. This is probably the stupidest ideas we have ever had but we all know these things are necessary."

"I agree with May," I piped up to join the conversation. "If we get caught then it is over. Whatever you do, proceed with caution and don't lose focus of your objectives."

"I guess we all better head home now then," Misty signalled and we all get ready to leave.

I was walking home with Gary and I noticed Serena was up ahead. She was alone, looking slightly down from where I was stood.

"Stay here," I said as serious as possible to Gary and he literally froze on the spot, standing still. I ran over to Serena. "Hey, Serena!"

She turned around and I could tell she was somewhat sad. My expression softened and I felt a pain in my stomach. Seeing her sad didn't make me feel too good. 

"Oh, hi Ash," she was more quiet than usual.

"What's wrong? You look sad," I instantly asked, not beating around the bush.

"I feel bad...doing things like this. Sneaking around the school and digging up information. Mostly, I feel bad that I have to trick Calem for this investigation. Can I not just tell him?" I just knew she would talk about Calem and it made my heart pause for a moment.

"No," I sighed. "Look, Serena. Look at me."

I waited for her to look at me properly, right in the eyes. I put on my most serious expression and stared back for a moment. I stared at her soft, twinkling eyes that looked ready to burst into streams of tears. She honestly felt so bad that she was going to cry. This was something none of us had ever seen in Serena.

"I just don't want anyone else to get hurt," she sighed and wiped her eyes, with a sad smile on her face. "Look at me, I am crying over this. How pathetic am I?"

"You're not pathetic, Serena." I put my hands firmly on her arms and stared. "You are a great person. No one wants anyone to get hurt. It will be fine, okay? You aren't exactly causing mayhem by lying to Calem, are you?"

"Am I not allowed to feel bad about that?" Serena had a hint of anger in her voice all of a sudden. What was wrong with her? "And I wasn't just talking about Calem. You know, I have noticed your expressions around him and I wonder if you have a problem."

"No..." I made it more obvious than ever that I had a slight issue of jealousy by saying that. "And I never said you can't get sad. Just...try to relax."

"I need to go," was all she said next and I watch as Serena walked away at a quick pace. 

"It must really be that time of the month, huh?" Gary was suddenly behind me.

"Shut up you moron," I shook my head and then looked back at where Serena was. She had turned the corner and disappeared. "I feel so useless."

"You and Serena seem like quite a good match if I say so myself," Gary was just teasing but it made me feel kind of better.

"Well, I am no good for her," I sighed and then began walking again. "She will probably get closer to Calem as the next few weeks pass by. I am the useless idiot that never knows what to say."

"Yes, yes you are a useless idiot," Gary's words kind of shocked me. "If you keep thinking like that then what use are you to anyone? Lighten the fuck up and think positively about the future. The moment we first met Serena, she seemed to like you a lot."

"Lots of things have happened since then. People change." was all I could reply with, my thoughts causing my brain to hurt. 

"You haven't changed one bit," Gary replied with a smirk.

"Neither have you," I couldn't help but join in the joke, my sadness fading momentarily. It came back pretty quick. "I don't know what is going on anymore. I guess my focus needs to be elsewhere."

"Yes...I think it definitely does," Gary patted my back and then he moved in front of me. "Come on, you don't want to keep your Mom waiting."

"Right," I nodded and then continued on with Gary.

(Serena)

I didn't feel good. There was a feeling in my stomach. Almost like I wanted to be sick but it wasn't quite like that. There was an unexplainable feeling in my body, something I couldn't control. 

"Why can't it just be easier than this," I questioned to myself, with a deep sigh. Too many things were racing through my head for me to consider anything. For me to understand everything.

But that's just life. Sometimes it gets hard and beats you up, sometimes it can be easy. It can be a good thing. You can breathe easy and live easy, with no weight resting on your shoulders. For me, now, I have pressure. I have some weight on my shoulders. Lots of people do, I am not special. However, I am me and the world is everyone else, so I don't care if they have hard times, because I am also having a hard time. That's just how I work sometimes. Feeling like this, I will get less sleep.

"I will just have to tell him..." I admitted to my own thoughts, opening up the gate to walk down the path to my house. It was a small path, with our garden on the left side. I opened my door and Fen, my dog, was instantly jumping up at my legs. 

(Ash)

Gary had come to my house to play some video games. We had just finished eating the food my Mom had made for when we got to my house and then we silently headed upstairs and to my room.

We spent the whole night playing a variety of games. Of course, Gary won most of them and spent five minutes before the next game boasting about how good he was because he had won easily. Whenever he lost, he would make up excuses for his loss, like his controller not working. It was a fun time and took my mind off of a lot of the things that were happening.

However, when it was time for Gary to go, the thoughts came creeping back into my mind, as I was left to my own devices. 

(Serena) 

I plugged my earphones into my phone and listened to some music. I sat there, deep in thought. Everything seemed to be going wrong and I didn't like it. My thoughts consumed my mind and the music took over my body. 

Wondering what the next step would be was proving to be difficult. I wasn't sure what the future had in store for me.

I just wished that he would be in it. 

Always.

(Ash)

I plugged my earphones into my phone and listened to some music. I sat there, deep in thought. Everything seemed to be going wrong and I didn't like it. My thoughts consumed my mind and the music took over my body.

Wondering what the next step would be was proving to be difficult. I wasn't sure what the future had in store for me.

I just wished that she would be in it.

Always.

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A smaller chapter than usual. About 800 words shorter, I am sure you can handle that :)

Hope everyone reading has a good day. Don't forget you're all awesome!

If you want to suggest anything towards the story, feel free. I don't have a full plot penned down as of yet, so I open for suggestions. 

If there are any obvious mistakes, please point them out. I will re-read the chapter but I might not see anything still. It would be a big help. 

Bye now ._.