Chapter 165 – The New Girl – Silver Brooks

The Killing Cat spared Sarah Rivera’s life only for someone else to take it away. After all our planning and deliberation, someone robbed us of that mercy. I was upset over it. I could only imagine how Holly was feeling. The choice to spare Sarah wasn’t easy to make. Having someone undo that must’ve burned.

Holly was quiet after learning about what happened on Monday afternoon. We didn’t hang out that day. She went straight home and asked for some alone time. Even Alyssa was reluctant to disturb Holly when she was like this. It was sad to see Holly knocked down so low after her self-resolution to change her ways.

Holly believed that it happened because Sarah blabbed to Crystal Gray about her plans to go forward to the police. She may have been trying to warn her friend about the Killing Cat’s break-in. She might’ve contacted Crystal to give her some warning about her plans to turn herself in.

Whatever the reason, Crystal Gray took matters into her own hands by silencing Sarah before she could reveal their entire conspiracy. This couldn’t have been an easy decision for Crystal. Apparently she’s been missing ever since, leaving behind her husband and infant child.

What was she hoping to accomplish by going on the run? Was she just going to relocate somewhere else and start anew? Or was she going to wait in the wings until everything blew over and contact her family again? I didn’t like the idea of someone like that suddenly vanishing off the radar.

There was no doubt in my mind that these were the questions that Holly was brooding over. I’d ask her when she cooled down. She was avoiding everyone recently. She spent half the school day on Monday locked up in her office without attending class. I wanted her to get better soon.

As for me, I was working on a small project with my friends. The two other members of the art club wanted to ‘upgrade’ my Killing Cat shrine. We brought it back to its original spot with a little help from Sam and the others on Monday. We had free rein without Ms. Sampson or Angelica Morelli around.

The past couple of days were perfect for this since it was finally warm outside. The snow in the shrine’s original spot was melting. We placed it there alongside our new statuette. It was a small statue of Malorie Noelle. My friend Aubrey made it all on her own.

The shrine area was already becoming a Malorie memorial just through organic donations left behind by visiting students. Aubrey, Tanya, and I were returning from that side of the school when I stopped to check out all the activities going on behind the school.

We had so many school clubs now that dozens of people were active outside during lunch break. It was uplifting to see positive school spirit like this on an otherwise normal day. There was nothing like this happening behind the school at this time last school year. The school was alive.

I wished Holly were here to see this instead of being caged up in her office.

I noticed something strange when I was looking over all the athletic groups playing outside. There was a girl laying face first in the grass, away from the other activities going on. It didn’t take me long to piece things together when I saw her skateboard lying a few feet away from her on the pavement. Oops.

“Silver, you coming…?” Tanya asked. “We were thinking about stopping by the cafeteria.”

I turned to wave Tanya and Aubrey away.

“I’ll pass. I had a big breakfast. I’ll see you two later. I think that girl over there needs help…”

“Okay.” Tanya said. “I’ll see you during study hall.”

“See you then.” I said.

“Later,” Aubrey said.

The girl rolled on the ground to look up at the sky, getting her uniform covered in grass stains. Seeing this girl sprawled out on the ground like that reminded me of when I was first learning to skateboard. I couldn’t help but to smirk a little. At least this girl was smiling about it. I wasn’t nearly as patient while I was still learning.

“Need a hand?” I asked as I approached.

She tilted her head towards me without getting up off the ground.

“Cool mask!” She said cheerily. “Where can I get one like that? I’ll buy it off you!”

“I made it.” I said proudly. “It isn’t for sell.”

“Can you make one for me too?” She asked. “I saw a few other girls with masks just like that. How much do they cost?”

“Well, yeah… I mean… We usually wear them at school. They aren’t for sell or anything.” I started to say.

“Do they represent something?”

I gave this girl a guarded look.

“You mean you don’t know…? Are you new here?”

“Yep! Today’s my first day at this school! I didn’t have any money for lunch, so I came here to practice skateboarding.”

I smiled and offered my hand out to her.

“No wonder I didn’t recognize you then! My name’s Sylvie Brooks, but everyone calls me Silver.”

“Silver…” She pointed at the necklace hanging from my neck. “Does that name have something to do with this necklace and that mask?”

“They’re part of my image.” I said. “Everyone that wears these masks has a special story behind it.”

She accepted my hand and I pulled her up to her feet.

“Sweet! My name’s Zara! I came here from Cherry Vale Public High School.”

“Well, Zara… You’ve got grass all over your butt.”

She started wiping the grass and dirt off of her.

“Oh no! Don’t look! How embarrassing!” She said in a joking manner. “My mom’s gonna be pissed… I only have one spare uniform so far… I’ll never get used to uniforms like this.”

“Well firstly, you shouldn’t hike your skirt up so high when you’re skateboarding.”

She laughed.

“Who cares if anyone sees my panties? It’s an all-girls school! I’m free!”

“Trust me. You’ll save yourself a lot of embarrassment this way. I say this as a veteran skateboarder.”

She put a hand on her chin and stared at me in appraisal.

“Hmm… Well, you do look like the type of punk with daddy issues and eccentric skills. Then again, I could probably say that about a lot of girls at this school… I’m not sure I believe you.”

“I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just say that unnecessary bit. Consider your challenge accepted!” I said.

I flipped her skateboard over and hopped on. It didn’t take much to convince her that I was telling the truth. She was a true believer the exact moment she saw that I could perform a trick without face-planting into the grass. She clapped excitedly when I hopped off her skateboard.

Zara put both of her hands on my shoulder and brought her face a few inches away from mine.

“Teach me, master!” She demanded.

She got down on her knees, drawing attention from a few other girls outside. She placed her hands on mine and bowed her head.

“Oh wise and beautiful master!” She said overdramatically. “This one yearns to be worthy of your sacred and marvelous tutelage!”

When the girls watching this in the distance started giggling I couldn’t help but to feel a little embarrassed. I hastily pulled Zara back up to her feet.

“Stop all that! You’re going to start some weird rumors!”

“Yes, master! Whatever you say, master!”

“I’m not your master! Listen… I can introduce you to my friends. There are a few among them that are even better skateboarders than me.”

Her eyes widened. She threw herself into me so hard that I nearly fell back with her hug.

“Thank you! Thank you! I’ve been trying to learn for a year now with no one to teach me!”

I pushed her away.

“Yeah, yeah… No need to get all touchy just yet! Man… The girls are going to love you…” I said.

She gave me a curious look after my last statement.

“Just grab your board and stay close. I’ll buy you a snack from the vending machine on the way to the hideout.”

“Hideout…?!” She asked with eyes full of excitement.

“Yeah... Hideout… It’s easier to show than to explain. Come on.”

Zara was astonished at everything going on in the old science wing, but she wasn’t the only one. I was sharing her awestruck expression. The hideout was buzzing with activity before we arrived. There was a ridiculous amount of people here compared to usual. What was happening?

The main classroom we used for our hideout was overflowing with people. Sounds of cheering and celebration were coming from inside the room. One of my girlfriends was guarding the door, trying to keep too many people from coming in at once. She noticed me as I walked up with Zara in tow.

“Silver! Hey! Sam told me to let you through if you dropped by.” She said.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked her.

“You didn’t hear about Sam’s new plans to fund raise for future group activities?”

“Fund raise…?”

“You should check out the ChatCat server. The group is hosting a casino event.”

I gave this ‘guard’ a dumbfounded look. Of all the ways to raise money they went with an underground casino setup? It sounded shady. Zara had a look in her eyes like she wanted to try pushing her way past this guard. When Zara tried doing exactly that, she was easily held back by the collar of her uniform.

“Sorry sister, we’re at capacity.” The guard said.

“Let her through.” I said. “She’s with me. I brought her here to meet Sam and the others.”

“Ah, right then. Go on in.” The guard said.

The girl stepped out of our way so that we could squeeze past her. She quickly blocked off the exit to the other girls waiting in line behind us. The inside of our hideout was just unbelievable. There were multiple tables in the room that were clearly taken from other rooms, not to mention the other decorations and helium balloons.

Most of the tables were hosting some sort of card game, but one table just had a computer monitor connected to someone’s laptop displaying a digital roulette wheel. Violet… Violet of all people, was the one taking bets for that particular game. She was the last person I’d trust to operate something like that.

“Oh my god… ” I said to myself.

“This is amazing!” Zara shouted. “I would’ve got myself kicked out long ago if I knew this school had hookers and blackjack!”

Zara dashed away.

“Wait, Zara…!”

She bounced around between tables, trying to see what was going on in each area. I reluctantly followed after her, trying to do the same. The most impressive contribution was the gambling chip design. They all had the school logo on them! Nearly anything could be bought online these days, couldn’t it?

“Sam!” I called out the moment I saw her.

Sam was moving between tables, carrying glasses of drinks to people. She was dressed in a service uniform, the same as a few of the girls working the desks. This was going far for an unofficial school event.

“Silver!” Sam called out back to me. “Come! Sit! Have a drink! Your first ten tokens are on the house!”

I had to drag Zara away from one table just to bring her over with me. Casper noticed me and ran over.

“What’s with all this?” I asked.

Sam gave me a look of mock astonishment.

“What…? Silver…? You mean that you’ve never seen a casino before?” Sam asked teasingly.

“Isn’t it awesome?” Casper asked. “Lunch is less than halfway finished and we’ve already made two hundred bucks! Let’s hope the after-school crowd is as big as this! We’re going to be rolling in cash!”

“Where can I buy some tokens? How much to get started?!” Zara asked.

Sam pointed out a table across the room. Not that Zara would be able to pay. She didn’t even have lunch money. I got the feeling that she was going to ask for a small loan.

“Just talk to Brianna over there.” Sam said. “We’re running a special deal at the moment, and…”

“You got permission from the student council to do this?” I asked.

“Yep! It wasn’t hard. I’m still on the student council myself, remember?” Sam gloated. “Valentina said that the Student Corrections Authority wouldn’t get involved as long as everything stayed civil. I even got permission from the old geezer the other day. We’re a legitimate business!”

“Mr. McMullen…? This isn’t against school rules?” I asked.

“It might be, but he didn’t look into it too much.” Sam said. “I framed it as a student fundraising event. From that angle, it doesn’t seem that bad. Besides, the gambling isn’t for cash. Look over there. Perri’s managing the reward table. The chips can be turned in for a prize, like at a carnival.”

“Well, I guess that makes sense…”

“Who’s this?” Casper asked, gesturing to Zara.

“She’s someone that I thought would fit in perfectly here. She’s a transfer student named Zara. Zara, this is Sam, our group’s leader.” I said as I pointed her out. “This other girl is Casper, a close friend of mine.”

“A transfer student…?” Casper and Sam both asked.

“Yep!” Zara said. “I got kicked out of my last school for calling a bitch teacher a bitch teacher.”

Casper and Sam laughed. I just shook my head.

“You’re a little blunt, aren’t you?” I asked with a half-smile.

“I call them as I see them.” Zara said.

Sam put a hand on Zara’s shoulder.

“Well, we’re happy to have you.”

“I was promised skateboarding lessons and a cool mask.” Zara said. “However, I’m willing to momentarily overlook that in exchange for a few casino tokens on the house. I’m not exactly liquid at the moment, to put things mildly.”

Sam laughed and put an arm around Zara.

“I’ll give you that and more. Let me introduce you to some of my girlfriends.”

Zara gasped theatrically.

“You’ve got multiple girlfriends!”

“I do! I’m pretty popular around this school! I get around.” Sam said.

“That’s… not what she means.” I clarified to Zara. “I’ll explain the ‘girlfriend’ thing later.”

“Hey Perri, come meet our newest girlfriend!” Sam shouted from across the room.

Perri came from around the table she was managing to join our conversation. Sam’s proclamation drew some interest from our other girlfriends. The few that weren’t busy came over to meet Zara.

“A new member, huh…? What’s her deal? Coming in at the middle of the school year… Wait! You’re that transfer student I heard about!” Perri said.

“Her name’s Zara.” I said. “She’s aspiring to become a skateboarder. I promised her that someone here could help her learn.”

Perri’s face lit up as she took Zara’s hand and shook it overzealously.

“You’ve come to the right place, new girl!” Perri said. “I’m the group’s designated best skateboarder. I can teach you everything you need to know.”

“Yeah, right…” Casper said dubiously. “Why don’t you tell Zara about that time you wanted to race me downhill?”

“That was a fluke and you know it!” Perri immediately countered. “If it weren’t for my knee…”

“Oh yes, the old ‘knee-injury’ line! Works every time!” Casper said.

Perri tried to playfully hit Casper. Casper managed to dodge the weak attack.

“Everyone knows I’m the best, anyways!” Jin said from behind.

“Jin!” Perri shouted. “I thought if anyone would back me up it’d be you!”

“Not this time!”

“Do you have time to talk about skateboarding?” Perri asked. “Weren’t you busy losing money at one of these games?”

“Not anymore! I’m all out of money!” Jin said.

This caused everyone to laugh.

Sam slowly pulled me aside as the conversation shifted to talking about Zara’s background. Sam put an arm around me and led me towards the door.

“Actually, I have another reason for doing all this.” Sam said seriously. “Let’s talk somewhere private.”