Fragmented Dreams

Chapter 26: Diana Loses her Temper

It was finally the end of the school week and I was looking forward to the weekend. It seemed like I couldn't go an hour without someone asking me about my interview with the detectives or hearing whispers about myself and Mr. Burke. The rumor I hated the most so far was that I was Burke's secret girlfriend and I broke his heart so he left. I guess it was better than what really happened, but not by much.

I was mulling over my plans to hang out with Zola and Sunita for the weekend while our teacher was giving out our daily work assignments. I was in Health Class, which, in all honesty, was created solely for students who flunked out of Gym and needed the credits to graduate. I had a lot of absences and doctor's notes which made me a poor student for physical activity. So now I was stuck in this class with a handful of other kids who either played hooky too many times or transferred into the school with not enough credits. Today we were continuing our work on CPR and First Aid which would have been interesting, save for the fact that my group was made up of Zachary and his two friends, Scott and Will.

I was still uneasy around Zachary since our last run-in nearly ended up in me being kidnapped. Casimir claimed he had his eye on him and since that night Zach had not had any contact with anyone besides the usual people at school. His only unusual stop was a visit to the Crescent Club last week. I had heard him bragging about his fake ID at the beginning of the school year so I was betting that was how he got in. Since the Club was a supposed hotbed of bad guy activity, we all assumed that was where Zachary was going to report in.

As for Zachary's friends, they didn't seem to be involved in any dealings with the Dark King. Scott was a skinny guy, with a sharp upturned nose, thin lips, and messy brown hair. He always wore a pair of thick-framed glasses and was known for being way too serious at times. He could usually be found behind his laptop, his face set in a permanent frown. Zola often joked that he was probably just arguing with people on the internet but I had heard from others that he was usually writing code or attempting to make his own computer games.

Will, or William as he was known to some, was Zachary's best friend and self-proclaimed 'wingman'. He was always laughing and making terrible jokes, mostly at other people's expense. As far as looks go, Will was a cute Korean boy whose black hair was usually slicked back behind his large ears. He was charming when he needed to be, always trying to get others to do his work for him. When I first met him, he tried to flirt with me to get some answers to a test and I shunned him quickly. The fact that I never fell for his charms always seemed to annoy him, but I could tell he was a liar, thanks to my special skill.

Every class before this the boys had just huddled together, thankfully ignoring me for the most part. The fact that we had all been placed in a study group seemed like the worst twist of fate. After roll was called we all got together in our groups, everyone crowded around a single table. I was trying to keep my cool as we slowly attempted to get through the assigned reading and worksheets. The boys were dragging their feet, much more interested in their phones than the subject at hand. Our teacher Mrs. Duffy was meandering around the room, ready to help with our questions. As I watched her circle for the third time it had become apparent to me that she seemed mostly uninterested if we actually learned anything, letting the handouts do most of the work for her.

I was making notes on a spare sheet of paper when I noticed Will had pulled out his homework for the next period, which was unsurprisingly blank.

"Hey man, did you get the answers for any of these yet?"

"Yeah, yeah," Zachary muttered, digging into his backpack to pull out his answer sheet. Somehow I doubted he had come by the answers to our math worksheet all on his own. Zachary was known for bribing or threatening others to do his work for him.