Adventures of a Graveyard Girl (7 page)

Oh dear, they were going to be one of those super cutesy couples that drove you insane to be around with all their cute talk. Then again, I would have given anything to do the cutesy thing with Ethan, so I was a total hypocrite. Was breaking my promise going to affect us doing that? I pushed the worry away and focused. This was important too.

"Did either of you guys know her? Madison?" I asked. Even if they weren't bffs with Madison, any details other than what I knew could be helpful just because they were from another angle.

Kyle shook his head. Suzie paused. I looked at her curiously.

"I kind of knew her," Suzie admitted after a moment.

If I was the suspicious type, I'd be finding it very numerically insane the amount of people that Suzie came into contact with that got murdered. And, she was a quiet girl who kept to herself and did nothing wrong, so it was a weird coincidence. I mean, what were the odds, you know? She didn't know that many people. Still, it wasn't like Suzie was the rebellious type who went out of her way to find trouble. Or, was there more to Suzie than I knew from seeing her every day in Chemistry class?

"How'd you know her?" I asked after Suzie didn't say anything more.

"Well, I used to know her. She and I had this tennis camp together the summer after sixth grade. Madison was a year older than me and in seventh, but at tennis camp it didn't matter," Suzie said. "I was terrible at tennis and hated it, but my mom forced me to finish camp anyway. Madison hated tennis camp too, so we bonded and spent the afternoons after a morning of getting yelled at for being terrible tennis players, getting ice cream, going to the mall, or catching a movie. We both gained like five pounds that summer with all the junk we ate. She joked that we were going to have peanut butter M&M, cinnamon bun, popcorn, soda babies with all the junk food we were eating. It was a really good summer and we kind of stayed friends when school started up, but it wasn't the same. Because Madison was a year ahead of me, we never had any classes together and Madison had her own school friends in her grade, so we drifted apart in the first couple of months after the school year started. Then one day Madison just stopped calling me back. I didn't talk to her for a while after that, although I probably saw her from a distance here and there at school, but we never spoke. Then I ran into her at the beginning of the summer before I was going to be in eighth grade, so before her freshman year, and she was totally different from the Madison I was friends with in tennis camp."

"Peppier?" I offered.

"No," Suzie said, "Totally depressed, actually. I mean, we complained about tennis camp, but we had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs anyway. The Madison I ran into that summer was almost totally out of it and a little chunky, like she had totally let herself go."

"What? But..." I started trying to wrap my head around the idea of a depressed Madison. It was impossible. All I could see was the peppy girl I had seen at the first Pep Club meeting - the girl who was full of life and positive energy.

Suzie shrugged, "I don't know why she was depressed or anything. I mean, maybe when I saw her she had just broken up with a guy or something. But still, you could tell she had major problems and I only talked to her for a few minutes."

I was still trying to grasp a depressed Madison and I had to say it, "But she was president of the Pep Club."

"Well, only this year. She must have gotten better over the last two years. Or gotten meds or talked to a counselor or something," Suzie started, thought for a moment, and then continued, "And, that happened by her junior year because I saw her at a bunch of basketball games cheering like a maniac with the Pep Club last year and she looked totally alive again and way healthier."

"Can you think of anyone who might want to murder her?" I asked.

Suzie looked at me strangely, "Are you investigating again?"

"You did just get out of the hospital," Kyle warned me. He was always so realistic and rational. That's probably why he was a science genius. Still, did everyone have to take Ethan's side on this? I had a side too.

Suzie and Kyle were in the small group of people who knew the whole story about how I had ended up in the hospital. At least, I think they were one of a few. I didn't seem to be the talk of the school so far. Then again, there had been a girl murdered at the Homecoming Dance over the weekend, so that might have blown any story about me being a female sleuth in addition to a funeral crashing graveyard girl weirdo out of the water.

"I was just curious," I said, not wanting to admit my sleuthing to anyone in case Ethan found out by way of casual gossip, "So, can you think of anyone?"

Suzie gave me a look, but instead of questioning me on my motives again she thought for a moment and said, "Maybe."

"Who?" I asked after Suzie didn't say anything more.

"Well, if I had to guess a suspect, and I mean, she may not be guilty at all..." Suzie started.

"Just say it," I demanded. Suzie was the type to feel guilty about naming names and normally I would too, but this was murder we were talking about.

Suzie sighed and then said, "Madison's ex-best friend, Julia Morgan. They were friends forever, even when we were in tennis camp, but at the beginning of this year, they had a huge falling out when she claimed Madison stole the Pep Club presidency from her."

"How do you know about that?" I asked, wondering why Ariel hadn't said anything about Julia. Then again, maybe Ariel was friends with Julia too and biased against her being a murder suspect. "You're not in Pep Club, are you?"

Suzie shook her head adamantly, "No. It's so not my thing to yell and cheer at games. I'd rather be reading a book. Actually, I kind of know this guy Logan who used to be friends with them too in junior high and he's the one that told me that Julia and Madison had a huge falling out about Pep Club."

I had no problem believing the idea that the killer was a girl. Girls could be just as murderous as guys when they put their minds to it. Was the Pep Club presidency worth a murder sentence, though? I didn't know Julia Morgan. Still, it was possible that she thought it was completely worth it. I mean, crazy was crazy. I'd have to talk to Julia and see what I could find out.

"Do you think Julia really could have done it then?" I asked Suzie to clarify.

Suzie shrugged, "Who knows, you know? I didn't know her that well even when Madison and I were friends, just because a big group of us only hung out a couple of times. Still, the one thing I do remember about Julia, though, is that she was kind of ruthless. Madison got this shirt for her birthday that Julia wanted, but her mom wouldn't pay for it, and Julia spilled fruit punch all over Madison on purpose, to ruin it when we were at the mall. Things like that."

I nodded, considering this. Spilling punch on your best friend's shirt wasn't the same as murder, but I still put Julia on my short list to talk to, right behind Noah. For Madison being such a happy peppy girl, I was surprised how easily murder suspects were finding their way out of the woodwork. Of course, I was only at two real leads, but I wondered how many more would be on the shortlist by the end of the day. It was only fourth period and I hadn't even really done much investigating yet.

The bell rang and Suzie kissed Kyle quickly on the lips and ran to her lab table. They sure were disgustingly cute and I probably would have teased Kyle about it as we prepared for our Chemistry lab, but I was too busy thinking about what Suzie said. I had my second suspect. I was going to have to think of a more clever way to talk to Julia Morgan. The bump into a person had lost its effectiveness and I didn't have much hope for the just talk to them tactic either. I guess I could lie and come up with a clever facade, a part to play that would get people to tell me what I wanted. That worked in books and movies too. The problem, as far as high school went, was my weird girl reputation. People already assumed I was a certain type of person and I couldn't break that stereotype in one conversation. I'd have to ponder further.

My stomach grumbled. I was already hungry for lunch. I didn't want to be. Lunch meant seeing Ethan and I'll admit it, I was a little nervous about that. Did I admit to breaking the promise? Or did I just not say anything so that by the time Ethan found out, I'd already have solved the case? Maybe Ethan would be really proud of me instead of mad? I hoped.

I walked into the lunchroom and looked over toward my usual spot. Ethan had joined me for lunch a few times before my hospital stay and it had definitely made us the gossip of the school. Then we had gone to the dance and sealed our high school reputation as a dating couple. At least that was my interpretation of things. The question was, would Ethan take this time to get some space from me and sit with his friends at lunch or would he further cement us as a couple to the student body by officially sitting with me at lunch again? It was a good question and that and the breaking of my promise were both warring with my thoughts as I walked toward my lunch table.

I was disappointed to see that Ethan wasn't at my usual table as I walked by it to the cafeteria food lunch line. I glanced over to see if he was with his friends at the popular table, but he wasn't over there either. I hurried into the lunch line and ordered cheese fries and a Coke. Murder investigations made me want junk food. Maybe Detective Dixon had something similar going on with his Styrofoam cups.

Besides, I deserved the grease, caffeine, and sugar after the hospital stay and everything. I actually missed the high school cheese fries, even if that was crazy. I hurried through the lunch line and paid the cashier with exact change. I didn't want Ethan to not see me at my usual table and think that I was the one that needed space or something.

Rushing toward my lunch spot, just in case Ethan decided to show up and hadn't because I wasn't there, I felt my heart plummet a little. I really wanted to sit with Ethan at lunch today. I wanted to spend the hour hearing about his classes or the latest sci-fi book he was reading or the song he was working on. The last time I saw him, he had dropped me off after the dance, after the police had cleared us away from the murder scene. It was definitely an anticlimactic end to what was supposed the have been the most romantic evening of my high school life. Ethan hadn't even kissed me goodnight. We had both been distracted.

And, we hadn't talked since then. Of course, it had just been a short twenty-four plus hours, okay more like thirty something hours. I felt a pang in my heart at the thought of more time passing without talking to him, especially if Ethan was only across the lunchroom sitting with his friends. That was a no man's land to me. Unless Ethan invited me, there was no way I was going over there to sit with him.

Wow, was I really this obsessed with Ethan? I couldn't help wondering if this was what it was like to fall in love. Or, maybe it was just me going crazy because they sure felt pretty similar and I was very confused.

I walked toward my lunch table feeling more melancholy. Ethan wasn't there. He wasn't having lunch with me. Oh well, I forced myself to think, that's okay. No big deal. I have a murder mystery to solve and suspects to think about. I had my crime notebook and my cheese fries and my caffeine filled, sugary soda. If I really got bored, I could do my makeup homework. I'd totally be fine.

That was when I slammed full force into Noah Robertson again. My fries went airborne. The lunch tray slammed into my chest, spilling cheese and fry grease down my shirt. This was not good. I didn't have a change of clothes and it meant that I'd have a stained shirt for the rest of the school day. Just what I needed to remind people what a freak and obvious klutz I am.

This time it was a total and complete accident on my part. I didn't even see Noah. I definitely would not have purposely spilled cheese all over myself. This was high school. I didn't need the mortification.

"Did you do that on purpose?" Noah was glaring at me.

With some relief, I noticed that I hadn't smashed into Noah anywhere near his hurt foot. It would totally have been an accident if I had. Seriously.

I felt my anger from our morning meeting returning. And, yes, that time I had purposely run into Noah, but this time really was an accident. Didn't this guy know the simple words I'm sorry? Geesh.

"No. What the hell is wrong with you?" I felt my anger rising, along with my voice. I was mad and I rarely got mad, "I should be asking you the same thing Mr. I Can't Apologize Because I'm Way Too Cool For That Since I Play Football. I have cheese all over my shirt. Do you know how embarrassing that is? I have to wear this shirt the whole rest of the school day. I would not have done that on purpose. And, how rude can you get? No, I'm sorry or anything? I mean, are you a total dumb jock or what? I hate to apply stereotypes here, but come on. Really? All you had to do was say I'm sorry, but noooo..."

I was on a roll. I was venting. This felt good. Why didn't I do this more often? I should express myself like this all the time, especially to Ariel. It didn't even cross my brain to actually worry that this guy was a buff football player, potential murderer, and could use my tirade as a motive to kill me. At least until this very second, when I stopped short at that thought.

"Whoa," Noah said, backing away from me and holding up his hands. "Calm down. Sorry, okay? Sorry."

His apology completely deflated my sails, that and the fact that he might kill me for going off on him if he was the murderer. Besides, the apology was all I had really wanted even if he was only probably saying it because I was flipping out on him. I didn't hold my anger long usually anyway, "Okay. Thanks."