The Old Ones by rachel hazeldine (summer beach reads TXT) 📕

“thanks” Bethany said, returning her a big smile, before heading towards her assigned seat next to a girl with light brown eyes that were magnified by her glasses, and her brown hair tied back in a tight bun.

“hello” the girl said to her, extending her hand to Bethany “I’m Ally”

“Bethany” she said, giving her hand a small shake, before sitting down.

looking around she saw, to her satisfaction, that the people who had been staring at her had lost interest. the last thing she needed while on an case was to draw unneeded attention to herself.

“I’m always here for you if you need a friend,” the girl said “i know its hard to move to a new school, but I’m sure we could hang around together if you wanted to go to an after school activity, there are so many of them that I am positive that you will like at least one of them, i mean there’s: chess, swimming, maths, french, spanish, ballet...”

letting out a sigh of boredom, and trying to look at least half interested in what the girl was saying, Bethany thought to herself, this is going to be an exceedingly long day.

By lunchtime, Bethany had already discovered who was who in the stereotypical group category people were associated with, or at least which clique they would be on if it was a tv show. it didn't really bother Bethany about what these people looked like, or what their likes or dislikes were, she wasn't planning on being friends with them anyway, and even if she did, she had been up in a way that meant it didn't matter who the people were that you were friends with, as long as they were trustworthy was the only thing that really mattered.

the only time she was planning on “befriending” anyone from around her was when she figured out which were most likely to know something that she didn't know, only then would she talk to them, because apart from that, she had not much need for them, for as many of the people have told her before, she could be very “anti social”  when she wanted to be.

not wanting to sit with people in a over crowded lunchroom, Bethany sneaked up to the second floor where she had seen an abandoned classroom that wasn't in use until one of the windows were fixed, so she had somewhere to to call her parents without having to worry that someone was listening in to her conversation.

after looking to make sure she hadn't been followed, and no one could be hiding somewhere, she dialed her fathers number into her phone and waited for her to answer.

“i have yet to figure anything out” she said as soon as he answered, not bothering to check to make sure it was him that answered, knowing full well he always had his phone with him “all i know is that the receptionist is a bad word beginning with B, and that this school has way too many pointless after school clubs available.”

“i've been trying to help you out a bit” her father told you “i've looked online and through newspaper but none of them tell us who exactly went missing, just which school it was from.”

“well thats a start” bethany said with a sigh “i'm sure someone in this school must know who hasn't shown up to school recently.”

“remember to be unsuspicious” he told her “we don't want to alert whatever is out there that we know of its existence, making it one step ahead of us.”

“i know dad” she said “anyway, i better go, my next lesson starts, well, now i think.”

“try not to get into trouble” he said to her before hanging up.

making sure no one saw her go out the abandoned classroom, Bethany rushed off to find her next lesson.

when she found her science class, she quickly entered hoping she wasn't too late, and was greeted with the angry glare from the teacher.

“out”! he yelled, giving her no other detail to what he meant.

“what?” Bethany said, confused, unsure how to react.

“in this classroom we knock before entering if late” he told her “now get out my classroom and try again!”

still a bit confused of why she needed to, she left the classroom, knocked the door with a bit more strength than needed, and after three large thuds echoing through the wood, she heard the teacher shout “come in.”

“now that is dealt with” he said “what can i do for you”

“i'm your new student” she told him, annoyed that because of the show, people had gained interest in her again, even more people this time.

“take a seat” he told her, not bothering to tell her where.

turning to the rest of the classroom she realised why, about half the seats were empty.

realising that most of the students missing were probably the ones that had gone missing weeks ago without a trace, she decided to sit with Ally, the girl from her first lesson, knowing full well that miss chatterbox would probably answer any questions she asked.

“where is everyone?” Bethany whispered to her, as she took a seat next to her, knowing that the teacher looked like the kind of person to punish someone for talking in his class.

“gone” Ally said without even looking up from her textbook “there were a few parties not long ago, and since then people have been going missing.”

“party?” Bethany repeated, making a mental note of it.

“yeah, the first one at least five went missing that night” she told her “then on the second there was about two from what i could tell.”

“did you go?” Bethany asked her, wanting more insight on the party.

“no way” Ally snorted “only the ‘popular’ people went, and anyhow i was too busy anyway to waste my time getting drunk.”

Bethany highly doubted it, but kept her mouth shut about it, instead said “well, do you know who went missing? i'm sure i read a newspaper article about people going missing from here, but it didn't say who.”

after listening all the people, Ally frowned and said “why do you want to know anyway?”

“just curiosity” Bethany said with a tight smile.

“well i would be careful if i were you” Ally told her “they have no evidence at the moment, so everyone is a suspect.”

“I’ll remember that” Bethany said, before starting her work halfway through the lessons.

Publication Date: 08-09-2013

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