A Sad Murder

Unexpected

Nicole and Co could no longer wait for class to end for the day. All through the morning class, none of them grabbed a sense of what any of the lecturer was teaching them. Rather, their mind was on Drake. During break time, the three of them went in search for Anna with the hope of finding her and getting to know the whereabouts of their friend Drake.

But luck was not on their side as they couldn't find her in the school premises. They took a walk to the cafeteria and sat down without buying any lunch.

"I don't really understand what is going on. Why are both of them not in school today?" Nicole asks the others.

"You yourself told us is because they were both having fun last night" Jay replied and shrugs.

"But that shouldn't have made them to be absent from school today. I was thinking they'll join us a bit late you know, but now is so weird that they didn't even show up at all. I mean I wasn't expecting it" Nicole frowns.

"Let's give them a call again" Brad suggested.

"You guys should put a call through to Drake while I dial Anna's line" she suggested and they both nods to her suggestion.

The three of them shared glances at each other when they couldn't get Drake and Anna on the phone.

"They're not picking guys! Are you sure they're okay?" Nicole panics.

"Let's wait one hour more, if they don't show up we'll sneak out of school" Brad suggested.

"What if there's a lecturer in class?" she asks.

"That's easy. We just do something that will get us kicked out, that way we're free to leave the school premises, besides we're adult not some highschool student" Jay shrugs it off.

"That's true anyways. You're a badass" Nicole giggles and they chuckled. Their appetite was back again and both guys went to get their lunch with that of Nicole.

After the break, the next class they had was Psychology. Luckily the three of them were having same course at the same period. Nicole and another of her coursemate were sitting in the middle of the classroom and Brad and Jay were sitting right behind them. They were all so perturbed that their friends haven't shown up yet.

Running out of patience, they couldn't wait for an hour time before they could carry out their plans.

Nicole squint at her boyfriend and Jay and they nod at her. That was the sign she needed to get started with the drama.

She dig out her phone from her purse and she pretends to be texting on her phone which was against the rules of the school when lectures was going on. While behind her, Brad and Jay got into some meaningless conversations and shared some laughter disrupting the class.

Mr. Blake's gaze fell on Brad and Jay and he walks directly to their table. Blake was one of the meanest and strict lecturers in the school, no one goes against his rule and go scot free.

"Well, well, well, I see you two are really having fun here" he smirks at them and the smiles on both guys faces disappeared in a flash. "It's quite obvious you're tired of my boring class, so kindly get your things and leave quietly so that the rest of the students that are serious will pay rapt attention in my class".

"You said it yourself Mr lecturer, your class is really boring" Jay shrugs un-bothered and stood up, and then low giggles erupted from some of the students while Mr. Blake shot him a murderous glare. "C'mon buddy, let's get out of here" he beckons to Brad and grabs his textbooks from the table.

"Bear it in mind you're on one week suspension from my class and it comes with a punishment. I'll let you know what punishment you'll be serving before the end of school hours" Mr Blake announced to their face and the guys ignores him and turnaround to leave.

During this period, Nicole was still fake texting just to get similar punishment as that of her boyfriend and Jay. Jay stops at Nicole's seat staring down at her but she wasn't gazing up. He turns around and stare directly at Mr Blake.

"Mr Lecturer, I thought texting is not allowed in your class? Well, if you're really observant you would have noticed that Miss Nicole has been texting the whole time while lectures were going on. In fact she was the topic of our discussion and we wanted to tell you about it before you assumed we were disturbing your class. Either ways, we'll obey your orders. And I'll prefer you stop treating us like some highschool students because we're not. Brad let's get out of here" Jay said and made eye contact with Nicole and she flashed him a smile. He winks at her and they exited the classroom leaving Nicole behind.

Now it was Mr. Blake's decision to either send Nicole out or let her stay in his class. "Nicole darling, you thought you're smarter than I am, isn't it? Well, I don't want to prolong this conversation, so do the right thing. Get your stuffs and get the hell out of my class!" He yells sending the females into shivers.

Nicole rolls her eyes and snatch her books from the table pretending to be upset. "You should be thankful I didn't cease your phone. Now, get yourself out of my class and wait for my punishment!" He barks at her and she eyes him wearily before scurrying out of the class.

"Nuisance. Who else is bored of my class?" he growls, but no one answered his questions. "I thought as much. Now, let's get back to what I was saying".

Brad and Jay were standing beside Nicole's locker waiting up for her. "I hope my tricks worked" Jay said tapping his fingers on his thighs.

"Of course. If only you know Mr. Blake so well you wouldn't doubt his judgement on...."

"Guys!" Nicole's voice rang in the hallway interrupting Brad and they gaze up at the direction the voice came from.

"Babe!" Brad exclaims grinning and a sigh of relief watches all over him.

"Hey, you made it out of there" Jay chuckles and Nicole nods smiling.

"You're such a good liar. I never knew I wasn't the only one good at this game. Look at the way you made it look so real by painting me the main culprit" she swats his chest and they laughed.

"At least we made it out of there like we wanted. Let's get out of here now" Jay said and they began walking out of the school building.

"Should we check them at their workplaces before going to their homes?" Nicole asked.

"I think so. It could be they wanted to cover up for the work they didn't do yesterday. C'mon guys, get in, I'll drive" Brad says and unlock the car doors.

From Anna's workplace to Drake's workplace none of the workers had seen them since this morning.

"I'm beginning to have odd feelings that something is wrong" Nicole said while they were in the car driving to Drake's home before that of Anna's.

"Don't jynx it baby face" Brad called out to her from the backseat she was occupying.

"I don't know what to think anymore guys, I'm just so worried" she said panicking.

"We're almost there, we'll find out for ourselves" Jay replied and she huff out a breath she's been holding.

Couple of minutes later, they were at Drake's home. Drake's sisters were already out for school left with just their mom at home. Nicole took the lead and went knocking on the door. The door flew open and Drake's mom appears before them.

"Hello mother, how are you doing?" Nicole greeted.

"I'm fine my child. How are you guys?".

"Good day ma'am. We're doing great" Brad and Jay responded.

"So why are you guys here, no studies today? Don't tell me Drake sent you here to apologize on his behalf for not coming home last night and even this morning, did he?" she asks glancing from Nicole's face to that of the guys.

Nicole shared a brief glance at her boyfriend and then to Jay. 'What should I say?' She mouthed to them.

"The thing is, Drake spent the night at Anna's. They're into this couple thing you know, so they both didn't make it to school today. We were thinking out of exhaustion he stayed back home and didn't show up in school" Jay stepped in.

"Yeah, we were just wondering that's why we stopped by" Brad agreed.

"No, I haven't seen him since yesterday morning that he breeze into the house and changed up his clothes and then he went to school. From there, he went to work and then in the evening he gave me a call that he's not coming back home and we shouldn't wait up for him. That was all I heard from him, I've been calling him since today but he's not picking up" Drake's mom explains.

The three of them shared surprise glances at each other and they returned their gaze on her.

"I guess he's still at Anna's then. We're going over there now. Don't worry, if I get a hold of him, I'll drag him by the ears down to this place and I'll watch how you'll beat up his ass" Nicole jokes trying to ease off the tensed atmosphere. She succeeded because Drake's mom was laughing so hard already.

"I trust you on that. Be careful though, I'll be waiting for your calls" she says and waved them goodbyes.

The drive to Anna's place was filled with tension. They finally arrived at the street of Anna's home and Brad parked his car on the driveway and the three of them walked to Anna's doorstep.

Jay was in front, so he knocked the door once and waited for a response. He knocked again but no response was forthcoming. "Drake, Anna!" He yells out for them.

"Are you sure they're in there?" Nicole asked.

"I don't know, it looks locked from the inside I guess" Jay replies.

"There's only one way to find out. Let's call them on phone again" Brad suggested and he reached out for his phone in his pocket and put a call through to Drake while Nicole dials Anna's line.

From inside the house, the three of them heard the ringing tone of Drake and Anna phones.

"Did you hear that? Their phones are inside which means they're in there" Nicole rushed out her words.

Jay hit his fist hard on the door and they waited for response. "What is going on in there? This ain't getting funny anymore, you guys should come out!" Jay yelled out and turns the doorknob but it was locked.

"Hold on, let me check if there's a back door" Nicole said and went round the house and saw the kitchen door. She walks gently to the door and turns the doorknob and the door squeak half open. "Guys there's an entrance here!" She calls out to the guys and opened the door wide open.

"Anna!" She called out for Anna while her eyes roams round the kitchen and then her gaze fell on the floor.

Nausea hits her nose and chills ran all over her body. Her eyes became blurry and her hand tried to grab onto something. She staggers towards Drake's lifeless body. "Dr..a.ke" her lips quivers as she pronounced his name.

"Nicole" Brad called behind her and ran towards her. "Jeez! Drake!" He exclaims and when he glances back to his girlfriend she was almost at the verge of hitting the floor. He caught her in his arms and she passed out. "Nicole!" He yells in panic while Jay stood there awestruck at the sight of his friend's corpse.