Suspect 5

Chapter 1

"Did you know?"

"Oh, my gosh, really?"

"SAY WHAT NOW?!"

"Did you say Xeffe was missing?"

Whispers swept across the entire school. Xeffe had not shown up at school for more than 3 days and people were getting worried. The school felt empty without her sarcastic but hilarious remarks.

Nolyn Benjamins, a junior at Starfield High, was walking through the hallways. The whispers whirled around his head, but he was confused. The last comment caught his attention, however.

Who was Xeffe again?

"Oi, Benjamins!" An arm swung across his shoulders, bringing him out of his thoughts. Nolyn looks at the person who called his name. It was Valen Harthrow, and to his side stood Dylan Andrews, his two childhood best friends.

"Oh, hey guys," Nolyn said quietly. "What's up?" The three kept walking until they reached their lockers (which, coincidentally, were all next to each other). Nolyn dialed the combination and opened his locker, stocking his bag with the necessary textbooks and binders he needed for class. As he took out his last workbook (which was for biology) a note fell out.

Oh look, a note. Never knew I was that noticeable that people are giving me letters now, he thought wryly. Unfolding the paper, Nolyn reads the words that were scrawled on it.

SUSPECT 3

To his side, Dylan and Valen both had similar notes. Dylan's had a 4 on it and Valen had a 1. "Uh..." Dylan started. "Y'all know what this is?"

Nolyn rolls his eyes. "It's a note, stupid," he mumbles tiredly. "Is it really that hard to understand that you were given a piece of paper with letters on it?"

The people standing close enough to hear Nolyn mutter those words chuckled, and Dylan turns red.

And for a while, the cheerfulness that used to be present in the school sparks again as people laugh at Dylan's tomato red face.