High School Mysteries

A normal day at school

**Trigger Warning**: The following content may contain material that could be distressing or triggering for some individuals. It may include references to topics such as violence, abuse, mental illness, hateful speech, self-harm, substance use, etc. Please proceed with caution and prioritize your well-being. If you feel uncomfortable at any point, consider stepping away or seeking support from a trusted source..

She went into the kitchen, where her mother was making pancakes and her younger brother Kevin was already eating breakfast. Kevin was 10 years old and looked a lot like her father; his black hair, deep brown eyes, and that little nose reminded her of his father every time she looked at him, which Mary thought was also the reason her mother avoided looking him in the eye.

Mary looked alone like her mother, except for the eyes. It made her happy that at least she didn’t get all her looks from her mother.

“Good morning, everyone,” she said.

“Google morning to you, sweet heart. Have a seat. Your breakfast is almost ready," her mother told her without noticing the band aids on her knee and elbow which was fine by Mary she didn’t expected her to react but then again a part of her wished she had.

Mary sat down and began pouring herself some juice. Just then Marcus walked in the room, went up to their mother, and kissed her. “Good morning, sweet heart,” he said to her mother.

Marcus was her mother’s boyfriend; he was the third one in the last four months. Her mother was changing boyfriends, like she changed her shoes once every month, and half her boyfriends were rather too young or too old for her, which was something the neighbors had been quite quick to notice, but it was only natural as she was finding some to marry so she could solve their financial problems.

Mary hated this about her mom; her mom would rather be called a gold digger than find a decent full-time job that matched her qualifications. Her mother worked at the local dinner as a waitress and a cleaner, and the pay was barely enough to keep things going.

Mary had to work part-time to fulfill her and her brother’s personal needs. She also worked online to get some extra cash, but it still wasn’t enough to run the house, and it did not help that there was always a fourth person to join them at every mealtime.

As far as Mary was concerned, all her mother’s boyfriends were lousy freeloaders who gave nothing in return. Marcus had young, dark hair, brown eyes, and a smug, good-looking face that made Mary want to punch him every time she saw him.

“How are you two today?” he asked the kids.

"Fine before you showed up,” she thought in her head, but what she said out loud was “just about to leave for school.”.

He sat down on the table, and Mary felt like she needed to get up without having breakfast and leave, but she wasn’t going to skip breakfast because of this moron, especially when she needed all her strength to go through a day at school. So she ate hurriedly, trying not to choke on her food.

"Mary, would you come home early from work and take care of Kevin for tonight? I can’t hire a babysitter. You see, Marcus and I are going out tonight," she said with a wide smile, as if it were something to be proud of.

"Sure, Mom, you two are going out a lot. This is your third dinner in two weeks. I hope you enjoy yourself,” Mary said, trying and falling to keep the sarcasm from her voice. “By the way, where are you going?" she asked timidly, trying to sound polite.

"Oh, we are going to that new restaurant by the beach, Clam and Claws," replied Marcus while shoving down half a pancake in his mouth.

“So sea food That sounds expensive; you have a taste for luxury places, don’t you, Marcus?" said Mary.

“Oh dear, money doesn’t mean much when one is having a good time,” her mother said with that same fake smile she wore when she was trying to sugarcoat things.

That’s rich coming from you. Mary thought Sure, money wasn’t a problem for someone who ate at fancy restaurants with her boyfriends while her children sat at home and ate cold leftovers or pizza for dinner.

"Mom, can I come too? I want to eat sea food,” Kevin asked innocently, now joining the conversation.

Both her mother and Mary knew that Kevin liked chowder and lobster, as her father used to take him out every week to eat sea food, but her mother just refused flatly by saying, “We will bring something home for you. Mom and Marcus have some adult staff to discuss tonight.”.

"Yeah, some adult stuff, more like he will shove expansive food down his throat while her mother pretends to be intrusted in him,” thought Mary.

Kevin looked sadly at her mother and then continued to eat. It made Mary really angry, but she bit her tongue and ate in silence. Once they were finished, Mary got up, helped Kevin pack his bag, and left the house. Kevin kissed her mother goodbye, and Mary left without saying a word.

They got in their bicycles, and Mary raced with her brother to the school. She pretended to lose to cheer her brother up and also because she wanted to enjoy the slow ride to school, which was the only good thing about school apart from the library. She reached the school with her brother, parked their bikes, and entered the school.

May left her brother at his class and then walked through the hall towards her locker. She reached there and saw that someone had written nerd with permanent marker. Mary was used to this by now; she used to be popular in middle school, but things changed after her father died. Everyone treated her like she was nothing more than a girl who lost her father, and they either pitied her or avoided her, and her mother’s reputation didn’t help either.

Mary knew that beside her back, people used to call her names like slut, w***e, gold digger, husband hunter, and many other mean things like that and things got worse as she went into high school.

Last year, a boy named Jake, who was the captain of the school soccer team, pretended to like Mary, and she fell for him. He used her to get his homework and assignments done, and sometimes even his friends homework too. When Mary finally stopped doing him favors, he humiliated her in front of the entire school and told her that she was only part of a bet he had made with his friends. And to add insult to injury, the same day he proposed to Mary’s former best friend Daisy, they started dating. Mary’s other best friend took Isabel didn’t wanted to get involved in this drama and started avoiding Mary too. Before she knew it bother her best friends had abandoned her for new friends and better reputation. Mary spent days crying in her room, and when she went to school, she kept her head down and avoided everyone’s eyes.

She took refuge in the school library to avoid meeting her old friends. It was the only place that made her happy in this school, as it was the only place most kids avoided and was filled with friends who couldn’t betray her books. Mary had gotten used to all the bullying by now, which meant she also had learned some survival hacks, so she picked up a marker from her locker, traced the word nerd with it, and cleared it with her handkerchief. In an instant, the words got erased from the locker.

She put the things she needed in her bag and took a moment to look inside her locker. On the door, she had placed a picture of herself with her father and Kevin; below it was a torn photo that used to show his three best friends and herself. She had ripped the photo in half through the part that contained Isabel and Daisy’s picture. Daisy had been her friend since middle school, but she had also abandoned her like Isabel right when she needed her. Now the photo only contained the picture of Mary and her only real friend, Luna.

Luna had been her friend since childhood and didn’t care much about appearances or social status; she had stayed with Mary through thick and thin, and Mary treasured her for her loyalty. Mary closed the looker door, and just that moment, Luna came from behind it, causing Mary to jump. “Morning buttercup,” she said cheerfully.

"Luna, don’t do that; you scared me," said Mary, a little surprised by this sudden intrusion into her thoughts.

Luna had light blond, curly hair and soft hazel eyes; her face was pale like snow and had an aura of innocence and kindness. Mary thought her parents couldn’t have picked a better name for her, as it perfectly suited her. She sometimes used to envy her, as her beauty and kindness set her apart from other girls and were the reasons she was liked by many people, especially boys.

“Sorry about that; I am just a little too excited for today," she said.

"Why, what is today?” asked Mary, thinking that probably whatever she had to say was not going to be as exciting for her as it was for Mary.

“Did you forget it’s the cheerleading try-outs?” replied Luna. “Oh, that," said Mary, a little disappointed.

Luna noticed this reaction and said, “Look, I know you're not into cheerleading, but this means a lot to me. You know, gaining the high school cheerleading team is on my to-do list," she said happily.

“I know that, but I am worried that Isabel and others might try to vote you out because of me," Mary said hurriedly.

"Oh, don’t worry, Isabel might be in the cheerleading squad, but she is not the captain Jenna is, and I am sure she would select people based on how talented they are instead of listening to Isabel’s opinion of them," said Luna reassuringly.

"Let’s hope so,” replied Mary hopefully.

“Hey, what happened to your arm?” Luna asked worriedly, looking at the bandage on Mary’s arm.

"Nothing, an i***t hit me with his car.” Replied Mary off-handedly as they walked through the hallway.

“What?” Luna exclaimed, shocked.

"Relax; it was nothing serious. I just fell off my bike that it.” Said Mary, trying to reassure her with a smile.

“You have to be more careful. I am sure that i***t would have run if it was something serious. That’s what most people do.” Advised Luna being slightly mad at the friend's carelessness.

“No, this one was quite nice. Instantly apologized, helped me up, and offered to patch me up.” Told Mary with a thoughtful slight smile at remembering Charles behavior.

“Wow, what a gentleman. Was he our age?” asked Luna excitedly.

Yep.” Said Mary in answer, causing Luna to squeal in excitement and ask, “Ah, was he cute?” inquiringly with a sly look.

“I didn’t notice, and it’s not that much of a big deal. He made a mistake; it’s his responsibility to fix it.” Mary said haughtily, trying to maintain her serious computer.

“Or maybe you like giving people a hard time. Anyway. I was going to tell you about the new transfer student,” Luna said, rolling her eyes and changing the topic since she knew Mary was not keen to tell more.

“What about him?” asked Mary, perplexed.

“Do you know I have heard he is really handsome?” Luna replied, smiling, and emphasized, “Really. But I was told he is a bad boy, and he transferred because of some serious trouble at his previous school.” She finished somewhat disappointed.

“What kind of trouble?” Mary inquired, surprised and curious.

“Nobody told me the details, but it was something big; that’s why the police was involved.” Luna replied in a hushed voice, making sure nobody heard them.

"Boy, we are better at staying away from him. He sounds like trouble.” Mary said with a serious expression.

“I know, but some girls like guys with that kind of dark, mysterious vibe.” Luna said with an innocent, defensive smile.

“Please say you are not one of them." Mary said with a narrow-eyed look, hoping this wasn’t the case.

"Mary,” Luna replied with an offended look and then continued, “But that is not the best part.“

“There’s a best part?” asked Mary with a confused raised eyebrow.

“Appears he is a living with the Mackenzie’s.” She finished dramatically, causing Mary to look at her in surprise, realizing who she was talking about.

“Wait what?” she exclaimed in disbelief before walking headfirst into a boy.

"Ohhh,” the boy saved her from falling by holding her in his arms.

“Hi, beautiful, fancy meeting you here. I’m thinking it is a hobby of yours not to look where you are going.” Charles said, looking at her with a mischief smile.

“And I guess your hobby is hitting things and pretending it’s not your fault.” Mary countered him while standing straight and looking at his accordingly.

“Do you ever make it easy for others?” Charles asked with an amused smile.

“Not for strangers, I don’t.” Mary replied evenly.

“I'm not a stranger, glasses.” Charles said, looking a little hurt.

:Sorry to interrupt, but do you two know each other?” Luna chimed in, feeling like she was missing crucial information on why Mary was talking to this boy so rudely.

"Yeah, I’m Charles; we had a brief meeting this morning.” Charles told Luna with a friendly smile.

“He hit me with his car.” Mary informed, looking displeased.

“She threw a newspaper in my face.” Charles said it innocently as if it would even the odds.

"Oh, so your the gentleman Mary was talking about.” Luna said joyfully, looking at Mary with a hopeful expression.

“Who is Mary?” Charles asked a little slow on the uptake.

“I am, and I didn’t call him a gentleman, you did.” Replied Mary, looking at Luna annoyed.

“But you were talking about me?” asked Charles, looking pleased.

"Well, it’s like they say speak of the devil, and the devil is here.” Mary replied, hoping to insult him.

“So, am I a gentleman or the devil or both?” Charles said in a seductive voice, taking a step closer.

“You are an i***t. And we are leaving.” Mary replied annoyingly and grabbed Luna’s hand, intending to leave, but Luna stopped her and said joyfully. "No, we’re not. I am Luna. Nice to meet you, Charles.

“It’s a pleasure, Luna. I was about to ask your friend and you if you can show me around campus since I have just transferred.” He said he was eager to make friends with both girls.

“We will be glad to.” Luna replied earnestly, then remembering his last words, she stopped and asked, "Wait, you are a relative of the Mackenzie's, right?

“Yeah, how do you know?” Charles replied cheerfully.

“Because she is a desperate bimbo, and I thought we were coming with us.” Called an accusing angry voice from behind Charles along with a group of giggling girls.

It was Isabel and her gang. Isabel was Mary and Luna’s former best friend. She had shoulder-length brown hair and big, beautiful brown eyes. She was looking at Charles, dissatisfied that both Mary and Luna had stolen her prey.

"No, I wasn’t, and I would appreciate it if you don’t call my friend a bimbo.” Snapped Charles in cold anger. It was a completely different expression than the one he was wearing a moment ago, which surprised both Mary and Luna. It was as if the sweet, innocent-looking boy had disappeared in thin air.

“She is not your friend; she is mine, and we are leaving. Besides, it seems you have found someone to show you around, though I had thought you would have better taste in bitches.” Remarked Mary, angry at both Isabel and Charles for insulting Luna and making every student in the hall stare at them.

“Who are you calling a b***h?” asked Isabel angrily.

“The one I’m looking at.” Replied Mary evenly.

Isabel opened her mouth to say something, but at the moment the school bell rang, signaling the start of class.

“Come on, Luna. Let’s head to class or we will be late.” Then Mary left with Luna without a second glance, though Luna wasn’t happy and looked like she wanted to say something regardless. They went to class. The first period was history; they took their seats, and the class began. Nothing unusual happened; the day went by as uneventfully as it could unless you count Miss Sasha tripping in her heels and falling on the ground through math period, and so it was lunch time before you knew it.