GRIEVOUS VENGEANCE

CHAPTER 22

"Uncle didn't really come home last night," Jackie said. They were walking on the campus ground going to the annex building for their first class.

"You know Papa, right. He's really dedicated to his work ever since." Janine looked around the campus, hoping to see Nadia, but she's not around. "I can't find Nadia," she whispered to Jackie.

"I can't see Luke and Cathy either," she replied. "Maybe we could ask Nurse Jen if she could get their addresses? Let's go there if we have time."

"Let's do that during lunch, then we'll visit them tomorrow." They both headed towards their classroom. The mood was totally different because of the deaths of their colleagues in the past few days, and the recent one just happened yesterday. Their classmates were quiet. Their two consecutive subjects in the morning ended quietly. It was unusual, but it's normal ow that the entire school seems mourning. They saw some students wearing black ribbons on their arms.

"Are we required to wear those?" Jackie asked. "Should we get one?"

"I think it's not required. I guess some are really mourning and some are just bandwagoners," she replied.

"It's still nice, though. The relatives of those who died would feel better seeing people's sympathy for their loss."

They walked towards the school clinic to see Nurse Jen to ask about Luke's and Cathy's addresses. The clinic is empty, too. Nurse Jen is alone, working on her computer.

"Hi, Nurse Jen!" Jackie greeted. "How's your day?"

"Oh, nothing so serious. The campus is awkwardly quiet." She rubbed her both hands on her arms. "It's really different, and the faculty is carrying a burden since four of our students died in less than a week."

"Are we in trouble?" Janine asked. "I saw our Dean rushing towards his office a while ago."

"We're in a danger of school suspension." Nurse Jen's face became gloomy. "Not until crimes are resolved. All victims are from our school, and the one who they ruled out a suicide was not really a suicide but seemed a planned crime."

Janine and Jackie exchanged look. They both cleared their throat.

"But our progress in learning will be affected if we will be on suspension. How long will it last?" Janine said.

"Indefinite," Nurse Jen said. She sighed. "But we might have an online class. It's still tentative."

"No way!" Jackie exclaimed. "Indefinite?" She looked at Janine. It's an emergency situation.

Janine understood what Jackie was saying. "Nurse Jen, do you know the address of Luke and Cathy? Remember them? Those were Darryl's friends and bullies of Sandy."

"Right, I remember those two," the nurse replied. "I saw them making out before. Why are you asking?"

"Uhm..." Janine glanced at Jackie.

She can't speak lies and Jackie's aware of it. "We haven't seen them for a while now. We want to check them out. They were my classmates since Junior High. I'm just worried." She winked at Janine.

"Wow, thank you for your concern, Jackie. Please, visit them. They might be in trouble." She checked the addresses of Luke and Cathy on her computer, then wrote them down on a piece of paper. "Here." She handed the paper to Jackie.

"Thank you, Nurse Jen!" She showed a big smile. "Why don't we take our lunch now?"

"Right, let's go." The nurse stood up and locked her computer screen. They all walked out of the clinic and went to the school cafeteria.

They all ordered their favorites, burger and fries. "We really have a lot in common." Nurse Jen laughed.

She sipped her winter melon milk tea.

"I know, right." Jackie took a huge bite of burger.

"How's working in school? You've been absorbed here after you graduated last year," Janine asked. Nurse Jen is just four years older than them.

"It's fulfilling," she replied. "I didn't have a hard time looking for a job. My previous position here as a part-time student helped me a lot."

"What time is your out later?" Jackie asked.

"We might all be dismissed by four o'clock." Nurse Jen sipped her drink. "Why?"

"Would you like to come with us to the airport?"

Janine's eyes went wide and looked at Jackie, asking her.

"Sure. I'm not doing anything later. What are we going to do there?" She glanced at Janine and looked back at Jackie.

"We're picking up a friend from the USA." She grinned. "We'll go there together with Janine's boyfriend and his cousin."

"You already have a boyfriend?" Nurse Jen's big eyes went bigger. "Wow! Congratulations!"

"T-thank you," Janine replied. She elbowed Jackie's arm. her best friend gave her a wide smile before speaking again.

"Her boyfriend will come over later to pick us up, They went somewhere to fix some things."

"Okay, I'm in. I'll go with you." She stood up. "I have to go back to the clinic, ladies. Finish your meals."

"See you later," Jackie said. She waved her hand.

"Why did you invite her?" Janine whispered. "She didn't know about exorcism and abilities!"

"I don't know." Jackie shrugged her shoulders. "I just feel like it." She took another bite of burger and chewed while smiling.

They finished their lunch and went back to their classroom for their afternoon class. It was a boring Monday noon and everyone's feeling down when their professor announced that all classes will be suspended by four o'clock and the resume is indefinite.

"Nurse Jen is right," Jackie whispered to Janine.

"Things are getting complicated. Even the school is affected because of what happened." Janine subconsciously scribbled lines and and shapes on her notebook. After filling the entire page, she kept it in her bag without closing it properly. "It's almost four." She looked at her wrist watch.

The bell rang, everyone prepared to leave. They both saw Mark and Marvin waiting outside their classroom.

Jackie elbowed Janine on her arm. "Your boyfriend."

"Oh yeah, and your future boyfriend." Janine giggled.

"Of course, not!" She tickled Janine on her waist. They both ran towards the door.

"Hey girls, how's your day?" Marvin greeted.

"Someone's happy," Janine immediately replied and glanced at Jackie naughtily.

"Who's happy?" Mark asked.

"No one!" Jackie exclaimed. "Let's go to the clinic. Nurse Jen will come with us." She changed the topic and walked ahead of them. Janine kept on giggling while her bestfriend is ignoring her.