Chapter 8

“I-I guess…” Chloe said. Tria had a very unsettled look on her face. “Oh, but that's why I have you!” If that was the best comforting Chloe could do, it was really not much.

“I won’t be much in terms of help!” Tria said. Chloe looked worried, but not nearly as much as Tria.

They didn’t talk about that for the rest of school. They tried other topics like super bad songs on the radio, or funny times when someone in the school did something hilarious. They were not at all good at gossip, and their conversation turned more into a serious talk about politics. Many people would agree that they had never heard Chloe or Tria talk about something that was not serious. That was wrong and more or less a hyperbole, but there are a lot of jokers in brickwood.

Tria’s brain was exhausted when school was finally over. Too much talk about which horse looks more like Elvis Presley I suppose. It’s hard to think about horses in that way, try it yourself!

At least Tria had finished A Wish Of Glass. No one could say Tria was a slow reader, but definitely not a fast one.

Pal had a reserved seat for Tria, but the table was mostly covered with papers. He was bending over his spread out work space, quickly jotting notes.

“What are you doing?” Tria asked as she sat down and brushed some papers over to Pal. “Writing a story that maybe I can publish!” Pal said. He said this in a usual excited tone, but the voice was clouded with business.

“What’s it about?” Tria asked. “My adventures of course! But longer and more detailed,” Pal replied. Tria rummaged in her backpack for a book, but she remembered that she had finished it and returned it to the school library.

“Sounds great!” she said happily, taking out her notes on the robbery and her phone. This time she was not looking up information about the crime, she was looking up the term and policies of doing what she was doing. The first link told her it was illegal. Well, obviously. But, where is the part where it tells you how you can not go to jail?

She skimmed a Brickwood Guide Of Law website, but it only talked briefly about what Tria was looking for:

If any crime is attempted to be solved, Tria read in her head. Then it is illegal. The only way for  someone to get out of a situation like this, is if they had solved the crime correctly. Even with this note, all are highly advised never to attempt at solving crime. It gets in the way of police, and the consequences can  be going to jail. If police are contacted before the person finishes solving the crime, their penalty is still lead to jail.

So, Tria thought. No one can know either? That’s something I need to tell Chloe.

(By the way, readers, this Brickwood that I am talking about is not even the tiniest bit linked to real Brickwood in the real world, and I am completely and totally making up things for the purpose of this story)

Just as Tria was about to look on a different site, Pal peeked over her shoulder. She immediately moved away-not even he could know-and put a somewhat convincing surprised look on her face, so that if Pal ever suspected what she was looking up, it would appear her to be jumping away with fear as opposed to her leaping away so that he would not be able to see what she was doing.

It seemed to have worked good enough, because Pal seemed to have convinced himself that there was nothing out of the ordinary happening. Whew, I was afraid he’d ask again.

“Gotta go!” Tria said, before she could ever take what she had just thought back. When she got home, she had only a little time to spare before supper. For some reason, everyone looked full of thought. “What’s up?” Tria asked.

“Oh, we went to see a movie,” Tria’s dad said. “It was confusing but, really quite good!” Her mom added. “Good thing after the weekend you're volleyball practice will be during school, and we can do more things together.”

“About the weekend....” Tria said, suddenly remembering it was Thursday. “Can me and Chloe have a meeting?” “A meeting? What do you mean?” Her mom said. “Oh,” Tria said quickly. “A play date, I mean.” Her mom agreed easily, as though the language changed it all.

The next day was easy. Fridays are usually easy. (For the exception of the kids that throw parties on Fridays, they are always chatting about that) The morning flew by, and at lunch, everyone seemed especially hungry. Most of the school had rushed into the cafeteria before  Tria did, because she was working on the very last paragraph of her essay.

Chloe invited her to sit at a crowded table with Cam, Garry, and Lily also among the squashed group. They were talking about their fears, hates, and pet peeves.

“Showers!” Lily said.

“Public bathrooms,” Chloe said, with a displeased look on her face.

“Mouldy bread,” Cam said.

“Dusty stuff,” Gerry said.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHH!!!!!” Lily said. “TUNA OH YEAH, MY GREATEST FEAR!” Chloe agreed with her, and Tria slowly lowered her tuna sandwich from view.

“Ms.Vicious!” Cam laughed. Everyone else did too. Ms.Vicious is the school’s once-a-year extra math instructor. Thank goodness she only comes for one day. Her name is quite coincidental because she is actually in a way vicious. Everyone knows that she’s mean, has a horrible stench to her breath and is quite rude. She prowls the hallways, literally looking for trouble. Kids making trouble Or should I say her name is Ms.Vicious A.K.A. Prowler A.K.A. Miss Mean. Among the teachers, her name is Miss VV, or Miss Very Viscous.

Just before school was over, Tria tipped Chloe off about the no one can know that we’re trying to solve this crime thing. A when Tria was casually strolling down the corner to the alley where All3way was standing, sturdy but dusty, she remembered her claim that volleyball practice starts next week during school. Well, it did, but it came to her mind that this might be the last after school visit to the All3way. This coffee shop that she had visited every day for a week. The place that she had befriended an elderly man and listened to his stories.

Was it worth making another excuse? Her mind almost laughed with this one word: yes.