Chapter 8 (Kicked Out)

"Ian West and Sally Hall aren't present today. Does anyone know of their whereabouts?" Mrs. Andre asked

"No ma'am, but you can ask Legend and the rest of them" Frankie said

"Legend?" Mrs. Andre asked

"I have no idea where they are" Legend said

"Okay, report to me if you know anything though" Mrs. Andre said and walked out

"Why aren't they in school? I'm beginning to miss Sal" he said

"Right Nikolay?" He asked

"Huh?" Nikolay asked

"Why are you asking him that?" Oscar asked Ray

"She's his desk buddy, isn't she?" Ray answered

Nikolay wondered if something happened to them. He didn't see either one of them leave the building that day and it had been three days since the school resumed but they didn't show up. He stared at her desk feeling so bothered about her absence.

"Nikolay, where were you that day we were supposed to meet up?" Sandra asked from her desk

"I don't think I'm accountable to you" he said

"You are the one who made those plans and then you flopped it. Aren't you concerned about how the others felt?" She asked

"I already know how you all felt after receiving that annoying phone call" he said turning to Legend

"Annoying?" Legend asked

"And besides, if I decided to leave a place I didn't want to be in the first place that's just normal" he said and walked out of the classroom

"What? Didn't want to be in the first place? Is he being serious right now?" Emma asked flabbergasted

"Serves them right for trying to hang out with Nikolay of all people" Julia said from behind

"Julia, shut it please" Ray said

"Whatever" she mouthed

Mrs. Peters called Hunter when she didn't see neither Keres nor Ian at the school. He told her Silas found them under their blankets when he went over to the church. He asked for her to give them time to process the whole kicking out thing but she thought he was just pampering Keres. Ian wanted to go back to school but he couldn't leave Keres alone.

"Hey, aren't you still going to school today?" He asked

"No" she replied

"Look, it's been three days since the school authorities asked us to come back to school and you've been here lying in bed like a woman who lost her husband" he said feeling frustrated

"If you want to go to school Ian you can, I'm not stopping you" she said

"But Hunter said we have to continue going. Together" he said

"The only reason I agreed to go back to school was so he'd let me into Black Cat. But now that I'm out, why should I?" she asked

"Because you need to graduate?" Ian said

"Seriously?" she asked getting up

"The tests are coming up in two days, how are you going to prepare if you skip school?" He asked

"It seems like you don't get me Ian. I'm not going to school, I'm not taking that test, infact my schooling is over" she said and walked out of the room. If she wanted to be an illiterate it was okay but he had to finish high school at least. He left her to herself and went to where he was needed. Delta High.

"Where's Miss Hall?" Mrs. Andre asked him

"Where's Sally?" Nikolay wondered looking behind Ian

"Um, she isn't feeling well" Ian said taking his seat

"How'd you know we live together by the way?" He asked her

"I'm the home room teacher" she said and walked to the board

"Hey bro!" Ray said hitting him slightly

"You've finally decided to show up" Oscar joked

Emma glared at Ian from her seat and turned towards Legend "He's here, but Sal isn't with him" she said

"I don't care" Legend said, her head buried in a book

"I welcome the students who decided to take an extra break" Mrs. Andre said looking at Ian

"Behave yourselves" she added and walked out

"Why didn't you come back to school when everyone else resumed?" Emma asked walking up to him

"Keres..... I mean, Sal isn't feeling well" Ian said. He realized his mistake early this time but Nikolay's sharp ears grabbed the name. He knew he heard the name at the construction site.

"What's wrong with her?" Sandra asked

"She has um, constant fever. She can't eat or drink anything, it's that bad" Ian lied

"Really?" Legend asked worriedly

"Yeah" he said

"Let's pay her a visit" Ray suggested

"No! You can't! You guys could contact it" Ian said

"Oh....." Everyone said

"But when she gets better she'd come back to school" he said

"How do people contact constant fever?" Nikolay muttered

"Ian, why did you lie when we were supposed to meet at the Cafe during the school's lockdown?" Emma asked

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ian asked

"When I called you, you lied that you were at the church but you were waiting for a taxi and Sal ended the call. We were watching you guys" Emma explained

"Oh, we were going to a pharmacy to get Sal's medicine" he lied

"Okay, but next time you can tell us the truth" she said sweetly

"Well, he's better than Nikolay who went to the bathroom for over an hour" Legend said and walked out of the classroom

"Ian, can I talk to you outside?" Nikolay asked

"Sure" Ian said and walked outside with him

"What do you want to talk about?" He asked

"Give Sally my notes" Nikolay said handing him some books

"You should have just given them to me in the class" Ian said and stretched out his hands to take the books. Nikolay had his eyes fixed on Ian's fingers and he saw the tattoo. The exact one Sally had

"Tell her I said to get well soon" he said and walked back into the classroom

"Strange. When did they get so close for them to send notes through me?" Ian wondered

Keres stood in the middle of the isolated road in front of Diego's Mansion. The man she always dreamt of killing lived there. She and Ian got inside and weren't caught so it'd be easy for her to break in and end his shit if she had the perfect plan. Hunter wanted to go with the law but when has the law ever given them what they wanted with the upper class men around? She didn't go by the law. She was going to do it her own way. She smiled to herself thinking about how badly she wanted to do things on her own but couldn't because she was in Black Cat.

She left Diego's vicinity and walked down her old neighborhood. She remembered how she found it hard to walk down the streets after the incident that happened.

"Maeve Evans?" Someone called

She stopped in her tracks and turned towards the speaker

"Who are you?" She asked

"It's you, Maeve!" the person said again pulling her into an embrace

"Hey, get off!" she said pushing him aside

"Sorry, I'm just surprised to see you" he said

"How do you know me? Who are you?" she asked again

"Don't you remember me? I'm Perry, your childhood friend" he said

"Perry?" she thought as she tried to remember

"Perry?! The one with the constant runny nose?!" She asked

"I never thought you'd remember me with that particular memory but yes. It's me" he said smiling

"Gosh, you've grown so big" she said

"You too, you're like a woman now" he said

"Stop it" she said

"How did you get back? When?" He asked

"I just got back" she answered

"For how long have you been gone now? Nine years?" He asked

"It's eight actually since this year isn't over" she said

"Why didn't you come home? Didn't you hear the news?" He asked

"I did" she said

"And you weren't there to send them off at their burial?" he asked

"It was already too late when I came, what could I have possibly done? Raise them from the dead?" she asked "I'm not Jesus" she said

"They were still your family. I don't even want to remember how your twin died. I mean, I knew you were mean but I never thought you'd be this cold to your own family" he said

"This is the reason why I never came back, I knew everyone was going to blame me" she said

"Then why are you here?" he asked

"Because there's something I need to take care of in North Valley" she said

"Perry I need you to tell me everything you know about the reconstruction that happened here" she said walking closer to him

"Look, it's a long story but you can come into the shop so we'd talk about it. Mom would be thrilled to see you" he said

"The shop. You guys still have it?" She asked

"Yeah, we managed to fight for it in court but we keep paying a hefty sum every month as rent" he said

"You know, this is a real good spot so we had to maintain it" he added. They began to walk into the Chicken&Yogurt shop

"Who do you pay to? Diego Enterprise or to the government?" she asked

"Mom, I have surprise visitor!" Perry said

"Who's that?" Mrs. Blueberry asked

"Maeve Evans" he said

"Evans? Who's that?" she asked walking out of the kitchen as she wiped her hands on her apron

"Good day ma'am" Keres said appearing behind Perry

"Maeve?" She asked disbelieving

"Mmm" Keres said with a pinched expression.

Mrs. Blueberry was going through a moment of shock. If a prophet told her their town's little devil would ever come back she would have given up on christainity.

"Oh my God" Mrs. Blueberry exclaimed pulling her into a warm embrace. Keres remembered her. She always smelt like fried chicken and the children had nicknamed her the chicken murderer because of the number of chickens who lost their lives by her hands.

"We thought we lost you. Thank God you are alright. Let me look at you" she said turning her around

"You've become a woman now, so pretty" she said touching her cheeks. Tear drops fell out of her eyes. The little girl they thought they lost was back.

"Come on Perry, get her her favourite" she said

"Okay, we'll talk later" he said and rushed in

"Sit. Feel at home" Mrs. Blueberry said sitting her down

"Thanks. Where's James?" Keres asked

"Oh, he went to get deliveries done" she said

"I see" Keres said looking around

"What happened Maeve? We never saw you again" she said

"Because you guys didn't find me" Keres said her tone different

"What?"

They did but she was just no where to be found

"What's important is that you're safe, I can't imagine what you've been through" she said

"Yes. You can't imagine it" Keres said silently

"Here you go" Perry said dropping a plate of chicken drumsticks and a glass of yogurt

"Do you remember how we fought over these drumsticks?" He asked

"Yeah, they're legendary" she said

"You two should bond, they're customers" Mrs. Blueberry said and walked away to attend to the customers

"I'm in my senior year in high school, how about you?" Perry asked

"Me too. So, who do you guys pay the rent to?" She asked

"The shop? We pay to Diego Enterprise, directly into their account. Those guys are making serious money out of us" he said

"Are you dating anyone? He changed the topic. I have a girlfriend. Here's her picture" he said showing her the photo of a girl

"She's pretty" she said without looking at it

"But that's not important now, tell me about the reconstruction" she said

"Oh, right. Well, we just woke up one morning to find some men handing evacuation papers out. They were asking us to leave North Valley within two months. At first, we were confused and just brushed it off but after a month we began to see tractors and bulldozers driving into the area. When we ordered them out they brought a court order asking us to evacuate"

"It was then it dawned on us that something was going on so we began a peaceful protest, it was during one of the protests when they were demolishing Mr. Oatman's house that some part of the building fell on your sister. Your Mom seeing the blood splattered everywhere and your sister buried underground collapsed and died. You know she had a history of heart failure. And your Dad took his own life later that night by jumping off a hospital's roof" he narrated

"And what were you guys doing? You just watched him fall to his death?" She asked

"We were putting your Mom and sister to rest. He wanted to be alone and we never thought he'd do something like that" he said

She kept mute. She wanted to hear the whole thing from someone who witnessed it.

"After the incident, the demolition stopped for a while and we thought your family's death meant a lot to the government, but we were wrong because they came back and took everything down" he continued

"Everyone left, but we still keep in touch. We don't live here anymore but they let us have the shop because it attracts customers to this area and it was effective to the workers in the factory they made since we supply food to them during lunchtime" he said

"They demolished the houses and stalls in this area to build just one factory?" she asked

"It's not just a small factory. Nothing owned by Diego Enterprise is small" he said

"Really?" She asked

"Yeah, I could take you there if you want" he said

"No need. What kind of factory is it?" she asked

"A paper factory. They produce and distribute paper" he added

"I see. Do you perhaps know why Diego Enterprise specifically chose this place?" She asked

"The land owners and town planners received bribes from them, bribes worth millions of dollars" he said

"But why here?" she asked

"The rumors say that underneath this ground we stand are mineral resources worth a lot of money and the government is conniving with Diego Enterprise to harness it and keep it for themselves" he said

"But how do you know it's Diego Enterprise who bought the land? You said you've only been around for a while" he said

"I did some digging before I came" she said

"I see" he said

"I have to go" she said getting up

"Lucia, I'm leaving now otherwise Father John would be upset" she said

"Father John? Who's that?" Mrs. Blueberry asked

"The Priest who adopted me" she said

"God bless him" Mrs. Blueberry said

"Why don't you spend the night here? Your Uncle James would soon be here" Mrs. Blueberry said

"I have something I need to do. And besides now that I heard some news I'll be coming here more often" she said

"Really?" Perry asked

"Yeah" she said

"What about Hunter, your Uncle. We never heard from him after the incident" Mrs. Blueberry said

"Hunter? I have no idea" she lied

"I'll get going now but I'll come again" she said and walked out

"Maeve!" Mrs. Blueberry called out

"Yes" She asked turning around

"You didn't touch your meal so I packed this for you" she said handing her a lunch bag

"Thanks. And, it's Keres not Maeve. Remember?" she said taking it and walked away

"She didn't even say bye. I wonder the kind of job she did for the people who took her" Mrs. Blueberry said

Ian was summoned to the basketball court for questioning by Mrs. Peters. She heard he was back at the school and she needed to have a word with both him and Keres. They were giving Hunter too much of a headache and for whatever reason she wasn't happy about it.

"Where's Keres?" She asked seeing him alone

"She's at the church. Refused to come with me" Ian said

"And you left her there?" she asked

"Obviously" he said

"Knowing how she is you left her there?" She asked and took out her phone to dial Hunter's number

"Why? What's wrong?" Ian asked seeing her tensed up

"Keres could walk into Diego Enterprise and kill him" she said

"Pick up Hunter!" she said pacing about

"Him? You mean Diego?" Ian asked

"Yes" she said

"No, she isn't crazy" he said laughing

"Seriously?" she asked

"Okay, she's crazy. I need a pass to get out of school so I can look for her" he said

"Go get your things, I'll get you the pass" she said as they hurried away

Ian dialled Keres' number but all he got was her voicemail

"Hey Keres, it's Ian. Don't do anything stupid, just stay put at the church, I repeat, don't do anything stupid" he said walking in to the class and picked up his bag

"What's wrong?" Emma asked

"Keres... I mean Sal's condition just got worse" he said and walked out

"Keres? He said it again, it can't be a mistake or a coincidence" Nikolay said as he watched Ian walk away

"Is she picking up?" Mrs. Peters asked as Ian walked up to her

"No, I keep getting her voicemail" he said

"Let's go to Diego's house, she has to be there"

But she wasn't there. She was already back at the church so their trip to Diego's house was a waste. They could have simply checked with the church first but they decided to think the worst of her.

"Keres! Where on earth are you coming from you little runt?" Ian asked

"Wow, look everyone's here" Keres said walking up to them

Hunter, Silas and Hurricane were standing outside the church looking all worried

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Mrs. Peters asked

"I thought you guys were working on bringing Diego down, why are you all here instead of finding info?" she asked

"Are you okay?" Silas asked

"Yeah, I wanted to get us dinner" she said handing Ian the lunch bag Mrs. Blueberry gave her

"Smells nice" Ian said smiling. She wasn't up to anything bad. Just hungry.

"Go on you guys and please get revenge for all of us and stop wasting your precious time looking for me" she said and began walk away

"That bag" Hunter said holding her wrist to stop her from leaving

"Keres, did you go home?" He asked

She pulled her hand away from his and turned around

"Why? Am I not allowed to?" She asked

"And hey, do you know Lucia's still a drama queen? So annoying" she said and walked inside

"Ian, convince her to go to school. I don't want any more troubles" Hunter said and walked away with the others

"Keres, where did you go to?" Ian asked as he walked into their room with a chicken drumstick in his mouth

"My old neighborhood. They told me there how my family died in a very unpleasant way. After hearing that do you honestly think I'd still want to stay put as Hunter said?" She asked

"Look Keres, it's just for the meantime" he said touching her shoulder

"Meantime? The school reopened, no one talks about the bribery case again and Diego Enterprise once again is safe from the public and law" she said

"I won't sit down and fold my arms to watch them win. I'm going to destroy everything that they have one by one and no one would be able to stop me"

"Not Hunter, not you and obviously not the stupid law you all worship"

Diego was all smiles at the breakfast table that morning. Handling the school's scandal was easier than he had thought. All he simply did was put all the blame on the Principal, apologize to the students who were kicked out and pleaded with them to return to the school. To him, the morons who tried to take him down were more than foolish because he had been in his line of business for years. They needed more than a bribery scandal to take him down.

"Stellar, pass me the milk" Diego said

"Here you go Daddy" Stellar said. She was happy the news weren't true. Her classmates were beginning to bully her. Nikolay walked down the stairs heading for the door

"Nikolay!" Claudia called

"Yes?" He asked

"Come have breakfast" she said

"Why?" He asked

"Because that's what a normal family does every morning" she answered

"Normal family?" He laughed

"Are we normal?" He asked

"Young man sit down. Now!" She yelled

He stared at her surprised. His Mom had never ordered him to do something against his will before. He glanced at his Dad and saw a smirk on his face

"Mom...." He said softly

"Sit.." She said turning towards him. There it was. A purple bruise under her eye lid

"What?!" He exclaimed and rushed towards her

"What happened to your face?!" He asked angrily

"Young man, sit" Diego said

"You! You did this didn't you?!" Nikolay asked with venom in his voice

"Did what?" Stellar asked

"Are you blind?! Can't you see that he beat her up and is controlling her?!" He asked her

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed on seeing the bruise

"Dad...." She said with her hands over her mouth in surprise

"Nikolay, your Father didn't hit me. I fell" Claudia said

"Oh don't give me that shit Mom!" He yelled

"I really fell and besides your Dad has some questions for you" she insisted

"Thank you dear" Diego said smirking

"Now, which one of your classmates went to tell on me about the bribery incident?" He asked

"Rotten bastard" Nikolay said

"Nikolay!" Claudia exclaimed hearing him curse at his father

"Why? What are you going to do if ever I give you a name?" He asked

"Bribe them to change their story? Or perhaps kill them? You're one selfish animal" he said

"What?!" Diego shouted angrily and threw his tea mug at Nikolay. A piece of the ceramic cut through Nikolay's cheek drawing blood

"Nikolay!" Stellar exclaimed rushing to his side

"Nikolay...." Claudia said softly standing up

"He's your husband, but whenever you're ready to leave this shitty marriage I'll be ready to leave too"