I we told you, we'd have to kill you

After we walked through the town and took a few turns here and there, we came to a dirt path that soon led to the school.

I wouldn't say it was too big. I thought a highschool would be bigger, but I'm guessing it was like this because it was a small town. The school is shaped like a square that had a outside area with a fountain in the middle of the square. Roger told me that each side of the square is a hall for a different grade level and that there was another building behind it that was the cafeteria and the club rooms.

The moment we stepped inside of the building I hid behind Roger. There was this feeling. This feeling inside of my chest and gut that I couldn't get rid of. My heart was beating and I was feeling extremely anxious. Roger noticed me shaking and this time didn't make fun of my fear of public school. He understood and let me hide behind him as we made our way to the office.

There was a lady sitting at the reception desk and she stopped typing the moment she saw us. I peaked from behind Roger to look at her. She was most likely in her sixties and it was obvious that she used way too much hair spray. Her brown and grey hair was sitting stiffly on her head. I scrunched my nose at the smell of cheap perfume as we got closer to her desk.

She looked over her reading glasses and squinted at Roger, "Roger, sweetheart, you're early today aren't ya?" I noticed her slight southern accent.

"Yes, ma'm. I have to give the new student a tour, remember?"

She looked behind Roger and tried to get a good look at me, "and this must be our new student, Victoria? Ah! Let me get a good look at 'er!" She motioned for me to step forward and so I did.

She stood up and put her hands on my shoulders, "Why darling, you have some really dark eyes. You really do look like Nina!" I tried not to scrunch my nose again when I smelt her breath which smelt like she didn't brush her teeth and just popped a couple of pieces of mint gum in her mouth.

I smiled uncomfortably and silently hoped that she would give me some personal space. Finally, after a couple of loud smacks from her chewing her gum, she patted my shoulders and started to look around her desk.

"I know that your schedule is around here somewhere. Give me a second sugar." We both waited patiently as she shuffled through the mess of papers looking for my schedule. I stared at the solar-powered flower toy that was sitting on her desk. My eyes followed it as it bobbed back and forth and I fell into a daze.

"AH! Here it is!" She exclaimed and it made me jump. I awkwardly stepped closer to her desk and took the piece of paper out of her hand.

"Thank you Mrs. Wintalton. Have you seen Clasteina? She was supposed to help me give Victoria a tour." Roger looked around the office and didn't see anyone sitting in any of the waiting chairs.

"I don't know where that girl went. You know she probably ran off to that little club room of y'alls." She shook her head as she started organizing the papers on her desk.

Roger nodded and I followed him out the office door. I then tugged on his sleeve,

"Roger, is it too late to back out now?''

Roger laughed and was about to reply before a girl yelled from down the hall and came sprinting towards us with papers flying out of her hand. Our attention snapped towards the disruption in the silent hall.

I hid behind Roger as the girl approached us, "Roger! I know you heard me saying your name!" She rolled her eyes and glared at Roger and he shrugged, "Sorry."

I observed the girl who I was guessing was Clasteina. She had strawberry blond hair with brown streaks and it was tied up in a messy bun. She was actually really beautiful and she started to make me feel insecure about myself. Her skin wasn't pale and she didn't look like a vampire. Instead she had rosy skin and beautiful hazel eyes that were magnified from the circle-lenses of her glasses. Even though she was wearing a beige sweater and light blue boyfriend pants, I could still see that she had an amazing figure.

Once she saw my little body hiding behind Roger she giggled, "Aye, Roger. I think you have a little something attached to your shirt."

Roger turned to me and looked at me like he forgot I was there, "Oh! I forgot! Clasteina this is Victoria, but Vic for short." He stepped away from me which caused me to feel exposed.

'NO! Come back!' I cried to myself inside my head. I kept my eyes on the floor and only glanced up at Clasteina a few times before she walked up to me and held out her hand, "Come onnnn, I don't bite!" I didn't say anything and just looked at her hand. I could feel my pale skin burning. She was judging me. She was most definitely judging me. She hates me. I know it.

Roger stepped in, "Um...yeah. She's really shy. Not much of a people person. She was homeschooled for like...all her life and she's scared that you'll think she's a vampire." He smirked as he mentioned the vampire thing again.

Clasteina laughed, exposing her perfectly straight rows of teeth, "I promise you I'm not going to hurt you! I know homeschool to public school is a big change and all, but nothing is going to happen to you. If someone tries to hurt you, I can show off my awesome karate moves." She karate chopped the air and a few papers that were in her other arm slid out and fell on the ground.

Before I could think about it I crouched down and helped her pick them up. I looked at the contents of the papers as I did so and furrowed my eyebrows. They were bits of cut out newspapers and photos.

Clasteina saw my expression and leaned over to whisper to me, "This is for our news team club."

I looked up at Roger who was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed and he nodded.

"N-news team?"

She nodded and smiled at my interested tone, "Yes! We cover the stories of the town and conduct our own investigations."

Roger walked over to help the both of us stand up as he spoke, "Well, we didn't start conducting investigations until today. That's because there wasn't anything to conduct investigations on until today."

"What are you working on?" I was generally interested. I've always loved watching detective and mystery shows. It was something I really enjoyed.

Clasteina's smile soon disappeared and she looked at Roger as though she was asking him a silent question. She then looked back at me, "If we told you we'd have to kill you."

I jumped and my face turned red. Is she joking? Was that a joke? She wouldn't kill me, right? I mean, those karate moves did look pretty intimidating.

She snickered at my fearful reaction, "I was just joking. We're working on Rodrick's murder. It's the biggest thing that's happened in this town since someone took a snicker bar from the candy store." She rolled her eyes. Obviously she loved action and this town wasn't giving much of it to her.

Roger leaned in to the two of us, "Or since the church cult." I creased my eyebrows in confusion and was about to ask what he meant by that, but Clasteina checked her watch and grabbed my hand, "Come on Roger! It's eight twenty-one and we still haven't even showed her where her home room is!"

I hopelessly followed Clasteina as she dragged me down the hall.