Chapter 9: The Second Day

The morning light arrived and pierced through Ryan's curtains and shined onto his closed eyes, he slowly opened his two peepers as he let out a long yawn before getting out of bed and stretching to energize his body. The lad took a quick shower before putting on some fresh clothing to prepare for his second day at school. He wore a black cotton jacket, greyish black jeans, and his favorite blue shoes along with a red t-shirt underneath. He immediately went downstairs to see Lucas washing the dishes and a plate of waffles on the counter.

"Good morning, Uncle Lucas," Ryan greeted with a morning voice before placing a chair near the counter where he soon sat.

"Morning Nephew, you woke up later than usual," Lucas replied.

"Yeah, I was really tired yesterday"

"Rough fist say huh? Don't worry about it, it's not healthy waking early in the morning. You need to get at least 8 hours of sleep every once in a while. I made waffles for breakfast, I hope you like them"

"I do, Thanks to Uncle'' Ryan responded before beginning to eat the soft, sweet Waffles that Lucas made for him. Once he finished, the lad immediately grabbed his backpack and headed out after saying farewell to his uncle, seeing Wendy outside who was waiting for him again. Just like yesterday, both of them walked together towards the school, but Wendy could not help but notice that there was something off with Ryan.

"Hey, dude are you alright? You don't look normal"

"Oh, sorry… I just suddenly realized what I did yesterday… was too much"

"What are you talking about? Bruno deserved that. Before you arrived here, he was already doing cruel things to the students after school, even Loralai, the head of the Student Council couldn't do anything… but now students can finally learn without worrying anything besides their grades, thanks to you"

"I don't know… I can't help but feel like everything will turn out the same at that time…."

"What do you mean?" Wendy asked but Ryan didn't respond. Judging by the long silence, Wendy realized that It was better to not answer her questions so they continued on walking to Shooting Star High in silence. "Ryan, it's gonna be ok… We're here for you dude, you are not alone" Ryan turned his gaze towards Wendy, a glimpse of Selena's appearance took over Wendy, she indeed resembled a lot like the girl that disappeared, no matter how hard he tried, her image was deeply buried in his head. "Hey dude, you've been staring at me for a while, are you alright?"

"Oh… sorry… you just reminded me of a friend…"

Both of them arrived in front of the school, the moment of judgment arrived for the lad, what's behind those open doors is something he was nervous about, the supreme look of fear and disgust on the student's faces. Ryan and Wendy walked inside, they expected for the students to avoid them but it turned out to be the opposite. A cool-looking male walked past Ryan, patting him on the shoulder and greeting him good morning before heading to his class. The girls smiled and had the eyes of interest towards the lad, Wendy was the only one who seemed to notice that though.

As they entered their classroom, all they suddenly heard and see was a roar of applause from their fellow classmates.

"What's all this?" Wendy asked in confusion.

"Bruno's father heard about the fight and wanted to sue you but The Principal defended you and told him everything that Bruno did to students here and expelled him." One of their male classmates replied.

"I don't know if you guys should be cheering for me like that… Violence shouldn't be acknowledged…" Ryan spoke with a sincere tone, but the look that he had was true as surprised as Wendy for he never expected for them to praise him like they are now.

"Indeed… but thanks to you… he won't be bothering anyone anymore…" A shy female with glasses replied to him.

Ryan, who couldn't help but smile in gratitude towards his classmate's words and look of admiration towards him, gave in to their applause before the teacher arrived and announced their current activity for the subject as Ryan and Wendy went back to their proper seats.

"Alright, tomorrow all of you will cook in the Home Economics room, group yourselves into four people, then give me the list of your members in a small piece of paper" The teacher announced before wiping her glasses with a clean cloth as the students stood up from their seats and look for their group mates.

Ryan was suddenly thrilled when the teacher announced their new activity. He learned cooking from Sasha so he wanted to try to show his fellow classmates a taste of his cooking. Before he could ask Wendy to be part of his group, the shy female with glasses from earlier walked towards him and offered the lad to be in her group after she introduced herself.

"Hello... We haven't formally met… I'm Shyra Jewels, The class president. I see you still have no group mates… do you want to join mine?" Her eyes were blue as the light, gentle sky. Her hair was the perfect mix of black and brown, anyone could surely head over hills with just a simple wave of her hair that smelt like the first flowers of spring.

"Oh, sure. I would love to, nice to meet you Shyra" The girl smiled sweetly towards him before another female who was in the same group appeared.

"Hey guys, also hey there Ryan, I'm Rikka, Rikka Emerald. This cute girl right here is my best friend! Welcome to our group!" The girl stated with a loud, cheerful voice, hugging Shyra with a wide smile that made her feel embarrassed as Ryan chuckled from that cute sight.

"Nice to meet you as well Rikka. Also Shyra, shouldn't you be a little bit more confident? Seeing that you are the Class President"

"Well that's because she has a crush on you, Hehe" Rikka boldly responded, causing Shyra to blush with a rising emotion as she covered her mouth but it was already too late.

"Don't listen to her, Ryan! She's just kidding!" Shyra blurted while subconsciously choking Rikka with her other hand.

"No, no It's alright. I'm quite flattered… Is it just the three of us? Because I want Wendy to join our group as well"

"Oh… sure, let me ask her to join" Shyra volunteered and walked towards Wendy. A few minutes later, Wendy joined Shyra's group before she wrote their names on a small piece of paper and handed it to their teacher.

"Now that we're an official group, what should we cook?" Rikka asked while shifting her eyes at the other members of the group.

"Well first… who knows how to cook?" Wendy asked as she stared at the other two girls, the look they had was obvious that one of them knew how to cook. "You guys don't know how to cook… do you?"

"Well… I know how to bake..." Shyra replied.

"It's alright, I know how to cook. I already thought of a good dish for us to make" Ryan started with a reassuring smile. The girls were satisfied with the thought of Ryan cooking for their group, all they have to do now is help him with the ingredients and preparations. Ryan gave Rikka and Shyra a list of low price ingredients while he asked Wendy to help him when the cooking starts.

-

The clock strikes 5, signaling the end of the school day. Ryan enjoyed his normal classes and subjects very much even though he already studied the same subjects in advance. The students finally received what they always wanted, going to school without any trouble of a certain bully, if only the lad's wish would come through as well.

While on his way with Wendy towards the school exit, he had a sudden unnerving feeling, as if someone on the other end of the halls walked past him by the side and disappeared into the other halls. Ryan stopped from his track and subconsciously walked towards the empty hallways while Wendy followed him in confusion. The moment they arrived at the end of the hall, they only saw a brown door, behind it was an unnerving setting for Ryan. He reached for the doorknob, slowly and turned it clockwise. As soon as the door opened, all they could see was Joseph, wearing a large black-leather jacket along with two other students, the first one was a female and the other was a Male.

"Ryan? What are you doing here?" Joseph asked in surprise as the other two students quickly turned their heads towards him.

"Oh… sorry I just… saw something pass by here…"

"Was it a ghost?! Or a phantom?!" The curious Joseph asked as his eyes sparkled in excitement.

"Umm no… I guess it was just you"

"What are you doing here with Manny and Josie?" Wendy asked, referring to the other students.

"Oh, this is our club"

"You never told you had a club?"

"Because if I told you what it is you would laugh at us"

"Well that's probably true" Wendy responded with an advanced giggle.

"What's your club called?" Asked Ryan in curiosity.

"The Mystery Club, we try to find or, if possible, solve the Mysterious Phenomenon here in Shooting Star"

"There are Mysterious Phenomenons here?" Ryan asked as Wendy took the liberty to reply to him.

"No, it's just Joseph's conspiracy, I don't even know why this club is still standing"

"Actually, it's being removed by the Principal since we don't have enough members. The lad two members quit"

The male responded as he flipped a page on the comic he was reading.

"He's right about that… but I believe there is something strange going on here in this town I got proof!"

"Joseph, you only found one picture but that is not enough for proof…" the female student spoke with a caring tone as she stood from her seat and walked towards Ryan with a smile. "Hello, I'm Josie Flintlock and the person there is Manny Ramirez, I heard you took down Bruno, I admire you for that"

"Oh, Nice to meet you but you don't have to compliment me for that...'' Ryan replied simply as he shook her soft, delicate hand. He could feel that Manny was watching his every move from the corner of his eyes as if he was irritated about something. "Joseph, she said you found a picture, what was it?"

Joseph immediately pulled out a picture that was pinned on a plaster wall before handing it to him as Wendy stood beside Ryan to further see the picture.

"I found it on your Uncle Lucas' old belongings, I asked him if I could have it and he said I could"

Ryan and Wendy stared at the picture. It was an old picture of two people, the other one was Lucas and the other was a torn part of the picture that prevented them from describing who it was or what gender they were. Nothing seemed off about the picture until Ryan noticed a cloaked figure, standing on top of a branch in the background, it indeed gave them a slight goosebump but not until they saw a long tail that was taken on the lake of Shooting Star.

"What is that?" Wendy asked in shock.

"That is the first Mystery this club ever got. Many claimed it was Photoshopped but not us right Josie? Manny?" Joseph asked as the two only let out an awkward laugh as they slowly nodded their head in agreement.

"The picture is indeed strange… but Josie is correct, one proof is not enough… but I wish you good luck on solving the mysteries"

"How about you guys? What made you two join and stay?" Wendy asked.

"Well, Joseph is a friend of mine of course so obviously I would support him, after all… he is close with Ryan…" Josie muttered the last few sentences to only where Wendy could hear. Wendy was suddenly disturbed as Josie took the pleasure to savor the face she made with a smug look.

"I joined… because Josie joined…" Manny replied shortly before reading his comics again but not after taking a few more glances at Ryan. Whatever it was, he sure felt a huge dislike towards the lad.

"Hey, Ryan why don't you join our club? We could use new members" Josie suggested, trying to get on Wendy's nerves but Ryan refused.

"Sorry but I can't, I'm not in the mood to join any clubs yet… maybe someday?"

"Such a shame, but we can't force you"

"I guess someone is just too cool to join lame clubs" Manny muttered, audibly. Ryan quickly shifted his eyes towards Manny who was already staring at him, both of them clashed in dominance by just staring at each other, the atmosphere was so thick you could cut it with a knife but Ryan became the wise person and ended the clash with a question to Joseph.

"Hey Joseph, do you mind if I keep this photo?"

"Umm sure, I already Photo Copied it so be my guest"

"Thank you. It's getting late for me, we're going home now, It was very nice to meet the two of you" Ryan stated as Josie smiled sweetly towards him with her eyes closed and her hands clenched together from behind. Her soft pink hair really best describes her unique beauty. Ryan and Wendy said their farewells and exited the school.

"What will you do with the picture?" Wendy asked.

"I don't know but I feel like I should look into it more…"

"Alright then, Tomorrow I promise to help you with the dish, the best I can"

"Thanks, Wendy. Stay safe on your way home, I don't want anything bad to happen to you" Ryan failed to notice the slightly reddened ears Wendy had as he said that to her before parting ways on their separate paths to head back home. As Ryan walked down the same road he always took, another sudden fog appeared once he almost reached the nearby forest. The fog was even thicker than yesterday to the point he couldn't see anything. He remained despite the weird phenomenon, then all of a sudden, he bumped into someone as he fell to his bottom on the cold, hard concrete road. He gazed over to see a silhouette of a tall person, reaching his hands over to him for assistance.

"I'm sorry I didn't see you there kid, take my hand" The man apologized with a voice that anyone could trust but then, then pulled something shiny from behind his back pocket, no, it wasn't shiny, it was a long Knife! Why did the man pull out a knife? What is his grudge at the boy? Ryan had no idea what was behind him seeing that the fog was too thick to even see the Man's face, all he knew at the moment was that they were alone. He reached over his hand, slowly, not noticing a sudden danger arriving with every move he made to grab the Man's hand.