"HEY!" I heard somebody shout. I looked up. It was Marcus. "You scared me," I told him quietly. He laughed. "Drink some water, bud." He said, smiling, putting his hands on my table. Marcus is a lot taller than I, but not taller than Caleb. I listened to him and drank water. "Take a seat," I told him. "Something interesting you never expected of Caleb to" I stopped. He looked confused. "To what?" He asked. I gulped. I didn't want to reveal his feelings. I would have, but he told me not to. This is part of the investigation, but I didn't want to do that. "Nothing," I replied, almost to myself. He stared at me. "No, tell me. It's about Caleb. What? He's the murderer?" He asked me patiently. I shook my head. "No, I don't know much. I don't think so. Maybe?" I replied. "Why do you think that?" He asked me. "I-... I don't know." I answered. He knew I was lying, but he didn't want us to argue, so he stopped and nodded. I saw Caleb glance at me, then face somewhere else when he saw me looking at him. Has he heard the conversation? Nah, he's far away. "Wait." He started to look worried, so I was, too. "What?" I asked curiously. "I haven't done my homework." I was relieved and rolled my eyes. I gave him my answers as he copied quickly. "Oh, I just realized you are early," I told him, and he smirked. "I was excited to learn interesting things. Murder. You know?" I nodded.
***
It was break time, and I wanted to get started on our investigation. We sat down at a table. "What do you know?" I asked. "Well, it must have happened at midnight. The vines are cut now. There were a few dorms around, Caleb, David, and his friends, Rosemary, Lily, Hedis, and Mantro." He replied. I nodded. "It must be one of them, right?" I asked. He nodded. "Top suspects are Caleb and Ryan. Ryan's their friend. We saw Brian and Karson coming to us. "Hi." Karson spoke. We greeted them and they sat with us. I saw Caleb alone, his hood on and still not touching his food. Marcus, Brian, and Karson were distracted, so I could go. "Excuse me," I interrupted. "I'm going to go." They nodded and started talking again. I went over to Caleb. He rolled his eyes. "What are you going to do? Say I'm lying?" He scoffed. "Why aren't you sitting with your friends?" I asked him, ignoring the sarcastic question. "Don't feel like it. Want to be alone. So, you leave me alone, too." He added. "Do you feel at least a bit sad?" I asked. "No." He replied. Just like earlier, he had tears IN his eyes. I was prepared. Lie detector! "What the heck is that?" He asked me. "A lie detector," I answered. "The heck I'm not answering with that!" He told me. I put it on him anyway. He seemed to kind of allow and didn't beat me up. He looks like he wants someone to talk to, too. "Do you feel sad about David's death?" I asked him. He hesitated, sweating. "N-no." He replied. LIE DETECTED, it showed on the device. "See, come on. You can be comfortable around me. I held his hands. He stared at my hands on his and shoved his hands. "Fine. Just a bit." He told me quietly. "Thank you. Because of your words, I didn't tell my best friend how you felt." I told him. He gave me a small smile. "Thanks... I guess." He replied, still acting like a mean man. "Look, it's okay to cry." I told him. "I..." He stopped. He blushed hard, still sadness inside him. "Never mind that. How are your grades?" I asked him. He stared at me. He wanted to talk, but I changed the subject. "I want to talk with you." He confessed. "Oh... Okay. Talk about how you feel." I said. "I'm sad. Sad. I want to cry, but-" He finished his sentence. "When I did that, my friends said Boys don't cry. I- I'm just being dramatic, sorry." He spoke again. This was the first time he apologized to me. "It's okay. They're fake friends." I told him, comforting him. "Thanks." He thanked me. "My grades?" He asked. "Sure." I replied. "My last report card... Here." He showed me. It was bad, to be honest.
Math D-
English A-
History C+
Geography D
Biology F-
Physics F-
Chemistry C-
"Oh." I told him. "Yeah," he replied. "Professor Tina told me that I need at least passing grades for all subjects." He told me. "I can help you." I said. "Really? Thanks, bro." He smiled. "Show me yours." He asked me. I gave him my report card.
Math A+
English A+
History A
Geography A-
Biology A+
Physics A
Chemistry A
His eyes widened. "Wow. This is.... Wow." He told me in surprise. "Let's study." I suggested. He nodded.
We were comfortable around each other now... Right?