The One Left - Chapter One

A book in progress following a series of high school kids in a murder mystery.

Slater got to school just as the bell rang for 1st period. Late, again. He really needed to get an alarm. He ran down the hall to his classroom, hoping Ms. Haught wouldn’t notice as he sat down.

“Slater?” She said.

“Here.” He responded.

“I wasn’t taking attendance, boy.” She condoned. “You’re already marked absent, and I’m not fixing it. Why don’t you explain why you’re late for the fourth time this quarter?”

He scrambled for an excuse. “I, uh, burnt my breakfast? And had to make more?”

She gave him a look. “Hmm. Not sure if I believe you. But seriously, you need to start being on time. Some day you’re going to miss something important, and then what am I supposed to do?”

“Sorry, Ms Haught. I’ll try to be better.” With that, she continued on with her lesson.

“That was a close call,” Sasha whispered from behind him. She sat behind Slater in half his classes. He didn’t mind, she was nice. It was weird though, because she didn’t normally doesn’t talk to anybody else.

“Yeah, I’m just glad this isn’t a really important class,” he whispers back. Sasha frowned.

“English is very important! And hey, if you’re not doing very good, I could maybe help you sometime.”

Slater’s grades were actually fine. “Nah, I'm good.” He turned back to the lesson.

Slater never saw it, but Sasha’s face fell after that. She’d really been hoping to spend some time with him. She’d tried a couple other times over the past few weeks, but he never seemed interested.

Slater had no idea that Sasha liked him. He was entranced by another girl in his grade, Emberly. She was smart and ambitious, and always nice to him. She had the prettiest long brown hair, almost always around her shoulders. She always downplayed her achievements, though, like she wasn’t easily the smartest person in any room. But she was too focused on her studies to notice Slater. She’d probably meet someone when she gets into a fancy Ivy League college, get married, and not give a second thought. Mila, his sister, was the only one who knew Slater liked Emberly. She would never tell, but sometimes he worried she might.